It's safe to say Anthony Tolliver isn't happy after a fan suggested that the Minnesota Timberwolves should have kept Nemanja Bjelica instead of signing him.
Nemanja Bjelica signed with the Sacramento Kings in the offseason after three years with Minnesota. The Timberwolves extended a qualifying offer to the 30-year-old forward earlier in free agency but rescinded the deal in order to sign Anthony Tolliver from the Detroit Pistons.
On Friday, however, Bjelica showed his former team what they missed as he spearheaded the Kings to a 116-112 victory over the Washington Wizards. The Serbian sharpshooter buried a career-high six 3-pointers en route to 26 points. He also had 12 rebounds, three assists, one steal, and a crucial block of a John Wall drive late in the game.
After the game, Jerry Zgoda of Minnesota's Star Tribune tweeted about the development, and a fan responded and expressed his disappointment that the Timberwolves are “stuck with” Tolliver.
Tolliver, who was mentioned in the tweet, took notice of the apparent jibe at him and clapped back to the fan with a dose of reality and some facts.
Bjelica never really thrived in Minnesota despite averaging more than 18 minutes a game through three seasons. He played in 67 matches (21 starts) for the Timberwolves last year and averaged 20.5 minutes on a nightly basis, but he still failed to show significant improvement.
Tolliver, meanwhile, put up 8.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.1 assists for the Pistons last season. As he mentioned, he also finished in the top six of 3-point field goal percentage with 43.6, tied with Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyle Korver.
Tolliver certainly knows what he can bring to the team, and while Timberwolves fans would rue the fact that they were never able to fully utilize Bjelica, there's no use crying over spilled milk. Besides, they got someone “decent” in Tolliver.