The official Wendell Moore Jr. thread

[BlacJacMac]

Does anyone still have hope for Moore?

No. He doesn't have any one skill at a high enough level to hang his hat on.

His offense is basically non-existent. He's indecisive and tentative with the ball, hasn't shown the ability to be any kind of shooter at this level and he's been getting burned pretty badly on defense when given chances in pre-season.

And I agree with the comment about how NBA role-players were almost all stars in college, and WMJ was "just a guy" at Duke.

I really don't think he's an NBA player, and that's fine. Even the best GMs miss.

[Neeva]

Botched first round pick, should have been a real pg like Nembhard. a GM that gave away sooo many frps in a trade can’t really afford to whiff on the few he has left though.

Hopefully Connelly made up for it with Miller and with Jaylen Clark if he gets back to pre injury form.

[shrink]

The Minnesota Timberwolves have exercised their 24-25 team option on guard Wendell Moore Jr.

Moore Jr., 22, enters his second season in the NBA after appearing in 29 games (two starts) in his rookie campaign last season, averaging 1.4 points on 41.9% shooting, 0.6 rebounds and 0.6 assists.

Moore was the 26th overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft out of Duke.

I was surprised I only had to go back to the top of Page 2 to find the Wendell Moore Jr thread.

I don’t think this is a shock. The team was going to fill the roster slot with someone, and this deal is only $0.6 mil more than a vet min. To me he’s just a low ceiling, high floor guy, but he’s young, he sounds like a good kid, he know his role here, and for a cheap $600,000 more, you maintain continuity with the team, on and off the court. It sets a good example for other players (at a bargain price!) when you reward a kid for working hard.

[minimus]

Read on Twitter

[wolves_89]

The G-League opener was a weird game for Wendell. He was flat out awful in the first half starting out 0-10 from the field, but he had a really nice second half and ended up with 22 points on 8-22 shooting. Hopefully he gets an extended run in Iowa and can prove his shooting meets the minimum threshold for a role player type guard in the NBA player.

[minimus]

The G-League opener was a weird game for Wendell. He was flat out awful in the first half starting out 0-10 from the field, but he had a really nice second half and ended up with 22 points on 8-22 shooting. Hopefully he gets an extended run in Iowa and can prove his shooting meets the minimum threshold for a role player type guard in the NBA player.

Where to watch?

[Klomp]

The G-League opener was a weird game for Wendell. He was flat out awful in the first half starting out 0-10 from the field, but he had a really nice second half and ended up with 22 points on 8-22 shooting. Hopefully he gets an extended run in Iowa and can prove his shooting meets the minimum threshold for a role player type guard in the NBA player.

Where to watch?

I posted the YouTube link for the live broadcast in the Spurs game thread…link should still work


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[KATKlownFeet]

And it goes from bad to worse for Moore. He was 2 for 14 and had a negative -29. Why are we wasting time with this guy. I think Culver showed more and he was let go during or after second year. Biggest miss for TC, but I'm ready to give his roster spot to someone else more deserving if we eventually need a roster spot. Also, I'd rather give his minutes to Nix, Vit, Keels and Martin as they might be better projects to develop. Nix for sure. I also want to see what Vit can do when he's healthy. Keels already looks better and I haven't seen much of Martin yet.

[Klomp]

And it goes from bad to worse for Moore. He was 2 for 14 and had a negative -29. Why are we wasting time with this guy. I think Culver showed more and he was let go during or after second year. Biggest miss for TC, but I'm ready to give his roster spot to someone else more deserving if we eventually need a roster spot. Also, I'd rather give his minutes to Nix, Vit, Keels and Martin as they might be better projects to develop. Nix for sure. I also want to see what Vit can do when he's healthy. Keels already looks better and I haven't seen much of Martin yet.

Culver wasn't moved until after his second year. We only are a couple games into Moore's second year.

And Culver wasn't simply let go. He was traded for PatBev.

[Neeva]

Culver had a tiny bit of value left, Moore Jr won’t have any value at all, he will probably just be a throw in , in a future trade , sad. He needs to turn it around asap, like the next two months.

[KATKlownFeet]

Culver had a tiny bit of value left, Moore Jr won’t have any value at all, he will probably just be a throw in , in a future trade , sad. He needs to turn it around asap, like the next two months.

I think the hole is too big to climb out of. Nix who eventually got cut by Atlanta after two years was a star in the G League his second year in G League (his first year in G League was his equivalent of college as he went straight to G League). I don't see Moore having any realistic opportunity with the big club other than garbage time minutes barring a slew of injuries where he is an emergency call up. He'd have to play like Michael Jordan in the G League (which we know won't happen) for him to get a look. I don't feel bad for him at all as he gets paid more than most of us will make in a lifetime for three years to hoop it up. He just lacks the talent to play in the NBA and might be able to extend his pro career with a gig overseas.

