Hornets vs Pups GDT

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

And this is where we miss Dlo a ton. I get not extending him but we are not better with Conley

Good take.

[Coolbreeze44]

And this is where we miss Dlo a ton. I get not extending him but we are not better with Conley

And this is where we miss Dlo a ton. I get not extending him but we are not better with Conley

We lost games to shitty teams with DLO too. Our only chance is KAT comes back and dominates (not likely). I sure don't want to rely on Edwards piss poor decision making at the end of games.

[Lipoli390]

The Wolves had a good thing going last season. Instead of sticking to his word and "staying out of the way and not screwing things up," TC screwed things up. This team still might end up in the top 10 with a play-in opportunity. But that's about as far as they'll go this season. Last season this team had an identity. They were a high-octane, high scoring, high energy young team. They had toughness in the presence of Beverley, Beasley and Vando. They had three-point shooting in Beverley and Beasley. They have no identity now. They're lost trying to fit a round peg in a square hole. Trading DLO for Conley obviously hasn't made a difference and it won't. The trade might still be worth it given the 2nd round picks and what we've seen from NAW. But the deal didn't made a dent in what ails this team.

Yes, the Wolves miss KAT. But losing tonight to Charlotte at home with Edwards, McDaniels, Conley and our super-max center playing is inexcusable and serves as yet another example that this team is broken and that TC was the one who broke it.

[WildWolf2813]

Easiest money I ever made.


I still think Rudy trade or no Rudy trade this team would look like this. It just feels worse because the options to fixing this are incredibly compromised.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

o Russell-Edwards-McDaniels-Towns-Gobert:
108.2 ORtg, 104.2 DRtg, +4.0 NetRtg in 260 minutes. Unit TS% of 58.4.

o Russell-Edwards-McDaniels-Anderson-Gobert:
114.6 ORtg, 101.7 DRtg, +12.9 NetRtg in 253 minutes. Unit TS% of 62.6.

o Conley-Edwards-McDaniels-Anderson-Gobert:
104.3 ORtg, 117.9 DRtg, -13.6 NetRtg in 54 minutes. Unit TS% of 50.6.


I'll preface that it's still very early for this new group, but that supposed "better fit" and "chemistry" hasn't materialized in a positive way (yet?).

Minnesota's best lineup, and one that was among the most effective in the league with a significant sample size (253 minutes), and without Karl-Anthony Towns, is now much worse defensively while absolutely struggling on the offensive end since acquiring Mike Conley Jr.

There's an appropriate amount of time the Timberwolves will need to mesh, admittedly, but we're in the final stretch of the schedule here. There isn't a lot of time to gel and we're 1-3 since shuffling the deck while playing mostly bad basketball. It's difficult to watch. But hey, how about those lobs...

[Lipoli390]

o Russell-Edwards-McDaniels-Towns-Gobert:
108.2 ORtg, 104.2 DRtg, +4.0 NetRtg in 260 minutes. Unit TS% of 58.4.

o Russell-Edwards-McDaniels-Anderson-Gobert:
114.6 ORtg, 101.7 DRtg, +12.9 NetRtg in 253 minutes. Unit TS% of 62.6.

o Conley-Edwards-McDaniels-Anderson-Gobert:
104.3 ORtg, 117.9 DRtg, -13.6 NetRtg in 54 minutes. Unit TS% of 50.6.


I'll preface that it's still very early for this new group, but that supposed "better fit" and "chemistry" hasn't materialized in a positive way (yet?).

Minnesota's best lineup, and one that was among the most effective in the league with a significant sample size (253 minutes), and without Karl-Anthony Towns, is now much worse defensively while absolutely struggling on the offensive end since acquiring Mike Conley Jr.

There's an appropriate amount of time the Timberwolves will need to mesh, admittedly, but we're in the final stretch of the schedule here. There isn't a lot of time to gel and we're 1-3 since shuffling the deck while playing mostly bad basketball. It's difficult to watch. But hey, how about those lobs...

Trading DLO was a bad move if the intent was to make a run post all-star break. That's why I favored staying with what we had at the trade deadline even though I don't think this team was going to get very far. The trade makes even less sense given that the front office knew KAT would be out until last March. With KAT out until almost the end of the season, this team couldn't handle the loss of DLO's offensive firepower.

