The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT

[rapsuperstar31]

On-off differentials in this 15 game swoon:

Naz: +12.9
Bones: +6.0
Ant: +0.5
Jaden: +0.2
Rudy: +0.1
Donte: -0.6
Mike: -4.6
Randle: -10.0

This reminds me of the old meme out there when Kurt Rambis was coach with Kevin Love on the team. I can't remember it exactly, but it was basically a flow chart or matrix with a host of adverse situations the team could theoretically encounter and the answer always being "bench Kevin Love".

I feel like we can create a new one for us fans with "trade Julius Randle" always being the one and only correct answer!

Poor Julius....got off to such a damn good start this season.

I'm conflicted on Randle. I like Randle, but I also think someone like Fox is more what is needed in that 2nd main scorer on the team. I really like Donte, but I think he is better as a 6th/7th man (on this team) with a more traditional guard next to Ant again Fox. But of course Fox is going to me making significantly more than Randle.

[AussieWolf3]

On-off differentials in this 15 game swoon:

Naz: +12.9
Bones: +6.0
Ant: +0.5
Jaden: +0.2
Rudy: +0.1
Donte: -0.6
Mike: -4.6
Randle: -10.0

This reminds me of the old meme out there when Kurt Rambis was coach with Kevin Love on the team. I can't remember it exactly, but it was basically a flow chart or matrix with a host of adverse situations the team could theoretically encounter and the answer always being "bench Kevin Love".

I feel like we can create a new one for us fans with "trade Julius Randle" always being the one and only correct answer!

Poor Julius....got off to such a damn good start this season.

I'm conflicted on Randle. I like Randle, but I also think someone like Fox is more what is needed in that 2nd main scorer on the team. I really like Donte, but I think he is better as a 6th/7th man (on this team) with a more traditional guard next to Ant again Fox. But of course Fox is going to me making significantly more than Randle.

The rub with Randle right now really does come down to the money. His play for the majority of his time as a Timberwolf, going back to last season, is well worth his paycheck and you would be hard pressed to find a better player at that pay level.

However, the question remains if he is really helping the team, given the constraints that his unique strengths and weaknesses puts on the roster.

I agree with Q, the answer really keeps coming back to- trade Randle.

[Lipoli390]

On-off differentials in this 15 game swoon:

Naz: +12.9
Bones: +6.0
Ant: +0.5
Jaden: +0.2
Rudy: +0.1
Donte: -0.6
Mike: -4.6
Randle: -10.0

Some pretty telling and disturbing stats.

[Lipoli390]

Not one complaint about Ju Fungo?

I still haven’t watched the game but I noticed a number of complaints about Ju’s effort in this thread.

My take away from the score and box score is this. When you are as talented as the Wolves and you lose at home to a team as bad as the Pelicans after having an 18 points lead, the problem is clearly a lack of effort/intensity and that falls on every single player who played significant minutes. If we’re looking to allocate responsibility among players for last night’s loss, I think the lion’s share of responsibility should fall on Anthony Edwards in part because he’s our star and also based on the box score which shows him at a -12 in 37 minutes. A significant share of the blame should go to Jaden. He took himself out of the game with fouls and I view fouls as a sign of laziness. Then in his 22 minutes he had only 1 rebound, zero blocks and zero steals. Those are the effort stats and they don’t show up next to his name in the box score. Ju has to share a large part of the blame as well. He was a -3 in 37 minutes but I’m also factoring in comments in this thread about his demeanor and lack of defensive effort, which we’ve all seen countless times before.

I’ve just named our three best players, and as our three best, they should be held particularly accountable for last night’s shameful loss. But others like Naz and Donte bear some responsibility as well.

The only player who gets a pass from me is Rudy. He filled up the hustle stats with 16 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks. Finch seemed disappointed in his rim protection but when your perimeter defenders give opposing players lots of runway to attack the rim, even the best rim protectors can’t do a whole lot. Jim Peterson has made that point repeatedly over the years.

Eventually, I’ll watch the replay and I might come away with a slightly different perspective, but I think the numbers speak for themselves.

Yes, as painful as it is to watch the Wolves lose to the Pelicans, you should watch this one, Lip...for a few reasons. On the positive side, with the exception of Ju's 0 for 5 on threes, I thought he and Ant were both very effective scoring the ball (Yeah, I know...that's a little like "other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?"). I also thought several Wolves played hard...specifically Rudy, Donte, Hyland, Clark, Juzang and Naz. And contrary to a couple opinions here, I thought Jaden worked hard on defense. But as you can probably tell by my stream of consciousness posting in this thread, I was furious at Ant's defense...he had absolutely no interest in closing out on the perimeter, except for one time that he bit on a fake by some guy I had never heard of who then blew by him and scored in the paint. The only times I thought he cared on defense were the times he got matched up on Zion and one very good block...he was quite impressive. But we need Ant to be a perimeter defender more than a paint defender, and that requires effort...something Ant saves for the offensive end of the floor. We still could have won if Jaden, Donte and Naz had shot better, but above all, this loss was due to Ant's defense. With as brilliant an offensive game as he had (and he was spectacular until a couple clutch misses late) you have to be a disaster on defense to end up a -12...and he was a disaster.

