AbeVigodaLive wrote:Fell asleep early in this one. Maybe that's a good thing.
Big minutes again. And it sounds like a lot more iso ball with a lot of long twos... I'm beating a dead and decomposed horse by delving deeper into my thoughts on those things.
Defensively, it's noticeably better. But this still isn't a team even close to the elite level.
Yeah, we'd get taken apart in a 7-game series against Golden State, Houston, or a full strength San Antonio team. We'd win one game max the way we are playing today. The other squads it feels like we could be competitive with, but I'm not sure anyone 4 thru 8 would be easy for us.
I still think we compete for a 7th or 8th seed. The East vs. West thing has really played in our favor, as a .500 record gets you a 7th seed right now in the West. That's right around where I think we'll end up.
AbeVigodaLive wrote:Fell asleep early in this one. Maybe that's a good thing.
Big minutes again. And it sounds like a lot more iso ball with a lot of long twos... I'm beating a dead and decomposed horse by delving deeper into my thoughts on those things.
Defensively, it's noticeably better. But this still isn't a team even close to the elite level.
Yeah, we'd get taken apart in a 7-game series against Golden State, Houston, or a full strength San Antonio team. We'd win one game max the way we are playing today. The other squads it feels like we could be competitive with, but I'm not sure anyone 4 thru 8 would be easy for us.
I still think we compete for a 7th or 8th seed. The East vs. West thing has really played in our favor, as a .500 record gets you a 7th seed right now in the West. That's right around where I think we'll end up.
So you think we will actually get worse this year? What has you believing this team will be worse than what they are right now? I think we are closer to the bottom of our performing potential right now and we are 10-6 with 5 losses to teams with winning records. To date the only bad loss is the PHX game in terms of the quality of opponent. We have a winning record at home and on the road. Nobody else below us in the standings can say that. We're finally up to a positive point differential with early blowouts really negatively affecting our differential. I'd say right now it's gonna be hard for us to drop out of the top 6 let alone have to fight for a 7-8 seed and end up at .500.
AbeVigodaLive wrote:Fell asleep early in this one. Maybe that's a good thing.
Big minutes again. And it sounds like a lot more iso ball with a lot of long twos... I'm beating a dead and decomposed horse by delving deeper into my thoughts on those things.
Defensively, it's noticeably better. But this still isn't a team even close to the elite level.
Yeah, we'd get taken apart in a 7-game series against Golden State, Houston, or a full strength San Antonio team. We'd win one game max the way we are playing today. The other squads it feels like we could be competitive with, but I'm not sure anyone 4 thru 8 would be easy for us.
I still think we compete for a 7th or 8th seed. The East vs. West thing has really played in our favor, as a .500 record gets you a 7th seed right now in the West. That's right around where I think we'll end up.
So you think we will actually get worse this year? What has you believing this team will be worse than what they are right now? I think we are closer to the bottom of our performing potential right now and we are 10-6 with 5 losses to teams with winning records. To date the only bad loss is the PHX game in terms of the quality of opponent. We have a winning record at home and on the road. Nobody else below us in the standings can say that. We're finally up to a positive point differential with early blowouts really negatively affecting our differential. I'd say right now it's gonna be hard for us to drop out of the top 6 let alone have to fight for a 7-8 seed and end up at .500.
I believe a few of our early wins were pure 50/50 games where the coin flip landed in our favor (the Wiggins 3-point heave and the Crawford prayer from the corner are two examples). I also think we were lucky to play San Antonio without Leonard. This feels like more of an 8-8 team to me.
And other than the two Butler missed games, our top 6 players (Bjelly being one of them along with the 5 starters) have been very healthy. That won't last and I'm worried we don't have the depth to survive any lengthy absence from either KAT, Butler, or Wiggins.
But call me a pessimist. I'd love to be proven wrong!
5: Minnesota just keeps getting better as the season goes on. They aren't perfect yet, but as the season goes on the Wolves are going to just keep growing into a bigger threat. They'll be terrifying if the defense ever comes around.
After 13 years I think we have good reason to be pessimistic. At the risk of losing some of my MInnesota Cred I think they're going to be a very dangerous team by the time the playoffs roll around! In my amateur opinion the defense has been showing improvement game by game so there is reason to have faith in the process. Offensively they can succeed on raw talent, but doing so will be inconsistent as we've seen. They'll get on the same page as they play together more, so again, I'm confident the offense will become more consistent also!
I wouldn't say I'm 100% 60WinTim, but I'm a good 85% even with last nights ugly loss!
