According to one report the Wolves are considering bringing in Bjelica this year.

I don't know what to think of this. One part of me says he should wait until we know what we have in these other guys, but a case could also be made for getting more players tried out sooner.

Why would we want him this year? Where would he play? We have too many guys that want/need minutes as is.

Weird...

Man Kahn sure leaves you guessing:huh:

El Correo reported today that he's really close to a contract with Caja Laboral in Spain, so I doubt he comes over.

czaras wrote:


That's good. I don't see any rush. Just let him play in Spain and develop his game there until he's ready for the NBA.

You are right there is no minutes for him. At this moment there are Beasley , Johnson and Webster and Brewer are SG/SF plus there is Hayward. But i can tell you maybe he is not ready to play the nba but he is a unique player. Turkoglu or Toni Kukoc type of a player. He can became a very good role player 6'10 point forward with PG ballhandling skills and great court vision who can also shoot and rebound. Watch him on the world championship next month.

We need another PG and the article in Draft Express (see link) says he can play PG/SG/SF. We don't have a 6'10" PG. Nobody does, think of the matchup problems with our smallest player being Wes Johnson on the floor. Cmon, bring him over. This solves our PG problem. He'd be like Magic Johnson only taller. Love to see some of the puny point guards matchup with him. I think KAHN is crazy enough to do it. CMON KAHN DO IT! Whatcha think? -Pistol Pete

www.draftexpress.com/profile/Nemanja-Bjelica-5510/

He is one of the more interesting players in this last years draft, if not the last couple. I was pumped that we got him, but I just don't see room on the team this year. I would like to see him come in a year or two, but tough to tell where he can/will play.

Just to show you that this kid is 6'10 with a point guard skills

www.nemanjabjelica.net/

This is Bjelica website. Iknow you don't understand so i will translate:

Bjelica's agent says in 3 days we will know where Bjelica will play. Possible teams are: Minnesota,Beneton,Olimpiakos,Barcelona,Caha Laboral.
(i can tell you Olimpiakos and Barcelona are the best Europian teams and they want him!!! so you decide if he is good or no )

And now Bjelica comment on where he wants:

He wants the team where he can develop best, the team who can give him playing time and best position for him.
(honesly i don't think he will chose Minnesota. What will Kahn offer him ? to be the 4th SF on the team? )

But if he come here and don't play it's better for him in europe. Maybe he will end up in Barcelona playing with Rubio and next season hopefully both will come...

Bjelica isn't ready to play in NBA yet. How he will develop in the next 2 years in Europe will be the key for Minnesota.
The best 2 options for him are supposed to be:
- Olimpiakos, coach Dusan Ivkovic (who is also coach of Serbian national team). Ivkovic has very good relationship with Bjelica. On the last Euro Championship he chose Bjelica over much more established players and give him significant minutes. Although Olimpiakos has a lot of good players, Ivkovic will give big role to Bjelica.
- Kaha Laboral (champion of Spain who won the tittle over Barcelona last year), coach Dusan Ivanovic. Ivanovic is coach from Montenegro (the same language as Serbians) who put emphasis on physical conditioning a lot (because upper-body strength is one of key things Bjelica need to develop, working with Ivanovic will help him a lot in this domain).
Current price for Bjelica on Euro market is high (although it is not fully vlear who has his rights if he stay in Europe, Red Star Belgrade or Beneton Italy) - it is around 1M euro + maybe 1/2M euro after 2 years if he went to NBA + his salary (expected to be between 1-1.5 M euro per year). If he develop into good player (on NBA level) in the next 2 years, expect Pekovic-like money or more to be needed to lure him from Europe.

According to the DX writeup this guy is new to the pros. It seems like a couple of years at the top European level will do everyone some good.

I'm glad people are excited about the guy. Letting Whiteside slip by us was devastating on draft day so I hope it was worth it (oh wait we could have had both guys).

vgulab wrote:


Awesome, thanks for translating. Appreciate it. He sounds solid, but I have no issues with him staying in Europe to develop his game for a while.

vandromeda wrote:


Thanks for the insight as well. I really love that we have people here in our forums with a different perspective/insight on players like this!

pants wrote:




Damn you for pointing that out. I was getting all excited about Bjelica...