Minnesota Sports Forum

Camden wrote:The Jeff Teague hate around here seems way too similar to the scapegoating of Thaddeus Young several years ago. A player that has his faults, no doubt, but is consistently productive and helps the team more often than not. And when the team struggles, he's an easy target because he's not the best player on the team, he's not one of the "upcoming stars", and he's paid just under that of an All-Star player.

Jeff Teague has been, for the most part, quite good this season. He is far from the problem at hand, especially as of late where he's played like an All-Star.

I just wish he was a bit more aggressive with the 3-ball and pulling up for the J when guys go under screens. He probes a bit too much sometimes with his dribble and our offense gets stuck sometimes as a result. But yeah, he's one of these guys that is pretty effective overall, but just isn't always easy on the eyes.

crazy-canuck wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:This team has maybe 2 legit volume 3 point shooters and when everyone is healthy they come off the bench. The fact that this team does what it does on offense in this new nba is probably somewhat amazing. Could the offense be better? Sure but damn that defense is a real problem. The offense could take a step further if they can add some more 3 point shooting and just playing together in the 2nd year. I don't know what they can add to fix that defense. I think more people don't post more about that because quite frankly nobody around the league or fans can really figure out why they aren't better except the guys like JVG (and fans) that say Wiggins and Towns etc don't try hard enough which at times is certainly part of it. Maybe a better bench wing that is better at D would help quite a bit.

I think that better more pace along with better spacing and ball movement would increase our offensive production even more despite the lack of pure 3-point shooters. The TNT crew was raving last night about how the Pelicans were getting up the court so fast that the defense couldn't get set against them. No reason the Wolves can't do that, but they're clearly not coached to do that. Yes, our defense should be better and I agree that it's hard to know exactly why it's not. But I think our offensive approach puts more pressure on and ultimately hurts our defense. At the end of the day, this team (like it or not) has to score more to win enough for a top 4 finish in the West. I believe we have the personnel to score more even without Jimmy in our remaining regular season games. Unfortunately, I think Thibs clearly sees things differently and that troubles me.

we cant run fast because we dont have anyone to push the ball.

I honestly think our best fast break is when wiggs gets a rebound and decides to just take off and go with a full head of steam.

Teague is just horrible in transition. Maybe I am spoiled from watching ricky for so long, but teague is one of the worst ive ever seen. Teague is fast enough to get down the court with the ball, but he what he does with the ball is mindboggling. He sprints up the court with either wiggs or butler on the wings with kat trailing, but for no reason will stop at the 3 point line and circle to allow the defense to reset. We have the horses to run with KAt and wiggs, but simply cant because our steering wheel is broken.

Jeff is very fast with the ball. He can certainly push the ball as can Tyus. The methodical, slow-down half court iso approach we've seen from the Wolves, especially in the 4th quarter, is on the coach, not the players. I think Teague is overpaid. I hate his contract. But he definitely is NOT the problem with this team.

Wolves are 24th in defensive rating.

They are 6th overall in scoring this year while bringing in 4 new players of there top rotation guys. Their other weapon off the bench Bazz had a horrific year and was almost worthless except maybe a couple games so if they play anyone deeper in the bench they are not very good. Despite their faults this is a good offensive team quite frankly better than I expected given the lack of 3 point marksmanship particulate from Wiggins who is still getting them up. The only good 3 point shooters on the team by percentage right now are Teague (just not a let it fly type of guy) and 2 bigs in Towns and Belly shooting well over 40% (which nobody seems to give Thibs credit for). This team is simply one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the entire league and yet one of the best offenses. This team needs Wiggins to find his 3 point stroke to take the next jump as an offense.

As for getting up and down some of that in on the players (Butler is not a guy that pushes the pace much). Also unless something has happened they are one of the worst translation defenses. Getting up and down more could lead to some problems there. Should they get more easy baskets? Yes. We have been saying that for 3 different coaches now with some of the same players. It's not just the coaching.

Now about that defense.

Q12543 wrote:

Camden wrote:The Jeff Teague hate around here seems way too similar to the scapegoating of Thaddeus Young several years ago. A player that has his faults, no doubt, but is consistently productive and helps the team more often than not. And when the team struggles, he's an easy target because he's not the best player on the team, he's not one of the "upcoming stars", and he's paid just under that of an All-Star player.

Jeff Teague has been, for the most part, quite good this season. He is far from the problem at hand, especially as of late where he's played like an All-Star.

I just wish he was a bit more aggressive with the 3-ball and pulling up for the J when guys go under screens. He probes a bit too much sometimes with his dribble and our offense gets stuck sometimes as a result. But yeah, he's one of these guys that is pretty effective overall, but just isn't always easy on the eyes.

Great take Cam.

Q I wish Teague was more trigger happy on the 3's also. He just doesn't seem to have the confidence to let it fly. He seems to need more room or be able to set up his 3 off the dribble. You can see him calculate whether he has the space and time to get it off even in catch and shoot situations when it looks to me he could just let it go. Maybe he knows his shot and knows he needs a bit more space. Maybe it's confidence. Probably a bit of a few factors. He is clearly a guy that has skills to play off other players and you don't want to leave him wide open from 3 but he could be even better. He isn't great at relocating like good 3 point shooters are either. I think Tyus has better Instincts there.

