It seems to be following the pattern I suggested it would. Garnett is an ornamental piece for home games primarily. The good news is that he can still be effective in multiple ways while playing 15 - 20 minutes in "most" home games and a handful of road games.
But, it's also why I tempered expectations that his arrival meant Garnett vs. Thad Young as much as it means A. Payne vs. Thad Young.
You are discounting whatever "culture change" KG might be facilitating. I'm not sure how best to quantify the degree there is a culture change. Two nights ago may have been the Wolves best defensive effort of the season. If that kind of effort continues, even when KG sits, then it's fair to say the KG impact is pretty significant.
Unless you would rather say "Payne is light years ahead of Thad Young"... :-)
I have a stat for that!
Opponent eFG%. That is our bugaboo. And it's been gradually going down since Rubio, Pek, and Martin came back. We'll see if it continues the downward trend with the injection of KG into the mix - certainly Wednesday night was a thing of beauty defensively. And while a total team defensive rating also takes into consideration defensive rebounding, turnover differential, and limiting trips to the FT line, by far the most important metric is missed shots! We need to make our opponents miss more.
He's only had to play what, 1 game in the last 2 and a half weeks? If he's so fragile he cant play 3 games in almost 3 weeks I don't think it bodes very well. And like Q said, couldn't he play 15 minutes the first night? And how much do you pay a guy going forward who is going to be a constant question mark? My answer would be I hope not very much.
And it does bug me a little bit that KG can't even play 15-18 minutes on the front-end of a back to back. I mean, c'mon, he looked pretty damn good the other night in 20 minutes. It's not like he's being asked to grind out 30-35 minutes per night. He's still getting paid, isn't he?
(Tim, I agree in theory that the culture change aspect is far more important than his actual production while playing. That being said, part of changing the culture is actually going to war with his mates. His influence will be diminished if he's held out too much).
Totally agree Q. This is a joke if he's resting for tomorrow. He can certainly play 15 minutes. Well, I guess the KG novelty is wearing off already!
I looked at his game log this year, and he has played in 4 out of 13 BTBs, so I'm guessing he doesn't play tonight. While I'd like to see him play, I trust Flip/KG's instincts on this. Even though he is about the same age as Duncan, they don't play the game the same way...Duncan preserves himself on the court in a way KG doesn't know how to. Also, with Rose, Noah and Gasol out, Flip may decide he doesn't need KG tonight. On the other hand. not playing KG leaves the Wolves with only 3 bigs, so Flip may ask KG to play BTBs until AB is back in order to limit Pek's minutes. . We'll just have to see.
longstrangetrip wrote:I looked at his game log this year, and he has played in 4 out of 13 BTBs, so I'm guessing he doesn't play tonight. While I'd like to see him play, I trust Flip/KG's instincts on this. Even though he is about the same age as Duncan, they don't play the game the same way...Duncan preserves himself on the court in a way KG doesn't know how to. Also, with Rose, Noah and Gasol out, Flip may decide he doesn't need KG tonight. On the other hand. not playing KG leaves the Wolves with only 3 bigs, so Flip may ask KG to play BTBs until AB is back in order to limit Pek's minutes. . We'll just have to see.
When you "preserves" hiimself, what do you mean? I see Duncan playing good defense and a lot of minutes. KG can certainly play 10-15 minutes at a high level. Otherwise I'm not sure if I'm on board with this plan. Will he start helicoptering in like Kobe on games he wants to play in?
