Contender or Pretender? Warriors at Wolves GDT

[rapsuperstar31]

How many timeouts with beautifully designed plays in crunch time this year?

Or any year?

I thought the Jaden backcut layup out of a timeout was a great play. Of course I'm pretty sure that wasn't the play and Jaden just took advantage of a sleeping defender and Donte hit him.

[FNG]

I have to agree that we are clearly a pretender as long as we are leaning on Ant to make the clutch shot at the end of games. A contender needs to be able to rely on its best player to come through in the clutch...think Steph, Jokic, Luka, SGA etc. When your best player is a 44% career shooter, but is shooting 2 for 19 (um, that's 10.52%) with a chance to tie or take the lead in the last 24 seconds, can it be any clearer that our highest scorer is not the clutch player we need to really be a contender? Ant is a remarkably talented player, and when the game is not on the line, as good a 3-point shooter as any. But you either have the clutch gene, or you don't. And 2 for 19 is damning evidence. Finchie obviously is aware of this stat...that's why he drew up the final play in the Memphis game to try to get a corner three from either Donte or Mike (but of course Ant took the play in a different direction...go back and look at Donte's frustration when he realizes Ant isn't running the play that was called!). Ant is going to continue to lead us in scoring, but continuing to rely on him in the clutch is the definition of insanity. 2 for 19...my god!

[thedoper]

How many timeouts with beautifully designed plays in crunch time this year?

Or any year?

I thought the Jaden backcut layup out of a timeout was a great play. Of course I'm pretty sure that wasn't the play and Jaden just took advantage of a sleeping defender and Donte hit him.

Yeah that was Jim Pete's read of it too. Ant picked up his dribble on the ISO and Donte made an opportunistic play. Not sure that was on Finch's clipboard.

[Lipoli390]

Yeah, Tim, that performance broke my confidence and optimism in this team. I continue to think that the team has the talent it needs, but lacks heart, which trumps whatever talent the team has.

This team certainly appears to lack heart, but I don’t think we have adequate talent or the right blend of talent to be anything more than a borderline playoff team. We clearly had heart last season, which means we have to ask ourselves where that heart went. I think it went out the door with KAT, Slo Mo and the version of Mike Conley before Father Time caught up with him. Our roster is the same as last season except we have Randle and DDV instead of KAT and Slo Mo. One thought is that KAT and SLO MO were both more important to this team’s chemistry (heart) than people realized. That might be true. But I tend to think it’s more a matter of talent and fit. When the talent isn’t there and the fit is bad, the team will struggle and things won’t go well. Eventually, players will lose heart.

I love what DDV brings to this team, but going from KAT to Randle was a huge step down. And note that KAT isn’t just a better player than Randle, he’s a much better fit with Rudy and Ant. Moreover, KAT’s not just better than Randle offensively, he’s also a better defensive player as evidenced by KAT’s #7 defensively ranking last season. Then there is Mike Conley’s precipitous decline, which has to be another significant factor in the team’s decline. We had the talent mix of a title contender last season and based on front office decisions we now have the talent mix of a borderline playoff team. That has to be demoralizing.

[Lipoli390]

Forgot to mention that it should be clear now we’re a pretender. But I’ve thought that for a long time as I’ve urged turning the focus to the future - to a Wolves 2.0 built around Ant.

[kekgeek]

The wolves are just two different teams based on of Rudy is on or off the court.

Rudy on the court: number 4 defense in the nba with the number 21st offense

Rudy off the court: number 6 offense in the nba with the number 21st defense.

This is why we are a 500 team. They can’t play defense when Rudy is off the court but they are a really good offense. When Rudy is on the court they are an elite defense but a terrible offense.

Making them the most average team ever so far.

[Q-is-here]

The wolves are just two different teams based on of Rudy is on or off the court.

Rudy on the court: number 4 defense in the nba with the number 21st offense

Rudy off the court: number 6 offense in the nba with the number 21st defense.

This is why we are a 500 team. They can’t play defense when Rudy is off the court but they are a really good offense. When Rudy is on the court they are an elite defense but a terrible offense.

Making them the most average team ever so far.

I think Randle benefits as much or even more than Ant when Rudy is off the floor, as he likes to occupy that same space in the paint on drives and post ups. With Naz spacing outside the arc, he's got a ton of room to work with.

Rudy's rim rolling is only a benefit to a team if he's able to cash in on it more for easy dunks. Instead, he gets looked off by Ant and Randle and in turn those guys practically run into Rudy (and his defender) on their mud runs to the rim. It's so ugly.

[Lipoli390]

The wolves are just two different teams based on of Rudy is on or off the court.

Rudy on the court: number 4 defense in the nba with the number 21st offense

Rudy off the court: number 6 offense in the nba with the number 21st defense.

This is why we are a 500 team. They can’t play defense when Rudy is off the court but they are a really good offense. When Rudy is on the court they are an elite defense but a terrible offense.

Making them the most average team ever so far.

Great post and observation, Kek!

[Lipoli390]

The wolves are just two different teams based on of Rudy is on or off the court.

Rudy on the court: number 4 defense in the nba with the number 21st offense

Rudy off the court: number 6 offense in the nba with the number 21st defense.

This is why we are a 500 team. They can’t play defense when Rudy is off the court but they are a really good offense. When Rudy is on the court they are an elite defense but a terrible offense.

Making them the most average team ever so far.

I think Randle benefits as much or even more than Ant when Rudy is off the floor, as he likes to occupy that same space in the paint on drives and post ups. With Naz spacing outside the arc, he's got a ton of room to work with.

Rudy's rim rolling is only a benefit to a team if he's able to cash in on it more for easy dunks. Instead, he gets looked off by Ant and Randle and in turn those guys practically run into Rudy (and his defender) on their mud runs to the rim. It's so ugly.

I agree, Q. Your observation suggests that a reasonable alternative to trading Randle would be trading Rudy. We’re in a position where it looks like we need to choose one or the other - all in on defense or all in on offense. I think we’re more dependent on one player defensively than we are offensively and that suggests we’re probably better off going all in on offense. But I’m not sure.

Last season we were the League’s #1 defense and somewhere around #15 on offense. It was barely the right balance to be a contender although our offense never seemed good enough in my eyes to get to the NBA finals; hence the Mavs’ pretty easy time knocking us out. Going from KAT to Randle and losing Slo Mo, combined with Conley’s decline, made us too dependent on Rudy defensively and not good enough defensively to overcome a mediocre offense. Meanwhile, our offense has gone from mediocre to bad. It’s no wonder we’re only 2 games over .500.

[Phenom]

I have to agree that we are clearly a pretender as long as we are leaning on Ant to make the clutch shot at the end of games. A contender needs to be able to rely on its best player to come through in the clutch...think Steph, Jokic, Luka, SGA etc. When your best player is a 44% career shooter, but is shooting 2 for 19 (um, that's 10.52%) with a chance to tie or take the lead in the last 24 seconds, can it be any clearer that our highest scorer is not the clutch player we need to really be a contender? Ant is a remarkably talented player, and when the game is not on the line, as good a 3-point shooter as any. But you either have the clutch gene, or you don't. And 2 for 19 is damning evidence. Finchie obviously is aware of this stat...that's why he drew up the final play in the Memphis game to try to get a corner three from either Donte or Mike (but of course Ant took the play in a different direction...go back and look at Donte's frustration when he realizes Ant isn't running the play that was called!). Ant is going to continue to lead us in scoring, but continuing to rely on him in the clutch is the definition of insanity. 2 for 19...my god!

So to be clear, we have read the finished book on Ant in the clutch? What was it that MJ said about failing?