jpzx
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The Minnesota Timberwolves Thread: Timberwolves, Anthony Bennett part ways
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by jpzx,
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jpzx
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wow
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Bruhhh.. that line in the skyway did not seem like it would ever end. We didn't eem reach the end before we tapped outwow
jpzx
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Some updates on Shabazz Muhammad, and the Chase Budinger-Damjan Rudez trade:
Summer League thoughts through two games:
Towns has to make gradual improvements in his lower body and base throughout the next few years. That appears to be one of the very few glaring parts of the game that he really is behind-the-curve on compared to everything else. He lost position too often against Upshaw/T.Black, and a few times yesterday. Really impressed with his passing ability, and is range is as advertised/as we saw in the limited, 20 MPG exposure he had at Kentucky where he was tethered to the post.
It's a fluid, operating theory on July 12th, but I think Lorenzo Brown will win the backup point-guard job, with Tyus Jones starting the year out on the team but spending much of the upcoming season in the Developmental League.
Because when it comes to Tyus, the end of the third quarter against LAL presented several situations where he was smothered by bigger guards after crossing halfcourt. He turned it over both times this happened, and this is Summer-League size (first- and second-year players, NBADL players and players who won't ever make it in the league), yet the size in these situations is already affecting him.
Yes, he has great instincts, radiates leadership, I love it. But he's reached the last stair on the staircase, the NBA, and we have to hope the last level isn't the only level his size will prove too great to overcome. A lot of it has to do with shooting of course and the rest can be problems that are eventually dealt with by balancing rotations, but there are plenty of questions. I don't place a lot of value on his performance against Chicago, since I don't have any concerns over how he might fare against guards his size -- which is why I think he can eventually be a good backup point guard, even if he has to be really bad first to get there.
LaVine was absolutely terrible against Chicago, and it came just one day after a performance where he absolutely lit a fire underneath the team early with his shooting clinic, hitting everything. Suddenly when LaVine's not hitting his shots, what is he? What does he give you? He's not a good defender yet event though his size, length and athleticism project him as possibly being one at a future date, but he's not that yet. So basically, just a volume of missed shots and nothing else - especially 'nothing else' considering he's at the SG position / where he should be, but it makes you less ball-dominant which doesn't present the various opportunities throughout a game to deviate from the set plays, deviate on the PnR, etc.
That's why I worry about what his playing time could look like in this upcoming season only, if he goes through cold stretches. Nobody can look at what he's able to, his age and how he cut into the transition period last year and claim they're not very optimistic about his future - but until he can flourish in multiple ways he's going to have his role reduced despite the talent when he's NOT flourishing in the only way he knows how.
I saw one huddle where they all basically ignored Ryan Saunders while the NBA TV cameras were peering in. He was obnoxiously tapping Towns and somebody else during this little, 10-second thing and whoever Towns was with + Towns didn't give him their full attention at all. Karl and Karlito can spot nepotism when it's holding a clipboard right in front of them.
Summer League thoughts through two games:
Towns has to make gradual improvements in his lower body and base throughout the next few years. That appears to be one of the very few glaring parts of the game that he really is behind-the-curve on compared to everything else. He lost position too often against Upshaw/T.Black, and a few times yesterday. Really impressed with his passing ability, and is range is as advertised/as we saw in the limited, 20 MPG exposure he had at Kentucky where he was tethered to the post.
It's a fluid, operating theory on July 12th, but I think Lorenzo Brown will win the backup point-guard job, with Tyus Jones starting the year out on the team but spending much of the upcoming season in the Developmental League.
Because when it comes to Tyus, the end of the third quarter against LAL presented several situations where he was smothered by bigger guards after crossing halfcourt. He turned it over both times this happened, and this is Summer-League size (first- and second-year players, NBADL players and players who won't ever make it in the league), yet the size in these situations is already affecting him.
Yes, he has great instincts, radiates leadership, I love it. But he's reached the last stair on the staircase, the NBA, and we have to hope the last level isn't the only level his size will prove too great to overcome. A lot of it has to do with shooting of course and the rest can be problems that are eventually dealt with by balancing rotations, but there are plenty of questions. I don't place a lot of value on his performance against Chicago, since I don't have any concerns over how he might fare against guards his size -- which is why I think he can eventually be a good backup point guard, even if he has to be really bad first to get there.
LaVine was absolutely terrible against Chicago, and it came just one day after a performance where he absolutely lit a fire underneath the team early with his shooting clinic, hitting everything. Suddenly when LaVine's not hitting his shots, what is he? What does he give you? He's not a good defender yet event though his size, length and athleticism project him as possibly being one at a future date, but he's not that yet. So basically, just a volume of missed shots and nothing else - especially 'nothing else' considering he's at the SG position / where he should be, but it makes you less ball-dominant which doesn't present the various opportunities throughout a game to deviate from the set plays, deviate on the PnR, etc.
