AbeVigodaLive wrote:kekgeek1 wrote:D'Angelo Russell 4 games since returning from injury (missed 2 months)
26 mpg
24 ppg
48% FG
41% 3P
88% FT
The Timberwolves are 2-2 and own the highest offensive rating in the league when KAT and Dlo are on the court together https://t.co/4Q6eQTKsKD
Dare I say the duo PG thing is... working? They guys are just so different as players. But over this 4-game stretch... it seems like both can do what they do best.
Rubio has 28 assists... and only 2 TOs over those 4 games... including 23 assists and 0 TOs in the past 3 games.
[Note: I don't think this is a long-term thing. Rubio will have to go... but for now, it's been sorta fun. How long until Russell wants to start though?]
I watched the Bulls broadcast partly because the sound was badly mixed for the Wolves. Anybody else notice the courtside mics were really quiet compared to Dave and Jim's vocals? Speaking of which, this wasn't the first time this season when the sound was imbalanced, though earlier in the year I noticed it more for away games and figured it must be because they were having to mix sound coming from two different places since Dave and Jim aren't traveling this year. I also like Stacey King, and it's always good to listen to other teams' announcers because you get to see your own team through their eyes, which can sometimes be pretty eye-opening.
Anyway, all that is to say that the Bulls announcers expressed real frustration that we were able to put so many different ballhandlers on the court, often at the same time. In addition to our 3 PGs, Rubio, Russell, and JMac, they were impressed with Edwards handling the ball (although Edwards still needs to improve his handle and make some safer, smarter passes) and even expressed surprise that a bench wing like Culver could come in and handle the ball. Donovan made that point in his comments after the game too.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/bulls/ct-chicago-bulls-minnesota-timberwolves-20210412-nubntdtse5hqjhonddywqk44ju-story.html
"We've got a lot of work ahead of us, I'll tell you that," Donovan said. "We need to be a whole lot better (defensively) than we are. I felt there were times when we made some progress and strides. But
the one challenge for us that we need to keep improving and trying to get better on is when there's multiple handlers. Atlanta had it the other night.
Tonight with (D'Angelo) Russell and (Anthony) Edwards and (Ricky) Rubio who can create and playmake in pick-and-roll, we've got to be better all the way around defensively."
All those guys have flaws, but it does seem to be a real benefit to be able to have two or even three guys on the floor at all times who can handle the ball and initiate offense as well as KAT, who we can always run offense through. I think it does make the Rubio signing more defensible. The fact that Rosas has put so many ball handlers on the team looks less like the roster imbalance it might have seemed like earlier this year and more like a relatively modern vision of how a team can look. Now we just need to get better versions of those ball handlers and hope Edwards improves in that regard!
