Wolves get Clipped - GDT

[mrhockey89]

Lip, Wiggins was just sick today. They were hoping to get him back for the game tonight after he missed practice, but it was a no-go. Probably ended up bad for our tanking purposes, as we had to replace him for more efficient players.

Impressive stat of the night: Bayless -25 in 15 minutes

[kekgeek]

Lip, Wiggins was just sick today. They were hoping to get him back for the game tonight after he missed practice, but it was a no-go. Probably ended up bad for our tanking purposes, as we had to replace him for more efficient players.

Impressive stat of the night: Bayless -25 in 15 minutes

Hey I believe we were 0-4 in games Wiggins missed until tonight. Haha. But yes he was sick

[kekgeek]

I'm out of town and missed the game tonight. A disappointing win tonight. Not good for tanking purposes. I want the Wolves to play hard, but I don't want the team playing players who will help get us wins that do nothing but hurt our draft position. I saw the box score. Rose with 22 points. As I've said many times, this team is way too dependent on Derrick Rose - a player who likely won't be here in a couple years and who, in the meantime, can't be counted on to play because of his injury propensity. Teague apparently had a nice night. He won't be here beyond next season either.

We should have traded Rose, Tolliver and Taj for as much as we could get in the form of future draft picks or young talent with upside. I assume that Wiggins and Teague weren't moveable. But Glen missed that opportunity. So what now?

Here's my prescription for the Wolves the rest of the season. (1) Play the young guys who are likely to be here long term or who you might want to be here but want to evaluate. That means playing KAT, Saric, Tyus (when healthy), Okogie and KBD. (2) Add to the rotation those players you're probably stuck with for multiple years because of their contracts - Wiggins and Gorgui. (3) Finally, fill in the rest of your rotation as needed with Gibson, Deng, Tolliver and/or young guys from the D-League. (4) Play hard and see where the chips fall. That's an honorable tanking strategy that would probably improve the Wolves draft position while also maximizing the opportunity to develop and evaluate the young core we're likely to build around - or learn they're not worth building around.

By the way, where was Andrew tonight?

Just a couple of notes from the game.

- Saric started and he rewarded Ryan with a great game.

- Teague was aggressive and rose got to the hoop but his 3 pt shot has fallen off

- Okogie did okogie things but he did leave the game with an injury but the broadcast didn't know why.

-Deng I want him back. Just the perfect min guy. Everyone of thibs bulls guys have over preformed.

- Taj solid

- Gorgui was good tonight, that was the old gorgui tonight

- bayless is not a 2 guard

- Kat great again but he really needs to stop whining it was extra bad tonight. Each one was an obvious foul. I do think he gets bad calls sometimes but all the whining I think he looses respect from the officials and tonight they were obvious fouls. Way to many games he has had to sit because of foul trouble

[Leado01]

Jebus this is a whiny crew.

[Tactical unit]

I knew we would win somehow as soon as a saw Saric starting, Teague & Rose back and this was what really made me believe we would win. Deng starting because Wiggins was out.

Wiggins makes bad decisions (freq low quality mid-range jumper). For some odd reason he has the offense run through him, can't dribble for shit and overall takes the flow out of the offense. He lacks consistency and needs a complete retooling of his game and I have very little confidence in him ever being worth his max contract. That alone is is reason enough for MN to move on and get what they can for him.

Could we land Davis? Wiggins, Dario and a lottery pick, + future picks maybe from a franchise with a track history that suggests winning just isn't our thing. Davis probably wouldn't play in MN but we might be able to offer the best return.

[Lipoli390]

I'm out of town and missed the game tonight. A disappointing win tonight. Not good for tanking purposes. I want the Wolves to play hard, but I don't want the team playing players who will help get us wins that do nothing but hurt our draft position. I saw the box score. Rose with 22 points. As I've said many times, this team is way too dependent on Derrick Rose - a player who likely won't be here in a couple years and who, in the meantime, can't be counted on to play because of his injury propensity. Teague apparently had a nice night. He won't be here beyond next season either.

We should have traded Rose, Tolliver and Taj for as much as we could get in the form of future draft picks or young talent with upside. I assume that Wiggins and Teague weren't moveable. But Glen missed that opportunity. So what now?

Here's my prescription for the Wolves the rest of the season. (1) Play the young guys who are likely to be here long term or who you might want to be here but want to evaluate. That means playing KAT, Saric, Tyus (when healthy), Okogie and KBD. (2) Add to the rotation those players you're probably stuck with for multiple years because of their contracts - Wiggins and Gorgui. (3) Finally, fill in the rest of your rotation as needed with Gibson, Deng, Tolliver and/or young guys from the D-League. (4) Play hard and see where the chips fall. That's an honorable tanking strategy that would probably improve the Wolves draft position while also maximizing the opportunity to develop and evaluate the young core we're likely to build around - or learn they're not worth building around.

By the way, where was Andrew tonight?

Just a couple of notes from the game.

- Saric started and he rewarded Ryan with a great game.

