And It Begins -- Wolves at Lakers GDT

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I like Lipoli's summary of the game...lots of bright spots. I thought the talent difference between the two teams was enormous, and that we basically toyed with them and could have named the score. You gotta like 32 points and 21 rebounds from G and Gibson. Teague was terrific. The defense looked more cohesive, but considering it was a preseason game against a bad team, the jury is still out.

I agree that Belly shot poorly, but his presence on the court reminded me of why this team fell apart after his season ended last year. The guy is just plain tough, and always seems to be in the middle of things. It's not surprising to me that he was a bench-leading +8 on the night.

Also +8 was a surprising Jamal Crawford. I've always thought of him as a gunner, prone to taking bad shots and occasionally red hot. But last night he looked like the poised veteran just willing to make others around him better...4 assists and only 1 shot!

I agree that Brooks looked awful, but Jones also had a subpar night. One of these guys needs to step up and play like a solid playoff team PG...I think Jones will be the guy.

All in all, a very promising game against a flashy team that only LA deserves to have.

[Lipoli390]

DARK SPOTS


Your wife sounds pretty perceptive! It's true, that sort of loping jog thing he does looks like it was on full display and there were a lot of moments where he just looked like he's either lazy or his brain is moving slower than everyone else's. The contrast to the other guys couldn't have been more stark. Teague and Bazz in particular, but also Crawford and Taj, just looked so much more plugged in and energetic. You could tell they were taking the game seriously. Wiggins did make a couple nice defensive plays, which is good. But yeah, he looked a bit like Gorgui or Derrick Williams out there in terms of his speed.

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Interesting comment comparing Wiggins to Gorgui or Derrick Williams. There was one play in the first half when my wife complained that Gorgui was too slow getting to a lose ball, lamenting that he's just not quick. I then pointed out that the player she was complaining about on that play was Wiggins, not Gorgui. Part of it was the fact that Wiggins looks a lot bigger than last season. But the other part was how slow Wiggins looked. According to my wife, slower than last season and I agree. My wife's final point on this was that we should have traded Wiggins instead of LaVine. That's never been my view, but with Butler on the roster and Bazz playing well, I wonder. I'm still hoping science will come up with a breakthrough that would enable the Wolves to transfuse Bazz's competitiveness and toughness into Wiggins. :)

[SameOldNudityDrew]

DARK SPOTS


Your wife sounds pretty perceptive! It's true, that sort of loping jog thing he does looks like it was on full display and there were a lot of moments where he just looked like he's either lazy or his brain is moving slower than everyone else's. The contrast to the other guys couldn't have been more stark. Teague and Bazz in particular, but also Crawford and Taj, just looked so much more plugged in and energetic. You could tell they were taking the game seriously. Wiggins did make a couple nice defensive plays, which is good. But yeah, he looked a bit like Gorgui or Derrick Williams out there in terms of his speed.

.

Interesting comment comparing Wiggins to Gorgui or Derrick Williams. There was one play in the first half when my wife complained that Gorgui was too slow getting to a lose ball, lamenting that he's just not quick. I then pointed out that the player she was complaining about on that play was Wiggins, not Gorgui. Part of it was the fact that Wiggins looks a lot bigger than last season. But the other part was how slow Wiggins looked. According to my wife, slower than last season and I agree. My wife's final point on this was that we should have traded Wiggins instead of LaVine. That's never been my view, but with Butler on the roster and Bazz playing well, I wonder. I'm still hoping science will come up with a breakthrough that would enable the Wolves to transfuse Bazz's competitiveness and toughness into Wiggins. :)

Glen should call your wife the next time he's looking for a front office exec!

I think we should have traded BOTH this summer and gotten Butler and either George or Kyrie.

I think the fear that George bolts for the Lakers is overblown. Great players tend to stay on great teams. With George, Butler, and KAT, we would definitely have been a great team, so would have been confident he would stay if we assured him that we were definitely going to extend the three of them on the max. You know Towns and Butler are staying--Towns for the money (and he seems loyal) and Butler for Thibs. I think the chances of George staying here were really high. Kyrie is a weak defender for sure, but the opportunity to have an undeniably elite scoring PG with an elite two-way wing like Butler and one of the best big men in the game in Towns is not one we should have passed up for the risk of overpaying Wiggins.

