CoolBreeze's 2 Things I Didn't Like Tonight Plus 1

[Coolbreeze44]

My best advice for you after tonight's lackluster performance - don't overreact to what we saw. It just wasn't our night, it happens. So I'm not going to be overly critical on any individual player or coach. Best thing we can do is move on and get ready for the next one. At least that's what I hope the team can do. But nonetheless there are some things to talk about, here is tonight's 2 +1:

1) The one word that comes to mind is "sloppy". Nothing was crisp or sharp. Shooting, ballhandling, passing, communication - you name it - it was all sloppy. Hate to see that in any game, but especially in front of the home crowd. Again, not our night.

2) Our bench isn't giving us anything. I don't expect that to continue because we have seen these guys play much better. But at a minimum the door has been opened for some other guys to emerge. Maybe Shabazz finds some more opportunities, or maybe Hummel gets some unexpected run early in the season. These guys couldn't be much worse than what we've seen so far. But like I said, I don't want to overreact too much. Let's let this play out for a while before we come to any conclusions.

Plus 1 - I don't know guys, can you draw any positives from that performance? I'm having a terrible time. Brewer continues to be a nice addition. Martin gives us something we just didn't have last year. But I guess the biggest positive for me is that no one got hurt. And when that's the best thing you can say you know what kind of night it was.

And that's CoolBreeze's 2 things I didn't like tonight Plus 1

[foye2smith [enjin:6593248]]

Yep another throw away game. Nailed your Plus 1 without even trying, Brewer and Martin have been better than I imagined they could have been. Early in the year yet, things will click better once Pek starts playing a bit better on the offensive end. In a game like tonight the Wolves aren't ever going to hold the Warriors to the 90s to win. They had to win this game 110-106.

Pek will be better, the bench will be better, and they'll outscore teams their way to a low seed.

[TAFKASP]

Sloppy, exactly what I said in the game thread. It is exactly the opposite of what they were in their three season opening games. They need to find that team wide focus again!

[Phenom]

Pek, Ricky and Love need to get their groove going. Seems like they can't get any momentum, especially Pek and Ricky. The bench futility is really dragging the team down. The Wolves may be an improved offensive squad but they aren't good enough to survive so much poor shooting.

When does Muhammed get a real chance? Or Hummel? Let's see if Bazz can finish what Derrick can't. I am tired of watching Derrick play so small in the paint. Let's see if Hummel can make the jumpers that Dante can't.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I think the Warriors are just flat out a better team with more talent. There was nothing particularly lucky or unlucky about how this game played out. If anything, we were the beneficiaries of some good luck with Steph Curry's injury taking him out of the game.

The Warriors have constructed a roster that is almost the perfect blend between offense and defense. You've got Iggy and Bogut that specialize in defense, with Thompson not so bad himself. Then you have Thompson, Lee, and Curry as highly skilled offensive weapons. And their bench is very solid.

We're going to win our fair share of games if we stay reasonably healthy. But our ceiling is limited to 40-45 wins if we don't have one or two guys that are not part of our starting lineup have a breakout year.

As for Pek and Rubio, heaven help us if those two don't get their act together. At this point, I don't even know why teams bother to guard Rubio beyond the free throw line.

OK, done complaining!

[KiwiMatt]

I am disappointed we couldn't win this one, but GSW is a better team. Wait until Barnes comes back! The LA Clippers and them are looking like the two best teams in the West and I hope like hell they meet in the playoffs. That would be an awesome series!

The bench has been disgusting all year. Just look at Shved for example, shooting 23% and 17% from deep. Adelman is still trying to find his rotation, but IMO he needs to give Muhammad and Hummel some burn. I'm not a fan of Cunningham's role on this team, I think he needs to be buried deeper in the bench. He plays hard, but his only offensive weapon is a 15ft shot that you don't really want him taking in the first place. Williams didn't play well tonight, but I would like see him get more of Cunningham's minutes as the season progressed. The last thing we need is both Shved and William's regressing and losing trade value. We need to develop our young guys more and hope that Muhammad, Williams or Dieng develop in to quality NBA players. Dieng blocked two shots tonight in 6 minutes.

Also I think losing Budinger was a HUGE loss. We simply don't have a consistent three point threat coming of the bench. Turiaf being out also hurts.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Sloppiness is a good word for how we've looked. I like the energy from most guys, but the execution, particularly on offense is just ugly sometimes. Too many guys trying to force passes that aren't there, missed communication, sloppy picks, just messy.

