Brit Part Two - The Diapers Are Off

[60WinTim]

Part 2 of 4 of Brit's sit down with Finch.

https://www.minnpost.com/sports/timberw ... melo-ball/


I thought there was a lot of good stuff in this one. If I was a fan of another team, I would wish Finch would come coach my team...

The stuff about Rudy at the end is interesting.

[Monster]

Part 2 of 4 of Brit's sit down with Finch.

https://www.minnpost.com/sports/timberw ... melo-ball/


I thought there was a lot of good stuff in this one. If I was a fan of another team, I would wish Finch would come coach my team...

The stuff about Rudy at the end is interesting.

I thought it was interesting Finch said they purposefully didn't add vets to the team. I mean they did pursue that Lebron guy but yeah they did move on from 3 veteran players in Conley Ingles and Randle. I'm not counting Anderson because he joined the team late. Randle was a vet and had a voice I'm sure but it was clear he was out of here so nobody is like damn we lost a get voice. Conley will be missed and I'm sure Ingles was a great guy to have around but he basically never played. The Wolves brought in Trey Lyles who likely isn't the leader type guys those guys are but he is a vet player that eventually found his lane in the league and seems to have mostly embraced it. That type of guy has value. Anyways Finch's comments made me wonder if that 15th roster spot may go to someone that's less of a vet than we may have thought. We have started to see teams letting go of players that won't make their roster. Will there be someone that makes sense for the Wolves that's still somewhat young but played a chunk of basketball?

[rapsuperstar31]

From parts 3 and 4 it really sounds like Shannon is locked into the 7th man spot. I believe that is what they wanted from him last year, before he got hurt right away and than struggled. A lot of us were really high on Shannon coming into last season, so I've tempered my expectations on him, but it could be a really good season for him. It almost sounds like he wants Shannon as the back up point guard, and wants Bones as more of a flamethrower shooting guard playing off of TJ and Ayo.

[AbeVigodaLive]

From parts 3 and 4 it really sounds like Shannon is locked into the 7th man spot. I believe that is what they wanted from him last year, before he got hurt right away and than struggled. A lot of us were really high on Shannon coming into last season, so I've tempered my expectations on him, but it could be a really good season for him. It almost sounds like he wants Shannon as the back up point guard, and wants Bones as more of a flamethrower shooting guard playing off of TJ and Ayo.

Shannon looks SO MUCH better when he has the ball at the top of the key in attack mode. So i makes sense to let him have the ball more with the 2nd unit.

[Lipoli390]

From parts 3 and 4 it really sounds like Shannon is locked into the 7th man spot. I believe that is what they wanted from him last year, before he got hurt right away and than struggled. A lot of us were really high on Shannon coming into last season, so I've tempered my expectations on him, but it could be a really good season for him. It almost sounds like he wants Shannon as the back up point guard, and wants Bones as more of a flamethrower shooting guard playing off of TJ and Ayo.

Shannon looks SO MUCH better when he has the ball at the top of the key in attack mode. So i makes sense to let him have the ball more with the 2nd unit.

I agree. Shannon will blend well with Ayo off the bench since Ayo isn’t a ball-stopper and doesn’t need to have the ball a lot to be effective. I also think Shannon pairs well with LaMello. We talk a lot about how LaMello will allow Ant to play more off the ball. Let’s not forget that LaMello is a good 3-point shooter who can also play a bit off the ball.

[FNG]

From parts 3 and 4 it really sounds like Shannon is locked into the 7th man spot. I believe that is what they wanted from him last year, before he got hurt right away and than struggled. A lot of us were really high on Shannon coming into last season, so I've tempered my expectations on him, but it could be a really good season for him. It almost sounds like he wants Shannon as the back up point guard, and wants Bones as more of a flamethrower shooting guard playing off of TJ and Ayo.

I certainly would not be opposed to giving TJ the 7th or 8th man, depending on where you slot Joan, at the start of the season to see if he is up to it. But he needs to be much better than he has been, as his deep analytical stats are horrible. There are a few issues with TJ, but his biggest problem is his defense. And that's surprising to me, because he was considered a plus defender in college. His second biggest problem is his lack of a right hand...it makes it easier to guard him when you know you don't have to worry about him going to his right. Finally, despite his success in his first two seasons beyond the arc, I am concerned it's not repeatable...he was less than 35% over his college career, and his form seems funky to me. I know that seems like a lot, but I still like him as the second wing off the bench. Hopefully he worked on using his right hand over the summer, and is ready to lock in on defense this season. I really want him to be the player I thought he was coming out of college. If not, Clark is waiting to take that role.

