Minnesota Sports Forum

Q12543 wrote:What I'm pissed about is that Rubio seemed to do great the season before with Phoenix and he's off to a decent start this season with Cleveland. But OF COURSE he had to play like shit in the year between with us. He did round into better form as the season wore on, but it was too little, too late by then....

Yeah, Rubio was absolutely terrible early in the season last year...such a disappointment after the way he finished in Phoenix. And his good finish to the season against either bad teams or teams resting for the playoffs didn't excite me much.

Jester1534 wrote:Idk lip correct me if I'm wrong. Last night If anything I saw the opposite last night it was KAT was on DLO a lot. Especially when KAT had that turnover late in the game when DLO wasn't looking on the Wing.

Beverley literally got that tech to protect Towns from JoVal and he did nothing but try to teach the whole night.

I think what the big problem and I got to see up close and personal is how Non athletic of guard DLO is. He can't blow by anyone like Edwards can and this why he needs to be 3rd Banana because if his 3pt shot is not dropping he's just not effective scorer.

I also can't tell you how impressed I was with JoVal the way he play old man post offense and defense is a treat to watch.

You beat me to it, Jester. I saw what you saw - namely KAT getting on DLO a bit. I haven't seen any signs of friction between Edwards and KAT or Edwards and DLO. I thought Ant's comment about the need to share the ball more and not rely entirely on himself, KAT and DLO, was interesting. I'm not sure what to make of it. Maybe it was a veiled comment on DLO's ball-hog tendencies and failure to share the ball. But I haven't seen any open friction between the two.

I think the players were largely rallying around KAT. Beverley in particular was advocating for KAT. And I have to say that, while I don't like KAT's whining, the officiating last night was shamefully biased against Towns. JV was getting away with obvious offensive fouls over and over again. I'm talking about fouls where he was completely extending his arm and pushing KAT. It was all in plain view, which means the officials deliberately allowed him to get away with it while the simultaneously called KAT for relatively minor contact.

Patrick Beverley's comment about disrespecting the game was interesting, but I'm not sure exactly how to interpret it. My sense is that he was talking about the failure to compete on the boards or possibly referring to DLO's dribble and jack approach to the game.

Lip you can pick and choose as to how you want to interpret Pat Bev's comments. I'd say it's highly likely he was referring to Kat and his antics. Just because he had that dust up with JV don't think for a minute he wasn't annoyed with Kat.


Patrick Beverley: "The game of basketball is an emotional game, regardless. Officiating, things might go your way, things might not, stay even keel. Have emotion but don't be emotional. I think for the first quarter, we were really emotional."

Duke13 wrote:Lip you can pick and choose as to how you want to interpret Pat Bev's comments. I'd say it's highly likely he was referring to Kat and his antics. Just because he had that dust up with JV don't think for a minute he wasn't annoyed with Kat.


Patrick Beverley: "The game of basketball is an emotional game, regardless. Officiating, things might go your way, things might not, stay even keel. Have emotion but don't be emotional. I think for the first quarter, we were really emotional."

The thing is Beverly has never been one to keep an even keel. It would seem some of our younger guys have this ability. I'd like to hear some of their perspective, but realize they aren't going to speak about this. However they do show some impatience on the court from time to time.

" Maybe it was a veiled comment on DLO's ball-hog" I think Ant's comments were pretty clear, they were targeted towards Kat and Dlo, not some hidden message for just DLo, lol.

Duke13 wrote:Lip you can pick and choose as to how you want to interpret Pat Bev's comments. I'd say it's highly likely he was referring to Kat and his antics. Just because he had that dust up with JV don't think for a minute he wasn't annoyed with Kat.


Patrick Beverley: "The game of basketball is an emotional game, regardless. Officiating, things might go your way, things might not, stay even keel. Have emotion but don't be emotional. I think for the first quarter, we were really emotional."

I hadn't see that comment. I think that was good advice from Beverley. Someone with some veteran gravitas needs to get on KAT about controlling his emotions. I also want him to make quicker decisions with the ball. I'm glad Beverley made that comment. My observation was simply based on what I saw on the court and what I saw was Beverley advocating with KAT. I think Jester saw the same thing. And don't think Beverley's comment about disrespecting the game was aimed at KAT, but who knows. I suspect that what really bothers Beverley the most are lack of effort and selfishness. But again, I have no way of knowing. Exactly what Beverley meant will remain inside the locker.

My concerns remain the complete lack of offensive productive from players who should be producing and lack of rebounding from a roster that probably needs adjustment if they're going to significantly improve in that area. We didn't lose last night because of KAT's whining. We would have been blown out embarrassingly without his 32 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals and without Ant's heroic effort in the 3rd quarter. We lost because no one other than KAT, Edwards and to some extent Beverley scored or rebounded. If DLO and Beasley continue to hit a combined 4 of 22 shots and the team continues to get out rebounded 60-40, this team will end up near the bottom of the lottery even if KAT entirely changes his whiny ways.

I agree with everything you said Lip.

Also this could just be a classic we thought we could show up and win games. Which happens with young teams.

Last night was more about the bench's production and DLO and Beasley not being able to put the ball in the basket. That's why I said Finch should've rode Ant he was not sucking wind like JoVal and Kat were at the end of that quarter. The lead got back to double digits and we were never able to get back to 5 point game after that.

You know what is actually really funny so far in all of this.

Wolves are +23.2 pts per 100 possessions when Kat is on the floor what is the 100th percentile. What is considered best in the NBA.

Units that involve Dlo are offensively the 1st percentile what is the worst in the NBA but funny enough units that involve Dlo have been in the 100th percentile in the NBA in terms of defense. So best in the NBA. Haha.

Kat on/off numbers are over +40 and Naz has been getting torch.

Obviously super small sample size just funny that the Wolves have been the best team in the NBA so far when Kat is on the floor and the best defensive team in the NBA when dlo is on who would of ever thought. Haha

*all stats from cleaning the glass

Duke13 wrote:" Maybe it was a veiled comment on DLO's ball-hog" I think Ant's comments were pretty clear, they were targeted towards Kat and Dlo, not some hidden message for just DLo, lol.

Perhaps. I actually don't think Edwards was targeting KAT or DLO for criticism. I think he sincerely meant that both he and those two can't be expected to carry the team offensively and have to keep the ball moving to involve others. If we take his comment literally, then he was including himself in his criticism and not targeting the other two. If he was "targeting players other than himself, I just don't don't think he was targeting the one other productive player who was also the team's leader in assists that night. Lol. KAT was certainly sharing the ball in addition to scoring. But again, I think Edwards was simply saying that with five guys on the floor, the ball has to move among all five. As part of that, guys like DLO and Beasley have to be productive.

If you cant hit the broadside of the barn with your shot, you'd better start moving the ball to your teammates. When your starting PG takes 14 shots and makes only 2 and ends up with only 4 assists, then your starting PG seems a logical target to be criticized. That's why I see a possibility that, if Edwards was targeting anyone, it was DLO.

Trade Towns and Russell