Ryan Saunders on the Lowe Post podcast

[mrhockey89]

pretty good listen, fairly lengthy. He covers everything from his hiring process, to the team, to KG stories, to stories about Flip.

http://www.espn.com/espnradio/play?id=27194898

Some KG stories (most should like this part except Cool, who has an unhealthy hate toward KG :)
- When Ryan was in HS, KG would have Ryan rebound for him for an hour shooting around. Afterward, KG would tell Ryan it's his turn and KG would rebound for Ryan for like 20 minutes. (pretty cool for a HOFer to rebound for a HS kid)
- KG would tip Ryan all the time, Flip would match those tips and put it in a bank account for college
- KG tried to give Ryan his green Porsche when Ryan turned 16? Flip put a quick end to that thought.
- KG would rip his tearaway pants off and throw them to the ground in pregame ritual. Ryan reached down and caught them 3 times in a row one pregame, KG then pulled in Ryan, grabbed the pants back again, and threw them down in front of Ryan (lol). Ryan wasn't aware it was a pregame ritual until then.
- Ryan has a picture of Ricky Rubio pointing to the sky in his office
- Ryan talks about some plays that Wiggins made in practice the other day against Stiesma, specifically one where he posterized Greg.
- Ryan talks about shot value when talking about Wiggins and Okogie.
- Ryan mentions a story about Sam Cassell in Washington. A young player that was playing his way out of the league was coming off the court, pissed and complaining. Cassell yells "hey Rosetta Stone".. everyone confused 'You're going to be playing overseas next year'

I'm still listening, pretty good listen though, definitely recommend it.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Anybody who can dunk hard on a 33-year-old video coach who averaged a career high 3.5 ppg his senior year in college has me excited for the season. I got the vibe Lowe wasn't impressed either... and actually might have been worried when Saunders said Stiemsma kept blocking KAT and Culver.



[Note: But yes... I enjoyed the podcast.]

[apollotsg [enjin:6592798]]

not to say Stiemsma is anything at all - BUT the guy averages 6% blocks for his (very short) carrer - that would put him in the top 5 any given years - just saying. He might have been a horrendous player overall - but that part of his game, especially his first year - he did well at.

[Monster]

not to say Stiemsma is anything at all - BUT the guy averages 6% blocks for his (very short) carrer - that would put him in the top 5 any given years - just saying. He might have been a horrendous player overall - but that part of his game, especially his first year - he did well at.

I think you did it wrong. Abe said his scoring stats in college. Those must be the ones that equal whether or not he is a good shot blocker. :) I'm gonna go out on a limb here...Stiemsma wasn't in the league to score...even further out on a limb...I'm guessing he wasn't worried about fouls being called in practice.

Anywho it was a good listen overall. Lots of good stories and I think some actual insights in there from Ryan.

[AbeVigodaLive]

not to say Stiemsma is anything at all - BUT the guy averages 6% blocks for his (very short) carrer - that would put him in the top 5 any given years - just saying. He might have been a horrendous player overall - but that part of his game, especially his first year - he did well at.

I think you did it wrong. Abe said his scoring stats in college. Those must be the ones that equal whether or not he is a good shot blocker. :) I'm gonna go out on a limb here...Stiemsma wasn't in the league to score...even further out on a limb...I'm guessing he wasn't worried about fouls being called in practice.

Anywho it was a good listen overall. Lots of good stories and I think some actual insights in there from Ryan.

Bottom line: Stiemsma... good shot blocker or not... never made it. He's 33 and on the sidelines or video room as a coach. Andrew Wiggins dunking on him in practice means nothing.

Heck, Andrew Wiggins dunking on Rudy Gobert multiple times 3 seasons ago is just as meaningless at this point.

[apollotsg [enjin:6592798]]

I was worried he was going to say something goofy like "I can fix Wiggins" or "untapped potential" - all the excuses we have heard before. What he did say is he (and the team) needs better shot selection.

So if they get him to shoot only high % shots, and they fall - Wiggins could actually be a + on the team, he is average at everything else. I wish they could get him back to successfully driving to the basket and drawing fouls at a high rate.

[Monster]

not to say Stiemsma is anything at all - BUT the guy averages 6% blocks for his (very short) carrer - that would put him in the top 5 any given years - just saying. He might have been a horrendous player overall - but that part of his game, especially his first year - he did well at.

I think you did it wrong. Abe said his scoring stats in college. Those must be the ones that equal whether or not he is a good shot blocker. :) I'm gonna go out on a limb here...Stiemsma wasn't in the league to score...even further out on a limb...I'm guessing he wasn't worried about fouls being called in practice.

Anywho it was a good listen overall. Lots of good stories and I think some actual insights in there from Ryan.

Bottom line: Stiemsma... good shot blocker or not... never made it. He's 33 and on the sidelines or video room as a coach. Andrew Wiggins dunking on him in practice means nothing.

Heck, Andrew Wiggins dunking on Rudy Gobert multiple times 3 seasons ago is just as meaningless at this point.

That's fine (I'm mostly giving you a hard time) but stating his college scoring numbers didn't prove anything...to some extent it's more the opposite. Let's be honest about Stiemsma...he is really a success story. The guy played over 200 games and 40 starts for 4 NBA teams to earn nearly 7 million dollars in salary. That doesn't mean he was good or made it but considering what he was in college it's beating the odds. Now he seems to be working his way into coaching. Not bad for a guy that was dealing with a lot of depression and other issues in college.