[Q-is-here]

From parts 3 and 4 it really sounds like Shannon is locked into the 7th man spot. I believe that is what they wanted from him last year, before he got hurt right away and than struggled. A lot of us were really high on Shannon coming into last season, so I've tempered my expectations on him, but it could be a really good season for him. It almost sounds like he wants Shannon as the back up point guard, and wants Bones as more of a flamethrower shooting guard playing off of TJ and Ayo.

Shannon looks SO MUCH better when he has the ball at the top of the key in attack mode. So i makes sense to let him have the ball more with the 2nd unit.

I agree. Shannon will blend well with Ayo off the bench since Ayo isn’t a ball-stopper and doesn’t need to have the ball a lot to be effective. I also think Shannon pairs well with LaMello. We talk a lot about how LaMello will allow Ant to play more off the ball. Let’s not forget that LaMello is a good 3-point shooter who can also play a bit off the ball.

Those two guys were super prolific offensively together, with an Ortg of 125 in the ~ 20 games they played together in the regular season and Playoffs. Unfortunately their defensive rating was about the same! But being a net-neutral bench pairing isn't a terrible thing if doing so while your best players are on the bench.

Bench defense may continue to be a big concern for this squad when Rudy sits. Joan in theory is better than Randle or Naz manning the paint when Rudy sits, but in practice the theory remains unproven. We may be just as bad, as Kekgeek will surely track for us!

[Monster]

Shannon looks SO MUCH better when he has the ball at the top of the key in attack mode. So i makes sense to let him have the ball more with the 2nd unit.

I agree. Shannon will blend well with Ayo off the bench since Ayo isn’t a ball-stopper and doesn’t need to have the ball a lot to be effective. I also think Shannon pairs well with LaMello. We talk a lot about how LaMello will allow Ant to play more off the ball. Let’s not forget that LaMello is a good 3-point shooter who can also play a bit off the ball.

Those two guys were super prolific offensively together, with an Ortg of 125 in the ~ 20 games they played together in the regular season and Playoffs. Unfortunately their defensive rating was about the same! But being a net-neutral bench pairing isn't a terrible thing if doing so while your best players are on the bench.

Bench defense may continue to be a big concern for this squad when Rudy sits. Joan in theory is better than Randle or Naz manning the paint when Rudy sits, but in practice the theory remains unproven. We may be just as bad, as Kekgeek will surely track for us!

A couple things.

First THE thing that slowed TJ last year was not being healthy. He looked like a shell of himself at times early on when he played. Idk what he looked like later in the season but the first half he wasn't the same guy regardless of whether he was on the floor. I've seen the guy embarrass people driving from the corner too. Early in the season he just didn't have that other gear or power he had before.

Next...you know what a lot of teams want to do with their roster or bench or whatever? Have a bunch of guys on the floor that can attack shoot score etc. TJ Ayo Bones those 3 guys have the potential to all do that although Bones isn't really a big drive to the basket guy but he is at least a combo guard capable of doing some PG things. I know some concern is out there the Wolves lost scoring etc dealing Naz and Randle but man there are a lot of guys in this roster capable of scoring including Kuminga. I think how they play together will be what to watch. Will they be able to figure it out? Will they kinda simply tell better than previous groups? We will see.

On defense I think we are gonna see aggressive chaos at times...in a good way although there will also be some times it looks bad. It was pretty clear Finch is looking at Bones improving his defense. He gives up some strength physically but it seemed like last year he was a guy often doing the right stuff and legit putting forth effort on that end. He is like the smallest guy in the roster and he isn't THAT small. There are guys on this roster with various questions about their D especially the consistency with with they do it...there were key players last year you could say the same thing about. Some guys are gonna have runway to minutes if they do play on that end. Jaylen Clark is a guy who could take some of your minutes if you don't do what you are supposed to do.