Wolves at Lakers GDT

[FNG]

Losing Kat will be a bigger blow than what we anticipated.

We basically swap out Towns and Slow mo for Randle ang Ingles. That is a clear step down.

Hey, wait a minute!

https://www.current-affairs.org/wp-cont ... enzo-6.jpg

[FNG]

I wonder if there has been a morning since June that Anthony Davis didn't wake up pissed off that Rudy got DPOY instead of him. I'm a Rudy fan and it makes sense that the best defender on the best defensive team in the Association should get the award, but let's be honest...Davis is the best defender in the league right now. He clearly had this game circled on his calendar, and hewas not going to be denied at either end of the court. Sure, a lot of our guys didn't bring their A games, but Davis had a lot to do with that. He destroyed us tonight.

Finchie was clearly unhappy in his mid-game interview with the lack of ball movement. He's not going to be happy with 17 assists and 15 turnovers, but that's what you get when your starting PG plays one of the worst games of his career and your best player has the ball in his hands 80% of the time with his teammates standing around.

Very disappointing start to the season.

(Just like last year, huh?)

[TheFuture]

Called it out in the predictions thread.

AD will destroy us.

We are in deep shit when Rudy sits. Neither Naz or Randle are good defenders, nor big enough to handle C duties. Naz is absolutely horrendous on the glass for someone who is 6'9 and quite agile. I never see him box-out.

The effort on defense was embarrassing. Way too many possessions looked like I was watching the all-star game. Wide open looks, lay-up lines, no effort to get back on D, no boxing out, just ball-watching.

The offense will take time to come together, but there is no excuse for what I just saw defensively. There is no reason to lose to a team that shoots 17% from 3 in today's NBA and when you shoot more FTs. That means you're allowing buckets these players can make in their sleep. Pick-up game buckets, 50% speed practice buckets.

[Q-is-here]

Called it out in the predictions thread.

AD will destroy us.

We are in deep shit when Rudy sits. Neither Naz or Randle are good defenders, nor big enough to handle C duties. Naz is absolutely horrendous on the glass for someone who is 6'9 and quite agile. I never see him box-out.

The effort on defense was embarrassing. Way too many possessions looked like I was watching the all-star game. Wide open looks, lay-up lines, no effort to get back on D, no boxing out, just ball-watching.

The offense will take time to come together, but there is no excuse for what I just saw defensively. There is no reason to lose to a team that shoots 17% from 3 in today's NBA and when you shoot more FTs. That means you're allowing buckets these players can make in their sleep. Pick-up game buckets, 50% speed practice buckets.

But isn't the 17% from 3 partially because the Wolves played solid defense and contested a lot of those shots? I thought NAW gave everything he had defensively and Rudy played a pretty good defensive game too with some wins and losses against AD. It's Randle and Reid that just got manhandled by AD and the other Lakers. Embarrassing.

The irony is that Rudy just agreed to new contract terms while Randle and Naz are playing for their next one. It certainly didn't seem that way last night!

[Lipoli390]

Called it out in the predictions thread.

AD will destroy us.

We are in deep shit when Rudy sits. Neither Naz or Randle are good defenders, nor big enough to handle C duties. Naz is absolutely horrendous on the glass for someone who is 6'9 and quite agile. I never see him box-out.

The effort on defense was embarrassing. Way too many possessions looked like I was watching the all-star game. Wide open looks, lay-up lines, no effort to get back on D, no boxing out, just ball-watching.

The offense will take time to come together, but there is no excuse for what I just saw defensively. There is no reason to lose to a team that shoots 17% from 3 in today's NBA and when you shoot more FTs. That means you're allowing buckets these players can make in their sleep. Pick-up game buckets, 50% speed practice buckets.

But isn't the 17% from 3 partially because the Wolves played solid defense and contested a lot of those shots? I thought NAW gave everything he had defensively and Rudy played a pretty good defensive game too with some wins and losses against AD. It's Randle and Reid that just got manhandled by AD and the other Lakers. Embarrassing.

The irony is that Rudy just agreed to new contract terms while Randle and Naz are playing for their next one. It certainly didn't seem that way last night!

