Minnesota Sports Forum

crazy-canuck wrote:wolves sign deng adel to a camp invite.




[youtube]6CCMv31sreo[/youtube]

Don't know if this is going to work out or not (he wasn't bad at Louisville at all), but this is a great feel-good story. Terrific guy who got out of the hell-hole that is the south Sudan, and found a home in the US (after a detour through Australia). Lots of holes in his game, but I'll be pullin for him.

longstrangetrip wrote:

crazy-canuck wrote:wolves sign deng adel to a camp invite.




[youtube]6CCMv31sreo[/youtube]

Don't know if this is going to work out or not (he wasn't bad at Louisville at all), but this is a great feel-good story. Terrific guy who got out of the hell-hole that is the south Sudan, and found a home in the US (after a detour through Australia). Lots of holes in his game, but I'll be pullin for him.

We got Deng!!! Wait... Sorry someone HAD to do it.

It seems like from doing a bit of research this guy has some level of talent. His numbers in around 80 minutes in Summer league for the Rockets were pretty good. My guess is at worst he will be a guy sent to Iowa as an affiliate player. His jumper actually looks pretty good.

I thought the same thing LST. Is Jimmer still available?

BizarroJerry wrote:I thought the same thing LST. Is Jimmer still available?

I read a few weeks ago that Jimmer is locked in for this upcoming season in China. What I remember from the article was Jimmer was miffed and a bit frustrated in the lack of interest in him from the NBA despite the league moving more towards his game as a 3 point shooter. He turns 30 in February his chance at being an NBA contributor might be fading. China is a pretty good fallback though. Deng Adel being a guy that's already lived in a couple countries already probably had the idea he could play internationally and make money in his mind when he left Louisville.

monsterpile wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:I thought the same thing LST. Is Jimmer still available?

I read a few weeks ago that Jimmer is locked in for this upcoming season in China. What I remember from the article was Jimmer was miffed and a bit frustrated in the lack of interest in him from the NBA despite the league moving more towards his game as a 3 point shooter. He turns 30 in February his chance at being an NBA contributor might be fading. China is a pretty good fallback though. Deng Adel being a guy that's already lived in a couple countries already probably had the idea he could play internationally and make money in his mind when he left Louisville.

Thanks Monster. Apparently Starbury is quite the celebrity in China. If only he and Garnett could have worked together...

Thibs was at the fair yesterday and Zgoda provided details of the session in a column this morning. Almost all was positive, but I guess you have to expect that...let's hope reality is as good as what Thibs was saying.


He dismissed reports of team discord, and said there was nothing to it. He said this was the best place for Butler, and "it's up to us to show him the reasons why". I hope that's true. He also said that none of the comments attributed to Butler had come from him, but rather from sources close to him. He said his experience with Butler was if he had something to say, he would say it directly. I hope he is right about this, but there is a lot of evidence to say he is wrong. It would be so simple for Butler to say the discord rumors were a lot of BS...the face that he hasn't tells most of us that there is something there.

The most positive comments Thibs had were in regard to Patton. He said he was coming along well, and that he should be ready by the start of training camp. That's the first time I've heard him say that, so it was quite encouraging. He also said he was excited about Patton's "huge upside". Good to hear...if Patton can contribute at center this year, that will be a big boost to this team.

longstrangetrip wrote:Thibs was at the fair yesterday and Zgoda provided details of the session in a column this morning. Almost all was positive, but I guess you have to expect that...let's hope reality is as good as what Thibs was saying.


He dismissed reports of team discord, and said there was nothing to it. He said this was the best place for Butler, and "it's up to us to show him the reasons why". I hope that's true. He also said that none of the comments attributed to Butler had come from him, but rather from sources close to him. He said his experience with Butler was if he had something to say, he would say it directly. I hope he is right about this, but there is a lot of evidence to say he is wrong. It would be so simple for Butler to say the discord rumors were a lot of BS...the face that he hasn't tells most of us that there is something there.

