Bones Hyland is the most underrated story in the NBA right now.
Bones has flourished in his 2nd chance in the spot that Dillingham was supposed to take. Smart move by Connelley to take a flyer on a cheap, capable guy with a checkered history at a position of need. I do think Bones never got a real shot in LA just because of circumstance, but he could always ball.
Happy for Bones, but bummed for Dillingham.
Rob just hasn’t really improved. I think he could still be a decent player, but I don’t think the Wolves want to wait for him anymore. He’s almost certainly being shopped right now.
I just don’t think Dillingham is worth anything. He’s never really shown it on the court yet, despite having the potential. Makes more sense to me for the Wolves to keep him and hope he blooms late.
I also get the sense that Finch just doesn’t like him. It was a pretty regular occurrence that Rob would do something incredibly dumb, immediately get pulled, and then get chewed out on the bench. A lot of Rob stans got it in their head that Finch just has an irrational hate boner for Rob, but by all accounts it looks more like a coach who’s super frustrated because he has to keep repeating himself and Rob just isn’t getting it.
All that’s to say that I don’t think Finch wants to keep him here, and it would probably be better for Rob to get a fresh start somewhere that’s not really trying to win and can afford to let him do dumb shit until he figures it out. He’s still on a rookie contract so it wouldn’t be a huge risk for anybody that got him, but yeah I don’t think we’ll get much in return other than a roster spot for someone else.
I mean Finch doesn’t want to play him, but knows that he had to given their future/cap situation and Conley aging out. Now Finch doesn’t have to play Dillingham, because he has another viable option in Bones.
The front office accommodated Finch by bringing in another option because they listened to Finch after Finch gave Dillingham a real shot already. I think Connelley is an excellent GM for a lot of reasons, but working together with his coach is one of the biggest reasons.
It’s just really smart, simple team building. If you have a question mark at a position - invest in a cheap backup.
The team needs a backup rim protector, so Connelly drafted two centers in the last draft. Some fans on the Wolves sub are like “why would they draft 2 centers?” Because you’re lucky if ONE of them develops.
I’m just jealous as a Denver fan. Our team building was awesome when Connelley was here because he worked with Malone and kept people happy. He gave Malone some vets when he wanted them, and gave up on guys who had potential, but Malone just didn’t like (like Hartenstein). Connelley also thinks outside the box and isn’t afraid to make big deals (like the KAT/Randle one).
Instead of having organization work together to win, the last few years we had Malone and Booth doing a pissing contest over our roster, and I know we would’ve been so much better if Connelley was here instead of Booth.
I think you all are doing alright now though lol
We’re in a good spot now, but like losing 2 game 7s over depth problems because your coach and GM hate each other is stupid as shit.
The coach won’t fucking play Peyton Watson all season 2 years ago because he hates the GM and Watson is a “Booth boy” and then he doesn’t have the experience to play vs the wolves game 7. Then we gas out in game 7 cause Malone starts Jokic/Murray to start the 4th because he “can’t play watson” for 10 min in the series.
Then next year we have to fire our coach and GM 3 games before the playoffs because they can’t just work together. We have the greatest player in our franchise’s history playing at all-time levels and they can’t just work together to win - instead they’re fighting over depth and ruining the attitude in the locker room. The whole situation is extremely frustrating as a fan even though we’ve had a lot of success.
We have the greatest player in our franchise’s history
Its gotta be a great feeling to type that out, note that its objectively accurate beyond a doubt, and its still way underselling the player lol
I think the main problem with Rob is a few things. Finch really asks the rookies to just do 1 or 2 things, they try to do and show that they’re capable of more - and that’s when they mess up. That’s from Finch himself. He isn’t looking for them to be Cooper Flagg, just earn minutes by getting on the court first. Best example is Joan, he was probably told to hustle, grab rebounds and play defense.
So Rob hesitates with his decision making and tries to do that. And gets the yips.
