Hawks sweep? GDT

[Carlos Danger]

They're doing everything they possibly can to give this game away. Hopefully Wiggins can turn his game around in the 4th because this is a stinker of a game he hasn't had in a while.

Dieng is playing hilariously bad as well.

As I'm watching the game, the announcers are raving about how good Gorgui is playing. Announcers, home and away, always seem to love Gorgui's game. I'm neutral--he is a mixed bag (some very dumb mistakes, but then some very nice plays too, but I have no idea why he's become the board's whipping boy). Rudez and Payne are having good games.

10 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals against a very good team. I hope Dieng can keep playing that "hilariously bad" all season.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Well as a Sam Mitchell hater I have to say I am impressed and glad that he realized Prince starting was a mistake. Tonight Sam also ran with what was working and I commend him for that as Rudez and Dieng both came up big. I still think it should be LaVine as the starting SG over K-Mart but I guess that won't matter much with Ricky likely down again for who knows how long. I was also impressed that Sam Mitchell subbed in KG for defense with 45 seconds left. Where most people probably hate the fact that Sam didn't go back to KAT, I don't mind as much. He 100% needs to follow it up with a one on one conversation with KAT though explaining why he rode the hot hands and emphasizing the importance of it not having anything to do with KAT and everything to do with rewarding Dieng and Rudez for playing so well. Pop will ride his second unit and let them finish off a game, it creates quite a bit of motivation for the second unit when they know if they play well that the coach will reward them by letting them close the deal.

TU. I agree with much of what you say here (especially the part about successful coaches riding their second units when they are hot, even if the fans think they are crazy!), but I'm on the other side of the fence on Tay Prince. I think Sam's decision to replace him in the starting lineup is his biggest blunder of the year. With Tay in the starting lineup, we won or stayed even against the other teams' starters in almost every 1st quarter, while in the first game with Tay out of the starting lineup, we trailed the terrible 76ers by 8 at the end of the 1st. Small sample size of just one game, of course, but here are the season +/- stats for every 5-man Wolves lineup. Note that the second best lineup this year has been the starting lineup with Tay, and the only one better is when Sam subs in Belly for KG

.http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/plus/lineup_finder.cgi?request=1&player_id=&match=single&lineup_type=5-man&output=total&year_id=2016&is_playoffs=N&team_id=MIN&opp_id=&game_num_min=0&game_num_max=99&game_month=&game_location=&game_result=&c1stat=&c1comp=ge&c1val=&c2stat=&c2comp=ge&c2val=&c3stat=&c3comp=ge&c3val=&c4stat=&c4comp=ge&c4val=&order_by=diff_pts

It's all about guarding the perimeter and preventing threes, and lineups with Tay excel at this. In the first 10 minutes of the first Atlanta game, the Wolves tough perimeter defense held Atlanta to only 4 3-point attempts (all contested, as I recall). Yesterday though with Martin in for Tay, Korver got one off 15 seconds into the game, and they had taken 8 of them by the time KMart was subbed at 10 minutes into the game...not good.

I'm curious why you think it's a mistake to start Tay.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

They're doing everything they possibly can to give this game away. Hopefully Wiggins can turn his game around in the 4th because this is a stinker of a game he hasn't had in a while.

Dieng is playing hilariously bad as well.

As I'm watching the game, the announcers are raving about how good Gorgui is playing. Announcers, home and away, always seem to love Gorgui's game. I'm neutral--he is a mixed bag (some very dumb mistakes, but then some very nice plays too, but I have no idea why he's become the board's whipping boy). Rudez and Payne are having good games.

10 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals against a very good team. I hope Dieng can keep playing that "hilariously bad" all season.

I'm neutral about G too, Anthony, but I get the frustration some have with him. KAT does everything so well and looks like a veteran out there that he makes G look goofy sometimes when he comes in. And while his mistakes aren't too frequent (only 1.5 TOs per game), sometimes they are grotesque...like last night when he faked his man up in the air and started driving to the basket, only to foolishly try an ill-advised pass to Wig in traffic. His passing seems to have regressed this year, both in terms of frequency and skill, and that's frustrating.

But while I would prefer to have Pek out there backing up KAT, I think most teams would love to have a backup center giving them 20 healthy minutes a game with a PER of 15.46 (almost identical to Jahlil Okafor). I think it would be difficult to name 5 backup centers whose stats are better than G's. He makes 85% of his free throws and they are generally clean, makes close to 50% of his shots even though many are from the outside, and is a decent rebounder. And although his defense is tough to watch sometimes, he has looked like the rim protector he was in college recently...10 blocks in the last 4 games. Until Pek returns, I'm happy with G as our backup C.

[Monster]

LST Korver had 11 points which is basically his season average. I watched Martin's D on him quite a bit it was far from terrible.artinhas a legit reputation as a terrible defender and so people understandably assume he just completely sucks on that end but I don't think that's the case this year and I think that's part of the reason Sam has played him as much as he has.

Dieng I am going to continue to say it is so much like Brewer. He is going to frustrate you at times. He is gonna make a couple boneheaded plays at times but he is gonna play hard and bring you some unique abilities and couple positive plays you just don't expect. Him getting all those minutes down the stretch wil be a big confidence boaster and makes him feel like his is a big part of the team. We all want to see KAT develop but it's not just about Wiggins KAT and Lavine. Other young guys need to get their chance and find some success too. Dieng really played well as time went on and while I sorta wanted them to go back to Towns because he had been so clutch Dieng got the job done too. It was a good thing for the entire team. I bet Towns is thrilled even though I am sure he wanted to be in there.

