Grizzlies/Wolves GDT

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Just looked at the box score...no reason to watch the replay. I didn't see the game, but I'm going to echo what others have said in this thread. Thibs is clearly misusing Rubio, and I miss Sam Mitchell...Thibs seems to be getting outcoached most nights. I'm going to watch his postgame comments and see if he takes any responsibility for the horrendous start to this season.

[kekgeek]

Just looked at the box score...no reason to watch the replay. I didn't see the game, but I'm going to echo what others have said in this thread. Thibs is clearly misusing Rubio, and I miss Sam Mitchell...Thibs seems to be getting outcoached most nights. I'm going to watch his postgame comments and see if he takes any responsibility for the horrendous start to this season.

Eh. This game is not on Thibs (I understand your point). Hard to win when wiggins plays really bad (everyone has those nights) and towns gets in foul trouble.

I am nervous though

[Coolbreeze44]

Thibs isn't misusing Rubio. You have to at least be a threat on the court. Neither one of our point guards are. And then he had both of our masons on the floor at the same time for a significant stretch. And you wonder why we couldn't score? On nights like this we would be better off with Tyus in the game. At least he's a threat to knock down an open jumper. As Jim Pete said, PG play is an issue.

[Coolbreeze44]

Just looked at the box score...no reason to watch the replay. I didn't see the game, but I'm going to echo what others have said in this thread. Thibs is clearly misusing Rubio, and I miss Sam Mitchell...Thibs seems to be getting outcoached most nights. I'm going to watch his postgame comments and see if he takes any responsibility for the horrendous start to this season.

Eh. This game is not on Thibs (I understand your point). Hard to win when wiggins plays really bad (everyone has those nights) and towns gets in foul trouble.

I am nervous though

I agree Kek. For some reason Wig got taken out of this one early and didn't respond. Ricky was terrible. And as you say KAT got in foul trouble. The coach might not have had a great night but he didn't get much help either.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

The point guards sucked tonight and that wasn't on Thibs. Rubio missed some shots, yes, but he was also sloppy. Dunn couldn't run the offense to save his life. Tyus should have gotten some burn tonight.

That said the game was tied at 48. Yes as ugly as our offense was we were right there in the middle of the 3rd and the game was winnable. We have been in this position many times this year, usually after blowing a big lead. This is the point where it would be nice to see our main players take over. As great as Wiggins has been this season, he has not closed down one close game with stellar play. KAT, same thing. Zach tried to carry us for a bit tonight but he couldn't keep it up on his own.

As some point our best three players need to start kicking ass when it counts. It's too early to question Thibs, although there's reason to be skeptical after what we have seen. But the bottom line is if we had won 2 or 3 of these winnable games we would be at 6-6 or 7-5, which would be a solid start under a new coach.

Wiggins looked like a deer in the headlights tonight when the game was on the line. KAT was bitching about calls even after he scored, and eventually he fouled himself onto the bench. As mentioned, Zach was a bright spot. But even he fizzled out.

We're going to war with three 21 year olds as our main soldiers. Until they learn to fire the heavy artillery when the shit gets thick we are going to keep pissing away winnable games. But we need more from Rubio and Dunn too, they were terrible tonight.

[Lipoli390]

Not sure how anyone who's watched the Wolves closely can say this team is playing as well as they were playing the last month of last season. This team is, in fact, playing worse and has clearly regressed. And the only significant change from then to now is the coaching staff. It's the same Rubio we had running the offense the end of last season. He couldn't shoot then and he can't shoot now. But he led this team to road wins over the Warriors and Blazers. Wiggins, Zach and KAT worked hard on their games over the summer after playing extremely well the end of last season. Same guys as the end of last season but with a whole offseason of work under their belts. Yet, we're off to a 4-8 start, routinely get blown off the court in the 3rd quarter, lose to Denver at home and get crushed by the Grizzlies tonight, scoring only 31 points.

I'm sorry, I can't let our head coach off the hook. I didn't want to keep Sam on as our head coach, but there is no doubt the team was playing much better under Sam late last season than they are under Thibs now. It's still early enough that we might simply be seeing an adjustment period as the players adapt to and internalize Thibs' system and approach, including his constant barking and micro-managing during games.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

True Lip, the same starting 5 was playing better at the end of last season. And that raises some eyebrows. But also at the end of last season they had nothing to lose, now there's expectations. You can see our top players pressing when the game is on the line. How many crunch time free throws has Wiggs missed? Of course maybe Thibs in your face yelling style is only increasing the tightness. KAT especially looks way over amped all the time. And Jim Pete mentioned tonight how uncomfortable Rubio looked. And he did, he was making sloppy uncharacteristic plays.

The question is, if they can get over the hump and win a few close ones, and get some clutch performances from the big 3 in the process, maybe Thibs style pushes the team to new heights. It's just wait and see right now. A couple big wins and this thing might start to gel, and I haven't felt that way with past teams. Even at 8-8 last year it seemed like fools gold.

I'm giving Thibs and this team some time. That said, this start is concerning in all areas.

[Porckchop]

Add coaching to the list of excuses made for Ricky. Love is blind!

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

It seems to me that Thibs is putting more play making responsibility on Wiggins. He wants him to be Jimmy Butler 2.0 - but potentially even more potent. He also runs a lot of two-man action with Wiggins + KAT and LaVine + Dieng. All of this takes the ball out of Ricky's hands and forces him to be more of a floor spacer, which is not his ideal role.

The problem is that Ricky's heir apparent - Kris Dunn - is also not a floor spacer. Now, perhaps he develops a 3-point shot, but right now that seems a ways off.

The way Thibs is building this offense requires more of a 3 & D point guard like Derek Fisher was with the Lakers or Mario Chalmers with the Heat. The problem is Wiggins isn't nearly the play maker Kobe or LeBron were. And none of our current point guards have both the "3" and "D" as strengths.

We'll have to see how things evolve, but I'm pretty confident that Rubio is going to get traded eventually based on how Thibs is running the offense. The problem is we basically have a worse version of Rubio (worse for now at least) behind him.

[WildWolf2813]

Jim Pete tweeted that point guard play is an issue. I agree. It would be beyond stupid to run everything through our point guards. If anything, they need to be de-emphasized.

the problem is that in a "PG league" he's trying to win without one or in spite of one, because this isn't doing any favors for Dunn whose 2 biggest issues (turnovers and shooting) are exposed and Tyus (who looks the best out of the three PG's) can't get on the floor because of defense,