Game Report - Wolves v. Magic

[WildWolf2813]

Under no circumstances should Corey Brewer play 40 minutes in a game for us at the position that is most interchangeable on the team.

[60WinTim]

Thanks for the report, Lip! I really do enjoy them, even if I complain every now and then...

While we did not get a great game out of Martin, you know we will get a much better game from him more often than not. He still made a lot of good plays. And how easily we forget who Martin is replacing this year: Luke Ridnour. I am loving me some Martin right now!

[AbeVigodaLive]

Thanks Lip. A few things from your analysis... and few of my own:

1. The anecdote about Love and Williams. That is sad... yet a great sign at the same time. The leadership angle is a big part in Love's evolution/maturation as a player.

2. I'm starting to think Rubio is who he his. His ceiling might not be much higher than we're seeing. He's a 12 / 5 / 9 / 2 guy. That's solid to good. But his shooting is atrocious. His sub 40% shooting prevents him from being elite. More importantly, it prevents the team from being elite. I don't see any improvement with his shooting form. And, he's not an athletic freak to make up for it.

3. JJ Barea remains the only guy who can create consistently off the dribble for himself. I'd feel better about this if he was taller than 5'9". More on this point later...

4. Dante Cunningham can be valuable as an energy guy, up to 20 minutes per game. But he's not a great rebounder. And not a great shooter. But, usually... good enough. He's a bench guy, so it's important to temper expectations. I like him. Unless the Wolves are forced to extend him for too many minutes like last year and he is exposed.

5. Corey Brewer should lead this team in dunks. He can get out on the break. And, with his leak-outs and Love's rebounding and outlet passes... yikes. That's going to be fun to watch. BUT... we all know his warts by now. He's better suited as another energy guy off the bench. And, the team is in trouble if he's the defensive stopper.

6. Kevin Martin might average 20 ppg. Seriously. The guy might have as many shots as he's willing to take. The team is desperate for wing/backcourt scoring, and he's a professional. He might never get more than 5 rebounds or assists in a game... but he'll get his points with this lineup. That's fine during the regular season (if he stays healthy). His game isn't good enough for the playoffs.

7. Pekovic. I didn't see preseason. But he looked a little off tonight. I like the guy personally. But I don't like that he's nearly 30 and doesn't have great athleticism. Everything has to fall into place for him to excel. You want your $12M guys to be able to take over at any time if needed.

8. Shved. Oy. Back to #3. I don't know what Shved's role is. Is he a scorer off the bench? Rubio's backup? Just a guy who does nothing great? It's time to cut ties. But I don't know if it's possible. Who would want him? The Wolves need an energy ballhandler with more size than Barea. More of a combo guy. One of those irrational confidence guys that you can hide when he sucks and ride to a surprise win when he's on. A guy that can get to the rim AND finish once he's there. I would hate to play with those guys. And I even hate watching them. I hate the Nick Youngs and JR Smiths and all the other, less talented versions out there. But there's a place on a 15-man roster for them. Definitely on the Wolves. (Maybe Shved could be included in the impending trade with the guy in Point #9?)

9. Williams has to be moved soon, right? The Wolves picked up his option for a reason, right? It's just a matter of time...

10. Will the Wolves finish #30 in blocks this season? Right now (unless Gieng is unleashed) that seems like a definite possibility.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

The only real thing that bugged me was that Love was out around the perimeter too much. With shooters like martin on the team I'd like to see Love draw doubles down low to kick it out to the shooters. It would be nice if Pek could pass out of the block but that isn't him

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Alex, Love and Pek typically don't get doubled in the low block. Neither are great isolation post players so most teams will make them "prove it" before they start to double. When Love operates out on the perimeter, it opens up cutting lanes to the hoop plus frees up Pek for quick duck-ins deep in the paint. We did great with the cuts last night; Pek was not so good earlier in the game with a few missed bunnies close in.

[horatio81 [enjin:7751176]]

It's hard not to overreact to one game when we saw so many concerning continuations from last year.

