Conley/Gobert last season

[KG4Ever]

Rudy 3 ball incoming

https://twitter.com/thedunkcentral/stat ... _u6IL2a9cQ

Vucevic and Valanciunas weren't 3 point shooters for their first five years, and they both are semi-competent there now. Not to say Rudy will ever be, but I'm not sure its as far fetched as most believe. I'll be interested to see if he has the greenlight in FIBA or preseason, but if not, this is just another manufactured story in the summer doldrums.

I'm rubey enough to get momentarily excited when I see a video like that, but who knows how he did on the other 50 3-pointers he tried in practice! And yes the two V-boys you mention did develop into good 3-point shooters. But they were also good free throw shooters their entire careers, and Rudy of course is not. I don't want Rudy trying to become anything more than he is. Just set good screens, roll to the basket, and put in offensive rebounds...in addition to continuing to be a defensive stud.

But beyond that, I'm also excited about what the Conley/Gobert pairing adds to our team. They consistently won 50 games together with a supporting cast not equal to KAT/Ant/Jaden/SloMo, etc. And while they are not "young", when I watch video of each of them today compared to 5 years ago, I see little difference. Conley appeared to me much younger in the way he moved than DLo, for example. Lots of reasons to be optimistic about next season!

FNG, you raise a good point with Rudy's woeful free throw shooting and I can't find much to refute it. I will say that Wiggins shot poorer free throw percentage than Rudy the past two years and shot better than 39% beyond the arc the past two years, though his career FT% is 72%. Also, Aaron Gordon and Darius Bazley are sub 70% free throw shooters during their careers (though not as woeful as Rudy's 64%), but shot better than 30% from threes. I know I'm grasping at straws, but Rudy did shoot 4 threes in a row on a video I saw and perhaps he missed many more, but I'm a sucker too and I suspect if they want Rudy to shoot beyond the arc, they will experiment in preseason. We'll see..

[Lipoli390]

Vucevic and Valanciunas weren't 3 point shooters for their first five years, and they both are semi-competent there now. Not to say Rudy will ever be, but I'm not sure its as far fetched as most believe. I'll be interested to see if he has the greenlight in FIBA or preseason, but if not, this is just another manufactured story in the summer doldrums.

I'm rubey enough to get momentarily excited when I see a video like that, but who knows how he did on the other 50 3-pointers he tried in practice! And yes the two V-boys you mention did develop into good 3-point shooters. But they were also good free throw shooters their entire careers, and Rudy of course is not. I don't want Rudy trying to become anything more than he is. Just set good screens, roll to the basket, and put in offensive rebounds...in addition to continuing to be a defensive stud.

But beyond that, I'm also excited about what the Conley/Gobert pairing adds to our team. They consistently won 50 games together with a supporting cast not equal to KAT/Ant/Jaden/SloMo, etc. And while they are not "young", when I watch video of each of them today compared to 5 years ago, I see little difference. Conley appeared to me much younger in the way he moved than DLo, for example. Lots of reasons to be optimistic about next season!

FNG, you raise a good point with Rudy's woeful free throw shooting and I can't find much to refute it. I will say that Wiggins shot poorer free throw percentage than Rudy the past two years and shot better than 39% beyond the arc the past two years, though his career FT% is 72%. Also, Aaron Gordon and Darius Bazley are sub 70% free throw shooters during their careers (though not as woeful as Rudy's 64%), but shot better than 30% from threes. I know I'm grasping at straws, but Rudy did shoot 4 threes in a row on a video I saw and perhaps he missed many more, but I'm a sucker too and I suspect if they want Rudy to shoot beyond the arc, they will experiment in preseason. We'll see..

You are definitely grasping at straws. . FNG is right. Rudy needs to concentrate on doing what he does well and doing it consistently. The team needs to stop going out of its way to make Rudy a bigger part of the offense. He needs to defend, screen and rebound, defend, screen and rebound…. It’s fine to also mix in a few screen and roll drunks and alley-oops from Conley. But the shooting and scoring needs to come from Ant, KAT, Conley and increasingly Jaden. All four guys are good perimeter shooters. KAT is actually an elite perimeter shooter. And all four can score in different ways.

[kekgeek]

https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/stat ... _u6IL2a9cQ

Rudy for 3 in a game!!!!!! Hang the banner!!!


I originally did the original 3 mostly as a joke. But I like confident Rudy. I know Dane talked about it on his pod if Rudy can sit in the corner and be a Vando type threat from 3, wolves can add another 5 out play style to the team.