I don't think the Stiemsma/Wiggins/Towns story was supposed to mean anything. I think it was more of an interesting story and it's kinda fun to see that the Wolves have some assistants that can physically challenge their players. Stiemsma seems like he was always a great dude but he was also plenty willing to mix it up out there on the floor. It might be nice to have some of that around. Will it rub off? Probably not but I wouldn't mind having someone try. I remember back in the day Stiemsma was stuffing Blake Griffin multiple times in a game probably in summer league...but that's not nothing because Griffin was quite the freak athlete back then.

[Hicks123 [enjin:6700838]]

And the point of the ACTUAL story wasn't so much about Stiemsma, as it was about Andrew turning on his physical gifts in that specific situation. They were probably all taking practice a bit light, and Andrew finally had enough and posterized him. My guess is that it isn't the job of players to posterize assistant coaches all day long....so it was an interesting twist. And Saunders point was exactly what we all see nearly every game....a play or two that reminds us of what Andrew SHOULD be, given his freak athleticism. But moreso, as stated above, it was recognizing all the complaints you see on this board about long 2's, etc and working on correcting some of that with small changes. Nothing earth shattering, but as said, fun interview.

[AbeVigodaLive]

not to say Stiemsma is anything at all - BUT the guy averages 6% blocks for his (very short) carrer - that would put him in the top 5 any given years - just saying. He might have been a horrendous player overall - but that part of his game, especially his first year - he did well at.

I think you did it wrong. Abe said his scoring stats in college. Those must be the ones that equal whether or not he is a good shot blocker. :) I'm gonna go out on a limb here...Stiemsma wasn't in the league to score...even further out on a limb...I'm guessing he wasn't worried about fouls being called in practice.

Anywho it was a good listen overall. Lots of good stories and I think some actual insights in there from Ryan.

Bottom line: Stiemsma... good shot blocker or not... never made it. He's 33 and on the sidelines or video room as a coach. Andrew Wiggins dunking on him in practice means nothing.

Heck, Andrew Wiggins dunking on Rudy Gobert multiple times 3 seasons ago is just as meaningless at this point.

That's fine (I'm mostly giving you a hard time) but stating his college scoring numbers didn't prove anything...to some extent it's more the opposite. Let's be honest about Stiemsma...he is really a success story. The guy played over 200 games and 40 starts for 4 NBA teams to earn nearly 7 million dollars in salary. That doesn't mean he was good or made it but considering what he was in college it's beating the odds. Now he seems to be working his way into coaching. Not bad for a guy that was dealing with a lot of depression and other issues in college.

I don't think the Stiemsma/Wiggins/Towns story was supposed to mean anything. I think it was more of an interesting story and it's kinda fun to see that the Wolves have some assistants that can physically challenge their players. Stiemsma seems like he was always a great dude but he was also plenty willing to mix it up out there on the floor. It might be nice to have some of that around. Will it rub off? Probably not but I wouldn't mind having someone try. I remember back in the day Stiemsma was stuffing Blake Griffin multiple times in a game probably in summer league...but that's not nothing because Griffin was quite the freak athlete back then.

Are you insinuating Calvin Booth and Rick Brunson weren't regularly schooling the young Wolves with their devastating PnR game during practice?

How dare you besmirch those two!

[Monster]

not to say Stiemsma is anything at all - BUT the guy averages 6% blocks for his (very short) carrer - that would put him in the top 5 any given years - just saying. He might have been a horrendous player overall - but that part of his game, especially his first year - he did well at.

I think you did it wrong. Abe said his scoring stats in college. Those must be the ones that equal whether or not he is a good shot blocker. :) I'm gonna go out on a limb here...Stiemsma wasn't in the league to score...even further out on a limb...I'm guessing he wasn't worried about fouls being called in practice.

Anywho it was a good listen overall. Lots of good stories and I think some actual insights in there from Ryan.

Bottom line: Stiemsma... good shot blocker or not... never made it. He's 33 and on the sidelines or video room as a coach. Andrew Wiggins dunking on him in practice means nothing.

Heck, Andrew Wiggins dunking on Rudy Gobert multiple times 3 seasons ago is just as meaningless at this point.

That's fine (I'm mostly giving you a hard time) but stating his college scoring numbers didn't prove anything...to some extent it's more the opposite. Let's be honest about Stiemsma...he is really a success story. The guy played over 200 games and 40 starts for 4 NBA teams to earn nearly 7 million dollars in salary. That doesn't mean he was good or made it but considering what he was in college it's beating the odds. Now he seems to be working his way into coaching. Not bad for a guy that was dealing with a lot of depression and other issues in college.

I don't think the Stiemsma/Wiggins/Towns story was supposed to mean anything. I think it was more of an interesting story and it's kinda fun to see that the Wolves have some assistants that can physically challenge their players. Stiemsma seems like he was always a great dude but he was also plenty willing to mix it up out there on the floor. It might be nice to have some of that around. Will it rub off? Probably not but I wouldn't mind having someone try. I remember back in the day Stiemsma was stuffing Blake Griffin multiple times in a game probably in summer league...but that's not nothing because Griffin was quite the freak athlete back then.

Are you insinuating Calvin Booth and Rick Brunson weren't regularly schooling the young Wolves with their devastating PnR game during practice?

How dare you besmirch those two!

Unfortunately we know what Rick Brunson's devastating game was...