What will be different under Saunders?

[kekgeek]

The 3 main differences it seemed like we pushed ball more to get in the frontcourt early in the shot clock. Also the offense for defense subs. And of course the sideline demeanor.

I am going to wait and see on the other things. Wiggins started the game playing 16 straight minutes (what we didn't like). We went to iso Wiggins the last 3 possessions they just worked (wiggins to the line, a pull up long 2 and a drive and kick to josh), something we don't like, I mean Wiggins took a contested long 2 late but he was special and it went in.

I'm not going to give Saunders credit on bench minutes when Towns was in foul trouble and Teague ejected. Of course bench minutes will go up.

Overall super happy with the win. Just remember we are in a honeymoon stage like we were with Cov and Saric. Overall though great 1st win of hopefully many

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

It's going to be interesting to see how he manages the minutes when everyone is healthy. We have 3 pfs (taj, saric, and tolliver) and 3 pgs (teague, rose, and tyus) that all want minutes.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

The 3 main differences it seemed like we pushed ball more to get in the frontcourt early in the shot clock. Also the offense for defense subs. And of course the sideline demeanor.

I am going to wait and see on the other things. Wiggins started the game playing 16 straight minutes (what we didn't like). We went to iso Wiggins the last 3 possessions they just worked (wiggins to the line, a pull up long 2 and a drive and kick to josh), something we don't like, I mean Wiggins took a contested long 2 late but he was special and it went in.

I'm not going to give Saunders credit on bench minutes when Towns was in foul trouble and Teague ejected. Of course bench minutes will go up.

Overall super happy with the win. Just remember we are in a honeymoon stage like we were with Cov and Saric. Overall though great 1st win of hopefully many

Fair point about Towns/Teague forcing Ryan to go to his bench more. Definitely a case of seeing what I want to see. Still, I'll predict Ryan having more bench minutes than the opponent won't be a rarity. I also forgot Ryan followed Thibs' early substitution pattern with Wig. Odd, because I even commented on it to my gal when Ryan took so long to sub Wig out. Like I said, I was in a little bit of a morphine haze last night :oops: ,

[AbeVigodaLive]

The 3 main differences it seemed like we pushed ball more to get in the frontcourt early in the shot clock. Also the offense for defense subs. And of course the sideline demeanor.

I am going to wait and see on the other things. Wiggins started the game playing 16 straight minutes (what we didn't like). We went to iso Wiggins the last 3 possessions they just worked (wiggins to the line, a pull up long 2 and a drive and kick to josh), something we don't like, I mean Wiggins took a contested long 2 late but he was special and it went in.

I'm not going to give Saunders credit on bench minutes when Towns was in foul trouble and Teague ejected. Of course bench minutes will go up.

Overall super happy with the win. Just remember we are in a honeymoon stage like we were with Cov and Saric. Overall though great 1st win of hopefully many

Fair point about Towns/Teague forcing Ryan to go to his bench more. Definitely a case of seeing what I want to see. Still, I'll predict Ryan having more bench minutes than the opponent won't be a rarity. I also forgot Ryan followed Thibs' early substitution pattern with Wig. Odd, because I even commented on it to my gal when Ryan took so long to sub Wig out. Like I said, I was in a little bit of a morphine haze last night :oops: ,

It only makes sense that Saunders went into that game with much of the same rotations/principles the players were used to. There's been a ton of moving parts this week and things are surely pretty crazy. A bit of normalcy was probably a good thing.

I'd expect to see any changes happen gradually over time after Saunders and the team has enough time to relax and react.

That being said... there was an unmistakable energy last night. Wiggins was spectacular and he deserves to be applauded for what I think was possibly the best game in his career. But again... part of the criticism with the guy is that every one of us at home can see instantly on tv or in person when he's engaged.

Ogre or not barking on the sidelines... picking-and-choosing when he plays with that spirit and energy is not a good thing. As a Wolves fan invested in this team, I am hoping that Wiggins is the one we see moving forward. He was special last night.

(1) Play with that level of energy more often. (2) Cut down on the long twos... he still took too many. But it's a make-or-miss league.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

The 3 main differences it seemed like we pushed ball more to get in the frontcourt early in the shot clock. Also the offense for defense subs. And of course the sideline demeanor.

I am going to wait and see on the other things. Wiggins started the game playing 16 straight minutes (what we didn't like). We went to iso Wiggins the last 3 possessions they just worked (wiggins to the line, a pull up long 2 and a drive and kick to josh), something we don't like, I mean Wiggins took a contested long 2 late but he was special and it went in.

I'm not going to give Saunders credit on bench minutes when Towns was in foul trouble and Teague ejected. Of course bench minutes will go up.

Overall super happy with the win. Just remember we are in a honeymoon stage like we were with Cov and Saric. Overall though great 1st win of hopefully many

Fair point about Towns/Teague forcing Ryan to go to his bench more. Definitely a case of seeing what I want to see. Still, I'll predict Ryan having more bench minutes than the opponent won't be a rarity. I also forgot Ryan followed Thibs' early substitution pattern with Wig. Odd, because I even commented on it to my gal when Ryan took so long to sub Wig out. Like I said, I was in a little bit of a morphine haze last night :oops: ,

It only makes sense that Saunders went into that game with much of the same rotations/principles the players were used to. There's been a ton of moving parts this week and things are surely pretty crazy. A bit of normalcy was probably a good thing.