Once again I don’t think Rudy will be taking multiple 3s a game or anything like that but I bet that he double digit 3s this year

[Monster]

I'm rubey enough to get momentarily excited when I see a video like that, but who knows how he did on the other 50 3-pointers he tried in practice! And yes the two V-boys you mention did develop into good 3-point shooters. But they were also good free throw shooters their entire careers, and Rudy of course is not. I don't want Rudy trying to become anything more than he is. Just set good screens, roll to the basket, and put in offensive rebounds...in addition to continuing to be a defensive stud.

But beyond that, I'm also excited about what the Conley/Gobert pairing adds to our team. They consistently won 50 games together with a supporting cast not equal to KAT/Ant/Jaden/SloMo, etc. And while they are not "young", when I watch video of each of them today compared to 5 years ago, I see little difference. Conley appeared to me much younger in the way he moved than DLo, for example. Lots of reasons to be optimistic about next season!

FNG, you raise a good point with Rudy's woeful free throw shooting and I can't find much to refute it. I will say that Wiggins shot poorer free throw percentage than Rudy the past two years and shot better than 39% beyond the arc the past two years, though his career FT% is 72%. Also, Aaron Gordon and Darius Bazley are sub 70% free throw shooters during their careers (though not as woeful as Rudy's 64%), but shot better than 30% from threes. I know I'm grasping at straws, but Rudy did shoot 4 threes in a row on a video I saw and perhaps he missed many more, but I'm a sucker too and I suspect if they want Rudy to shoot beyond the arc, they will experiment in preseason. We'll see..

You are definitely grasping at straws. . FNG is right. Rudy needs to concentrate on doing what he does well and doing it consistently. The team needs to stop going out of its way to make Rudy a bigger part of the offense. He needs to defend, screen and rebound, defend, screen and rebound…. It’s fine to also mix in a few screen and roll drunks and alley-oops from Conley. But the shooting and scoring needs to come from Ant, KAT, Conley and increasingly Jaden. All four guys are good perimeter shooters. KAT is actually an elite perimeter shooter. And all four can score in different ways.

I have zero expectations from Gobert as a 3 point shooter. Stephen Adams who is a worse FT shooter has numerous videos of him warming up shooting 3’s and looking just fine but has taken 15 regular season threes in a fairly lengthy career and made one. If Gobert becomes any kind of threat from 3 I’ll take it but I doubt it and I’m usually optimistic. Gobert standing that far from the paint on offense likely takes away from his biggest positives. If his 3 point shot is any kind of improved where if he gets thrown a grenade at the end of the shot clock and he can fire one up and even hit the rim to possibly continue the possession that would be handy…I guess.

Meanwhile the idea that Gobert shouldn’t be a somewhat significant factor in the Wolves offense/scoring simply isn’t rational either. Despite his real flaws he is wildly efficient at what he does. Don’t forget his ability to draw fouls which I think could go up again this year. He is actually a threat to score. Should he stay in his lane and should the Wolves not force feed him a ton of balls? Sure but let’s not discount his impact on that end. The reality is that offense gets easier for everyone if multiple guys are a threat on the floor. It doesn’t always work because those guys need to have some sort of synergy but Gobert could potentially have a bunch of guys around him that can get him the ball. Towns assist numbers were up last year partly due to feeding Gobert. McDaniels actually seems to low key do well finding Gobert.

Let’s see what Finch can cook up when it comes to offense. I think that’s the big upside this roster can have this season. With Gobert the defense isn’t going to suck and there is certainly potential for it to get better than last year.

[Lipoli390]

FNG, you raise a good point with Rudy's woeful free throw shooting and I can't find much to refute it. I will say that Wiggins shot poorer free throw percentage than Rudy the past two years and shot better than 39% beyond the arc the past two years, though his career FT% is 72%. Also, Aaron Gordon and Darius Bazley are sub 70% free throw shooters during their careers (though not as woeful as Rudy's 64%), but shot better than 30% from threes. I know I'm grasping at straws, but Rudy did shoot 4 threes in a row on a video I saw and perhaps he missed many more, but I'm a sucker too and I suspect if they want Rudy to shoot beyond the arc, they will experiment in preseason. We'll see..

You are definitely grasping at straws. . FNG is right. Rudy needs to concentrate on doing what he does well and doing it consistently. The team needs to stop going out of its way to make Rudy a bigger part of the offense. He needs to defend, screen and rebound, defend, screen and rebound…. It’s fine to also mix in a few screen and roll drunks and alley-oops from Conley. But the shooting and scoring needs to come from Ant, KAT, Conley and increasingly Jaden. All four guys are good perimeter shooters. KAT is actually an elite perimeter shooter. And all four can score in different ways.

