I thought this was one of the best, most balanced, reviews of Rudy Gobert as a player.
That was very good, Lip. People talk about his blocked shots, but what stands out in this video is that nobody even wants to shoot inside when Rudy is around the basket. Teams shoot an astonishing 13% lower than league average within 6 feet against him! His absurd 7'9" wingspan is well known, but this video brings out his defensive instincts and surprising footspeed. It's a lethal combination.
There is a history of Finch working with Cousins and Anthony Davis. And Connelly brought Cousins to Denver mid-season last year, in which Cousins performed reasonably well as a backup. Although I seem to recall a meltdown or two...
I thought this was one of the best, most balanced, reviews of Rudy Gobert as a player.
That was very good, Lip. People talk about his blocked shots, but what stands out in this video is that nobody even wants to shoot inside when Rudy is around the basket. Teams shoot an astonishing 13% lower than league average within 6 feet against him! His absurd 7'9" wingspan is well known, but this video brings out his defensive instincts and surprising footspeed. It's a lethal combination.
It is truly incredible how this one signing has totally transformed the team even though we are returning 8 of our 11 rotation guys from last year.
- Gobert replaces KAT at Center = Bigger and longer
- KAT replaces Vando at PF = Bigger and longer
- McDaniels replaces Ant at SF = Longer
- Ant replaces DLO at Guard #1 = Bigger and longer
- DLO replaces PBev at Guard #2 = Bigger and longer
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- Anderson replace McDaniels as the backup 4 = Bigger
- Prince, Nowell, Reid, & JMac = Same
Our starting lineup is freakin' huge! I do think we lose a step in defensive quickness and tenacity. Vando and PBev formed the heart and soul of our starting defense last year. That will be tough to replace, but the addition of Gobert should hopefully more than make up for that.
Great post, Q...we really got longer! And you captured what I see as the biggest unknown going into next season. What will be the impact of losing two dogs like Pat and Vando have on the character of this team? My sense is that the on-ball defense of Ant will be a key factor in next year's success. We saw improvement in him last year, but he's not PatBev. My biggest concern is that DLo reverts to the defensive liability he was prior the the Beverley season. We're going to score, and our front court is going to be dominant defensively. I think it's up to Ant and DLo on defense whether we become a team that merely wins one series next year, or a team that legitimately challenges for a Western Conference championship.
Q-was-here wrote:The thing about Cousins is he'd be great if he just stuck to being a big man rebounding, defending, screen & roll big man. Instead, he tries to do too much and turns the ball over a ton and takes bad shots. And that's before we get into his overall on court demeanor and attitude. No thank you!
Cousins certainly still has some issues with keeping his cool on the court which probably isn't good for towns but I don't think he is a bad guy otherwise but this is certainly debatable.
Meanwhile despite all his injuries getting older he is still very productive. He is what you said but I'll add his rebounding has actually gone up the last few years per minute. He also still draws fouls at a star level rate and that has value. Finch knows him from coaching him previously. Idk if the Wolves are actually looking at him or other centers but he would be a pretty talented 3rd center. Imagine if Gobert and Towns get in foul trouble and then a team then maybe has to deal with Demarcus Cousins for 10 mins. He is still very skilled and a physically imposing player. I've always been a fan of Cousins although I acknowledged issues/flaws during the draft process and I think he is worth considering. Imagine going from Towns basically being the biggest guy on the roster to having Gobert and Cousins plus pushing guys to spots where they are bigger for their positions.
I think the era of guards defending Towns will be over when Gobert is on the floor. Helping off of Gobert should be an instant dunk in comparison to Vando.
I posted this in another thread, but initially intended to post these thoughts in this three. Here are the three key needs I see for the Wolves right now.
I see three needs for this team right now.
1. A backup defensive/rebounding big. The Wolves now have no defensive, rebounding bigs on the roster behind Gobert and Towns. Naz Reid is offensively skilled, but he's a really poor defender and equally poor rebounder. Even if entirely healthy all season, Gobert obviously isn't going to play 48 minutes. He's averaged 30 minutes per game over his career and now he's 30 years old. He's also bound to miss at least some significant number of games entirely. He played in 66 games last season, 71 the prior season and 68 the season before that. We have no one to pick up any of the defensive or rebounding slack when he's not on the floor. Nor do we have anyone to pick up the rebounding slack when Towns is off the floor because doesn't rebound well either. Vanderbilt was a superb rebounder and he's gone. So I see this as by far the Wolves top remaining off-season priority. We're clearly in win-now mode, so the Wolves can't wait until next summer or even the February trade deadline to fill this need.
