Sayonara - Wolves @ Nuggets GDT

[AbeVigodaLive]

Abe's Last DVR Review of the Season:

- If THAT was the team I watched for the first 86 games... I'd have enjoyed it a lot more. They battled. Granted, some of them make about $500k for that single game and that level of effort should be expected even against Detroit, San Antonio and Charlotte... but whatever.

- So, the Wolves struggled with rebounding last season with -1.7 per game and -6.3 in the playoffs. So, they mortgaged FIVE draft picks and THREE playoff rotation guys to shore up the team's rebounding. The team finished -2.8 for the season... and were outrebounded in every game in this year's playoffs (-6.4 per game).

THE RUDY GOBERT TRADE IS A HISTORICAL DISASTER!!! But we'll deal with that later.

- Towns salvaged any fleeting goodwill he has with this fanbase with 21 2nd half points. But I'm open for anything with this guy moving forward... and I can't imagine any Wolves fan thinking differently.

- Mike Conley did his best Tyus Jones impersonation. It was "meh" or "sorta fine." One interesting note... Conley is not an iron man by any means. He misses many, many games. But he played in every game for the Wolves since the trade. This is the best we'll ever see of Conley. He might be as effective as he's been, but we should expect him to miss 20 - 30 games next season.

If the Bigs stay intact... the #1 priority must be a decent lead guard to step in when Conley can't go... or retires. I know Cam and I were pretty lonely on the "WTF are you people serious about McLauglin" island, but it's clear he's not anything more than a 3rd rate NBA PG.

- NAW battles. He's not "good." But if he battles like that... fair enough. He's a serviceable rotation player because he seems to compete.

- Jokic shot 8 - 29 (28%). It was EASILY his worst shooting game of the season. He had ONE game below 40% all season. Does Towns deserve at least a little credit for that? Gobert? The team? Or sheer luck?

- Just how good is Jokic? He's played 71 games this season. He's shot at least 50% in 68 of them. I repeat... he shot 28% tonight. Who gets the credit?!?!?

- The last time Jamal Murray played in the playoffs... he led the Nuggets in scoring with 26.5 ppg on 51% shooting. He was the difference in this series, too. And he's the reason the Nuggets MIGHT make the NBA Finals.

- Anthony Edwards took 27 shots, including 21 two pointers... he took only 4 free throws. He's a walking 30 point scorer if he dedicates himself to "getting fouled" next season. Just play the same gimmick hunt for fouls game other top guards get... and he's a perennial All NBA player.

- More Edwards. Tim Connelly fucked this team with the Gobert trade. He made them worse... and MUCH older. And it sapped future resources that could have kept the good young vibes going. But Edwards... Gawd damn. Gawd damn. Gawd damn. He's close. He's oh-so-close.

I see some Kevin Garnett stuff. I see some Jimmy Butler stuff. I see some Russell Westbrook stuff. Bottom line... he's enough to give us hope despite Tim Connelly fucking over this franchise with an all-time terrible trade.

[thedoper]

I thought this was a really fun season. As long as we got Edwards and Jaden the cupboard is not bare. Lots of directions to go.

Go Wolves!!

[Carlos Danger]

Interesting season. Lots of ups and downs. They never really got it going. But they never really fell apart. The perfect definition of a .500 team.

I see several people who believe they will run it back. I am not one of them. I expect significant changes. You have two pieces: Edwards and McDaniels to build around. Add in Rudy because I don't see TC moving him. That's your nucleus for next year. The rest are all movable pieces IMO.

The good news is that both Edwards (21) and McDaniels (22) are young guys. So if they can simply find one or two more pieces to that starting unit, we could have a fun team to watch for years. They will likely have to fill the bench via 2nd round draft picks and vet minimums...but that's not impossible.

And now onto the NFL draft!!!

[FNG]

You haven't lived until you've sat next to your honey in a dive bar in Branford CT. cheering on our Wolves. The rest of the bar was watching the Celtics, and made fun of us when they heard we were Wolves fans. But when they turned their attention to our game, they eventually came around and started actively cheering for our guys. And what a game it was! I thought all of our starters plus Prince played well, although we could have had more scoring from Conley. But Conley, KAT and Ant were 2-16 on three point attempts, many of them open shots. On a normal shooting night for these guys, we win easily and earn a Game 6 home game...that would have been fun. But alas, it was not to be.

I can't say enough about our interior defense. Jokic just doesn't have 8 for 29 nights very often. Denver is going to be our rival for several years, and it will be nice to have the twin towers limiting him. As others said though, it was stupid to keep doubling him and leaving other guys open. Austin Rivers is a veteran and should have known better...his -13 in his 14 minutes killed us.

In contrast, Denver has no interior defense. Gordon is a fine perimeter defender and kept KAT from making threes the entire series, but he is not a force inside. Some here were worried that Rudy would clog the middle and hurt Ant's drive game, but it's just the opposite. His elite screening allowed Ant and KAT to get a good downhill start, and they both took advantage of it on drives to the basket.

KAT's injury torpedoed this season, but I am excited about next year. We stunk up the court in the first 2 playoff games (except for the third quarter of game 2), but we played the (arguably) best team in the West fairly dead even in the last three games. I'm encouraged by our going toe to toe with them last night despite missing our best wing defender and our two most important reserves...that's 3 of our top 8 players. This season can't be characterized as anything other than a disappointment, but there are reasons to think next season will be the season almost all of us predicted this season was going to be. Let's go Wolves!

