Minnesota Sports Forum

CoolBreeze44 wrote:When you come to the realization that KAT isn't a superstar, there are a lot of deals out there that could make sense.

Agreed!

TheFuture wrote:I love watching KAT go to work on offense, but you just do not win that way anymore.

You're better off putting all your chips in the 1-3 slots, a bit at the 4, and skimping at the 5 and just looking for defense and rotations/matchups.

Embiid and Jokic disagree.

I'm not so caught up in positions, only what you can do from that position. Then you will say they haven't won a chip. Sure I guess. But maybe they will?

WolvesFan21 wrote:

TheFuture wrote:I love watching KAT go to work on offense, but you just do not win that way anymore.

You're better off putting all your chips in the 1-3 slots, a bit at the 4, and skimping at the 5 and just looking for defense and rotations/matchups.

Embiid and Jokic disagree.

I'm not so caught up in positions, only what you can do from that position. Then you will say they haven't won a chip. Sure I guess. But maybe they will?

Not only a championship. Neither have won shit.

The refereeing is built for guard/wing play. It is blatantly obvious.

TheFuture wrote:

WolvesFan21 wrote:

TheFuture wrote:I love watching KAT go to work on offense, but you just do not win that way anymore.

You're better off putting all your chips in the 1-3 slots, a bit at the 4, and skimping at the 5 and just looking for defense and rotations/matchups.

Embiid and Jokic disagree.

I'm not so caught up in positions, only what you can do from that position. Then you will say they haven't won a chip. Sure I guess. But maybe they will?

Not only a championship. Neither have won shit.

The refereeing is built for guard/wing play. It is blatantly obvious.

I think without a doubt the refs have been told not to call fouls on post ups unless they are fairly blatant. The league wants 3 pointers and drives, not old school post ups. So the refs are told to eliminate them.

WolvesFan21 wrote:

TheFuture wrote:

WolvesFan21 wrote:

TheFuture wrote:I love watching KAT go to work on offense, but you just do not win that way anymore.

You're better off putting all your chips in the 1-3 slots, a bit at the 4, and skimping at the 5 and just looking for defense and rotations/matchups.

Embiid and Jokic disagree.

I'm not so caught up in positions, only what you can do from that position. Then you will say they haven't won a chip. Sure I guess. But maybe they will?

Not only a championship. Neither have won shit.

The refereeing is built for guard/wing play. It is blatantly obvious.

I think without a doubt the refs have been told not to call fouls on post ups unless they are fairly blatant. The league wants 3 pointers and drives, not old school post ups. So the refs are told to eliminate them.

While I agree about the way games are officiated... Embiid has either figured something out or is just too big and dominant for it to deter him. He's leading the league with 11.6 fta per game.

Towns is at 4.8 per game... the lowest amount since his rookie season.

It appears that perhaps Embiid has reached exalted superstar status with officials... in the same season where his free throw attempts are through the roof... he's averaging about 1 foul less per game, too.

Embiid - 11.6 fta - 2.5 fouls
Towns - 4.8 fta - 3.8 fouls

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

WolvesFan21 wrote:

TheFuture wrote:

WolvesFan21 wrote:

TheFuture wrote:I love watching KAT go to work on offense, but you just do not win that way anymore.

You're better off putting all your chips in the 1-3 slots, a bit at the 4, and skimping at the 5 and just looking for defense and rotations/matchups.

Embiid and Jokic disagree.

I'm not so caught up in positions, only what you can do from that position. Then you will say they haven't won a chip. Sure I guess. But maybe they will?

Not only a championship. Neither have won shit.

The refereeing is built for guard/wing play. It is blatantly obvious.

I think without a doubt the refs have been told not to call fouls on post ups unless they are fairly blatant. The league wants 3 pointers and drives, not old school post ups. So the refs are told to eliminate them.

While I agree about the way games are officiated... Embiid has either figured something out or is just too big and dominant for it to deter him. He's leading the league with 11.6 fta per game.

Towns is at 4.8 per game... the lowest amount since his rookie season.

It appears that perhaps Embiid has reached exalted superstar status with officials... in the same season where his free throw attempts are through the roof... he's averaging about 1 foul less per game, too.

