After six days at Training Camp in Mankato, I have plenty of notes. So many notes that I don’t really know what to do with them. I even wrote them on pizza boxes.(Thanks, Toppers. I'm sweating out cheese today...)Do I just type all of the notes into a giant word document and paste it into my column?
Wait… That actually sounds like a decent idea. Here are my notes on individual players in camp in alphabetical order.
Something quick before we do that, though: This camp was super competitive and the communication was top-notch. Everyone was talking, whether it was congratulating someone on something or trying to correct them. That’s very promising to see during the first week of camp. We’ll see if it continues.
TRAINING CAMP NOTEBOOK
J.J. Barea
Flip Saunders said on Wednesday that Barea was the standout in Training Camp and was probably playing better than anyone else. The biggest trouble for Barea last season was getting out of his element. Forcing too many shots. Dribbling too much. Forcing things. Saunders said that Barea has stayed within the offense so far at camp and that’s why Barea is indeed having success.
With the team acquiring Mo Williams, there’s a chance Barea could move back to the role that made him so successful in Dallas.
Anthony Bennett
The biggest takeaway from Bennett’s game wasn’t his weight loss (although, that’s pretty impressive). It was his ability to hit midrange jumpers. Bennett looked pretty comfortable at camp and I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that media members weren’t in line to talk to him like they were last season in Cleveland. Bennett is going to come off the bench for the Wolves in a low-pressure situation.
Corey Brewer
Something you probably already knew: Brewer is one of the funniest guys in the league. Watching him work on some of the younger players is pretty fascinating. On one play, Brewer drew an offensive foul on Andrew Wiggins.
Wiggins looked and Brewer dumbfounded. It didn't appear like Wiggins did anything at all. Brewer ran back down the court (fast enough so the refs couldn’t overturn the call), and yelled, “that’s a veteran move, son!”
Brewer and Wiggins were pretty close all camp and it looks like Brewer has been mentoring Wiggins a bit.
Chase Budinger
Budinger looks back. From watching a practice, you might not really notice. Budinger moves around pretty nonchalant, almost like he’s not trying. That’s not the case. It’s just how he does things. He told us last week that he feels back to where he should be.
Fun fact: This is Budinger’s first Training Camp since the lockout season. He practiced just seven times during that. He could be a major x-factor this season.
Gorgui Dieng
At one of the practices last week (I forget which one); Dieng thought he was fouled after going up for a shot. After coming back down the court with his head down, Sam Mitchell yelled, “Get your head up, G! You’re better than that.”
Two plays later Dieng blocked a Rubio layup, grabbed the rebound and dished it to a streaking Barea who went up for a layup.
Kyrylo Fesenko
Talk about a good dude. I went to interview Fesenko on Monday. He looks at me and goes, “Hi, my name is Kyrylo Fesenko but Coach Flip calls me Fes.”
Gold! Not sure how realistic it is for him to make this team, but you feel for a guy whose family is in Ukraine right now. Fesenko dropped 20 pounds after Summer League to get himself in shape.
I’ve also heard a story that during his pre-draft workouts, his English wasn’t all that great. A coach told Fesenko to put the ball on the court. He did. Literally. He just set the ball on the court. That is awesome.
Brady Heslip
Heslip is a nice player, but chances are if he makes this team or another NBA team, he’s going to be a three-point specialist. He’s a bit undersized to play the point and as we saw at “Dunks After Dark”, he really couldn’t stay in front of Rubio.
He’s a heck of a shooter and that’s where he’s going to fit in in the NBA. But you knew that already.
Robbie Hummel
The praise was there for Hummel in this camp and it’s pretty much what we heard all of last season. Hummel is always in the right spot. He’s not the most athletic guy or the quickest, but he gets to his spot and he’s always aware of his assignments defensively.
It helps that he can knock down outside shots as well. It will be interesting to see where he fits in this season’s rotation.
Zach LaVine
LaVine is getting time at both the point and shooting guard position. That’s a lot to throw at a rookie, but it seems like he’s handling everything fine. He might need to be a more patient on the offensive end when he’s running the point, but that will come.
After a three-hour practice on Saturday, Wiggins sat while icing his knees. LaVine was dribbling and just went up for a between-the-legs dunk like it was nothing. Wiggins looked at LaVine and said, “Man, we just finished a three-hour practice. How can you do that?”