[shrink]

And it goes from bad to worse for Moore. He was 2 for 14 and had a negative -29. Why are we wasting time with this guy. I think Culver showed more and he was let go during or after second year. Biggest miss for TC, but I'm ready to give his roster spot to someone else more deserving if we eventually need a roster spot. Also, I'd rather give his minutes to Nix, Vit, Keels and Martin as they might be better projects to develop. Nix for sure. I also want to see what Vit can do when he's healthy. Keels already looks better and I haven't seen much of Martin yet.

Well, we are paying him for this season and next (albeit, just above the vet min), and cutting him (he’d still be on the books) to replace him with another player would likely add another $2 mil in salary. So get used to him - he’s not getting cut.

I agree he’s been bad, and we have other players more deserving of playing time. At the moment, he’s just a “break glass only in case of emergency”-type of player, who at least knows Finch’s system, and will get the ball to someone else. I don’t have a lot of hope he develops into a rotation player, but we just have to hope that WMJ can right himself for emergencies.

[NebWolvesFan]

NAW has ended Moore's chance here. He will not get a realistic chance here - unless there are a lot of injuries. Minnesota needed a hard-nosed defender and NAW came in and did that last year in the postseason. He is now one of Finch's favorite guys. Moore could have been this team's defender off the bench, but TC got NAW and NAW is better. If NAW didn't come here, maybe Moore gets a shot in that role this year.

[shrink]

I like Maya more.

[Klomp]

NAW has ended Moore's chance here. He will not get a realistic chance here - unless there are a lot of injuries. Minnesota needed a hard-nosed defender and NAW came in and did that last year in the postseason. He is now one of Finch's favorite guys. Moore could have been this team's defender off the bench, but TC got NAW and NAW is better. If NAW didn't come here, maybe Moore gets a shot n that role this year.

I definitely think that was the upside role they had envisioned for Moore. I think there can be room for more than one guy in that role/skill set (especially with Moore making NBA peanuts), but the path to defined rotation minutes is more difficult today than when he was drafted.

[wolves_89]

I'm pretty close to losing the last bit of hope I had for Moore becoming a rotation caliber player. Through 5 games in Iowa he's shooting 28% from the field and 26% on 3s. He needs to be able to hit shots at an average rate to have any chance in the NBA and he's nowhere close to that threshold.

[minimus]

I'm pretty close to losing the last bit of hope I had for Moore becoming a rotation caliber player. Through 5 games in Iowa he's shooting 28% from the field and 26% on 3s. He needs to be able to hit shots at an average rate to have any chance in the NBA and he's nowhere close to that threshold.

Yes, he has been really bad.

[wolves_89]

I'm pretty close to losing the last bit of hope I had for Moore becoming a rotation caliber player. Through 5 games in Iowa he's shooting 28% from the field and 26% on 3s. He needs to be able to hit shots at an average rate to have any chance in the NBA and he's nowhere close to that threshold.

Yes, he has been really bad.

The comparison that keeps popping into my head is Jarrett Culver. They are fairly similar in size and expected role. Both are solid on defense and can be OK as a secondary ball handler. Neither has been able to make shots, either finishing in the paint or hitting open jumpers. At least Wendell wasn't the #6 pick.

[minimus]

I'm pretty close to losing the last bit of hope I had for Moore becoming a rotation caliber player. Through 5 games in Iowa he's shooting 28% from the field and 26% on 3s. He needs to be able to hit shots at an average rate to have any chance in the NBA and he's nowhere close to that threshold.

Yes, he has been really bad.

The comparison that keeps popping into my head is Jarrett Culver. They are fairly similar in size and expected role. Both are solid on defense and can be OK as a secondary ball handler. Neither has been able to make shots, either finishing in the paint or hitting open jumpers. At least Wendell wasn't the #6 pick.

Yeah, Wendell has same self confidence issues. Once he hit his first shot he looks like an NBA player. But if he misses his first shots, he becomes completely insecure, cant handle the ball, misses open shots (even at rim) etc.

[Biff Cooper]

I'm pretty close to losing the last bit of hope I had for Moore becoming a rotation caliber player. Through 5 games in Iowa he's shooting 28% from the field and 26% on 3s. He needs to be able to hit shots at an average rate to have any chance in the NBA and he's nowhere close to that threshold.

Yet we picked up his 24-25 option. Someone must still see something...