I'm still OK with the trade because of the three 2nd-round picks, NAW and the likelihood that the Wolves wouldn't have re-signed DLO. But I still would have preferred to give this team the best shot possible at winning down the stretch this season in spite of my doubts about this team built around Rudy. And in my view, keeping DLO under the circumstances would have given this team the best chance of winning now. At this point, I have little interest in what this team does the rest of this season. The only thing that matters to me is what they do after this season to dig out of the whole that TC and his front office minions have put this franchise in in less than a year.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Well... the 2023 season is over.*

There's no way to come back from home losses to Washington and Charlotte (or two losses vs. the Spurs and Pistons or all the other games). This team just isn't good enough.

The Timberwolves are MUCH better at home and are on the road for 13 of the final 20 games. And most of those are vs. winning teams.

Season over.

_____________________

Fun, random stuff:

Maybe it's a good thing Gordon Hayward has only played in the Eastern Conference over the past 4+ seasons. Consider all his games vs. Minnesota since leaving Utah:

10 - 18 fg / 27 points / 10 reb / 5 ast / (W)
7 - 13 fg / 18 points / 6 reb / 6 ast / (W)
5 - 21 fg / 14 points / 7 reb / 5 ast / (W)
10 - 18 fg / 23 points / 10 reb / 5 ast / (W)
12 - 17 fg / 29 points / 5 reb / 6 ast / (W)
8 - 16 fg / 30 points / 1 reb / 5 ast / (W)
14 - 18 fg / 35 points / 9 reb / 8 ast / (W)

54% fg / 25.1 ppg / 6.9 reb / 6.4 ast / 7 wins... 0 losses.

Do you want me to post his stats vs. everybody else to highlight the stark difference even more? Or mention Charlotte's record vs. every other team...?


* If Towns comes back within the next 5 games... AND... plays like a SUPERSTAR, they have a slight chance.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Anthony Edwards agreed when asked if he feels there is more on his shoulders now offensively, and said "I'll be in the gym tomorrow morning working on shooting over two people."

Sounds like a 21-year old All-Star who's fatigued by the challenges that come with being the only real scoring threat on his team. Karl-Anthony Towns remains sidelined by his injury. D'Angelo Russell was imprudently traded. Jaylen Nowell remains a massive disappointment and Jaden McDaniels isn't at a stage in his offensive development where he can consistently shoulder any significant responsibilities on that end. It's Edwards against the world, or so it feels, and it's having a negative effect on his game. The guy needs more help. What happens when he inevitably has an off night?

And that's not even mentioning the defense, which is an area that Minnesota has managed to collectively get worse at despite having serious pieces to work with there.

[FNG]

Well... the 2023 season is over.*

There's no way to come back from home losses to Washington and Charlotte (or two losses vs. the Spurs and Pistons or all the other games). This team just isn't good enough.

The Timberwolves are MUCH better at home and are on the road for 13 of the final 20 games. And most of those are vs. winning teams.

Season over.

_____________________

Fun, random stuff:

Maybe it's a good thing Gordon Hayward has only played in the Eastern Conference over the past 4+ seasons. Consider all his games vs. Minnesota since leaving Utah:

10 - 18 fg / 27 points / 10 reb / 5 ast / (W)
7 - 13 fg / 18 points / 6 reb / 6 ast / (W)
5 - 21 fg / 14 points / 7 reb / 5 ast / (W)
10 - 18 fg / 23 points / 10 reb / 5 ast / (W)
12 - 17 fg / 29 points / 5 reb / 6 ast / (W)
8 - 16 fg / 30 points / 1 reb / 5 ast / (W)
14 - 18 fg / 35 points / 9 reb / 8 ast / (W)

54% fg / 25.1 ppg / 6.9 reb / 6.4 ast / 7 wins... 0 losses.

Do you want me to post his stats vs. everybody else to highlight the stark difference even more? Or mention Charlotte's record vs. every other team...?