LaVine, “I think something’s wrong with me, ‘Drew. I never get tired.”
I went on the elliptical for 30 minutes the other day. I took a nap after. Thanks, Zach.
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Kevin Martin
Prior to injuring his groin on Friday, Martin was pretty spectacular in camp and you could tell he was really taking the mentor role serious. Martin also missed Sunday and Monday’s practice. He’s will not play on Tuesday against Indiana, but honestly, that might be a good thing for him to sit and observe some of the younger players and give them advice throughout the game.
Shabazz Muhammad
One thing that is lost in Muhammad’s body transformation: He had to get used to it on the basketball court. Muhammad said that during his workouts out in California, he was mainly focused on getting his body right - not so much basketball. He said that at camp, he had to get “used” to his jump shot again because of all the weight he had lost.
He said after the first few days he felt back to normal. Muhammad looks good. He feels good. He seems motivated. If I had to bet on a player breaking out this year, I’d pick Muhammad.
Nikola Pekovic
Pek is still big. He sat out of Thursday’s practice, but it was nothing to worry about. Saunders said it was simply a precautionary move. Saunders also had some interesting things to say about how Pekovic played so often so early last season. Saunders thinks the team got “carried away” with how good Pekovic felt and might have overreacted a bit by playing him for more minutes than he probably should have.
I’d be surprised it Pekovic went over 30 minutes many times this season.
Glenn Robinson III
GRIII was learning quite a bit throughout camp. He moves a bit like Budinger does, but it’s for a different reason. I’m not sure if he knows exactly what he’s doing at all times, but that’s expected for a rookie. He sat out of practice one day due to an ankle injury.
In unrelated news, at the “Rookie Night”, he and Zach LaVine sang a duet to Usher’s “You Got It Bad.”
Voices of angels.
Ricky Rubio
People have asked me throughout the week if Rubio’s shooting has improved. It’s really too early to tell. What I will say is that Rubio looks more confident when he is shooting. That probably has a lot to do with shooting coach Mike Penberthy.
Rubio is more vocal in this camp than last season and is telling some of the younger guys where they need to be. He’s never been the most vocal guy on the court, but he’s trying… and it doesn’t look forced at all.
This might sound odd, but Rubio got noticeably frustrated during Friday’s practice and as an observer, it was nice to see. Normally Rubio is laid back and quiet, even if he doesn’t like a call. Nice to see some fire every once in a while.
Ronny Turiaf
Saunders brought a magician in, The Amazing Hondo, to perform for the team at the end of Tuesday’s practice. Most players seemed to generally enjoy it. Turiaf must not be a fan of magic. He circled around the group, dribbled a bit and started working on his free-throws.
Probably not the worst idea. He shot 42 percent (21-of-50) from the charity stripe last season.
Andrew Wiggins
Rubio is normally very good at pushing the ball down the court to guys like Brewer or Martin. He was during this camp… when Wiggins wasn’t on the floor. There were a few passes Rubio pushed down the court (like he normally does) and out of nowhere jumped Wiggins to intercept it like Earl Thomas.
Wiggins is crazy athletic.
He said most of the camp he was learning, not necessarily doing. I wasn’t there for Sunday’s scrimmage, but it sounds like Wiggins had a pretty nice day.
Wiggins has an underrated shot. It’s compact and he can really stroke it. What he’ll have to get better at is judging whether he should drive or pull up.
Mo Williams
We learned that if LaVine and Williams are on the same unit together, it will likely be LaVine playing the point guard position because of his ability to drive to the basket and Williams’ ability to knock down shots – something he did plenty of times in camp.
Williams can also handle the ball very well, making him a very valuable player coming off the bench. Saunders also said he expects Williams to get some playing time with Rubio; much like Williams did last season with Damian Lillard.
Thaddeus Young
Young played solid throughout the whole camp. Just very consistent play all around.
Don’t be surprised if Young emerges as this team’s leader, despite only being on the team about 45 days. This quote pretty much says it all:
“I’ve been willing to step in and take on the leadership role and help the young guys and help this organization get back to the playoffs. I remember the other day Glen Taylor said thanks to me for talking to his fans. I said, ‘No. These are our fans. We’re one big family now.’ I’m part of the organization and I’m ready to go to war with these guys each and every day.”
As always, thanks for reading. Enjoy your week.