Wolves Injuries

[Lipoli390]

This excerpt from an article by Jon K encapsulates what we all saw during that 3-game winning streak without Gobert and KAT:

Suddenly, there is a flow to the Timberwolves offense, and it is resulting in 3s finally starting to fall. In their first 28 games of the season, the Wolves were 25th in the NBA with a 33 percent conversion rate on 3s. During this three-game winning streak, they are first in the league at 47.5 percent. It is a tiny sample size, but the eye test is matching up with the analytics. Wolves players look much more comfortable shooting in rhythm, and the makes are opening up the offense. "Ball is popping," said Rivers, who scored 16 points and hit 3 of 4 3-pointers. "Ant is taking what the defense is (giving him). You can see he's reading it now. They're doubling him, doubling him, you can see he's looking, he's throwing it to the pop." - via Jon Krawczynski @ The Athletic

[FNG]

This excerpt from an article by Jon K encapsulates what we all saw during that 3-game winning streak without Gobert and KAT:

Suddenly, there is a flow to the Timberwolves offense, and it is resulting in 3s finally starting to fall. In their first 28 games of the season, the Wolves were 25th in the NBA with a 33 percent conversion rate on 3s. During this three-game winning streak, they are first in the league at 47.5 percent. It is a tiny sample size, but the eye test is matching up with the analytics. Wolves players look much more comfortable shooting in rhythm, and the makes are opening up the offense. "Ball is popping," said Rivers, who scored 16 points and hit 3 of 4 3-pointers. "Ant is taking what the defense is (giving him). You can see he's reading it now. They're doubling him, doubling him, you can see he's looking, he's throwing it to the pop." - via Jon Krawczynski @ The Athletic

Jon K also diminishes the 3-game winning streak, Lip, by saying we beat three struggling teams. And there's no way Rudy was responsible for our three gunners going 0-16 on threes...many of them wide open. Jon K also talked about the designed play after the opening tip where Ant found Rudy rolling for a slam. Later in the article he and Finchie lament the fact that our starting backcourt just isn't finding an open Gobert often enough. Rudy is arguably the best screener in basketball, and while we have seen the Wolves offense take advantage of that at times, it has been far too seldom. I find myself drooling about how this Ant-centric offense might work when KAT gets back. I see Rudy screening for Ant at the top of the key over and over, and Ant choosing to either hit Rudy for a dunk, find an open KAT/DLo/Jaden for a wide open 3 as the defense collapses on him, or continuing to the hoop with his incredible body control. Wash, rinse, repeat. The more they run that play, the more comfortable Ant will get in making the right choice. We know what Rudy brings on defense (and it was fun to hear him say after the Dallas game that he is as comfortable playing high wall as he is in drop coverage...mix it up, Finchie), but this offense can be unstoppable also once KAT comes back and Ant gets more comfortable in his new role.

[Q-is-here]

The reality is we just don't have enough raw talent to compete at a high level (meaning well over .500 ball) without Gobert and KAT in the mix. However, through 20+ games of a healthy roster Finch and the players weren't able to mesh, such that the whole was equal or greater to the sum of the parts. It was the opposite of that.

The good news is that Ant appears to be continuing his ascent after a rocky start. Everyone knows that the only way this team ever contends is if Ant turns into a superstar. He's still got a ways to go, but what we've been seeing lately is a peak into the future, which is a potent lead guard that can make game-changing plays on both ends of the court.

Now we need Finch and the others, as they get healthy, to continue putting Ant more at the center of the offense without disenfranchising the other big money vets like DLO, Gobert, and KAT. And Ant needs to make an effort to find these guys when they are open, something he has struggled with at times but seems to be gradually improving.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

It's worth mentioning that Chris Finch has been able, willing, and successful in trying different things with this roster since key players got injured. Prior to Karl-Anthony Towns' absence, Finch was still employing an offense that involved far fewer pick-and-roll sets than what is optimal for the current personnel, and the defensive scheme was still very much in flux between dropping and hedging depending on what lineup combinations were on the floor. Finch had just started leaning towards one full-time scheme (drop) before Towns strained his calf.

