Minnesota Sports Forum

Took my daughter, age 4, to her first NBA game tonight. She enjoyed the dancers, gorilla, and cotton candy more than the game but it was still fun to have that experience. We also sat fairly close to the Wolves bench.

Wiggins put on a special performance tonight. Looked totally disinterested and easily shrugged off his 5 foul first half. The team overall is very chummy, coaching staff included and Wiggins was greeted with smile after smile. We'll see how this will work out. I know it's only preseason but this certainly wasn't a moment to build on. Maybe that process starts next game.

Karl on the other hand was focused and moving with a purpose while having fun doing it. He was very vocal on and off the court and cheering his team on.

Jeffrey was Jeffrey and looked how you might expect for this type of game. Same with Bob. I like how Layman moves with and without the ball. If his movement is a key part of the offense it could be beneficial for everyone especially if he can shoot well. Im optimistic that the team got a good signing with him projecting him out with an increased role. He struggled guarding the post however. It'll be interesting to see where Bell fits into this equation.

Culver had some serious jitters early on but leveled out after a few minutes. He also was playing with a purpose. He was very gritty on defense and was just physical enough to disrupt without fouling. He runs the floor very well and can handle contact. He showed he belongs already. The jumper did not look nice tonight. When he played point he was able to get the ball over half court and pass it off so that's something I guess. We really need this kid to blossom.

Gorgui looked awful. He had a handful of the traveling violations we've come to expect of him. I have a real hard time seeing him getting minutes barring injuries to multiple guys because he just isn't effective with low minutes and shouldn't be getting major minutes. There was a fun moment near the end when G hit a long 2 with his toe on the line. It was reviewed and the whole time guys like KAT, Bell, Cov were holding up 2 fingers flicking a 3rd as if to persuade one of the refs. He kinda laughed and shook his head.

Napier was solid all around and communicates well. He was consistently directing even from the sidelines.

Nowell has some spark to his game and looked the part of a bench threat tonight.

Nothing new or interesting about Okogie tonight.

Vonleh looks like a solid backup center. Big, strong and under control.

Tyrone Wallace was fairly intriguing to me. I can see why this regime would be interested in him. He has good handles and quickness for a guy his size and played scrappy on D. He would seem to fit a "positionless" style so to speak. He was too often out of control however.

I didn't see anything exceptional with the sets being run but it's early so who knows. These are just some things that stood out to me in person tonight.

Thanks for the write up Phenom. I'm definitely interested in a Culver/Okogie/Wiggins backcourt. And why not? We're not going anywhere this year.

Glad you and your daughter enjoyed the experience Phenom. Thanks for the write-up, good stuff.

I'm looking forward to watching these guys tomorrow - I am interested to see what a Napier, Okogie, Culver, Covington, Towns lineup would do both on offense but especially on defense. That looks like a solid small ball defensive grouping and a potentially quick-hitting offense, and when the fastbreaks not there a Towns centered scoring group. We had 24 fastbreak points last night, that group could potentially feast on steals and stops leading to a bunch FB pts.

As for the game, Wiggins was 0/2 from his long two spots, Dieng couldn't stop himself as well and shot 2/4 from the long two. Lay and Nowell each were 1/1. I dont think he gets it, an entire offseason to be told not to shoot that shit and those two clowns just cant stop themselves.

apollotsg wrote:I'm looking forward to watching these guys tomorrow - I am interested to see what a Napier, Okogie, Culver, Covington, Towns lineup would do both on offense but especially on defense. That looks like a solid small ball defensive grouping and a potentially quick-hitting offense, and when the fastbreaks not there a Towns centered scoring group. We had 24 fastbreak points last night, that group could potentially feast on steals and stops leading to a bunch FB pts.

As for the game, Wiggins was 0/2 from his long two spots, Dieng couldn't stop himself as well and shot 2/4 from the long two. Lay and Nowell each were 1/1. I dont think he gets it, an entire offseason to be told not to shoot that shit and those two clowns just cant stop themselves.

The 1 long 2 I remember Dieng taking was a wide open long 2 he has made at a decent clip in the past. If Wiggins shot long 2's with percentages like Dieng we would be talking about him being like kinda good and stuff. Dieng shouldnb't be taking alot fo those shots though. The other long 2 were his foot on the line shooting 3's. Dieng's problem wasn't his shot selection last night... He had an interesting quote a couple days ago about defense. He said he actually likes switching because he likes to be aggressive going at the guards instead of them coming at him. He can get burned either way but I do think he is better off D-ing them up as a man defender instead of having them come at him with a full head of steam I think he has even less chance then. I expect he will play better then next time he steps on the court in a game...he set the bar pretty low though. LOL

monsterpile wrote:

apollotsg wrote:I'm looking forward to watching these guys tomorrow - I am interested to see what a Napier, Okogie, Culver, Covington, Towns lineup would do both on offense but especially on defense. That looks like a solid small ball defensive grouping and a potentially quick-hitting offense, and when the fastbreaks not there a Towns centered scoring group. We had 24 fastbreak points last night, that group could potentially feast on steals and stops leading to a bunch FB pts.

As for the game, Wiggins was 0/2 from his long two spots, Dieng couldn't stop himself as well and shot 2/4 from the long two. Lay and Nowell each were 1/1. I dont think he gets it, an entire offseason to be told not to shoot that shit and those two clowns just cant stop themselves.

