Wolves offseason outlook.

[rapsuperstar31]

I wonder what Arod thought about his star player dapping up the opponent with 8 minutes left. I couldn't see him going over to the Red Sox dugout to congratulate them during the 7th inning stretch. Sometimes being quirky isn't cool. I wish the organization, media, and fans weren't so invested in the potential greatness of Ant. We are clearly not going to jump the Spurs or the Thunder anytime soon with our current cast, or with a gutted team that includes an oft injured Giannis. No matter what Tim does this offseason it's hard to see us having any hope of winning a championship next season. We have to try something different, something innovative that drastically changes the way we play. I'm intrigued by what Joel Embiid could possibly bring as a counter to Wemby. I'm also thinking that maybe we completely change and go Paul Westhead and build a fast, good shooting roster that can outrace these teams. I really believe that out of the box thinking is what we need going forward. Otherwise we are just going to be more of what we've seen the last 2 years.

I didn't watch the end of the game, so I didn't see it. But I'd image Ant left as soon as the game was done correct? Hey it's progress over running out of the stadium throwing a chair when Denver eliminated us 4 years ago. Ant probably figured I'll congratulate you now, than bounce when the games done.

[Monster]

This is supposed to be Julius imo and he's not even close.

I don't know how many will agree with this, but I keep thinking lately how about how much of a difference it would make if Julius good play average defense (well enough to be a small ball 5), and played on the offensive end like Draymond Green

I know we love to hate the guy but he's one of the smartest ballers of this era and if Ju could set up the offense, space the floor with his screening and position himself for open 3s, this team would have a viable path with no Rudy.

I have zero faith that Julius would or could re focus his game to this more instead of trying to force the issue with scoring.

Ultimately this type of player should be the primary focus this off-season, and for what it's worth I think IHart would be a good option

I think Randle is willing to do things to win but you can't just become a generational defensive player as an undersized PF. MCdaniels is more likely to become that type of player than Randle is and that's not a knock on Randle. I think Randle has a willingness to do winning things but he isn't a guy with the mental toughness to do those things in addition to not having the aptitude to do them consistently. He also tends to be asked to do a lot offensively as well. Aaron Gordon who is a very good player is closer to this type of player and if a team was gonna play him at C a big chunk of minutes I think those teams would have some big problems defensively and rebounding the ball.

I thought it was interesting that Jon K said in his article after the game 6 loss the Wolves may need to look at options to open up playing time opportunity for Beringer.

Right, as I said, I don't think he could or would do it.

I believe this would be there archetype to add to the team. I think it's possible Jaden could do it, but I think in order to hold up defensively you would need someone with a little more sand in their pants.

Said another way I don't think this team needs to be 5 out but if your gonna have a non shooter out there than you, first, can't have two non shooters, but that non shooter needs to provide that high IQ connectivity. Which again brings me back to IHart, I think he is a good option for this who should be available this off season.

Are there other options?
Sabonis is another type but his defense sucks and he's way too expensive.

Just for fun I'll mention that Rodman was a former SF that ended up as an elite post defender. He was also one of the best rebounders of all time. McDaniels is a bigger factor on offense although Rodman similar to Draymond did a lot of things on offense beyond stats. Rodman's BBIQ was extremely high. McDaniels performance this year while not a massive leap forward was why he is basically untouchable and why some teams would likely pay a ton to get him.

[AussieWolf3]

I think Randle is willing to do things to win but you can't just become a generational defensive player as an undersized PF. MCdaniels is more likely to become that type of player than Randle is and that's not a knock on Randle. I think Randle has a willingness to do winning things but he isn't a guy with the mental toughness to do those things in addition to not having the aptitude to do them consistently. He also tends to be asked to do a lot offensively as well. Aaron Gordon who is a very good player is closer to this type of player and if a team was gonna play him at C a big chunk of minutes I think those teams would have some big problems defensively and rebounding the ball.

I thought it was interesting that Jon K said in his article after the game 6 loss the Wolves may need to look at options to open up playing time opportunity for Beringer.

Right, as I said, I don't think he could or would do it.

I believe this would be there archetype to add to the team. I think it's possible Jaden could do it, but I think in order to hold up defensively you would need someone with a little more sand in their pants.

Said another way I don't think this team needs to be 5 out but if your gonna have a non shooter out there than you, first, can't have two non shooters, but that non shooter needs to provide that high IQ connectivity. Which again brings me back to IHart, I think he is a good option for this who should be available this off season.

Are there other options?
Sabonis is another type but his defense sucks and he's way too expensive.

Just for fun I'll mention that Rodman was a former SF that ended up as an elite post defender. He was also one of the best rebounders of all time. McDaniels is a bigger factor on offense although Rodman similar to Draymond did a lot of things on offense beyond stats. Rodman's BBIQ was extremely high. McDaniels performance this year while not a massive leap forward was why he is basically untouchable and why some teams would likely pay a ton to get him.

Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE it if Jaden was able to become that type of play making forward who can set up an offense.
In the end I think he's a bucket getter and they need to get a POA wing defender so Jaden can move to low man defense

[Wolvesfan21]

Right, as I said, I don't think he could or would do it.

I believe this would be there archetype to add to the team. I think it's possible Jaden could do it, but I think in order to hold up defensively you would need someone with a little more sand in their pants.

Said another way I don't think this team needs to be 5 out but if your gonna have a non shooter out there than you, first, can't have two non shooters, but that non shooter needs to provide that high IQ connectivity. Which again brings me back to IHart, I think he is a good option for this who should be available this off season.

Are there other options?
Sabonis is another type but his defense sucks and he's way too expensive.

Just for fun I'll mention that Rodman was a former SF that ended up as an elite post defender. He was also one of the best rebounders of all time. McDaniels is a bigger factor on offense although Rodman similar to Draymond did a lot of things on offense beyond stats. Rodman's BBIQ was extremely high. McDaniels performance this year while not a massive leap forward was why he is basically untouchable and why some teams would likely pay a ton to get him.

Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE it if Jaden was able to become that type of play making forward who can set up an offense.
In the end I think he's a bucket getter and they need to get a POA wing defender so Jaden can move to low man defense

He can get a bucket but that goes back to my point about bringing in another possible star over hoping Jaden becomes one. His handle and passing are not elite, far from it. He's fine but those elite or closer to elite attributes are needed to be a star type of #2 option on a championship squad.

We need another guy who can any night get us 8-10 assists. That would so help us out on offense and losing Ju will believe it or not take away some playmaking. Because he was at times great at it. When he was rolling on offense with his passing even more so then scoring we were rolling.

[AussieWolf3]

Just for fun I'll mention that Rodman was a former SF that ended up as an elite post defender. He was also one of the best rebounders of all time. McDaniels is a bigger factor on offense although Rodman similar to Draymond did a lot of things on offense beyond stats. Rodman's BBIQ was extremely high. McDaniels performance this year while not a massive leap forward was why he is basically untouchable and why some teams would likely pay a ton to get him.

Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE it if Jaden was able to become that type of play making forward who can set up an offense.
In the end I think he's a bucket getter and they need to get a POA wing defender so Jaden can move to low man defense

He can get a bucket but that goes back to my point about bringing in another possible star over hoping Jaden becomes one. His handle and passing are not elite, far from it. He's fine but those elite or closer to elite attributes are needed to be a star type of #2 option on a championship squad.

We need another guy who can any night get us 8-10 assists. That would so help us out on offense and losing Ju will believe it or not take away some playmaking. Because he was at times great at it. When he was rolling on offense with his passing even more so then scoring we were rolling.

Who is the 2nd best player for OKC?

[BeenLurkin]

Chet or Jaylen. It’s also the fact that their 4th 5th and 6th guys are also probably better than ours.

[AussieWolf3]

"this is the worst offensive ecosystem a star player [Ant] could be cursed with"

- Jake Paynting

I completely agree

[AussieWolf3]

Chet or Jaylen. It’s also the fact that their 4th 5th and 6th guys are also probably better than ours.

Chet has indisputably been their 2nd best this year. Obviously a healthy JDub complicates that certainly.

I wouldn't say he has a great handle or passing

[rapsuperstar31]

Chet or Jaylen. It’s also the fact that their 4th 5th and 6th guys are also probably better than ours.

Chet has indisputably been their 2nd best this year. Obviously a healthy JDub complicates that certainly.

I wouldn't say he has a great handle or passing

Yeah they got 3 max players, where we got one. Rudy used to be a max level player but not anymore. We used to have a max level player in Kat but traded him. Jaden is clearly worth more than we pay him, but not max level. Sadly in a year or two AJ Mitchell just might be a 4th max level player for OKC. They are going to have to make some roster decisions soon.

[BeenLurkin]

"this is the worst offensive ecosystem a star player [Ant] could be cursed with"

- Jake Paynting

I completely agree

This is a little “sky is falling” immediate post mortum panic induced for me. Wolves ranked 13th or so offensively for the season. The problem seems to be that there is a severe disconnect between what offense the coaches want to play vs what translates consistently to the game. The fact that this is obvious to the eye but we can still be top 1/3rd offensively seems to speak to there being something worth salvage here. Take the disconnect and remove it, try again next year with some new parts and reassess. Every team has to go through this process except the two or three legit contenders.

We have overachieved for the last three years. Coasting by on youthful ignorance and all world talent. It led to an air of too cool for school. They just found out. A second time in as many year that they are in fact not too cool.

Julius/Ant\Rudy doesn’t work no matter what you put around it. That much seems to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Anything beyond that as far as roster construction is unknowns. It would probably be better to have a Center that knows where the hoop is and has two hands, it would probably be better to have other players capable of running an offense to get Ant 100% off ball as much as we can, it would probably be good to get Jaden off primary ball defender, it would make sense to send people cutting to the fucking hoop when someone gets doubled….jesus im starting to get depressed….


Main point….Julius or Rudy or both have to go and see what the offense looks like then.