Minnesota Sports Forum

*I missed the 1st Q

Donte: D
Ant: A+
Jaden: B+
Randle: A-
Rudy: B
Naz: D-
Conley: F
TSJ: B-
Clark: B+
Bones: C

Finch gets an F for not playing Dillingham

BloopOracle wrote: ↑Thu Oct 23, 2025 7:42 am Finch gets an F for not playing Dillingham

Well, you gotta give him a little credit for tinkering with the lineup to find something that worked. The use of both Clark and Bones, limiting NAZ and DDV to 20 minutes each. But I will ding him on not using the preseason to better prepare DDV for the starting PG role!

But most good coaches exhibit patience, so I expect he will stick with DDV as the starter for several more games before concluding whether it is working or not.

On Dilly, Finch clearly views him in "development mode", and I didn't see any opportunities in last nights game to play somebody for the sake of development. Did you? I'm sure Dilly will get minutes when the game situation allows for it. Last night felt like a loss almost the entire game!

Glad to see these back Kek!

A B- for Shannon seems harsh. He was our de facto point guard while on the floor and broke the defense down on numerous occasions. During clutch time he missed a layup on one of his violent forays into the paint, but it enabled Rudy to get the easy putback dunk. He did have a couple of miscues on both ends of the court, but I'd upgrade him to a B+. He was our most impactful player off the bench and may eventually overtake Naz as our 6th man. Love it!

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Oct 23, 2025 7:55 am Glad to see these back Kek!

A B- for Shannon seems harsh. He was our de facto point guard while on the floor and broke the defense down on numerous occasions. During clutch time he missed a layup on one of his violent forays into the paint, but it enabled Rudy to get the easy putback dunk. He did have a couple of miscues on both ends of the court, but I'd upgrade him to a B+. He was our most impactful player off the bench and may eventually overtake Naz as our 6th man. Love it!

I think D-Loser suggested this in the preseason, but could Shannon and ANT become our starting backcourt of the future?!?

60WinTim wrote: ↑Thu Oct 23, 2025 7:58 am

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Oct 23, 2025 7:55 am Glad to see these back Kek!

A B- for Shannon seems harsh. He was our de facto point guard while on the floor and broke the defense down on numerous occasions. During clutch time he missed a layup on one of his violent forays into the paint, but it enabled Rudy to get the easy putback dunk. He did have a couple of miscues on both ends of the court, but I'd upgrade him to a B+. He was our most impactful player off the bench and may eventually overtake Naz as our 6th man. Love it!

I think D-Loser suggested this in the preseason, but could Shannon and ANT become our starting backcourt of the future?!?

May be. The thing Shannon has against a pressing defense is strength and straight line speed. So even though he isn't super fancy or clever with his handles, he can just get a step on guys pressing on him and then use his big body to ward them off. Plus he is a much more instinctual passer going down hill than Ant. That's the big revelation I saw starting in summer league.

Either way, I think we will see him a bunch in clutch time this year because he can relieve so much pressure when teams load up on Ant. He is another guy that can break the paint and generate good looks for others. Think about the alternatives. Conley can't really get into the paint anymore. DDV is practically useless when he drives to the basket. And Dillingham is currently on the phone with his agent begging for a trade.

kekgeek wrote: ↑Wed Oct 22, 2025 11:45 pm *I missed the 1st Q

Donte: D
Ant: A+
Jaden: B+
Randle: A-
Rudy: B
Naz: D-
Conley: F
TSJ: B-
Clark: B+
Bones: C

This is a terrific feature of this board...thanks Kek!

I'm going to disagree with Phenom's F grade for Finchy for not playing Rob. The coaches know way more about him than we do, and if Hyland has moved ahead of him in the pecking order, that's all we need to know about his readiness. I give Finchy a C+. He gets an A for his 4th quarter management of the rotation...getting the right defensive lineup out there at crunch time won the game for us. But he gets an F for starting DiVo...Conley's F and Donte's D grades tells us how well this move worked out. I suspect Donte starts again in LA...hope it goes better.

I guess I'll accept Rudy's B, although he had a terrible "hands" game...even for him. And he simply can't rank last in the starting lineup with only 3 defensive rebounds. But I support the grade because his impact on defense was impossible to ignore last night in contrast with Naz. He doesn't get that many blocks anymore because of his reputation...teams stay away from attacking the rim when he's on the court, and then feast when he is out.

How about Jaylen Clark? He scores 2 points on 1 for 5 shooting, but I support his B+ grade. Like Rudy, our defense just seems so much better when he is out there. He needs to be out there every night.

Julius was our best player in preseason, and he continued his terrific play in this game. I want to see many more lines like this: 19-7-6 on efficient shooting with 2 steals and a block and no turnovers. Dane Moore and Kyle Theige each predicted he would be an all-star this season, and I disagree...he seems committed to doing the things this team needs to win rather than putting up the kind of PPG he would need to be an all star, and that's very good news. He was an exceptional Robin to Ant's Batman last night.