Game Report - Wolves v. Grizzlies

[Lipoli390]

I apologize for the late arrival of my game report. But this game hardly deserves a game report. This was what I'd consider the first really bad loss of the season. Losing at home last night to one of the West's worst teams playing without its starting and future star PG was inexcusable.

I noticed that Ryan criticized the team for playing with a lack of energy. I would agree to an extent. But the Wolves lost this game, not because of low energy, but because the team's two max players and best offensive players each shot 35% from the field on a combined 37 attempts while combining for only 2 three-pointers on a combined 16 attempts (Towns 1-10, Wiggins 1-6). I'll give them both credit for hitting all their free throws, but this team isn't going to win many (if any) games when both Towns and Wiggins shoot that poorly.

Yet, another important point is that no one else stepped up to fill the offensive void created by the poor shooting by our two max guys. Graham was 1-5, Okogie 1-6, and Gorgui 1-4. Culver played pretty well offensively, hitting 6-12 shots, but he missed 3 of his 4 free throws and hit only 1 of his 4 3-point attempts. If Graham would have 3 of his 5 shots, Okogie 2 of his 6, Gorgui's 2 of his 4, and Culver 2 of his 4 fouls shots, then the Wolves would have won the game. Teague was frustrating as usual, over-dribbling and passing on great looks from behind the arc in favor of reckless failed drives to the basket. He hit two of his 4 FG attempts and his only 3-point attempt. But he passed up far too many open 3-point looks and failed a number of times to get the ball to teammates who would have had wide-open looks. I'm not a fan of the +/- stat, but when you're a -14 with over 25 minutes of playing time, that tells you something. As bad as Towns and Wiggins were, they were a -4 and +3 respectively. As for Graham, his 20 minutes las night were 20 minutes too many.

I don't want to overlook a couple of good performances. KBD had another nice game with 10 points on 57% shooting and 5 rebounds in 25 minutes. Covington also played pretty well with 13 points on 44.4% shooting, which included hitting 3 of his 6 three-point attempts.

A couple of specific points from last night. KAT continued his bad habit of waiting too long with the ball in the post, giving time for the double team to arrive. A quick move to the hoop in those instances would have likely resulted in a bucket or at least a foul. Several times he had Caboclo on him in those situations, but he hesitated way too long. At one point, Vanterpool approached Towns to talk with him as KAT came off the court during a time out. KAT seemed unreceptive to what Vanterpool had to say, apparently offering a heated contrary response to Vanterpool. My message to KAT is this - shut up and listen to Vanterpool! Once again, Wiggins showed that although his ball-handling has improved, he's still a pretty poor ball-handler by NBA wing standards. Good defensive teams will exploit his handle increasingly over the season as he continues to drive to the hoop and fails to establish himself as an elite 3-point threat.

In spite of last night's unacceptable loss, I'm not overly concerned. We're still a game above .500 and doing much better than I thought we would at this point in the season. As I've noted many times, this is a transition/developmental season. I like that playing time is being distributed broadly among the younger players and I like Ryan's system. Eventually, personnel will need to be adjusted to better fit that system.

[Monster]

I apologize for the late arrival of my game report. But this game hardly deserves a game report. This was what I'd consider the first really bad loss of the season. Losing at home last night to one of the West's worst teams playing without its starting and future star PG was inexcusable.

I noticed that Ryan criticized the team for playing with a lack of energy. I would agree to an extent. But the Wolves lost this game, not because of low energy, but because the team's two max players and best offensive players each shot 35% from the field on a combined 37 attempts while combining for only 2 three-pointers on a combined 16 attempts (Towns 1-10, Wiggins 1-6). I'll give them both credit for hitting all their free throws, but this team isn't going to win many (if any) games when both Towns and Wiggins shoot that poorly.