I think Dillingham’s role is especially hard to grow into with the team where it is, plus his size means he has almost no margin for error.
I think there’s real skill and talentthere, but he probably needs a team where he can play 20-25 minutes of no pressure minutes and be one of worst players in the NBA until it clicks. That role doesn’t exist in Minnesota.
Mean bro most coaches and GMs work together it’s kinda important that they’re on the same page
Makes more sense to me for the Wolves to keep him and hope he blooms late.
Nah. That’s like saying it would have made the most sense if Bones stayed in Denver. Sometimes players don’t fit with certain teams.
The coaching staff is having none of Dilly any longer and the FO hasn’t signaled any issue with that position. His value, or lack there of, is moot in this case.
Bones was traded in his 3rd season I think, not his second.
“Having none of Dilly,” he’s behind Bones Hyland in the rotation, as he should be. He needs to improve. There’s no reason we have to ship him off for nothing. Of course he’s tradable, but he seems to get along with guys, and is a second year tiny guard on a good team.
No one claimed otherwise. You might be confusing comments?
Dilly has been banished exclusively to garbage time, most recently Jingles got more time than Dilly. That is, explicitly, what “having none of Dilly” translates to from a coaching staff point of view. They aren’t going to take away his fleeting garbage time minutes for the reasons you mention - but he is permanently in the dog house as long as Finch is HC.
If his value is too low just hold on to him. I think he can become a microwave scorer off the bench if they give up on turning him into a starting PG.
How many microwave scorers are built like Rob…
They still got Shannon. They don’t need to wait for Dillingham.
He is coming into the league where being skinny and being short, on top of already being a questionable defender makes you damn near unplayable. If you don’t have a deep and assured offensive bag to offset your defensive liability you become impossible to play. Even guys like Trae young are becoming irrelevant because they’re so bad at defense. The most disappointing thing to me is that Robb seemingly added no weight/muscle in the offseason. It’s not his fault he can’t grow taller, but adding 10-15 pounds of healthy weight in 4 months isn’t that far fetched when you have the resources NBA players have.
It’s always risky drafting a score first guard with limited defensive potential. The chances of the pick becoming a Tyrese Maxey even an Immanuel Quickley is low. TyTy Washington is a much more common result of that archetype.
Has he spent much time in the G League? I can’t find stats for this. We’re at a real inflection point where it will be determined if he sticks in the League or not. It seems like having him get playing time in the G league is the best way to help him develop. Although the one game I found he scored 22 points which isn’t great for an nba player in the g league (Reed Sheppard had 49 points in his debut and averaged 30). Or is it at the point that the wolves have moved on from trying to do that?
I loved him in college. Knew he would be small for the NBA but he needed to strike while the iron was hot and a historically weak draft. But it’s a bummer to see him flame out.
He doesn’t have any value - he’s only regressed during his time in the league. I was super optimistic about the pick at the time but he just does not have it.
we’ll take him
You’d regret it when you see every one of his shots at the rim swatted into row 3.
you really think he could turn out to be decent? idk man unless he finds a way to grow three inches and put on 30lbs, i doubt he’ll ever find a place in the nba
I think he should take a year off. Get that leg stretching surgery and come back taller.
I mean, I have no idea tbh, but he has talent, and we’re watching Bones put it together at 25 after playing himself off of two teams in his early 20’s, so I don’t want to say all hope is lost for him. His size is definitely going to be an issue and realistically his ceiling is probably as a decent role player on the bench. But guys his size are still able to carve out a career. He just needs to find his role and stop trying to make highlight reels.
the thing that i think will hold him back is the opportunity to find his role. tyus jones took a while to figure it out, but had plenty of playing time to find his role (high assist to turnover ratio). unless rob gets traded to a crappy team he’s gonna have to wait until his contract is up to hope to sign with another team and get the chance
He has no trade value. He’ll probably be playing overseas for his next contract.
ya, to me if you were hanging onto any last shred of hope for dillingham, the fact that bones came in and took the minutes we really need dilly to fill says everything you need
that said, bones is playing great. he’s actually doing a great job balancing being aggressive with setting up other guys. sure he’s a bit streaky, but his quickness and ability to put pressure on the rim is something that really helps us, even if his shot isn’t falling every game. been super impressed with him
it could work out for Rob. It took Bones a few years.
