Tyus homecoming vs wolves

[AbeVigodaLive]

The Grizz are just a bad match up for the Wolves. They have sneaky good depth, they play tough defense and they worked our second unit over. Our biggest need is to build our depth and to develop our young guys and Culver and KDB are improving game by game. Hopefully, Okogie, Reid and our young guys will become better by year end. Layman is one of our better reserves and he was out. Hopefully, Vonleh, Bell, Graham, Teague and Napier can collectively be upgraded next year.

They're 4 - 13 vs. everybody else. 2 - 0 vs. MN.
Last year, 31 - 47 vs. everybody else... 2 - 2 vs. MN.
2018: 20 - 59 vs. everybody else... 2 - 1 vs. MN.
2017: 40 - 38 vs. everybody else... 3 - 1 vs. MN.

As noted, an entire rotating cast of players... doesn't matter. Plus, Ja Morant didn't play. Jonas V. didn't play. Brandon Clarke tried to play... but he came in questionable and played 10 minutes. Kyle Anderson didn't play. That's 3 of the Grizzlies top 5 scorers... and 4 of the top 7.

The Wolves came out flat. Again. Simple as that. Pathetic "effort" in this one... even the Wolves coach and star mentioned it.

As you like to say, it's a make or miss league. If KAT simply goes 4-10 from 3 and Wiggins goes 2-6, we win by a few points. And while the Grizz shot the ball from 3 pretty well, they were pretty bad otherwise.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your point about effort, as great players and teams find a way to grind out wins when the shots aren't falling. But I wonder what we would have said about our effort level had a few more 3's gone down and we won?

There's a chance they're connected... ?

28 - 63 (44%) on three pointers for the Grizzlies in the two games. We could chalk it up to dumb luck... or uneven defensive performances against a team the Wolves are expected to beat?

The Wolves have won other games where they shoot poorly behind the arc.

And yes... the Grizzlies were mostly bad. That's the point. They were without 4 of the top 8 players in the rotation. They're supposed to be bad. Yet, they led most of the 1st half. They led after 3 quarters. They didn't give up the lead for the final 15 minutes of the game, winning by 8. In fact, they handled the Wolves relatively easily via NBA standards.

The days of "but only if" excuses are over when the Wolves are beaten easily by one of the league's worst teams... twice... especially when that team is missing 1/2 of its best players.

Plus, you don't have to take my word for it...

"We lacked energy. Big time." - Saunders
"We shouldn't have played with the energy that we had." - Towns

It's only one game. It means mostly nothing. But the effort sure did seem to be waning. And I felt it was necessary to go off on the soapbox a bit when all we hear is the need for fewer games and more rest and everything else aimed specifically at making things more "fair"... only to see that type of performance after one of the Wolves longest rest periods of the season.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

How much blame should coaching get when a team comes out flat against one of the worst teams in the league? What if it happens twice against the same team? A lot? Some? None?

The players are ultimately responsible for not showing up and having poor performances, but I can only imagine what would have been said here if the former coaching staff was still in place and the team had given that embarrassing effort.

It goes without saying that the Wolves as a whole will need to be much, much better Wednesday night against the Mavericks. And who knows, maybe we'll keep our better players on the floor for longer...

[Leado01]

While folks are making legit points about upgrading parts of the rotation, this particular loss falls squarely on the shoulders of KAT and Wiggins in my opinion. They scored a very inefficient 39 points on 37 shots against a second rate defense, missed a bunch of 3's, and didn't impact the game defensively in the 2nd half. They are the max players and guys that have to figure out a way to take over games when this happens against inferior opponents.

Agreed . . . Wiggins was not as engaged as he has been.

And frankly KAT was a horror show head case yesterday. We would  have been better off with 4 on the court.

[Leado01]

How much blame should coaching get when a team comes out flat against one of the worst teams in the league? What if it happens twice against the same team? A lot? Some? None?

The players are ultimately responsible for not showing up and having poor performances, but I can only imagine what would have been said here if the former coaching staff was still in place and the team had given that embarrassing effort.