Which brings me to something I really like about Sam so far. He seems pretty commuted to now running players into the ground and finding ways to keep guys from playing bigtime minutes. Wiggins has played a lot the last few games but I am ok with Sam riding that. Last night was another chance to get a guy like Towns a few less minutes the NBA is a grind and Towns is a young NBA center I am ok with him playing a few less minutes if it's at all reasonable. It's tough playing 10 guys in a rotation but one benefit is that guys are gonna be a little more fresh when you need them. Sam has put a lot of trust in guys getting the job done one way or another on the 2nd unit (he seems to be doing a more mixing and matching though) and despite some frustrating to watch stuff that have had plenty of good moments. With giving a little more extended minutes to some bench guys at times Sam really is setting up an idea of this being a team where everyone matters and everyone is gonna get a shot.

[60WinTim]

LST & TU - I disagree with both of you on Tay starting!!!

TU - Starting Tay was not a mistake, it served a purpose. Sam established a defensive mindset for the entire team with his starting lineup. It also featured KAT and Wiggins on the offensive end. Wiggins has become our 4th quarter go-to-guy. And I have no doubt that the demands on Wiggins in the starting lineup have helped him achieve that go-to role much quicker than might have normally happened. The genius of Sam's rotations have given this team an identity in very short order.

LST - While the team has established an identity with Tay in the starting lineup, we still had shortcomings. The starting lineup was short on offense, and the bench unit lacked defensive consistency and struggled to share the ball on offense. With an identity in place, Kmart (who has absolutely put effort on the defensive side this year) adds an offensive threat to the starting lineup, and Tay adds a calming influence for the bench unit, at both ends of the court. I see this change as a progression towards becoming a stronger team, but not giving up on player development.

Sam's managing of this team has been very impressive. The team has lost some games we thought they should win, but they have won some games we did not think they would win. Just think would is going to happen as our young players develop more consistency... You will have to purchase some new passenger cars for your playoff train!

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Well now you're just being disagreeable, Tim :) .

While I still prefer Tay playing with the starters and helping us get off to consistent good starts, I agree with your take on him. I thought at first that Sam was wasting him having him come off the bench, and pointed out that last year Dave Joerger either started him or didn't play him at all. But last night Tay was very much a steadying influence on the backups, and seemed to elevate the entire defensive unit. He was fun to watch last night.

[Tactical unit]

LST,

My reasoning for wanting LaVine in the starting lineup is developing a really talented player that I think should play around 28-34 minutes a night and its hard to do that if he's coming off the bench. I also think the starting lineup needs a floor spacer and offensive threat otherwise you have three guys KG, Prince, and Ricky that aren't consistent threats which bogs the offense down too frequently.

Just as important to me is having Prince in the second unit is his unselfish play where Martin and Bazz where both all about scoring leading to way to much one on one and not enough team play. I also like Prince playing alongside Bazz for mentorship reasons. I like the fact that if you see a player on the other team get hot you can try to cool that guy off by putting Prince on him.

[Yosimar]

They're doing everything they possibly can to give this game away. Hopefully Wiggins can turn his game around in the 4th because this is a stinker of a game he hasn't had in a while.

Dieng is playing hilariously bad as well.

As I'm watching the game, the announcers are raving about how good Gorgui is playing. Announcers, home and away, always seem to love Gorgui's game. I'm neutral--he is a mixed bag (some very dumb mistakes, but then some very nice plays too, but I have no idea why he's become the board's whipping boy). Rudez and Payne are having good games.

10 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals against a very good team. I hope Dieng can keep playing that "hilariously bad" all season.

Did you watch the entire game or just the 2nd half? He looked like a lost puppy, thankfully he got it together in the 2nd.

[Carlos Danger]

They're doing everything they possibly can to give this game away. Hopefully Wiggins can turn his game around in the 4th because this is a stinker of a game he hasn't had in a while.

Dieng is playing hilariously bad as well.

As I'm watching the game, the announcers are raving about how good Gorgui is playing. Announcers, home and away, always seem to love Gorgui's game. I'm neutral--he is a mixed bag (some very dumb mistakes, but then some very nice plays too, but I have no idea why he's become the board's whipping boy). Rudez and Payne are having good games.

10 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals against a very good team. I hope Dieng can keep playing that "hilariously bad" all season.

Did you watch the entire game or just the 2nd half? He looked like a lost puppy, thankfully he got it together in the 2nd.

Gorgui is never going to get style points - I'll grant you that. Yes - I know what people are talking about when they say he at times looks lost or out of position/control. He's not smooth. But I think at the end of the day what matters is production. The last two games:

Towns: 41 minutes, 12 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 blocks
Dieng: 55 minutes, 22 points, 16 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 5 blocks

I'm not showing those stats to say Dieng is better than Towns. He's not. I'm just saying I appreciate what Dieng gives us - a solid back up that can step in and give good minutes when needed. And he's dirt cheap to boot. If Pek comes back and give anything, then we can have another option for certain match ups when a bruiser is needed. But honestly, every game Pek misses on his $12M/year contract just makes me appreciate Dieng more. As my old man used to say "half the job is just showing up".