Former Wolves Thread

[FNG]

Most of us here were frustrated by D'Angelo Russell's play with the Wolves and delighted with the trade that brought us Conley and NAW, but DLo is having a terrific season with the Lakers. Last night he became the first player in NBA history to score 35+ points, 5+ assists, 3+blocks. and 5+ 3-pointers. There was never any question about his talent, but maybe he has matured and found the right fit with the aging Lakers. The Lakers are overachieving IMO at 11-8, and DLo is a big part of it (along with LBJ whose stats at age 38 are remarkably close to his career stats...unbelievable!)

[Carlos Danger]

Most of us here were frustrated by D'Angelo Russell's play with the Wolves and delighted with the trade that brought us Conley and NAW, but DLo is having a terrific season with the Lakers. Last night he became the first player in NBA history to score 35+ points, 5+ assists, 3+blocks. and 5+ 3-pointers. There was never any question about his talent, but maybe he has matured and found the right fit with the aging Lakers. The Lakers are overachieving IMO at 11-8, and DLo is a big part of it (along with LBJ whose stats at age 38 are remarkably close to his career stats...unbelievable!)

Yep. I was checking in on the former Wolves just this morning and saw DLO at 0.7 VORP. For perspective, that's the same as KAT has now. DLO is on a good little run. The issue with DLO historically is that he's streaky and then reverts back to bad DLO.

[Q-is-here]

Most of us here were frustrated by D'Angelo Russell's play with the Wolves and delighted with the trade that brought us Conley and NAW, but DLo is having a terrific season with the Lakers. Last night he became the first player in NBA history to score 35+ points, 5+ assists, 3+blocks. and 5+ 3-pointers. There was never any question about his talent, but maybe he has matured and found the right fit with the aging Lakers. The Lakers are overachieving IMO at 11-8, and DLo is a big part of it (along with LBJ whose stats at age 38 are remarkably close to his career stats...unbelievable!)

Yep. I was checking in on the former Wolves just this morning and saw DLO at 0.7 VORP. For perspective, that's the same as KAT has now. DLO is on a good little run. The issue with DLO historically is that he's streaky and then reverts back to bad DLO.

....and the Lakers have the 8th best Defensive Rating in the NBA. The Wolves were in the Top 10 last year with DLO, so while he is an individually below average defender whose effort is selective at best, he's proven that he doesn't completely tank a defense (see Jaylen Nowell for someone that was insufferably bad on that end).

....AND he was the starting point guard for a team that made a very nice playoff run last year.

So I don't think he's completely irredeemable and frankly, there are times where we could use his shot creation this season.

Having said all of that, I don't think we're the #1 defense with him on the squad and Mike Conley is ultimately the much better fit and mentor for Ant. It was a great trade for us, but I never had a one-sided view of DLO.

[KiwiMatt]

Yes DLO is having a good start to the season and good for him.

However, as we learnt during his time in Minnesota it never lasts long and will soon revert to the norm. I never had anything against him, but he just wasn't the right fit here. And the beef he had with Gobert was the final straw for management.

Plus how will he perform when it matters in the playoffs / play ins? That's when he tends to disappear.

[Carlos Danger]

Yes DLO is having a good start to the season and good for him.

However, as we learnt during his time in Minnesota it never lasts long and will soon revert to the norm. I never had anything against him, but he just wasn't the right fit here. And the beef he had with Gobert was the final straw for management.

Plus how will he perform when it matters in the playoffs / play ins? That's when he tends to disappear.

If I recall, he got benched for JMac the one playoff series he played for us. So yeah...he was pretty bad when it mattered

DLO's greatest contribution was he brought (and continues to bring) a lot of activity to this board with the mere mention of his name

[Q-is-here]

Yes DLO is having a good start to the season and good for him.

However, as we learnt during his time in Minnesota it never lasts long and will soon revert to the norm. I never had anything against him, but he just wasn't the right fit here. And the beef he had with Gobert was the final straw for management.

Plus how will he perform when it matters in the playoffs / play ins? That's when he tends to disappear.

If I recall, he got benched for JMac the one playoff series he played for us. So yeah...he was pretty bad when it mattered

DLO's greatest contribution was he brought (and continues to bring) a lot of activity to this board with the mere mention of his name

It is odd how quiet this board is considering the Wolves are off to the best start in franchise history. I guess there is a lot more to discuss when there are a myriad of problems and controversies.

[FNG]

Yes DLO is having a good start to the season and good for him.

However, as we learnt during his time in Minnesota it never lasts long and will soon revert to the norm. I never had anything against him, but he just wasn't the right fit here. And the beef he had with Gobert was the final straw for management.

Plus how will he perform when it matters in the playoffs / play ins? That's when he tends to disappear.

If I recall, he got benched for JMac the one playoff series he played for us. So yeah...he was pretty bad when it mattered

DLO's greatest contribution was he brought (and continues to bring) a lot of activity to this board with the mere mention of his name

It is odd how quiet this board is considering the Wolves are off to the best start in franchise history. I guess there is a lot more to discuss when there are a myriad of problems and controversies.

I have been thinking the same thing, Q! It kind of reminds me of the Twins in 1992...we had just won the World Series the previous year, and were on our way to another dominating season. We were 60-38 on July 12 and cruising to another championship. Winning was so easy, I found myself talking about the Twins much less than usual. And then the wheels came off, and we ended up out of the playoffs.

I agree that there's more to discuss when things are going badly, but it's also really fun to talk about the way this club is going in the right direction. My sense is there's something else going on here...the black cloud that hangs over Minnesota Sports. Just like the Twins in 1992, I think all of us are waiting for an eventual collapse, and it makes it difficult to celebrate a great start to the season...why celebrate when doom lies ahead?

But I think this season may be different...

[Carlos Danger]

Message boards are like Yelp. Nobody ever posts when they are happy with the services they received.

[Q-is-here]

If I recall, he got benched for JMac the one playoff series he played for us. So yeah...he was pretty bad when it mattered

DLO's greatest contribution was he brought (and continues to bring) a lot of activity to this board with the mere mention of his name

It is odd how quiet this board is considering the Wolves are off to the best start in franchise history. I guess there is a lot more to discuss when there are a myriad of problems and controversies.

I have been thinking the same thing, Q! It kind of reminds me of the Twins in 1992...we had just won the World Series the previous year, and were on our way to another dominating season. We were 60-38 on July 12 and cruising to another championship. Winning was so easy, I found myself talking about the Twins much less than usual. And then the wheels came off, and we ended up out of the playoffs.

I agree that there's more to discuss when things are going badly, but it's also really fun to talk about the way this club is going in the right direction. My sense is there's something else going on here...the black cloud that hangs over Minnesota Sports. Just like the Twins in 1992, I think all of us are waiting for an eventual collapse, and it makes it difficult to celebrate a great start to the season...why celebrate when doom lies ahead?

But I think this season may be different...

I think it's why my "Lip was right" thread got some reasonable traffic...because I saw danger around the corner (i.e. the playoffs) based on how this team is constructed and the current personnel.

But it's hard to say a lot is wrong from a regular season perspective. I mean, Shake Milton is weak sauce when it comes to ginning up controversy, yet it's the best we can do right now. Assigning his minutes to TBJ or not isn't THAT big of a deal either way.

[FNG]

Just as we all predicted, Jaylen Nowell outscored Kyrie Irving 19-10 (8 for 14 shooting) to lead Memphis to a 16-point win in Dallas .