Game Report - Wolves vs. Knicks

[Monster]

Thanks for that, monster...sometimes the box score doesn't give the right impression, but his plus 18 in 21 minutes jumped off the page for me. But from your post and some of the quite negative comments about Belly last night in this thread tells me that Thibs blundered again in playing him so many minutes.

Well, the only reason Belly was even on the floor at crunch time was due to Dieng picking up his 5th foul...

And it was on a stupid foul. Thibs could have left Dieng in. Like I said before Belly had been playing well and the Wolves needed more 3 point shooting as well. I thought putting Belly back in made a lot of sense.

[Duke13]

Tim, I completely agree with you about Kat. He's the one guy who's dissapointed me greatly. It's not his talent, I don't question that one bit, or doubt he will soon be a MVP candidate year in and year out. It's his mentality. I noticed it from the get go this year.

He so badly wants to be the leader of this team, and ironically it's causing him to play a style detrimental to the team. It takes time to grow into a leadership role so hopefully that will happen. I absolutely can't stand him taking sole blame for these losses the way he does, his intentions are good but the undertone is so egocentric and I would think I could alienate some of his teammates. I don't think that's happened but it could eventually.

The preseason hype would be tough for any 20 year old, KG retiring didn't help. He automatically felt he needed to fill that role. I truly believe this year will be a good learning experience for all our young players, at least that's my hope.

Sorry for the rant, but I completely agree with you Tim, for me it's hard to watch him play right now.

[Big O [enjin:13874644]]

Perhaps I'm in the minority but I believe this team needs someone like KG on the bench. Someone who knows how to win and can settle or fire up the pups as needed. The vets we have are backup players that have never lead not former all stars that command respect.

[Monster]

Probably because Belly's turnover sealed the loss. And it was completely unnecessary.

Towns is the only guy I am completely disappointed in. Until he realizes his primary job should be to make others better, we will suck. Draw double teams and find the open guy. We will get a better shot and everyone will feel better about themselves and the team. It would snowball into wins. But he clearly doesn't get it, at least not consistently.

But it will come.

As Jim pointed out Towns did the right thing on that one play late. He got the double team dribbled back and drew them away from the center of the floor and then...only Rubio cut to the basket and Towns passed the ball to Belly who Jim said should have cut to the basket... I agree Towns does need to get better at finding his own teammates but that was an example of him actually doing the right thing it was his teammates that let him down in that situation.

[Monster]

Duke and Big O's posts bring up leadership for this team. It does suck this team doesn't have an accomplished vet leader. Based on what Gary Trent's reaction was when wolfson asked him about KG playing again...I would say that if KG had come back he wouldn't have played much of at all. Would I have liked to see KG back even if it was sitting there and working with player during or after practice? Yeah sure but there was a lot going on that we didn't know the specifics on. They wanted to bring on a legit vet guy but weren't willing to pay a crazy number for Deng and Gasoline picked a contender. Maybe they should have kept Prince around or something.

Which brings us to Towns. Yeah some of the stuff he says is annoying however I see him being the guy that's likely going to be the alpha leader of this team and so he is trying to learn it on the fly and that means at his young age he will make some mistakes learning. Wiggins isn't the vocal leader he would be happy never talking to the media. It was noted in the first game how Lavine was encouraging guys in the huddle. I saw several times in the game last night Lavine was the positive guy encouraging dudes. That's a good thing to have from a really good player. As things progress all these guys will need to find their roles in leading the team and other guys will need to step up. Whoever is this team's pg/s going forward will need to step up and lead. They need to find a couple role players that lead in their way. Aldrich is a good play hard positive dude. They need a smart fiery guy with a willingness to say some stuff sometimes. Dieng probably fits that profile but they need another guy too IMO. It can take time to build a roster and for guys to figure out their places. Just the right solid vet could make a worthwhile difference on and off the floor for this team.

[TheFuture]

Perhaps I'm in the minority but I believe this team needs someone like KG on the bench. Someone who knows how to win and can settle or fire up the pups as needed. The vets we have are backup players that have never lead not former all stars that command respect.

We absolutely do. The KG and Prince magic mentoring potions were underrated. Like you said, KG and Prince were big time in the league at points. Aldrich, rush, hill, Lucas are journeymen players just finding ways to stay in the league.

Not sure we could find any real vets at this point though.

[Duke13]

Lavine is probably, not probably he is my favorite player and part of the reason is his unbelievable talent, combination of skills and athleticism. But it's also his deamenor, he's coachable and is also very encouraging to teammates and genuinely happy when they also do well, very selfless.

I don't wanna start clamoring for the likes of Prince and Miller because we went through a terrible two month stretch last year where the team was unwatchable with them on the team. I really just think is gonna take this year for these guys to figure it out on their own, with the aid of the coaching staff. I'm confident it will happen but it's a process.

As for the vets we signed, I think their value is minimized because they aren't playing with a core who knows how to play. The bench hasn't has played with a point guard who knows how to play. I thinks that's impacted their potential value. It was actually really enjoyable watching them play with Ricky last night to finish out the 1st quarter. I think Tibs is making the right decision to stick with Dunn the way he is. He has talent, his development is important to this teams future.

This year is beyond frustrating no doubt, not turning out like many of us hoped. I'm taking the long term approach and am going to enjoy "the process."

