CoolBreeze's 2 Things I didn't Like Last Week + 1

[Coolbreeze44]

Week 3 saw us finally get back in to the win column. Hopefully it's a sign of good things to come. But with every step forward, Wolves fans rightly wonder what will befall us next. Let's take a closer look in this week's 2+1:

1) We got KAT back earlier than expected and it was easy to see the difference he makes. He impacts many things on both ends of the floor and reminds us how good it is to have some length in the lineup. What I didn't like was how he reacted every time he was hit on the wrist. It's pretty clear he wasn't ready to come back yet, but I credit him for giving it a shot when the team really needed it. I'm guessing he needs to gain strength in that area to avoid further injury, but I will take his contribution any time we can get it.

2) It's a little disappointing we don't have much of an identity. I mean what are we? Are we trying to be a small ball team without shooters and lackluster defense? And even though it sucked, I thought that was the plan. Now we're starting to see (gasp) two bigs on the floor at the same time. And just when i mention the Wolves offense is not meant for a lot of player movement, I've started to see some elements of a motion offense. What happened to pace and space? Overall I think it speaks to a poor plan to start with, and now they are trying to adjust on the fly to avoid getting embarrassed every night. I'm happy to see the flexibility, just wish we would demonstrate more competence in creating a style to best suit our roster.

Plus 1 - Some bullet points for the +1 this week:

- Good to see we are getting healthier. Okogie really helps on defense and we know KAT's impact
- DLO had a better week. He had a shot that cracked me up. He took a three pointer from above the top of the key. It was well contested so he had to adjust his normally high arc. The ball seemed to go up into the rafters, take a few seconds to come down, and then splashed into the net. It was an incredibly difficult shot, and fun to watch.
- I haven't bought a bus pass yet, but it's nice to have another guy like Vando who plays at such an aggressive level. Good teams have guys like this to fill roles.
- I like the neon uniforms they pulled out again. They wouldn't be good all the time but it's nice once in a while. Wish they would bring back the old KG, Marbury editions occasionally. By far my favorite version of the uniform.
- The consistency isn't there, but I think it's fair to say we found a good future player outside of the draft in Naz. Someone mentioned there must be a good scout in the organization and it would seem there is some validity to that.

And that's another edition of Coolbreeze's 2 + 1

[kekgeek]

Good post cool. Its been a weird start to the season. If you told me before the season started Kat would miss 7 of the 1st 10 games what would the Wolves record would be I would guess somewhere between 2-8 and 4-6. If you look at our losses who was a game they should of won but didn't. Maybe the Wizards but that is it. I expected a split against the Spurs. (This doesn't excuse all of the blowouts)

Rosas has put together such a weird interesting team. I would say he has had a good talent getting undervalued young players, in Naz, Jmac and Vanderbilt. With the jury still out on Nowell and I know we both really like Mcdaniels. On the other hand Culver hasn't shown a huge improvement and Edwards has shown flashes but he is not contributing to winning basketball at the moment (I expected that). Then the offseason moves, its hard to take the off the court things with Beasley off the table but if you do he has played like a 15 mil a year player this year and has made the contract look solid. Then on the other hand the Hernangomez contract doesn't look great. The Rubio trade in my opinion has been a mix bag. I do feel like Rubio is coming off his best 2 games of the season so I am giving it time. Ed Davis has done what I think Ed Davis was brought into do, in hustling, keeping possessions alive on the glass and setting great screens. Then the Wolves have got the full Dlo experience so far, he has had some terrible games and when he is bad its really hard to watch. Then he has had some pretty damn good games lately and it is really nice to have a player who can play half court offense who can make difficult shots to end runs.

In the end this team is weird and has just enough hope to keep me watching. I really want them to compete for the play in tournament this year. I think it is actually crucial that they do so to try and build winning habits and not the same losing culture the wolves have had over the last 2 decades.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Good analysis Cool, thanks.

Totally agree on the significance of getting KAT back. I especially liked how active he seemed on D against the Spurs. That's obviously the area of his game in which he needs to step up the most. He's our best player. If he can be disciplined and put in a strong effort on D, it should impact the other guys (I'm looking at you, DLO and Edwards).

