Top 5 reasons the Wolves are struggling?

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

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[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

"Is bad defense more about coaches or players?"

Chauncey Billups on NBA Countdown just now said without a doubt that it's on the players. He said schematically, coaches have similar concepts. Are you forcing the P&R to the middle or to the sideline? Where are you sending the double-team from? He then went on to tap his chest several times and said, "It's what's in here that matters most." Good -- great -- defenders play with heart. That's where their drive, their effort, comes from.

Can anyone say that all of our guys play with heart on defense? Nope.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

"Is bad defense more about coaches or players?"

Chauncey Billups on NBA Countdown just now said without a doubt that it's on the players. He said schematically, coaches have similar concepts. Are you forcing the P&R to the middle or to the sideline? Where are you sending the double-team from? He then went on to tap his chest several times and said, "It's what's in here that matters most." Good -- great -- defenders play with heart. That's where their drive, their effort, comes from.

Can anyone say that all of our guys play with heart on defense? Nope.

I agree with Billups' take here. That's why I never bought into the narrative that Thibs was going to turn this team around and make them a great defensive team. Billups is correct that there just isn't a big difference in how coaches teach defense...ultimately it's about athletic ability, instinct and heart, more than schemes and maybe our guys on balance are short in the heart category. I hate to admit it because these are the guys many of us were counting on to take us to a championship, but maybe I overrated them.

[Coolbreeze44]

Just remember, we are relying on 3 kids who all could still be in college to win NBA basketball games. As has been said here, they don't have any productive veterans to lean on. They are struggling for sure, but think about what they are being asked to do. Maybe there really isn't all that much wrong and it's just going to take more time.

[Carlos Danger]

Just remember, we are relying on 3 kids who all could still be in college to win NBA basketball games. As has been said here, they don't have any productive veterans to lean on. They are struggling for sure, but think about what they are being asked to do. Maybe there really isn't all that much wrong and it's just going to take more time.

Correct. All I really need to see is some progress. There isn't much right now, but I can create a small month by month trend based on winning percentage:

October: 0-2 (.000)
November: 5-11 (.313)
December: 6-9 (.400)

If that winning % keeps inching up each month - I'm good.

[Monster]

Just remember, we are relying on 3 kids who all could still be in college to win NBA basketball games. As has been said here, they don't have any productive veterans to lean on. They are struggling for sure, but think about what they are being asked to do. Maybe there really isn't all that much wrong and it's just going to take more time.

Correct. All I really need to see is some progress. There isn't much right now, but I can create a small month by month trend based on winning percentage:

October: 0-2 (.000)
November: 5-11 (.313)
December: 6-9 (.400)

If that winning % keeps inching up each month - I'm good.

Agreed with these posts. The Wolves lost to the Sixers and they have Illyasova starting and playing plenty of minutes for them and playing effectively. He has played 560 NBA games which is almost twice as many games as the most experienced rotation player for the Wolves which is Rubio with 283 games.

I still believe in the talent and heart of this team but that takes time. Billions didn't show that heart as a defender as a Timberwolf but seemed to find it playing for Detroit with a defensive coach and a DPOY. I'm not questioning Billups who is a guy I love but I'm just saying it can take a while to find it but you may not find it later like Billups and Rip who did on different teams than they came into the league with.

[Leado01]

Youth is the cause of the issues we face.

It's hard to win in the NBA. These are the best players in the world and it requires maximum effort and focus to win as well as the experience to understand that 3-4 mistakes in a game will cost you the game.

We are playing better right now (yes we are) because we aren't making the horrendous mistakes we were earlier in the year as frequently (losing players in transition, not having our eyes, hips, and feet correct on defense for 1-2 seconds, etc . . . ).

We are losing close games because even though we're making a few less defensive mistakes, we're still making some bad decisions (in particular the big 3) around offensive shot choices (when your opponent is on a run, please don't pull up for an off balance jump shot, take the ball to the hole). Our defense is improving.

I'm not particularly fond of the extended periods of isolation offense we are playing in the 2nd half of games from a W/L perspective but we have the talent to do that, and that talent needs to learn things like how read the defense better, which direction to attack, and option 2 and 3 in the iso need to do a better job making the subtle adjustments necessary to provide easy 2nd and 3rd options.

It's 3-4 mistakes per game. Some great examples the other night were recognizing that when Joel Embid is at center once you get your defender in a bad way and you attack the rim you need to do a better job picking up where Embid is and determine if he is turning towards you. If he is you still attack, but you attack to draw him out another 3 feet to get spacing for option 2 and if that angle is shut off you need to then find option 3.

Spacing doesn't happen. It's created. The game is hard and until you make 1000 mistakes you won't learn how to do it correctly 1000 times. Be patient Glen. This team is special if you can keep it together.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Youth is the cause of the issues we face.

It's hard to win in the NBA. These are the best players in the world and it requires maximum effort and focus to win as well as the experience to understand that 3-4 mistakes in a game will cost you the game.

We are playing better right now (yes we are) because we aren't making the horrendous mistakes we were earlier in the year as frequently (losing players in transition, not having our eyes, hips, and feet correct on defense for 1-2 seconds, etc . . . ).

We are losing close games because even though we're making a few less defensive mistakes, we're still making some bad decisions (in particular the big 3) around offensive shot choices (when your opponent is on a run, please don't pull up for an off balance jump shot, take the ball to the hole). Our defense is improving.

I'm not particularly fond of the extended periods of isolation offense we are playing in the 2nd half of games from a W/L perspective but we have the talent to do that, and that talent needs to learn things like how read the defense better, which direction to attack, and option 2 and 3 in the iso need to do a better job making the subtle adjustments necessary to provide easy 2nd and 3rd options.

It's 3-4 mistakes per game. Some great examples the other night were recognizing that when Joel Embid is at center once you get your defender in a bad way and you attack the rim you need to do a better job picking up where Embid is and determine if he is turning towards you. If he is you still attack, but you attack to draw him out another 3 feet to get spacing for option 2 and if that angle is shut off you need to then find option 3.

Spacing doesn't happen. It's created. The game is hard and until you make 1000 mistakes you won't learn how to do it correctly 1000 times. Be patient Glen. This team is special if you can keep it together.

Very well thought out post Lead01. I think we lean a little too much on the "they're young" excuse, but you make some very good points here.