Wolves v Suns

[Duke13]

It took one preseason game for Lip to make a hyperbolic prediction. It's going to be a tough year no matter who starts.

[Lipoli390]

It's only the first preseason game and I haven't seen anything other than the box score. But it doesn't inspire confidence to see our Wolves lose by 10+ points to last season's worst team in the West.

Alas, at least there's the new Wiggins -- tonight hitting 37.5% of his field goal attempts, while going 0-2 from behind the arc and missing his one free throw attempt. He also pulled down a whopping 1 rebound and showcased his playmaking skills with 1 assist in his 11:16 minutes. I can hardly wait to see him in action this season.

[Monster]

Nowell with a nice drive and dunk. Before that he hadn't done anything good or bad.

[Monster]

Naz Reid has looked really active. He looks a bit quicker and I thought he did well on defense.

[Lipoli390]

It took one preseason game for Lip to make a hyperbolic prediction. It's going to be a tough year no matter who starts.

I don't think it's hyperbolic to suggest the Wolves are in trouble if Layman is their 5th starter. I think I was actually pretty restrained with that observation. Note that I'm on record long before tonight's game predicting a pretty bad season for the Wolves. Tonight's game is more like a minor footnote.

[Lipoli390]

Naz Reid has looked really active. He looks a bit quicker and I thought he did well on defense.

Monster - You'll have to give us a full report since you apparently were able to watch the game. Your observation on Reid is consistent with my observation watching him in Summer League.

Looks like we're closing the gap, pulling to within 5 points. Perhaps I gave up too soon. :)

[Lipoli390]

Nowell with a nice drive and dunk. Before that he hadn't done anything good or bad.

I hope Nowell, Culver and Reid get plenty of minutes this preseason. It's a big adjustment to the NBA and the more PT they get the better for them and the Wolves. I have high hopes for all three. Culver looks pretty good in the box score. I'm interesting in seeing your take on him tonight.

[worldK]

Towns is the only player on the team who can impose his will on the game. The talent gap between him and the rest is huge. Good thing is he seems to be all in in embracing his leadership status and this culture.

Wig attack the basket for his first 4pts. Then settled for a couple of his midrange misses and miss 2 3's. Looks like the old wig but the foul trouble put him out of rythem.

I suggest we start with towns-vonleh-cov-wig-teague next game. The small lineup kills us on the glass. We can still playbfast with that unit.

I would like to see layman-graham-dieng(until bell is healthy) - culver -okogie as the subs. Yes, napier is good enough for a rotation spot on this team but im all for development and culver and okogie need minutes.

[Monster]

Naz Reid has looked really active. He looks a bit quicker and I thought he did well on defense.

Monster - You'll have to give us a full report since you apparently were able to watch the game. Your observation on Reid is consistent with my observation watching him in Summer League.

Looks like we're closing the gap, pulling to within 5 points. Perhaps I gave up too soon. :)

A few people have been watching. Nowell got fouled on a 3 and thena few possessions later nailed an easy jumper.

The biggest thing I see is that some guys are clearly having the green light to shoot the 3. Dieng jacking up shots whether you like it or not.

Biggest concerns are Wiggins and Teague looking like...the guys they have been the last couple years in terms of how they play.

Brightest spot (other than Towns being really good) may have been Graham. He can defend a bunch of spots and knows his role and when he picked his spots he scored. On Dane Moore's podcast he and the other guy Charlie both said they think Graham could end up getting some rotation minutes on this team. Both guys watched some games of his last year and were pleasantly surprised overall. I think he is a guy that might be someone that gets minutes if other players don't do what they are supposed to do...like Wiggins.

Also if you want to buy into this game we should be trading for all the Suns PGs. They played well. Thats not going to happen every game although I've liked all those guys to some degree.

The Wolves took 39 3's Even if they are a bad 3 point shooting team this year at like 29% they would hit more than they did tonight. Meanwhile they were what 31/54 on 2 point shots and were 20/23 from the FT line? Both teams turned over the ball a ton which is perfectly normal for 1st preseason game. Suns scored easily at times but I wouldn't get too worked up about that either. there were stretches with the guys that matter more were out there the suns weren't scoring and yes that includes Towns.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

Kat: best player on the floor. Defense was alot better with him on the floor.

Cov: solid, still looks like he needs game shape, but defense already there.

Wiggs: foul trouble, but was more aggressive on defense and only attempted 1 long 2. They had him covering booker, rubio, and saric tonight (on assignment, instead of getting caught on switches).

Teague: still overdribbles and slow to make a decision.

Culver: good defensive instincts. Hes got that brandon roy feel about his game minus a jump shot. He has a hitch at the point of release.

Okogue: energizer bunny, but his offense is basically go in straight and fast and pray for a whistle.

Layman: solid cutter, he is active. He was brought in to be robin to kats batman. He was hunting shots tonight.

Graham: good defense and showed some range. He was our second best player tonight. He was the first wing off the bench tonight.

Vonleh: looking to get paid on his next contract by showing he can iso guys (he cant).

Dieng: just as bad as vonleh

Wallace: probably the worst player on the court, he will be released.

Everyone else will be in iowa.