Minnesota Sports Forum

Bjelica getting respect in the press.

http://www.nba.com/timberwolves/quick-hits-oct-8-legend-bjelica-continues

I know this won't happen, but what about a starting lineup of:

Towns/KG/Belly/Wiggs/RR

Regardless all early indications point to Belly being on the court at the end of games.

Mstermisty wrote:I know this won't happen, but what about a starting lineup of:

Towns/KG/Belly/Wiggs/RR

Regardless all early indications point to Belly being on the court at the end of games.

Interesting lineup because it gives us more size while also having that second ball handler Mitchell has talked about (and partially how he justified LaVine over Martin). Bjelly would effectively be our SG on offense, but check 3's on defense (and that might be a problem). To your point, it won't happen.

But I agree that we'll see Bjelica in games at crunch time, with either KG or Towns next to him at Center. The guy just knows how to play.

Q, what were your thoughts on Bjelica's defense last night? I thought it was pretty good. Gets his hands on passes, drives. Moves his feet well for a big. Contained the ball-handler in P&R. Got beat one time by an OKC guard, but recovered to strip the ball away from him. He plays smart defense.

Cam, I think Bjelly was fine on defense, although the video broadcast really didn't give us a great extended view of it due to the angles and replays of prior offensive possessions while our guys were on defense.

I think the way you characterize him as playing smart defense makes sense. He probably isn't going to be a big plus on defense, but I don't think he'll hurt us on that end of the floor. I'm much more concerned about Towns, Payne, and Dieng.

Q12543 wrote:Cam, I think Bjelly was fine on defense, although the video broadcast really didn't give us a great extended view of it due to the angles and replays of prior offensive possessions while our guys were on defense.

I think the way you characterize him as playing smart defense makes sense. He probably isn't going to be a big plus on defense, but I don't think he'll hurt us on that end of the floor. I'm much more concerned about Towns, Payne, and Dieng.

One thing that helps Bjelica is all phases is that he has legit height and length. He can be smart play straight up and make the guy beat himgetting around or shooting over him. He might not be explosive but he is big and fluid AND skilled. That's a nice combination.

We have a couple of intriguing guys backing up KG, and their games couldn't be any more different. Bjelica always seems to be in control on the floor, and has superb vision and passing skills, but tends to be too deferential on offense. Payne plays hard and has great length, but forces too much on offense and makes poor decisions. I prefer Bjelica, especially if he can be just average on the boards, but right now he seems to be behind Payne on Mitchell's depth chart. It will be interesting to see how this develops during the pre-season. Bjelica seems too talented to me to stay behind Adreian.

I mentioned that I got to Monday's scrimmage an hour early, and Nemanja was the only player on the court (Actually, Pek was there too shooting free throws).. He was working on three-pointers...must have shot 200 of them while I was there, and I don't know how long he had been there before I arrived. The good news is that he has great form on his shot. The bad news is that it wasn't going in very often. NBA players qualified to take 3-pointers usually hit about 80% of them in practice based on my unofficial observation...even Rubio seems to hit 4 out of 5. But Bjelica was consistently hitting only about 50%. And he looked frustrated with his performance. After about 15-20 minutes of shooting, he sat down next to Pek and was shaking his head. I wonder if he is going through a shooting slump, and that is why Sam has him as 3rd PF on the depth chart.

longstrangetrip wrote:But Bjelica was consistently hitting only about 50%. And he looked frustrated with his performance. After about 15-20 minutes of shooting, he sat down next to Pek and was shaking his head. I wonder if he is going through a shooting slump, and that is why Sam has him as 3rd PF on the depth chart.

While he may not be your typical rookie, he is dealing with significant change in his life in moving to the States, new teammates, new home, top that off with the pressure of now playing in the big league and its understandable that he may take a few games to settle his nerves. He'll be fine.

TheSP wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:But Bjelica was consistently hitting only about 50%. And he looked frustrated with his performance. After about 15-20 minutes of shooting, he sat down next to Pek and was shaking his head. I wonder if he is going through a shooting slump, and that is why Sam has him as 3rd PF on the depth chart.

While he may not be your typical rookie, he is dealing with significant change in his life in moving to the States, new teammates, new home, top that off with the pressure of now playing in the big league and its understandable that he may take a few games to settle his nerves. He'll be fine.

The NBA 3 is a little farther than international. He has the range but it may a bit to get used to. I am not too worried either.

I have been impressed with him so fair. I have been trying to not to expect to much, but just watching him play it looks like his timing is still a hair off, but he has the making of a really good PF along side Towns. When him and Ricky are on the floor you need to surround them with 3 shooters because they will be open and get great looks.