Embiid - 11.6 fta - 2.5 fouls
Towns - 4.8 fta - 3.8 fouls

They say he is leading the MVP race now according to betting odds. I wish we would have somehow pulled off the Embiid and KAT deal which was probably only bantered about by fans like us. The narrative was that Simmons and Embiid can't play together that they should trade one of the two., we'll see in the postseason this time around.

WolvesFan21 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

WolvesFan21 wrote:

TheFuture wrote:

WolvesFan21 wrote:

TheFuture wrote:I love watching KAT go to work on offense, but you just do not win that way anymore.

You're better off putting all your chips in the 1-3 slots, a bit at the 4, and skimping at the 5 and just looking for defense and rotations/matchups.

Embiid and Jokic disagree.

I'm not so caught up in positions, only what you can do from that position. Then you will say they haven't won a chip. Sure I guess. But maybe they will?

Not only a championship. Neither have won shit.

The refereeing is built for guard/wing play. It is blatantly obvious.

I think without a doubt the refs have been told not to call fouls on post ups unless they are fairly blatant. The league wants 3 pointers and drives, not old school post ups. So the refs are told to eliminate them.

While I agree about the way games are officiated... Embiid has either figured something out or is just too big and dominant for it to deter him. He's leading the league with 11.6 fta per game.

Towns is at 4.8 per game... the lowest amount since his rookie season.

It appears that perhaps Embiid has reached exalted superstar status with officials... in the same season where his free throw attempts are through the roof... he's averaging about 1 foul less per game, too.

Embiid - 11.6 fta - 2.5 fouls
Towns - 4.8 fta - 3.8 fouls

They say he is leading the MVP race now according to betting odds. I wish we would have somehow pulled off the Embiid and KAT deal which was probably only bantered about by fans like us. The narrative was that Simmons and Embiid can't play together that they should trade one of the two., we'll see in the postseason this time around.

The reality is that Minnesota does not sell. A business (which the NBA is) has zero incentive to prop up Minnesota. Lots of the country still believe we live in the fucking tundra for God's sake. Of the four major sports, the NBA is by far the easiest to game. And it shows.

Refereeing betting jobbing came out.

Somehow miraculously hometown guys D-rose and LeBron landed at home.

What other major sport has to go behind scenes before releasing the pick order?

Watch it for nothing but as you would a movie.

TheFuture wrote:

WolvesFan21 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

WolvesFan21 wrote:

TheFuture wrote:

WolvesFan21 wrote:

TheFuture wrote:I love watching KAT go to work on offense, but you just do not win that way anymore.

You're better off putting all your chips in the 1-3 slots, a bit at the 4, and skimping at the 5 and just looking for defense and rotations/matchups.

Embiid and Jokic disagree.

I'm not so caught up in positions, only what you can do from that position. Then you will say they haven't won a chip. Sure I guess. But maybe they will?

Not only a championship. Neither have won shit.

The refereeing is built for guard/wing play. It is blatantly obvious.

I think without a doubt the refs have been told not to call fouls on post ups unless they are fairly blatant. The league wants 3 pointers and drives, not old school post ups. So the refs are told to eliminate them.

While I agree about the way games are officiated... Embiid has either figured something out or is just too big and dominant for it to deter him. He's leading the league with 11.6 fta per game.

Towns is at 4.8 per game... the lowest amount since his rookie season.

It appears that perhaps Embiid has reached exalted superstar status with officials... in the same season where his free throw attempts are through the roof... he's averaging about 1 foul less per game, too.

Embiid - 11.6 fta - 2.5 fouls
Towns - 4.8 fta - 3.8 fouls

They say he is leading the MVP race now according to betting odds. I wish we would have somehow pulled off the Embiid and KAT deal which was probably only bantered about by fans like us. The narrative was that Simmons and Embiid can't play together that they should trade one of the two., we'll see in the postseason this time around.

The reality is that Minnesota does not sell. A business (which the NBA is) has zero incentive to prop up Minnesota. Lots of the country still believe we live in the fucking tundra for God's sake. Of the four major sports, the NBA is by far the easiest to game. And it shows.

Refereeing betting jobbing came out.

