Naz Reid

[kekgeek]

I know what you mean, Q. I think he is a little uncomfortable talking in front of a crowd. I watched the hour he spent with Dan Barreiro last week, and he seemed much more comfortable.

As for Naz, I've expressed my thoughts about him several times here. He is clearly a high quality guy who is very popular with his teammates and coaches. And he has unique ability for a center to put the ball on the floor and get to the basket for dunks and layups...the strides he made last year in his offensive game were really fun to watch.

But the elephant in the room with Naz continues to be his horrible on/off numbers. He and JMac joined the team at the same time (Lip and I were both fortunate to see them in Summer League), and their on/off numbers are consistently polar opposites of each other...JMac ranks among the leaders by this measure the past two years, while Naz has been dead last among plyers getting more than 500 minutes each of the past 3 seasons (with the exception of last season when Austin Rivers was slightly worse). The reason we get outscored when Naz is on the floor is because we are less effective at both ends of the court. He's a terrific scorer on offense, but there is no flow to our offense when he is out there...if he's not scoring, we're not scoring. And we all know his struggles with defense and rebounding...Kek kas documented for us how easy it is to score on us when Naz comes in for Rudy. Naz simply has to improve in certain aspects of the game, or we are going to continue to get outscored when he's on the court.

Overall, I think I'm happy that we kept Naz. But I also think we are building something special here, and I don't want Naz's 20 minutes a game to continue to hold us back. Meanwhile, I am going to enjoy his special talents in the paint, and hope for improvement in other areas so he can become a positive contributor at both ends of the court. I think the potential is there.

As you know, I do give credence to +/- and On/Off stats, especially over multiple seasons, and Naz definitely looks pretty damn bad using that lens.

I have looked at lineups data to try to find the excuse that he plays tons of his minutes surrounded by the likes of Austin Rivers, Bryn Forbes, and Jaylen Nowell. And while he does play with guys like that, he also has a lot of minutes with guys like Ant and Kyle Anderson. His player pair net-rating with Kyle Anderson is HORRIBLE!

I think the one sign of long-term encouragement is that the lineup trio of Ant+Jaden+ Naz had a positive net rating last season (good sample size of 51 games and 438 minutes) and they were just barely a negative in the season before when all three were 22 or younger.

So I think the lesson learned so far is that he doesn't do anything to positively lift up others' +/-, but he's proven capable of not weighing down lineups with our two future pillars. Not exactly a ringing endorsement....

Well put, Q, and thanks for the data on Jaden/Ant/Naz. Naz is a talented guy and I believe Finchie and his staff are smart enough to put him into situations where his skills can be maximized. What a boost it would be if Naz's minutes on the court extended leads rather than erased them. Who knows...Naz could be our breakout player this season!

I don’t disagree with you guys on Naz I do have my concerns and I do think he is overrated but I think Dane Moore made a good point that 99% of Naz minutes throughout career was without the wolves best player in Kat what matters and that his net numbers were really good with the starters this year what is a good sign

[Q-is-here]

As you know, I do give credence to +/- and On/Off stats, especially over multiple seasons, and Naz definitely looks pretty damn bad using that lens.

I have looked at lineups data to try to find the excuse that he plays tons of his minutes surrounded by the likes of Austin Rivers, Bryn Forbes, and Jaylen Nowell. And while he does play with guys like that, he also has a lot of minutes with guys like Ant and Kyle Anderson. His player pair net-rating with Kyle Anderson is HORRIBLE!

I think the one sign of long-term encouragement is that the lineup trio of Ant+Jaden+ Naz had a positive net rating last season (good sample size of 51 games and 438 minutes) and they were just barely a negative in the season before when all three were 22 or younger.

So I think the lesson learned so far is that he doesn't do anything to positively lift up others' +/-, but he's proven capable of not weighing down lineups with our two future pillars. Not exactly a ringing endorsement....

Well put, Q, and thanks for the data on Jaden/Ant/Naz. Naz is a talented guy and I believe Finchie and his staff are smart enough to put him into situations where his skills can be maximized. What a boost it would be if Naz's minutes on the court extended leads rather than erased them. Who knows...Naz could be our breakout player this season!

