FNG wrote: ↑Fri Dec 06, 2024 7:54 am
I've mentioned a couple times that a couple of our guys seem to be understanding their low man role recently compared to many disastrous possessions earlier. This along with a noticeable increase in energy has made me feel a lot better about our defense. The Naz/Randle pairing was horrible most of the year, but has been very good the past 6 games...a DRtg of 97.6 compared to 117 the first 15 games! Some of this might be because we have been playing against some woeful offenses recently, but still, the eye test looks good too.
I agree they've looked better. But like you said the opponents have been hampered by injuries with us playing G leaguers and playing on back to backs too. Love the progress, need to see it over a longer period and against better / healthier teams.
I think guys were struggling with putting their egos aside and doing what is best for the team to start the year, which then helps them WIN. After Ant calls out the team for being "internally soft, can't talk to each other," since then we've seen a totally different team. Lets see more!
Good find Sundog. I think we tend to get caught up in the times Rudy gets cooked one on one by guys like Jokic and Sengun, which is the cost of not doubling and staying home on shooters. But we take for granted a lot of the other misses he creates as a help defender.
Good find Sundog. I think we tend to get caught up in the times Rudy gets cooked one on one by guys like Jokic and Sengun, which is the cost of not doubling and staying home on shooters. But we take for granted a lot of the other misses he creates as a help defender.
That’s right. That’s why I continue to see Rudy as part of the Wolves 2.0 I’m envisioning. His role anchoring our defense is too important to the potential success of a re-tooled Ant-centric Wolves team. He’s not ideal in my view because of his offensive limitations and his rebounding has faltered too often for my taste this season. But there’s not denying how much he helps our defense. The Rudy trade was a mistake in my view, but we can’t keep compounding that mistake. Trading KAT was bad enough as a mistake caused by the Rudy trade. Trading Rudy without someone to effectively replace his defensive role would be yet another follow-on mistake. But no one’s talking about trading Rudy. And we can trade him now under League rules anyway. The question is whether the Wolves will trade Randle. We’ll know when we know.
