Minnesota Timberwolves: Terrence Shannon Jr., Rob Dillingham & Jaylen Clark | NBA Summer League

Minnesota Timberwolves: Terrence Shannon Jr., Rob Dillingham & Jaylen Clark | NBA Summer League

Let’s go to Minnesota next. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. This is where we should have gone. Yeah. I mean, honestly, there’s no order here. Like, we can just kind of jump around. I know. It’s just like this is the team like this team has like five dudes we’re going to have to pause on for a little bit. So, yeah. So, Terence Shannon Jr. goes for three games. 20 points, 24 points, 24 points. Shoots 4739 95. Six rebounds, five assists. I I The Shannon conversation’s interesting because he was awesome at this level. Like he he was it was impossible literally to deal with him in any way, shape, or form athletically. Yeah, he is so explosive. He’s so fast running the court. He is a monster in transition. And a lot of these games end up being transition games. Did you see anything that like that was new from Shannon? I guess that would be my question. No. And I mean, he made shots at a really high level and so like that’s that’s the thing that probably stood out the most. And I know like the caveat I gave it the the last episode like this doesn’t always translate. And so like take it a little bit grain of salt here. But I mean across the board 48 39 95 got to the free throw line a lot. But no like here’s what I struggled with some of these guys Sam to be like to be quite frank. It’s like why am I valuing summer league and giving analysis on them in summer league when I’ve seen them play in the playoffs and and like that’s what with some of these guys I just like Yeah. You know what I mean? And so it’s it’s like like Ter Terrence looked so far above this. You know what I mean? Like you just looked so far like Jaylen Clark I’ve said like Jaylen Clark I think probably plays, you know, semi-real minutes for Minnesota this year because the defense is just so good, right? And he should be able to come in and like hopefully replace some of those Nikail Alexander Walker minutes. But like he he didn’t look above this. No. You know what I mean? like he he didn’t look like he didn’t belong here. Like Terrence looked like he didn’t belong at summer league. That that’s fair because like going into the off season, Shannon Jr. probably had the you know was the front runner to take on the naw role but like I thought like coming out of this I’d be like Shannon Jr. definitely is getting first crack. He’s the guy. Yeah, he’s getting the first crack at the nom in it. And you know, not solely based. I think he was anyway, but if you just went based off what we saw at summer league, like you said, he looked way too good for this. It’s a more um you know, it’s an easier fit in theory to slot Jaylen Clark into that role as opposed to Terrence because Jaylen does exactly what Nquille does. Sure. You know what I mean? Like he’s a great defender. Nquille’s way more capable with the ball in his hand than what Jaylen is. And like I think Nquille’s offense probably goes a little bit more underrated. I agree with that than it should. But like Jaylen is like pure 3 and D whereas Terrence is like you know whirling dervish of athleticism who like flies around the court and like I mean like literally injured Micah Peavey by accident just by sprinting into his back the one moment at summer league, right? Like I I thought Shannon for a guy that in general this year, like if you go back through the regular season, I mean, didn’t play crazy minutes. Like do do you know how many minutes Shannon played in the regular season this year? Um I like you said probably less than I thought 500 700. Yeah, he played 330. Oh wow. This year and then like went into the playoffs and played you know some minutes right like here and there he played 57 in the playoffs. Like there were a couple moments against Oklahoma City where he was pretty okay, but for a guy that only played 300 minutes I thought was really really good uh in that in this summer league environment and you would expect him to be good. He’s what is he 24 or 25 now? He’s he turns 25 in a week. So yeah. Yeah. So like you would expect him to come in and be better and above this than a lot of guys, but and the game fits exactly what summer league is. Yeah. In such a big way. But I I think the fact that he showed it and consistently showcased that he was above the level and only had to play three games and they were able to call it with him after that, I think is a great sign for Minnesota and I would expect that he plays 1500 minutes this year. Yep. I know. I agree. He He was good. He was good. He was very impressive. He knocked down shots. Um but I’m not walking away like surprised by that in any way. Yeah. I I didn’t walk away surprised. I think that’s a compliment to Terren Shannon Jr. as well. Like that’s not a knock. It’s a compliment of where I feel like he is as a player. Okay. Next player here is Rob Dillingham. I I don’t really know. I don’t know what to say about Rob on some level because he was not particularly efficient at summer league. I didn’t think didn’t shoot the ball well. Uh obviously like he made threes in that first game against the Pelicans but went four of 14 overall. second game against the Nuggets, you know, two of six from three, only went one of six over the course of the next