The Rush Era Begins - Griz @ Wolves GDT

[thedoper]

Who wasn't guarding Jeff Green?

is it a joke? I can't tell.

I think the problem was someone was guarding Jeff Green that game.

[Monster]

Never stopped pulling for Bazz. Hope he makes the most of the PT he'll get.

I think he's one of the few guys who has benefited from Thibs' constant yelling. Bazz's dad used to yell at him a lot when training him.

Now that Bazz actually plays D he isn't one of the weak players. He plays hard and has some toughness about him which is part of why I like him. Hell Tyus plays tougher than you would expect. He stopped Randolph on that one post up which is no easy task for any guard.

[Monster]

LST, Tyus looked OK-ish defensively. As you noted, he got a couple of steals, but he also got blown by a couple of times off the bounce. He is just not a very good defender one-on-one, but it's not without lack of trying.

Offensively he made a couple of careless decisions, but overall he was effective and efficient. He's going to be getting regular playing time from here on out, so we'll see if the production he's shown in spot situations carries through to being a regular rotation guy. So far so good on that front.

Tyus has had some poor plays handling the ball the last couple games. That doesn't mean he sucks pr didn't play well honestly Inthink his defense is fine. The dude knows how to get steals. He reminds me of a dude I used to play ball with actually one of the best PGs I've ever played with. Underrated athlete super skilled super smart could beat you scoring or passing the ball.

[Monster]

Jamychal Green starts for a winning basketball team because he is a good basketball player.

Thibs has stuck with his rotations. When he talked to Britt he praised several guys like Tyus. He said the issues with some guys not getting minutes is he doesn't like to divide up minutes more because then you probably don't get good minutes from either guy. He actually said something like Tyus and someone else deserve to play more.

[Monster]

I'm watching the last 5 mins of this game now. Snap shot of a problem at times on defense. Conley has the ball Rubio gets screened off. It's a good screen he has no shot at getting back into the he play. Conely turns the corner. Towns is near him but backs off but Bazz looks like he thought Towns was going to help at least some so now he is already a step behind he runs over to try and cut conely off but fouls him. Some of that is on Towns. There is no way he read that play right or communicated it effectively based on what Thibs described to Britt. Bazz isn't exempt either but it was not a good play even though we all know Conely is very good it was too easy.

[60WinTim]

Watching Jamychal Green, I couldn't help think how great he would look starting PF for the Wolves with KAT at center and Dieng coming off the bench. We need a guy like that...

[Monster]

Watching Jamychal Green, I couldn't help think how great he would look starting PF for the Wolves with KAT at center and Dieng coming off the bench. We need a guy like that...

Jim is talking about boxing out and not letting guys get into the paint. It's always odd when I play with big guys that don't know how to do that. I am 5'10" and have had to teach guys to meet bigs early and just not let them even get to the paint. Green does a lot of the little things somewhat like Dieng does actually. In theory I could see Payne becoming that type of guy...if Thibs and his staff coach him up and some of what we saw earlier this season was real. We all need to keep in mind the turnover of coaches etc of this franchise. I won't be surprised if Thibs unearths/develops a Green type big and or a solid perimeter player. It helps when you have a system and know what you think might fit. It's not just all about finding talent.

[Monster]

And I gotta give Towns credit the guy battles on the boards a lot. In a couple years the guy is gonna be smarter and more physical. Great steal for Towns after getting a 3 point play. And then a dumb foul...

Also I feel for Bazz a little now that he is being asked to play D as a bigger player. The last 2 seasons he has played a bunch of D as basically a SG and the technique is different as a small ball PF. If seen him be better in the past playing that position.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Tyus is one of the best pure basketball players on the team. He will help us win games if Thibs would let him play.

Thibs has to know way more about basketball than we do...what is he seeing that we're not that keeps this guy on the bench except when injuries force his hand?

Q, thanks for the Tyus defense analysis. I would argue that Tyus looking "OK-ish" on defense makes him a viable NBA rotation player...given his offensive skills.

The PR side of being a coach/GM.

He drafted Dunn at #5. Another guy drafted Tyus Jones at #24.

Yeah, just wanted someone to say it. Next question: Is that how we want our coach making rotation decisions?