I’ll tune in at some point. Losing at home to the Pelicans is absolutely inexcusable and unacceptable for a team with championship aspirations. And yes, Ant’s -12 in 37 minutes is telling. I don’t know whether he “saves” his energy for the offensive end but if he does that’s ridiculous. MJ, Kobe, Wade, Larry, Isaiah, gave all-out effort on both ends playing heavy minutes and nearly every single game.

I’ll have to watch the game. But sometimes there’s clarity in just looking at the numbers. It’s sort of like eye witness testimony. Intuitively, we think of eye-witness testimony as the most accurate and it always carries tremendous sway with juries. But numerous studies have demonstrated that eye-witness testimony is notoriously inaccurate and misleading. Watching games and going with our own respective eye tests can seem compelling but I think the impressions we get from watching our own team can be misleading - often influenced by our biases. I’m a big Jaden fan, but 1 rebound, no steals and no blocks in 22 minutes signals a lack of maximum effort. And I wonder if his tendency to commit fouls is just mental laziness. Again, I like Jaden a lot and would have been upset if we had traded him for Giannis but it’s hard to absolve him of at least some responsibility for last night’s lack of effort/intensity. Having said that, the bulk of responsibility still seems properly allocated to Ant and Randle, each of whom played 37 minutes and obviously failed to step up defensively.

[Lipoli390]

https://youtu.be/h1CXC8ZOGkY?si=Hinvkul--MFyZHhu

Finch obviously very unhappy with Rudy’s public criticism of the team’s effort. You’ll see it in this Finch interview from today’s practice. Finch mentions that “we do these things in private” or something like that. He also said: “anyone who knows anything about the way we do things around here knows we’ll all about accountability.” Rudy certainly hit a nerve on that point. Finch also mentioned that no team that’s ever accomplished anything has done it by subbing players in and out - an obvious response to Rudy’s admonition to pull players who aren’t giving effort.

Finch went on to talk this team being “too iso heavy” at times and players not making quick decisions with the ball. He talked about players not playing with defensive intensity, etc. We hear Finch say these things all the time yet nothing seems to change. So he clearly seems to know what this team’s failings are. At what point do we conclude that Finch’s voice simply carries no sway with the team and that therefore he needs to be replaced?

[Lipoli390]

Julian Phillips NBA highlights:

https://youtu.be/UCtXzoxg8HA?si=Iu-IGLlvSeXDss0c

Looks like more than just a freak athlete. He has some game, including a three-point shot. It will be interesting to see whether he gets any minutes and how he performs if he does.

[60WinTim]

As frustrating as that game was, I think they’ll figure it out. I’m not going to let one post-trade deadline hangover loss dampen my enthusiasm. Although, I fear we might see some hiccups as we integrate Ayo…

Of course, my 60 win prediction is looking rather bleak!

[Coolbreeze44]

I've been saying it since Randle joined the team. When we move the ball and play "real" basketball we are very good on offense. When Ant and Julius take turns running iso like they did for stints last night, it affects the game of the entire team. Jaden needs to be held accountable for last night too. I'm not talking about his numbers which weren't great, but rather his penchant to commit unnecessary fouls. We really needed him for more than 22 minutes last night, and it seemed like he almost tried to foul himself out of the game in the 2nd quarter. He plays hard all the time, almost too hard from a foul standpoint. There are certain guys in this league he can't guard without fouling and Zion is one of them. I have no idea why they even put him on Z, it doesn't work.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Catching up on the replay now, Wolves up 70 to 56 at the half! Guessing I can just wrap it up now cause I'm sure nothing eventful happens after this right?

I mean New Orleans is a young, immature team with a 13 - 40 record playing the last game of a longer road trip vs a playoff team jockeying for position that was mostly kept intact at the trade deadline that is surely rejuvenated with reinforcements on the way...

... yeah, it's safe. Wolves will win.

[AussieWolf3]

Catching up on the replay now, Wolves up 70 to 56 at the half! Guessing I can just wrap it up now cause I'm sure nothing eventful happens after this right?

I mean New Orleans is a young, immature team with a 13 - 40 record playing the last game of a longer road trip vs a playoff team jockeying for position that was mostly kept intact at the trade deadline that is surely rejuvenated with reinforcements on the way...

... yeah, it's safe. Wolves will win.

Good to know I didn't waste the victory cigar