I didn’t watch the game. I’ll probably watch the recording sometime this week. Based solely on the box score, I see three main reasons the Wolves lost last night: (1) Turnovers: We had 15 compared to the Lakers 7. We’re not going to win many games with that kind of turnover disparity. Maybe that’s mainly lack of playing time together but we only have two new players in our 8 or 9-man rotation so I’m not going to be very patient with that sort of sloppy play for long. (2) Poor shooting by key players: Conley was 1-7 from the field and 0-5 from behind the arc. That’s horrific shooting. If he had hit just two of his 5 threes the Wolves would have probably won. As I recall from last season, we don’t win very often when Conley doesn’t play well. That’s troubling given the fact that Mike is 37 years old and we don’t have a proven starting quality backup PG on the roster. Donte was 3-11 from the field and 2-8 from behind the arc. That’s not acceptable from him. (3) Jaden McDaniels poor play. I noticed he only played 16 minutes. Then I noticed he committed 5 fouls so I’m assuming that’s why his minute were so limited. The time for patience with Jaden is over. He has to stop fouling and he has to start rebounding at a level commensurate with his length and athleticism.

I suspect our defense wasn’t particularly good last night, but you don’t win many regular season games in today’s NBA scoring only 103 points. Holding the Lakers to 110 points and 17% shooting from behind the arc should have been good enough for a team with true championship aspirations to win. Even with all our turnovers and pathetic performance by Jaden, the Wolves still would have won if Conley and Donte had simply shot poorly instead of horrifically. I don’t see those two shooting that poorly very often this season and we can certainly clean up the turnovers. So I’m not alarmed. But it is disappointing to lose to a beatable team that gave us a chance to win if key our vets had simply stepped up with some minimally acceptable shooting. One thing for sure is that we’re not going to be a title contender if we end up with the 17th ranked offensive again this season. I was troubled to hear Finch talk about the lack of ball-movement and flow in the offense, which he said resulted in a lack of optimal quality shots. That’s a tendency this team had last season. There’s no room for that sort of play this season.

It’s unlikely we’ll be as good as last season defensively. So it seems to me we’ll have to score more consistently and win a lot of games with scores like 115-110 and 120-114. Having said all that, I’m definitely worried about our defense which still has to be good. Neither Randle nor Naz is a good interior defender. That makes us very vulnerable defensively when Rudy’s not on the floor. It’s ironic that we’re probably going to miss KAT’s defense more than his offense this season. That’s why it’s even more imperative that Jaden gets his head out of has ass and stays on the court. Five fouls in 16 minutes is totally unacceptable. He needs to STAY ON THE COURT, consistently hit threes and REBOUND.

Another take-away from the box score: We’re not going go win many games when Ant only gets to the line three times. I didn’t see the game, but I fear that swapping Randle for KAT will further constrain Ant’s ability to drive effectively and score at the rim or draw fouls. When your best player is someone like Ant (like MJ, Kobe, LeBron, etc.) that player has to consistently and effectively attack the rim with lots of points in the paint and lots of foul shots. If a Rudy/Randle tandem constrains Ant’s ability to be that sort of player, then one of them has to go.

[davemang]

One game overreaction: The offense is just as clunky but in a little bit different way. The defense is only OK, despite Rudy still looking like a top defender in the league. We'll need 30+ minutes a night from Rudy and Jaden (so much for learning how not to foul) and a more consistent defensive effort from Ant to be a top 3 defense again to make up for what we give up having Randle/Naz/Conley (hurts to say that, but father time is an SOB) in the rotation and generally being undersized now.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Outside of NAW... I can't think of a single other positive development from this game... either a good performance from a player... or as a team.

The Wolves are lucky that the Lakers shot a dismal 5 - 30 on three pointers.

This game was never close (in NBA terms) and that includes the Lakers bad shooting... and the Wolves taking more FTAs than the Lakers.*



* Over the past couple of seasons, the Lakers shoot more FTAs than their opponent about 80% of the time.

[TheFuture]

Called it out in the predictions thread.

AD will destroy us.

We are in deep shit when Rudy sits. Neither Naz or Randle are good defenders, nor big enough to handle C duties. Naz is absolutely horrendous on the glass for someone who is 6'9 and quite agile. I never see him box-out.