Somehow miraculously hometown guys D-rose and LeBron landed at home.

What other major sport has to go behind scenes before releasing the pick order?

Watch it for nothing but as you would a movie.

KG filled seats for year's. Find a player that gives that much effort and wills his team to wins and you'll fill seats again. If Towns had KGs effort, charisma and drive the seats would be filled. Even if fans knew the team didn't stack up to more talented teams they would come. When Kg was on the court all eyes followed him. Win or Lose. I don't think people have that same feeling with Towns.

There's no reason a team can't be a top contender when it's best player is a big man. The Sixers and Nuggets are to prime examples. The Sixers with Embiid are leading the Eastern Conference and the Nuggets with Jokic are 5th in the Western Conference with a 22-15 record. The Nuggets won 46 games last seasons and 54 the season before. KAT isn't playing at Embiid's level this season, but Embiid is a year ahead of KAT. KAT is every bit as good as if not better than Jokic. Let's see where KAT's at next season when he's a year removed from losing his mom and other family to Covid, doesn't have to recover from his own bout with Covid and isn't playing with torn ligaments in his wrist. Perhaps he'll have a break-out season in his 7th season like Embiid is having how in his 7th season.

As I've said before, the Wolves made the playoffs with KAT when they had Butler and they would have likely been a 4th or 5th seed of Butler hadn't gone down for the final 15 games or so. Note that Butler is really good, but not an MVP-caliber player. And KAT was only 21 years old at the time. That gives you some idea of how good this team can be with KAT if he has good players around him and a good head coach. I would argue that KAT's 3-point shooting ability makes him an even better big to build around in today's NBA than Embiid or Jokic.

Embiid is performing at an MVP level and his team is winning. But keep in mind he's surrounded by some really good veteran players like Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris, Danny Green, and Seth Curry. And let's not forget that the Sixers' head coach is one of the best in the League.

Jokic is the best player on a Nuggets team that is currently 5th in the West with a 22-15 record. He's no better than KAT defensively. But like Embiid, he's on a roster with a number of really good, proven veterans, including Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Will Barton, JaMychal Green. He also has another emerging young star named Michael Porter Jr. on his team. Jamal Murray alone is much better than any of KAT's teammates. Maybe DLO will eventually stay healthy, play hard, play within the team concept, and make players and around him better like Murray. But we haven't seen that yet.

The Wolves can be a contending team with KAT as our best player. We know that because we were when Butler and Taj Gibson were here. If before this season the Wolves had traded their entire roster except KAT in exchange for the Nuggets entire roster other than Jokic and also traded Saunders for Denver's head coach, where do you think the Wolves would be in the standings? If KAT were healthy all season like Jokic, then I suspect the Wolves would have 22 wins and the Nuggets around 8.

It's early, but I think we actually have an NBA-caliber head coach now. We have some nice young talent. Let's see if some of our young talent blossoms next season. If so, then maybe this team can get back to where it was when Butler was here and ultimately surpass that team's performance.

Lip...

- Towns is not as good as Jokic. That ship has sailed.

27.2 ppg / 11.1 reb / 8.5 apg / 56.8% fg / 41.9% 3fg / 87.7% ft

Towns has never done that.

- The Nuggets made the WCF last season (barely) in large part because of Jamal Murray averaging 27 ppg and hitting 40+ several times in the playoffs. If Conley's buzzer beater goes in Round 1... the Nuggets winning with a big man has a very different tone to it. They're only 22 - 15 this season (worse than previous seasons) despite Jokic having a season for the ages.

- It's not impossible to win with a big man. But it is more difficult. Philly has done it with a deep team around Embiid and him being a force of nature who's able to get the ball on the block and get fouled. Denver has done it with a deep team with a unique big who's arguably the best passing big man in NBA history.

I think Towns fits in-between there somewhere... closer to Jokic than Embiid. But alas, the Wolves do not have another signature player who can go for 40 consistently, make all defensive teams, etc.

And the struggles with building around a big man are multiplied in that situation. Just look at Orlando. Vucevic has been really good this season. 25/12/4 on 49/41/85 splits... but he's surrounded by a poor supporting cast so it means very little in the standings.