Game Report - Home Opener 2023

[Lipoli390]

Fun game tonight with what looked like a capacity crowd in attendance. The Wolves spent two and a half quarters making my 44-win total look optimistic. But they picked it up and pulled away in the 4th led by Naz Reid’s tremendous play. Naz was by far the Wolves best offensive player tonight with his 25 points, but he was also very good defensively and pulled down 8 rebounds, including some big ones. He’s immensely talented and he’s just starting to tap in to his tremendous potential.

So it was a tale of two Wolves teams tonight. One was a team that looked like an eventual play-in team at best as the Wolves looked like they might lose their home opener to a good but not great team without its best player on the second night of a back-to-back. The other was a team that looked like a team that should finish in the top 6 as the Wolves pulled away from the Heat down the stretch.

The ball moved much better tonight than it did Wednesday night in Toronto, but there were still spacing problems and too much iso play. Gobert and Naz were both terrific and although KAT struggled a bit offensively, his defense was very good for the second game in a row. Both Rudy and KAT play better with Naz than they do with each other. We’ll have to see whether the KAT-Rudy combo can improve during the season.

Regarding individual performances tonight, Naz was by far the Wolves best player. He’s a tremendous offensive talent who, as a big, handles the ball like a SG. Just as impressive tonight was his defense, which was terrific.

Runner up to Naz as the second best Wolves performer tonight was Rudy. This was the best I’ve even seen from him as a Timberwolves player. He’s not kidding when he says he’s in the best shape of his life. He consistently covered a lot of ground end-to-end and provided a great defensive presence in the paint. Bam scored over him several times, but that’s a credit to Bam. Rudy had some huge rebounds and a couple terrific put-backs. His stats were good, but I’d say his positive contribution to the team exceeded his stats. There was less emphasis tonight on getting Rudy the ball than there was Wednesday night and that’s a good thing. Rudy’s involvement in the offense tonight was at the proper level. He looked comfortable and confident offensively at that level of involvement.

KAT still looked uncertain and out of rhythm offensively. But like Wednesday night, KAT’s defense was excellent. I never thought I’d use the words KAT’s defense and excellent in the sentence, but KAT’s defensive has been at least very good (I’d say excellent) these first two regular season games. And his regular season defense so far is a carry-over from preseason. So I think what we’re seeing so far from KAT defensively might be sustainable. Eventually, his offense will come around. He had two consecutive patented KAT drives for buckets in the 4th. He’s very hard to stop when he does that.

JMac looked terrific and once again showed himself to be a much better backup PG than Shake Milton. I know TC say they’re convinced Shake is a PG but I don’t see it. I don’t see him having the handle, court sense of passing acumen for the PG position.

Speaking of PGs, Mike Conley had another nice game tonight.

NAW was a mixed bag tonight. He had another terrible shooting night. I wouldn’t worry if he didn’t have such poor shooting form. Fortunately, after a slow start defensively tonight, his defense ramped up back to the high level we saw in the playoffs last season. He really got in Herro’s grill and made it harm for him to get good shots off. It will be nice to get Jaden back in the starting lineup and get NAW back into a bench role. I’m not yet sure how good NAW will be. I’m sold on his defense, but I’m not sure we’ll see him become a reliable 3 and D guy.

Edwards had another disappointing performance. I can’t quite put my finger on the problem, but he just doesn’t look sharp.

I thought Finch messed up when it put in Shake instead of JMac to run the point in the 3rd quarter. JMac had been terrific earlier in the game and Milton looked terrible. I was afraid for a while that Finchy’s coaching blunder was going to cost the Wolves this game. Fortunately, it didn’t matter because Naz got hot and the team really locked down defensively in the 4th.

A few other observations. First, I was able to see KAT, Naz, Miller, Minott and Jaden standing close enough to one another to get a pretty good idea of their comparative height. Miller, Minott and Jaden all look to be nearly exactly the same height as one another and the same height as KAT. Naz looks shorter than those other four. Rudy is clearly taller than all of them. Second, It was obvious on the bench and on the court that these guys like each other. Third, it’s clear that Naz is a fan favorite. The crowed was just as loud when he was introduced as when Edwards was introduced. And when Naz got going in the 4th the crowd was all in on Naz Reid. I’m sure you hear the Naz Reid chants. You could also hear and feel the crowd rooting for Rudy.

That’s about all for now. I liked the win tonight, but this team still isn’t performing at a level that inspires confidence.

[kekgeek]

Thank you so much for writing these year after year. I look forward to them.

The thing that gets me excited is neither Ant or Kat have played will individually offensively and they are still winning or keeping games close. I have no reason to believe that Kat and Ant won’t figure it out,

Also these first 2 games are the Rudy the wolves traded for.

[Lipoli390]

Thank you so much for writing these year after year. I look forward to them.

The thing that gets me excited is neither Ant or Kat have played will individually offensively and they are still winning or keeping games close. I have no reason to believe that Kat and Ant won’t figure it out,

Also these first 2 games are the Rudy the wolves traded for.

Interestingly, kek, I had the same thought about Rudy these last two games. It was still a bad trade in my view even if Rudy continues to play this way all season and I still don’t think he’s worth $43 million per year. However, if he continues to play this way he’ll be a big net positive for the Wolves and I it’s fair to say this is the Rudy TC thought he was getting last summer.

[kekgeek]

Thank you so much for writing these year after year. I look forward to them.