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Just finished watching. Devastating. I thought we might actually pull it out (I'd avoided the internet and anyone with any interest in basketball all day).

That was so close. I thought we played fairly well.

I hate to pick on our best players, but some of Towns' shots really felt forced. Really long 3s with a guy on him. It looked like he was shooting out of resentment a bit in that first half. Feels like there's some mental stuff that we need to sort out. We need to find a way to get him going earlier in games, but in ways that are efficient, like catch-and-shoots or mismatches in the midrange. And he needs to recognize and accept his necessarily somewhat more limited role going forward.

And Ant needs to learn to play with more discipline. With his ability to demand defensive attention, he's gotta learn to become more of a playmaker. He's obviously getting better at that than a couple years ago. But his ability to score draws so much defensive attention, now he's gotta learn how to make teams pay by hitting open 3 point shooters (especially KAT) and lob threats (Gobert) more. If he does that, we're in business.

Just a really tough way to end the season with the injuries too. This might have been a different series if we were fully healthy.

Agree we need a good backup PG with more size than JMAC. Suggestions?

[Carlos Danger]

Just finished watching. Devastating. I thought we might actually pull it out (I'd avoided the internet and anyone with any interest in basketball all day).

That was so close. I thought we played fairly well.

I hate to pick on our best players, but some of Towns' shots really felt forced. Really long 3s with a guy on him. It looked like he was shooting out of resentment a bit in that first half. Feels like there's some mental stuff that we need to sort out. We need to find a way to get him going earlier in games, but in ways that are efficient, like catch-and-shoots or mismatches in the midrange. And he needs to recognize and accept his necessarily somewhat more limited role going forward.

And Ant needs to learn to play with more discipline. With his ability to demand defensive attention, he's gotta learn to become more of a playmaker. He's obviously getting better at that than a couple years ago. But his ability to score draws so much defensive attention, now he's gotta learn how to make teams pay by hitting open 3 point shooters (especially KAT) and lob threats (Gobert) more. If he does that, we're in business.

Just a really tough way to end the season with the injuries too. This might have been a different series if we were fully healthy.

Agree we need a good backup PG with more size than JMAC. Suggestions?

It's been brought up on here before, but part of Edwards growth will hopefully be drawing fouls (or at least getting them called now that he's officially an All Star). It looks like Edwards was 20th in FTA this past season with 422 which doesn't seem bad on the surface. But he was #2 in minutes played. He could certainly up his per game averages and efficiency with the benefit of more calls. As an example, Gilgeous Alexander had 739 FTA (over 300 more than Edwards) even with 426 less minutes. That's a lot of free points.

[Phenom]

I thought this was a really fun season. As long as we got Edwards and Jaden the cupboard is not bare. Lots of directions to go.

Go Wolves!!

I agree. There will always be ways to shift and those 2 guys will be great building blocks.

[Q-is-here]

Just finished watching. Devastating. I thought we might actually pull it out (I'd avoided the internet and anyone with any interest in basketball all day).

That was so close. I thought we played fairly well.

I hate to pick on our best players, but some of Towns' shots really felt forced. Really long 3s with a guy on him. It looked like he was shooting out of resentment a bit in that first half. Feels like there's some mental stuff that we need to sort out. We need to find a way to get him going earlier in games, but in ways that are efficient, like catch-and-shoots or mismatches in the midrange. And he needs to recognize and accept his necessarily somewhat more limited role going forward.

And Ant needs to learn to play with more discipline. With his ability to demand defensive attention, he's gotta learn to become more of a playmaker. He's obviously getting better at that than a couple years ago. But his ability to score draws so much defensive attention, now he's gotta learn how to make teams pay by hitting open 3 point shooters (especially KAT) and lob threats (Gobert) more. If he does that, we're in business.

Just a really tough way to end the season with the injuries too. This might have been a different series if we were fully healthy.

Agree we need a good backup PG with more size than JMAC. Suggestions?

It's been brought up on here before, but part of Edwards growth will hopefully be drawing fouls (or at least getting them called now that he's officially an All Star). It looks like Edwards was 20th in FTA this past season with 422 which doesn't seem bad on the surface. But he was #2 in minutes played. He could certainly up his per game averages and efficiency with the benefit of more calls. As an example, Gilgeous Alexander had 739 FTA (over 300 more than Edwards) even with 426 less minutes. That's a lot of free points.

Felt like he started getting more calls in the playoffs, so that was a good sign. I like how he just powered through contact a few times for straight-ahead layups. He didn't get the call sometimes because the Denver player walled up pretty nicely and stayed vertical, but he probably felt like he got hit by a linebacker in the process!

[FNG]

There is disappointment, and then there is DISAPPOINTMENT! There were 2 1-8 matchups in the playoffs this season. Which losing team feels worse right now?

[Q-is-here]

There is disappointment, and then there is DISAPPOINTMENT! There were 2 1-8 matchups in the playoffs this season. Which losing team feels worse right now?

Yeah, the Bucks were a powerhouse in the regular season. What happened?

And credit to Miami. What a culture they have built down there. Milwaukee is by far the better team on paper.