thedoper wrote:The formula seems consistent. When the quality player on the other team is the 3 no way Wiggins keeps up. Wiggins is a 2, I don't want him to bulk up. I want him to play more of his natural position.
I have to agree with this. Want AW to play the 2 full time. LaVine? I don't know. If we can get something good for him then trade trade trade.
It feels like we go through different stretches with players a month ago "everyone" wanted to trade wiggins because he was struggling. Now the same thing is happening with lavine he is playing bad and now everyone wants to bench him or trade him. Don't let these last 10 games screw your prospective of Zach and what he did in the 1st 30 games this year.
Now we need zach to play better but let's all take a deep breath before blowing up this team
kekgeek1 wrote:It feels like we go through different stretches with players a month ago "everyone" wanted to trade wiggins because he was struggling. Now the same thing is happening with lavine he is playing bad and now everyone wants to bench him or trade him. Don't let these last 10 games screw your prospective of Zach and what he did in the 1st 30 games this year.
Now we need zach to play better but let's all take a deep breath before blowing up this team
He played better only on one side of the ball. I honestly don't have much optimism about his defense going forward. He's guy who always give up at least as much as he provides. I don't really care about his current offensive struggles, it happens. His D is a constant though.
But the main problem is: both guys are SGs. I think it will always hold back Wiggins. He will be much better if he switches position, especially defensively. I hate Wiggy' motor but I just have to admit that he's just a better prospect and thus he should be a priority.
These kinds of games are disheartening for fans of bad teams. You realize JUST HOW FAR they are from being near contention. The Wolves were toyed with for a while... and then Cleveland could have picked the final score. They got any shot they wanted at any time. And when they did miss? Tristan Thompson simply worked harder to get the rebound (8 off reb) through the midpoint of the 3rd.
Kris Dunn is not an NBA player right now, at least offensively.
10 minutes.
0 - 0 fg
3 TOs
0 ast
(yes Q, he literally just fell down)
- The Defense... THE HORROR! OH THE HORROR! That was embarrassingly awful.
- LaVine remains in a funk.
- Wiggins was Wiggins. Still Wiggins. In other news... Rubio is still Rubio. And the team is still out of the playoffs. The improvement has to happen by season... not age. Eventually. I'll keep waiting, I guess.
- Now about Rubio. He was a lot of fun to watch on offense in that 1st half. The beautiful passing (several times) and making shots. Fun.
- When you have a GOOD home feed announcing team... it's infinitely better to watch than the national guys. The Wolves may suck balls every year, but their announcers are top-notch. I switched over from ESPN to FSN after the first 20 minutes.
- I don't like LeBron James. All the entitlement and stuff... the fakeness of it all... the Decision... even more the letter on his way out of Miami when he did NOT thank the fans... but damn. He's so good. Just an amazing specimen and player. Amazing.
Zach hasn't been the same since the injury and it makes me wonder if he is playing hurt right now. If that's the case we should rest him through the all-star break and play Rush right now. No need to keep playing a guy who's game is off if he's hurt. This stretch just has to be killing his confidence out there. Get him some rest and let Rush fill the role for a bit. That's why Rush is here. 7/27 and 1/12 from 3 in 80 minutes the past 2 games is rough. I don't think big minutes for a guy coming off a hip injury is a recipe for success.
khans2k5 wrote:Zach hasn't been the same since the injury and it makes me wonder if he is playing hurt right now. If that's the case we should rest him through the all-star break and play Rush right now. No need to keep playing a guy who's game is off if he's hurt. This stretch just has to be killing his confidence out there. Get him some rest and let Rush fill the role for a bit. That's why Rush is here. 7/27 and 1/12 from 3 in 80 minutes the past 2 games is rough. I don't think big minutes for a guy coming off a hip injury is a recipe for success.