I mean when he was a rookie he was talking shit to Murray and other vets in the locker room. I’m glad he’s matured!
I didn’t know much about him before he came here, but it’s wild reading some of the stories about his time in Denver because he doesn’t seem like that at all now. Definitely seems like he grew up. Sometimes a young guy with an ego needs to get a reality check like he got in Denver.
I don’t know if his time on the clippers was much better. He seemed closer to being out the league then getting minutes. Happy if he’s changed but it wasn’t just the time on the Nuggets that was shaky
Honestly that was just the last bit of his tenure. Murray was working his way back from injury, and bones was hooping. Him and some of his camp were upset that in-spite of his play, he continued to lose minutes to Murray. When the vibes got bad Denver shipped him off and won a championship. Immaturity definitely derailed his career, but I’m glad to see it didn’t end it.
He was actually playing horrible that season lol to the point where he was consistently getting benched mid game for Ish Smith. He was genuinely worst defender in the league level. He also left the arena mid game once cause he was mad about something lol
Yep. He regressed in a major way that second year and instead of taking his lumps and working, he lashed out and insisted he was ready to be “the man”. Such a bummer because he was so likable during his rookie year- seemed like a great team guy.
Honestly feels a lot like Dillinghams arc right now, the worst part of his season has been his attitude imo
well said. I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more – talented guy early 20s can’t get minutes and burns bridges, only to mature a bit mid/late 20s and find a nice role
perhaps it’s because once you burn bridges you aren’t in the league anymore. like you said bones was almost out. but it’s a really nice story, happy for him, and he’s been doing the local mn media tour and seems genuinely like a great guy, really fun to root for
That’s why he still gets hate from some nuggets fans. He was so well liked his rookie season. Everyone was excited for his future, and he regressed (specially on defense) and started lashing out. Sucked to see. I was worried his ego would cost him his career. It sucks he’s making a comeback on a rival but I’m still happy he’s shown growth!
He’s a guy that wears he’s emotions on his sleeve. His joy is contagious and it’s fun to rout for him but him having a negitive attitude wasn’t worth the cost. He probably has a better perspective on things now.
Bones has said that he almost missed his NBA opportunity due to his attitude and he’s grateful to be given another chance. The kick in the ass works for some people.
Fair play to Tim Connolly too who drafted him to Denver, will have seen all this stuff with him while he was GM in Denver, and then still had that belief in Bones and brought him to Minnesota. A lot of people might have taken the “fool me once” approach.
He’s always had a smiley bubbly personality and has said all the “right” things in media. It’s behind closed doors and with his friend circle you have to really be concerned about. But yeah looks like either way he’s matured his game a bit at the very least. Even though he hoed himself off the team for some reason I still kinda wish him success
Yeah he wanted to start on that finals team presumably over Murray and demanded a trade as a rookie who barely played. He looks a little better this year but on the nuggets and clippers he clearly looked like an end of bench guy as well.
Missed out on a ring because of how he acted.
The stories we heard from how he was acting was disgusting. Beyond immature. Glad he HOPEFULLY learned from his mistakes
Oh no talking shit to a douchebag who is stupid enough to throw a fucking heatpack onto the court during live play. Everybody should talk shit to Murray.
You…seem like fun? Also rookies aren’t allowed to talk shit really.
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Hasn’t Bone’s also acknowledged he was kind of a shit head on Denver?
Nobody else did anything remotely close to what Bones did. You’re just dismissing any personal responsibility Bones lacked to blame the team lol.
