The Rockets Suck (Wolves GT)

[Leado01]

Time to trade Gobert and give the keys to Nate Knight

There's no way TC should still have a job after that trade. Worst personnel move I've ever seen in professional sports.

Might want to look up that Vikings Hershel Walker trade. It's always hilarious to hear Jeff Diamond talk about that on his podcast with Souhan.

As bad as the Walker trade was, it doesn't even approach Ruth to the Yankees for $100k plus a $300k loan to finance a failed play.

The Nets got nothing back (just cash) for Julius Erving.

You kind of need time, results, and perspective to measure trades. A lot of us thought the Walker deal was going to get us a Super Bowl win. The relative success or failure of the Gobert trade probably can't be measured until we have finished a season or two and we figure out what Connelly is trying to build.

[Monster]

For at least a half of the game the Wolves simply couldn't make baskets. They started o it the game playing some good D but then it broke down. Sengun was just going bonkers and Houston was making various shots not surprisingly outrebonding the Wolves and the only thing they were screwing up was turnover and missing FTs. The Wolves kept it close though partly because they did force some FTs and Edwards got them some points. Ultimately the Wolbes ended up winning the game and the bad Rockets showed up especially in the 4th quarter. Sure the Rockets suck but some nights you don't make shots and you have to win a little ugly.

I thought Garza was the best option against Segun but it turned out Knight and a swarming defense was. Knight struggling finishing in the first half and then was absolutely fantastic most of the 2nd half. Good teams have guys like that that step up and do good things.

Edwards. Wow honestly that may be one of the best all around games I've seen from him.

I was worried about Austin Rivers when he came up grimacing but he seemed fine and stayed in the game and made some plays.

I think the concern from this game is rebounding.

It would be great to get a win on Monday.

Sengun is really good, isn't he Monster? And he's still only 20. Ant says they should build around him (although he can't pronounce his name...calls him #28), and I agree. He is so skilled.

Get Rudy and KAT back, or at least Rudy, and I think our rebounding woes would be over. But we knew going in that playing Houston without Rudy was going to be a mismatch on the boards. Rudy looked pretty good warming up pre-game, so I'm thinking he has at least a 50% chance of playing Monday.

Sengun is sort of a throwback player. He is like Sabonis who I looked up his stats the other day and wow. One issue with Sengun is he looked shorter than both Knight and Garza. Doesn't mean he can't be successful but that's undersized. He is fun to watch I was really impressed seeing him in person in the summer league. The Rockets have a nice collection of young talent. I don't know where it all ends up but they have some players it would be easy to get excited about if I was a rockets fan.

I could be wrong but I think statistically the Wolves have been below average at rebounding all year regardless of who has been on the court. Obviously it would be better with at least Gobert back but it's something I'm a little concerned about. Houston is a good rebounding team. Of course there are some other areas they could improve on like lowering turnovers and fouling less but rebounding is one area that's a problem adding Gobert didn't fix it although that could change.

[kekgeek]

Ho hum, another game where Nate Knight puts us on his back and leads us to victory while our opponent wins the offensive rebounding battle 15-3...same thing every night. Anybody else getting just a little bit tired of these +23 Nate Knight games Knight after Knight?

All seriousness aside, horribly ugly game...but one we needed to win, and we did. It's unfortunate that we needed career games from Knight and Ant to beat one of the most undisciplined team in the history of the NBA. But it's nice to be sitting in 6th place with another Rockets game tomorrow.

Do you think Jalen Green has any interest in seeing Jaden McDaniels tomorrow night? Green is averaging 22.4 PPG in January, but his average would be much higher if Jaden hadn't held him to 9 and 10 this month...on on 7-29 shooting! I know we rip him here for his tepid rebounding, but it's tough to get boards when you're spending the entire defensive possession chasing the opponent's best shooter and scorer around the perimeter. With an emerging offensive game (albeit not tonight), this guy is going to fun to watch for a long time...extend him!

Please hurry back, Rudy Gobert. I don't have the stats on this (closed circuit to Kekgeek), but I'd love to know our stats on "points in the paint" and rebounding differential with and without Rudy. I recognize that Houston is a good rebounding team, but our interior play last night was pathetic. I don't want Rudy rushed back if he's not ready because I think we can still beat Houston tomorrow without him, but let's hope he's back for the game in Nawlings. The Pellies are really struggling without Zion and Ingram, and we can still one on their court if Rudy is back.