That's why I worry about what his playing time could look like in this upcoming season only, if he goes through cold stretches. Nobody can look at what he's able to, his age and how he cut into the transition period last year and claim they're not very optimistic about his future - but until he can flourish in multiple ways he's going to have his role reduced despite the talent when he's NOT flourishing in the only way he knows how.
I saw one huddle where they all basically ignored Ryan Saunders while the NBA TV cameras were peering in. He was obnoxiously tapping Towns and somebody else during this little, 10-second thing and whoever Towns was with + Towns didn't give him their full attention at all.
Karl and Karlito can spot nepotism when it's holding a clipboard right in front of them.
jpzx
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Thanks for this, I hadn't been able to follow any summer action thus far!
That's an interesting point on Tyus. While right now I can't see him being sent to the D-League next season (because it is so rare for 1st rounders to do so) I would be in full favor of it if he wasn't getting any burn the first half of the season. Teams are so reluctant to send prospects down to the minors because it has this stigma to it - players don't want to do it, GM's don't want to look like they failed on their draft picks, and fans think the league is a joke - but I've always thought teams should utilize the available minutes of that league whenever possible. Should be interesting, and this is what happens when teenagers are pushed to the league in order to grab that money - many of them are not close to be ready, mentally or physically.
The Lavine angle is going to be interesting as well, as he has a lot of people hoodwinked on his talent based on the fact he dominated an NBA slam dunk contest. He still is a raw kid who obviously has talent in his body but is no where near being a starting guard on a good team. He especially should have been watching and learning his first couple years if not being sent to D League. But I think he has a chance.
The Ryan Saunders thing is just laughable all around - he does not need to be the head coach of their summer league and he looks like he's about 16 years old still - these players not listening to him wouldn't surprise me in the least. It's seriously comedy at it's finest - this is the NBA and you have Ryan Saunders pretending to be a head coach. But this is the Timberwolves and we will always be the laughingstock of the world when it comes to operations, and Godfather's priorities remain his ego, and his son.
Both ego and son will be the reason this team never hires a new head coach that is a name guy and i have said that from day 1.
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Wait, so this dude actually has an imaginary friend?
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Karlito is a real imaginary thing brah
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I got love for all of ya'll in this thread and we like fam in here, but I just do not get the Saunders hate.
Any chance we con convince the Mavs to take Pek? Or the Doormat known as Kevin Martin?
Any chance we con convince the Mavs to take Pek? Or the Doormat known as Kevin Martin?
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I got love for all of ya'll in this thread and we like fam in here, but I just do not get the Saunders hate.
Any chance we con convince the Mavs to take Pek? Or the Doormat known as Kevin Martin?
I feel like Flip is handcuffing Bennett and others on the team. I feel like we'll turn into the Wizards with a lot of mid range jumpers.
Dallas should take Pek off our hands so the young guns can play.
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It's okay to dig Saunders, more power to anyone who wants to. He's not the worst coach in the world, and he's not the worst GM.
But I was done with him the first era when he got fired. Now he's just a bug that hangs around because he can manipulate a senile owner in a market that allows him to.
But I was done with him the first era when he got fired. Now he's just a bug that hangs around because he can manipulate a senile owner in a market that allows him to.
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How though?
I mean all I keep hearing is words like this, yet no actual examples?
The Pek deal was popular at the time and a no brainer imo
His Drafts have been exceptional, although at the time I bashed the Burke deal he def won that one
Martin was Kahn's era no?
Turned Love into Wiggins
Drafted Lavine and Towns and Bazz literally all the pieces of value we own he brought in
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jpzx
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Flip is a bottom 5 coach easy.
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Keep the blanket statements coming Debbie.
jpzx
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Martin was the mini-Adelman era, even if Kahn was there. Kahn had ceded all control to him by that point. Which is why we saw Chase Budinger and Brad Miller too.
We can't be chest-pumping Zach LaVine and Shabazz Muhammad yet. One good half-season isn't worth celebrating just because Trey Burke sucks, especially when Muhammad still only plays about half the court. LaVine is promising, but he's still very raw at 20-years-old and gives the team nothing when his shots aren't falling. Yeah, we're still six years away from his prime, but that doesn't indicate he's actually going to go out there and capitalize on the progress he's already made or the time available.
Flip Saunders fell into the Andrew Wiggins thing. Had the Heat won in 2014, LeBron doesn't leave and Saunders probably takes the Bulls deal or grits his teeth through the trade deadline (eh). The only person who would've screwed up LeBron hand-picking a player around the league once he arrived to Cleveland that would slide in next to he and Kyrie is David Kahn, who you know would try to ask for more or some ****.
