Training Camp/Preseason 2016

[Tirion]

I've been pretty dismissive of him, and while I was only box-score watching it seems he did rather well.

Hopefully this is more indicative of the guy we're going to see once the real season kicks off.

He's a lot better than he was last year

And the fact that he's a lot better has little to do with how good of a player he always has been. It will be the same story as it was with Pek: 1st season underutilized, in a low quality, selfish lineup, also wrongly utilized and then after all that it was about a small issue with the adjustment to the nba (plus the injury midseason).

Pek said it in an interview somewhere during or after the "Pectacular" stretch for him, and it was something along the lines of "I'm just playing basketball like I've always played it, I haven't improved much, I've just finally got a chance to do my thing". Everybody who watched Pek in Europe saw his rise as an expected occurrence, just as he did if given the opportunity.

And then we had a bunch of people here who wrote how Pek improved individually and how it's the sole reason for him doing so well, while in fact it had nothing to do with that.

It's a similar thing with Bjelica, and everybody who watched Bjelica in Europe has known that. What you're seeing here is just Bjelica playing under a coach who has surely been watching his Euroleague tapes, and add to that that Bjelica is now in a better lineup, with a lot more teamwork, and wth a lot more ball in his possession. He didn't really rise in quality individually, at least not much, he's doing what he's always been doing in Europe, the surroundings are just better for him and that is all.

Nope. Nemanja himself said that last year's bad play was on him, that he was not ready conditioning-wise and needed to work on his body. That's why he skipped Olympics (which is a big deal, especially for a Serb) and spend all summer in Minneapolis, changed his diet and training. Bjelly's new body and improved conditioning has been a running theme in camp, everyone, from Thibs to Tyus, has talked about how much his body and conditioning changed.

[Worm Guts]

Wait, so KG is spending helping out the Clippers rather than helping out the kids in Minny?

KG must have had some big falling out with the organization. With Flips passing, my guess of any significant role (ownership or otherwise) were taken off the table.

Taylor said ownership was still an option although something does appear to be different. Obviously KG was much closer to Flip than anyone else in the organization and he probably was upset with how Mitchell was let go.

Is the media just jumping to conclusions with all these supposed future deals in the pipeline, or is Glen Taylor not seeing them through? Because this is the second time (Hoiberg, now KG) where we've had this understanding that so and so has bigger things on the horizon, but then they're just gone and there's no further explanation.

Wasn't Hoiberg hired as an assistant GM by McHale? It could just be promises made by people who cease to be around.

[Devilzsidewalk]

This was also the second time within 3 games that the Wolves came out of the locker room in the second half playing on another level.

[Devilzsidewalk]

Also starting to wonder if I need to give up on Wiggins improving his rebounding like I have Rubio improving his shooting. 8 rebounds through 3 games. Last night he was tied for most minutes played on either side, but 13 players had more rebounds than him.

[Klomp]

Also starting to wonder if I need to give up on Wiggins improving his rebounding like I have Rubio improving his shooting. 8 rebounds through 3 games. Last night he was tied for most minutes played on either side, but 13 players had more rebounds than him.

Probably....I mean, he's already the old age of 21. He should've been averaging a double-double in the league five years ago. Now, it's probably too late. It's all downhill from here...

[_AIJ_]

Highlights from the game?

[FinnTheHuman]

He's a lot better than he was last year

And the fact that he's a lot better has little to do with how good of a player he always has been. It will be the same story as it was with Pek: 1st season underutilized, in a low quality, selfish lineup, also wrongly utilized and then after all that it was about a small issue with the adjustment to the nba (plus the injury midseason).

Pek said it in an interview somewhere during or after the "Pectacular" stretch for him, and it was something along the lines of "I'm just playing basketball like I've always played it, I haven't improved much, I've just finally got a chance to do my thing". Everybody who watched Pek in Europe saw his rise as an expected occurrence, just as he did if given the opportunity.

And then we had a bunch of people here who wrote how Pek improved individually and how it's the sole reason for him doing so well, while in fact it had nothing to do with that.

It's a similar thing with Bjelica, and everybody who watched Bjelica in Europe has known that. What you're seeing here is just Bjelica playing under a coach who has surely been watching his Euroleague tapes, and add to that that Bjelica is now in a better lineup, with a lot more teamwork, and wth a lot more ball in his possession. He didn't really rise in quality individually, at least not much, he's doing what he's always been doing in Europe, the surroundings are just better for him and that is all.

