Welp Here We Are Again (Wolves vs. Thunder)

[worldK]

Blowout win as I predicted! haha. I am predicting an upset over Denver with towns going bonkers.

Setiously, this was a feel good win and saves us from being the laughingstock of the league.

Towns was incredible in the 3rd. He played a really smart game. Staying away from foul trouble and picking his spots in the first half. But he brought it in the 3rd and was great on d as well with some nice blocks.

Ant with a good overall game. He had a couple of short 2min timely offensive explosions and that was all we needed. Did not dominate the ball and great on d the whole game.

Gobert was annadventure to watch on offense but he did enough on that end and was great on d.

Conley is solid. Pick his spots and a great overall floor game.

NAW was amazing on defense. Major props.
If he can hit that 3 consistently I can see a Danny Green like player with him.

Slowmo was great in his 1st half stint and solin the whole game. Prince contributed and it was a total team win.

[Coolbreeze44]

Drew ease up on Jaden a bit. His mental state has been just fine for all but one day in three years. He's a shy kid who has a fire inside, not the next Ted Bundy. Did you know that several players including Kareem and Lebron have injured themselves in similar ways? The we should trade him talk is way premature. If we had him healthy we could definitely beat the Nuggets. Without him it's going to be very tough.

[Crazysauce]

Post game interview, Conley discussing how Battier used to sit down and discuss all sorts of stuff pregame including officials and what they call. Really locking in come playoff time. Then Conley says that it's not rime to be playing video games and what not.

Kat comes out and him and the guy start immediately talking about how him and Ant play Call of Duty, which mode they play on, and Kat goes on talking about how Ant plays in Call of Duty. SMH. You can't even make this up.

[Lipoli390]

Drew,

Good takes on tonight’s game. But I think you’re making too much of Jaden’s incident. I’m sure you’ve watched the video of his wall punch. The video makes it clear that Jaden obviously thought he was punching a padded tarp, not a brick wall. If I hadn’t heard about the incident before seeing the video, I would have assumed his was fine because even in the video it didn’t look like his fist hit a hard surface. It was a freak accident, nothing more. There’s no sign that Jaden is anything close to unstable. He’s highly competitive and I have no concerns about his psyche or attitude. I love his quiet intensity and his talent. I hope he recovers quickly so he can continue developing his offensive game in the offseason.

It’s been a disappointing season and Jaden has been one of the few bright spots for the Wolves. I wish we hadn’t lost Jaden in that freak incident. But the silver lining might be the opportunity it’s providing for NAW. When he first got here he struck me as a good defender. After watching him since his arrival I’d say he’s more than just a good defender. He also has a terrific basketball IQ along with a nice skill set. Unfortunately, his shooting is a huge wild card and the form looks pretty bad. But I still find him intriguing.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

On the Jaden thing, I don't mean to overstate my concerns or to suggest I definitely think he does have problems.

The padded wall point is a good one that I hadn't thought of. It's understandable that he wasn't aware of the danger he was putting himself in rather than being completely reckless.

It's also true that other guys have punched walls or done otherwise dumb, risky things and were just fine. I guess what I'm getting at is that I think there's a difference between those guys and Jaden in this way: we know (or knew) what Kareem's or LeBron's or KG's or Kevin Love's personalities were like outside of that moment of frustration or risk-taking, so we could understand that this was just that--just a moment of frustration that they would return from. With Jaden, I honestly have no idea what his personality is like because he doesn't project any personality at all (at least that I can see through my limited vantage point). I honestly can't remember any other emotions from him in any other instances. So I don't have the security of knowing that he'll be fine because this was a divergence from his personality.

This is why I'm stressing that if the guys on the team know him, and have a sense of his personality that we just can't see on camera and feel like he'll be fine, then great. He's an awesome defender, he's getting better, and he's a perfect fit with what this team needs. But because I don't know that myself, I have to hope that the guys on the team who know him have a sense for his personality and whether or not this was (as I assume) just an immature moment that really hurt us this season, and not a sign that he's capable of doing something (and how likely he is to do it) in the next few years on or off the court that could end up making him unavailable to play for even longer. Obviously, guys with good personalities do bad things too (Ted Bundy was highly charismatic, actually). I'm not talking about autism either, since that's not a predictor of decision-making. But there are some people who just seem detached from the world and I just have no idea what to expect from them. Part of that may be my own personal bias, since I've known a couple students and one former neighbor like this and they all went on to do things that, well, let's just say they wouldn't be cleared for work after that. And again, my view is limited, and the guys on the team would absolutely know better and I trust their judgment. But after last Sunday, there's a small question mark there for me abut Jaden that wasn't there before, and it's not a question mark I had at all about Rudy or Kyle because we could all predict basically how they'd respond.

Part of this is also a testament to how high Jaden's stock is right now (and to a lesser degree how expensive he'll probably be in the future). Every contract requires a risk-reward analysis. All I'm saying is that because I have no idea what he's actually like as a person, that punch raises the question (a small question) of a possible risk that I normally wouldn't even really think about as a fan. It's probably a 99.99% chance I've got nothing to worry about. But before last week that was 100% and that just sticks in the back of my head a bit.