Over the past couple of weeks we've seen greater frequency in pick-and-roll possessions (thank God) and we're now very much back to the hard hedge or "high wall" concepts of last year except with Rudy Gobert anchoring the middle. I'm hoping those two changes from Finch stick because that's how this roster is best utilized. I expect that we'll see a team that plays much better and with less overthinking involved once everyone is healthy. It should look like a different team compared to the mess we saw for the first X amount of games.

[Lipoli390]

This excerpt from an article by Jon K encapsulates what we all saw during that 3-game winning streak without Gobert and KAT:

Suddenly, there is a flow to the Timberwolves offense, and it is resulting in 3s finally starting to fall. In their first 28 games of the season, the Wolves were 25th in the NBA with a 33 percent conversion rate on 3s. During this three-game winning streak, they are first in the league at 47.5 percent. It is a tiny sample size, but the eye test is matching up with the analytics. Wolves players look much more comfortable shooting in rhythm, and the makes are opening up the offense. "Ball is popping," said Rivers, who scored 16 points and hit 3 of 4 3-pointers. "Ant is taking what the defense is (giving him). You can see he's reading it now. They're doubling him, doubling him, you can see he's looking, he's throwing it to the pop." - via Jon Krawczynski @ The Athletic

Jon K also diminishes the 3-game winning streak, Lip, by saying we beat three struggling teams. And there's no way Rudy was responsible for our three gunners going 0-16 on threes...many of them wide open. Jon K also talked about the designed play after the opening tip where Ant found Rudy rolling for a slam. Later in the article he and Finchie lament the fact that our starting backcourt just isn't finding an open Gobert often enough. Rudy is arguably the best screener in basketball, and while we have seen the Wolves offense take advantage of that at times, it has been far too seldom. I find myself drooling about how this Ant-centric offense might work when KAT gets back. I see Rudy screening for Ant at the top of the key over and over, and Ant choosing to either hit Rudy for a dunk, find an open KAT/DLo/Jaden for a wide open 3 as the defense collapses on him, or continuing to the hoop with his incredible body control. Wash, rinse, repeat. The more they run that play, the more comfortable Ant will get in making the right choice. We know what Rudy brings on defense (and it was fun to hear him say after the Dallas game that he is as comfortable playing high wall as he is in drop coverage...mix it up, Finchie), but this offense can be unstoppable also once KAT comes back and Ant gets more comfortable in his new role.

FNG - Did you really refer to Rudy's offense becoming "unstoppable." Wow, I think you've been enjoying to much Christmas eggnog. :). The only time I find myself drooling is when I imagine hearing an announcement that Gobert, Forbes and Knight have been traded to the Jazz for Vanderbilt, Beasley, Kessler and two of the four 1st-round picks we gave up to get him. Since the Jazz are actually in competition for a playoff birth, perhaps they'd go for that deal. But of course they wouldn't because they have a better sense of Rudy's worth that the "brain" trust in the Wolves front office.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I think Chris Finch has to make some changes to the ten-man rotation once everyone is healthy, and one of them includes playing Austin Rivers over Jaylen Nowell on a regular basis. Another includes finding more minutes for Naz Reid even at the expense of two max contract bigs, at times. The following are the 10 players who should be penciled into minutes every game.

Minutes Allocation:
- D'Angelo Russell (32)
- Anthony Edwards (34)
- Jaden McDaniels (28)
- Karl-Anthony Towns (30)
- Rudy Gobert (28)

- Kyle Anderson (20)
- Naz Reid (20)
- Taurean Prince (16)
- Austin Rivers (16)
- Jordan McLaughlin (16)

It won't always come out that clean because of situational basketball, but that should be the blueprint. This likely means even more overlap with two-big lineups, but I don't think you can simply bury Reid at the end of the bench again. He's been too good for that and he's been one of Minnesota's best players when he's gotten playing time. I also think Rivers has outworked and outproduced Nowell at this point, somewhat sadly. To make up for the scoring punch with the second unit, Finch would probably have to stagger Russell and Edwards so that they could play more stints with those bench guys. But I think these are the 10 best, most-deserving players on a game-to-game basis once everyone is healthy.

[Q-is-here]

I think Chris Finch has to make some changes to the ten-man rotation once everyone is healthy, and one of them includes playing Austin Rivers over Jaylen Nowell on a regular basis. Another includes finding more minutes for Naz Reid even at the expense of two max contract bigs, at times. The following are the 10 players who should be penciled into minutes every game.