5: Minnesota just keeps getting better as the season goes on. They aren't perfect yet, but as the season goes on the Wolves are going to just keep growing into a bigger threat. They'll be terrifying if the defense ever comes around.
After 13 years I think we have good reason to be pessimistic. At the risk of losing some of my MInnesota Cred I think they're going to be a very dangerous team by the time the playoffs roll around! In my amateur opinion the defense has been showing improvement game by game so there is reason to have faith in the process. Offensively they can succeed on raw talent, but doing so will be inconsistent as we've seen. They'll get on the same page as they play together more, so again, I'm confident the offense will become more consistent also!
I wouldn't say I'm 100% 60WinTim, but I'm a good 85% even with last nights ugly loss!
Obviously I wasn't happy with the outcome, but that was a fun game to watch. If we had hit one more shot anywhere in there, we'd all be here talking about what a clutch win that was, so I don't think we should get too down about losing a tight one.
People have covered a lot of the problems, and I agree with Q that we're not as good as our record. Our point differential is more like a 6th or 7th seed team, not a 2nd or 3rd seed team. Still, it's relatively early in a year with a lot of new key players and we're as far above .500 as I can remember in 10 years. Our defense lately has been better, including last night, and that's been a major cause of our weaknesses this year and last.
So I'm not happy with the outcome, but I'm more with the opDOUGists on the board right now. At the same time, if we had won, I'd probably be warning that one more made shot by the Pistons would have led to a pessimistic thread like this one. We shouldn't get too hyped about close wins or too pessimistic about close losses. The long-term trajectory is what matters, and right now I'd say it looks better than it has in years (think about the record we're on pace for right now), but still not quite where we know this team could be given its talent.
KiwiMatt wrote:The difference in this game was a missed free throw from Buckets which rattled out. I can take this loss. But we have to bounce back tonight.
Exactly. Don't forget the very well contested 3-pointer that Avery Bradley rattled in from the corner as well. That was a crucial shot and I'm not sure how much better contested it could have been other than blocking it. He got a very friendly bounce.
Luck and random chance play a larger factor than I think we sometimes like to admit. That's why a 7-game series is better than a 3-game series or a 1-game series in figuring out which team is truly better. The higher "the best of X" number is, the more likely the superior team will win because random chance starts to dissipate as the possessions pile up.
Folks seem to credit how clutch we were in those earlier close wins, so now are we a team of chokers? Nope. Thibs bellowed heads and the coin turned up tails. There will be others like this one that won't go our way.
SameOldNudityDrew wrote:Obviously I wasn't happy with the outcome, but that was a fun game to watch. If we had hit one more shot anywhere in there, we'd all be here talking about what a clutch win that was, so I don't think we should get too down about losing a tight one.
People have covered a lot of the problems, and I agree with Q that we're not as good as our record. Our point differential is more like a 6th or 7th seed team, not a 2nd or 3rd seed team. Still, it's relatively early in a year with a lot of new key players and we're as far above .500 as I can remember in 10 years. Our defense lately has been better, including last night, and that's been a major cause of our weaknesses this year and last.
So I'm not happy with the outcome, but I'm more with the opDOUGists on the board right now. At the same time, if we had won, I'd probably be warning that one more made shot by the Pistons would have led to a pessimistic thread like this one. We shouldn't get too hyped about close wins or too pessimistic about close losses. The long-term trajectory is what matters, and right now I'd say it looks better than it has in years (think about the record we're on pace for right now), but still not quite where we know this team could be given its talent.
Interesting take, Drew. I came away the the exact opposite perspective on the game. I thought it was a horrible game to watch. I just couldn't stand watching Teague walk the ball up slowly on nearly every possession and then dribble the ball incessently with little player movement around him. It was sooo easy for the Pistons to get their defense set given the agonizingly slow, tedious and predicatable pace of the Wolves offense. Then you had Wolves players passing up open threes for contested 2s, leading to turnovers off panic passes as the shot clock was about to run out. I still get pissed as images of last night's game linger in my head.
Just shows how perspectives can differ when it comes to watching basketball. :)
Q12543 wrote:Lol, the "Barking Ogre"...love that. The close-ups of Thibs during the broadcast are just hilarious...he is always looking angry, frustrated, or bewildered.
The squad is playing some better defense though of late, which is encouraging.
I absolutely do see a limit to where Thibs can take this team. Assuming he actually can mold this team into a much better defensive unit, he should eventually pass the torch to a younger, more cerebral coach that has a more sophisticated understanding of human behavior and embraces the modern NBA. Thibs seems slow to catch on.....
I'm harsher than you are. The game passed him by. We're just in denial of it because then it means even the obvious move to hire him turned out to burn us.
