For Better or Worse: Rate the Wolves

shrink · Post #1 » by **shrink** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 5:36 am

Which Wolves have been better than you expected this year? Which are worse? Which are about the same?

For me:

Better:
Cunningham
Shved
Kirilenko
Steimsma

About What I Expected:
Pekovic
Love
Ridnour
Barea
Amundson

Worse:
Derrick Williams
Malcolm Lee
Brandon Roy

southern wolf · Post #2 » by **southern wolf** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 5:44 am

I agree with that, except Amundson has been a lot worse than I expected.

[RCG] · Post #3 » by **[RCG]** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 5:46 am

Better: Cunningham, Kirilenko, Shved, Lee, Stiemsma
Same: Love, Pekovic, Ridnour, Barea, Williams
Below: Roy, Amundson

Post #4 » by **Klomp** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 5:46 am

southern wolf wrote:I agree with that, except Amundson has been a lot worse than I expected.

Agreed. I thought Amundson would be much better. Maybe he just needs Rubio's touch...

jade_hippo · Post #5 » by **jade_hippo** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:59 am

what may I ask was your expectation for Lou? His career has been fly around like a banshee, get in other players way and foul. Career highs are 5/4/1blk. His shooting numbers are awful, but who on this team has good %'s right now...

southern wolf · Post #6 » by **southern wolf** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:30 am

jade_hippo wrote:what may I ask was your expectation for Lou? His career has been fly around like a banshee, get in other players way and foul. Career highs are 5/4/1blk. His shooting numbers are awful, but who on this team has good %'s right now...

I thought he would be a really good hustle player like Tolliver and do the things that don't show up on the stat sheet, he hasn't from what I've seen.

Murphs56 · Post #7 » by **Murphs56** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:34 am

I really didn't know much about Cunningham other than he was a good glue guy, but the dude can flat out play. He hustles, rebounds and has a pretty nice 15 footer. Also, around the basket, I think sometimes our front court has an allergic reaction to put backs, but Dante always seems to put them in.

I watched Shved and Kirilenko every game at the olympics so the play they are putting forth is not a surprise to me in the slightest. I knew AK was going to put up these type of stats and I thought that Shved was going to be a perfect fit and somebody that could come in and make plays.

Surprises in the negative. I thought Roy would last a lot longer than he did and would put up some meaningful contributions in the 4th quarter for this team. Derrick really stunk it up for good portions this season when he got the opportunity to start. I don't know what's wrong with the dude. He can't finish near the basket, and he has a lot of trouble clutching rebounds. I wish him well because I think he's really talented, I just don't think we'll see it in Minnesota.

I'm very disappointed with Ridnour. Yes, he had a good game tonight, but I never remember him being THIS BAD defensively. Every point guard he's played this year outside of those teams that don't really have one (The Kings) have torched him. Lee is a real work in progress. The dude was injured basically all of last year so this is pretty much his rookie season. Defensively, I like what I see, but offensively he has a LONG way to go. But with no competent 2's on this team at the moment, Lee is likely to stick it out in this starting lineup unless Adelman wants to go back to his Rubio/Ridnour combo but against big 2's like say Paul George, Kobe, Joe Johnson, Harden, Mayo even, I don't think You can have Luke out there to start

lobishome · Post #8 » by **lobishome** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:47 am

Better:
Cunningham
Kirilenko
Ridnour
Malcolm Lee

About What I Expected:
Shved
Brandon Roy
Pekovic
Love
Amundson
Steimsma

Worse:
Derrick Williams
Barea

Post #9 » by **C.lupus** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:00 pm

shrink wrote:Which Wolves have been better than you expected this year? Which are worse? Which are about the same?

For me:

Better:
Cunningham
Shved
Kirilenko
Steimsma

About What I Expected:
Pekovic
Love
Ridnour
Barea
Amundson

Worse:
Derrick Williams
Malcolm Lee
Brandon Roy

That's about it for me, too. I might put Steimsma in the About What I Expected category, though. I guess in hind sight we were all expecting too much from Roy. Wishful thinking FTL.

Post #10 » by **Klomp** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 4:57 pm

southern wolf wrote:
jade_hippo wrote:what may I ask was your expectation for Lou? His career has been fly around like a banshee, get in other players way and foul. Career highs are 5/4/1blk. His shooting numbers are awful, but who on this team has good %'s right now...

I thought he would be a really good hustle player like Tolliver and do the things that don't show up on the stat sheet, he hasn't from what I've seen.

Pretty much this. I guess his stats are about as I expected, but it's how he looks when on the floor.

champalift · Post #11 » by **champalift** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 5:52 pm

I agree with the general consensus.
One issue I am having thus far this year is that I have been a bit frustrated with Pekovic. He has missed way to many easy shots and also loses too many rebounds that are right there for him. I really like him, but unless he picks it up, there is no way he should be a 10+ million/year guy this offseason despite the market likely giving him the max (or damn near).
Maybe I am alone. There is plenty of season left for this to change, but I would say he is a bit "below" what I expected this year so far especially considering he had all the opportunity in the world to simply take over games with Love out.

Dante Cunningham has been my number one surprise this year. Love his effort. Shved to. Had no idea what to expect, but he shows flashes that make me really excited for his future.
EDIT: And AK. Knew he was good, but he is better than I expected. Just does all the little things. That assist to Pek in the post late last night was amazing.

shrink · Post #12 » by **shrink** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 6:04 pm

I thought this might be an interesting thread, because it doesn't talk about overall talent but relative talent, and because we all brought different expectations from the summer.