Nah I recall watching and listening to him when he was on Denver, and it was clear he thought he wasn’t getting enough game time. Every player should think that, but you could see bones was not handling that maturely, and I believe that impacted the respect he had for vets in particular Murray
Same thing happened with Nurkic. As a head coach if you have multiple good players leave the arena during games because of minute/role disputes, you are definitely part of the problem. Denver had to dump both Bones and Nurkic for almost nothing because of it.
Denver literally won a title the year they got rid of him and it was clearly a downgrade (on the court) to do so. Trading Bones was purely a move for team culture. This was prior to Malone losing his shit since Booth had just recently took over and hadn’t really done much yet outside of draft Braun and PWat and sign Nnajii.
A bit rich from a guy whose team had players punching each other in the face
No, that’s not part of it. Bones was genuinely a jackass. You don’t come in and act like you’re better than Murray.
But hes the most humble!
But bones was before all that really picked up no? Maybe it was bones that lead Malone down his path of not trusting rookies.
Blaming Mike Malone for Bones being a head case? Dude and his friends were shit talking Murray. Bones literally left a game in the middle of it, just walked to the locker room.
Yeah Bones deserves credit for getting his shit together, but it probably wouldn’t have happened without Malone giving him a reality check. Acting like Malone was in the wrong about him seems like revisionist history.
It’s blame Michael Malone month on Reddit. Every post about a current or former nugget is about how Michael Malone was evil and traumatized them.
I saw Michael Malone punch a baby
I’m sure the baby deserved it.
The baby spit on him first!
He prefers you call him Michael
Ok but Michael Hyland doesn’t sound as good
To be fair, he’s probably still shit talking Murray, but in a safe space now
And got left at the airport, had to fly his own self home. at least he’s learned from it.
Bones shit talking Murray is probably why he fits well on the Wolves.
Not for him but others, everybody is flourishing under Adelman while under Malone depression was ruling the Nuggets bench, we can love him all we want and thanks for the chip but brother, he did some bad bad things..
We’re talking about Bones here mate. I’m not saying Malone is perfect, but Bones threw a toddler tantrum.
Blaming Malone for what happened in Denver is ridiculous. You seem to be confusing tension between Malone and Booth with tension between Malone and Connelly. He gave him a big role for a rookie and Bones did very well that season. The issues started his second year when Murray came back and Bones clearly thought he should be starting. He handled it immaturely and his friends were talking trash about Murray publicly, while he left to the locker room during a game. He had a backup point guard role on a championship team carved out for him in his second year and he fumbled it. Then he went to LA and got humbled by realizing where he was actually at in his career.
I Ike the guy a lot, genuinely, he was a blast to watch cook in Denver, and I’m glad to see him put it together in Minnesota as it looked like he might be headed towards Europe at the end of his Clippers tenure.
This is exactly right.
Malone deserves plenty of blame for roster development issues, booth deserves plenty of blame for roster management issues, and both deserve plenty of blame for cultural issues with their Cold War.
But bones is not blameless in this scenario either. That team desperately needed more bench bodies and specifically bench creation/scoring and still traded bones away while going on to win the title later that year. That should speak towards what was going on with him in the locker room. This was not a “Malone was jerking around a young player and holding them back” situation.
Bones was always cocky, which was fine. But he took it too far. I remember when he first got to camp and they were doing team drills with mixed 1s and 2s and he was telling the media how unstoppable his team was. It turns out that was because he was on the team that happened to have Jokic, not because bones instantly walked in as a rookie and was the best player on the court (like he thought).
He got a lot of playing time while Murray was hurt and started to think he should just be the guy and was talking shit to Murray when he came back healthy for the championship year. Then his whole crew was talking shit on social media and it started to escalate. I suspect the people around him were also probably gassing him up about how he should be starting etc.
