The Wolves beat the Bucks 110-91 in preseason play on Wednesday night. Here are some of Kyle Ratke's key takeaways from the game.
Welcome Back, Shabazz
Wing Shabazz Muhammad missed the better part of the last two and a half weeks with a right Achilles injury. Muhammad look like he was itching to go at practice last week and even though he was injured, he managed to drop another six pounds. He’s currently at 215 pounds after spending last season at 243 pounds. Who needs Slim Fast when you have a former Navy SEALS trainer?
The wait was worth it. Muhammad finished last night with a game-high 19 points to go with five rebounds, two steals, one block and wait for it… THREE ASSISTS!
Head coach Flip Saunders said before Tuesday’s game against Indiana that it’s hard to get minutes sitting in the tub. That’s especially true with the abundance of wings the Wolves have. There’s Muhammad, Robinson III, Brewer, Wiggins , Budinger and Hummel. That’s a pretty talented group. One thing that favors Muhammad is that with his new body, he’s able to play shooting guard, along with small forward and power forward when the team plays small.
It will be interesting to see how his minutes are handled.
Another wing played pretty darn well, too. Chase Budinger started at small forward and scored 15 points, shooting 5-of-12 from the field and 3-of-7 from the three-point line.
Let’s get away from the stats, though. For a guy who missed the last two seasons with knee injuries, Budinger has looked like the player the Wolves traded for two years ago.
In Training Camp he had some extra swag to him. It’s tough to describe, but when you see it, you know. That’s confidence he didn’t have last season and that likely has to do with how his knees are feeling. He made some cuts last night that we haven’t seen in a while.
“He’s shooting the ball well,” Saunders said after the game. “Getting his legs back under him, playing well without the ball, doing a nice job defensively. I’m happy for him because it has been a long road to get back where he is at right now.”
So are we, Flip. So are we.
Gorgui “Swatmaster” Dieng
If you watch the team’s games on Fox Sports North, you’ll know that analyst Jim Petersen is a big fan of Gorgui Dieng. And rightfully so. Last night, Jim Pete talked about how impressive Dieng was towards the end of last season and what not.
Saunders has talked about limiting the minutes for Nikola Pekovic. That kind of talk probably wouldn’t even be possible without the emergence of Dieng last season.
The second-year player had a nice night on Wednesday, finishing with 14 points, five rebounds, four blocks and two steals.
I can’t find a video highlight of it, but Dieng had one block that started a fast break for the Wolves. That’s fun to watch.
Rough Night For The Greek Freak
If you’re a basketball fan, you love the Greek Freak. Given his background and his story, Giannis Antetokounmpo shouldn’t even be in the NBA. But he is. And at 6’11, he’s still growing! He might be the first 7-foot player to get regular minutes at the point guard position.
He’s going to be a great player. But right now, he is 19 years old and he’s going to have tough games. He had one of those games last night.
Antetokounmpo finished with just one point and shot a dreadful 0-of-7 from the field and 0-of-4 from three-point line. The ugliest stat, though, was his eight turnovers.
This was one game and it was only a preseason game, but there’s a good chance he’ll have a few of these games spread out through the 2014-15 season.
Of course, he’ll also have moments like this as well.