- Teague was aggressive and rose got to the hoop but his 3 pt shot has fallen off

- Okogie did okogie things but he did leave the game with an injury but the broadcast didn't know why.

-Deng I want him back. Just the perfect min guy. Everyone of thibs bulls guys have over preformed.

- Taj solid

- Gorgui was good tonight, that was the old gorgui tonight

- bayless is not a 2 guard

- Kat great again but he really needs to stop whining it was extra bad tonight. Each one was an obvious foul. I do think he gets bad calls sometimes but all the whining I think he looses respect from the officials and tonight they were obvious fouls. Way to many games he has had to sit because of foul trouble

Thanks for the summary, kekgeek. Great that Saric had a good game. He's key to the Wolves future. I'm with you wanting Deng back. And yes, KAT has to stop whining about nearly every call. He's not helping himself or the team. But he's our one elite players, so for now I'll live with the whining.

[Tactical unit]

I knew we would win somehow as soon as a saw Saric starting, Teague & Rose back and this was what really made me believe we would win. Deng starting because Wiggins was out.

Wiggins makes bad decisions (freq low quality mid-range jumper). For some odd reason he has the offense run through him, can't dribble for shit and overall takes the flow out of the offense. He lacks consistency and needs a complete retooling of his game and I have very little confidence in him ever being worth his max contract. That alone is is reason enough for MN to move on and get what they can for him.

Could we land Davis? Wiggins, Dario and a lottery pick, + future picks maybe from a franchise with a track history that suggests winning just isn't our thing. Davis probably wouldn't play in MN but we might be able to offer the best return.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Dario responded well after getting those early fouls. He's going to be nice next to Towns long term if he can hit those 3s.

It's well known here that I'm a Saric guy. I love his game and definitely agree that he's a nice fit next Towns long-term.

Saric has made 39.2% of his threes in 42 games as a member of this franchise. He's getting up 3.5 attempts per game in just over 23 minutes nightly. The volume is good. The efficiency is good. His history -- 39.3% 3P in 78 games during 2017-18 season -- suggests he's good.

And yet... throughout the season I have continued to see posts from various people here that say "if he can make threes" or "if he can space the floor."

Hello, wake up, everybody. Saric can knock shots down from outside. He's good at it. It's a strength. It's not a matter of "if." It is legitimately part of his skill set.

[kekgeek]

Dario responded well after getting those early fouls. He's going to be nice next to Towns long term if he can hit those 3s.

It's well known here that I'm a Saric guy. I love his game and definitely agree that he's a nice fit next Towns long-term.

Saric has made 39.2% of his threes in 42 games as a member of this franchise. He's getting up 3.5 attempts per game in just over 23 minutes nightly. The volume is good. The efficiency is good. His history -- 39.3% 3P in 78 games during 2017-18 season -- suggests he's good.

And yet... throughout the season I have continued to see posts from various people here that say "if he can make threes" or "if he can space the floor."

Hello, wake up, everybody. Saric can knock shots down from outside. He's good at it. It's a strength. It's not a matter of "if." It is legitimately part of his skill set.

I can see why people thought that until 6 games ago he was shooting 31% from deep. But he has caught fire shooting 16 of 26 in the last 6.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Abe's DVR Recap:

- I don't want the Wolves to tank. Enough with that crap... I think the long-term damage to intentionally losing games is worse than dropping to the #12 pick instead of the #10 pick.

- The Clippers had 24 assists... and 21 TOs. Ouch. Good Wolves defense... or bad Clippers basketball as they head home after a 6-game road trip. It was a "schedule loss" for them. But who cares... a win is a win.

- Too many fouls. It was dreck to watch... even on DVR with voice forwarding commands "Forward 30 seconds" was uttered at my place about 50x last night.

- Derrick Rose was back. And after a rough start, he played well. Offensively. Some of the things he does defensively is mind-bogglingly terrible. But it goes unnoticed. And he really does bring an element that the Wolves often lack.

- Saric also got going after a slow start. Obviously, it makes sense to have him start to see what the team has with him. And Gibson has always seemed fine coming off the bench. In fact, Gibson looked A LOT better in this one than in previous outings when he simply sucked balls.

- KAT was efficient again. Agree about the whining... but that appears to be who he is.

- I thought Teague played well. He was aggressive and even though the floater didn't fall... I think it's critical that he takes that shot more often.

- Bayless is a 3rd or 4th string NBA player. It's showed in recent games.

- As I noted yesterday, the Clippers are DEEP. That's why I think they'll hang around the fringes of the playoffs. Last game, they came back vs. Boston with the starters. Last night, it was that bench that carried them when the starters sucked. Doc Rivers has options on any given night.

- The Clippers starters made NINE baskets. NINE! The reserves shot 28 - 46 fg... 9 - 16 on threes... and 24 - 27 ft.

- Lou Williams was absurd. He's always been a poor man's James Harden when he gets going (with the flopping). But the man just knows how to get buckets. It's impressive that he's improved so much later in his career.