ItsJustSoSab wrote:It's a miracle to watch KAT playing D. Brings a tear to my eye really. This is all I wanted from the two young "best" players. Effort from Wiggins and D from KAT
KAT's defensive improvement since the early days of the season is shocking. He looked absolutely clueless at times in the first 10 or 20 games and now he's borderline elite. And Wiggins is better this season too, although it's hard for me to give him a ton of credit since his role is much less important than either KAT's or Butler's (plus I think he has the potential to do even more than he currently does).
I think it's starting to become a little contagious and a point of pride. It's crazy that in today's NBA with all the pace and space, this squad has held 7 straight opponents to less than 100 points.
I'm teasing, but I really think it's a culmination of everything. It's Towns doing the little things -- verticality, walling up, being more aware. It's Wiggins playing with more effort, though still not 100-percent in my opinion, and getting through screens better than years previous. It's Tyus Jones being a super solid overall defender at the head of the defense, moving his feet and staying in front of the opposition's point guard -- the deepest position in basketball -- and getting deflections/steals on top of it. It's the leadership and production of this team's veterans, namely Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson, but I'm willing to bet that Jeff Teague and Jamal Crawford have had a helping hand behind the scenes. And as much as we debate about him, and some might argue it's not about him, it's the Tom Thibodeau effect. He's figured out his most effective rotation, who he can trust in certain situations, how much he can push individual players, and who he can lean on the most (Butler, Gibson, Towns). In my opinion, all of these factors coming together are why the Wolves have had a near-elite defense the past several weeks.
Look out Cam complimented Wiggins. Things must be going well.
I can't see how you wouldn't call Thibs anything lower than an A- right now in both roles. It's worked out amazingly so far. We were winning games even when we weren't playing that well, and now we're looking good on both sides of the ball. The change in performance has to be linked to the system, because the talent has remained the same. You see everyone making quick decisions on D whereas before there seemed to be a lot of guessing.
I've always been someone that felt GMs built great offenses and coaches built great defenses, because generally you can coach people up more on defense than you can on offense. There has also been past evidence of new coaches taking over with a roster largely unchanged from one season to the next and leading the team to a dramatic turnaround defensively (Steve Clifford's first season in Charlotte for example).
However.....Thibs had me questioning that theory when he could do diddly-squat to improve the defense last season versus what Mitchell had done the prior year and then again to start this season - even with new personnel - we sucked. Now things are on the upswing. If they maintain this, hats off to him and the players.
monsterpile wrote:One other thing worth mentioning Teague had a few possessions he really pushed the pace. One 3/4 pass to Taj that wasn't quite on target, a failed lob to Wiggins and then a couple times where he took it himself. The push up the floor also led to that easy pass and dunk to Taj later in the game. It was nice to see some of those plays that whatever reason were not happening enough especially earlier in the season.
Good observation, Monster. I noticed the same thing. Then on my way home I heard a locker room interview of Teague. He was asked if he learned anything watching the game from the bench. He answered yes, that he learned he should push the ball up the court faster. I found his answer interesting and a bit surprising since it doesn't seem like the sort of thing you'd need to lean by watching from the bench. But anyway, it's a good thing. Teague and Tyus give us a nice PG duo. At some point, I'd like to see them get some minutes together.
ItsJustSoSab wrote:It's a miracle to watch KAT playing D. Brings a tear to my eye really. This is all I wanted from the two young "best" players. Effort from Wiggins and D from KAT
KAT's defensive improvement since the early days of the season is shocking. He looked absolutely clueless at times in the first 10 or 20 games and now he's borderline elite. And Wiggins is better this season too, although it's hard for me to give him a ton of credit since his role is much less important than either KAT's or Butler's (plus I think he has the potential to do even more than he currently does).
I think it's starting to become a little contagious and a point of pride. It's crazy that in today's NBA with all the pace and space, this squad has held 7 straight opponents to less than 100 points.
I'm teasing, but I really think it's a culmination of everything. It's Towns doing the little things -- verticality, walling up, being more aware. It's Wiggins playing with more effort, though still not 100-percent in my opinion, and getting through screens better than years previous. It's Tyus Jones being a super solid overall defender at the head of the defense, moving his feet and staying in front of the opposition's point guard -- the deepest position in basketball -- and getting deflections/steals on top of it. It's the leadership and production of this team's veterans, namely Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson, but I'm willing to bet that Jeff Teague and Jamal Crawford have had a helping hand behind the scenes. And as much as we debate about him, and some might argue it's not about him, it's the Tom Thibodeau effect. He's figured out his most effective rotation, who he can trust in certain situations, how much he can push individual players, and who he can lean on the most (Butler, Gibson, Towns). In my opinion, all of these factors coming together are why the Wolves have had a near-elite defense the past several weeks.
I put the blame largely on Thibs for the bad things I was seeing earlier -- continued poor defense, losing at home to the Suns, etc. Now that things are going well, I'm comfortable giving him most of the credit. :). I agree with your take on each of the players you mentioned, although I'm not sure I agree that Teague has had much influence behind the scenes. I completely agree with you that Crawford has likely had a big hand in the improvement of the younger players. He's actually the most vocal leader during games -- always talking to the younger players. They seem really attentive when he's talking to them. Taj also seems like a big positive influence on the younger guys. I mentioned watching him motioning to KAT to tone it down as one example just from last night's game. Taj, Butler, and Crawford had been great acquisitions based on both their play and what I believe has been their influence on the younger players like KAT, Wiggins and Tyus.