It goes without saying that the Wolves as a whole will need to be much, much better Wednesday night against the Mavericks. And who knows, maybe we'll keep our better players on the floor for longer...

Very little is the answer. I will say this. however, KAT and Wiggins have always played poorly after rest.

[AbeVigodaLive]

How much blame should coaching get when a team comes out flat against one of the worst teams in the league? What if it happens twice against the same team? A lot? Some? None?

The players are ultimately responsible for not showing up and having poor performances, but I can only imagine what would have been said here if the former coaching staff was still in place and the team had given that embarrassing effort.

It goes without saying that the Wolves as a whole will need to be much, much better Wednesday night against the Mavericks. And who knows, maybe we'll keep our better players on the floor for longer...

Very little is the answer. I will say this. however, KAT and Wiggins have always played poorly after rest.

Agreed. It's not on the coach. There's a reason Saunders makes $2 or $3M... and some players make nearly 10x that. The rah rah ranting type obviously wears thin in the NBA.

EVERY NBA player will have dog games. It's inevitable, even for the best players. You just don't want to have too many of them. Seeing how the Wolves have lost to the Wizards and undermanned Grizzlies and Suns (and nearly the Warriors) at home with dispiriting efforts this early in the season... it's not a great look. Maybe just a coincidence? Maybe not.

We always talk about KAT and Wiggins and other being young. And that's been fair to varying degrees. Maybe too much idle time is bad for young very rich men? I know if I was 24 with the world at my feet... I'd be enjoying my downtime quite a bit. Don't know if that's the case or not... none of us are privy to what actually happens in that world.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

How much blame should coaching get when a team comes out flat against one of the worst teams in the league? What if it happens twice against the same team? A lot? Some? None?

The players are ultimately responsible for not showing up and having poor performances, but I can only imagine what would have been said here if the former coaching staff was still in place and the team had given that embarrassing effort.

It goes without saying that the Wolves as a whole will need to be much, much better Wednesday night against the Mavericks. And who knows, maybe we'll keep our better players on the floor for longer...

I really think this season is all about system, culture, and process, which means Rosas and Saunders are going to stick to their principles, short-term results (mostly) be damned.

That means carefully managing minutes, shooting tons of 3s even if they aren't going down, and using a battalion of players in varying lineup combinations.

I'm all for giving these guys some rope this season, especially since we are generally playing competitive ball.

[Monster]

Wiggins and Towns didn't play all that well. Towns didn't hit those 3's but was meh at best a lot of the game.

Meanwhile guys like Brooks were just simply going bonkers. Bruno seems to have The Wolves number a bit. It seems like the last couple seasons he figures out how to defend and make some plays every time we play his team. Bad loss obviously.

Covington was pretty good in this game doing his thing except a couple ill fated drives.

Napier...damn that guy gets into guys on defense. I missed him. Teague was not good.

KBD with another nice game. I think one problem with taking Graham our of the starting lineup as constructed is who guards the ball handler? Is it Culver or Wiggins? KBD needs to be getting at least 25 mpg going forward until he shows he isn't up to the task.

Culver had at least one really nice pass where he whipped it to a guy for a very easy bucket. He had a solid game imo.

If KBD were to start, you would usually put Culver on the opposing team's PG, RoCo would guard the best wing (essentially doing what Graham does now), and Wiggins would guard the other wing. Last night was a bit different since Tyus Jones doesn't look to score much, so Wiggins was assigned to him instead of one of the wings.

This is four solid games in a row for KBD. While I'm fine if Saunders exhibits a bit more patience before shaking up the starting lineup, it's nice to see someone emerge that could eventually push for a spot. We'll see if he can keep this up.

I'm uncertain about Culver defending quicker guards though. He is still a rookie and I'm not sure about his quickness staying in front of guys from the jump. This doesn't mean I think he won't be able to defend those guys as some point but remember how Okogie got roasted by McCollom his rookie year? Graham knows how to leverage himself to make guys work and that's why he keeps getting minutes.