two games and 57 minutes from three. I thought that the passing looked better. Sure. But there were also a significant number of turnovers where I felt like the process was not great for him. It it felt I guess in general that was kind of my takeaway. He is so skilled at this level that he’s going to be able to like get buckets and like get past this man kind of whenever he wants, but I didn’t think the process was great. Like we’ll talk about Reed Shepard later. Like it’s very clear to me with Houston that Reed or with Reed that Houston told him like just go and get as many shots as you want and like go and try and create as much as you can. Like that this is your thing. And in the first game looked great. In the second game against Detroit, it was like so so right. with Rob. I I don’t know if I can pinpoint exactly what that process was that they kind of told him to do and and I’m intrigued to kind of hear your take on it, I guess. Yeah. So, I told you, we talked a little bit about this before, like I think he was a handful for teams to keep in front of them. Um, that’s like straight from my notes from the Pistons game, but then I thought he struggled to convert on those drives, whether it was the passing or the scoring. Like I just I thought it was an allaround inefficient outing for him. I mean, even if you just look at the numbers, Sam, he averaged less assists and more turnovers than his rookie year at summer league. And the efficiency scoring went up, but nothing crazy. Like, if anything, he got to the free throw line a little bit more and shot it better there. So, like you said, the skill level is real. I was always I think you were as well like a little bit lower on this. I I always push back like on the size and then what does this act like I didn’t walk away from that going hey you know who shouldn’t start next year Mike Connley you know who should start in his place Rob Dylan I did not walk away from summerly like I don’t know that I would go into season any way yeah I walked away like wondering how many minutes he plays sure next year and like he might he might be able to be the backup point guard like I would love to see it but Uh yeah, like the process in terms of like this is the best way to put it. Mud Dog 13. Shout out Mud Dog 13. Uh Rob’s a score first guy. He’s trying to focus more on playmaking, defense, get himself on the court. He’s learning to try and balance the defense and playmaking while maintaining his offense. It felt like that to me that he was trying to maintain that balance and trying to like figure out that balance, but I I don’t know if he has it yet. I think would be my thing. So here what I think that’s fair. We talk about this all the time. It’s funny how many of these themes continue to come up. Changing a player’s mentality is not as easy as people think. You know, like we we talked about how changing a player’s body and managing the how much you’re going to add to it while keeping flexibility and mobility. I think changing a player like if Rob Dillingham is a score first player and you’re trying to completely change that mentality do something different that is not an easy process. I’m not saying it’s impossible. I’m saying it’s not easy because he has played a certain way his whole life and there’s a lot of minutes and a lot of games of him playing that way. So if that is what they’re doing, it’s probably not going to be this year. Sam, I don’t think that’s a one-year conversion for a young player, especially one that’s battling size differences, and I think that’s fair to to to bring that up. So, I I’m with you. Like, I I I don’t know what the rotation looks like. Like, I I don’t know if he ends up playing the amount of minutes that maybe I would have guessed when he got drafted and they spent that draft capital on him. I knew it wasn’t going to be year one, but I figured it’d probably be year two. It may still not be as many as what I think even this coming year. Yeah, it w like it wasn’t terrible for Rob. Like I want to be clear about that. He he played fine. Fine. He was fine. I Yes. Yeah. And definitely took a lot of shots. Like he took 17 shots a game at summer league. Like he was really getting it up. And at the same like I still just don’t know that that balance is quite there yet. Um I I’m interested to see what he looks like this season uh in the minutes and if they give him minutes honestly can he earn a spot like he’s going to have to earn a spot in training camp in their rotation I would guess and you know we we’ll see if he’s able to do that I think I’m right now I think I would be surprised just given their depth like with whereas Terrence Shannon looked like a guy who’s like definitely in their rotation day one like so Did you think Baron Jay or Dillingham was more impressive? Um, I thought Rob was better than Baron Jay. I will say that. But like for what we expected coming in, I think I expected more from Rob. That’s fair. Than I did from Baron Jay. Yeah. And I was trying to twist the question to like who would be who would you trust more to come off the bench on an NBA game tomorrow? Like who do you think would be more impactful? Rob playing backup point guard or Baron Jay playing backup center? 