Wolves are just a bad defensive rebounding team overall. Rudy helps but it's not like the wolves are elite rebounding the ball when Rudy is there.

Overall: Wolves rebound 70.3% of all misses by the opponent (15th percentile what is bad)

With Rudy: 71.2% (25th percentile)

Without Rudy: 69.3% (8th percentile)

Of the wolves top 10 most common lineups only 2 lineups are above the 50th percentile mark when it comes to defensive rebounding rate and those are Dlo/River/Ant/Mcdaniels/Rudy and Dlo/Ant/slow Mo/Kat/gobert. We are just a terrible defensive rebounding team.

Now for rim defense

Overall: teams shoot 64.3% at the rim against the wolves (73rd percentile so above average)

With Rudy: 61.5% (89th percentile)

Without Rudy: 66.8% (48th percentile)

So yes there is a pretty big difference with Rudy and without but the wolves are still league average guarding the rim even Rudy is out. Wolves are terrible at defending the 3 when Rudy is out opponents shooting 40.3% from 3 when Rudy is out (6th percentile). I'm guessing this is because the wolves need to rotate a ton more when Rudy is out so they leave open shooters

*just looked it up teams shoot more 3s against the wolves when Rudy is the on the court but significantly less corner 3s. But teams shoot 11.3% worse from the corner when Rudy is on the court (98th percentile). I don't know if that is just lucky shooting variance or we contest better.

[Q-is-here]

Ho hum, another game where Nate Knight puts us on his back and leads us to victory while our opponent wins the offensive rebounding battle 15-3...same thing every night. Anybody else getting just a little bit tired of these +23 Nate Knight games Knight after Knight?

All seriousness aside, horribly ugly game...but one we needed to win, and we did. It's unfortunate that we needed career games from Knight and Ant to beat one of the most undisciplined team in the history of the NBA. But it's nice to be sitting in 6th place with another Rockets game tomorrow.

Do you think Jalen Green has any interest in seeing Jaden McDaniels tomorrow night? Green is averaging 22.4 PPG in January, but his average would be much higher if Jaden hadn't held him to 9 and 10 this month...on on 7-29 shooting! I know we rip him here for his tepid rebounding, but it's tough to get boards when you're spending the entire defensive possession chasing the opponent's best shooter and scorer around the perimeter. With an emerging offensive game (albeit not tonight), this guy is going to fun to watch for a long time...extend him!

Please hurry back, Rudy Gobert. I don't have the stats on this (closed circuit to Kekgeek), but I'd love to know our stats on "points in the paint" and rebounding differential with and without Rudy. I recognize that Houston is a good rebounding team, but our interior play last night was pathetic. I don't want Rudy rushed back if he's not ready because I think we can still beat Houston tomorrow without him, but let's hope he's back for the game in Nawlings. The Pellies are really struggling without Zion and Ingram, and we can still one on their court if Rudy is back.

Wolves are just a bad defensive rebounding team overall. Rudy helps but it's not like the wolves are elite rebounding the ball when Rudy is there.

Overall: Wolves rebound 70.3% of all misses by the opponent (15th percentile what is bad)

With Rudy: 71.2% (25th percentile)

Without Rudy: 69.3% (8th percentile)

Of the wolves top 10 most common lineups only 2 lineups are above the 50th percentile mark when it comes to defensive rebounding rate and those are Dlo/River/Ant/Mcdaniels/Rudy and Dlo/Ant/slow Mo/Kat/gobert. We are just a terrible defensive rebounding team.

Now for rim defense

Overall: teams shoot 64.3% at the rim against the wolves (73rd percentile so above average)

With Rudy: 61.5% (89th percentile)

Without Rudy: 66.8% (48th percentile)

So yes there is a pretty big difference with Rudy and without but the wolves are still league average guarding the rim even Rudy is out. Wolves are terrible at defending the 3 when Rudy is out opponents shooting 40.3% from 3 when Rudy is out (6th percentile). I'm guessing this is because the wolves need to rotate a ton more when Rudy is out so they leave open shooters

*just looked it up teams shoot more 3s against the wolves when Rudy is the on the court but significantly less corner 3s. But teams shoot 11.3% worse from the corner when Rudy is on the court (98th percentile). I don't know if that is just lucky shooting variance or we contest better.

I think the variance in corner 3's being shot is due to the high wall coverage when Rudy is out because the low man has to come off from one of the corners to cover the roller in the paint, which in turn can lead to an open corner 3 if our rotations aren't crisp and the ball is moving quickly.