2023 summer league

[gandlogo]

I don't know if watching five summer league games is statistically credible for me to form an opinion. Wait. It's an opinion, so it can be based on whatever an individual needs to formulate said opinion. As others pointed out, the team wasn't necessarily full of players fighting for roster spots or even two-way contracts. And that was also helpful for narrowing my scope to just Miller, Minott, and Moore (alphabetically, I guess).

Miller - he passes the eyeball test for me. Looks like a basketball player. Great motor, but an understanding of pace and space (something Okogie never had). Finch used the "feel" word, and that was spot on. He looks like could help the big club this season, even if most of his time is spent in Iowa.

Minott - a lot of different player comparisons have been used for Minott, but the one that popped into my head was Brandon Clarke. They have nearly identical measurements, but Minott has a much better wingspan. Both are twitchy, undersized to bang, and very limited in their offensive game. But, Clarke didn't turn into an NBA prospect until his fourth year (back when you sat out a year to transfer) of college. So while I too have been disappointed with Minott's improvement over the last year, it's still early in his development. That said, he hasn't shown that help defense (or any defense) and rebounding skills that Clarke has. The ball just finds some guys, and that may be Miller not Minott.

Moore - my Duke bias probably gets in the way here, but he was the most important player - not the best player - his final season at Duke. I think Klomp used a glue guy 10 minutes before Finch described him the same way. IMO he's a lot like SloMo, only shorter. He's a guy that will never be the best player on the floor, and yet he somehow helps you win games and can be plugged into a bunch of different lineups. I'm still bullish that he can be a rotation player in the NBA.

Hopefully by the time the season starts the Wolves will figure out how to stop the sideline break after a make.

[minimus]

I saw one interesting discussion on twitter, one guy asked why recent NBA drafts have less and less elite ballhandlers. One of answers was that is is because of hyperspecialisation, when players already aiming his role and practicing it, another answer was increasing role of 3pt shooting, and one more poster said that NBA team defense is getting continiously smarter and more difficlut to score against at rim. That said I have been thinking about Brandon Williams, who is antitrend in this sense. He was not drafted, but after draft he consistently got better as ballhandler and finisher at rim. I am really intrigued wh he decided to go in this direction? I was surprised by his acrobatic layups, advanced dribbling, timing, ambidextorous finishes. He also looks stronger than in 2019. He was our most advanced player in terms of technique and arseanl of tricks: he abused slower opponents with dribble, he finishes with both left and right hand, he hit floaters, eurosteps, scoop shots, reverse layups, he used the board well.

I am really impressed by two things: first he was by far the quickest player on the floor, but he was not a blackhole nor empty dribbling guy. His decision making was fast and he controlled pace well , he was balancing well between his individual game and team offense. His passing was not flashy, but it was functional. Second, he was also smallest player on the floor, but he was first in FTA (5.5), he often initiated contact, he scored consistently despite presence of defenders in the paint. He remind me a young Jeff Teague, when Teague was not affraid to shoot open shots and score in the paint.

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Watch on YouTube

[younggunsmn]

Yeah, I was able to catch all but one game and I am less encouraged about our 3 former draft picks who participated than before.

Minott and Moore are going to have trouble being more than a bottom 5 roster player on a good team

Miller showed a lot of potential with the handle and shooting. I think he's going to need to add more lower body strength before he is ready for regular NBA minutes. It will help him with balance, with his shot, but mostly with scoring and rebounding in traffic.
Better lower body strength will help him play through contact and turn some of those turnovers into free throw attempts.
If he doesn't improve there, you are looking at his floor as a player like Anthony Randolph.

He seems to be a bit ambidextrous and one high level skill he demonstrated was finishing with either hand around the basket.

I did not like our offensive system at all during summer league, even if we didn't have much talent in the backcourt.

[Klomp]

Minott and Moore are going to have trouble being more than a bottom 5 roster player on a good team

Moore's upside is probably 8th-10th man/spot starter on a good team. But with more work, I think he could have a Josh Hart career.