Kekgeek grades G28 vs Kings

[kekgeek]

Conley: A
Ant: B+
Mcdaniels: A-
Slow Mo: B-
Gobert: A+
Naz: F
Naw: C
Brown: D-
Shake: C
Jmac: B

Finch: A

Happy holidays everyone

[Q-is-here]

Key thing I hadn't seen in a while was Ant getting the ball to Rudy on the pick and roll. I think he had 3 assists to Rudy. And Rudy didn't fumble away any of those passes! That alone earns him the A+.

Hard to disagree with Ant's B+. There were a few really bad turnovers and at least three or four bad shots when he should have kept the ball moving or tried to penetrate instead of launching a 3 on an off night. Still, he drew a ton of attention and made some huge plays to close the game out.

I would have had SloMo at a C or C- after the first two or three quarters, but he did end up making some big shots later in the game. He can get away without a 3 point shot as long as he can keep making those bankers and push shots that he takes when he uses up all that space he's given.

[TheFuture]

Hard for me to place Shake any higher than a D.

That guy sucks. He made a couple shots, bricked a few more, couple ugly turnovers, dribbles into the teeth of the defense with no plan, meh defense. His shot form is ugly. He's hard to watch.

I wish Jmac wasn't hurt all the time. I hope TC tries to find a decent deal for an adequate backup PG before the deadline, because if Mike goes down things could get ugly.

[FNG]

I can't argue with the A's for the Big Three last night...Jaden, Bite Bite and Rudy. All were brilliant.

I would change TBJ and JMac's grades to an incomplete...just not enough minutes. Jim Pete, Michael Grady and much of this board are all clamoring to see JMac running the offense rather than NAW when Bite Bite is on the bench. What did he do to Finchie to piss him off so much?

I hate to point out anything negative on such a triumphant night, but Naz is reverting to what he has always been...a highly skilled scorer whose defense is so bad his minutes will always hurt us. Another team-worst -13 solidifies his team-worst -8.2 on/off for the season. Even more discouraging, his poor on/off continues his trend of getting a little worse every season: -6.5, -6,7, -7.6, and now -8.2...consistent and quite alarming. I can't quite put my finger on why his D is so bad...I don't think it's indifference, just like of skill and awareness. In any event, he'll continue to be a fan favorite (and a favorite of mine) because of his unique scoring ability, but we're going to continue to have to survive his negative minutes on the court.

[kekgeek]

I can't argue with the A's for the Big Three last night...Jaden, Bite Bite and Rudy. All were brilliant.

I would change TBJ and JMac's grades to an incomplete...just not enough minutes. Jim Pete, Michael Grady and much of this board are all clamoring to see JMac running the offense rather than NAW when Bite Bite is on the bench. What did he do to Finchie to piss him off so much?

I hate to point out anything negative on such a triumphant night, but Naz is reverting to what he has always been...a highly skilled scorer whose defense is so bad his minutes will always hurt us. Another team-worst -13 solidifies his team-worst -8.2 on/off for the season. Even more discouraging, his poor on/off continues his trend of getting a little worse every season: -6.5, -6,7, -7.6, and now -8.2...consistent and quite alarming. I can't quite put my finger on why his D is so bad...I don't think it's indifference, just like of skill and awareness. In any event, he'll continue to be a fan favorite (and a favorite of mine) because of his unique scoring ability, but we're going to continue to have to survive his negative minutes on the court.

To be fair to Naz On/Off is a pretty crappy way to show his value when the wolves starting lineup is really good.

Naz lineups are in the 69th percentile when it comes to net rating what is pretty darn good. Naz lineups are only bad when he is the only center (4th percentile). He’s just not a center and when asked to play center he struggles but this year he has had really nice success playing PF.

[kekgeek]

Hard for me to place Shake any higher than a D.

That guy sucks. He made a couple shots, bricked a few more, couple ugly turnovers, dribbles into the teeth of the defense with no plan, meh defense. His shot form is ugly. He's hard to watch.

I wish Jmac wasn't hurt all the time. I hope TC tries to find a decent deal for an adequate backup PG before the deadline, because if Mike goes down things could get ugly.

Just personally thought he was solid in the first half. Second half he was pretty bad but he helped stop the run kings run in the first half

[FNG]

I can't argue with the A's for the Big Three last night...Jaden, Bite Bite and Rudy. All were brilliant.

I would change TBJ and JMac's grades to an incomplete...just not enough minutes. Jim Pete, Michael Grady and much of this board are all clamoring to see JMac running the offense rather than NAW when Bite Bite is on the bench. What did he do to Finchie to piss him off so much?

I hate to point out anything negative on such a triumphant night, but Naz is reverting to what he has always been...a highly skilled scorer whose defense is so bad his minutes will always hurt us. Another team-worst -13 solidifies his team-worst -8.2 on/off for the season. Even more discouraging, his poor on/off continues his trend of getting a little worse every season: -6.5, -6,7, -7.6, and now -8.2...consistent and quite alarming. I can't quite put my finger on why his D is so bad...I don't think it's indifference, just like of skill and awareness. In any event, he'll continue to be a fan favorite (and a favorite of mine) because of his unique scoring ability, but we're going to continue to have to survive his negative minutes on the court.

To be fair to Naz On/Off is a pretty crappy way to show his value when the wolves starting lineup is really good.