No team can possibly carry more than three max players unless guys take huge pay cuts like Durant. So the key is to get the best possible combination of three max contract guys and build around it. I'm much more confident that George and Kyrie deserve max contracts than Wiggins does. George and Butler on the floor with Towns would have been amazing. Outside of Kawhi, that's the two best two-way wings in the game and their games match each other well (one more of a drive and passing slasher and the other a great spot up shooter). And while I don't like Kyrie's weak defense, man, those three would have given us three top 20 guys who can cover all five positions, amazing flexibility to build around.

[Phenom]

I'm not all that concerned about Wig to be honest. In fact I'm glad to see him get after it more on the glass and on defense, even though he may not have made a statistical impact doing so. Am I wrong in thinking that is what everyone has been wanting him to do? Let's see if he can keep it up once his offense is flowing again.

[thedoper]

I'm not all that concerned about Wig to be honest. In fact I'm glad to see him get after it more on the glass and on defense, even though he may not have made a statistical impact doing so. Am I wrong in thinking that is what everyone has been wanting him to do? Let's see if he can keep it up once his offense is flowing again.

Stop being so positive. The preseason is where we need to begin our narratives of what we want to complain about all year.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Andrew Wiggins is still only 22 is gonna have to be my guzfraba all year long if it's gonna start already in pre-season.

[mjs34]

I thought our offense looked completely out of sync, but I remember Teague saying he thought it would take a lot longer than training camp before they started to gel. It is also tough to run sets when teh team you are playing is completely chaotic on that end of the floor.

I be lying if I said I wasn't worried about Wiggins (and wondered if they shouldn't pull the offer). I just don't know if his mental part of the game will ever improve substantially.

Teague looked really good early, and then they seemed to figure him out as the game wore on.

Gibson showed why he got the contract he did. He is an impact player on D, and showed much more offensively than I expected from him.

Shabazz looked a little sloppy at times, but played extremely hard, and made me wonder how we offered Wig 25 mil/yr, and Shabazz 1.5.

I liked Gorgui off the bench, and still see his limitations defensively, but he is a nice bailout option on the offense. Still hate the contract.

Dont' like the Crawford or Brooks signings. They both seem to be too old and slow to take advantage of what worked in their games. Tyus is always going to be handicapped by his lack of speed.

Thought Belly played well coming off his injury, but still hope that 3 ball starts to drop. He is a very intelligent player, and just has a knack for knowing what to do.

Seemed like a lot less yelling from Thibs, or maybe I've already learned how to block him out.

Overall I think our starting defense will be much improved with Gibson at the 4, but I don't see much beyond isolation offense, and that worries me when we play better teams.

[Monster]

I'm not all that concerned about Wig to be honest. In fact I'm glad to see him get after it more on the glass and on defense, even though he may not have made a statistical impact doing so. Am I wrong in thinking that is what everyone has been wanting him to do? Let's see if he can keep it up once his offense is flowing again.

This. I thought Wiggins looked stronger and espcially that first quarter he was all over the court in a good way. He led the team in plus minus with +13.

[Monster]

If anyone wants to watch the game here is a YouTube link. I thought it was pretty fun game.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pESCbIVppBg

Thoughts on the game:

Taj knocking down corner 3's. Nifty even if he wasn't making them the fact that he is taking them is a positive development.

Tyus didn't look too great but was better as time went on. Personally I think Brooks looked better. His quickness helps him on defense. Neither guy stood out on the whole but I thought it was bad news for Tyus that Brooks played so much in the 2nd half.

Others said it but Towns defensively looked pretty good.

Belly looks healthy and his defense and toughness is already there. He also had a nice little assist on an interior pass. He need to hit some 3's but if he plays the way he did last year doing all the other stuff that's just a bonus.

Teague is fun to watch. Almost a double double in 24 mins. It was just against the Lakers but he seemed to be able to get wherever he wants.

Dieng started off meh including some what looked like questionable rotations. Then as the game went on you see why bringing him off the bench makes sense. He can get a shot and make a shot off another player from various spots on the floor.

Butler is a beast.

I would have liked to see some of the other guys out on the floor but I get why you would play your rotation guys the whole game. 3 preseason games isn't a whole lot to get ready.

Lakers:

Ball could be a fun player. I'm interested to see how it goes with him.

Kuzma was just insane. There were times he just made really nice plays against good defense and scored.

Randle is slimmer and I think that's smart. He had a couple plays he finished over good D also.

Ingram looks like a legit NBA player. He seems to have progressed nicely.

[Phenom]

I also think this game is indicative of why this team can win many many games. Jimmy, KAT and Wig will get theirs throughout the season but now the team has other depth and on most nights a couple few of them should produce. Teague, Bazz, and Gibby did last night. Next time it could be G, Crawford, and Tyus. That's what really elevates a team.