ItsJustSoSab wrote:It's a miracle to watch KAT playing D. Brings a tear to my eye really. This is all I wanted from the two young "best" players. Effort from Wiggins and D from KAT
KAT's defensive improvement since the early days of the season is shocking. He looked absolutely clueless at times in the first 10 or 20 games and now he's borderline elite. And Wiggins is better this season too, although it's hard for me to give him a ton of credit since his role is much less important than either KAT's or Butler's (plus I think he has the potential to do even more than he currently does).
I think it's starting to become a little contagious and a point of pride. It's crazy that in today's NBA with all the pace and space, this squad has held 7 straight opponents to less than 100 points.
I'm teasing, but I really think it's a culmination of everything. It's Towns doing the little things -- verticality, walling up, being more aware. It's Wiggins playing with more effort, though still not 100-percent in my opinion, and getting through screens better than years previous. It's Tyus Jones being a super solid overall defender at the head of the defense, moving his feet and staying in front of the opposition's point guard -- the deepest position in basketball -- and getting deflections/steals on top of it. It's the leadership and production of this team's veterans, namely Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson, but I'm willing to bet that Jeff Teague and Jamal Crawford have had a helping hand behind the scenes. And as much as we debate about him, and some might argue it's not about him, it's the Tom Thibodeau effect. He's figured out his most effective rotation, who he can trust in certain situations, how much he can push individual players, and who he can lean on the most (Butler, Gibson, Towns). In my opinion, all of these factors coming together are why the Wolves have had a near-elite defense the past several weeks.
I put the blame largely on Thibs for the bad things I was seeing earlier -- continued poor defense, losing at home to the Suns, etc. Now that things are going well, I'm comfortable giving him most of the credit. :). I agree with your take on each of the players you mentioned, although I'm not sure I agree that Teague has had much influence behind the scenes. I completely agree with you that Crawford has likely had a big hand in the improvement of the younger players. He's actually the most vocal leader during games -- always talking to the younger players. They seem really attentive when he's talking to them. Taj also seems like a big positive influence on the younger guys. I mentioned watching him motioning to KAT to tone it down as one example just from last night's game. Taj, Butler, and Crawford had been great acquisitions based on both their play and what I believe has been their influence on the younger players like KAT, Wiggins and Tyus.
Eh. Think it is not wise to say Teague hasn't had impact. When he was hurt he was probably the most "active" player on the bench. He seemed like a 2nd coach. I mean in the pelicans game be literally went up to thibs to get the starters out of the game.
I think every new player has made some type of positive impact even a guy like Brooks worked his ass off even though he just doesn't have the average NBA talent anymore.
ItsJustSoSab wrote:It's a miracle to watch KAT playing D. Brings a tear to my eye really. This is all I wanted from the two young "best" players. Effort from Wiggins and D from KAT
KAT's defensive improvement since the early days of the season is shocking. He looked absolutely clueless at times in the first 10 or 20 games and now he's borderline elite. And Wiggins is better this season too, although it's hard for me to give him a ton of credit since his role is much less important than either KAT's or Butler's (plus I think he has the potential to do even more than he currently does).
I think it's starting to become a little contagious and a point of pride. It's crazy that in today's NBA with all the pace and space, this squad has held 7 straight opponents to less than 100 points.
I'm teasing, but I really think it's a culmination of everything. It's Towns doing the little things -- verticality, walling up, being more aware. It's Wiggins playing with more effort, though still not 100-percent in my opinion, and getting through screens better than years previous. It's Tyus Jones being a super solid overall defender at the head of the defense, moving his feet and staying in front of the opposition's point guard -- the deepest position in basketball -- and getting deflections/steals on top of it. It's the leadership and production of this team's veterans, namely Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson, but I'm willing to bet that Jeff Teague and Jamal Crawford have had a helping hand behind the scenes. And as much as we debate about him, and some might argue it's not about him, it's the Tom Thibodeau effect. He's figured out his most effective rotation, who he can trust in certain situations, how much he can push individual players, and who he can lean on the most (Butler, Gibson, Towns). In my opinion, all of these factors coming together are why the Wolves have had a near-elite defense the past several weeks.
I put the blame largely on Thibs for the bad things I was seeing earlier -- continued poor defense, losing at home to the Suns, etc. Now that things are going well, I'm comfortable giving him most of the credit. :). I agree with your take on each of the players you mentioned, although I'm not sure I agree that Teague has had much influence behind the scenes. I completely agree with you that Crawford has likely had a big hand in the improvement of the younger players. He's actually the most vocal leader during games -- always talking to the younger players. They seem really attentive when he's talking to them. Taj also seems like a big positive influence on the younger guys. I mentioned watching him motioning to KAT to tone it down as one example just from last night's game. Taj, Butler, and Crawford had been great acquisitions based on both their play and what I believe has been their influence on the younger players like KAT, Wiggins and Tyus.
Eh. Think it is not wise to say Teague hasn't had impact. When he was hurt he was probably the most "active" player on the bench. He seemed like a 2nd coach. I mean in the pelicans game be literally went up to thibs to get the starters out of the game.
I think every new player has made some type of positive impact even a guy like Brooks worked his ass off even though he just doesn't have the average NBA talent anymore.
Good points. Geek. I forgot how active Teague was on the bench.