Sounds like the trade to the clips and subsequently almost being out of the league was a good reality check for him. Glad he was able to grow up some
The people around him were definitely gassing him up. Bones said himself that they used to give him shit all the time if he didn’t score 20pts. They out there emphasizing all the wrong things to him… don’t think anybody in the league doubted his ability to score. It was everything else he had to work on.
Couldn’t agree more on the Malone thing. There’s absolutely no way you can blame Malone for Bones…. Malone was an old school hardass coach and he literally allowed Bones to bomb like 40ft threes as a rookie in the league
Also Edwards advocating for him HAS to be a boost to get his head on straight
Bones not getting a ring tells you all you need to know about how everyone in the building felt about him in 23. Also, Malone gave him more rope than pretty much any rookie he’s ever had. It’s completely asinine to blame Malone for Bone’s downfall in Denver, he did it to himself.
Yeah I’ll always have a soft spot for Bones (Mile High City baybeeeee) but it wasn’t going to work in Denver for various reasons
Just sucks to see him flourishing on another WC rival
I love to see it, I remember thinking Bones was gonna be like a perennial 23+ ppg and explosive scorer type player the few times I watched him with Denver lol
He could have been if didnt make bonehead moves thinking he is better than he is and a starter lol . Nuggets would develop him nicely but the drama wasn’t worth it
Well to be fair, his name is literally Bones.
if he was making chrisheaded moves he’d be perennial 6moty in denver
Ya the wholentime he was with the Clippers the Nuggets needed another ball handler and initiator/scorer. But his defense was bad and the lineups were weird playing alongside Jamal, who had to take the tough defensive matchups when they were both on the floor. All he had to do was be as humble as he was constantly spouting everywhere and he would have played a lot more in Denver than he ended up playing the last 2 years.
Ok, I’m very happy with Bones so far but you’re glazing a little hard here haha. Bones is not a positive defender. His frame is small and he doesn’t have good instincts.. we usually hide him with Jaylen Clark / Rudy lineups. I also don’t know where you’re getting this narrative with Ant, i’ve literally have never heard it.
He’s been a great story and continues to get better with his decision making but it very well might be a hot streak. I don’t think he’s anywhere close to MIP candidates like Deni Avdija or even NAW like you mention.
Bones is not a positive defender.
Bones has been better on defense this year than any point in his career. I’m not arguing he’s positive but he’s putting in effort on that end and he has been getting steals/blocks and doing some hustle shit that helps the team out.
The Denver version of Bones would not do those things.
(This isn’t painting Bones as the second coming of Mo Cheeks but the dude is not getting torched out there quite like he used to.)
he averages the exact same amount of blcks/stls as his denver years
besides blocks and steals are not indicative of defensive ability
Broadcast team talked about Ant hyping him up IIRC
Ant definitely hypes him up (he does this with everyone) but not the bit about him convincing the coaches to play him
I feel like I read/heard somewhere that Ant was more vocal than usual about giving Bones a shot.
Yeah it’s been reported that Ant was pretty vocal about giving him a real chance
When you have Gobert you can afford to have smaller guards.
I’m not sure how much you can ask for a backup PG to be good at defense.
Glad he found a role on the Wolves, it seemed like he was about to be out of the league.
I’m glad he seems to have learned and gotten over himself.
He definitely passed the eye test in a lot of ways (on offense) in Denver. At least as someone who didn’t watch that many Nuggets games.
I love Bones but still LOLed at the comment about his defense.
He tries hard and mostly avoids screwing up on that end but he is in no way a good defender. That he’s succeeding in spite of that is more credit to him, he’s doing everything else right.
He’s a JR Smith type player who can get hot and win you a game with his shooting, or lose you a game with poor defense and mental errors.
This feels like the the most generous interpretation of events in favor of Bones.
Fuck ya, I have his rookie card.
from an underrated rookie with incredible shotmaking skills and a great story to Mike Malone making him out to be an overrated head case
I love this genre of “guy who has been mediocre or worse for years has a good week, so it was all obviously Malone’s fault.”
