Grizz@Wolves GDT

[Lipoli390]

My favorite Jim Peterson comment tonight with about a 1:30 left as both teams were going for a loose ball: "Russell thought about diving to the floor, but Vando actually did."

[Lipoli390]

I'm just happy rosas does not listen to this board because I would be crying right now if Wiseman was our pick

Guilty as charged....I bow down at the feet of Mike Schmitz and Jonathan Givony and beg for forgiveness as I could not get my head wrapped around their love for Ball and Ant.

Having said that, Ant confirmed all our worst fears his first couple of months - super inefficient, poor shot selection, not a lot of do-shit stats, clueless defense. He's definitely improved throughout the season.

I think Ant's efficiency and do-shit stats have been really good consistently long enough now to ignore his early season confirmation of our worst fears. Edwards has been consistently tremendous on the boards the past 6-8 weeks. Tonight was another example of his passing and playmaking talent. He had 7 assists, but he could have easily had 10 or more if his teammates hadn't missed so many wide open shots. And I'm not counting Ant's hockey assists.

I thought Vando was good tonight. I like the idea of keeping him on a cheap contract. He's a really valuable energy big off the bench. And he still has considerable upside.

Agree with everything here. Also seems like vando and Dlo have a good connection on offense. Have no stats to back that up but ya

I know what you're talking about with DLO and Vando. I'm not a DLO fan, but he's a very good offensive player. He missed shots you'd like him to make and he had far too many lazy moments on defense. But he did a terrific job setting up his teammates for shots. And he hit some big shots in the 4th.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I stopped watching in disgust when they were down 9 or so in the 2nd quarter and it appeared to me that Memphis was simply the better team. Sorry I missed Ant's explosion, but it was all wasted anyway in another game where we just couldn't get enough stops.

Same things every possession. Morant PnR, against Kat and Mcdaniels. Kat couldn't be aggressive because he picked up many silly fouls. Morant blows by Kat or Mcdaniels, Morant scores or hits bane in the corner from the rotating Ant

Morant is struggling from 3 this season, no? Were we going under those screens? Earlier in the game we'd go over the screen and he'd just put the guy on his hip and hit a 6-foot floater, get a layup or hit JoVal for the easy dunk every god damn time.

BTW, JoVal would look pretty good next to KAT. Talk about a guy that could take up space and wall up nicely inside on defense. Just let KAT be Dirk!

We ended up in switched a lot. Morant hit a damn tough 3 in Kats face

Of course the guy struggling from 3 hits a tough one on us. Of course.

[Lipoli390]

We couldn't stop Morant tonight. Actually, we couldn't stop anyone.

But the Wolves still win this game if their two max players hadn't committed 9 turnovers between them - 5 by DLO, 4 by KAT. That's just not acceptable. Most if not all of those turnovers were extremely careless, mindless turnovers. In addition, Ant should have had more shots in the 4th. KAT and DLO have to focus more on feeding him in the stretch, especially when he's hot like he was tonight.

[BloopOracle]

The sooner Russell understands he is now the third banana the better.

[kekgeek]

The sooner Russell understands he is now the third banana the better.

I don't know how much of an issue that was tonight. Wolves still scored on 7 of their last 10 possessions. That is with 2 Kat turnovers and a missed Dlo 3 in the possessions the Wolves didn't score.

I do agree though Ant should of gotten touches. Wolves need to get stops though.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Interesting splits for Edwards... he's played almost exactly the same number of minutes pre- and post-ASG.

PRE: 1048 minutes
14.9 ppg
4.0 reb
2.5 apg
37.1% fg
30.2% 3fg
46.6% TS
- Unquestionably a negative player... and arguably the most ineffective everyday rotation player in the league.

POST: 1050 minutes
23.7 ppg
5.4 reb
3.2 apg
44.7% fg
35.2% 3fg
55.7% TS

Wow. The improvement is startling. And Wolves fans might be able to walk slightly taller within a couple years if he continues this ascent...

[FNG]

Haven't watched this game yet, but man, what a box score. Ant with 42 points on only 22 shots! Are you kidding me? Dlo with 14 assists! The Wolves shoot 52% and make almost 49% of their threes. And we still lose!

Yeah, Lip makes a good point with his comment about the 9 TOs from our two max players...that's not a prescription for victory and has to turn around. But the box score tells me this one has to be pinned on the bench. Finch played only 4 guys off the bench and they were all double digit negative, with the two Spaniards sharing a team-worst -15. You're just not going to win many games with your bench stinking up the court like that.

I'm still going to watch a replay of this game because it looks like Ant's performance was jaw-dropping. But I don't think I'm going to like much of what I see other than Ant.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Haven't watched this game yet, but man, what a box score. Ant with 42 points on only 22 shots! Are you kidding me? Dlo with 14 assists! The Wolves shoot 52% and make almost 49% of their threes. And we still lose!

Yeah, Lip makes a good point with his comment about the 9 TOs from our two max players...that's not a prescription for victory and has to turn around. But the box score tells me this one has to be pinned on the bench. Finch played only 4 guys off the bench and they were all double digit negative, with the two Spaniards sharing a team-worst -15. You're just not going to win many games with your bench stinking up the court like that.

I'm still going to watch a replay of this game because it looks like Ant's performance was jaw-dropping. But I don't think I'm going to like much of what I see other than Ant.

The bench is going to struggle to score as constructed... especially if Reid struggles. Rubio is going to be fine if he's surrounded by bucket-getters... but his flaws are highlighted in neon yellow when he's out there with limited scoring options.

That's one reason why the move to have Russell come off the bench was actually sort of nice. It provided better balance. But it's not realistic to ask a $30M guy in his prime to come off the bench.

The return of Beasley (if he ever plays another game in a Wolves uniform...) will shore up the bench unit some ... or completely overwhelm the starting unit with bucket-getters who don't play defense.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

h.

Interesting splits for Edwards... he's played almost exactly the same number of minutes pre- and post-ASG.

PRE: 1048 minutes
14.9 ppg
4.0 reb
2.5 apg
37.1% fg
30.2% 3fg
46.6% TS
- Unquestionably a negative player... and arguably the most ineffective everyday rotation player in the league.

POST: 1050 minutes
23.7 ppg
5.4 reb
3.2 apg
44.7% fg
35.2% 3fg
55.7% TS

Wow. The improvement is startling. And Wolves fans might be able to walk slightly taller within a couple years if he continues this ascent...

Yes, across the board improvement. Good stuff. His 55.7 TS% is still a bit lackluster (but I'll take it). That would not have been the case a few years ago, but nowadays the top offensive weapons in the game are generally in the high 50s or low 60s because of the 3-point shot. I do think he will eventually draw a ton more fouls than he does now and that will help lift his TS% up further.

Bottom-line....his second half of the season just might have lifted his value to be equal to or greater than how we was originally valued when he was pick. What I mean by that is he may be worth more now in a trade scenario that he was as a pure draft asset. That's unusual for the Wolves!

Reid - McDaniels - Ant....all have likely exceeded or equaled their original value as preseason rookies. Again, very rare for the Wolves to take a rookie and turn him into a more valuable asset.