The 1 long 2 I remember Dieng taking was a wide open long 2 he has made at a decent clip in the past. If Wiggins shot long 2's with percentages like Dieng we would be talking about him being like kinda good and stuff. Dieng shouldnb't be taking alot fo those shots though. The other long 2 were his foot on the line shooting 3's. Dieng's problem wasn't his shot selection last night... He had an interesting quote a couple days ago about defense. He said he actually likes switching because he likes to be aggressive going at the guards instead of them coming at him. He can get burned either way but I do think he is better off D-ing them up as a man defender instead of having them come at him with a full head of steam I think he has even less chance then. I expect he will play better then next time he steps on the court in a game...he set the bar pretty low though. LOL

Agreed. All of our individual players and our team as a whole need to shoot fewer long 2s, but Dieng's percentages from there are among the best on the team, partly because he doesn't usually force shots when the defense is there. Shooting from that distance is a strength for him. Out of all the centers in the league, he has perennially one of the best FT percentages, and even though he does shoot too many long 2s, he still shoots over 50% from the floor. He has simple, repetitive mechanics, and a high release as a 7 footer who consistently releases it at about the same height because he barely gets off his feet. Notice the similarity with KAT? Both of them shoot "jump" shots much more like set shots. They shoot every shot outside of 5 feet like it's a free throw. It seems to work for them, and obviously, especially for KAT because of all the other things he does a million times better and of course, KAT's ability to hit the 3. If G could speed up his release a bit more, I would love to see him try to become a bit of a 3 point specialist like Brook Lopez. Maybe it wouldn't work, but given his strengths as a shooter, that's the one avenue to relevance I see for him.

Unfortunately, G's weakness is about everything else, all of it tied to how slow he is. And as the league gets smaller and quicker and traditional centers (especially in the West) continue to get phased out, G's value just drops and drops. Ugh.

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

apollotsg wrote:I'm looking forward to watching these guys tomorrow - I am interested to see what a Napier, Okogie, Culver, Covington, Towns lineup would do both on offense but especially on defense. That looks like a solid small ball defensive grouping and a potentially quick-hitting offense, and when the fastbreaks not there a Towns centered scoring group. We had 24 fastbreak points last night, that group could potentially feast on steals and stops leading to a bunch FB pts.

As for the game, Wiggins was 0/2 from his long two spots, Dieng couldn't stop himself as well and shot 2/4 from the long two. Lay and Nowell each were 1/1. I dont think he gets it, an entire offseason to be told not to shoot that shit and those two clowns just cant stop themselves.

The 1 long 2 I remember Dieng taking was a wide open long 2 he has made at a decent clip in the past. If Wiggins shot long 2's with percentages like Dieng we would be talking about him being like kinda good and stuff. Dieng shouldnb't be taking alot fo those shots though. The other long 2 were his foot on the line shooting 3's. Dieng's problem wasn't his shot selection last night... He had an interesting quote a couple days ago about defense. He said he actually likes switching because he likes to be aggressive going at the guards instead of them coming at him. He can get burned either way but I do think he is better off D-ing them up as a man defender instead of having them come at him with a full head of steam I think he has even less chance then. I expect he will play better then next time he steps on the court in a game...he set the bar pretty low though. LOL

Agreed. All of our individual players and our team as a whole need to shoot fewer long 2s, but Dieng's percentages from there are among the best on the team, partly because he doesn't usually force shots when the defense is there. Shooting from that distance is a strength for him. Out of all the centers in the league, he has perennially one of the best FT percentages, and even though he does shoot too many long 2s, he still shoots over 50% from the floor. He has simple, repetitive mechanics, and a high release as a 7 footer who consistently releases it at about the same height because he barely gets off his feet. Notice the similarity with KAT? Both of them shoot "jump" shots much more like set shots. They shoot every shot outside of 5 feet like it's a free throw. It seems to work for them, and obviously, especially for KAT because of all the other things he does a million times better and of course, KAT's ability to hit the 3. If G could speed up his release a bit more, I would love to see him try to become a bit of a 3 point specialist like Brook Lopez. Maybe it wouldn't work, but given his strengths as a shooter, that's the one avenue to relevance I see for him.

Unfortunately, G's weakness is about everything else, all of it tied to how slow he is. And as the league gets smaller and quicker and traditional centers (especially in the West) continue to get phased out, G's value just drops and drops. Ugh.

I think Dieng worked with the same shooting coach as Dirk. Dieng said recently one thing he can do is shoot. I know he has felt pretty confident he can take and make 3's in the past. I'm not sure if he has stretched it out long enough for above the break 3's but I'm fine with him firing away especially in preseason.

The funny thing about Dieng is that while he is slow I think he plays better when he plays more Like a guy much smaller when he defends. There are modern aspect to his game but his lack of foot speed combined with not being a strong guy make him a weird player and holds him back. Another thing that makes him a backup is he is both just solid at things but then incredibly inconsistent at some other things...like his awesome pump fake that's so good he travels himself. lol If they are really going to be calling more feet shuffling this year...that's VERY bad news for him. I think there is a chance he is still a better overall player than a couple of the younger guys but I'd rather see what they can do and at times play smaller.

Meanwhile KBD looks to be getting the Jake Layman treatment for Portland his first couple years. Other guyS ahead of him on the roster. Dude plays so smooth when he goes to the rim.