Wolves vs. Suggs and Kids thread

[Wolvesfan21]

Rules changes as well could have some small drop. Guys can't get bailed out now so they have to adjust.

As far as the Wolves offense they are playing too much iso ball, taking sub par shots.

I also would like to see Ant take a few more of those step back 3's he was draining in the first or second game. Seems like that was a shot he worked on in the offseason and has high confidence in.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Rules changes as well could have some small drop. Guys can't get bailed out now so they have to adjust.

As far as the Wolves offense they are playing too much iso ball, taking sub par shots.

I also would like to see Ant take a few more of those step back 3's he was draining in the first or second game. Seems like that was a shot he worked on in the offseason and has high confidence in.

To be fair... if he's not making catch-and-shoot three pointers right now... making the more difficult stepback variety might be a big ask.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

It's only been six games... I guess Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal, Jayson Tatum, James Harden, De'Aaron Fox, and all the other meaningful NBA players who are slumping have fooled us. This is just who they are now.

Meanwhile, Paul George has been asked about his theory behind the league-wide shooting drops and he said he didn't want to use it as an excuse, but the new Wilson basketball is a "different basketball." He later said that it doesn't have the same touch and softness that the Spalding ball had.

"Not to make an excuse or anything, it's just a different basketball. It doesn't have the same touch or softness as the Spalding ball had. You'll see this year, there's going to be a lot of bad misses."

I don't know what the actual reason is for guys missing shots that they normally make, but I do believe in the talent they possess. These guys are professionals who have dedicated most of their lives to putting a ball in a hoop. Sooner or later -- hopefully sooner -- these guys are going to make the necessary adjustments and shots will fall.

Sure. They're definitely going to shoot better. And so will the other team.

Remember, opponents are shooting even worse... at 29.9%.



[Note: One interesting thing about Wilson vs. Spalding... at other levels (non-NBA) there is no doubt that the Wilson Evolution is infinitely softer than any of the Spalding TF-1000 offerings.]

The problem is we're 24th in the league in 3pt% and 27th in overall FG%, so why are we affected more than nearly everyone else by the adjustment to a new ball? And it's not just one or two guys. It's like half our roster are below 36% in FG%. Pitiful.

[FNG]

This is exactly what I was worried about in terms of injuries and depth. This team barely got to 3-2 with a 100% healthy roster. A couple guys get nicked up for this one and suddenly we're losing at home by double digits to one of the worst teams in basketball. This might be one of the least gritty, least resilient franchises in the history of professional sports.

Q, that has been my concern too. Unlike previous years, we were very healthy the first five games while our opponents were not. I think most of us knew that was not sustainable with the injury history of many of our players. Not having Beverley and DLo last night was a big challenge, but we should know that each of them is going to miss a considerable amount of games. So after Rosas's misguided trade of Rubio for Prince (he clearly wasn't considering injury history), we are left with the largely untested JMac as our only option at PG. And while I agree that it was not helpful to lose DLo last night (once again, I have to say his defense looked fairly good), isn't it kind of amusing that we were counting on a guy shooting 36% (29% on threes) this season to bring us to victory?

We are not unusual here in being quite knee jerk in our reactions, and I don't think we are anywhere near as good as most here thought we were when we were 3-1 after the Bucks win, but also not nearly as bad as the gloom and doom in this thread reflects. We're somewhere in the middle. We are what we thought we were...a somewhat tougher and improved defensive team that doesn't move the ball well, and with the exception of KAT, doesn't shoot the ball very well. We aren't going to shoot as poorly as we have in the first 6 games, but it's also unrealistic to think the worst defense in the league last year has been instantly transformed into a top 10 defense. Both factors will progress or regress to our mean. I've been saying 35 wins, and if we stay reasonably healthy, we can do that...and that would show some improvement over last year. And improvement is what we have to be satisfied with, because this roster doesn't look like a playoff roster to me as it stands now.

[Wolvesfan21]

Rules changes as well could have some small drop. Guys can't get bailed out now so they have to adjust.

As far as the Wolves offense they are playing too much iso ball, taking sub par shots.

I also would like to see Ant take a few more of those step back 3's he was draining in the first or second game. Seems like that was a shot he worked on in the offseason and has high confidence in.

To be fair... if he's not making catch-and-shoot three pointers right now... making the more difficult stepback variety might be a big ask.

I'm just saying he probably practiced that shot much more, then the catch and shoot shot. Small sample size of course.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Rules changes as well could have some small drop. Guys can't get bailed out now so they have to adjust.

As far as the Wolves offense they are playing too much iso ball, taking sub par shots.

I also would like to see Ant take a few more of those step back 3's he was draining in the first or second game. Seems like that was a shot he worked on in the offseason and has high confidence in.

To be fair... if he's not making catch-and-shoot three pointers right now... making the more difficult stepback variety might be a big ask.

I'm just saying he probably practiced that shot much more, then the catch and shoot shot. Small sample size of course.