Yet, another important point is that no one else stepped up to fill the offensive void created by the poor shooting by our two max guys. Graham was 1-5, Okogie 1-6, and Gorgui 1-4. Culver played pretty well offensively, hitting 6-12 shots, but he missed 3 of his 4 free throws and hit only 1 of his 4 3-point attempts. If Graham would have 3 of his 5 shots, Okogie 2 of his 6, Gorgui's 2 of his 4, and Culver 2 of his 4 fouls shots, then the Wolves would have won the game. Teague was frustrating as usual, over-dribbling and passing on great looks from behind the arc in favor of reckless failed drives to the basket. He hit two of his 4 FG attempts and his only 3-point attempt. But he passed up far too many open 3-point looks and failed a number of times to get the ball to teammates who would have had wide-open looks. I'm not a fan of the +/- stat, but when you're a -14 with over 25 minutes of playing time, that tells you something. As bad as Towns and Wiggins were, they were a -4 and +3 respectively. As for Graham, his 20 minutes las night were 20 minutes too many.

I don't want to overlook a couple of good performances. KBD had another nice game with 10 points on 57% shooting and 5 rebounds in 25 minutes. Covington also played pretty well with 13 points on 44.4% shooting, which included hitting 3 of his 6 three-point attempts.

A couple of specific points from last night. KAT continued his bad habit of waiting too long with the ball in the post, giving time for the double team to arrive. A quick move to the hoop in those instances would have likely resulted in a bucket or at least a foul. Several times he had Caboclo on him in those situations, but he hesitated way too long. At one point, Vanterpool approached Towns to talk with him as KAT came off the court during a time out. KAT seemed unreceptive to what Vanterpool had to say, apparently offering a heated contrary response to Vanterpool. My message to KAT is this - shut up and listen to Vanterpool! Once again, Wiggins showed that although his ball-handling has improved, he's still a pretty poor ball-handler by NBA wing standards. Good defensive teams will exploit his handle increasingly over the season as he continues to drive to the hoop and fails to establish himself as an elite 3-point threat.

In spite of last night's unacceptable loss, I'm not overly concerned. We're still a game above .500 and doing much better than I thought we would at this point in the season. As I've noted many times, this is a transition/developmental season. I like that playing time is being distributed broadly among the younger players and I like Ryan's system. Eventually, personnel will need to be adjusted to better fit that system.

Lip I think part of Towns hesitation is that teams have been doubling and he is looking to pass when in the post than attack. Also I think Bruno is actually a somewhat good matchup against Towns because he is long quick and has gotten stronger. Yes Towns can/should beat him but I don't think it's some massive mismatch that you would expect. Ultimately I think Towns has it in his head to pass too much and it doesn't help that he doesn't get a ton of post possessions and so when he does there isn't the rhythm You would expect from a guy of his talents in that area.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Thanks for the report Lip. I think why last night's loss really hurts is because of the upcoming schedule. We really needed to put another win in the bank. Now things could go sideways very quickly.

[Lipoli390]

I apologize for the late arrival of my game report. But this game hardly deserves a game report. This was what I'd consider the first really bad loss of the season. Losing at home last night to one of the West's worst teams playing without its starting and future star PG was inexcusable.

I noticed that Ryan criticized the team for playing with a lack of energy. I would agree to an extent. But the Wolves lost this game, not because of low energy, but because the team's two max players and best offensive players each shot 35% from the field on a combined 37 attempts while combining for only 2 three-pointers on a combined 16 attempts (Towns 1-10, Wiggins 1-6). I'll give them both credit for hitting all their free throws, but this team isn't going to win many (if any) games when both Towns and Wiggins shoot that poorly.

Yet, another important point is that no one else stepped up to fill the offensive void created by the poor shooting by our two max guys. Graham was 1-5, Okogie 1-6, and Gorgui 1-4. Culver played pretty well offensively, hitting 6-12 shots, but he missed 3 of his 4 free throws and hit only 1 of his 4 3-point attempts. If Graham would have 3 of his 5 shots, Okogie 2 of his 6, Gorgui's 2 of his 4, and Culver 2 of his 4 fouls shots, then the Wolves would have won the game. Teague was frustrating as usual, over-dribbling and passing on great looks from behind the arc in favor of reckless failed drives to the basket. He hit two of his 4 FG attempts and his only 3-point attempt. But he passed up far too many open 3-point looks and failed a number of times to get the ball to teammates who would have had wide-open looks. I'm not a fan of the +/- stat, but when you're a -14 with over 25 minutes of playing time, that tells you something. As bad as Towns and Wiggins were, they were a -4 and +3 respectively. As for Graham, his 20 minutes las night were 20 minutes too many.

