Tactical unit wrote:Once again Bazz should have got more playing time. Wake the hell up Sam this young player is part of the teams future and needs to develop! If he's playing well why does he sit?
LaVine needs to stop looking over at the coaching staff all the damn time and just play basketball. Be aggressive, half the league probably couldn't handle you when you have a full head of steam so push the defense aggressively. You play best when being the aggressor, its really that simple.
Martin playing 41 minutes worth of defense and shooting 20 shots....that's a big time problem for this team long term. You can figure out who to blame for that one!
Ricky needs to stop flopping all over the place and acting like marginal contact in one on one is knocking him all around. He draws the offensive foul from time to time but more often then not he is off balance, fake falling, or flopping his way to being out of position on defense. The audacity to complain to the refs after fake falling / flopping is an insult to the refs intelligence. On a good note Ricky was actually a threat tonight and hit some shots, I'd like to see a hell of a lot more of that!
TU -- Interesting point on LaVine constantly looking to the bench. I see it constantly in the games I see live at Target Center. The blame for that is on Sam who constantly barks at him. LaVine plays best when he plays on instinct. That's true of most players. The time to constantly bark instructions at Zach is practice and during timeouts. I remember a game earlier this season when Zach was bringing the ball up and Sam was barking at him. Zach was looking at Sam and looking and looking until Zach finally said, "huh"? At that moment the defender stripped the ball from Zach and scored on the other end. If Zach can't play PG without constantly being instructed from the bench, he shouldn't be playing PG.
I love Shabazz. What I like is that he gives all-out effort all the time. If there's a chance for a rebound he gets it. If there's a loose ball, he gets after it. He doesn't smile constantly on the court or joke around on the bench. Those are the same characteristics that I've always liked in Ricky. Wiggins frustrates me because he's far more physically gifted than Ricky or Bazz, but doesn't seem to possess those other qualities that, as a fan, I appreciate so much in Ricky and Bazz. I see those same qualities in Dieng. And I see them in Towns, who also has elite talent like Wiggins.
So I admit to giving more rope to Ricky than Wiggins, but Thats because I expect more from Wiggins given his incredible physical talent. And I also give more leeway to Bazz and others based on the way they play the game.
Shabazz plays as lazily on defense as he does playing all out on offense. Bazz plays all out when it means getting points for Bazz that's it. Wiggins doesn't have to be hyper aggressive like KG or even Rubio. Can he be better? Yea. But stuff like getting loose balls or grabbing more rebounds is extremely nitpicky for the best 20 year old player we have ever had in the entire franchise.
I love Shabazz. What I like is that he gives all-out effort all the time. If there's a chance for a rebound he gets it. If there's a loose ball, he gets after it. He doesn't smile constantly on the court or joke around on the bench. Those are the same characteristics that I've always liked in Ricky. Wiggins frustrates me because he's far more physically gifted than Ricky or Bazz, but doesn't seem to possess those other qualities that, as a fan, I appreciate so much in Ricky and Bazz. I see those same qualities in Dieng. And I see them in Towns, who also has elite talent like Wiggins.
So I admit to giving more rope to Ricky than Wiggins, but Thats because I expect more from Wiggins given his incredible physical talent. And I also give more leeway to Bazz and others based on the way they play the game.
Shabazz plays as lazily on defense as he does playing all out on offense. Bazz plays all out when it means getting points for Bazz that's it. Wiggins doesn't have to be hyper aggressive like KG or even Rubio. Can he be better? Yea. But stuff like getting loose balls or grabbing more rebounds is extremely nitpicky for the best 20 year old player we have ever had in the entire franchise.
I love Shabazz. What I like is that he gives all-out effort all the time. If there's a chance for a rebound he gets it. If there's a loose ball, he gets after it. He doesn't smile constantly on the court or joke around on the bench. Those are the same characteristics that I've always liked in Ricky. Wiggins frustrates me because he's far more physically gifted than Ricky or Bazz, but doesn't seem to possess those other qualities that, as a fan, I appreciate so much in Ricky and Bazz. I see those same qualities in Dieng. And I see them in Towns, who also has elite talent like Wiggins.
So I admit to giving more rope to Ricky than Wiggins, but Thats because I expect more from Wiggins given his incredible physical talent. And I also give more leeway to Bazz and others based on the way they play the game.
