Wolves Grades vs Utah

[KG4Ever]

A: KAT, SloMo
A-: Ant (dinged slightly for six turnovers), Gobert
B+: Naz
B: Jaden, Shake, Conley
C: NAW

[Jester1534]

Walker Kessler F

I thought he was atrocious and non factor tonight

[KG4Ever]

Walker Kessler F

I thought he was atrocious and non factor tonight

Ha! Maybe TC will get the last laugh against all his critics.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Agree overall, but I gotta quibble with Jaden and NAW's grades here.

I like Jaden, but how does he get a B for last night? Was a half step slow and picked up fouls left and right, leaving himself a nonfactor on a night when we needed his length on Markkanen.

Meanwhile, NAW forced several turnovers--at one point stripping the ball 3 straight times leading to turnovers, though he wasn't necessarily credited with steals in all cases because the ball went out of bounds on the Jazz at least once--and he had 3 blocks. Yeah, his shot's not falling, and obviously Jaden's a better player overall, but for last night, how does Jaden get a better grade than NAW?

[Q-is-here]

Walker Kessler F

I thought he was atrocious and non factor tonight

Ha! Maybe TC will get the last laugh against all his critics.

Yeah, Kessler was almost a total non-factor except for a couple of nice blocks. Perhaps stepping into a starting role versus being an un-scouted backup has exposed him a bit. Makes the Rudy trade hurt a lot less, not to mention Gobert's return to form defensively.

[Q-is-here]

Agree overall, but I gotta quibble with Jaden and NAW's grades here.

I like Jaden, but how does he get a B for last night? Was a half step slow and picked up fouls left and right, leaving himself a nonfactor on a night when we needed his length on Markkanen.

Meanwhile, NAW forced several turnovers--at one point stripping the ball 3 straight times leading to turnovers, though he wasn't necessarily credited with steals in all cases because the ball went out of bounds on the Jazz at least once--and he had 3 blocks. Yeah, his shot's not falling, and obviously Jaden's a better player overall, but for last night, how does Jaden get a better grade than NAW?

NAW was a big part of that surge in the 3rd quarter where we blew it open thanks to his defense.

Part of being a defensive 1st team candidate is being able to actually stay on the floor. Jaden has way too many dumb, totally unnecessary fouls. He doesn't deserve to be called a top 10 NBA defender until he can remain on the floor long enough to put it to use! It should be fixable, but I think he still has demons that weren't totally exorcised from his time in Washington.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Agree overall, but I gotta quibble with Jaden and NAW's grades here.

I like Jaden, but how does he get a B for last night? Was a half step slow and picked up fouls left and right, leaving himself a nonfactor on a night when we needed his length on Markkanen.

Meanwhile, NAW forced several turnovers--at one point stripping the ball 3 straight times leading to turnovers, though he wasn't necessarily credited with steals in all cases because the ball went out of bounds on the Jazz at least once--and he had 3 blocks. Yeah, his shot's not falling, and obviously Jaden's a better player overall, but for last night, how does Jaden get a better grade than NAW?

NAW was a big part of that surge in the 3rd quarter where we blew it open thanks to his defense.

Part of being a defensive 1st team candidate is being able to actually stay on the floor. Jaden has way too many dumb, totally unnecessary fouls. He doesn't deserve to be called a top 10 NBA defender until he can remain on the floor long enough to put it to use! It should be fixable, but I think he still has demons that weren't totally exorcised from his time in Washington.

I can't put my finger on it with Jaden, because he really is such a good defender with his length, but he does always seem just a tad slower at decision-making than you'd think he should be and I think that's part of what leads to fouls. His body is too quick for his brain, if that makes sense. He's just a half-beat late at recognizing where he should and shouldn't put his body at times. He's got great athleticism, and clearly knows how to play, especially on the defensive end. And he's most of the time in the right place at the right time. He's a better defender than Wiggins and he's clearly making effort when it seemed Wiggins would coast sometimes, but something about how Jaden's decision-making just seems to happen a tiny little bit slower than his body reminds me of Wiggins.

I mentioned it looked like he smoked weed before the game last night. I have no idea if that's the case, but he does remind me of this kid I used to play pick up games with years ago who was so much better than everybody else on the court, but would always smoke before playing. Offensively, that seemed weirdly to help him because it gave him this off-rhythm pace that nobody could really match, and he was just so smooth as a player. But on defense, he was just never the player he could have been because it just took a half-second for everything to process for him. If he'd have just not smoked, and been fully alert and attentive (maybe should've slammed a cup of coffee before playing instead), he'd have destroyed us on defense constantly. Again, no idea if that's an issue with Jaden, but either way, he needs to drink at least a metaphorical cup of coffee before each game.

Part of it may just be a pace thing. On one end, you've got guys like Tyrese Maxey, Bobby Portis, Alex Caruso, Marcus Smart, Vando, Minott--guys who just seem to play with the energy level set to 11 at all times. Some of them even need to slow it down and get a bit more control. On the other end, you've got guys like Brandon Ingram and SloMo who just play a slower, more skill-based game. Part of that must just be that people's bodies and muscles work differently. More or less quick-twitch muscle. But that's only partly related to decision-making. SloMo is slow as hell with his body, but you can tell his mind is working fast, which is how he's so good at snatching steals. Jaden seems to have a body capable of moving faster, which is good, but it just feels like sometimes his body moves faster than his decision-making, which leads to fouls.

Also, he's got to control his temper out there at times.

He's a great defender, no doubt, regardless of the situation. But he's absolutely got to be able to reign in these fouls. He's arguably going to be our second-most important player in the playoffs because it'll be his job to shut down a star for the other team. That's a testament to what a good defender he is. But if he's limiting his availability with preventable fouls, that's something he needs to work on.

[Wolvesfan21]

Plus rebound more consistently. I can't give a guy All Defensive if he is a subpar rebounder for his size and position. I still think he can do it all eventually though.

Less fouls, more boards and I'm happy.

[Monster]

I think Jaden’s problem is that I think he is better as a defender when he is a little less aggressive as a point of attack guy. The Wolves tend to play aggressive that way. I’m not sure that is the best way for Jaden to play with all his length. On the other hand he has the ability to really get after guys. I don’t want them to just stay back all the time either. I also think he gets a fouls here and there that a smaller player may not get. He is a huge wing defender and while he moves incredibly well at that size there is a time or 2 in a game where I think that shows up.

The good news is that they aren’t so dependent on him playing this season. NAW is pretty good they can play Anderson on bigger SFs and they have Troy Brown as well. Last year the SF position was McDaniels Prince (who has injury issues) and playing small with basically a guard playing SF and then as some point Matt Ryan entered the picture. They didn’t play Moore much. Shake Milton is bigger than some of the guards they would play last year. There is more depth at SF this season compared to last year which was a real issue.