As mentioned in my last post on the subject, I think Memphis and Minny are connected at the hip: from the coin flip to the trade to the marketing importance of off-court racial demographics, the two teams have a lot in common.
Anywho, aside from giving serious thought to having the Grizz replace the Spurs as my 2nd favorite team in the league (sorry folks, I spent a large chunk of KG's time in Minny as a Texan), the Grizz are blessed with some excellent blogs; namely, 3 Shades of Blue and Beyond the Arc. I have both in my daily reader.
Getting around to the main point of this post, Beyond the Arc recently posted an interesting nugget as far as Wolves fans are concerned:
I had a chance to talk to Conley for a few minutes after practice. He talked about working with new assistant coach Kevin O’Neill, who traveled to work with Conley at Ohio State earlier this summer. Conley laughed when he described O’Neill as “very intense” and someone who “picks up on every mistake.” He did say that O’Neill is spearheading a more aggressive but more conventional defensive approach, picking up opponents full court and now forcing opponents to the baseline instead of to the middle, which was the approach last season. Conley allowed that this change in approach was probably more intuitive, because that’s the way he was coached dating back to high school.
Conley was sporting a blue “Let It Fly” wristband he said was given to him by Mike Miller after his shooting improved last season. “I’m keeping the memory of Mike alive,” he said.
Talking about his shooting, Conley said he was trying to build on his strong late-season play from his rookie year and had been corresponding with shooting coach Mark Price, with whom he hopes to meet in Atlanta before the season starts.
It would be interesting to know how much Miller worked with Conley on his shot. I'm hoping that he did and that his coaching (and confidence) will help out the Wolves' very own man-without-a-jumper, Corey Brewer.
PS: Can the Wolves get a frickin' defensive specialist coach of their own?