With Rubio, Barea, and Shved, we don't really have one PG who is our "control" guy, the guy we can put in and just count on to play in control, conservative basketball. Rubio obviously comes closest, his passing is really crucial, and his activity defensively helps disrupt the other team (he's picking up steals all over the place), but I've been disappointed in his decision making at several moments this year. Just making dumb passes, mostly. I know he'll get turnovers just because he plays a little risky, but it seems like more often than before, those risks are ending up ugly. Somebody mentioned earlier we should accept his turnovers with a grain of salt because he also gets more assists, so you have to consider his A/TO ratio. I agree A/TO ratio is key. But I think Rubio's makes him look pretty bad, actually. He's top 3 in the league in assists, but #16 when you consider A/TO ratio. And let's not even start on his shooting. Some of these shots I don't even know what he's thinking. Barea is who he is, and he hasn't been THAT bad, and at times has been pretty good, but he shouldn't be logging heavy minutes. Shved should be put on the first plane to Russia. He is horrendous. Just absolutely horrendous. Let's see AJ Price.

A few other random thoughts.

-Dieng was kind of a bright spot tonight, but he's definitely raw.

-I agree with the guys above, our bench is not that good. Love, Pek, Rubio, Martin, Brewer have all been passable starters, but there's just not a lot of skill on the bench. Barea ok. Williams has just not impressed me. Seriously, I just don't see this potential other people see in him. I like Cunningham's hustle, and that's it. This is not a deep team. And the chemistry on the bench looks a little shaky when the guys are on the floor.

-I do like how Martin and Brewer are moving without the ball on the baseline, and how Love and even Pek are finding them. The layup doesn't always go in, but they're definitely getting buckets that way.

-It seems like we're not using Pek in the pick and roll game as much, or at least the chemistry isn't there right now. We need to get that going.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

As cool said no need to overreact to tonight's game, despite it's ugliness. 3-2 through 5 games is still a good start, and the next two games are there for the taking.

Rubio is in a shooting slump even by his standards, but I'm confident he will come out of it. He just needs to see a couple shots go in and remember what that feels like. I'm not saying he is going to turn into Steph Curry anytime soon, but he is a better shooter than what we are seeing (watching him this summer I really thought he was on the right track). Also Pek needs to get back to doing what he does best, which is scoring around the basket. For whatever reason his craftiness is not there right now, but we have to keep going to him. Like Rubio, he needs to see the ball go in the hoop.

But most concerning to me right now is our bench. Of the guys who are even seeing the court, Dante is M.I.A., Gorgui is not ready, and Shved is a deer in the headlights. That leaves JJ and D-Will, two players who give us some good minutes one night and disappear the next.

But again, 3-2 with the next two games very winnable. They need to win them both.

[mjs34]

Rip Rubio for his shooting all you want, but turnovers are on guys like Pek who is dropping four passes a game that hit him in his hands. Rubio can't catch the ball for the other guys.

When we start looking at the bench there are a couple of different problems I see. The first is with the hockey change up strategy. Adleman cannot throw five bench guys out together. The biggest issue there is that JJ is not finding guys like DW setting up on the low block with a mismatch. To show how bad it is, late in the fourth JJ penetrated and threw a pass to a cutting DW. The pass was slightly behind him, but DW was clearly shocked that JJ even attempted it.

DW isn't playing BB anymore. I put that on both him and Adelman. BB IQ is never going to be one of DW's strong points, but he seems to be so screwed up now that he doesn't even know where to start. He and DC don't seem to know who they are supposed to be guarding as they come down the floor and end up on the same man too many times. JJ, while being able to breakdown a defense, hasn't the slightest clue of how to run an offense. Adelman has got to setup substitutions so that Rubio sits early and allows him to come back in with the majority of the second unit. That way he can utilize the strengths that guys like DC and DW actually have.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Kevin Love has improved significantly as a passer. That's been a bright spot thus far.

He's hitting cutters in the halfcourt... that behind the back 25 foot bounce pass was nice! Plus, those outlet passes that we've been hearing about (but rarely seeing) for years are now an every game occurrence. Nice. BUT... they come with a HUGE caveat.

Corey Brewer is averaging 2.0 rebounds from the SF spot. That is just awful. Kevin Martin is marginally better. So, is Brewer leaking out to the detriment of rebounding? The Wolves have been outrebounded in each of the past 3 games.

I looked at Pekovic and Love and assumed this team could rebound with the best of them. But, it takes more than two guys. And, the lack of any rebounding on the wings might be hurting this club.