I have zero expectations from Gobert as a 3 point shooter. Stephen Adams who is a worse FT shooter has numerous videos of him warming up shooting 3’s and looking just fine but has taken 15 regular season threes in a fairly lengthy career and made one. If Gobert becomes any kind of threat from 3 I’ll take it but I doubt it and I’m usually optimistic. Gobert standing that far from the paint on offense likely takes away from his biggest positives. If his 3 point shot is any kind of improved where if he gets thrown a grenade at the end of the shot clock and he can fire one up and even hit the rim to possibly continue the possession that would be handy…I guess.

Meanwhile the idea that Gobert shouldn’t be a somewhat significant factor in the Wolves offense/scoring simply isn’t rational either. Despite his real flaws he is wildly efficient at what he does. Don’t forget his ability to draw fouls which I think could go up again this year. He is actually a threat to score. Should he stay in his lane and should the Wolves not force feed him a ton of balls? Sure but let’s not discount his impact on that end. The reality is that offense gets easier for everyone if multiple guys are a threat on the floor. It doesn’t always work because those guys need to have some sort of synergy but Gobert could potentially have a bunch of guys around him that can get him the ball. Towns assist numbers were up last year partly due to feeding Gobert. McDaniels actually seems to low key do well finding Gobert.

Let’s see what Finch can cook up when it comes to offense. I think that’s the big upside this roster can have this season. With Gobert the defense isn’t going to suck and there is certainly potential for it to get better than last year.

While the team was statistically better defensively when Rudy was on the court, they were worse offensively. Should Rudy be involved in the offense? Yes, as a screener and offensive rebounder. Otherwise, let him score efficiently on put-backs. That’s a rational way for Rudy to be significantly involved in the offense. What the Wolves shouldn’t be doing is attempting to run offensive plays for Rudy to score. If he’s wide open for an alley-oop dunk, then fine although beware his shaky hands. This team has four scorers among its starting five although Jaden’s scoring ability has yet to be fully tapped. Ask not what Mike, Ant, KAT and Jaden can do to enhance Rudy’s offense. Ask what Rudy can do to enhance the offense of the other four.

[Sundog]

Ant’s true shooting percentage increased from good nba player to elite nba player when Gobert was on the floor. When the Conley/Gobert pairing was on the floor, the Wolves offense went from league worst to top three best. I think you need to retire your argument that Rudy is a net negative to the Wolves offense, Lip. That was undoubtedly true in the first part of the season, with Dlo at point and everyone trying to adjust their games to Rudy. But that adjustment happened later in the season, accelerated by the trade for Conley.

I’m with you that Rudy can’t be a focal part of the offense and that shouldn’t be forced. But Rudy is a weapon that shouldn’t be marginalized either.

I’m also with you that Rudy should be the one traded after this season, but that’s a conversation for another thread (or 12).

[KG4Ever]

Ant’s true shooting percentage increased from good nba player to elite nba player when Gobert was on the floor. When the Conley/Gobert pairing was on the floor, the Wolves offense went from league worst to top three best. I think you need to retire your argument that Rudy is a net negative to the Wolves offense, Lip. That was undoubtedly true in the first part of the season, with Dlo at point and everyone trying to adjust their games to Rudy. But that adjustment happened later in the season, accelerated by the trade for Conley.

I’m with you that Rudy can’t be a focal part of the offense and that shouldn’t be forced. But Rudy is a weapon that shouldn’t be marginalized either.

I’m also with you that Rudy should be the one traded after this season, but that’s a conversation for another thread (or 12).

Noone needs to get traded after the season, so we need zero threads.

[kekgeek]

What a quote from Rudy after drilling his first 3.

“Tonight I feel like I lost my virginity”

[Lipoli390]

It’s nice that Rudy plays better with Conley in the floor. The far more important question is how he’ll play with KAT. Here’s an analysis I saw today:

“The Wolves outscored their opponents by 0.6 points per 100 possessions in 529 total minutes with Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert on the floor together last season. That’s not bad, but it’s not good, the offense was bad (106.2 scored per 100) in those minutes, and the defense was terrible in the playoffs when the two bigs were both on the floor.

Giving it another shot is worthwhile, especially because Anthony Edwards’ development will make this team better no matter who’s on the frontline. But with Naz Reid re-signed to a three-year, $42-million deal, three of the Wolves’ five highest-paid players are centers who can’t necessarily play together. Minnesota was outscored by 11 points per 100 possessions in 284 total minutes with Reid on the floor with either Gobert or Towns last season. At some point, the Wolves will have to part ways with one of these guys and hopefully, better health gives them more data to evaluate if they can play together and/or which one’s the better fit alongside their franchise player.”

I expect Rudy and KAT will play better together next season if both remain healthy. Having Conley on the floor will definitely help, but I’m not counting on Conley for more that 60 games.