Payne

[Monster]

Who is this guy and who kidnapped that joke of a basketball player we wee used to seeing? It's a handful of games and limited minutes but he has been playing well. If he keeps up this type of play he may steal some minutes from both KG and Dieng. He is still playing hard but more under control and smarter. Oh sure he still has had a couple boneheaded plays but he has done a lot of good. You can see him being that type of big that can be effective moving all around the floor and having a positive effect on defense. Can he keep this up and progress? Idk but he has been a very pleasant surprise so far. I liked the fight he showed tonight and he showed of a patient post game too. Like I said who is this guy?

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Who is this guy and who kidnapped that joke of a basketball player we wee used to seeing? It's a handful of games and limited minutes but he has been playing well. If he keeps up this type of play he may steal some minutes from both KG and Dieng. He is still playing hard but more under control and smarter. Oh sure he still has had a couple boneheaded plays but he has done a lot of good. You can see him being that type of big that can be effective moving all around the floor and having a positive effect on defense. Can he keep this up and progress? Idk but he has been a very pleasant surprise so far. I liked the fight he showed tonight and he showed of a patient post game too. Like I said who is this guy?

It's almost like last year he was a rookie who was traded mid-season and didn't get to practice at all with his new team.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I'm probably not alone in holding my breath when Adreain is on the court, but tonight (and his last game too) he looked like the guy who Tom Izzo loved so much at MSU. He was a whirling dervish on defense (although oddly not really out of control), moved the ball well on offense, made a nice post move to beat the evil Whitehead, and even nailed a three. 8-4 and a steal in 17 minutes plus good defense is exactly what Flip thought he was getting (but not what we saw last year). It's a long season, KG is going to need some time off, Belly will have the occasional off night, and there will be injuries...so Adreain is going to get his minutes. It's good to know he can help.

[Carlos Danger]

It's almost like last year he was a rookie who was traded mid-season and didn't get to practice at all with his new team.

LOL. True that. But he really looked clueless last year and wasn't impressive in camp/preseason either. I'm really glad to see him contributing. It would be an awesome validation for Flip for him to become a productive player. I'm assuming what we saw last night was what Flip was seeing in him all along.

[bleedspeed]

I am glad Payne looked good, but at the time we still gave up way to much for him and that will never change even if he becomes a rotation player. It just makes it less of a mistake.

I still really wish we could come up with a way to get Portis and I think we would have more pieces if this trade wouldn't have happened.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

It's almost like last year he was a rookie who was traded mid-season and didn't get to practice at all with his new team.

LOL. True that. But he really looked clueless last year and wasn't impressive in camp/preseason either. I'm really glad to see him contributing. It would be an awesome validation for Flip for him to become a productive player. I'm assuming what we saw last night was what Flip was seeing in him all along.

Anthony, Adreain was our best player in Summer League (for what it's worth). The jury is still way out on Payne, but we all liked what we saw at least last night.

[Carlos Danger]

It's almost like last year he was a rookie who was traded mid-season and didn't get to practice at all with his new team.

LOL. True that. But he really looked clueless last year and wasn't impressive in camp/preseason either. I'm really glad to see him contributing. It would be an awesome validation for Flip for him to become a productive player. I'm assuming what we saw last night was what Flip was seeing in him all along.

Anthony, Adreain was our best player in Summer League (for what it's worth). The jury is still way out on Payne, but we all liked what we saw at least last night.

LST - I was referring specifically to what I saw last year and again this pre-season. But regarding Summer League - I didn't see any games, but yes, his stats looked better. But I'd argue Lorenzo Brown (24.1 PER) and LaVine (19.9 PER) might have something to say about who was the best player on the Vegas team! :-)

Regardless - I'm certainly happy to see the guy playing well. I remember some debate over who should go AB or Payne. Through 10 games...it looks like we made the right choice.

[bleedspeed]

Crap - I was in the AB camp. Queue up the Bleed is a bust thread.

[Monster]

Payne continues to play well especially considering the really low expectations most of us had for him coming into this year. He still has a little wildness to him and he will need to calm down a bit on the fouls but I'll take the aggressiveness for now. He won't keep shooting 60% from 3 but his shot looks a lot better than last year no doubt. He is a 6'9" without shoes guy with 7'4" wingspan that has plenty of athletism and looks to be able to play PF which adds up to a lot of length and athletism at that position. The Wolves may still need a 2nd round bruiser type but between Payne and Bjelica we MIGHT have something at PF and both guys have the game to be floor spacers. It would be pretty nice if Payne can be a legit rotation level big. The results so far this year have been fairly promising and it's been a nice development. Bjelica, Payne and Rudez as 3pt spacing PFs? Neato.

[thedoper]

Flip is batting 1000 on all his moves. Go Wolves.