Minnesota Sports Forum

Nice to see Tyus showing his basketball IQ off during the Bulls game, nice to show KAT looking good and Bjelica looking like he belongs; and not fun to see Wiggins not being assertive and not fun to see Lavine look like the game is still going a mile a minute for him mentally.....but....this is just a friendly reminder to everyone...it's only preseason. The Wolves looked unstoppable when they used to trounce a fully loaded Spurs team coming off championship runs in recent preseasons, looking flawless on the offensive end.

And then there's this...

http://nypost.com/2015/10/10/knicks-derrick-williams-finally-shows-signs-of-light-bulb-going-on/

The preseason is fools gold, and just a warmup for the real thing. It's fun to watch, and you can get some ideas from it, but I wouldn't take too much from these games.

So you mean it could actually be worse?

Q12543 wrote:So you mean it could actually be worse?

Yep, we could have the Knicks roster and have our hopes riding on Derrick Williams preseason hype!

Where's Positive82WinTIm when you need him?!

mrhockey89 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:So you mean it could actually be worse?

Yep, we could have the Knicks roster and have our hopes riding on Derrick Williams preseason hype!

Where's Positive82WinTIm when you need him?!

I'll chip in for Tim here Hockey, good to hear from you, preseason means absolutely nothing, just like football, its only good to see if marginal players are good enough to make the team.

Hockey, while I agree that there are many reasons for optimism with this franchise, I don't agree that pre-season NBA is meaningless. I would argue that pre-season basketball bears the most resemblance to the regular season game of any major sport (with the disclaimer that I have never seen pre-season hockey). MLB pre-season is charming if you are there, but you're watching starters throw 50 pitches and lots of guys that have no chance of making the team. NFL pre-season should be abolished. The stars generally don't play, and coaches purposely hide most of their offensive and defensive schemes. But pre-season basketball, although the veterans certainly hold back and minutes are limited compared to the regular season, looks the most like a regular season game. I watched the entire 2 hours Saturday night, and I could never do that for other sports that I enjoy. That's because you can actually learn a lot about your team watching pre-season.

And that's the reason for some of the pessimism here. The poor ball movement and defending the perimeter is not because Sam Mitchell is hiding anything from his rival coaches...that's the way we play. It was frustrating for me to see the contrast in how a Bulls team missing three key players swung the ball around the perimeter so beautifully, while the Wolves continued to rely on iso's and pick and rolls. And Wiggins' occasional disinterest on the offensive side is certainly worthy of discussion too. The talent level on this Wolves roster is very high, so my optimism level is also. But I think many of us would like to see more out of this team, specifically:

1) fewer wide-open 3 -pointers allowed
2) better ball movement
3) an appearance by Rubio
4) more passion from our ROY in attacking the basket
5) a little more consistency from LaVine

Q12543 wrote:So you mean it could actually be worse?

LOL! Exactly. Yes, it's preseason. But for cripes sakes, can we play some defense? I caught my first few minutes of the pre-season via streaming last game and it was unwatchable. Summer league, International games, pre-season or regular season....I think a lot of fans just want to see some competence on the defensive side of the ball. I wouldn't mind losing so much if it was actually close games around 100 points allowed. (That's how low my expectations are at this point!).

Carlos Danger wrote:

Q12543 wrote:So you mean it could actually be worse?

LOL! Exactly. Yes, it's preseason. But for cripes sakes, can we play some defense? I caught my first few minutes of the pre-season via streaming last game and it was unwatchable. Summer league, International games, pre-season or regular season....I think a lot of fans just want to see some competence on the defensive side of the ball. I wouldn't mind losing so much if it was actually close games around 100 points allowed. (That's how low my expectations are at this point!).

The good news is that I feel like we have some real talent on the offensive side of the ball and that's harder to coach up, although it certainly seems like Mitchell's schemes lack imagination. So I'm perfectly fine with Mitchell putting a bunch of emphasis on defense and letting the offense sort of take care of itself for now. But I guess that's what makes it all the more frustrating. He says all the right things, puts on a show during the first televised practice, and then we do absolutely nothing in the first two games to show any signs of progress in this regard.

Oh well, it's preseason and we weren't exactly going up against slouches for competition. OKC might have the best offense in the league with a healthy Durant and Westbrook. And Hoiberg has infused new life into the Bulls offense.

Let's hope for signs of progress tonight.

I guess there is not much mystery about who makes the team...

Alan Horton ?@WolvesRadio 1h1 hour ago
Milt Newton joined me during OKC game & said, barring something unforeseen, roster is set. 15 guys w/ guaranteed contracts will make team.

Alan Horton ?@WolvesRadio 1h1 hour ago
That means Lorenzo Brown, Kleon Penn & Nick Wiggins are the odd men out.

Unless there is a trade

Preseason is pretty much useless. Although not quite as useless as the Summer League, or a basic scrimmage, where people already make judgments on players. At the scrimmage, Tyus Jones looked like he didn't belong, should be in the D league and Brown has to be the 3rd PG. Now after another game, Jones should absolutely be backup PG.

Players, especially young ones like the Wolves do, are in no way going to look consistent. That's the difference between rookies and veterans. With veterans, you know what your getting, good or bad night in and night out. On the other hand, a guy like Zach Lavine can look like Kobe Bryant one night, and the next look like Will Avery.

I for one, am glad I haven't watched any preseason, as not to fall into this trap