Minnesota Sports Forum

You'd never know that tonight was Monday. The size and energy of the crowd made it feel like Friday. No place I would have rather been tonight. Another fun time and another great effort by the Wolves. The difference in the game was shooting, especially in the 4th when we shot something like 1 for 12 from the field. But our team showed a lot of heart. This team has almost always played hard this season, but they're playing at a higher level of intensity now. Yes, it's the KG factor.

Gary Neal played well with 19 points, 9 boards and some pretty solid defense. But he was 6-17 from the field. Wiggins had a good game with 18 points, 8 of them earned at the line. But he missed some perimeter shots and shots at the rim he usually makes, ending up 5-16 from the field.

Ricky was fantastic with a triple double - 18 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. Man that guy gets beat up. Defenders go well beyond the supposedly forbidden hand-checking and repeatedly hack him. Yet he doesn't get the calls he should, getting far too little protection from the officials. It was no different tonight. But Ricky persevered. Zach had a terrific game as well. He really thrives at the SG position, especially alongside Ricky. Zach accelerates like a Porsche. - with or without the ball. Really fun to watch. And he defends. Mark my words, he's going to be a great player.

Dieng and Payne played well tonight. I really like what I'm seeing in Payne. Love his toughness. Of all our young players, he's the most like KG based on his toughness and intensity. Speaking of KG, he was once again very productive on the floor and highly charged on the bench. Sure, his talkative antics on the bench might get old after a while. But I don't think. His passion and competitiveness are bound to rub off on at least some of the younger guys. I don't think it will rub them the wrong way.

Tough to lose, but still fun to watch this group play and witness some of the spectacular plays from Wiggins and LaVine. We're losing close games to some really good teams, but we're holding our own. I wouldn't want to be Denver coming here to face the Wolves Wedesday

I'm liking the Neal acquisition a lot. He is highly competitive and serious about every play. How much of it is playing for a contract? Not sure but I am interested to see how his FA goes and if the Wolves are involved,

Phenom's_Revenge wrote:I'm liking the Neal acquisition a lot. He is highly competitive and serious about every play. How much of it is playing for a contract? Not sure but I am interested to see how his FA goes and if the Wolves are involved,

I think this is who he is. I would like to have him back if it makes sense after the draft and what our plans are with Martin. I certainly think there is room for Neal, Martin, and LaVine at SG.

I would be willing to sign him to a 2 year deal. 2nd being a team option. I would pay up to the MLE on what would be a essentially a 1 year deal. Before everyone flips out I don't think the annual cost is a the problem in most contracts. It is the number of years that are the problem.

I really think we need a backup center and PG in FA next year. Even if we draft a big we have 2 bigs in KG and Pek that are going t see limited minutes. We need another big body to make sure we are not having matchup issues again next year.

Good report Lip. My only nit-pick is that our guys once again got swallowed up by screens, giving some of their perimeter players all day to either make a play (if it was Paul) or shoot a wide open 3 (usually Redick). We have to do a better job fighting through/around screens.

Q12543 wrote:Good report Lip. My only nit-pick is that our guys once again got swallowed up by screens, giving some of their perimeter players all day to either make a play (if it was Paul) or shoot a wide open 3 (usually Redick). We have to do a better job fighting through/around screens.

I saw this post earlier... then just commented on it in another thread. Paul could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted off the PnR... it's why I never thought the Wolves were going to win the game.

not quite sure why everybody is loving Payne right now. Yea he hustles and he plays hard...but that's it. He can't shoot to save his life. He's pretty much playing the same as Jeff Adrien, except the fact that Adrien costed us a 10 day contract, and Payne a 1st round pick

alexftbl8181 wrote:not quite sure why everybody is loving Payne right now. Yea he hustles and he plays hard...but that's it. He can't shoot to save his life. He's pretty much playing the same as Jeff Adrien, except the fact that Adrien costed us a 10 day contract, and Payne a 1st round pick

Bingo. And Adrien's defense was better, but Payne maybe deserves some slack there since he's a rookie. We tend to love guys that hustle hustle hustle. I think that's what this is all about because you (posters on the board) can't tell me Payne's been good so far.

Camden wrote:

alexftbl8181 wrote:not quite sure why everybody is loving Payne right now. Yea he hustles and he plays hard...but that's it. He can't shoot to save his life. He's pretty much playing the same as Jeff Adrien, except the fact that Adrien costed us a 10 day contract, and Payne a 1st round pick

Bingo. And Adrien's defense was better, but Payne maybe deserves some slack there since he's a rookie. We tend to love guys that hustle hustle hustle. I think that's what this is all about because you (posters on the board) can't tell me Payne's been good so far.

He's played in less than 10 games, not this season, for his NBA career! He's doing just fine based on the sample size.

I like your confidence on Zach Lip. I am wondering what kind of influence KG will have on everyone in the offseason. Since he splits time between Cali and Minnesota maybe we can really start seeing a culture develop with this team of training together. Exciting times.

alexftbl8181 wrote:not quite sure why everybody is loving Payne right now. Yea he hustles and he plays hard...but that's it. He can't shoot to save his life. He's pretty much playing the same as Jeff Adrien, except the fact that Adrien costed us a 10 day contract, and Payne a 1st round pick

Adrien was a 28 year old with 6 years experience, he is who he is. Payne may be 23, but he is a rookie and has plenty of room to grow. One can fit our future plans, the other can't. It's that simple.
Payne also made some big defensive plays and came up with some key rebounds. I love how he snatches the ball on rebounds. Guy has great hands. He also has the potential to be a decent shooter out to the 3 point line, a big like that is key to play with a big who operates in the paint, like pek.

I also don't get why people are so up in arms about the pick we traded for Payne. We currently have 4 Rookies, 4 Sophomores, and Ricky (who's 24) on the roster. We add another rookie this year, and another next year. By 2017's draft we will either be in the playoffs, needing to add vets, not another rookie. Or many of our players/plans will not have panned out, and we will be drafting within the lottery where that pick is protected.