Rubio is still a terrible shooter.
Pek is still a terrible defender (assuming you remember what position he plays).
Shved is still a terrible basketball player.
Brewer still does one bad thing for every good.
D-Will still can't get off the bench.
Barea is still the only guy on the team who can create his own shot, and he's limited.
Rookies are still contributing nothing.
Role players are still logging too many minutes.

Granted, Martin had an uncharacteristically bad shooting night. If he's closer to his career averages, we win the game in regulation. But we're not guarding anyone this year, and our offense is reliant on "system" buckets (which is another way of saying we have no primary ball handler who can create and make his own shots on a consistent basis). I think we'd be fortunate to land in the 7th spot, but we're still screwed if Love misses any time.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

It's hard not to overreact to one game when we saw so many concerning continuations from last year.

Rubio is still a terrible shooter.
Pek is still a terrible defender (assuming you remember what position he plays).
Shved is still a terrible basketball player.
Brewer still does one bad thing for every good.
D-Will still can't get off the bench.
Barea is still the only guy on the team who can create his own shot, and he's limited.
Rookies are still contributing nothing.
Role players are still logging too many minutes.

Granted, Martin had an uncharacteristically bad shooting night. If he's closer to his career averages, we win the game in regulation. But we're not guarding anyone this year, and our offense is reliant on "system" buckets (which is another way of saying we have no primary ball handler who can create and make his own shots on a consistent basis). I think we'd be fortunate to land in the 7th spot, but we're still screwed if Love misses any time.

Lots of things I disagree with. I'm going to re-post your list and to the side of it say my part in bold.

Rubio is still a terrible shooter. True, but he is far better at finishing around the rim. Should help his FG% immensely.
Pek is still a terrible defender (assuming you remember what position he plays). Wrong. Pek is a terrific man defender and he's underrated on P/R defense. He struggles at rotating in a timely manner and he's not a shot blocker.
Shved is still a terrible basketball player. He looked like the Shved of last year's first half through two quarters, but then the bad habits took over the last two quarters. I won't write him off just yet.
Brewer still does one bad thing for every good. Disgaree. Brewer played well last night and only had a few mistakes. Missed two corner threes and blew two fastbreak easy's. Was terrific with off ball movement, defense and fastbreak releases.
D-Will still can't get off the bench. Agreed. Trade him for a wing. Jeffrey Taylor? Evan Turner?
Barea is still the only guy on the team who can create his own shot, and he's limited. Rubio and Love can create their own shot, Rubio just can't make his jumpers. Love usually gets fouled.
Rookies are still contributing nothing. First game of the season. I'm sure we'll see Dieng as the season continues.
Role players are still logging too many minutes. What role player logged too many minutes? Barea got 20. DC got 20. Shved got 16. Turiaf had 16.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Adelman said Brewer played terrific. I'd agree with him.

[Phenom]

I agree Camden. I'm not sure why everyone is negative with Brewer. Derrick CANNOT take his minutes and SHOULD NOT. Corey opens up the floor for everyone with his constant movement. He is a much smarter player and doesn't take plays off. The best part is that he is the 5th option on the floor, he knows it, and he still plays harder than most players.

As for his defense, I thought it was exceptional. His ability to get through screens and recover on his man has skyrocketed since he last played here. It is night and day. Afflalo may have had 28 points; that's not really the issue. The reality is that over the course of a game, players are going to get theirs but Brewer stepped up his D when it really counted. He has ferocity when chasing around his man. They can score 40 points for all I care but if Corey makes them work hard the whole game and gets the stop at the end and the Wolves win, I'll take it every game.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

A few thoughts. First off, great win. Why great? Because they should have lost, and didn't. At the same time, they should have blown the Magic out. If this team is going to be good, they are going to have to put these type of games away. They got lucky last night, but I''ll take it.

As far as D-Will goes, this pretty much sums it up: after the game I turned to my buddy and said "did D-Will play tonight?" And he said "I don't know." The guy has talent, and I think he can at the very least be a solid role player on an NBA team, but I just don't think it's this team. Also we have a problem at the 2 guard right now. Shved is Shved, I just don't see him becoming more than he is. We need another guy coming off the bench for Martin. I still say if the Turner for D-Will swap is on the table you do it. As long as you don't have to give up much else.