Naz lineups are in the 69th percentile when it comes to net rating what is pretty darn good. Naz lineups are only bad when he is the only center (4th percentile). He’s just not a center and when asked to play center he struggles but this year he has had really nice success playing PF.

Kek, we can discuss why we consistently get outscored when he is on the floor (and I agree with you that our starting lineup being so terrific is part of the reason), but we can't dispute that we do get outscored. 4 consecutive years of poor results are difficult to ignore. Last season he also had a very poor on/off, but other reserves (SloMo, JMac, and Prince) were all positive. I agree we struggle more when he is the only center, but I'm not a fan of his defense when he is guarding the perimeter either. For that reason, I agree with your A for Finchie last night...starting SloMo rather than Naz at PF was the right move, and led to our fast start.

I also agree that Shake showed some signs of the game he displayed in Philly in the first half last night. His second half was terrible though unfortunately.

[kekgeek]

I can't argue with the A's for the Big Three last night...Jaden, Bite Bite and Rudy. All were brilliant.

I would change TBJ and JMac's grades to an incomplete...just not enough minutes. Jim Pete, Michael Grady and much of this board are all clamoring to see JMac running the offense rather than NAW when Bite Bite is on the bench. What did he do to Finchie to piss him off so much?

I hate to point out anything negative on such a triumphant night, but Naz is reverting to what he has always been...a highly skilled scorer whose defense is so bad his minutes will always hurt us. Another team-worst -13 solidifies his team-worst -8.2 on/off for the season. Even more discouraging, his poor on/off continues his trend of getting a little worse every season: -6.5, -6,7, -7.6, and now -8.2...consistent and quite alarming. I can't quite put my finger on why his D is so bad...I don't think it's indifference, just like of skill and awareness. In any event, he'll continue to be a fan favorite (and a favorite of mine) because of his unique scoring ability, but we're going to continue to have to survive his negative minutes on the court.

To be fair to Naz On/Off is a pretty crappy way to show his value when the wolves starting lineup is really good.

Naz lineups are in the 69th percentile when it comes to net rating what is pretty darn good. Naz lineups are only bad when he is the only center (4th percentile). He’s just not a center and when asked to play center he struggles but this year he has had really nice success playing PF.

Kek, we can discuss why we consistently get outscored when he is on the floor (and I agree with you that our starting lineup being so terrific is part of the reason), but we can't dispute that we do get outscored. 4 consecutive years of poor results are difficult to ignore. Last season he also had a very poor on/off, but other reserves (SloMo, JMac, and Prince) were all positive. I agree we struggle more when he is the only center, but I'm not a fan of his defense when he is guarding the perimeter either. For that reason, I agree with your A for Finchie last night...starting SloMo rather than Naz at PF was the right move, and led to our fast start.

I also agree that Shake showed some signs of the game he displayed in Philly in the first half last night. His second half was terrible though unfortunately.

It’s Christmas Eve so don’t want to do silly arguments all day (merry Christmas to you!). I’m just saying that wolves are not getting outscored with Naz on the floor this year outscoring opponents at 3.9 pts per 100 possessions.

Then when he gets to play with Rudy, Kat or both they are scoring at wolves are outscoring opponents at 6.5 pts per 100 possessions (81st percentile)

It’s only bad when he plays center by himself at -15.7 pts per 100 (4th percentile)


In the past I’ve agreed with you on Naz because the net rating was terrible with Naz. This year Naz has found a lane to be successful individually and collectively. Naz however is just not a center mostly because of his defense there

[thedoper]

Id give the player that made plays which accounted for half our points in a win an A. I guess the fun part about this exercise is we all use different grading metrics.

[Wolvesfan21]

I can't argue with the A's for the Big Three last night...Jaden, Bite Bite and Rudy. All were brilliant.

I would change TBJ and JMac's grades to an incomplete...just not enough minutes. Jim Pete, Michael Grady and much of this board are all clamoring to see JMac running the offense rather than NAW when Bite Bite is on the bench. What did he do to Finchie to piss him off so much?

I hate to point out anything negative on such a triumphant night, but Naz is reverting to what he has always been...a highly skilled scorer whose defense is so bad his minutes will always hurt us. Another team-worst -13 solidifies his team-worst -8.2 on/off for the season. Even more discouraging, his poor on/off continues his trend of getting a little worse every season: -6.5, -6,7, -7.6, and now -8.2...consistent and quite alarming. I can't quite put my finger on why his D is so bad...I don't think it's indifference, just like of skill and awareness. In any event, he'll continue to be a fan favorite (and a favorite of mine) because of his unique scoring ability, but we're going to continue to have to survive his negative minutes on the court.

To be fair to Naz On/Off is a pretty crappy way to show his value when the wolves starting lineup is really good.

Naz lineups are in the 69th percentile when it comes to net rating what is pretty darn good. Naz lineups are only bad when he is the only center (4th percentile). He’s just not a center and when asked to play center he struggles but this year he has had really nice success playing PF.

Yes Naz as a center is a sieve, he's only a little better then Garza IMO. It has always been bad and I think it always will be. He really needs Rudy in the game to help him out on that end.

I've never been as big of a fan of his because his defense has been so poor over the years, yes I love his offense and leap he took last year. Let's hope he can make a leap on D the rest of the season and in the future (we may have to trade him if we want to stay under the second tier, not the time to think about that too much, but I do think Garza could fill in decently if we choose to move Naz for a good backup PG for instance, maybe Miller too).