What would you do?

[KiwiMatt]

Pretty much agree with Cam and others. It's time to play to the style that suits our roster and not try and incorporate an obsolete offence which doesn't play to the strengths of our roster.

1. Bazz to the starting lineup - I've been advocating for this since last season. They complement each other nicely. Bazz draws the bigger defender allowing Wiggins more favourable matchups. Bazz also take some of the offensive load off Wiggins and KAT in the starting lineup. It worked well when they started together last season before Bazz got injured! The second unit would benefit with Prince's defence and leadership too.

2. Play a faster tempo - with a team built to run why play a half court offense? Common sense really.

3. Play KAT and Pek together - let's face it we are stuck with Pek for at least another season, why not try to see if they can play together. Pek crashes the boards and KAT spaces the floor. It could very well work on both ends of the floor. At this point there is no harm in trying right?

4. Trade Martin - there has to be one team out there willing to gives us something of value for KMart. Just another example of Sam contradicting himself when he told Martin he would get DNP until he was traded. Now he's back playing. This has to do more harm than good. Problem is do we trust Milt Newton not to get fleeced in any trade deals?

Kevin Martin and Andre Miller to CHI for Tony Snell and Mike Dunleavy.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Seems like inserting Bazz as starter, playing at a faster pace, and getting more 3's up are the most common themes.....Can't say I disagree with any of those.

I do agree with Abe that there needs to be some thoughtfulness behind the 3-ball strategy. It isn't just indiscriminately jacking up MOAR THREEZ! That's where I go back to this idea of the franchise, starting with the POBO, inserting a culture that truly recognizes and embraces the importance of the 3. That means hiring a head coach that embraces it, schemes for it, hiring a shooting guru, making it a part of the offseason goals for players (whether they work with their own shooting coach or an in house guy), etc., etc. It's a recognition that both our in-game tactics AND players are woefully behind the 8-ball on this skill.

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

I'd start KAT, Dieng, Wiggins, Zach and Ricky. I'd redo the whole second unit concept. More minutes for starters, shorter rotations and no hockey line substitutions. KG and Prince would be on the second unit with whoever else is earning minutes. I'd bench or cut minutes on anyone who doesn't play team defense or hinders ball movement.

Btw, I am still a fan of Bjelica as I don't believe his European play, preseason play and early season play is a fluke. I would play him more with Ricky to try to get him past this slump.

[worldK]

First, I will go with a 9 man rotation and start Bazz and Dieng over kg and prince.

Starting 5 and bench

Bazz /Prince
Dieng /Kg
Towns /Pek
Wiggins /Lavine
Rubio. /Lavine

Rotation: I will have lavine come in early for wiggins at the 5min mark and have wiggins back in to start the 2nd quarter for rubio and be the main focus on offense. This also ensures that we have 2 of Wiggins/rubio/lavine palying at all times.
I will also have Pek in for dieng at the 5min mark to pair him with towns for a while and with rubio whom pek have excellent chemistry with. Kg needs to come off the bench since he can only play 14min a night and will miss games to rest. That way, it will be easier to manage players minutes and give them proper rest. Bjelica plays when kg sits out.

I will add jerry sichting to the coaching staff. He is better than the rest of the assistants so that will be an upgrade.

Play at a faster pace


Shoot more 3's. I will give Towns the green light to shoot 3's and encourage him to shoot a minimum of 4-5 3's per game. Put Bazz in position to shoot more corner 3's. He is good at it and needs to shoot more from there. Wiggins, rubio and lavine needs to shoot more 3's as well. They may not have a high % but they need to shoot the 3 if open rather than a long 2.

[TheFuture]

I agree with those saying we need to stick with an 11 man rotation.

I'm also in the camp of this starting unit:
Rubio
Wiggins
Bazz
Dieng
KAT

I want this unit to play fast, and if we get in a halfcourt I want to see all 3 of Wiggins, Bazz, and KAT with more post up opportunities with the other 4 spread out around the 3 point line. Pick and Rolls with both KAT and Dieng as well. This is not a "soft tanking" lineup, it is the lineup we should be playing this year. We need to find out what we have going forward with these 5 guys playing big minutes together. LaVine just doesn't fit as well with these 5 guys as Bazz does, so he is on the 2nd unit with the ball in his hands.

My 2nd unit would be this:
LaVine
Martin
Prince
KG (Belly when KG rests)
Pekovic

This unit can come in and slow the game down to protect a lead or to attempt a slow dwindling of the opponents lead if the young starters lose ground.