12 12. We need 12 probably. Honestly, we need 12 minutes tomorrow, Sam, in a backup role. Who are you more confident will fill that specific role? Probably Baron Jay. That’s what I’m like. the fact it’s not the fact that you even have to think about it a little bit in that context is what I wish I wish that wasn’t it cuz you’re right Dillingham was better in general but it’s like okay for the role that he’s going to be asked of like who is he ready to do that yet I I I don’t know I I wish I felt better about it coming out of I mean so so this this is the real question right so we have to talk about Jaylen Clark here right Yep. Would you trust Jaylen Clark in a role or Rob Dillingham in a role next year? I think it’s that’s actually that’s actually who he’s competing against. Yeah, because Dante’s going to get one of those spots as a backup or whatever. Um, going into the season, I think I would give Jaylen the first crack because of what he does defensively, his physicality, all of that. And if he just flat out can’t make shots to keep him on the floor, then I would after 30 games or whatever, then I would transition to Rob and see if Rob could give us something different because at the end of the day, Clark’s got to make shots to stay on the floor in the playoffs. Correct. And so, like, I I think I would give Clark those first minutes. Um, and and it’s I feel like we’re being harsh on Dillingham here, and I I really don’t mean to be necessarily. Sure. It’s just that this is a team that has made the conference finals in backto-back years. And I think that, you know, they traded uh what is it like a 2031 swap and a 2031st or something like they gave up like real value to get him hoping that in year two he would be able to be like a genuinely impactful player. Yeah. And I I don’t know. Like I I kind of wonder if Jaylen Clark’s going to be the guy that is able to like make it work. It’s it’s a great point in terms of like back-to-back Western Conference Finals and they’re essentially running it back minus NAW and so it’s like, you know, they got to find that one spot, right, to replace him with some minutes and it will be interesting. Um I do feel like maybe it’s it’s probably coming off harsher than what I intended to be cuz it’s not like he was just dreadful awful. It was just a little bit more like in a year 2 situation. I I I wish it would have looked a little bit easier, a little bit more efficient. Not even easier because he does make it look easy because he was able to go by guy. I wish it would have been more efficient on the back end after he broke down the defense. Yeah. Um I mean Jaylen Clark’s just like not a summer league guy. Like it’s it’s fine. Like I I don’t know that we need to like really dig into that much more than we are. Um you know, great defender, had two and a half steals a game. Had two and a half assists per game versus only8 turnovers. Like I thought that was actually like the process for him was a good, you know, improvement, but it’s just not uh this is not his environment to me. Yeah. I mean, the thing with him, it would have been nice if he made shots, right? He got up almost six a game, which is good. I like the volume and the willingness to shoot. Shot 30%. Like, he’s got to make shots during the season because we know he’s going to defend his ass off. Yep. Uh, okay. Fi final guy here. I think the people want to know my take on Leonard Miller. I would love I thought Lenny looked a bit more. It’s hard because he averaged like 17 and nine or whatever. Like it’s very similar to Rob. Like he he was super productive. It’s just that I really worry what the role is and I thought that he didn’t have a whole lot of chemistry with like anybody on the court kind of. Yeah. um like he felt like he he felt like he was doing his own thing a lot of the time and that that’s really my worry with Lenny. Um a lot of it is kind of in transition and he’s kind of doing his own thing and he’s kind of like you know in the half court like what is he doing? Is he just in the dunker spot? Is he like picking and popping and missing pick and pop threes? like I I’m just not sure what the role is for Lenny and that that that was always the concern with him. I I still remain concerned about that, I guess I would say. Yeah, it’s it’s interesting with him too because like he’s probably he’s not in the rotation going into the season at least and it’s like so this is another year where he’s you know not even coming off the bench like not getting a ton of minutes for this team and at some point you would like him to get those opportunities but I’m I’m kind of with you. You just look at the box score numbers. I like the physicality he plays with. I love the way he attacks rebounds. I’m just not sure I buy into the offensive skill level enough to really get that excited. I would guess that so he has like half of his deal guaranteed. I believe it’s not like fully guaranteed. I would guess that given their financial situation that he’s sure uh No, it’s fully guaranteed now. I lied. So once he got past June 30th, it’s fully guaranteed. So yeah, he’s fine. But yeah, like I I’m I’m still trying to figure out what Lenny is, I guess. Yeah.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Terrence Shannon Jr., Rob Dillingham & Jaylen Clark | NBA Summer League

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Sam Vecenie, a Senior NBA Writer at The Athletic, talks all about basketball. From the NBA, to the NBA Draft, to college hoops and even some high school, Vecenie has you covered in this show.