The effort on defense was embarrassing. Way too many possessions looked like I was watching the all-star game. Wide open looks, lay-up lines, no effort to get back on D, no boxing out, just ball-watching.

The offense will take time to come together, but there is no excuse for what I just saw defensively. There is no reason to lose to a team that shoots 17% from 3 in today's NBA and when you shoot more FTs. That means you're allowing buckets these players can make in their sleep. Pick-up game buckets, 50% speed practice buckets.

But isn't the 17% from 3 partially because the Wolves played solid defense and contested a lot of those shots? I thought NAW gave everything he had defensively and Rudy played a pretty good defensive game too with some wins and losses against AD. It's Randle and Reid that just got manhandled by AD and the other Lakers. Embarrassing.

The irony is that Rudy just agreed to new contract terms while Randle and Naz are playing for their next one. It certainly didn't seem that way last night!

I didn’t watch the game. I’ll probably watch the recording sometime this week. Based solely on the box score, I see three main reasons the Wolves lost last night: (1) Turnovers: We had 15 compared to the Lakers 7. We’re not going to win many games with that kind of turnover disparity. Maybe that’s mainly lack of playing time together but we only have two new players in our 8 or 9-man rotation so I’m not going to be very patient with that sort of sloppy play for long. (2) Poor shooting by key players: Conley was 1-7 from the field and 0-5 from behind the arc. That’s horrific shooting. If he had hit just two of his 5 threes the Wolves would have probably won. As I recall from last season, we don’t win very often when Conley doesn’t play well. That’s troubling given the fact that Mike is 37 years old and we don’t have a proven starting quality backup PG on the roster. Donte was 3-11 from the field and 2-8 from behind the arc. That’s not acceptable from him. (3) Jaden McDaniels poor play. I noticed he only played 16 minutes. Then I noticed he committed 5 fouls so I’m assuming that’s why his minute were so limited. The time for patience with Jaden is over. He has to stop fouling and he has to start rebounding at a level commensurate with his length and athleticism.

I suspect our defense wasn’t particularly good last night, but you don’t win many regular season games in today’s NBA scoring only 103 points. Holding the Lakers to 110 points and 17% shooting from behind the arc should have been good enough for a team with true championship aspirations to win. Even with all our turnovers and pathetic performance by Jaden, the Wolves still would have won if Conley and Donte had simply shot poorly instead of horrifically. I don’t see those two shooting that poorly very often this season and we can certainly clean up the turnovers. So I’m not alarmed. But it is disappointing to lose to a beatable team that gave us a chance to win if key our vets had simply stepped up with some minimally acceptable shooting. One thing for sure is that we’re not going to be a title contender if we end up with the 17th ranked offensive again this season. I was troubled to hear Finch talk about the lack of ball-movement and flow in the offense, which he said resulted in a lack of optimal quality shots. That’s a tendency this team had last season. There’s no room for that sort of play this season.

It’s unlikely we’ll be as good as last season defensively. So it seems to me we’ll have to score more consistently and win a lot of games with scores like 115-110 and 120-114. Having said all that, I’m definitely worried about our defense which still has to be good. Neither Randle nor Naz is a good interior defender. That makes us very vulnerable defensively when Rudy’s not on the floor. It’s ironic that we’re probably going to miss KAT’s defense more than his offense this season. That’s why it’s even more imperative that Jaden gets his head out of has ass and stays on the court. Five fouls in 16 minutes is totally unacceptable. He needs to STAY ON THE COURT, consistently hit threes and REBOUND.

Another take-away from the box score: We’re not going go win many games when Ant only gets to the line three times. I didn’t see the game, but I fear that swapping Randle for KAT will further constrain Ant’s ability to drive effectively and score at the rim or draw fouls. When your best player is someone like Ant (like MJ, Kobe, LeBron, etc.) that player has to consistently and effectively attack the rim with lots of points in the paint and lots of foul shots. If a Rudy/Randle tandem constrains Ant’s ability to be that sort of player, then one of them has to go.

I thought Randle should've been flipped immediately. I just couldn't and cannot see his fit on this team, and highly doubt the Wolves look to re-sign him. What team would want him, and what could we get from that team that would help us? I don't know the answer to that.