I don’t disagree with you guys on Naz I do have my concerns and I do think he is overrated but I think Dane Moore made a good point that 99% of Naz minutes throughout career was without the wolves best player in Kat what matters and that his net numbers were really good with the starters this year what is a good sign

But it works the other way too Kek. If KAT or Rudy are sitting, it likely means the opposing team's best big and likely some of their other starters are sitting too. But his net rating still sucks. He hasn't proven that he can be an "x-factor" that helps lift the bench unit to positive territory. Instead he needs to be buttressed by other starters in order to win the team matchups when he's on the floor. What if Luka Garza or Nate Knight were playing with KAT, McDaniels, Ant, and Conley? May be they would be fine too with that unit....and a lot cheaper!

Again, I'm keeping an open mind because there is still noise in the data and we've seen with our own eyes the way he can go to work and get buckets. And he is still young with potential to improve. But I looked under every stone and can't find legit reasons that explain away his poor net rating numbers.

[KG4Ever]

Nit-picky aside....the way Tim Connelly speaks bugs me. He kind of rapidly mumbles, as it were. I don't know how else to describe it, but it's just an odd manner of speaking.

Just keep finding diamonds in the 2nd round Timmy and all will be fine!

I know what you mean, Q. I think he is a little uncomfortable talking in front of a crowd. I watched the hour he spent with Dan Barreiro last week, and he seemed much more comfortable.

As for Naz, I've expressed my thoughts about him several times here. He is clearly a high quality guy who is very popular with his teammates and coaches. And he has unique ability for a center to put the ball on the floor and get to the basket for dunks and layups...the strides he made last year in his offensive game were really fun to watch.

But the elephant in the room with Naz continues to be his horrible on/off numbers. He and JMac joined the team at the same time (Lip and I were both fortunate to see them in Summer League), and their on/off numbers are consistently polar opposites of each other...JMac ranks among the leaders by this measure the past two years, while Naz has been dead last among plyers getting more than 500 minutes each of the past 3 seasons (with the exception of last season when Austin Rivers was slightly worse). The reason we get outscored when Naz is on the floor is because we are less effective at both ends of the court. He's a terrific scorer on offense, but there is no flow to our offense when he is out there...if he's not scoring, we're not scoring. And we all know his struggles with defense and rebounding...Kek kas documented for us how easy it is to score on us when Naz comes in for Rudy. Naz simply has to improve in certain aspects of the game, or we are going to continue to get outscored when he's on the court.

Overall, I think I'm happy that we kept Naz. But I also think we are building something special here, and I don't want Naz's 20 minutes a game to continue to hold us back. Meanwhile, I am going to enjoy his special talents in the paint, and hope for improvement in other areas so he can become a positive contributor at both ends of the court. I think the potential is there.

FNG, I am glad that you point this out with NAZ. I think the fanbase tends to focus on the stats that may make NAZ appear to be more valuable than he is. I know rookies tend to put up bad plus/minus numbers for a few years and lets hope this is just an extended learning curve with Naz. I'm hoping TC really sees something in Naz that defensive improvement is in Naz's future, I also hope he can integrate better into the offense. I am interested to see how Shake and Naz work together as Shake had good chemistry with a similar type of player in Montrez Harrell in the pick and roll. I find Naz to be one of the more likeable guys on the team, so I hope he can develop into a positive contributor beginning this year.

[Q-is-here]

Nit-picky aside....the way Tim Connelly speaks bugs me. He kind of rapidly mumbles, as it were. I don't know how else to describe it, but it's just an odd manner of speaking.

Just keep finding diamonds in the 2nd round Timmy and all will be fine!

I know what you mean, Q. I think he is a little uncomfortable talking in front of a crowd. I watched the hour he spent with Dan Barreiro last week, and he seemed much more comfortable.

As for Naz, I've expressed my thoughts about him several times here. He is clearly a high quality guy who is very popular with his teammates and coaches. And he has unique ability for a center to put the ball on the floor and get to the basket for dunks and layups...the strides he made last year in his offensive game were really fun to watch.

