60WinTim wrote:So, are the struggles to blend due more to the KAT/Gobert pairing, or Dlo without another ball handler? We struggled out of the gate last year with the DLo/Ant pairing in the backcourt. Then Jaden was bumped from the starting unit by Beverly, and the team played pretty well.
Fair questions, Doug. My opinion is that, like most things, it's a combination of factors.
- The duo of Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert has actually defended well in their 401 minutes together with a 107.3 Defensive Rating. If that number were to remain for those two the entire season, I would consider this "experiment" a big success. Their offensive cohesion is what has been unsuccessful for Minnesota, which wasn't expected to be a long-term issue. Part of that is Towns (and others) shooting well below their expected averages, especially from three-point range (Towns at 32.5%), and the offensive fouls/turnovers continue to be a problem, but the other part of it leads me to my next point...
- Chris Finch's blatant reluctance to lean into spread pick-and-roll sets -- despite having
elite personnel for that action -- is a big reason for the offensive struggles this season. It was apparent before Towns got injured, but it's even more obvious now that Finch has no better option but to turn to it as he's down a top offensive weapon. And the team's had decent results with it. My hope is that the team continues to play/thrive in the pick-and-roll so that Finch can't revert away from it in favor of the unstructured messy "flow" that we witnessed earlier this season. It's still too early to tell, but Towns' injury may have actually saved Finch's job by forcing him to do what was obvious to begin with!
- D'Angelo Russell does seem to perform better when he can play both on-ball and off-ball, which is why the combo-guard label has always applied to him. I think the backcourt he shared with Spencer Dinwiddie in Brooklyn is the most memorable example of that, but the off-ball usage in Golden State with Steve Kerr speaks to that as well. Due to roster makeup, however, he hasn't always been afforded the opportunity to do both in his career, especially in Minnesota.
I also think that, in general, you want more ball-handlers and shot creators on the court together than not. Switching Jaden McDaniels out of the starting lineup for Patrick Beverley did the trick last year. The injury to Towns is giving us a better look at what the Kyle Anderson experience is like this year. In both cases, Minnesota added
another capable ball-handler to the lineup and saw immediate benefits.
If this continues, and it very well might, I wonder if we'll see Chris Finch afford more minutes to the Russell-Edwards-Anderson-Towns-Gobert lineup when everyone is healthy. To be clear, I think McDaniels should retain his starting spot, and they absolutely need his defense, but Anderson does some things with the ball that this team needs that McDaniels just can't do [yet] or isn't comfortable doing.
In summary, I think it's a combination of the following:
1. Minnesota, especially Towns, has to make shots at a rate more reminiscent of recent seasons. The three-point differential, specifically, is killing them.
2. Chris Finch needs to accept that this offense needs a heavy dose of spread pick-and-roll even when Towns returns.
3. D'Angelo Russell is more effective when he can be used on AND off the ball. Don't diminish the versatility he provides as a scorer by trying to pigeonhole him into a Jordan McLaughlin-esque role.
4. Sometimes more is better. Get more ball-handlers on the court together. Find ways to get D'Angelo Russell, Anthony Edwards, Kyle Anderson, Jaylen Nowell, and Jordan McLaughlin on the court together in various lineup combinations. Incorporate better ball movement and quicker decision-making as a team by putting more players that are comfortable doing those things on the floor together.