I don't want to overlook a couple of good performances. KBD had another nice game with 10 points on 57% shooting and 5 rebounds in 25 minutes. Covington also played pretty well with 13 points on 44.4% shooting, which included hitting 3 of his 6 three-point attempts.

A couple of specific points from last night. KAT continued his bad habit of waiting too long with the ball in the post, giving time for the double team to arrive. A quick move to the hoop in those instances would have likely resulted in a bucket or at least a foul. Several times he had Caboclo on him in those situations, but he hesitated way too long. At one point, Vanterpool approached Towns to talk with him as KAT came off the court during a time out. KAT seemed unreceptive to what Vanterpool had to say, apparently offering a heated contrary response to Vanterpool. My message to KAT is this - shut up and listen to Vanterpool! Once again, Wiggins showed that although his ball-handling has improved, he's still a pretty poor ball-handler by NBA wing standards. Good defensive teams will exploit his handle increasingly over the season as he continues to drive to the hoop and fails to establish himself as an elite 3-point threat.

In spite of last night's unacceptable loss, I'm not overly concerned. We're still a game above .500 and doing much better than I thought we would at this point in the season. As I've noted many times, this is a transition/developmental season. I like that playing time is being distributed broadly among the younger players and I like Ryan's system. Eventually, personnel will need to be adjusted to better fit that system.

Lip I think part of Towns hesitation is that teams have been doubling and he is looking to pass when in the post than attack. Also I think Bruno is actually a somewhat good matchup against Towns because he is long quick and has gotten stronger. Yes Towns can/should beat him but I don't think it's some massive mismatch that you would expect. Ultimately I think Towns has it in his head to pass too much and it doesn't help that he doesn't get a ton of post possessions and so when he does there isn't the rhythm You would expect from a guy of his talents in that area.

As you know, I've been (and remain) a huge fan of KAT as our one perennial allstar player. I agree that he's looking to attract a double-team for passing opportunities. I also agree that he might be having a hard time getting into a rhythm with his lack of post possessions. But his excessive hesitation with the ball has been a big flaw in his game since he arrived here. He's actually been a bit better this season at making quicker decisions with the ball even as he has continued with his frustrating excessive hesitation and that's something he needs to address. Bruno might be better than others at defending KAT, but a player of KAT's caliber should ALWAYS feel and act unguardable when guarded one on one by a player like Bruno. That's the attitude displayed by Barkley, Jordan, Shaq, Kobe, Duncan, and the many other NBA superstars over the years. KAT is a superstar and he needs to conduct himself accordingly. I'm nitpicking, but KAT's reached a point where further improvement in his already terrific play will require attention to little nits in his game. With his 3-point shot failing him last night, KAT should have posted up, demanded the ball and attacked right away time after time. That's my view anyway.

[Lipoli390]

Thanks for the report Lip. I think why last night's loss really hurts is because of the upcoming schedule. We really needed to put another win in the bank. Now things could go sideways very quickly.

I agree, Q. The way this team has been winning on the road, maybe they'll hold up well in this upcoming 4-game stretch. I remain convinced that this is a better team than I thought just before the season started. The question in my mind now is whether this team finishes 3-5 games over .500 or 3-5 games under .500. For me, it doesn't matter because I think this organization should be focused entirely on building for the seasons after this one. That means focusing on the evaluation and development of Okogie, Culver, KBD, Nowell, Layman, Martin and Reid. Those are the players currently in the organization who matter long term. Note that I don't see Vonleh or Bell as potential long-term positives for this team. While evaluating and developing the young guys I listed, the organization needs to look for opportunities to trade Teague and possibly even Covington to bring in a young player with allstar potential or stock up with an additional draft pick or two. After Dec. 15, players like Vonleh, Bell, and Napier might have value to one of the top teams.

