Hollinger of ESPN take on Wolves this season

[Wolves2011]

Sasha had one bad season shooting three pointers - two years ago when he held out, missed training camp etc. He only shot 30% that year.

Other than that year he has averaged about 38.5%.

He is also a much better defender than Gomes.

Sasha's shooting at camp, according to observers has been better.

[TheFranchise21]

Wow 33-49 is really optimistic. I'd put us at 26 games +/- 4 games.

[Esohny]

Meh. I doubt Sasha sees major minutes, regardless of a decent camp. They need to give Sessions, Flynn, Ellington, and Brewer as much development time as possible. I would expect Session or Brewer to get minutes over Sasha at SG for sure, and Brewer getting SF minutes over Sasha.

[Wolves2011]

I see sasha stealing minutes mostly from Gomes at SF.

Sasha is a much better defender and a better shooter.

Don't forget sasha is only 25 yo [will turn 26 next month.] He can develop with the rest of the core if he is better than Gomes and he could be, he's played better at camp.

Rambis really likes he. Again Jackson - Lakers - said he was the best at defending Kobe in the NBA. Sasha is a good defender.

[revprodeji]

wolves2011 you should link to the recent Canishoopus post if you are just going to repeat all of the ideas.

http://www.canishoopus.com/2009/10/3/10 ... it-of-camp

[Wolves2011]

I've like sasha for a while.

From the moment we signed him, I thought he could start at SF or SG. Think he is under rated.
A very good defender. The very first discussions about Sasha mentioned that Kurt pushed Kahn to get him. They also mentioned that Jackson said he was the best defender on Kobe in the NBA.

In an up tempo game Sasha could be very good.
[In Cleveland they generally play half court unless Lebron is leading the break.]

I've always thought of Gomes as a good bench player for a top team. [Thats since his Celtics days.] He hasn't shown me anything to change that yet, though he might this season. [I think they will trade him at the trading deadline to clear more cap space [Most of his contract isn't guaranteed until June 30th 2010.] With a $50 million cap, which is what the NBA is estimating for next year, $4 million to $5 million is too much for a bench player like gomes. He has to have play much better defense and raise his PER to to the 16 plus range to be worth keeping, especially if we are targeting our free agent money and/or a 1st round draft pick at the wing position.

I've been a booster of Love since we drafted him. I believed the two best players in that draft a year ago [at the time, not in retrospect] were Love and Beasley.

Thought then and think now Love will be an allstar.

He was #1 among the rookies last year in PER. He was also the best young "BIG" invited to the TEAM USA scrimmages this summer according to observers there.

I"ve been a fan of Sessions since he had the 24 assist game in his first year [when he only played 17 games.] Think he is a fantastic pickup. Hollinger and other statistical analysts [I follow statistical analysis closely] all call Sessions one of the best guards in the NBA.

I read all of the major blogs on the wolves that I can find.

I use them as my eyes when I can't watch the games. [I watched about 75 to 80 of the wolves games on TV last season]. I also have league pass to watch other teams especially the Celtics to keep up with KG and the boys there.

There is no video of the training camp so I must go by what is said by those there and quotes from coaches, especially Kurt and other players.

I've followed the NBA closely for over 30 years. So please don't talk down to me.

Any more questions?

[Esohny]

If you've watched that much basketball, you must have seen some of the many games where Sasha was extremely disappointing for the Cavs, which is why he was traded and then bought out. He's just not that great a player.

[B Calrissian]

I read all of the major blogs on the wolves that I can find.

I use them as my eyes when I can't watch the games. [I watched about 75 to 80 of the wolves games on TV last season]. I also have league pass to watch other teams especially the Celtics to keep up with KG and the boys there.

There is no video of the training camp so I must go by what is said by those there and quotes from coaches, especially Kurt and other players.

I've followed the NBA closely for over 30 years. So please don't talk down to me.

Any more questions?

I honestly thought you were an insider the way you talked about the practices as if you were there.
If you are just taking information from all these blogs maybe you should quote and link them.

I don't recall Flynn getting a promise that he would start.

Alot of people seem to have missed that. It happened right after Sessions was signed.

[revprodeji]

I've followed the NBA closely for over 30 years. So please don't talk down to me.

Any more questions?

I am not talking down to you. Your post was almost word for word from parts of the blog post I linked. Either you were at the practices, or you read it somewhere. It is not an issue, I read all the blogs I can too, I was just saying to give credit. Your take on practices are almost the same as SnP.

You know your stuff. I am not talking down to you.

[Wolves2011]

If you've watched that much basketball, you must have seen some of the many games where Sasha was extremely disappointing for the Cavs, which is why he was traded and then bought out. He's just not that great a player.

As I've shown on another posting, even with Sasha being "disappointing" he is better than Gomes and could be better than Brewer.

From Wages of wins journal, Pavlovic's wp48 is 0.072, vs gomes 0.012 and Brewer 0.053, if they all played 25 minutes per game.

Brewer Wp48 0.053 - 2.3 wins produced

Gomes wp 48 0.012 - 0.5 wins produced

Pavlovic wp48 0.072 - 3.1 wins produced

Again, his methodology is correlated to real wins and losses.

So, "as bad" as Sasha has been, he's been better than gomes and Brewer.

And Sasha is a much better defender than Gomes.

Gomes is co-captain of the team and is a "glue player". He is a good leader and adds intangibles.

But Sasha is probably the better player on paper, anyway.