[Coolbreeze44]

Tim, I completely agree with you about Kat. He's the one guy who's dissapointed me greatly. It's not his talent, I don't question that one bit, or doubt he will soon be a MVP candidate year in and year out. It's his mentality. I noticed it from the get go this year.

He so badly wants to be the leader of this team, and ironically it's causing him to play a style detrimental to the team. It takes time to grow into a leadership role so hopefully that will happen. I absolutely can't stand him taking sole blame for these losses the way he does, his intentions are good but the undertone is so egocentric and I would think I could alienate some of his teammates. I don't think that's happened but it could eventually.

The preseason hype would be tough for any 20 year old, KG retiring didn't help. He automatically felt he needed to fill that role. I truly believe this year will be a good learning experience for all our young players, at least that's my hope.

Sorry for the rant, but I completely agree with you Tim, for me it's hard to watch him play right now.

Very good post. His leadership posture seems forced and it doesn't work that way. He should be a great player over time, but he's forcing things and it IS detrimental to the team.

[Monster]

Lavine is probably, not probably he is my favorite player and part of the reason is his unbelievable talent, combination of skills and athleticism. But it's also his deamenor, he's coachable and is also very encouraging to teammates and genuinely happy when they also do well, very selfless.

I don't wanna start clamoring for the likes of Prince and Miller because we went through a terrible two month stretch last year where the team was unwatchable with them on the team. I really just think is gonna take this year for these guys to figure it out on their own, with the aid of the coaching staff. I'm confident it will happen but it's a process.

As for the vets we signed, I think their value is minimized because they aren't playing with a core who knows how to play. The bench hasn't has played with a point guard who knows how to play. I thinks that's impacted their potential value. It was actually really enjoyable watching them play with Ricky last night to finish out the 1st quarter. I think Tibs is making the right decision to stick with Dunn the way he is. He has talent, his development is important to this teams future.

This year is beyond frustrating no doubt, not turning out like many of us hoped. I'm taking the long term approach and am going to enjoy "the process."

I resonated a lot with this post. Lavine is my favorite as well. I think my next favorite player is Tyus. I think aldrich will end up being a guy that people end up liking quite a bit. He stays in his lane brings a bit of toughness but also isn't just a goon. I liked what you said about the vets and the process.

A couple more thoughts about the vets. Rush isn't as accomplished as KG, Miller or Prince but he has been around a long while I would think he has some wisdom to impart. I see he has missed another 2 games with that toe. I wonder how long it's been bothering him. If healthy he has enough of a resume to think he could be more of a last season Prince type impact player for this team but that hasn't happened yet and that's hurt the team or having that available and when he has played...it's gone poorly probably in part because of that toe. He probably needs to sit for a good chunk of time I hear those (I've heard it referred to as turf toe) are tough to get over.

It's speculation but I think Lucas might be a decent vet guy to help this team along. It's a matter of time till he is coaching rather than collecting a player's paycheck and he has put real effort into preparing himself for that plus his Dad's influence is worth mentioning. He knows Thibs and seems like he works hard but also finds a way to keep things light. I'm not saying he is intragral to the team or will have some amazing mentoring impact but my guess is that he is useful to have around. Would I dump him for a clearly better player or if the Wolves need someone else at a different position because of injury? Sure but right now we are a ways from that happening...hopefully it stays that way.

[Lipoli390]

Lavine is probably, not probably he is my favorite player and part of the reason is his unbelievable talent, combination of skills and athleticism. But it's also his deamenor, he's coachable and is also very encouraging to teammates and genuinely happy when they also do well, very selfless.

I don't wanna start clamoring for the likes of Prince and Miller because we went through a terrible two month stretch last year where the team was unwatchable with them on the team. I really just think is gonna take this year for these guys to figure it out on their own, with the aid of the coaching staff. I'm confident it will happen but it's a process.

As for the vets we signed, I think their value is minimized because they aren't playing with a core who knows how to play. The bench hasn't has played with a point guard who knows how to play. I thinks that's impacted their potential value. It was actually really enjoyable watching them play with Ricky last night to finish out the 1st quarter. I think Tibs is making the right decision to stick with Dunn the way he is. He has talent, his development is important to this teams future.

This year is beyond frustrating no doubt, not turning out like many of us hoped. I'm taking the long term approach and am going to enjoy "the process."

Duke -- I too consider Zach my favorite player for the same reasons you gave. As I think I pointed out in my last game report, he's the one guy on this team who doesn't seem phased or distressed by Thibs. In fact, I see him often approach to bench to ask Thibs questions. Bottom line with Zach is that he seems mentally tough. That's why he's the one guy on this roster who hits big shots in crunch time. He doesn't always hit them, but he takes them and I have confidence when he does. When you consider how much less experience than Wiggins he's had at both the college and pro level you know he's way early in his developmental curve.

I also agree with your take on our vets. I'll add that it's not about vets. That seems to be a refuge for some fans and pundits. It's about our young core. It's up to them and the coaching staff to get things on the right track. We will rise or fall with the development of our young core.

I also agree with the your point about the second unit's struggles stemming in large part from the absence of a decent point guard. Yet I also agree that you can't knock Thibs for continuing to go with Dunn. There's a lot of talent there and he was a high draft pick so we need to push him and see what's there and facilitate his development.

I admire your perspective about being patient and enjoying the process. Unfortunately, I'm out of patience when I see this team play so poorly and take such a big step back from where they finish last season. On the other hand, your approach is probably the only way to remain a Wolves fan and stay sane.