The Joan Beringer Thread

[Klomp]

MP: Going toward the bottom of the roster now, do you want first-round draft pick Joan Berenger here or do you want him in Iowa (playing in the G-league), or both?

Finch: I think largely here. Again, we are going to have to be intentional about it, but we are going to need to find minutes for him. I think he needs to be up here to see the NBA and experience it first-hand. We need him as a guy to go up against Rudy (Golbert) every single day. That is a good challenge. They will be part of each other’s player development, which I think is going to be good for both of them right now. So we see him here, more than down there.

MP: (President of basketball operations) Tim Connelly, who drafted him, has talked about the fact that he’s pure, with no bad habits. Keeping him close is insurance against bad habits.

Finch: (laugh) That’s a good way to look at it, yeah. But I would say the kid is pure in a lot of ways — he has a maturity and a professionalism. I don’t worry about him having bad habits.

MP: But they could befall him.

Finch: For sure. He could become NBA-ized in certain ways, but I don’t see that, at least initially. He is probably more ready than most people would think.

MP: But where are you going to find the minutes?

Finch: That’s why I said we have to be intentional about it.

MP: Or wait for injuries.

Finch: You just find ways to jam him in and see what he does, and go from there. But again, yes, it is at the expense of something. But if you are going to play 9 or 10, that tenth can be used differently every night. Maybe 9 is used differently. By then second-year players, or rookies, must be mature enough to understand you might not play two of every three nights.

https://www.minnpost.com/sports/2025/09/qa-timberwolves-coach-chris-finch-on-teams-young-depth-know-your-role-keep-it-simple/

[Klomp]

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Ok, so he can't play against SAC, DEN, CHI and PHI. Pretty sure that's gonna be OK.

[Domejandro]

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[KGdaBom]

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He's not going to beat Valanciunas with strength. He's going to do it with mobility and quick hands.

[KGdaBom]

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Ok, so he can't play against SAC, DEN, CHI and PHI. Pretty sure that's gonna be OK.

That is Dane's opinion and as such is within contestation.

[Klomp]

Ok, so he can't play against SAC, DEN, CHI and PHI. Pretty sure that's gonna be OK.

That is Dane's opinion and as such is within contestation.

I think him saying "can't play" might be a little harsh, but I think that's the only part that someone could even consider contesting. I think Dane's point was pretty accurate, essentially saying that post defense isn't the worst skill to lack as a raw rookie big man.

[KGdaBom]

Ok, so he can't play against SAC, DEN, CHI and PHI. Pretty sure that's gonna be OK.

That is Dane's opinion and as such is within contestation.

I think him saying "can't play" might be a little harsh, but I think that's the only part that someone could even consider contesting. I think Dane's point was pretty accurate, essentially saying that post defense isn't the worst skill to lack as a raw rookie big man.

Can't play against those teams I contest. I believe Joan will play against those teams and be just fine.

[winforlose]

The biggest issue for JB is gonna be keeping his fouls down. We need 9-13 minutes from him on any given game. Anything more than 9-13 would be a bonus. He cannot be in foul trouble for more than half of that.

[Klomp]

A very minor critique I noticed on Joan is body language. It comes from a good place, because I think he wants so badly to be perfect at his craft. But after every time Denver made a basket, he slouched his shoulders.

I think he is very quick to move past it and his ability to respond and make up time and space is crazy impressive, but fixing this one piece of body language will make him that much more dominant.

[Domejandro]

I know that I can come across as a Dane hater, but once again, I think the analysis is pretty bad/useless. The majority of mistakes with Joan Beringer in that game was not related to post defense, it was bad attempts at shotting for steals and fronting on the perimeter. Strength disparities also impact more than just post-defense, there were some issues regarding losing position on the defensive glass during the game.

I don't know, it just seems like kind of dumb, nothing-burger analysis to say "His post defense is suspect, but only these teams have strong post-scorers!" It is particularly suspect given that match-ups are going to be more-so dependent on strength of back-ups, and whether or not he can operate in a team defensive scheme (one-on-one post offense isn't efficient enough that he would automatically become unplayable). The potential strength concerns are a bigger factor for over-fouling, really not a post-defense thing in the modern NBA.

[shrink]

I know that I can come across as a Dane hater, but once again, I think the analysis is pretty bad/useless.

I’ve stopped listening after he butchered the CBA rules on the cap, which is especially bad, because random people think he understands those rules, and go to him for information.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

A very minor critique I noticed on Joan is body language. It comes from a good place, because I think he wants so badly to be perfect at his craft. But after every time Denver made a basket, he slouched his shoulders.

I think he is very quick to move past it and his ability to respond and make up time and space is crazy impressive, but fixing this one piece of body language will make him that much more dominant.

Totally agree. Did like him on the offense side but not on defense side. Seems disinterested fighting with for rebound as well. But he is smart and hard worker so he will improve. Let's see if what he can do on the 4 pre-season games remaining but i see him getting few minutes almost every night .

[Norseman79]

Hope to see him and Rocco on at the same time some

[Domejandro]

I know that I can come across as a Dane hater, but once again, I think the analysis is pretty bad/useless.