I'd expect to see any changes happen gradually over time after Saunders and the team has enough time to relax and react.

That being said... there was an unmistakable energy last night. Wiggins was spectacular and he deserves to be applauded for what I think was possibly the best game in his career. But again... part of the criticism with the guy is that every one of us at home can see instantly on tv or in person when he's engaged.

Ogre or not barking on the sidelines... picking-and-choosing when he plays with that spirit and energy is not a good thing. As a Wolves fan invested in this team, I am hoping that Wiggins is the one we see moving forward. He was special last night.

(1) Play with that level of energy more often. (2) Cut down on the long twos... he still took too many. But it's a make-or-miss league.

Yep, I cringed a few times on some of Wig's shot choices last night...fortunately he made them. I was encouraged though by how many times he tried to get to the hoop...18 FTA's was 6 more than his previous high this year. But as much as I want to credit this to Ryan, it's been clear to me that Wig has had a different attitude for over a week now (I still think he is channeling his anger at the "shitty fans"...whatever works is fine with me). We're early in January, but Wig's FTA trajectory is certainly promising. 1.9 attempts per game in November, 5.5 in December, and 10.3 in the first 4 games of January (despite none against Orlando on a night where I still felt he played with intensity). Wig has teased us before, but this time there just seems to be a different look in his eye. The reality is that a player very seldom just develops and sustains an attitude change overnight, but maybe Wig will be a rare exception. If he is, this team takes a quantum leap.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

A few comments:

- Agree with Kek....this is the honeymoon phase, so while we should all relish the win, the dog days of the season are closely upon us. We'll see how Saunders handles adversity, whether its injuries, a terrible home loss, or having to push someone out of the regular rotation if everyone is healthy.

- LST jubilantly listed off all the great things Ryan did, but he really effed up when he didn't call a timeout after Westbrook's second made free throw so we could in bound the ball further up the court. The resultant turnover (by Tyus Jones of all people) could have been disastrous.

- Wiggins has had good stretches before...Go look at his post-All Star break numbers from 2015-16 - very efficient shooting and scoring stretch over an extended period of games. He was brilliant last night, but he's always had a tough time sustaining that attack and shot making mentality over the course of a season. We'll how the rest of the season goes, but he was definitely the hero last night.

- I think one of the reasons we do well against OKC is that they aren't a good 3-point shooting team. Teams that really emphasize the 3 in their offense (even if their percentages aren't great) are the ones that expose us. I hope Saunders place more of an emphasis on not just shooting more 3's, but defending it better as well.

[AbeVigodaLive]

A few comments:

- Agree with Kek....this is the honeymoon phase, so while we should all relish the win, the dog days of the season are closely upon us. We'll see how Saunders handles adversity, whether its injuries, a terrible home loss, or having to push someone out of the regular rotation if everyone is healthy.

- LST jubilantly listed off all the great things Ryan did, but he really effed up when he didn't call a timeout after Westbrook's second made free throw so we could in bound the ball further up the court. The resultant turnover (by Tyus Jones of all people) could have been disastrous.

- Wiggins has had good stretches before...Go look at his post-All Star break numbers from 2015-16 - very efficient shooting and scoring stretch over an extended period of games. He was brilliant last night, but he's always had a tough time sustaining that attack and shot making mentality over the course of a season. We'll how the rest of the season goes, but he was definitely the hero last night.

- I think one of the reasons we do well against OKC is that they aren't a good 3-point shooting team. Teams that really emphasize the 3 in their offense (even if their percentages aren't great) are the ones that expose us. I hope Saunders place more of an emphasis on not just shooting more 3's, but defending it better as well.

About the timeout call. I assume he thought that with 17 seconds left... the Wolves were going to be in that situation at least 2x... and that he could burn that timeout (like he tried) if they got stuck on try #1... or keep it for attempt #2.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Some good points, Q. I agree Ryan should have used a TO at that time. In all fairness, though, I thought he clearly asked for a TO before Tyus's (only) turnover (of the night).

I didn't include 3-point defense in my "differences" post because unfortunately I didn't see anything different...we were lucky they missed some open looks. Maybe Ryan can put together some different defensive schemes in practices the next two days, but I'm not anticipating much to change here...at least not until Rob returns.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Some good points, Q. I agree Ryan should have used a TO at that time. In all fairness, though, I thought he clearly asked for a TO before Tyus's (only) turnover (of the night).

I didn't include 3-point defense in my "differences" post because unfortunately I didn't see anything different...we were lucky they missed some open looks. Maybe Ryan can put together some different defensive schemes in practices the next two days, but I'm not anticipating much to change here...at least not until Rob returns.

As a strategy, I actually think protecting the paint and collapsing against OKC makes sense even if it means giving up some open 3's. OKC is a league-worst 30th in 3 pt percentage, so the Thibs schemes kinda works against them. But man, when we play the really good "modern" pace and space shooting teams, we just get eaten alive behind the arc. That's where our defense needs to improve.

[Monster]

LST I hope you recover well from your surgery. Last night's win had to be good for ya!