GDT: Minnesota at Los Angeles (Clippers)

[Coolbreeze44]

One step forward, three steps back for Towns. You'd think the guy would care more about winning considering all the losing he's endured. Pussy.

Now that's the type of unabashed objectivity I appreciate.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

0-16 now since 2018 on the second night of a back to back for this team. You can't make this stuff up. It's a soft, losing mentality that permeates the culture and seems to infect anyone that comes into the organization. That's why most players shoot worse, defend worse, and generally play worse than prior stints in other franchises. And for the players we draft, they just don't improve much from whatever kind of player they were by the end of their rookie year. And some get worse!

[FNG]

After a big win against the Lakers, I think this is what most of us suspected tonight...hopefully at least the gamblers here cashed in on that Clippers-7 gift Vegas gave us.

12 games in and we're on a disappointing 27 win pace after the softest 12 games we will play all year. If Ayton doesn't play against us Monday night, it will be the 13th consecutive game against an opponent missing a key starter. When you combine that with the fact that we have been the healthiest team in the association this season, winning 1 out of every three games is pathetic. Even worse, except for the addition of PatBev (our best starter last night), the defense looks identical to last year. JO is still disruptive, Jaden is still quite good, but everyone else looks the same as before. Remember the start of the season when Finch was talking about a new aggressive approach on defense? Well, last night KAT was playing the same drop defense we have seen his entire career, and everyone but PatBev and JO looked passive. The easy fast break baskets we got the first two games of the season are but a distant memory. After a promising start, we are now 20th in the league in points per game allowed, and seem destined to end up in the bottom three defensively again. Combined with ranking 22nd in 3-point %, and it looks like another long season.

I apologize for piling on DLo because he is far from the only reason we are on our way to another lottery finish, but there's one aspect of his game that is becoming increasingly annoying to me, and I noticed it when he hit those back to back threes in the third quarter. I wish there was a statistic for points scored after a game is out of reach, because DLo might lead the league in it. He's shooting 39% on the season, but I suspect he might be shooting 50% when we're down 20 or more and 25% when the game is still in doubt. We need more from him, and more importantly, we need more from KAT on a consistent basis. After a stellar game from our max guys against the Lakers, their combined mediocrity last night showed again why this Rosas-created roster is going nowhere without some major changes.

So what is there to look forward to this season? Here's my list in order of excitement:

1) the trade deadline. Changes need to be made, and the targets have to be DLo, Beasley and KAT. The league knows who these guys are, so on paper the return may seem insufficient, but the three of them have proven they are not winners, and the deck needs to be reshuffled...sooner than later.

2) the mock drafts. I think we have a good chance of getting a top five pick, and this draft looks good. A mid-season trade and a good draft pick is something to look forward to.

3) Anthony Edwards. He's only 20, but more and more I'm thinking he will be something special. With the right PG next to him, I see a 30 PPG scorer on the horizon for many seasons to come.

4) Bolmaro. We're going to see more of him as we get into January. I don't think any of us know what he will be, but he seems to have some game, and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can bring.

That's about it. It was nice to win one against an injured disinterested Laker team, but other than that it was a terrible road trip. And it doesn't get any easier Monday against the Suns.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

The Wolves have the highest assist rate (70.5%) in the league (!) when Anthony Edwards is OFF the floor.

Minnesota drops to 14th in the league with an assist rate of 58.7% when Edwards is ON the floor.

That adds up to me and it's disappointing, especially considering Edwards publicly called out the team for not moving the ball earlier this season. Edwards has more than earned the Sticky Fingers nickname and not in a good way. Furthermore, I've seen Karl-Anthony Towns start walking back on defense while Anthony Edwards ignores his teammates and plays isolation basketball on multiple instances. That's not a good look for either of them. On nights where Edwards has it going it's less of a negative, but on nights where he can't throw a golf ball into the ocean it's a huge problem. It's nearly impossible to win at the NBA level being a ball hog. Chris Finch has to fix this before it becomes further ingrained in Edwards' game.

[DNatagal]

The Wolves have the highest assist rate (70.5%) in the league (!) when Anthony Edwards is OFF the floor.

Minnesota drops to 14th in the league with an assist rate of 58.7% when Edwards is ON the floor.

That adds up to me and it's disappointing, especially considering Edwards publicly called out the team for not moving the ball earlier this season. Edwards has more than earned the Sticky Fingers nickname and not in a good way. Furthermore, I've seen Karl-Anthony Towns start walking back on defense while Anthony Edwards ignores his teammates and plays isolation basketball on multiple instances. That's not a good look for either of them. On nights where Edwards has it going it's less of a negative, but on nights where he can't throw a golf ball into the ocean it's a huge problem. It's nearly impossible to win at the NBA level being a ball hog. Chris Finch has to fix this before it becomes further ingrained in Edwards' game.

And as an alternative view, watch what actually happens when the ball goes to Ant in the first 5 games. Everyone STOPS moving and watches him, and I believe it is getting worse because nobody is moving at all. Just like when Kobie was doing his thing, if everyone stops moving, the best player will feel like he needs to do it all himself. In the Warriors game on Wed, Ant had 5 assists and probably 5 more that should have been assists if the other players could actually hit the broad side of a barn. The offense tries to get the ball to KAT (takes up to 6 seconds), if KAT gets the ball, he starts to crab dribble for 8 seconds while getting pushed around by any sized player, then he gets doubled and chucks the ball at someone's feet like a hand grenade. It is ugly basketball.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Pet peeve from a frustrated fan: It's time to officially end the "would have had (x) assists if his team could shoot" narrative.

We've used it here to champion certain players for years. And it's a tired trope.

Making/missing shots is part of basketball... for EVERY team. It's not only our chosen favorite player that's losing out on TWICE the number of deserved assists.

[DNatagal]

Pet peeve from a frustrated fan: It's time to officially end the "would have had (x) assists if his team could shoot" narrative.

We've used it here to champion certain players for years. And it's a tired trope.

Making/missing shots is part of basketball... for EVERY team. It's not only our chosen favorite player that's losing out on TWICE the number of deserved assists.

And calling a player sticky fingers because he " doesn't pass the ball" is just lazy if just looking at the box score.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Pet peeve from a frustrated fan: It's time to officially end the "would have had (x) assists if his team could shoot" narrative.

We've used it here to champion certain players for years. And it's a tired trope.

Making/missing shots is part of basketball... for EVERY team. It's not only our chosen favorite player that's losing out on TWICE the number of deserved assists.

And calling a player sticky fingers because he " doesn't pass the ball" is just lazy if just looking at the box score.

Fortunately, nobody here is just looking at the boxscore when it comes to judging/assessing Edwards.