In terms of the identity problem, I think some of this rests on Rosas for kind of hamstringing us with an imbalanced roster, but Ryan also needs to figure out a clear offensive plan. So many possessions seem to follow this recipe:

[list]
[*] have DLO, Rubio, or (increasingly) Culver dribble around a bunch until they can get an inevitably weak pick
[*] have one or two guys wave frantically at a teammate to move someplace else
[*] make sure most guys don't really move without the ball too much
[*] then wait for DLO to shoot it or try to draw a ludicrous shooting foul or, barring that, throw it to Beasley to bail us out with a shot or watch Edwards launch and 3 after dribbling for a 2 seconds too long or let him drive into the lane, leave his feet a step too early, and try to hit a really tough layup.
[/list]

To me, it looks too much like a bunch of guys who aren't used to playing with each other, which is understandable, but ugly to watch. It feels like a lot of "your turn, my turn" offense, and we're just not talented enough to pull that off. Defensively it's the same way. Feels like a bunch of guys just playing one-on-one defense without really communicating that well. Although I like the individual effort of some of these guys defensively (Nat, Vando, Culver, Rubio, even Beasley and Edwards--at times), it's clearly not adding up to much.

At this point, I keep starting each game hoping to see some improvement and defensive intensity from Edwards and end it just happy to watch Vanderbilt play. I love hustle guys like that. It's tough to cheer for a guy who pointed a gun at people, but I do have to say I've liked the way Beasley's played so far.

I will credit Ryan with pulling Edwards in that last Spurs game when he wasn't contributing too much. I thought he made a mistake putting him back in at the end of the previous game, so I was happy to see Ryan hold him more accountable in that last game. It'll be more likely to help us win now and it should hopefully start to make Edwards a little more hungry. He looks like he's floating a bit too much and he needs to play a bit more like his minutes depend on his effort rather than automatically assuming he'll get 25-30 minutes. The raw talent is there, I just want to see him really engage fully on both ends. Part of that could come with establishing a more consistent offense as a whole.

We've got the Grizz next for a couple games without Morant (right?). We should definitely get one of those games, and ideally both, but more important is just to figure out some kind of consistency on both ends.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Identity can't take place until you know the pecking order.

Having Towns back should put any questions aside: He's the Top Dog. Let the other guys find their roles.

[Coolbreeze44]

Thanks Drew, yes, let's get both of these games with the Grizz. Our outlook would change significantly. Not sure of KAT's status, maybe we get him for one of the games?

[kekgeek]

Thanks Drew, yes, let's get both of these games with the Grizz. Our outlook would change significantly. Not sure of KAT's status, maybe we get him for one of the games?

They announce we will be playing tomorrow for sure

[Coolbreeze44]

Thanks Drew, yes, let's get both of these games with the Grizz. Our outlook would change significantly. Not sure of KAT's status, maybe we get him for one of the games?

They announce we will be playing tomorrow for sure

Thank you, let's get it.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Memphis.....For the love of God Ryan Saunders, if you do anything tomorrow night, please make it a point to STOP DILLON BROOKS!!!.

Throw Okogie, Culver, and Vanderbilt at him - ball denial, hard fouls, go at him on offense. Do anything to get him off his game! The career 13PPG scorer and 41% FG shooter has done nothing but embarrass this franchise: In three games last year, he averaged 28PPG on 53% shooting and 67% from 3.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Memphis.....For the love of God Ryan Saunders, if you do anything tomorrow night, please make it a point to STOP DILLON BROOKS!!!.

Throw Okogie, Culver, and Vanderbilt at him - ball denial, hard fouls, go at him on offense. Do anything to get him off his game! The career 13PPG scorer and 41% FG shooter has done nothing but embarrass this franchise: In three games last year, he averaged 28PPG on 53% shooting and 67% from 3.

Somewhere Wes Matthews is nodding his head.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Memphis.....For the love of God Ryan Saunders, if you do anything tomorrow night, please make it a point to STOP DILLON BROOKS!!!.

Throw Okogie, Culver, and Vanderbilt at him - ball denial, hard fouls, go at him on offense. Do anything to get him off his game! The career 13PPG scorer and 41% FG shooter has done nothing but embarrass this franchise: In three games last year, he averaged 28PPG on 53% shooting and 67% from 3.

And it looks like he's been playing well lately. Okogie time? We need somebody to step up and be our Trenton Hassell here.

And I'd like to See Saunders show a willingness to adjust defensively rather than just throwing out a zone with 30-40 seconds left in the game. Can't remember which game that was, I think the first Spurs game, but it was clear the guys were not really sure how to execute it well yet and they ended up just letting DeRozan (I think) drive right in for an open shot just outside the restricted area if my memory serves me right. You can't totally shift defensive schemes for just one possession with the game on the line and have a lot of confidence it's going to go well unless the team had previously established real comfort in executing it.