Yeah, but the Wolves need LaVine out there for his defense.
khans2k5 wrote:Zach hasn't been the same since the injury and it makes me wonder if he is playing hurt right now. If that's the case we should rest him through the all-star break and play Rush right now. No need to keep playing a guy who's game is off if he's hurt. This stretch just has to be killing his confidence out there. Get him some rest and let Rush fill the role for a bit. That's why Rush is here. 7/27 and 1/12 from 3 in 80 minutes the past 2 games is rough. I don't think big minutes for a guy coming off a hip injury is a recipe for success.
Yeah, but the Wolves need LaVine out there for his defense.
Exactly Abe. No room for excuses. If Zach is hurt he needs to sit down.
I think I'm a pretty level-headed poster. Especially considering that I've followed the team since Ty Corbin and Tony Campbell were leading the way. Losses are losses. Wins are wins. I try to look at the long game and avoid kneejerk opinions.
Sometimes, it's more difficult than others. Maybe it's seeing just how far they really are from being legit. Yes... 8 - 4 is still good. It's still something to build on... just like last season's 10 - 10 finish was.
But consider...
- Needed a last-second shot to beat a free-falling Orlando team on the 2nd night of a back-to-back at the Target Center.
- Needed a last-second shot to beat Phoenix, the 2nd worst team in the league.
- Beat Brooklyn, the worst team in the league.
- Went down to the last shot vs. the 18 - 25 Nuggets.
- Won in a comeback by 3 to the Clippers without its 2 best players.
They are what they are. A mediocre team. Some people see a juggernaut brewing. Meh. I need proof. I'm still waiting for tangible results... much like I've been doing for almost 28 seasons now.
I'll remain patient. I'll remain somewhat hopeful. But nights like this... ouch. Makes me realize the enormity of rooting for the worst franchise in NBA history.
AbeVigodaLive wrote:I think I'm a pretty level-headed poster. Especially considering that I've followed the team since Ty Corbin and Tony Campbell were leading the way. Losses are losses. Wins are wins. I try to look at the long game and avoid kneejerk opinions.
Sometimes, it's more difficult than others. Maybe it's seeing just how far they really are from being legit. Yes... 8 - 4 is still good. It's still something to build on... just like last season's 10 - 10 finish was.
But consider...
- Needed a last-second shot to beat a free-falling Orlando team on the 2nd night of a back-to-back at the Target Center.
- Needed a last-second shot to beat Phoenix, the 2nd worst team in the league.
- Beat Brooklyn, the worst team in the league.
- Went down to the last shot vs. the 18 - 25 Nuggets.
- Won in a comeback by 3 to the Clippers without its 2 best players.
They are what they are. A mediocre team. Some people see a juggernaut brewing. Meh. I need proof. I'm still waiting for tangible results... much like I've been doing for almost 28 seasons now.
I'll remain patient. I'll remain somewhat hopeful. But nights like this... ouch. Makes me realize the enormity of rooting for the worst franchise in NBA history.
I think you are taking a road loss to the defending champs in desperate need of a win a little too hard. They have Lebron, we don't. That's probably enough to beat us 9 times out of 10 given the fact our best players are 21 and inconsistent. The Warriors, Cavs and Spurs are just in a different league than the rest of the league. They really aren't good benchmarks to compare to especially when you factor in the age differences.
TheSP wrote:With Bazz playing so well and Lavine stinking it up it would be interesting to see Bazz inserted into the starting lineup at SF and move Wiggins to SG. Given Bazz's defensive improvement and give him more minutes and he'd likely outproduce Lavine offensively too and Wiggins would certainly benefit.
*If I weren't so lazy I could have turned that into one impressive run on sentence rather than two not terrible sentences but right now I'm in bored Wiggins mode.
I've been saying this since Wiggins was on the team. Start Bazz with Wiggins, let them muck it up and create havoc. We have the potential for matchups in our favor that we don't take out of convention.
Yeah, I agree with this take, as it seems several others here do too. I like moving Shabazz into the starting lineup for several reasons.
-it rewards a guy who has consistently worked hard for us, and improved greatly on defense.
-it allows Wig to play more minutes at his better position...SG.
-it allows Zach to match up more with the opponents' backup SG
-maybe the reduced pressure of starting gets Zach going offensively again...his defense will remain a work in process.
