Minnesota Sports Forum

kekgeek1 wrote:The thing I also like with gourgi playing the 4 is his biggest weakness defensively is holding, ground in the post. Now at the 4 he won't get bullied in the post be 4s and can use one of his strengths his mobility and PNR defense (Massive improvement)

Excellent point, Geek.

lipoli390 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:The thing I also like with gourgi playing the 4 is his biggest weakness defensively is holding, ground in the post. Now at the 4 he won't get bullied in the post be 4s and can use one of his strengths his mobility and PNR defense (Massive improvement)

Excellent point, Geek.

x2

bleedspeed177 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:The thing I also like with gourgi playing the 4 is his biggest weakness defensively is holding, ground in the post. Now at the 4 he won't get bullied in the post be 4s and can use one of his strengths his mobility and PNR defense (Massive improvement)

Excellent point, Geek.

x2

Yeah, I 4th this one too. Gorgui is not built to anchor a team in the paint with a bunch of small-ballers around him. He needs to be paired with someone bigger and stronger. He will struggle in open space guarding some of the face-up 4's (like Blake Griffin), but that seems to be less of a weakness compared to when he's the sole paint protector.

This is an interesting development, because perhaps the KAT-Gorgui combo has some legs longer term. Obviously it leaves us short-handed at backup C, but I happen to know a guy that might be able to help with that.

I'll also be glad if we can get Pek back at some point for two reasons. One, because both Gorgui and Towns can play at the 4 with Pek. Another is so we have a bigger body. Towns is better than Dieng at defending bigger guys. He doesn't get bumped off his spot down low defensively as easily as Dieng, and he makes up with it with some great shot blocking instincts. But Towns gives up size and lower body strength on some guys in the low post as we've seen recently. Lopez, Cousins, Deandre Jordan, and Andre Drummond all weigh 30 pounds or more heavier than Towns. They are also, obviously, good to great players. These guys have all had big games against Towns in the last few weeks. But I'm also noting here that Towns has had pretty good games against them which is impressive for a rookie. Obviously his midrange shooting helps Towns score over these bigger 5s. But I'd like to see Towns have some more shut-down kind of games defensively. He's had some great stretches, but I'd really like to see us go up again against one of these teams and see Towns limit one of these guys to less than half those numbers and just take him out of the opponent's offensive game.

Lopez, B. Lopez 20 Pts, 12 Reb, 5 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 Blk (K. Towns 24 Pts, 10 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 Blk)

Boogie, 24 Pts, 11 Reb, 4 Ast, 4 Stl, 1 Blk (K. Towns 15 Pts, 8 Reb, 1 Blk)

Jordan, 20 Pts, 12 Reb, 2 Stl, 4 Blk (K. Towns 18 Pts, 5 Reb, 2 Ast, 2 Blk)

Drummond, 21 Pts, 11 Reb, 2 Stl, 1 Blk (K. Towns 18 Pts, 7 Reb, 3 Ast, 3 Stl, 2 Blk)

More importantly, I'm excited to see Pek back to bang with some of these guys who have 30 pounds on Towns because I don't want to see such a great prospect (Towns) worn down and injured by playing against such big guys, which happens to happen at a time when he's playing many more games than he's ever played in his career.

Drew, Couldn't agree more with you, although I think Mitchell has managed the wear and tear on KAT mostly through his minutes. So while he's still having to go to battle with these physical specimens, he's at least not taking a pounding 35+ minutes per game.

His body will mature, but I'm not sure he'll ever have big-time lower body strength. He is a little top-heavy, albeit not nearly as much as Dieng, who topples over like a one-legged giraffe at times.

If not Pek, then yeah, a Pek-like physical presence playing some backup C would certainly help. I hear Jeff Adrien is available (although his bail is probably more expensive than his contract value).

Great thread and Dieng has done some really good things all around and alotnof minutes have come at PF. Some thoughts.

That bank shot hasn't been there because Dieng is not getting the ball in that spot all that often. He is usually at the topnofnthe key or diving to the rim. When he gets the ball on the side it seems he looks more to drive or pass for some reason but he typically is too close to the baseline for that bank shot. Maybe he is saving that for the playoffs. Bottom line is that Dieng's jumper is ridiculously effective right now. You expect it to co in if he isn't really guarded.

Dieng at times has actually played bigger stronger centers better defensively than Towns. Why? Because he uses his physical advantages to his advantage. He pokes the ball away denies the catch and in general just plays like a long rangy sort of athletic dude. If he plays straight up he will get rolled we all know that so instead he plays more like Dante Cunnigham used to but he difference is Dieng has a ton of length and has very good instincts going for the ball. Does he get burned sometimes? Yeah

Dieng still screws up sometimes but the improvement he has shown defensively is almost shocking. He gets down in his stance stays down more and is pesky as heck at times. His ability to stay with more PFs has been even more shocking to me. The last game against Blake he was all over that matchup and that's the type of guy I would expect Dieng to struggle with. He did well.

With Belly struggling Dieng is getting more opportunities but if Pek can come in and play damn that makes things really interesting if Dieng can keep playing well because suddenly you have a big front court and guys that will clear the glass and get offensive rebounds. Dare to dream??? Yeah why not I am a Wolves fan. Lol