The Thibs Effect

[SameOldNudityDrew]

We don't really have a thread just about Thibs' coaching/schemes, and this should have a HUGE impact next year on our team. So let's have a thread to discuss what sort of offense, defense, rotations and minutes, personality, etc. we can expect from Thibs (and of course, debate how well that might or might not work with us).

To start things off, check out this cool article on Thibs' defense against the PNR while he was with the Bulls. Sounds interesting. Assuming our guys can do it as well as the Bulls could, we should be able to cut down on opponents' threes. Hopefully. That would be a good start defensively. Seems like a key is having a perimeter defender who is great at fighting through picks. Who would you guys say our best defender is at doing that? It should be Wiggins, but I suspect it might even be Rubio. The second article (which isn't as good, but is still relevant), speculates about Rubio's place in a Thibs' system.

http://grantland.com/features/the-chicago-bulls-coach-tom-thibodeau-quest-perfection/

http://www.sbnation.com/2016/4/21/11477482/tom-thibodeau-minnesota-timberwolves-coach-ricky-rubio

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I'm far from knowledgeable about Thib's offensive and defensive schemes other than knowing he has enjoyed great success defensively and prefers a slower, more conservative offensive pace, so I will get a lot out of hearing what people have to say here.

To answer your question, I think Ricky is by far our best perimeter player in fighting through screens, and Wig was our worst. It was fun to watch Ricky responding to Mitchell's exhorting him to battle through screens...I thought he really improved in this area last year. It was also interesting to me, though, how successful Sam was against the Warriors employing an automatic switching style...I hope that Thibs has watched film of the last two Warriors' games, and is flexible enough to try the switching philosophy against them.

I have a feeling (hopeful perhaps) that Thibs is going to be most helpful in getting Wig and Zach to the next level defensively. Both of them came into the league with great defensive promise, and have either largely (Zach) or somewhat (Wig) been disappointing on defense. Come to think of it, Gorgui has also underachieved based on his defensive reputation coming into the league. It's not unreasonable to think a defensive oriented gaoch like Thibs can bring out the best in these three guys.

[Monster]

I'm far from knowledgeable about Thib's offensive and defensive schemes other than knowing he has enjoyed great success defensively and prefers a slower, more conservative offensive pace, so I will get a lot out of hearing what people have to say here.

To answer your question, I think Ricky is by far our best perimeter player in fighting through screens, and Wig was our worst. It was fun to watch Ricky responding to Mitchell's exhorting him to battle through screens...I thought he really improved in this area last year. It was also interesting to me, though, how successful Sam was against the Warriors employing an automatic switching style...I hope that Thibs has watched film of the last two Warriors' games, and is flexible enough to try the switching philosophy against them.

I have a feeling (hopeful perhaps) that Thibs is going to be most helpful in getting Wig and Zach to the next level defensively. Both of them came into the league with great defensive promise, and have either largely (Zach) or somewhat (Wig) been disappointing on defense. Come to think of it, Gorgui has also underachieved based on his defensive reputation coming into the league. It's not unreasonable to think a defensive oriented gaoch like Thibs can bring out the best in these three guys.

I think there is a couple problems when it comes to Wolves players fighting through screens etc.

1. They are young blah blah but that's legit. This covers inexperience not really digesting what they are told being a little physically weak, not really understand how connected you need to be to your man etc.

2. Sam and Flip and aren't defensive geniuses. To fight through a screen there has to be a defensive plan/scheme in place some principals to go by. You can fight through screens all you want but if your teammate hangs you out to dry or doesn't do anything to help then it may not matter and that may have effected how those situations were played. Having clear principals of what you are going to do and seeing results is going to help those players in those situations. Thibs has had a lot of success on that end so my guess part of it is having a great plan and being able to clearly teach and communicate that to his players.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Do you think Wiggins was worse than LaVine or Tyus in fighting through screens? I agree Wiggins is not a very good defender despite his reputation, but I don't want to believe he was our worst. Still, you could be right.

