Game Report - Wolves v. Lakers

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

LST, I believe the shove came against Huertas, who is a funny little guy out there. It wasn't one of Zach's finer moments.

Ah yes, you're right...Lou would not be likely to be picking anyone up full court!

Huertas is a weird looking guy. My son said he looks like an extra in a very bad 1980s basketball movie. Regardless, Zach should have owned him out there, but instead he let him get under his skin. Very disappointing moment for Zach.

[AbeVigodaLive]

LST, I believe the shove came against Huertas, who is a funny little guy out there. It wasn't one of Zach's finer moments.

Ah yes, you're right...Lou would not be likely to be picking anyone up full court!

Huertas is a weird looking guy. My son said he looks like an extra in a very bad 1980s basketball movie. Regardless, Zach should have owned him out there, but instead he let him get under his skin. Very disappointing moment for Zach.

There are some pretty good gifs out there of Huertas trying to play defense. You could see LaVine knew it earlier in the game when he toyed with him before driving easily for an almost and-1... was it right before the half?

Anyway, here's the funny looking guy on defense...



Yes. He was supposed to guarding Brandon Knight 1-on-1 at the time.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

So now is the time to trade Martin, right? Is milt working the phones today? My guess he's not that savvy.

Terrible coaching last night against a team in tank mode on our court. Towns is so fun to watch. I wish Wiggy had a little more energy, looks like he's bored out there. Tay is kind of growing on me.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

So now is the time to trade Martin, right? Is milt working the phones today? My guess he's not that savvy.

Terrible coaching last night against a team in tank mode on our court. Towns is so fun to watch. I wish Wiggy had a little more energy, looks like he's bored out there. Tay is kind of growing on me.

Hmm...maybe we need a Milt evaluation thread. So far I think his only two moves have been solid...letting Anthony Bennett go ( he has been worse in Toronto than he was for us), and keeping Rudez over Brown. Not groundbreaking moves, but at least seemingly the correct ones. So far we have no evidence that Milt is not a savvy NBA GM, but not enough evidence to conclude that he is.

[AbeVigodaLive]

So now is the time to trade Martin, right? Is milt working the phones today? My guess he's not that savvy.

Terrible coaching last night against a team in tank mode on our court. Towns is so fun to watch. I wish Wiggy had a little more energy, looks like he's bored out there. Tay is kind of growing on me.

Hmm...maybe we need a Milt evaluation thread. So far I think his only two moves have been solid...letting Anthony Bennett go ( he has been worse in Toronto than he was for us), and keeping Rudez over Brown. Not groundbreaking moves, but at least seemingly the correct ones. So far we have no evidence that Milt is not a savvy NBA GM, but not enough evidence to conclude that he is.

It will be interesting moving forward.

The foundation is there. Saunders set the team up in a "Ok, we have the key pieces... let's give this thing time to develop" situation. I wasn't expecting a lot of movement anyway.

With Milt in charge, might we see even less. Obviously, he has to give Saunders' vision time. Sure, a guy like Martin seems like an obvious move at some point. But will he be willing (or able... per Taylor's influence) to make less obvious/possibly more important moves down the line.

With the timing and impact of Saunders' death, I feel like the franchise is in a bit of holding pattern despite making obvious strides on the court.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Yep, the AB move was pretty good in hindsight. LST, you and I and Kahns were the only ones I believe who were still hopeful for him, but eggs on our faces I guess. He's having a horrible season. I hope Milt doesn't do too much this year, I like this roster and how its constructed sans Martin and the big cripple on the bench.

[60WinTim]

I think we are going to find out today that Martin has another fractured wrist, kind of like what happened against the Knicks last year...

[Carlos Danger]

Russel was 2 of 7 against Rubio on the 4th and OT.

Criteria do - Thanks for bringing some facts into the picture.

Kahns -- Ricky can't shot, Ricky can't shoot, Ricky can't shoot. I get it. But there's a whole lot more to the game than one player's shooting. The point is that Ricky's play in every other facet of the game last night was very good to excellent, making him a net positive. Over the course of his career, he's been a huge net positive and the stats bear that out. Ricky put Towns in such a bad spot last night that Towns could only score 26 points on better than 50% shooting. As for that one play involving Wiggins, Ricky was smart enough not to leave Wiggins alone at the top of the key with a defender all over him knowing the shaky state of Wiggins' ball handling.

This season's record with Ricky Rubio playing: 8-7 (.533). Record without him is 1-5 (.167).

And yeah, I realize a team should play better with their starting PG vs. their back up. But come on. LaVine and Miller both have done fine with PER ratings above league average. So, if Rubio's lack of scoring is holding us back as some suggest - it shouldn't be that big of a drop off.

People just cannot wrap their heads around the fact that Rubio makes the team better - even as a poor shooter.