I’ve stopped listening after he butchered the CBA rules on the cap, which is especially bad, because random people think he understands those rules, and go to him for information.

As much as I dog him, I will always appreciate him being the one who pulled Britt Robson back from retirement.

RIP Britt and Brau Podcast. Cancelled, but never forgotten!

[NebWolvesFan]

I know that I can come across as a Dane hater, but once again, I think the analysis is pretty bad/useless.

I’ve stopped listening after he butchered the CBA rules on the cap, which is especially bad, because random people think he understands those rules, and go to him for information.

I like Dane and he has done a good job building a relationship with Timberwolves guys - where he has good information - better than Wolfson who just knows people in Taylor's circle. Dane also brings other smart people on - like Jace and Chris - so you get different opinions.

But regarding the CBA rules, I never understood why he didn't talk about Naz using bird rights - not once. Part of me thinks he wanted to Naz to leave so NAW could stay. He's a huge NAW fan. But yes, he really did botch the Wolves offseason.

[NebWolvesFan]

I know that I can come across as a Dane hater, but once again, I think the analysis is pretty bad/useless.

I’ve stopped listening after he butchered the CBA rules on the cap, which is especially bad, because random people think he understands those rules, and go to him for information.

As much as I dog him, I will always appreciate him being the one who pulled Britt Robson back from retirement.

RIP Britt and Brau Podcast. Cancelled, but never forgotten!

I have to disagree on Britt. He tries to be optimistic, but 25+ year of crappy Timberwolves teams has left him with bad PTSD. He always looks at the negative. I don't mind a little bit of that, but his Dane podcasts are always like 90 minutes long. To me, Jace is the best. Kyle is fun because he's a real fan. Chris is ok but boring and Britt makes me wanna yell - Kahn is no longer here - into my phone.

[Klomp]

I know that I can come across as a Dane hater, but once again, I think the analysis is pretty bad/useless.

I’ve stopped listening after he butchered the CBA rules on the cap, which is especially bad, because random people think he understands those rules, and go to him for information.

I like Dane and he has done a good job building a relationship with Timberwolves guys - where he has good information - better than Wolfson who just knows people in Taylor's circle. Dane also brings other smart people on - like Jace and Chris - so you get different opinions.

But regarding the CBA rules, I never understood why he didn't talk about Naz using bird rights - not once. Part of me thinks he wanted to Naz to leave so NAW could stay. He's a huge NAW fan. But yes, he really did botch the Wolves offseason.

I know Dane provides his own takes, but I also think this podcast is a good avenue for him because he brings other voices in so it's not just him and his perspective.

Regarding the CBA, first of all I am not sure any NBA talker is a CBA expert yet. I'm willing to give quite a bit of grace there. I don't recall the specific Naz example, but I'd imagine that his perspective had more to with the idea of finding roster balance by keeping a power forward and a shooting guard instead of re-signing two power forwards.

[Domejandro]

I’ve stopped listening after he butchered the CBA rules on the cap, which is especially bad, because random people think he understands those rules, and go to him for information.

As much as I dog him, I will always appreciate him being the one who pulled Britt Robson back from retirement.

RIP Britt and Brau Podcast. Cancelled, but never forgotten!

I have to disagree on Britt. He tries to be optimistic, but 25+ year of crappy Timberwolves teams has left him with bad PTSD. He always looks at the negative. I don't mind a little bit of that, but his Dane podcasts are always like 90 minutes long. To me, Jace is the best. Kyle is fun because he's a real fan. Chris is ok but boring and Britt makes me wanna yell - Kahn is no longer here - into my phone.

Being honest, as the forum's resident curmudgeon, I tend to agree with Britt's negativity 90% of the time.

[shrink]

Regarding the CBA, first of all I am not sure any NBA talker is a CBA expert yet. I'm willing to give quite a bit of grace there. I don't recall the specific Naz example, but I'd imagine that his perspective had more to with the idea of finding roster balance by keeping a power forward and a shooting guard instead of re-signing two power forwards.

I don’t have a problem with people not being a CBA expert. I do have a problem with people that accept other people’s acknowledgement as a CBA expert, and then disseminate incorrect information out to the fanbase, that they all believe is true.

Dane has done this several times, and I’d stopped listening a year ago, but I went and listened to a podcast like in May, because of all the talk here on our board about it. Dane was saying how the cap holds for Naz, Randle and NAW would keep us above the second apron. As most of us know, cap holds are only used to calculate cap space, and we are nowhere near under the salary cap. In fact, it should have been obvious to Dane because we still retain the rights, and cap hold, for $28 mil for Evan Turner. It’s on Page One of the Spotrac cap table

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/minnesota-timberwolves/yearly/cap/

Dane has made a lot of mistake like that over the years. I respect that he’s trying, but when you don’t know, find out. Don’t act like an expert and misinform people.

[KGdaBom]

The biggest issue for JB is gonna be keeping his fouls down. We need 9-13 minutes from him on any given game. Anything more than 9-13 would be a bonus. He cannot be in foul trouble for more than half of that.

In the last preseason game he played 20 minutes without committing a foul. I don't think it will be an issue.