[Lipoli390]

But isn't the 17% from 3 partially because the Wolves played solid defense and contested a lot of those shots? I thought NAW gave everything he had defensively and Rudy played a pretty good defensive game too with some wins and losses against AD. It's Randle and Reid that just got manhandled by AD and the other Lakers. Embarrassing.

The irony is that Rudy just agreed to new contract terms while Randle and Naz are playing for their next one. It certainly didn't seem that way last night!

I didn’t watch the game. I’ll probably watch the recording sometime this week. Based solely on the box score, I see three main reasons the Wolves lost last night: (1) Turnovers: We had 15 compared to the Lakers 7. We’re not going to win many games with that kind of turnover disparity. Maybe that’s mainly lack of playing time together but we only have two new players in our 8 or 9-man rotation so I’m not going to be very patient with that sort of sloppy play for long. (2) Poor shooting by key players: Conley was 1-7 from the field and 0-5 from behind the arc. That’s horrific shooting. If he had hit just two of his 5 threes the Wolves would have probably won. As I recall from last season, we don’t win very often when Conley doesn’t play well. That’s troubling given the fact that Mike is 37 years old and we don’t have a proven starting quality backup PG on the roster. Donte was 3-11 from the field and 2-8 from behind the arc. That’s not acceptable from him. (3) Jaden McDaniels poor play. I noticed he only played 16 minutes. Then I noticed he committed 5 fouls so I’m assuming that’s why his minute were so limited. The time for patience with Jaden is over. He has to stop fouling and he has to start rebounding at a level commensurate with his length and athleticism.

I suspect our defense wasn’t particularly good last night, but you don’t win many regular season games in today’s NBA scoring only 103 points. Holding the Lakers to 110 points and 17% shooting from behind the arc should have been good enough for a team with true championship aspirations to win. Even with all our turnovers and pathetic performance by Jaden, the Wolves still would have won if Conley and Donte had simply shot poorly instead of horrifically. I don’t see those two shooting that poorly very often this season and we can certainly clean up the turnovers. So I’m not alarmed. But it is disappointing to lose to a beatable team that gave us a chance to win if key our vets had simply stepped up with some minimally acceptable shooting. One thing for sure is that we’re not going to be a title contender if we end up with the 17th ranked offensive again this season. I was troubled to hear Finch talk about the lack of ball-movement and flow in the offense, which he said resulted in a lack of optimal quality shots. That’s a tendency this team had last season. There’s no room for that sort of play this season.

It’s unlikely we’ll be as good as last season defensively. So it seems to me we’ll have to score more consistently and win a lot of games with scores like 115-110 and 120-114. Having said all that, I’m definitely worried about our defense which still has to be good. Neither Randle nor Naz is a good interior defender. That makes us very vulnerable defensively when Rudy’s not on the floor. It’s ironic that we’re probably going to miss KAT’s defense more than his offense this season. That’s why it’s even more imperative that Jaden gets his head out of has ass and stays on the court. Five fouls in 16 minutes is totally unacceptable. He needs to STAY ON THE COURT, consistently hit threes and REBOUND.

Another take-away from the box score: We’re not going go win many games when Ant only gets to the line three times. I didn’t see the game, but I fear that swapping Randle for KAT will further constrain Ant’s ability to drive effectively and score at the rim or draw fouls. When your best player is someone like Ant (like MJ, Kobe, LeBron, etc.) that player has to consistently and effectively attack the rim with lots of points in the paint and lots of foul shots. If a Rudy/Randle tandem constrains Ant’s ability to be that sort of player, then one of them has to go.

I thought Randle should've been flipped immediately. I just couldn't and cannot see his fit on this team, and highly doubt the Wolves look to re-sign him. What team would want him, and what could we get from that team that would help us? I don't know the answer to that.

I share your concern, Future. We’ll see how things go. Perhaps Finch can find a way to make it work with Randle. I like his toughness and he’s a very good passer. So perhaps he can be more of a Draymond Green - rebounding, pushing the ball in transition and facilitating from outside rather than scoring in the paint. I’m not holding my breath, but Finch is very good and Randle really respects him. Unfortunately, I don’t think Randle can be a Draymond Green defensively. He’s not nearly as quick and mobile. So I’m probably more concerned about the fall off defensively from KAT to Randle. But we’ll see.