Sorting by qualified NBA PGs in Real GM Rubio is top 10 in numerous categories so far this year:
4th in Rebounding Percentage
5th in Assist Percentage
10th in Steal Percentage
6th in Assist to Turnover
2nd in Free Throw to Field Goal Attempt Ratio

This is what we have to work with right now. If they can upgrade the PG position (or any position for that matter) at a reasonable cost - then go for it! But a PG that scores more points or has a better FG% is not necessarily going to be an upgrade to Rubio.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

Russel was 2 of 7 against Rubio on the 4th and OT.

Criteria do - Thanks for bringing some facts into the picture.

Kahns -- Ricky can't shot, Ricky can't shoot, Ricky can't shoot. I get it. But there's a whole lot more to the game than one player's shooting. The point is that Ricky's play in every other facet of the game last night was very good to excellent, making him a net positive. Over the course of his career, he's been a huge net positive and the stats bear that out. Ricky put Towns in such a bad spot last night that Towns could only score 26 points on better than 50% shooting. As for that one play involving Wiggins, Ricky was smart enough not to leave Wiggins alone at the top of the key with a defender all over him knowing the shaky state of Wiggins' ball handling.

This season's record with Ricky Rubio playing: 8-7 (.533). Record without him is 1-5 (.167).

And yeah, I realize a team should play better with their starting PG vs. their back up. But come on. LaVine and Miller both have done fine with PER ratings above league average. So, if Rubio's lack of scoring is holding us back as some suggest - it shouldn't be that big of a drop off.

People just cannot wrap their heads around the fact that Rubio makes the team better - even as a poor shooter.

Sorting by qualified NBA PGs in Real GM Rubio is top 10 in numerous categories so far this year:
4th in Rebounding Percentage
5th in Assist Percentage
10th in Steal Percentage
6th in Assist to Turnover
2nd in Free Throw to Field Goal Attempt Ratio

This is what we have to work with right now. If they can upgrade the PG position (or any position for that matter) at a reasonable cost - then go for it! But a PG that scores more points or has a better FG% is not necessarily going to be an upgrade to Rubio.

Here's the thing though, Some of the things that Rubio does is pretty overrated. Rebounding? Eh. You would think it would lead to more fast breaks, but they never do. Is he getting a rebound that Towns or someone wouldn't get? I dunno.

Steals. A lot comes from gambling but Ill admit that Rubio is done a better job of not gambling. You would think all these steals and rebounds would lead to a ton of fast breaks, but they dont.

Defense is good, but what we see, perimeter defense is not really important to interior defense. Some people see Rubio getting burned, other point out that the help defense was bad. Fact is point guards can't "shut down" other point guards. They get screens and every point guard can probably score on an other in 1 on 1. Nobody is shutting down guys like Paul, or Curry or Wall. Not one guy that is.

Even the assists are kinda overrated. Curry and Parker are considered "shoot first" point guards yet their teams are the best passing teams in the league, compared to the Wolves who do a bad job of moving the ball. In today's NBA you would much rather everybody have 2-3 assists then just one guy having double digits.

And Rubios "shooting" is way more then just shooting. It affects on how the offense runs. Nobody respects Rubio to shoot. He's not breaking down the defense to get someone an open 3 or dunk because people would rather him make the layup, which he can't do

[Carlos Danger]

Here's the thing though, Some of the things that Rubio does is pretty overrated. Rebounding? Eh. You would think it would lead to more fast breaks, but they never do. Is he getting a rebound that Towns or someone wouldn't get? I dunno.

Steals. A lot comes from gambling but Ill admit that Rubio is done a better job of not gambling. You would think all these steals and rebounds would lead to a ton of fast breaks, but they dont.

Defense is good, but what we see, perimeter defense is not really important to interior defense. Some people see Rubio getting burned, other point out that the help defense was bad. Fact is point guards can't "shut down" other point guards. They get screens and every point guard can probably score on an other in 1 on 1. Nobody is shutting down guys like Paul, or Curry or Wall. Not one guy that is.

Even the assists are kinda overrated. Curry and Parker are considered "shoot first" point guards yet their teams are the best passing teams in the league, compared to the Wolves who do a bad job of moving the ball. In today's NBA you would much rather everybody have 2-3 assists then just one guy having double digits.

And Rubios "shooting" is way more then just shooting. It affects on how the offense runs. Nobody respects Rubio to shoot. He's not breaking down the defense to get someone an open 3 or dunk because people would rather him make the layup, which he can't do

IF the other things he does are overrated as you suggest...how do you explain the .533 winning percentage with him vs. .167 winning percentage without him? That would seem to contradict your assumption that it's overrated.

And IF nobody respects Rubio to shoot.....then how do you explain the fact that he's drawing so many fouls (far and away more than anyone on the team this year)? Why would teams be fouling a guy if they think he can't score anyhow?