(the question is meant to be rhetorical and an indictment of Thibs (and Glen for allowing the same guy to have both jobs), but if someone wants to answer it as if it's not rhetorical, I'm all ears)

Sometimes, historically bad teams looking to land a well-renowned coach have to make that concession. I think it's going to continue to happen elsewhere... unless it goes really really poorly for Van Gundy and Thibs. Remember, Flip pretty much had the same clout.

It's not ideal. But neither was having Rambis, Wittman, Kahn, et al...

I think the thinking was that even at it's absolute worst... it's the lesser of two evils.

[Monster]

Tyus is one of the best pure basketball players on the team. He will help us win games if Thibs would let him play.

Thibs has to know way more about basketball than we do...what is he seeing that we're not that keeps this guy on the bench except when injuries force his hand?

Q, thanks for the Tyus defense analysis. I would argue that Tyus looking "OK-ish" on defense makes him a viable NBA rotation player...given his offensive skills.

The PR side of being a coach/GM.

He drafted Dunn at #5. Another guy drafted Tyus Jones at #24.

Yeah, just wanted someone to say it. Next question: Is that how we want our coach making rotation decisions?

(the question is meant to be rhetorical and an indictment of Thibs (and Glen for allowing the same guy to have both jobs), but if someone wants to answer it as if it's not rhetorical, I'm all ears)

Sometimes, historically bad teams looking to land a well-renowned coach have to make that concession. I think it's going to continue to happen elsewhere... unless it goes really really poorly for Van Gundy and Thibs. Remember, Flip pretty much had the same clout.

It's not ideal. But neither was having Rambis, Wittman, Kahn, et al...

I think the thinking was that even at it's absolute worst... it's the lesser of two evils.

You know what the reality is? The Wolves have 3 young talented PGs on the roster. Thibs doesn't seem to be inclined to play all 3 unless something forces his hand which in general makes sense. Tyus has generally played well when he has been called on sure that's great. With Lavine playing a bunch of minutes at SG that doesn't open up many minutes for another guy to get minutes at another postion which probably will change a bit with Lavine done for the season. If everyone is healthy One of those guys is going to get left out. That's a reality. Which ever guy that gets left out there would be people clamoring to see him play and probably would be questioning Thibs not playing them.

Secondly another reality is the vast majority of basketball folks (fans people who work for basketball teams, media etc etc) think Dunn is gonna be really good. Most people think he is gonna be a lot better than Tyus. It's not like Thibs is just playing Dunn because he is playing his guy or something the reality is most people believe Dunn is going to be the better player. That may not end up being the case or may not even be the case this season but that's the belief. You don't gush about a guy and pick him #5 if you don't think the guy is gonna be really good. Some people assume that because Thibs has never been a basketball executive he won't know what he is doing. People thought the same thing about Flip (I was worried also) but it turns out Flip was very good at it in many ways most of us were not aware of. Let's see what Thibs and Layden can do over a bit of time at least maybe like a year and a half. We have already seen some positives of Thibs coaching on some players.

There are plenty of smart basketball folks questioning why at times Tyus doesn't get run even at times over Dunn because he deserves it. That's fair. I don't think that because he doesn't play Thibs doesn't value him. Remember the reports that Tyus was gonna get traded because Lucas was here as the 3rd PG? Yeah...I never bought it. I've heard Thibs compliment Tyus a few times this season and I haven't kept up with his after game or practice chats with the media much after very early in the season. It's always interesting how people get to the ideas they have how coaches feel about players. Thibs doesn't like Rubio...but plays him almost 32 minutes a game. Some coaches get ripped for whacky rotations that get changed up every couple games. Some get ripped for sticking to the same thing too much. Obviously you have to find a balance. I actually think Thibs has done more of that the last 15 games and now he will probably adjust a decent chunk more with Lavine out. Starting Rush makes a ton of sense but then making some adjustments as the game goes on for matchups. My guess is that Tyus is gonna play with Dunn or Rubio a decent chunk. Thibs says Dunn and Tyus play together a lot in practice so it's not going to be a new thing.

That's the other thing. We don't see practice. We don't know what it is that Thibs and his staff asks guys to do in those setting or on the court in games. We can only make evaluations from what we know and see. There are things we don't know about.