The thing that gets me excited is neither Ant or Kat have played will individually offensively and they are still winning or keeping games close. I have no reason to believe that Kat and Ant won’t figure it out,

Also these first 2 games are the Rudy the wolves traded for.

Interestingly, kek, I had the same thought about Rudy these last two games. It was still a bad trade in my view even if Rudy continues to play this way all season and I still don’t think he’s worth $43 million per year. However, if he continues to play this way he’ll be a big net positive for the Wolves and I it’s fair to say this is the Rudy TC thought he was getting last summer.

I think the key thing is for defense it is seeming like everyone trusts each other. Like you mentioned Kat has been great in half court defense so far, Naw has battled, Naz weaknesses on that end have not shown as much playing the 4. The wolves don’t play a bad defender at the moment and that is huge. I have to assume once the playoffs come if they make it Kat will be defending a ton of PnR but at the moment that isn’t a terrible thing.

Also at the game last night me and my buddy were discussing why does Naz dominate smaller players why Kat struggles to (Kat destroys bigs like he did to Thomas Bryant in the 3rd). But why do you think that is, like Kat used to be such a good post player earlier in his career

[Lipoli390]

Thank you so much for writing these year after year. I look forward to them.

The thing that gets me excited is neither Ant or Kat have played will individually offensively and they are still winning or keeping games close. I have no reason to believe that Kat and Ant won’t figure it out,

Also these first 2 games are the Rudy the wolves traded for.

Interestingly, kek, I had the same thought about Rudy these last two games. It was still a bad trade in my view even if Rudy continues to play this way all season and I still don’t think he’s worth $43 million per year. However, if he continues to play this way he’ll be a big net positive for the Wolves and I it’s fair to say this is the Rudy TC thought he was getting last summer.

I think the key thing is for defense it is seeming like everyone trusts each other. Like you mentioned Kat has been great in half court defense so far, Naw has battled, Naz weaknesses on that end have not shown as much playing the 4. The wolves don’t play a bad defender at the moment and that is huge. I have to assume once the playoffs come if they make it Kat will be defending a ton of PnR but at the moment that isn’t a terrible thing.

Also at the game last night me and my buddy were discussing why does Naz dominate smaller players why Kat struggles to (Kat destroys bigs like he did to Thomas Bryant in the 3rd). But why do you think that is, like Kat used to be such a good post player earlier in his career

Yes, it’s huge (and remarkable) that every player in this year’s Wolves rotation (except Milton) has played well defensively - not a weak link among them. The trust you referred to flows from the defensive effort and execution by each individual player. Gobert was good defensively last season, but he’s been much better so far this season as he looks more spry and confident. NAW has picked up defensively where he left off in last season’s playoffs. KAT has taken his defensive improvement two years ago to another level so far this season. He’s been more than passable or ok defensively; he’s actually been really good. Conley has always been a solid defender and he’s continued at that level so far this season. Ant hasn’t taken his defense to the next level yet like he should, but he’s been good on that end. JMac remains an underrated, pesky defender. Kyle Anderson has always been a very good, savvy defender. And of course, Naz has picked up where he left off defensively late last season and I think ascended to an even higher level.

Regarding Naz Reid’s defense, I think the key is moving him to PF. I’ve always that’s the position where he’ll have the most success on both ends of the floor. His agility and foot speed lend themselves to the modern PF position while his lack of a particularly strong base or freakish length limit him defensively at the center position. So much of any player’s success depends on how intelligently he’s used.

I still think KAT is a great post player; Finch just doesn’t use him that way. I didn’t like Thibs as a PBO, but he did a nice job coaching the Wolves. Among other things, he really stressed using KAT in the low post and KAT played really well there. Unfortunately, Finch doesn’t use him very often in that role. Instead, Finch initially emphasized KAT’s dribble drive from the high post and that proved very successful two years ago. Rudy’s arrival took away much of KAT’s dribble drive AND low post game. So we see KAT too often jacking up threes or forcing passes so far this preseason and regular season. He looks tentative and somewhat lost because he’s not sure of his role and that’s understandable. It’s something Finch needs to figure out. KAT will probably need to become two different players - one when he’s on the court with Rudy (not sure what that will be offensively) and the other when on the court with Naz (dribble drive and post up interspersed with some threes). Meanwhile, Rudy and Naz have the luxury of simply playing to their strengths regardless of who’s out there with them. Rudy’s strengths are limited in scope but very good. Fortunately, Naz Reid’s strengths are broad in scope. He can do a lot of things well offensively and can guard just about anyone other than the really big strong centers.

While I’m still not sure how well the Rudy-KAT pairing will work over the course of the season and into the postseason, I’m really encouraged by what we’ve seen from both of them individually. It’s great to see Rudy back in top form physically and also looking more confident and comfortable. And it’s great to see KAT playing consistently excellent half-court defense. With both playing so well individually there’s a chance they can make it work collectively. As you can see from the way the two interact on the court and the bench, they clearly like and respect each other. So maybe this can work. However, with the second apron on the horizon I still think we’ll have to trade one of those two after this season. But who knows. In the meantime, it’s clear that the Rudy-Naz and KAT-Naz pairings work well and will continue to get even better as the season progresses and they become even more comfortable playing alongside one another. And I’m excited to see how the Rudy-KAT pairing develops as KAT’s shooting comes around and he gets a better feel for his role in that pairing.