I'm not Kekgeek's grades G66 @ Clippers

[Carlos Danger]

Carlos, you seem to rely exclusively on stats to make your arguments (Jaden's grade, Naz's defense, Miller's development in Iowa, etc.). You need to start watching the games my friend! You can't just rely on stats. And I'm a huge stats guy myself, as they definitely help form an overall assessment of a player. But there is so much that goes on outside of what can be gleaned from a box score or generalized stat (like VORP or PER).

I mean...just because someone watches the game doesn't make them an expert either - right? None of us are professional basketball scouts. Most of us probably never played or coached beyond high school levels. We are just basketball fans - no more. And nothing wrong with that. But as fans, we will have biases when we watch. It's why that "DLO is an All Star" guy would always come on here and tell us we don't know what we are talking about. He watched every game.

If I watched games, I doubt my biases would change much. I want more from McDaniels that what we have gotten this year. Especially considering his contract extension.

And since you watched the game, can you answer the question I posed in the FNG response? Did McDaniels sit most of the 4th quarter? If so, why?

Edit: I'm going to answer my own question. I'm going to assume he was sitting because he had 4 fouls. But if that's the case, do people need to dial back the praise of him shutting down the other team in the 4th quarter since he only played 4 minutes of it?

Edit #2: Looking at game log again, Moore Jr. subbed for McDaniels at 2:31. So, as far as I can tell, McDaniels played less than 2 minutes of the 4th. Those that watched, correct me if I'm wrong.

[FNG]

Anthony, PG was sitting for the first half of the 4th quarter, so Finchie rested Jaden too...he looked exhausted after his 3rd quarter minutes. Then he let NAW defend PG when he came into the game in the 4th for about 3 minutes, and than put Jaden back on him until the benches emptied. But Jaden earned his A defense rating mostly in his 10 minutes defending PG in the 3rd. The Clippers were running every possible play to get George baskets, and Jaden was on him like a cheap suit. The Clippers only scored 15 points in the 3rd quarter during Jaden's minutes, and the Wolves erased all of an 8-point deficit in a major momentum turn. After that the offense got hot, and the game was for all intents and purposes over in my opinion 3 minutes into the 4th quarter. Clips fans may whine about not having Kawhi in the second half, but holding a team with PG and Powell to 37 points in a half is still quite impressive.

[Carlos Danger]

Anthony, PG was sitting for the first half of the 4th quarter, so Finchie rested Jaden too...he looked exhausted after his 3rd quarter minutes. Then he let NAW defend PG when he came into the game in the 4th for about 3 minutes, and than put Jaden back on him until the benches emptied. But Jaden earned his A defense rating mostly in his 10 minutes defending PG in the 3rd. The Clippers were running every possible play to get George baskets, and Jaden was on him like a cheap suit. The Clippers only scored 15 points in the 3rd quarter during Jaden's minutes, and the Wolves erased all of an 8-point deficit in a major momentum turn. After that the offense got hot, and the game was for all intents and purposes over in my opinion 3 minutes into the 4th quarter. Clips fans may whine about not having Kawhi in the second half, but holding a team with PG and Powell to 37 points in a half is still quite impressive.

Fair enough. I'll drop it after this FNG. I believe Jaden did fine contributing to the defensive effort. I saw the run you referred to in the game logs. They were down 8 to start the 3rd and were back to tie when Jaden was subbed out. But, it looks like the best run was the 4th when Jaden was out and they built their biggest lead to put it away (up by 20 when they finally brought him back in).

Jaden only played 23 minutes to Paul George's 35 in this game, so me, personally - I would factor that into any grade I would give him. These posts are for discussion and that's my 2 cents. End of commentary on my part.

[Wolvesfan21]

0 for 8 gets you a C+? I can't get there. Good defense is to be expected on this team. If you provide NOTHING on the offensive side, I think you have to fall below C. I'm not saying F. But I would probably say something in the D range. He was the only starter with a negative +/-

Edit: Team worst -8.

I think a D is fair. Maybe D+. I don't think he would think he deserved anything above that either himself. I liked his D for the most part. Just even a couple buckets made will go to a C.

Anyone hear on Rudys timeline? Rib bruising can be tough to heal. I had a pretty bad rib strain that lasted a couple weeks. Was really sucky because it hurt to breathe so it hurt all the time.