But the elephant in the room with Naz continues to be his horrible on/off numbers. He and JMac joined the team at the same time (Lip and I were both fortunate to see them in Summer League), and their on/off numbers are consistently polar opposites of each other...JMac ranks among the leaders by this measure the past two years, while Naz has been dead last among plyers getting more than 500 minutes each of the past 3 seasons (with the exception of last season when Austin Rivers was slightly worse). The reason we get outscored when Naz is on the floor is because we are less effective at both ends of the court. He's a terrific scorer on offense, but there is no flow to our offense when he is out there...if he's not scoring, we're not scoring. And we all know his struggles with defense and rebounding...Kek kas documented for us how easy it is to score on us when Naz comes in for Rudy. Naz simply has to improve in certain aspects of the game, or we are going to continue to get outscored when he's on the court.

Overall, I think I'm happy that we kept Naz. But I also think we are building something special here, and I don't want Naz's 20 minutes a game to continue to hold us back. Meanwhile, I am going to enjoy his special talents in the paint, and hope for improvement in other areas so he can become a positive contributor at both ends of the court. I think the potential is there.

FNG, I am glad that you point this out with NAZ. I think the fanbase tends to focus on the stats that may make NAZ appear to be more valuable than he is. I know rookies tend to put up bad plus/minus numbers for a few years and lets hope this is just an extended learning curve with Naz. I'm hoping TC really sees something in Naz that defensive improvement is in Naz's future, I also hope he can integrate better into the offense. I am interested to see how Shake and Naz work together as Shake had good chemistry with a similar type of player in Montrez Harrell in the pick and roll. I find Naz to be one of the more likeable guys on the team, so I hope he can develop into a positive contributor beginning this year.

Montrez Harrell is an interesting comp for Naz - a scoring big off the bench. The difference (so far) is that Harrell has better +/- numbers, better box score stats, and only costs about $2.5M per year!

Bottom line....you can get quality bigs for cheap these days and we've got half of the nation's GDP invested in just three of them!

(I like Naz a ton as a person and the fact he's made himself into a quality player that went undrafted. But now he's making the big bucks and we need to see better team outcomes as a result!)

[Lipoli390]

I’m not worried about Reid’s on/off numbers. There’s a lot of noise in those numbers, especially for a player like Naz who hasn’t had significant predicable minutes and has played with a variety of different, primarily bench, players. I might worry about him when he’s as old as Montrezl and still putting up the same on/off numbers.

Naz Reid’s contract was probably more about trajectory and potential than what he has contributed to the team so far. He’s the sort of player any good NBA organization wants to keep - i.e., young and talented with upside as well as dedicated, hard-working and well liked by teammates, especially the team’s stars. If Naz doesn’t become the player the organization wants and expects him to become, his talent, age and contract will make him easily tradable for good value in return.

I’m far more concerned about whether our two max contract bigs can stay healthy and play together effectively to optimize the team’s ability to win games. The Wolves were 2 games under .500 when Rudy played this past season. The Wolves were 15-14 in games with KAT last season and 14-13 when both he and Rudy played. A small sample size for games with KAT, but these are the stats to worry about in my view. I was encouraged by the final stretch last season after KAT returned. The team looked good with KAT playing, both with and without Rudy. And Naz was playing really well during that stretch too. So let’s hope the Wolves pick up where they left off at the end of the season before Naz and Jaden went down.

I have confidence in the ability of TC and Finch to assess young talent. That gives me confidence in Naz. I think the only thing that can stop Naz from becoming really good will be a lack of consistent meaningful playing time. That’s definitely a risk if KAT and Rudy remain with the team and stay healthy. We’ll just have to see where the chips land at the end of the season. The good news is that both Naz and KAT are very tradable for good value provided they both stay healthy. Hopefully, Rudy can rehab his value with a good season individually coupled with team success. After watching how well Naz played alongside both KAT and Rudy late last season I can see Naz getting the sort of consistent meaningful minutes he’ll need to optimize his development while also helping the team.

I like the team we have and I expect Naz to be an important part of any success this team has next season.