If that's so... maybe he should spend more time on the wide open easier shots that he could potentially take a lot more of...

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

This is exactly what I was worried about in terms of injuries and depth. This team barely got to 3-2 with a 100% healthy roster. A couple guys get nicked up for this one and suddenly we're losing at home by double digits to one of the worst teams in basketball. This might be one of the least gritty, least resilient franchises in the history of professional sports.

Q, that has been my concern too. Unlike previous years, we were very healthy the first five games while our opponents were not. I think most of us knew that was not sustainable with the injury history of many of our players. Not having Beverley and DLo last night was a big challenge, but we should know that each of them is going to miss a considerable amount of games. So after Rosas's misguided trade of Rubio for Prince (he clearly wasn't considering injury history), we are left with the largely untested JMac as our only option at PG. And while I agree that it was not helpful to lose DLo last night (once again, I have to say his defense looked fairly good), isn't it kind of amusing that we were counting on a guy shooting 36% (29% on threes) this season to bring us to victory?

We are not unusual here in being quite knee jerk in our reactions, and I don't think we are anywhere near as good as most here thought we were when we were 3-1 after the Bucks win, but also not nearly as bad as the gloom and doom in this thread reflects. We're somewhere in the middle. We are what we thought we were...a somewhat tougher and improved defensive team that doesn't move the ball well, and with the exception of KAT, doesn't shoot the ball very well. We aren't going to shoot as poorly as we have in the first 6 games, but it's also unrealistic to think the worst defense in the league last year has been instantly transformed into a top 10 defense. Both factors will progress or regress to our mean. I've been saying 35 wins, and if we stay reasonably healthy, we can do that...and that would show some improvement over last year. And improvement is what we have to be satisfied with, because this roster doesn't look like a playoff roster to me as it stands now.

Largely agree. I had us slated for 34 wins - right around the Vegas number - because I factored in injuries and what I felt was a lack of depth. The reality is we fall in love with "our guys". Little Mac, Prince, Okogie, etc. all have endearing qualities, but they simply aren't that good. Once we have to start leaning on these guys beyond a very narrowly defined role, we're in big trouble.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I agree with the previous thoughts given here, but I wouldn't group Taurean Prince with Josh Okogie or Jordan McLaughlin, personally. His shot will eventually start falling at a rate reminiscent of his career averages. That in itself makes him a bigger asset, but he can be a really useful role player overall.

[Leado01]

There's a part of me that would consider starting Prince over Jaden. It might be better for everyone at this time.

[Lipoli390]

This is exactly what I was worried about in terms of injuries and depth. This team barely got to 3-2 with a 100% healthy roster. A couple guys get nicked up for this one and suddenly we're losing at home by double digits to one of the worst teams in basketball. This might be one of the least gritty, least resilient franchises in the history of professional sports.

Q, that has been my concern too. Unlike previous years, we were very healthy the first five games while our opponents were not. I think most of us knew that was not sustainable with the injury history of many of our players. Not having Beverley and DLo last night was a big challenge, but we should know that each of them is going to miss a considerable amount of games. So after Rosas's misguided trade of Rubio for Prince (he clearly wasn't considering injury history), we are left with the largely untested JMac as our only option at PG. And while I agree that it was not helpful to lose DLo last night (once again, I have to say his defense looked fairly good), isn't it kind of amusing that we were counting on a guy shooting 36% (29% on threes) this season to bring us to victory?

We are not unusual here in being quite knee jerk in our reactions, and I don't think we are anywhere near as good as most here thought we were when we were 3-1 after the Bucks win, but also not nearly as bad as the gloom and doom in this thread reflects. We're somewhere in the middle. We are what we thought we were...a somewhat tougher and improved defensive team that doesn't move the ball well, and with the exception of KAT, doesn't shoot the ball very well. We aren't going to shoot as poorly as we have in the first 6 games, but it's also unrealistic to think the worst defense in the league last year has been instantly transformed into a top 10 defense. Both factors will progress or regress to our mean. I've been saying 35 wins, and if we stay reasonably healthy, we can do that...and that would show some improvement over last year. And improvement is what we have to be satisfied with, because this roster doesn't look like a playoff roster to me as it stands now.

Largely agree. I had us slated for 34 wins - right around the Vegas number - because I factored in injuries and what I felt was a lack of depth. The reality is we fall in love with "our guys". Little Mac, Prince, Okogie, etc. all have endearing qualities, but they simply aren't that good. Once we have to start leaning on these guys beyond a very narrowly defined role, we're in big trouble.

If this isn't a playoff roster with KAT, Edwards and DLO as its core, then there are no tweaks on the edges that will make this a playoff team. In other words, not making the playoffs this season tells me the core has to change. And I think that means moving both KAT and DLO. Trading KAT would bring a huge return in assets. Moving DLO would bring...well, never mind. Maybe we have to just ride out the last year two years of his contract after this season.