2. A starting caliber two-way SF. Although I'm a big McDaniels fan, he's still a major unknown. We all see his potential and obviously the Wolves coaching staff and front office do too because they steadfastly refused to include him in any deals. But unlike Ant, McDaniels still hasn't given us any assurance that he's likely to even come close to reaching his potential And even if he eventually becomes the player many of us think he can be, he's still very young and, like many players in NBA history, he might not blossom until his 4th, 5th or even 6th season - witness e.g., Jermaine O'Neal and Chauncey Billups. To maximize the opportunity Gobert brings us to leap forward right away, the Wolves need to be prepared to move McDaniels into a backup SF/PF role in the event he doesn't elevate his game significantly over last season.
3. A good, tough 3&D rotation guard. This becomes critical with the loss of Beverly. Losing Beverley we not only lose his moxie/toughness, we also lose his stellar defense, ball-handling and scoring/3-point shooting. I really like Nowell, but we need to be honest and acknowledge that he's a poor defender. DLO improved defensively last season, but he's not a good defender and I expect him to be who he's always been. That puts a lot of pressure on Ant. He looked tremendous defensively at times, but he's still very young and wasn't known for his defense in college. Moreover, it's worth pondering whether losing Beverley will have a negative effect on the defensive chemistry that obviously affected Ant last season. Finally, Edwards has to bear such a heavy load offensively, that it's a lot to expect him to carry such a heavy load defensively. We can't expect to get all of the things Beverly brought - moxie, toughness, defense, 3-point shooting and ball-handling. I think we'll need to forego the ball-handling and hopefully sign a solid, tough 3&D guard. Maybe Moore can fill this role, but that's a lot to expect from a rookie who had only one good season our of three in his college career.
Right now we have three open roster spots if we use one of our two-ways on Minott. But we don't have any of our MLE. We have the $4M BAE and apparently we also have a $4.4M trade exception that resulted from including Bolmaro in the deal. Not sure who's out there to fill any, much less all three, of these needs. But I think that's the task in front of our front office.
1. A backup defensive/rebounding big. The Wolves now have no defensive, rebounding bigs on the roster behind Gobert and Towns. Naz Reid is offensively skilled, but he's a really poor defender and equally poor rebounder. Even if entirely healthy all season, Gobert obviously isn't going to play 48 minutes. He's averaged 30 minutes per game over his career and now he's 30 years old. He's also bound to miss at least some significant number of games entirely. He played in 66 games last season, 71 the prior season and 68 the season before that. We have no one to pick up any of the defensive or rebounding slack when he's not on the floor. Nor do we have anyone to pick up the rebounding slack when Towns is off the floor because doesn't rebound well either. Vanderbilt was a superb rebounder and he's gone. So I see this as by far the Wolves top remaining off-season priority. We're clearly in win-now mode, so the Wolves can't wait until next summer or even the February trade deadline to fill this need.
2. A starting caliber two-way SF. Although I'm a big McDaniels fan, he's still a major unknown. We all see his potential and obviously the Wolves coaching staff and front office do too because they steadfastly refused to include him in any deals. But unlike Ant, McDaniels still hasn't given us any assurance that he's likely to even come close to reaching his potential And even if he eventually becomes the player many of us think he can be, he's still very young and, like many players in NBA history, he might not blossom until his 4th, 5th or even 6th season - witness e.g., Jermaine O'Neal and Chauncey Billups. To maximize the opportunity Gobert brings us to leap forward right away, the Wolves need to be prepared to move McDaniels into a backup SF/PF role in the event he doesn't elevate his game significantly over last season.
3. A good, tough 3&D rotation guard. This becomes critical with the loss of Beverly. Losing Beverley we not only lose his moxie/toughness, we also lose his stellar defense, ball-handling and scoring/3-point shooting. I really like Nowell, but we need to be honest and acknowledge that he's a poor defender. DLO improved defensively last season, but he's not a good defender and I expect him to be who he's always been. That puts a lot of pressure on Ant. He looked tremendous defensively at times, but he's still very young and wasn't known for his defense in college. Moreover, it's worth pondering whether losing Beverley will have a negative effect on the defensive chemistry that obviously affected Ant last season. Finally, Edwards has to bear such a heavy load offensively, that it's a lot to expect him to carry such a heavy load defensively. We can't expect to get all of the things Beverly brought - moxie, toughness, defense, 3-point shooting and ball-handling. I think we'll need to forego the ball-handling and hopefully sign a solid, tough 3&D guard. Maybe Moore can fill this role, but that's a lot to expect from a rookie who had only one good season our of three in his college career.
Right now we have three open roster spots if we use one of our two-ways on Minott. But we don't have any of our MLE. We have the $4M BAE and apparently we also have a $4.4M trade exception that resulted from including Bolmaro in the deal. Not sure who's out there to fill any, much less all three, of these needs. But I think that's the task in front of our front office.
CoolBreeze44 wrote:Demarcus has never won, and he tends to wear out his welcome very quickly. Can't say I'm very excited to see him come on board. Early in his career, I confidently declared he would never win an NBA championship because of his attitude and influence. So far I've been right.
I agree completely, Cool. I'm concerned if Connelly is even considering him. Hopefully, this is just Doogie being Doogie.
