Robison on Bjelica

[Monster]

I was just thinking it was time to talk about Belly. It's early but he has shown signs he could be the answer at PF right now. Unless Payne steps up we will need another PF for depth long term but Bjelica has been pretty good a very pleasant surprise. He is ahead of where I was hoping he would be by my eye test.

http://www.minnpost.com/sports/2015/11/wolves-rookie-bjelica-another-ray-hope-already-encouraging-season

[Carlos Danger]

He's been better than I thought he'd be. I readily admit that I was not impressed with the Euro MVP tag and was not convinced he would be successful in the NBA. But he's proving me wrong and looks capable out there in the games I've seen. And I assume he'll improve as he adjusts to speed/style of play here. He should be another piece. Now Sam needs to fit all the pieces together. I like what I've out of Payne so far too albeit on a limited scale.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I would argue he's been our 3rd best player so far this year, after Rubio and Towns. He's just one of these guys that knows how to play the game, as Robson describes. He's like a rich man's Robbie Hummel.

One thing I'm surprised by is his shooting accuracy. I really hope that holds up because while he showed the capability and willingness to shoot from 3 in Europe, he wasn't necessarily consistent. He improved his rebounding significantly in his mid 20's and now it appears like his outside shot is getting better. He's really a late bloomer, but it's great for us!

[Monster]

I would argue he's been our 3rd best player so far this year, after Rubio and Towns. He's just one of these guys that knows how to play the game, as Robson describes. He's like a rich man's Robbie Hummel.

One thing I'm surprised by is his shooting accuracy. I really hope that holds up because while he showed the capability and willingness to shoot from 3 in Europe, he wasn't necessarily consistent. He improved his rebounding significantly in his mid 20's and now it appears like his outside shot is getting better. He's really a late bloomer, but it's great for us!

I think it's pretty clear that the international 3 point line was just to close for Bjelica. ;) His shot and his release has looked good it doesn't seem like it takes much for him to flick it up there.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Terrific article...I agree that Belly is a very bright spot in this season. I watched a lot of his FIBA games this past summer and gushed about him on this board. But while his shooting and ball handling have been what I expected, his rebounding and defense have far exceeded my expectations. I see him as a legitimate starting option for us at PF.

I agree with Robson's take that Belly needs to pull the trigger every time he is open at the 3-point line, unless there is someone wide open under the basket. I mentioned that I watched him an hour before the October open scrimmage shooting 100 3's by himself, clearly frustrated that he was only hitting about half of them. But clearly his hard work has paid off in his adjustment to the NBA line, because he is probably our most reliable 3-point shooter.

I haven't said this often, so I will now...nice work David Kahn!

[Monster]

Terrific article...I agree that Belly is a very bright spot in this season. I watched a lot of his FIBA games this past summer and gushed about him on this board. But while his shooting and ball handling have been what I expected, his rebounding and defense have far exceeded my expectations. I see him as a legitimate starting option for us at PF.

I agree with Robson's take that Belly needs to pull the trigger every time he is open at the 3-point line, unless there is someone wide open under the basket. I mentioned that I watched him an hour before the October open scrimmage shooting 100 3's by himself, clearly frustrated that he was only hitting about half of them. But clearly his hard work has paid off in his adjustment to the NBA line, because he is probably our most reliable 3-point shooter.

I haven't said this often, so I will now...nice work David Kahn!

Cough cough...Tony Ronzone...lol ok fine we will give the ole meerkat one. ;)

[m4gor [enjin:6667447]]

what i am impressed the most is that he has pretty good lateral quickness imho, and he is really smart, like yesterday, he started to hedge/switch agresively against Curry and it worked well and i doubt it was intended by our epic braintrust on the bench .. he could probably hold his own at SF against most SFs and be something like Kirilenko who can actually shoot, Rubio-Wig-Belly-KG-KAT, sounds good on defense, good ball movement, smart PG to utilize them

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

what i am impressed the most is that he has pretty good lateral quickness imho, and he is really smart, like yesterday, he started to hedge/switch agresively against Curry and it worked well and i doubt it was intended by our epic braintrust on the bench .. he could probably hold his own at SF against most SFs and be something like Kirilenko who can actually shoot, Rubio-Wig-Belly-KG-KAT, sounds good on defense, good ball movement, smart PG to utilize them

I was thinking the same thing as I watched him last night, and could easily see him defending many SFs. If Pek comes back healthy at all, a lineup of Pek, KAT, Belly, Wig and Ricky is quite intriguing...and quite long!

[Tactical unit]

Terrific article...I agree that Belly is a very bright spot in this season. I watched a lot of his FIBA games this past summer and gushed about him on this board. But while his shooting and ball handling have been what I expected, his rebounding and defense have far exceeded my expectations. I see him as a legitimate starting option for us at PF.

I agree with Robson's take that Belly needs to pull the trigger every time he is open at the 3-point line, unless there is someone wide open under the basket. I mentioned that I watched him an hour before the October open scrimmage shooting 100 3's by himself, clearly frustrated that he was only hitting about half of them. But clearly his hard work has paid off in his adjustment to the NBA line, because he is probably our most reliable 3-point shooter.

I haven't said this often, so I will now...nice work David Kahn!

Not much was spent to obtain him by Kahn (no real risk on his part) and I would give the credit more to the foreign scouts than Mr. Kahn. With that being said #88 really is one of my more favorite players to watch and I think he has more to offer.

[TAFKASP]

Terrific article...I agree that Belly is a very bright spot in this season. I watched a lot of his FIBA games this past summer and gushed about him on this board. But while his shooting and ball handling have been what I expected, his rebounding and defense have far exceeded my expectations. I see him as a legitimate starting option for us at PF.

I agree with Robson's take that Belly needs to pull the trigger every time he is open at the 3-point line, unless there is someone wide open under the basket. I mentioned that I watched him an hour before the October open scrimmage shooting 100 3's by himself, clearly frustrated that he was only hitting about half of them. But clearly his hard work has paid off in his adjustment to the NBA line, because he is probably our most reliable 3-point shooter.

I haven't said this often, so I will now...nice work David Kahn!

Not much was spent to obtain him by Kahn (no real risk on his part) and I would give the credit more to the foreign scouts than Mr. Kahn. With that being said #88 really is one of my more favorite players to watch and I think he has more to offer.

We can't slam him for everything he did wrong then take credit for what he did well away too. He deserves credit for how he handled the Rubio situation, making both Ricky and his family feel very comfortable with the Wolves. Regarding Belly, he deserves credit if nothing else for taking the advice of his scouts. As I recall Kahn should get credit for increasing the Wolves investment in scouting foreigners so the fact that those scouts were there is also partially attributable to Kahn.

If you want to bash Kahn not many are going to argue with you as there is plenty of material from which to draw, but Rubio and Belly shouldn't be among them.