I'd actually consider starting Okogie as the point of attack defender on PGs in the starting lineup although that puts all the PGs coming off the bench if you also start Wiggins and KBD. Like you said we will see if KBD can keep this up. It also feels like his length shows up a bit more than it did last year too.

[mjs34]

i see several issues with this team, the first being that we are still mentally and physically soft. When shots aren't dropping, we tend to fold up. Where are the hustle guys like Cabloco on this team. Other than Okogie, we really don't have any of those guys.

A bigger problem seems to be with the system itself. There is nothing that says we have to jack a bunch of 3's in this system. It just requires that we limit our midrange to long 2's. If a guy can't shoot 3's efficiently, pass the ball, post up, or break down the D. If you can't do any of those, you shouldn't be getting minutes. Why teach a system and give minutes to a guy that isn't going to be here in a year?

Why take a very good wing defender and punish him by forcing him to play PF? We might as well trade Cov if that is our only option with him. Do we even have a true PF on the team anymore. With Kat playing more and more on the perimeter, it seems like we have a need for a power guy down low.

Maybe the answer is less video games!

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

i see several issues with this team, the first being that we are still mentally and physically soft. When shots aren't dropping, we tend to fold up. Where are the hustle guys like Cabloco on this team. Other than Okogie, we really don't have any of those guys.

A bigger problem seems to be with the system itself. There is nothing that says we have to jack a bunch of 3's in this system. It just requires that we limit our midrange to long 2's. If a guy can't shoot 3's efficiently, pass the ball, post up, or break down the D. If you can't do any of those, you shouldn't be getting minutes. Why teach a system and give minutes to a guy that isn't going to be here in a year?

Why take a very good wing defender and punish him by forcing him to play PF? We might as well trade Cov if that is our only option with him. Do we even have a true PF on the team anymore. With Kat playing more and more on the perimeter, it seems like we have a need for a power guy down low.

Maybe the answer is less video games!

I couldn't agree more. It doesn't feel like the roster fits the system nor does the system fit the roster, but this team is forcing it to work anyway.

Future moves are absolutely necessary in order for this team to be successful, but regardless of what happens with the roster I always think the coaching should utilize the personnel to their strengths while mitigating their weaknesses and that isn't happening to its fullest capability.

[Monster]

i see several issues with this team, the first being that we are still mentally and physically soft. When shots aren't dropping, we tend to fold up. Where are the hustle guys like Cabloco on this team. Other than Okogie, we really don't have any of those guys.

A bigger problem seems to be with the system itself. There is nothing that says we have to jack a bunch of 3's in this system. It just requires that we limit our midrange to long 2's. If a guy can't shoot 3's efficiently, pass the ball, post up, or break down the D. If you can't do any of those, you shouldn't be getting minutes. Why teach a system and give minutes to a guy that isn't going to be here in a year?

Why take a very good wing defender and punish him by forcing him to play PF? We might as well trade Cov if that is our only option with him. Do we even have a true PF on the team anymore. With Kat playing more and more on the perimeter, it seems like we have a need for a power guy down low.

Maybe the answer is less video games!

I couldn't agree more. It doesn't feel like the roster fits the system nor does the system fit the roster, but this team is forcing it to work anyway.

Future moves are absolutely necessary in order for this team to be successful, but regardless of what happens with the roster I always think the coaching should utilize the personnel to their strengths while mitigating their weaknesses and that isn't happening to its fullest capability.

Graham wasn't mentioned when talking about tough hustle players. That's why he actually plays and the other guy I would put in there is probably covington and when healthy...the smallest guy on the team Napier.

3 point Shooting has been a problem for this franchise for over 10 years regardless of the system. Nerving Knight on the Memphis broadcast was puzzled about Towns taking all those 3's and happy he was doing so. I bet he wouldn't have said that if Towns hit his usual percentage. I kept thinking Towns was going to hit like 3 in a row and it basically fueled us winning the game. It never happened. I agree with the point that if this organization doesn't do something to address 3 point shooting this offseason...it will be pretty puzzling. Ideally some internal improvement will happen as well but we need to add shooting. This franchise has passed up too many of them in the draft over the years.