[Monster]

Thanks for the report Lip. I think why last night's loss really hurts is because of the upcoming schedule. We really needed to put another win in the bank. Now things could go sideways very quickly.

I agree, Q. The way this team has been winning on the road, maybe they'll hold up well in this upcoming 4-game stretch. I remain convinced that this is a better team than I thought just before the season started. The question in my mind now is whether this team finishes 3-5 games over .500 or 3-5 games under .500. For me, it doesn't matter because I think this organization should be focused entirely on building for the seasons after this one. That means focusing on the evaluation and development of Okogie, Culver, KBD, Nowell, Layman, Martin and Reid. Those are the players currently in the organization who matter long term. Note that I don't see Vonleh or Bell as potential long-term positives for this team. While evaluating and developing the young guys I listed, the organization needs to look for opportunities to trade Teague and possibly even Covington to bring in a young player with allstar potential or stock up with an additional draft pick or two. After Dec. 15, players like Vonleh, Bell, and Napier might have value to one of the top teams.

Lip the idea that Teague going to bring back some sort of significant value is pretty optimistic. The good news for the Trade Teaguers* is there are quite a number of expiring deals of similar salary across the league that could facilitate a deal if a team wanted him. I think the hope of trading Teague would be a 2nd round pick (Maybe 2 if he starts playing well) and a similar expiring deal at this point. Again there needs to be an injury for a deal to happen. I see Graham as more of a long term possible piece than Bell or Vonleh although I will not be shocked if either guy ends up back or in the rotation and shows some worth.

*copyrighted by Monster

[Lipoli390]

Thanks for the report Lip. I think why last night's loss really hurts is because of the upcoming schedule. We really needed to put another win in the bank. Now things could go sideways very quickly.

I agree, Q. The way this team has been winning on the road, maybe they'll hold up well in this upcoming 4-game stretch. I remain convinced that this is a better team than I thought just before the season started. The question in my mind now is whether this team finishes 3-5 games over .500 or 3-5 games under .500. For me, it doesn't matter because I think this organization should be focused entirely on building for the seasons after this one. That means focusing on the evaluation and development of Okogie, Culver, KBD, Nowell, Layman, Martin and Reid. Those are the players currently in the organization who matter long term. Note that I don't see Vonleh or Bell as potential long-term positives for this team. While evaluating and developing the young guys I listed, the organization needs to look for opportunities to trade Teague and possibly even Covington to bring in a young player with allstar potential or stock up with an additional draft pick or two. After Dec. 15, players like Vonleh, Bell, and Napier might have value to one of the top teams.

Lip the idea that Teague going to bring back some sort of significant value is pretty optimistic. The good news for the Trade Teaguers* is there are quite a number of expiring deals of similar salary across the league that could facilitate a deal if a team wanted him. I think the hope of trading Teague would be a 2nd round pick (Maybe 2 if he starts playing well) and a similar expiring deal at this point. Again there needs to be an injury for a deal to happen. I see Graham as more of a long term possible piece than Bell or Vonleh although I will not be shocked if either guy ends up back or in the rotation and shows some worth.

*copyrighted by Monster

I hope that copying your post into my post doesn't violate your copyright, Monster. :).

I agree with you completely that the return on Teague would probably be no more than a future 2nd round pick. Getting more would require moving Covington - either alone or in conjunction with Teague.

I also agree that Graham is more of a potential long term piece than Bell or Vonleh. But I don't see any of those three as a player I'd keep long term.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I apologize for the late arrival of my game report. But this game hardly deserves a game report. This was what I'd consider the first really bad loss of the season. Losing at home last night to one of the West's worst teams playing without its starting and future star PG was inexcusable.

I noticed that Ryan criticized the team for playing with a lack of energy. I would agree to an extent. But the Wolves lost this game, not because of low energy, but because the team's two max players and best offensive players each shot 35% from the field on a combined 37 attempts while combining for only 2 three-pointers on a combined 16 attempts (Towns 1-10, Wiggins 1-6). I'll give them both credit for hitting all their free throws, but this team isn't going to win many (if any) games when both Towns and Wiggins shoot that poorly.