Nope. Nemanja himself said that last year's bad play was on him, that he was not ready conditioning-wise and needed to work on his body. That's why he skipped Olympics (which is a big deal, especially for a Serb) and spend all summer in Minneapolis, changed his diet and training. Bjelly's new body and improved conditioning has been a running theme in camp, everyone, from Thibs to Tyus, has talked about how much his body and conditioning changed.

Nemanja blamed himself because he's always been very self-critical in his interviews, it's the way he behaved in Europe too. I'm sure he just took the stoic approach of not critiquing what he couldn't change - the coach, the system and the teammates, and instead critiquing what he could change - himself.

And he didn't skip the Olympics because of the desire to improve his conditioning, he skipped the Olympics because he was injured, don't know why you're making stuff up.

And I don't see how the conditioning and body impacted almost any of the good things he's been doing in the preseason games, he has always been capable of playing 25 minutes in full pace, and basically everything he did well in the preseason games looked like it had nothing to do with conditioning and muscles, and everything to do with better utilization of his skills and the better lineups he was in. And yes, his improved body might be a small part of the reason why he's gonna do better this season, but not more than that.

[Feilong]

Dunn so far...

Read on Twitter

[Killboard]

I think there are 2 main reasons why bjelly will be better this season.

Experience: cause even when he is a matured player he still learning what he can and cant do against NBA players and refs.

Confidence: once he figure what his NBA niche is, he will start to improve. A better conditioning and a coach that put him in place to do what he does best will help in this regard too.

[Calinks]

Dunn has def struggled. I'm not too worried about it but again, I think wolves expectations may have been out of control and I hope the fans don't dump on him. I have heard people talk about how he was going to be ROY and average something like 16 and 8. I'm excited for the first month of the season to doll out its dose or reality to some of these fans. Every year they get like this.

[Takingbaconback]

lol Dunn hasn't even shot 30 times. Maybe you should actually be concerned with somebody who has been in the league for 5 years.

[Merc_Porto]

lol Dunn hasn't even shot 30 times. Maybe you should actually be concerned with somebody who has been in the league for 5 years.

lol true.

[brackdan70]

Dunn so far...

Read on Twitter

I heard he is lights out from the right corner though....just wait

[Klomp]

lol Dunn hasn't even shot 30 times. Maybe you should actually be concerned with somebody who has been in the league for 5 years.

Is there a limit to the number of players a fan can be concerned with? Just because someone is concerned with Dunn's shooting doesn't mean they're not concerned with someone else's shooting.

[Worm Guts]

If Dunn shoots like Rubio, he'll be much worse than Rubio. Rubio is great at pretty much everything else.

[vagelis]

Dunn has def struggled. I'm not too worried about it but again, I think wolves expectations may have been out of control and I hope the fans don't dump on him. I have heard people talk about how he was going to be ROY and average something like 16 and 8. I'm excited for the first month of the season to doll out its dose or reality to some of these fans. Every year they get like this.

So you will be happy if a player of the team will not be good enough.
Let's wait to see him when the season starts.
The pre-season is there for a reason to prepare the players and the teams for the new season.
Towns had a mediocre summer league the previous year but he was ready when the season started.
Dunn has the tools he is athletic and he is talented.
I do not believe that it is possible to continue shooting so bad. Let's see..

[YourBuddy]

Dunn's scoring will pick up. The sample size is minuscule. Defensively the effort and peskiness has been great.

[vagelis]

If Dunn shoots like Rubio, he'll be much worse than Rubio. Rubio is great at pretty much everything else.

If he shoots like Rubio it will be a disaster it is true.
But I do not agree that Rubio is better in a lot of aspects of the game.
Dunn can drive better, he is stronger, faster and better defender than Rubio.
Rubio is more experienced.

Anyway, let's hope that he does not shoot like Rubio.

[Worm Guts]

If Dunn shoots like Rubio, he'll be much worse than Rubio. Rubio is great at pretty much everything else.

If he shoots like Rubio it will be a disaster it is true.
But I do not agree that Rubio is better in a lot of aspects of the game.
Dunn can drive better, he is stronger, faster and better defender than Rubio.
Rubio is more experienced.

Anyway, let's hope that he does not shoot like Rubio.

He's not a better defender than Rubio. Some of those other attributes don't mean much if they are not leading to scoring.

[SanesTrebol]

If Dunn shoots like Rubio, he'll be much worse than Rubio. Rubio is great at pretty much everything else.

If he shoots like Rubio it will be a disaster it is true.
But I do not agree that Rubio is better in a lot of aspects of the game.
Dunn can drive better, he is stronger, faster and better defender than Rubio.
Rubio is more experienced.

Anyway, let's hope that he does not shoot like Rubio.

Better defender than Rubio?. After these 3 games?. Some people will never change...