I Don't Care Anymore - Woofs vs. Suns GDT

[thedoper]

This was the best win so far this year. Be ok with being simple, D first leading to offense. Road win. Go Wolves.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

No mention of the Zach LaVine hammer dunk in this thread is a bit surprising. Dunk of the year came in November. Absolutely destroyed Alex Len.

[TAFKASP]

No mention of the Zach LaVine hammer dunk in this thread is a bit surprising. Dunk of the year came in November. Absolutely destroyed Alex Len.

Great play in the midst of a terribly played game up to that point, hard to get to excited in that moment.

[Lipoli390]

As I said on Twitter, shit, maybe -- just maybe -- Tyus Jones could be the future. He brings a similar poise/craftiness/calmness about him that Rubio brings, but he's a much bigger threat to score. He also doesn't turn the ball over, which is crucial. And while he's not a good defender, he does do some things well on that end. He gets his hands on passes or loose dribbles occasionally, he takes charges, he recovers well after getting screened, but most importantly, he competes despite his physical disadvantages.

Is he a stud at the position? No, but again, we don't need him to be. He needs to be consistently getting minutes off the bench and let's see what we really have with him.

Excellent analysis, Cam. I agree completely.

[Leado01]

That was almost as hard to watch as Wednesday's game. Our head were down and we lacked the will and hustle to win until late in the third. Tyus and the second unit sparked the team. I kind of felt like the energy, when the starters returned was much better than it has been.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Every team needs to steal games with its bench a few times during the season. Sometimes, it's only one player.

Usually, it's a heat check type of guy who gets hot. Tonight, it was a young, savvy PG who swung momentum. Should be interesting to see what happens moving forward. Jones looks improved this season, but is he ready for legit rotation minutes?

If so... where does that put Dunn. While looking woeful offensively, he is Thibodeau's guy. And it's not like he's a young pup, relatively speaking. He should be more finished than even Jones. What about Rubio? I thought despite shooting fairly well, relatively speaking, he still played far below the level we've come to expect. I just don't see how he's a positive on the court right now. That should change. He deserves the chance to make it change. But how much time? And how much rope from Thibs?

More importantly, what's the ultimate upside with him anyway? If we're hoping to just get back to where he was... is that enough?

[60WinTim]

I always thought there would be a battle between Rush and Bazz for some of those precious backup wing minutes. But they have both been pooping on the court.

So maybe Tyus starts stealing minutes from those two...

[Duke13]

The minutes could and should come at Rubio's expense, especially to finish games. First time this year we looked like an NBA team to finish a game out. The spacing was so much better, Towns had plenty of room to work. Night and day difference

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Every team needs to steal games with its bench a few times during the season. Sometimes, it's only one player.

Usually, it's a heat check type of guy who gets hot. Tonight, it was a young, savvy PG who swung momentum. Should be interesting to see what happens moving forward. Jones looks improved this season, but is he ready for legit rotation minutes?

If so... where does that put Dunn. While looking woeful offensively, he is Thibodeau's guy. And it's not like he's a young pup, relatively speaking. He should be more finished than even Jones. What about Rubio? I thought despite shooting fairly well, relatively speaking, he still played far below the level we've come to expect. I just don't see how he's a positive on the court right now. That should change. He deserves the chance to make it change. But how much time? And how much rope from Thibs?

More importantly, what's the ultimate upside with him anyway? If we're hoping to just get back to where he was... is that enough?

Yep, that's one of Thibs' biggest challenges going forward...his PG rotation. Several of us have been on the Tyus bandwagon for some time, some since July after seeing his obvious improvement in Summer League, and tonight didn't make him any less compelling...he won the game tonight. I just finished watching the game and am about to devote a post to Jones, but to offer my opinion on whether he is ready for legit minutes...yes, and they should come from Dunn. I know many say Dunn should be ready because he is an older rookie, but it's clear that he is not. And that doesn't mean he is a draft bust...adjusting to the NBA takes time whether you are 19 or 23, and it is always a luxury for a draft pick if he can learn the pro game in a less pressured way. Some say Dunn should be ready for PG minutes because he played 4 years at that position in college, but I would argue he only played 2+...he missed one year injured, and if you watched much of his senior year, although he started at PG, he played off the ball more than half of most games with Kyron Cartwright really running the point. Dunn needs to be our 3rd PG right now.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

This game was all about Tyus Jones, as he played perhaps his best game as a pro, as his plus 22 in only 19 minutes attests to. Here are some observations:

Steady not sensational: Jones is never going to lift you off the couch, but he is so fundamentally sound. Even though he is always looking to push the ball on offense, he protects the ball so well...zero TOs tonight. While he does little to excite you, he also seldom does anything that makes you want to throw things at the TV...he just understands how to play basketball.

He's a winner: So much has been said of Tyus' history of winning at every level when given a chance...HS, AAU, college, Summer League. I think it's why Flip traded up to get him, and why some of us applauded the pick. Flashy dunks are fun, but I prefer winning, and Tyus knows how to win. His surgical approach to the game last night, and I mean on offense and defense, belied his 20-year-old age...this kid is a winner.

Defense: We all know that Tyus has none of the obvious tools normally associated with great defenders: length, size, athleticism, lateral quickness...sorry, that's not Tyus. But what he does have is smarts and quick hands, and those two things can go a long way toward becoming an adequate defender. I'm going to go further than that and say he was actually brilliant on defense last night, and against a team designed to get points from its guards. I watched the game closely, and for the life of me, I didn't see one instance in which his man scored during his 19 minutes. Did anybody else? And he was matched up with several different players...Ulis, Knight, Bledsoe, and even bigger players after switches. Not only was he unscored upon, but he also drew two offensive fouls and had two steals. He was steady on offense as usual, but I would argue his defense had even more to do with his +22.

We know that Jones can run an offense, make the right pass, protect the ball, and hit the 3-pointer and floater. If he can defend like he did last night, he is a starting PG in the NBA. I'm not ready to declare him a starter yet because there have been other times this year where he has struggled on defense, but he is clearly ahead of Dunn and needs to keep getting steady minutes. I don't find it coincidental at all that Tyus only played 6 minutes total in the previous 3 dreadful losses. Kudos to Thibs for playing him last night.. although he said post-game he played him primarily because of matchups...i.e.the Suns' propensity to play small. Now, does Thibs have both the smarts and humility to recognize Jones is far ahead of Dunn in terms of NBA readiness, and will he adjust the depth chart accordingly? His decision here will have a lot to do with how I evaluate his suitability as our coach...at least last night, he passed the test.