As a player, I love what he brings to the floor.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

On the Jaden thing, I don't mean to overstate my concerns or to suggest I definitely think he does have problems.

The padded wall point is a good one that I hadn't thought of. It's understandable that he wasn't aware of the danger he was putting himself in rather than being completely reckless.

It's also true that other guys have punched walls or done otherwise dumb, risky things and were just fine. I guess what I'm getting at is that I think there's a difference between those guys and Jaden in this way: we know (or knew) what Kareem's or LeBron's or KG's or Kevin Love's personalities were like outside of that moment of frustration or risk-taking, so we could understand that this was just that--just a moment of frustration that they would return from. With Jaden, I honestly have no idea what his personality is like because he doesn't project any personality at all (at least that I can see through my limited vantage point). I honestly can't remember any other emotions from him in any other instances. So I don't have the security of knowing that he'll be fine because this was a divergence from his personality.

This is why I'm stressing that if the guys on the team know him, and have a sense of his personality that we just can't see on camera and feel like he'll be fine, then great. He's an awesome defender, he's getting better, and he's a perfect fit with what this team needs. But because I don't know that myself, I have to hope that the guys on the team who know him have a sense for his personality and whether or not this was (as I assume) just an immature moment that really hurt us this season, and not a sign that he's capable of doing something (and how likely he is to do it) in the next few years on or off the court that could end up making him unavailable to play for even longer. Obviously, guys with good personalities do bad things too (Ted Bundy was highly charismatic, actually). I'm not talking about autism either, since that's not a predictor of the kind of decision-making I worry about. But there are some people who just seem detached from the world and I just have no idea what to expect from them. Part of that may be my own personal bias, since I've known a couple students and one former neighbor like this and they all went on to do things that, well, let's just say they wouldn't be cleared for work after that. And again, my view is limited, and the guys on the team would absolutely know better and I trust their judgment. But after last Sunday, there's a small question mark there for me abut Jaden that wasn't there before, and it's not a question mark I had at all about Rudy or Kyle because we could all predict basically how they'd respond.

Part of this is also a testament to how high Jaden's stock is right now (and to a lesser degree how expensive he'll probably be in the future). Every contract requires a risk-reward analysis. All I'm saying is that because I have no idea what he's actually like as a person, that punch raises the question (a small question) of a possible risk that I normally wouldn't even really think about as a fan. It's probably a 99.99% chance I've got nothing to worry about. But before last week that was 100% and that just sticks in the back of my head a bit.

As a player, I love what he brings to the floor.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

I don't want my thoughts on Jaden to be the bookend of this thread though because tonight was all about this huge win in a game we absolutely needed. A great all-around effort from a lot of guys. The stakes were so high because of the potential fallout from losing, and by winning, I think we've significantly lessened the pressure that this team was feeling. We could still disappoint against Denver, and I REALLY hope we don't. But this was a taste of what this team is capable of last night, and I'm feeling really good about it.

Imagine if we actually do knock off Denver. That would make such a remarkable story from our meltdown last Sunday through the series that it would absolutely take some of the pressure off this team that we've been feeling all year. Let's do it!!!

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Also, whoops on the double post.

Was trying to edit, not reply.

[60WinTim]

Also, whoops on the double post.

Was trying to edit, not reply.

You should see if you can delete that extra post…

[Monster]

Woke up too early but at least I got to watch this game earlier than expected.

Here are a few thoughts.

NAW was really good in this game as a complimentary player. Lip suggested if he could hit spot up 3’s he could be a 6th man. I’d say if he could do that he has a chance to be a starter. That’s a big if though. That’s 2 games in a row the guys we got back in the Russell trade have performed well. Conley was better than the stat sheet showed.

The officiating: it felt like Towns benefited from not getting called for some offensive fouls. Of course so thought SGA got the benefit of the doubt on a couple calls but he has been getting those all years I assume from his FT rate. Overall the Wolves probably got the better end of the calls tonight but there were some bad calls against them too. I’m a fan of using the challenge early if you know you are going to win and it gets you a possession or better. I’ve seen so many games where it’s “done use it now you may need it later” and there was never a chance to use it later. I agree with JVG that if you win a challenge you should keep it at least after the first challenge.

Gobert wasn’t exactly awesome in this game and yes he is awkward and frustrating but despite all his flaws tonight shows how he can impact the game despite his flaws. He gets fouled and in this game took 14 FTs. I don’t think he is healthy but he impacted this game.

Edwards did stuff. That’s one of the things that’s taken a legit maybe even significant jump this season in total. Edwards does more than just score. He plays D he can get rebounds he is unselfish with the ball…not all the time but he is willing to do so. He needs more work to iron out his game and hopefully he can get right more physically but I feel fortunate to have him the roster.

McLaughlin…I wouldn’t say he is unplayable but he is mostly been meh. We need more than that.

Great win hopefully we see more before this season is over.