Yet, another important point is that no one else stepped up to fill the offensive void created by the poor shooting by our two max guys. Graham was 1-5, Okogie 1-6, and Gorgui 1-4. Culver played pretty well offensively, hitting 6-12 shots, but he missed 3 of his 4 free throws and hit only 1 of his 4 3-point attempts. If Graham would have 3 of his 5 shots, Okogie 2 of his 6, Gorgui's 2 of his 4, and Culver 2 of his 4 fouls shots, then the Wolves would have won the game. Teague was frustrating as usual, over-dribbling and passing on great looks from behind the arc in favor of reckless failed drives to the basket. He hit two of his 4 FG attempts and his only 3-point attempt. But he passed up far too many open 3-point looks and failed a number of times to get the ball to teammates who would have had wide-open looks. I'm not a fan of the +/- stat, but when you're a -14 with over 25 minutes of playing time, that tells you something. As bad as Towns and Wiggins were, they were a -4 and +3 respectively. As for Graham, his 20 minutes las night were 20 minutes too many.

I don't want to overlook a couple of good performances. KBD had another nice game with 10 points on 57% shooting and 5 rebounds in 25 minutes. Covington also played pretty well with 13 points on 44.4% shooting, which included hitting 3 of his 6 three-point attempts.

A couple of specific points from last night. KAT continued his bad habit of waiting too long with the ball in the post, giving time for the double team to arrive. A quick move to the hoop in those instances would have likely resulted in a bucket or at least a foul. Several times he had Caboclo on him in those situations, but he hesitated way too long. At one point, Vanterpool approached Towns to talk with him as KAT came off the court during a time out. KAT seemed unreceptive to what Vanterpool had to say, apparently offering a heated contrary response to Vanterpool. My message to KAT is this - shut up and listen to Vanterpool! Once again, Wiggins showed that although his ball-handling has improved, he's still a pretty poor ball-handler by NBA wing standards. Good defensive teams will exploit his handle increasingly over the season as he continues to drive to the hoop and fails to establish himself as an elite 3-point threat.

In spite of last night's unacceptable loss, I'm not overly concerned. We're still a game above .500 and doing much better than I thought we would at this point in the season. As I've noted many times, this is a transition/developmental season. I like that playing time is being distributed broadly among the younger players and I like Ryan's system. Eventually, personnel will need to be adjusted to better fit that system.

Lip I think part of Towns hesitation is that teams have been doubling and he is looking to pass when in the post than attack. Also I think Bruno is actually a somewhat good matchup against Towns because he is long quick and has gotten stronger. Yes Towns can/should beat him but I don't think it's some massive mismatch that you would expect. Ultimately I think Towns has it in his head to pass too much and it doesn't help that he doesn't get a ton of post possessions and so when he does there isn't the rhythm You would expect from a guy of his talents in that area.

As you know, I've been (and remain) a huge fan of KAT as our one perennial allstar player. I agree that he's looking to attract a double-team for passing opportunities. I also agree that he might be having a hard time getting into a rhythm with his lack of post possessions. But his excessive hesitation with the ball has been a big flaw in his game since he arrived here. He's actually been a bit better this season at making quicker decisions with the ball even as he has continued with his frustrating excessive hesitation and that's something he needs to address. Bruno might be better than others at defending KAT, but a player of KAT's caliber should ALWAYS feel and act unguardable when guarded one on one by a player like Bruno. That's the attitude displayed by Barkley, Jordan, Shaq, Kobe, Duncan, and the many other NBA superstars over the years. KAT is a superstar and he needs to conduct himself accordingly. I'm nitpicking, but KAT's reached a point where further improvement in his already terrific play will require attention to little nits in his game. With his 3-point shot failing him last night, KAT should have posted up, demanded the ball and attacked right away time after time. That's my view anyway.

Maybe irrelevant... but the Grizzlies play-by-play guy, Chris Vernon, called the Wolves performance "gutless" after the game.

He also said there was no chance a guy like Bruno should be able to guard Towns... and that Towns should have had a 40/20 game against him.