It's tough though I mean Teague is a PG he has often had to sacrifice quite a bit this season and did last year with the Pacers as well. Meanwhile the last 2 years Tyus comes in knowing he is a complimentary player to another guard whether it's Dunn or this year Crawford. As a starter he is the last option on offense and so he plays a different role. Teague used to be a guy that drove the offense one way or another. I just posted this is one of the worst 3 point shooting teams and that hurts Teague as he is a guy that can get into the paint in fact that's one of his strengths as a player. He is really better and getting into the paint and doing something (scoring or throwing it out to a shooter) not probing like Rubio who could just keep a dribble alive till he found an opening. Teague has been a pretty good pick and roll player in his career but that hasn't translated with the Wolves either which is kinda weird although part of that is Towns isn't all that good at it but he has been better screening and working off the ball the last couple months. Part of it is chemistry and part of it is probably the lack of spacing. One possible solution would be to insert Belly into the starting lineup at PF at some point down the road. That's not an option right now as we need him at SF where he has played surprisingly well.

Last night only 2 of the 7 winning teams scored less than 110 points and one of those two teams, the Lakers, scored 108. Yes, our offense has scored a lot of points on average this season. But as I've said throughout the season, this team has to score at least 110 to win and will often have to score 115-120. We know what this team is after nearly 70 games this season. We know it can score and we know it's poor defensively. The team simply needs to score even more al la the Rockets, Warriors and Pelicans. Yes, I'd like us to have more 3-point shooters and the fact that we don't is on management (Thibs and Layden). But I believe we have the personnel to score more. We just don't have the style of play. We don't move the ball the way other teams do to get open looks, especially in the 4th quarter. And we don't space the floor well either. Further, we can and should get more 3-point shots out of Teague and KAT. As the cliche goes, you can't get blood out of a turnip. Well, we're not going to get more defense out of this team. I don't know the reason, but we have 70 games to tell us that. Yet, I see personnel that could deliver more scoring.

The Wolves have scored 110 or more points in 35 of the 68 games they've played this year and rank third in the NBA in offensive efficiency -- the number of points a team scores per 100 possessions -- so I'm not quite following why this "Wolves need to fix their offense" topic is being discussed how it is. It doesn't fit the modern mold of space and pace and shoot 30 three-pointers a game, but it's extremely productive nonetheless. It might not be the most fun or what you prefer to watch, but the results matter the most.

Offensive Efficiency:

1. Golden State (114.0)
2. Houston (113.5)
3. Minnesota (111.2)
4. Toronto (110.8 )
5. Cleveland (110.0)

Our offense isn't the problem. It never has been despite how much it gets discussed. The Wolves struggle defending for 48 minutes. We have no real volume three-point shooter now that Zach LaVine is in Chicago. We have no bench; we definitely have no wing depth. And we have a backup center that makes $14M to be the 74th 'best' center in terms of Real Plus-Minus (RPM) and 42nd among centers in Value Added (VA). If you want to point the finger at why Minnesota has had issues throughout the season and heading towards the end of the schedule, those are what I'd suggest you all focus on -- not the league's third-most productive offense.

Cam, While I think you are mostly right, you have to look at the way we get that offense. It's largely built off of getting to the free throw line and offensive rebounding. With all those bodies in the paint, we are often left at a massive disadvantage in our transition defense. Other teams that get a lot more of their offense from 3-point shooting are much better set up to get back on defense with proper floor balance.

Q12543 wrote:Cam, While I think you are mostly right, you have to look at the way we get that offense. It's largely built off of getting to the free throw line and offensive rebounding. With all those bodies in the paint, we are often left at a massive disadvantage in our transition defense. Other teams that get a lot more of their offense from 3-point shooting are much better set up to get back on defense with proper floor balance.

Again part of that is because this team has so damn little 3 point shooting. The team to look to is the Raptors. They went from 22nd in 3's to 6th. They didn't exactly add a significant piece either although Miles takes more than Terrance Ross did when he was there. Backup PG they made a big jump as Van Fleet gets them up and Delon Wright takes more 3's than Joseph did last year by himself. This roster does have some upside in taking 3's but it may take some time. Guys like Wiggins, Tyus, FA to be named, young developmental wings and a draft pick and maybe a different backup big or even Dieng himself could help with some incrimental gains. Yes style of play and coaching can help but let's remember this team hasn't even played an entire season together yet and Belly coming into the season wasn't an established player and was coming off an injury. These things can take time.

lipoli390 wrote:Last night only 2 of the 7 winning teams scored less than 110 points and one of those two teams, the Lakers, scored 108. Yes, our offense has scored a lot of points on average this season. But as I've said throughout the season, this team has to score at least 110 to win and will often have to score 115-120. We know what this team is after nearly 70 games this season. We know it can score and we know it's poor defensively. The team simply needs to score even more al la the Rockets, Warriors and Pelicans. Yes, I'd like us to have more 3-point shooters and the fact that we don't is on management (Thibs and Layden). But I believe we have the personnel to score more. We just don't have the style of play. We don't move the ball the way other teams do to get open looks, especially in the 4th quarter. And we don't space the floor well either. Further, we can and should get more 3-point shots out of Teague and KAT. As the cliche goes, you can't get blood out of a turnip. Well, we're not going to get more defense out of this team. I don't know the reason, but we have 70 games to tell us that. Yet, I see personnel that could deliver more scoring.

Your prayers have been answered we have signed Derrick Rose a guy that fits your plan of outscoring teams and playing basically no defense. :)