Difficult to argue against this conclusion after a loss like last night, Abe. If the season is indeed over (and I will present a case for why it's not in the playoffs thread), it might be partially my fault, because I have been at Target Center for 5 very bad losses...Spurs, Knicks, Bulls, Pistons and Hornets. That's been the theme of this season...unexplainable losses to teams that we should gave beaten. They all hurt, but last night following the Wizards loss might have hurt most of all. So much blame to spread around, but I pin this one on three vets who are supposed to be our steady hand...Conley, SloMo and Rivers.

Conley's first game in Target Center was a big disappointment...only 3 assists, inadequate ball movement, and little connection with Gobert. We will need more of the Utah version of Conley to have any chance of making the playoffs.

SloMo has been terrific all season, but I don't think we ripped him enough in the GDT for what I thought was his worst game of the season. He was wearing a back brace whenever he checked out of the game, and maybe that's why he just didn't seem himself out there. 4 turnovers, sloppy defense and 0-3 on free throws is not what we want from Anderson.

It's fun to watch the development of Jaden, but for the first time I've seen all season, he was not able to effectively defend the opponent's best player. Kudos to Ball for being much better than I ever thought he would be...he is really fun to watch. Neither Jaden nor Rivers were able to adequately defend him, and that pretty much decided this game.

But then there was Ant. The Friday night crowd was fairly quiet all night, until Finchie put Ant on Ball. We got to see some of the best on-ball defense we have seen all night. As good as Ball is on offense, he is not a good defender...he's lazy. Ball was an offensive dynamo last night, but seeing him and Ant on the court at the same time, it's more clear to me than ever that we made the right draft choice.

So for the 8th or 9th time this season, we have to say it again...another very bad loss. But there may be a ray of hope out there. KAT was on the court during every time out taking a few shots, and there was no evidence of any injury. That combined with comments all week from his teammates about his return tells me that it is imminent. I'm going to predict he returns on March 7 for the Philly home game after the grueling west coast swing. Meanwhile, we need to steal one of the four upcoming road games to make up for last night's turd.

[Carlos Danger]

o Russell-Edwards-McDaniels-Towns-Gobert:
108.2 ORtg, 104.2 DRtg, +4.0 NetRtg in 260 minutes. Unit TS% of 58.4.

o Russell-Edwards-McDaniels-Anderson-Gobert:
114.6 ORtg, 101.7 DRtg, +12.9 NetRtg in 253 minutes. Unit TS% of 62.6.

o Conley-Edwards-McDaniels-Anderson-Gobert:
104.3 ORtg, 117.9 DRtg, -13.6 NetRtg in 54 minutes. Unit TS% of 50.6.


I'll preface that it's still very early for this new group, but that supposed "better fit" and "chemistry" hasn't materialized in a positive way (yet?).

Minnesota's best lineup, and one that was among the most effective in the league with a significant sample size (253 minutes), and without Karl-Anthony Towns, is now much worse defensively while absolutely struggling on the offensive end since acquiring Mike Conley Jr.

There's an appropriate amount of time the Timberwolves will need to mesh, admittedly, but we're in the final stretch of the schedule here. There isn't a lot of time to gel and we're 1-3 since shuffling the deck while playing mostly bad basketball. It's difficult to watch. But hey, how about those lobs...

You (correctly) acknowledge it's not much of a sample size. Example, if you sub out Prince for Anderson, suddenly that five man line up (with Conley) is plus 16. I don't make much of it - we have to let this play out more.

The decision makers had plenty of minutes to evaluate DLO including practices. They didn't want to commit to him - end of story. Monster laid it out in another post. Once they knew they were not going to resign him - it made sense to trade him for some value back. Is Conley going to be an upgrade? Depends on who you ask. Rudy/Conley is +9 in only 71 minutes. Russell/Rudy were only +1 in 1100 minutes. And Russell/Towns were -52 in 529 minutes.

NAW certainly is an upgrade to Forbes (who he replaced). And the three 2nd round picks give us something of value for future trade or prospects.

At the end of the day, this team didn't look like it was going anywhere with DLO. They were one game over .500 when they traded him and they are .500 now. Not a big difference. They were destined to cross their fingers for a play in either way IMO.