Wolves vs Boston GDT

[Q-is-here]

There were valid reasons to believe Nowell could grow into a potent 6th man role. He's a 4th year player that had made nice strides through three seasons and showed over a stretch last season that he could be a very efficient shot maker off the bench. He had also demonstrated last season that when given regular minutes, he would produce.

It's safe to say that he's been a disaster this season. You just can't be that bad of a defender AND be terribly inefficient from the field on a high volume of shots. It's the worst possible outcome from a role player.

I don't disagree that some of those expectations were well-supported, and I was one of those optimists wishing to see Jaylen Nowell in an expanded role. Player development is a fickle thing, though. Like you said, it's been a disaster to this point on both ends of the floor.

What's interesting to me, though, is that Nowell doesn't even look like the same player. Perhaps he is who he always has been and the limited role in past seasons hid the true Nowell from us. Or he's truly just playing for his next contract -- winning basketball be damned. Either way, he looks to be more selfish and less instinctive than I ever remember. I never had Shabazz Muhammad flashbacks while watching Nowell prior to this season. The Nowell of last year regularly played through the offense, had really solid passing chops, and was one of the better finishers near the rim on the team. None of that has translated into this season.

Well, the irony is that if he's playing for his next contract, he's sabotaging his own value. For someone that was such a dead-eye shooter in college.....sigh....same old story with Wolves prospects and their 3-point shooting. I'm sure he'll light it up with his next team.

[Jester1534]

Two things killed us in the 4th: Poor defensive rebounding from our guards and wings and selfish play by DLO and Ant on the other end, where I think there was a series of three or so consecutive plays in the midst of Boston's run where they dribbled down the court and took a shot against a set half-court defense without a single pass. Otherwise, the team looked pretty damn good through three quarters.

Selfish play by DLO? he got like three fucking shots in the 2nd half and one was a pass that went in to Gobert. If you watched this game Nowell fucked this team and Rudy was nullified due to length of Boston. Ant was the only reason it was a game in 3rd and then his low Basketball IQ took over in the 4th when the wolves were on the ropes.

I notice when Jaylen Brown got hot they just keep running action after action for him.

[Monster]

Jaylen Nowell has a higher usage this season than Karl-Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell, and the gap between him and Anthony Edwards is smaller than it is between him and those other two. This is actively hurting the Timberwolves because Nowell just isn't scoring or facilitating well enough to justify wasting those possessions. Remember when some here debated that Russell needed to take a backseat to Nowell in scoring hierarchy? Yeah, that hasn't worked out at all. We're witnessing what it looks like when a player is stretched beyond his capabilities, unfortunately.

Nowell also has a higher usage than the following: Jamal Murray, Jalen Brunson, Tyler Herro, Jrue Holiday, Dejounte Murray, C.J. McCollum, Bojan Bogdanovic, Jimmy Butler, Tyrese Haliburton, and Fred VanVleet, among many others.

Nowell is taking 25.1 FGA per 100 possessions, good enough for 18th-most in the league -- or 19.2 FGA per 36 minutes, which is 16th-most in the league. He comfortably leads Minnesota in both categories.

I get that Nowell's role this season has been to come in and score, but this is beyond absurd. Plus-minus and on/off metrics be damned, as he's positive in both, but he's flat out hurting the team with his play more often than not. He's approaching Marcus Thornton territory, which is far from a reliably useful rotation player. It's only a matter of time before Austin Rivers bumps him from the rotation altogether if this continues.

I this this is a great take and I agree with basically all of it. I have a different observation and I think both things can be true at the same time to some extent.

One thing I like about Nowell is the way he is being ultra aggressive bringing the ball up and making things happen. He is still shooting over 50% on 2 point shots as a guard and that's still pretty good although lower than his usual standards. He is also just firing up shots which I agree is bad but I also like that he is letting it rip more especially from 3. To some extent he is expanding his game and I do actually see some positives in his development but...the efficiency or lack thereof is pretty terrible. Can he find some balance or just flat out start hitting shots at a higher rate? Idk

I still believe in his talent but I also agree that sometimes his play is hurting the team. The REALLY big problem with Nowellgoing forward is that he is a FA and so any development good or bad this season could have zero benefit past this season if he doesn't resign. Naz Reid was always the more proven player but Nowell had an upside that seemed quite possible. With Naz's more recent play he looks like the better player who also might actually be a starting level player so he has passed Nowell in terms of value in both categories at this point. Unfortunately neither guy may be here in a few months. How much losing them could affect the team long term...we may not know for a few years.