35 comments

1. The Minott hype is real. Him and Dillingham both looked like they belonged, which was great to see.

   DDV is going to be so fun to watch this season. Couldn’t have asked for a better first quarter from him.

2. Solid showing, my biggest takeaways on the newcomers/youngsters from one game:

   – DDV is going to be awesome.
   – Rob has a beautiful float game. Don’t love his leg kick on jumpers, and teams will target him defensively. Can be a microwave scorer. Like his heads up tempo and playmaker. Got blocked a few times early on.
   – Jingles came on early, but wasn’t really noticeable outside of decking Hayes for no reason. He did initiate the offense at least once.
   – Garza is a oreb and post machine.
   – TSJ looked sped up and erratic on both ends.
   – Minott looks legit. So much improved since getting here. The 3 ball was cooking. A little bit of tunnel vision but if he’s cooking, why not…
   – Miller seems to be firmly behind Minott.
   – Clark, Dozier, and J Edwards don’t do much for me. Clark just doesn’t have the offense.

   We have an extremely deep roster. LAL played their ‘starters’ almost twice as long as we did. We still took their cookies.

3. Oh how I’ve missed wolves basketball

4. we deep boys

5. Starters looking amazing. Couldn’t really ask for much more from Rob.
   Never thought I’d see the day where Minott looks like an actual nba player but boy he looked great. Really shows what a confident jumpshot opens up. Give me all the coolaid

6. I would trust Tim Connelly with my life.

7. So who do we *not* play?

8. Stick this season in my fucking veins

9. Rob being 19 and scoring at will is a scary thing lol

10. I liked that (no Kirko)

11. Unironically excited to see what Dilly becomes, but ironically excited to have a guy that can go and get 21 points on 20 shots because it’s been a few years since we’ve had that

    And based off like 6 plays vs Lakers guys that probably don’t stick in the NBA, I think TSJ has a very high level of understanding the geometry of the offensive side of an NBA court. That’s sadly a super rare trait and I hope he continues to just naturally understand where he ought to be

12. If you had told me that Josh Minott would be the biggest story in a game in which DiVincenzo scored 11 points in 10 minutes and Dillingham dropped 21, I’d have called you crazy.

    Minott was, legitimately, probably the best player on the floor tonight.

13. 5 assists for TSJ how about that

14. So basically we’re winning it all

15. I am sexually aroused.

16. This might be a hot take but I think Minott has had a pretty good game.

    I know the box score might not show it because he missed two free throws, a couple of threes, and a turnover but he has been solid tonight.

    Maybe he can cut out those two missed shots, the missed free throws, and that turnover but it wasn’t a bad game. Good energy and movement without the ball. Some good defensive rotations.

    22 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks, and a +/- +18 are not too bad of numbers either.

17. So who’s gonna get waived? Dozier or KBD?

18. DDV and Dillingham will make us better than last year’s team if Randle can be good for us, which I think he will be.

    Dillingham is special. He definitely has that IT factor. He looks like a cross between Maxey and Kyrie.

    Minott looks like he could be a good rotation player for us.

19. Love how we looked tn. Guys didn’t look rusty, we shooting a ton of 3s, defense was good in the 1st half, Rookies looked good, and so did Minott. Our offense gon be crazy

20. DDV, Dilly, and Josh shined. Thought NAW looked solid in his PG minutes.

21. The Josh Minott hype is real! Don’t know where he plays though with Jaden, Ingles, DDV, NAW, and Ant eating all the minutes at 2 and 3.

    Dillingham is a flamethrower and fast as hell. He’s too skinny though and that is a concern especially if he goes up against bigger guards.

22. The kids look great.

23. I’d encourage anyone who hasn’t seen it to watch Minott’s media day interview. Talked a lot about changing his mentality especially around shooting. Also he looks noticeably bigger which is nice. I know it’s only one game but he looked good enough to get minutes.

    I was pretty excited for Dante when the trade happened just based on him being a legit shooter but watching him more closely he does a ton of the little things good as well. Can’t wait for the regular season.