These lineups provide us with a much better blend of Offense and Defense on both units.

The thing you could say I agree with Sam on is that I don't want to see more 3's just to see more 3's. We just do not have the personnel who makes them. What I want to see is a fluid offense. Ball movement right away with 3 good options in mind. I want everyone to shoot where they are comfortable, if you pass up an open shot, you are yanked.. I don't want any isolation plays, only post ups here and there for Bazz, Wiggins, KAT, Pek.

[DNatagal]

One more thing...if the offense casks for a player to cut off a screen or brush past the post player who has the ball... The cutter damn well had better be making more than a token movement and not looking for a pass. Go back and watch the high post sets with Tyus at point. He dumps the ball to Dieng/Payne, then makes a cut thru the lane to the opposite corner. He just jogs and never looks for a return pass. He would be yanked off the floor so fast he wouldn't know what hit him.

[mjs34]

One more thing...if the offense casks for a player to cut off a screen or brush past the post player who has the ball... The cutter damn well had better be making more than a token movement and not looking for a pass. Go back and watch the high post sets with Tyus at point. He dumps the ball to Dieng/Payne, then makes a cut thru the lane to the opposite corner. He just jogs and never looks for a return pass. He would be yanked off the floor so fast he wouldn't know what hit him.

This is a problem with everyone on the team. We set double picks only to have the ball handler slowly trot to the top of the circle and let his man recover (Rubio anyone?). Obviously the players and coaches don't understand the reasoning behind setting a pick. Zach gets five feet of open space and still fades away on his jumpers from deep. The guy has a 44" vertical, and should never have to fade. There is zero focus on details with this team.

[Porckchop]

If Dieng and Bazz start I would worry that the defense would suffer to much early on allowing too many insurmountable leads. Which this team isn't built to recover from. The second unit would come in and play decent defense but wouldn't be able to make up enough ground offensively.

[bleedspeed]

I like Kiwi's changes.

I would want to find a pick and roll partner for Towns and Wiggins. I don't think it is Rubio since he can't shoot or finish. Maybe it could be LaVine, but he doesn't get it. Towns looks like the perfect PNR or PNP partner for a team He can either roll to the hope or get an open shot he can make, but he needs to get better at setting the pick and we need a guard that can handle the ball, finish in the paint, or hit the player for an open corner 3 if they collapse the lane on his drive.

[northernhoops [enjin:9491634]]

1. I'd start off by trading Kevin Martin and Nemanja Bjelica to Memphis for Jeff Green and Vince Carter.

2. Move Shabazz into the starting lineup replacing Tayshaun, to allow Bazz and Wiggins to bully opposing wings from the get-go for a rotation of:
Rubio (30) Lavine (13) Jones (5)
Wiggins (35) LaVine (13)
Shabazz (30) Green (18)
KG (12) Dieng (25) Towns (5) Green (6)
Towns (25) Pek (20) Dieng (3)

With these rotations you have the ability to play small ball, (Green at the 4) or play big (Towns at the 4), giving them tons of versatility. Tayshaun would be used when someone is getting burned defensively. I don't personally think Wiggins should play SF, because I think he's much more effective against SGs, offensively and defensively. Finally I think these lineups give the Wolves the ability to run, which brings me to my next point.

3. The Wolves simply don't have the roster, where we can rely on half-court sets, because we don't have enough shot makers. I think my strategy would be to leak Wiggins out, somewhat in a Corey Brewer fashion. Rubio, KG, Towns, Dieng, and Pek all rebound their position well, so you could have Wiggins go, the other wing slowly leak out and have the bigs outlet to Rubio around the free throw line. This will lead to more second chance points, but I think it'd be beneficial to get easy buckets for Wiggins and the other young guys.

4. At some point, a successful NBA team has to make a decent amount of 3s. I don't know what practices are currently like, but I'd make working on the young guys' shots a priority. I don't think it's been a priority in the last year or so, considering Wiggins, Lavine, Shabazz, and KMart's shooting numbers are all down from last year. At this point it's not a coincidence. It has to do with coaching. I think we need to use our strengths, such as Shabazz's corner 3 more often, setting screens to get him looks there.

5. I'd rely heavily on the pick and roll/pop whenever Towns or Pek were on the floor, with the other big setting screens for the other wings to get open in the corners (Shabazz) or the top of the key (Wiggins & LaVine). I'd also start games off by having the bigs (KG and Towns) run pick and pops/spot up on the outside, leaving room for Wiggins or Shabazz the room to bully the opposing SG in the paint.