It's interesting to see Malcolm Lee jump categories, but maybe that's because no one really had a good idea what to expect.

sisibilio · Post #13 » by **sisibilio** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 6:10 pm

Better:
Cunningham
Budinger (small sample though)

About What I Expected:
Pekovic
Love (see Budman)
Ridnour
Barea
Amundson
Shved
Kirilenko
Steimsma
Malcolm Lee
Brandon Roy (maybe he went down a bit sooner than i thought but lets get real, this was the most likely outcome)

Worse:
Derrick Williams

Post #14 » by **C.lupus** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 6:16 pm

champalift wrote:I agree with the general consensus.
One issue I am having thus far this year is that I have been a bit frustrated with Pekovic. He has missed way to many easy shots and also loses too many rebounds that are right there for him. I really like him, but unless he picks it up, there is no way he should be a 10+ million/year guy this offseason despite the market likely giving him the max (or damn near).
Maybe I am alone. There is plenty of season left for this to change, but I would say he is a bit "below" what I expected this year so far especially considering he had all the opportunity in the world to simply take over games with Love out.

Dante Cunningham has been my number one surprise this year. Love his effort. Shved to. Had no idea what to expect, but he shows flashes that make me really excited for his future.
EDIT: And AK. Knew he was good, but he is better than I expected. Just does all the little things. That assist to Pek in the post late last night was amazing.

I agree with Pek. I've been a little disappointed in his performance but not enough to drop him in this categorization. I think part of it is PGs who aren't able to get him the ball at the right time and part of it is teams focusing on him more (he basically was the only threat for a while so he was getting double teamed and blind sided a lot). Both of those things should be changing in his favor with Rubio coming back (and Love already back).

Dual · Post #15 » by **Dual** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 6:21 pm

Better:
Cunningham
Budinger
Barea
Shved
Kirilenko

About What I Expected:
Love
Stiemsma
Malcolm Lee
Brandon Roy

Worse:
Derrick Williams
Amundson
Pekovic
Ridnour

Tirion · Post #16 » by **Tirion** » Sat Dec 1, 2012 1:09 pm

Better:

CunningHAM (had no idea he was this good, mostly cause I never saw him play)
Budinger (he truly fits Adleman's system like a glove, better ballhandler than I thought)

Slightly better:

Pekovic (cause off his defense which is much improved, would've been in a better category if not for his offense)
Barea (wrote him off as a bad signing laast season, but he looked like Dallas version so far)
Shved (thought it would take a little longer for him to adjust, also thought he would butt heads with Adelman)

About What I Expected:

D-Will (same old Caged Lion)
AK (always knew he was this good)
Steamer (good role player)
Ridnour (same as always - he's a backup, who gets exposed as a starter)
Amudson

Worse:

Love (maybe I'm spoiled, but this is the first year were he hadn't improved his game)
Lee (he can't shoot at all)
Roy (I thought he would last at least a month)

jfg · Post #17 » by **jfg** » Sat Dec 1, 2012 2:29 pm

Better:
Cunningham
Shved- I had high hopes, but I didn't think he'd be good until Rubio came back.

About What I Expected:
Kirilenko- Knew he'd be really good, knew he'd miss some games.
Lee
Ridnour- No D, rarely creates an open shot. Yep, that's about right.
Barea- See Ridnour.
Amundson-

Worse:
Roy
Williams
Pekovic- Rubio makes Pek an all-star, something I didn't fully realize.
Love- Didn't think his shooting would be so bad when he returned.
Steimsma- Thought he'd get more PT.

moss_is_1 · Post #18 » by **moss_is_1** » Sun Dec 2, 2012 3:56 am

Better:
Cunningham - he even surprised me, and I was one of the biggest Cunningham fans ever since he came into the NBA. Always hustles, great offensive rebounder, good defender, and money from 15 feet.

Shved - Wasn't sure if he would make an impact right away, been very good.

AK47 - Thought he would be a good player, but he's been fantastic. Really made our defense a lot better with his help, does all the little things.

Budinger - Can score without the ball, and is better on defense then I thought. Too bad he won't get to play with Rubio much this season.

About what I expected:

Luke/JJ - They both are fine when you don't need them...when you need them they mostly disappoint. Will be fine when Rubio is back.

Pekovic - His offense isn't quite what it was with Rubio last year, but it should come when he gets back and Love is there to space.

Lee - didn't expect him to come in and take over the starting spot. Knew he was a change of pace defender at the 1 or 2, that could get into the paint with his handle from time to time.

Worse:

D-will - just tries to do too much out there, needs to master a few things and just do that until he can keep improving. I think he's starting to realize that, but still has lapses.

Roy - expected him to at least be able to shoot. Sieve on D, can't make a shot. Only really useful for his passing and leadership.

Love - he's really irking me. defense is crap, can't make **** and always complaining. Our team defense has taken a hit from when D-will/Cunningham were sharing the minutes. Once he finds his shot he'll be fine I'm sure.

Post #19 » by **C.lupus** » Sun Dec 2, 2012 2:26 pm

You guys are being a little harsh on Love. He missed a month with two broken bones in his shooting hand. He's only been back six games, has only had one practice, and this last game he was nearly vomiting and having diarrhea on the floor. Let him get back in game shape before calling him disappointing. I can't wait to read what people are going to say about Ricky after his first couple games.