24. i wonder why KBD didn’t play, or was he not active

25. The Lakers left their starters in far too long to lose this game by double digits. D’Lo, Reaves & Rui played pretty far into the 3rd and they closed the early 20 point gap but it’s telling that they couldn’t be more effective against our bench & third stringers

26. We can’t lose. We’re way too deep

27. We are going to be one helluva deep Wolfpack if Rob, Minott, and TSJ can all play at some point in the rotation. Deepest Wolves team ever? Stay tuned.

28. Garza was really solid too! Man can grab an o rebound and score or get to the line like very time.

29. What happened to Minott? I remember watching this year’s summer league and thought “he still hasn’t figured it out” but look at him now! I hope this carries over to the regular season.

30. A few thoughts:

    – What the fuck was that, Minott? I cannot get over how damn good he looked. Literally everything was improved. He canned a bunch of 3s. He punched in some nasty dunks. He got major separation on his drives. He snagged a ton of boards. He threw 3 or 4 very good passes. His defense was fantastic, flying around (but in a controlled way), ripping dudes, shutting things down. His feet defensively looked way better. Every single thing he did was just… good. Feel like he just leveled up like 6 times from when we saw him last. That game, coupled with the way Finch and Mike Conley talked about him… I think Minott might be a thing now. Honestly, I can see him as the 9th man.

    – Rob absolutely looked like he belonged, and did a lot to alleviate my concerns about him following summer league. In summer league I was starting to get concerned about his inability to separate from fringe NBA dudes. Tonight he was separating all night long. He still struggled a bit at the rim, but it honestly felt more like normal “figuring things out” struggles: once he learns a few tricks and starts getting a better read on NBA defense I think he’ll be fine. A little worried about the defense, less because of his size and more because he looks stuck in mud when he gets caught off balance. But the offense was as advertised and was pretty damn encouraging for a 19 year old playing in his first game.

    – DDV is a fucking flamethrower. Going to be a huge addition offensively because he’s got a quick trigger while being a deadeye. Didn’t love the defense much (I felt like I’ve always seen him as a decent but not great defender, but I feel like all the media I’ve been consuming about the trade has been painting him as a very good defender), but he’s new to the team.

    – Naz looks like he’s been working on his passing. Had multiple decent looks to Rudy inside while driving, a definite addition to his game. He did seem to be having trouble getting by dudes though, which has me a bit worried about his ability to actually replace KAT long-term.

    – Jaden’s defense was once again lockdown. That block was filthy. Seemed to be more involved offensively, but his handle seemed too loose to be trusted there.

    – Mike is ageless.

    – Rudy’s hands are still horrific.

    – NAW did a great job of setting the table for the team as the PG. His defense is also terrific as always. He also gets blocked at the rim more than anyone I can remember.

    – Shannon Jr. was up and down. He flashed some really nice pop, especially in transition. And he did a few nice things defensively. He also seemed unsure of himself offensively. He actually looked more like how I thought Rob would look. TJ felt more like the promising 19 year old while Rob felt like the mature 24 year old.

    – Garza has his flaws, but I’m coming around on him as a legit 12th man. He plays hard as hell, and what he gives up on defense he often makes up on the glass and on offense.

    – Ingles is smart, but I really wonder if he’s just cooked athletically. He was fouling people nonstop because he just couldn’t move his feet fast enough to get out of the way.

    – Dozier was not good.

    – Leonard Miller was so disappointing and is pretty clearly the 13th man at best. Hope he follows a similar path to Minott (flash in rookie year, disappoint in year 2, then bloom in year 3).

    – Clark did some nice things, but he just cannot make shots right now. He’s got to if he wants to stick around.

    – Jesse Edwards is fucking horrible at basketball. Don’t want to bury a guy after 1 game, but jesus he couldn’t have played much worse.

31. Fuck yeah Garza with 20, and one rebound off a double double aw man 😂

32. 🐺🐺🐺

33. Also Dillingham looked solid. Had some poor decisions but he looked way more comfortable than he did during summer league.

34. This shit hit like crack can’t wait for the next game lol

35. Can’t believe how much Minott has progressed. It’s insane. The way people were hyping him up last pre-season was a lot but NOW it’s happening