By the end of the year, LaVine had improved in that regard. He seemed to become more aware of when the pick was coming and anticipating jumping in front of it before the screener could seal. Sometimes he over anticipated and the ball-handler went right by him the other way, but I thought he got better at preventing that too. Tyus was weak there IMO, but he's young, small, and not that quick, so he has more of an excuse than Wiggins or LaVine.

Fighting through picks seems like it's also about the bigs letting the guards know when the pick is coming. I never actually go to the games, so I don't really hear who is the most vocal about calling those out (LIP, this is what I want those game reports for!). My sense is both Towns the Gorgui can be better about that.

But Wiggins has the tools to fight through those picks better than anybody. Big, athletic, fast-twitch muscles like crazy, he just needs to be more aware of the whole floor defensively and some vocal help from the bigs would help out. Hopefully that's another Thibs impact. In Boston, he had KG and in Chicago he had Noah, both of whom were (and hopefully still are) very vocal defenders. Honestly, I'd have Towns and Dieng watching some Mike Singletary highlights this summer! (By the way, Dieng has been a bit of a defensive disappointment if you consider his reputation coming out, but he has been solid, and MAN, has any other Wolf outplayed his offensive reputation more than G?)

What do you guys think? Can we re-create those stellar Bulls PNR defenses from a few years ago?

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Drew, I didn't include Tyus in my comparison, but by the end of the year I thought Zach was a little better than Wig at fighting through screens. Wig really impressed me at times with his one-on-one defense, but sometimes his laziness in pick situations bothers me.

I'm interested in the opinions of others here who regularly go to games, but I think being loud and verbal was a strength of our big men last year. It seems like it was something that Sam (and KG) really preached, and in (generally quiet) Target Center, it's easy to hear Gorgui and Towns loudly calling out picks. Payne is also very good at defensive communication. Pek has never been as good at being verbal on defense, and neither is Belly...must be a European thing.

[Monster]

I'm not sure how bad Wiggins was the 2nd half of the season but the searing image of him for a chunk of the season (and some of his rookie season) was him sorta running into a screen and looking like a video game character that hit the edge of the boarder of the video game world and can't go anywhere and looked udderly helpless. Bazz was pretty bad also but Wiggins just looked so helpless at times it was sad and the effort...it was like he just gave up.

To me a HUGE part of fighting through screens is doing work to stay connected to your guy because you can easily get through screens that aren't good enough by just sliding past them. You also can create offensive fouls this way because the screener has to basically slide into you to set the screen. It's not always possible to stick that close but a lot of players at any level don't do this and it's surprising how well it can work. Rubio was doing this more as the season went on and it was a big reason for his success as a defender. Tyus putting pressure on ball handlers helped him in this aspect as well. This is the type of stuff Jim Pete is referring to when he says the true but cliche "be hard to play against" line.

[Rocket2961 [enjin:11869828]]

Steve Aschburner ?@AschNBA 18h18 hours ago
@BreakTheHuddle @TwolvesBlog @brittrobson Had a close coaching cohort of Thibs tell me this month: "RR not his kind of PG." Cuz shooting.
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Reply Retweet 5

a reply to a brittrobson tweet

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

We need to acquire a good perimeter defensive player. We could do so in free agency or the draft or both.
Free Agency Route: 1. Sign Deng 2. Sign Batum 3. Sign Marvin Willams 4. Sign Dudley 5. Sign Courtney Lee
Draft Route: These are probably the top wing perimeter defenders: Pat McCaw, Timothe Luwawu and Taurean Prince. We should be able to get McCaw or Prince in the 20s (which we could get as our second pick if we trade down). Luwawu is pegged to go top 10 or much later depending on what mock you believe. Among point guards, Dunn, Baldwin and Payton all should be good perimeter defenders. Among bigs, Bender (if he fell to 5) has the quickness and size to guard the perimeter.

[Duke13]

This board may break down with that tweet.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Steve Aschburner ?@AschNBA 18h18 hours ago
@BreakTheHuddle @TwolvesBlog @brittrobson Had a close coaching cohort of Thibs tell me this month: "RR not his kind of PG." Cuz shooting.
5 retweets 2 likes
Reply Retweet 5

a reply to a brittrobson tweet

Yes, Derek Rose and his 30% career 3pt shooting is more the kind of PG Thibs is looking for.