I think he’s been great. I heard the bad teammate chatter so wasn’t enthused when we got him, but even when he wasn’t getting time & behind a poorly playing Dillingham his attitude was great on the bench, always the biggest cheerleader.
I think praising his defense is a bridge too far he sucks on that end, and still can get slightly trigger happy. But Bones has been huge, he really can score, which is desperately needed with the TWolves bench disappointing some this year. Big shot in the arm.
Let’s see what happens in the playoffs. That’ll be the real test.
From what I understand his good friend Ant really advocated for him to get some mins. Happy for Bones.
He’s good! Really good. He needs trust, he’s really a ‘coaches player’, he needs trust to excel. And with these 20-25min games, he’s demonstrating what I’m talking about. 21 in 23!!!
How is Bones defensively?
I thought he was just a streaky scorer, but gets taken advantage of on the defensive side, but haven’t seen him play much.
Let’s not overreact here. Those +41 last night was against the Bucks. We are trash this season
A certain guy, who is “fine in the west”, should learn from this guy
Crazy that Rob Dillingham’s worst case comp is the guy who took his job.
That said I’m not giving up on Rob. Kids need time.
My favorite thing about Bones is his ability to get to the hoop. He uses his long arms to essentially drop the ball in the hoop. It’s an efficient shot that he can get off any time he has a lane.
He really had a come to jesus moment after being waived by the Hawks and coming to the Wolves on a 2 way. Even i was really skeptical of him and was salty they didnt go sign a guy like Jordan Mcclaughlin with the last roster spot.
Its a great story of him checking his ego and really buying into the coaching staff and growing up in a big way. I hope he continues to play well and stays longer term with the Wolves
Nice to see the guy grow up and ve mature
I noticed he’s extremely quick and due to his shooting threat he’s able to draw guys out then blow past them. When they played the Heat he iso’d every single one of our bigs including Bam and blew past all of the for made layups
It was always clear he could play. Problem was always fit, both personality and basketball wise.
Kyle kuzma is so fucking cooked man. Look at how bones, who is a half foot shorter and probably 50-60 pounds lighter just bullies kuzma out of the way in the post for an easy lay up.
I’ve always been a bones hyland fan ngl
His incredible length
I had to look this up and DAMN… 6’ 2” with a 6’9” wingspan is crazy
Let’s if he can do this for a couple of years first…
I legit thought Bones was gonna be a star in Denver. Admittedly a lot of that opinion was formed because of his badass name.
Bones can tear whole squads up. Mad respect
Best story from here on out until he retires will always be Bestbrook
I couldnt have been more wrong about his character. I thought he was a head case shot chucker but after I heard his media day interviews it was clear he was a thoughtful and kind person who really wanted all his teammates to succeed. I really hope he can carve out a consistent role
Nah Son
Bones can’t defend. He gets abused by big guards.
Hes mostly flourishing due to ant’s absence. Can he still be 6th man material once ant is back full time?
Ant and he play plenty together.
Ant’s only missed one game in the last month lmao
6ppg and 1 apg, this Bones?
Yes, the one whose progressing monthly splits look better than the full season average and whose effort shows a change in maturity.
Stop reducing players to out-of-context numbers. Especially when the post says “since X” and you’re taking a potshot using the combined before and after X numbers.
Like 3 games prior he had a stretch of 5 games where he scored 0,4,7,6,2 points, and that’s his biggest strength. Setting the world on fire for sure.
Since he’s started getting real minutes in the past 18 games he’s at 9.5ppg, 3.5 assists on only 0.9 turnovers and 55.6% EFG%. He’s been good off the bench.
Yes, the one who scored 21 points in 23 minutes last game. He’s a menace! On the proper team, he’ll flourish, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a real 6MOTY candidate sooner than later.