Minnesota Sports Forum

Love, Pek - Thanks McHale
Ricky - Thanks Kahn Man
Kevin Martin - Thanks Flip

I remain optimistic on Ricky (sorry Porkchop), the issues are the second team, as last night proves.

To quote LongStrangeTrip: Can we agree that the second team was dogcrap? :)

Flips job is the bench. Hope he does well. Berea is not a point guard, Cunningham and Hummel are dead weight. Get rid of them for whatever.

Any other ideas?

papalrep wrote:Love, Pek - Thanks McHale
Ricky - Thanks Kahn Man
Kevin Martin - Thanks Flip

I remain optimistic on Ricky (sorry Porkchop), the issues are the second team, as last night proves.

To quote LongStrangeTrip: Can we agree that the second team was dogcrap? :)

Flips job is the bench. Hope he does well. Berea is not a point guard, Cunningham and Hummel are dead weight. Get rid of them for whatever.

Any other ideas?

Agree.

I still want a Gary Neal trade. We don't have a guy that can heat up off the bench like him. Cunningham and a 2nd for Neal. Let's get that done and we'll have Mbah a Moute as the backup PF. Improves the offense and defense of the second unit by getting Luc in the game and adding a 40% 3-pt shooter in Neal.

Our starters have been killing it. Budinger will get back to form eventually. I see him making strides in games (made a 3, made a baseline jumper off a curl). Shved's been on a tear for the most part and I'm fully done with Barea. Move Shved to full time backup PG, add Neal and throw Luc into the backup 4 spot. JJ can either get traded or be our emergency sparkplug if we're getting blown out, which never happens.

Our starters have proved they can match it with any other team in the NBA. I like the chemistry developing and it's important we stick with them for at least another season.

The bench on the other hand wouldn't look out of place playing in the D League.

I like Camden's idea of Gary Neal. We need a guy to come in and make shots. Barea tries to be this guy, but unfortunately he's lost his shot and brings it on himself to carry the second unit, a task he is in over his head with. I like him playing off the ball, but unfortunately playing an undersized PG off the ball doesn't work in the NBA 90% of the time.

I've always seen Cunningham as an end of bench big, not a first off the bench big. That right there is the problem. Guy looked woeful against Portland last night.

Budinger's shot will return. It's important he keeps shooting the rock to get form back. Problem is Shved and Barea are (still) shooting poorly.

I still have hope for Shved to turn in to a decent NBA player. He needs to play more minutes as a backup PG though. His size creates mismatches and we have all witnessed his ability to pass the ball and set up team mates.

Why not play LMAM? He's got next to no decent minutes since he's arrived and is our best defender. Doesn't make sense to me, especially considering we have the worst opposition FG % against us.

Funny how the mood has swung against DC. You were all in love with him last year. I always saw him for what he was, a bit player on a contending team.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Funny how the mood has swung against DC. You were all in love with him last year. I always saw him for what he was, a bit player on a contending team.

Yep, I'm one of those guys who have swung. I drank the Dante kool aid because he seemd to be a classy guy who usually hustles and was reliable on that 12 footer. But as others have pointed out, that shot is one of the least efficient options in basketball and no longer goes in as consistently. To be fair, he's not the player he was last year when that shot was going in, but I likely overrated him anyway.

I have always been down on Dante although it sounds horrible to say that. All he can do is hit a 12-15 footer, and when that is not going he provides nothing. I don't know how he got the hustle mantle ever after seeing him or how he was ahead of Dwill ever. If people say Dwill had a low basketball IQ then what is Dante? His D is my biggest problem with his game. It was really sad to see live, I was really hoping to see the opposite in terms of hustle etc. But he doesn't give anything in that way.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Funny how the mood has swung against DC. You were all in love with him last year. I always saw him for what he was, a bit player on a contending team.

When that 15-18 footer isn't falling and he's blowing layups while playing less-than-expected defense, love is lost. DC's been a huge disappointment this year.