Minutes Allocation:
- D'Angelo Russell (32)
- Anthony Edwards (34)
- Jaden McDaniels (28)
- Karl-Anthony Towns (30)
- Rudy Gobert (28)

- Kyle Anderson (20)
- Naz Reid (20)
- Taurean Prince (16)
- Austin Rivers (16)
- Jordan McLaughlin (16)

It won't always come out that clean because of situational basketball, but that should be the blueprint. This likely means even more overlap with two-big lineups, but I don't think you can simply bury Reid at the end of the bench again. He's been too good for that and he's been one of Minnesota's best players when he's gotten playing time. I also think Rivers has outworked and outproduced Nowell at this point, somewhat sadly. To make up for the scoring punch with the second unit, Finch would probably have to stagger Russell and Edwards so that they could play more stints with those bench guys. But I think these are the 10 best, most-deserving players on a game-to-game basis once everyone is healthy.

I don't disagree that Nowell may need to be cut out, although I'm skeptical we ever find ourselves with literally everyone healthy. But if Nowell, Prince, McDaniels, McLaughlin, Rivers, Edwards, DLO, and Ant are all healthy at the same time, then it feels like Nowell could be the odd man out.

The fact we have to play Rivers meaningful minutes with an otherwise healthy rotation means someone else failed to meet expectations. And that indeed would be Nowell at this point in the season.

[Monster]

I think Chris Finch has to make some changes to the ten-man rotation once everyone is healthy, and one of them includes playing Austin Rivers over Jaylen Nowell on a regular basis. Another includes finding more minutes for Naz Reid even at the expense of two max contract bigs, at times. The following are the 10 players who should be penciled into minutes every game.

Minutes Allocation:
- D'Angelo Russell (32)
- Anthony Edwards (34)
- Jaden McDaniels (28)
- Karl-Anthony Towns (30)
- Rudy Gobert (28)

- Kyle Anderson (20)
- Naz Reid (20)
- Taurean Prince (16)
- Austin Rivers (16)
- Jordan McLaughlin (16)

It won't always come out that clean because of situational basketball, but that should be the blueprint. This likely means even more overlap with two-big lineups, but I don't think you can simply bury Reid at the end of the bench again. He's been too good for that and he's been one of Minnesota's best players when he's gotten playing time. I also think Rivers has outworked and outproduced Nowell at this point, somewhat sadly. To make up for the scoring punch with the second unit, Finch would probably have to stagger Russell and Edwards so that they could play more stints with those bench guys. But I think these are the 10 best, most-deserving players on a game-to-game basis once everyone is healthy.

I don't disagree that Nowell may need to be cut out, although I'm skeptical we ever find ourselves with literally everyone healthy. But if Nowell, Prince, McDaniels, McLaughlin, Rivers, Edwards, DLO, and Ant are all healthy at the same time, then it feels like Nowell could be the odd man out.

The fact we have to play Rivers meaningful minutes with an otherwise healthy rotation means someone else failed to meet expectations. And that indeed would be Nowell at this point in the season.

Aside from Nowell not seizing the opportunity this year overall...at this point in time Rivers has also played well the last few weeks so it's not disappointing at the thought of him being on the floor. He has earned his minutes.

[AbeVigodaLive]

The rub will be having the second unit getting shots up... and hopefully in.

It could be a two-fold problem with Nowell this season. (1) The impending contract he's shooting for (literally) (2) a green light from the Wolves.

Whatever the case, he's been mostly bad at the role, which we've all detailed. And Rivers is much more of a semi-positive complementary piece IF he can be on the floor with really good players. Put him in a role that's over his head and he's going to struggle.

[Q-is-here]

The rub will be having the second unit getting shots up... and hopefully in.

It could be a two-fold problem with Nowell this season. (1) The impending contract he's shooting for (literally) (2) a green light from the Wolves.

Whatever the case, he's been mostly bad at the role, which we've all detailed. And Rivers is much more of a semi-positive complementary piece IF he can be on the floor with really good players. Put him in a role that's over his head and he's going to struggle.

Totally agree on Rivers. Yeah, you need someone that can create off the bounce and that someone should not be him. I do wonder if you have a McLaughlin-Rivers-Prince-Anderson-Reid lineup if there is enough basketball IQ and ball movement to overcome the lack of iso-creators. And Anderson isn't bad in that role, so there's something.