The most positive comments Thibs had were in regard to Patton. He said he was coming along well, and that he should be ready by the start of training camp. That's the first time I've heard him say that, so it was quite encouraging. He also said he was excited about Patton's "huge upside". Good to hear...if Patton can contribute at center this year, that will be a big boost to this team.

I found it interesting Souhan wrote an article about Thibs taking some time away and recharging. I'll be interested to hear what he has to say about that on the next podcast. Wolfson had his chat with Thibs at the fair on his latest podcast. I agree LST the Patton news is encouraging. He said positive stuff about Nunnally. Its a decent listen.

longstrangetrip wrote:Thibs was at the fair yesterday and Zgoda provided details of the session in a column this morning. Almost all was positive, but I guess you have to expect that...let's hope reality is as good as what Thibs was saying.


He dismissed reports of team discord, and said there was nothing to it. He said this was the best place for Butler, and "it's up to us to show him the reasons why". I hope that's true. He also said that none of the comments attributed to Butler had come from him, but rather from sources close to him. He said his experience with Butler was if he had something to say, he would say it directly. I hope he is right about this, but there is a lot of evidence to say he is wrong. It would be so simple for Butler to say the discord rumors were a lot of BS...the face that he hasn't tells most of us that there is something there.

The most positive comments Thibs had were in regard to Patton. He said he was coming along well, and that he should be ready by the start of training camp. That's the first time I've heard him say that, so it was quite encouraging. He also said he was excited about Patton's "huge upside". Good to hear...if Patton can contribute at center this year, that will be a big boost to this team.

I wouldn't expect Thibodeau to say anything negative or acknowledge anything bad about his boy, Butler. Thibodeau acknowledges that the comments come from sources "close to" Butler. To anyone with common sense, that means the comments are coming from Butler. But I wouldn't expect Thibodeau to acknowledge that. And of course, the fact that Butler hasn't denied or repudiated any of those comments in spite of ample opportunity to do so should leave no doubt that Butler is the source. But at this point, I don't care. I would have traded Butler already, but Thibodeau won't trade his pride and joy. So we all need to hope that the talent on this team shines through and that the team plays up to its potential. If so, we're looking at 50+ wins and winning is the ultimate cure for bad chemistry.

I don't have enough confidence in Butler's durability or Thibodeau's coaching to believe that the team will do that well this season. But there are enough additional potential bright spots in Okogie, KBD, Nunnally and Tolliver along with the upside of Towns and Wiggins to have legitimate hope.

As for Patton, I'm highly skeptical after his mediocre play at the G-League level last season. But a break-through second season for him with the Minnesota Wolves would be a huge lift for the team. Unfortunately, even at his best there is nothing in his past to suggest he'll provide a big lift on the defensive side of the ball.

Wolfson reports Patton is working out with Cole Aldrich.

FWIW this roster has 15 players with guaranteed contracts in one form or another and 6 of them are 23 or younger plus Terrell as a 2-way player. It has 2 players over the age of 30.

I watched part of a couple games of Deng Adel on YouTube this morning. The first one was against UK and the 2nd was a few minutes against Virginia. Just a couple basic thoughts.

He seemed to be terrible on defense often. He communicated on switches but often gave up dribble penetration way too easily. maybe he was asked to really press up on guys, but he looked bad IMO.

The positive was that even though he isn't a high level ball handler (kinda Corey Brewer like) his passing is kinda impressive. every pass we smart and absolutely on target. I don't know how much he will be able to use that skill at whatever level he goes to, but I saw some of that in his highlights but it translated in these 2 games also.

Overall I came away fairly underwhelmed by him. Its worth noting that these were both against pretty talented teams and I have no idea if Scott Padgent is any good as a coach and he was put in a tough position. Coaching matters especially in college. Also worth noting Adel was the leading scorer and led the team in minutes. Spaulding put up some impressive efficient numbers in under 28 mpg (intriguing player)but overall this team wasn't too good. Maybe playing a supporting role might help Adel out. You never know how a guy will improve as he develops. I've read a few Louisville fans though the previous year he was building towards being a better player than he showed this last season. I'd guess he ends up in Iowa and that's not a bad thing. OK thats it.