Shabazz plays as lazily on defense as he does playing all out on offense. Bazz plays all out when it means getting points for Bazz that's it. Wiggins doesn't have to be hyper aggressive like KG or even Rubio. Can he be better? Yea. But stuff like getting loose balls or grabbing more rebounds is extremely nitpicky for the best 20 year old player we have ever had in the entire franchise.
Great side-by-side comparison of the 3 greatest 20 year-olds in Wolves' history, and how lucky we are to have two of them as 20 year olds right now. The most astonishing stat in there to me is that KAT is a much better rebounder at 20 than the all-time NBA defensive rebounder was...that's saying something!
BizarroJerry wrote:KG shot better from 3 point land his first year than wiggy is this year! Ouch.
Heard we were up 18 in the 3rd and blew it. That's another bad coaching job from sammich
KG made 6 threes the whole year, not the same as Wiggins,
I can put Wiggins and Towns as 1A and 1B, I think both are better then what KG was at that age
I would go Towns, KG and Wiggins in that order. But if you're right, alex, and KAT and Wig continue to develop like typical NBA players do, we have 2 future top 500 all-time players locked up for several years. Put a couple complementary pieces around them, and we could have a dynasty in this franchise as we get in the late teens and early 20s of this century. Fun to think about.
Shabazz plays as lazily on defense as he does playing all out on offense. Bazz plays all out when it means getting points for Bazz that's it. Wiggins doesn't have to be hyper aggressive like KG or even Rubio. Can he be better? Yea. But stuff like getting loose balls or grabbing more rebounds is extremely nitpicky for the best 20 year old player we have ever had in the entire franchise.
Wiggins being a crappy rebounder for a guy of his size and athleticism is not nitpicky.
Tactical unit wrote:Once again Bazz should have got more playing time. Wake the hell up Sam this young player is part of the teams future and needs to develop! If he's playing well why does he sit?
LaVine needs to stop looking over at the coaching staff all the damn time and just play basketball. Be aggressive, half the league probably couldn't handle you when you have a full head of steam so push the defense aggressively. You play best when being the aggressor, its really that simple.
Martin playing 41 minutes worth of defense and shooting 20 shots....that's a big time problem for this team long term. You can figure out who to blame for that one!
Ricky needs to stop flopping all over the place and acting like marginal contact in one on one is knocking him all around. He draws the offensive foul from time to time but more often then not he is off balance, fake falling, or flopping his way to being out of position on defense. The audacity to complain to the refs after fake falling / flopping is an insult to the refs intelligence. On a good note Ricky was actually a threat tonight and hit some shots, I'd like to see a hell of a lot more of that!
TU -- Interesting point on LaVine constantly looking to the bench. I see it constantly in the games I see live at Target Center. The blame for that is on Sam who constantly barks at him. LaVine plays best when he plays on instinct. That's true of most players. The time to constantly bark instructions at Zach is practice and during timeouts. I remember a game earlier this season when Zach was bringing the ball up and Sam was barking at him. Zach was looking at Sam and looking and looking until Zach finally said, "huh"? At that moment the defender stripped the ball from Zach and scored on the other end. If Zach can't play PG without constantly being instructed from the bench, he shouldn't be playing PG.
Ha, I remember that Zach play you're talking about, lip...not our finest moment.
I have a different take though...I think that play said a lot more about Zach than Sam. I want Sam up, active and yelling instructions during a game...I think that's what you need to do with a young team. It's second nature for guys like KG and Tay Prince to fight to go over screens, but the typical NBA youngster hasn't learned to do that yet (as we so painfully were aware of last night), and they need constant reminders of what they should be doing. Zach is somewhat of an ADD-stricken teenager still, easily distracted...he didn't need to look over at Sam as Sam was barking instructions at him. He'll learn. I'm way bullish on Zach based on his enormous improvement this year. Some of Zach's improvement is just the natural NBA learning curve, but his improvement has been so remarkable that I find it unfair to not give Sam and his coaching staff some of the credit for his leap forward. Sam recognizes that every offensive and defensive possession is a learning opportunity for his young pups, and he's going to take advantage of every one. And our 9 wins tells me that his active coaching style is having a positive impact.