We can't be chest-pumping Zach LaVine and Shabazz Muhammad yet. One good half-season isn't worth celebrating just because Trey Burke sucks, especially when Muhammad still only plays about half the court. LaVine is promising, but he's still very raw at 20-years-old and gives the team nothing when his shots aren't falling. Yeah, we're still six years away from his prime, but that doesn't indicate he's actually going to go out there and capitalize on the progress he's already made or the time available.
Flip Saunders fell into the Andrew Wiggins thing. Had the Heat won in 2014, LeBron doesn't leave and Saunders probably takes the Bulls deal or grits his teeth through the trade deadline (eh). The only person who would've screwed up LeBron hand-picking a player around the league once he arrived to Cleveland that would slide in next to he and Kyrie is David Kahn, who you know would try to ask for more or some ****.
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If we're going to say he fell into getting wiggins, he also fell into Love LEAVING. You guys pick and choose, and only bash him. I don't even necessarily think he's the next Phil Jackson. I just don't get the disdain. Who would you have picked over Bazz as of today? Who would be a player with a higher ceiling than Lavine from last years draft at that point. All hate and no solutions is just waste imo.
Of course you judge a trade by comparing players..... How else? Both Dieng and Bazz are better than Burke right now.
Of course you judge a trade by comparing players..... How else? Both Dieng and Bazz are better than Burke right now.
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Goat
Gregg Popovich
Elite
Rick Carlisle
Brad Stevens
Stan Van Gundy
Steve Kerr
Really Good
Mike Budenholzer
Frank Vogel
Erik Spoelstra
Doc Rivers
Terry Stotts
George Karl
Potentially Good.
Alvin Gentry
Jason Kidd
Scott Skiles
Jeff Hornacek
Steve Clifford
Quin Snyder
Impossible to tell.
David Blatt
Brett Brown
Mike Malone
Replacement Level.
Kevin McHale
Lionel Hollins
David Joerger
Dwane Casey
Actively Harmful
Randy Wittman
Flip Saunders
Byron Scott
Derek Fisher
You may disagree with the order within the tiers but the gaps I think are pretty accurate.
Gregg Popovich
Elite
Rick Carlisle
Brad Stevens
Stan Van Gundy
Steve Kerr
Really Good
Mike Budenholzer
Frank Vogel
Erik Spoelstra
Doc Rivers
Terry Stotts
George Karl
Potentially Good.
Alvin Gentry
Jason Kidd
Scott Skiles
Jeff Hornacek
Steve Clifford
Quin Snyder
Impossible to tell.
David Blatt
Brett Brown
Mike Malone
Replacement Level.
Kevin McHale
Lionel Hollins
David Joerger
Dwane Casey
Actively Harmful
Randy Wittman
Flip Saunders
Byron Scott
Derek Fisher
You may disagree with the order within the tiers but the gaps I think are pretty accurate.
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jpzx
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No, he took a job voluntarily when the writing of Love leaving had been on the wall forever. He did not fall into that.
He did fall into Wiggins, based on LeBron expediting his move to Cleveland coming off their NBA Finals loss to the Spurs. He was going to Cleveland at some point to play the last one-third of his career, but most have reported since that even he didn't know that he was going to be going there so soon until the point at which he saw what happened with Wade in G1 of the Finals / saw that he would have more help in CLE if he left this offseason anyway, so why not just go now?'
You don't grade them out against Trey Burke for the same reason you don't grade out Rubio to Ty Lawson.
Why should I give him credit for Shabazz Muhammad when he went on the radio the morning after and said 'the draft clearly didn't fall the way we wanted it to' 'didn't get the guy we wanted' (they wanted Kentavious Caldwell-Pope). GM's literally will suck up to how they did in a draft in the days and months that follow a pick, and instead Flip Saunders is on the radio only one day after talking about how bad it was. Why? Because of what Ry's been talking about - it's a situation where he can publicly bash his pick & it might not even factor into the owner's day or concerns. You don't get credit when you thought you did a bad job after it happened - that's just how it is.
Do you want to talk about the first-round pick that we no longer have because Saunders wanted to compete (Thaddeus Young)? Or the first-round pick that we no longer have because Tom Izzo told Saunders to trade for a guy at his lowest value in the D-League (Adreian Payne)?
Even if we need to slow down on the praise for Saunders as it relates to LaVine and Muhammad, they both still tell me that he and/or the front office can find usable, rotational players at a minimum in the middle of the draft (Dieng in the 20s was a steal) - so considering that, why does he continue to give up first-round picks for **** again?
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GM flip is fine. Best thing he can do is fire his head coach
jpzx
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PR with the scoop? I hope
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jpzx
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