Minnesota Sports Forum

LaVine's game took off when he figured out how to change his speed, play in different gears. His rookie season he was trying to play in fourth gear all the time and it hurt him. Now he's hitting guys with hang/hesitation dribbles in rhythm and then blowing by. That little start/stop is all it takes for guys with quickness like him. He's also gotten a lot better at finishing with his left hand and when he does go right hand on the left side, it's often been with his body shielding defenders so he can get it on the glass. I love watching him play. I love the way he carries himself. Can't say enough about the guy.

Q12543 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:I've been reading some of the posts in this thread. Just a word on KAT's behalf having watched him in person in all but one of this season's home games. The guy fights like hell for inside position. The energy he has to expend repeatedly competing for inside position against the NBA big guys he faces each night needs to be factored into any evaluation of KAT. Remember, he doesn't have a big guy with him up front to take any of the pressure off him. The other team's biggest, strongest guy is alway free to defend KAT and typically, he ends up getting doubled.

Some posts seem to suggest that he's slacking on the offensive end and just taking the easy route with fade-away jumpers and 3-pointers. But that's not accurate in my view when take into account the whole picture. I find fault with him on the defensive end this season -- usually his judgment but sometimes his effort. But the guy competes consistently every game for every minute he's on the court. You don't average nearly 11 rebounds per game unless you're putting forth the effort. He's a smart player who plays with a lot of passion and effort. Defenders are keying on him and opposing teams are attacking him more this season. But I'm convinced he'll learn and develop. When you have his talent, smarts and motor, you'll end up just fine.

I don't know if that is the thing people are complaining about. It's more about his tendency to try to do too much as opposed to making the simple play and then always making things about himself in interviews. Get over yourself KAT!

That's a helpful clarification, Q. I generally agree with the observation that he's trying to do too much at times. But when it comes to him taking more threes than some think he should, I'll note that part of it is poor floor spacing that makes it hard for him to get good position down low. I also see it resulting in part from his teammates not doing a good job of cutting and getting open for him to pass out of the post. Actually, my biggest criticism of KAT is that he seems to be overthinking when he gets the ball in the post and, as a result, he waits too long allowing the double team to come. A bunch of us in my section have noticed and commented on it -- some of us yelling at KAT to take his defender to the hole when he first touches the ball. So I think it's a bit more complicated than KAT simply motivated by his ego to play hero ball.

I did see KAT's interview after tonight's game. I guess I'm not troubled at all by it. He talked about loving his teammates and the performances of Wiggins and LaVine as much as he did about himself. The in-studio ESPN team praised him for his recognition of his teammates. He's a buoyant, affable highly articulate personality. That's great. Best thing is that he plays hard, plays with passion and cares. Run him in pick and rolls with Zach. Do other things to help get the most out of him beyond simply having him fight double-teams down low. I don't want him taking 8 three-pointers most games. But most of the three-pointers I've seen him take this season were very good looks. He's been missing more than we'd like this season but before tonight he was shooting 36% from behind the arc, which actually makes him a good NBA 3-point shooter. I actually see him becoming a much better 3-point shooter over time. That would take the opponent's big away from the basket -- opening up the lane for slashers like Wiggins and LaVine and creating offensive rebounding opportunities.

I just hope the entire team can build on tonight's win. KAT's offensive will be fine. I want to see him improve defensively. But the latter applies generally to the entire team.

Camden wrote:LaVine's game took off when he figured out how to change his speed, play in different gears. His rookie season he was trying to play in fourth gear all the time and it hurt him. Now he's hitting guys with hang/hesitation dribbles in rhythm and then blowing by. That little start/stop is all it takes for guys with quickness like him. He's also gotten a lot better at finishing with his left hand and when he does go right hand on the left side, it's often been with his body shielding defenders so he can get it on the glass. I love watching him play. I love the way he carries himself. Can't say enough about the guy.

I agree completely.

I'll add another thing related to KAT. His dad comes to most games. He used to sit across the isle and two rows behind me. Now he's sitting two rows directly behind me. He's very vocal and I hear a lot of what he says. I can tell you he's really tough on his son. So I don't think KAT has been spoiled on the home front.

I think it's an immaturity thing with KAT. He's put up his hands to be the leader of this team, which is great, but he needs to grow into that role. At the end of the day he is only 21 along with Wiggins and LaVine. They're still kids.

Rubio is a big reason for the spacing, and for whatever reason his teammates often run right by him in the post making the lane more conjested. I used the term teacher pet earlier in the year when describing Kat's personality, that maybe a little harsh but everything with the media seems so scripted from him and a bit fake. Funny one of Britt's tweets tonight he used the same term. Thought it was interesting. I don't wanna be a downer, a lot of this is youth with him. Hopefully he was grows from this organically to become one of the leaders of this team instead it being forced.

And Rubio had decent stats and definitely played well tonight but spacing was an issue in the 4th due to him. They exploited him offensively big time. Imagine that in a playoff series.

KAT is shooting more 3s in the 2nd half and most of his 3s at his worst percentage in the 4th (24%). He's shot the 2nd most 3s in the 4th quarter next to Zach who shoots 3s at 26% in the 4th. It's kind of the definition of hero ball and is entirely within his control.

lipoli390 wrote:I've been reading some of the posts in this thread. Just a word on KAT's behalf having watched him in person in all but one of this season's home games. The guy fights like hell for inside position. The energy he has to expend repeatedly competing for inside position against the NBA big guys he faces each night needs to be factored into any evaluation of KAT. Remember, he doesn't have a big guy with him up front to take any of the pressure off him. The other team's biggest, strongest guy is alway free to defend KAT and typically, he ends up getting doubled.

Some posts seem to suggest that he's slacking on the offensive end and just taking the easy route with fade-away jumpers and 3-pointers. But that's not accurate in my view when take into account the whole picture. I find fault with him on the defensive end this season -- usually his judgment but sometimes his effort. But the guy competes consistently every game for every minute he's on the court. You don't average nearly 11 rebounds per game unless you're putting forth the effort. He's a smart player who plays with a lot of passion and effort. Defenders are keying on him and opposing teams are attacking him more this season. But I'm convinced he'll learn and develop. When you have his talent, smarts and motor, you'll end up just fine.

At least in many games that I have watched this year, it has looked like most of the time opponent power forward is defending KAT and their center is defending Dieng. I remember that it has happened at least against Toronto and Detroit. I think that generally teams want to keep their big man in the paint and thus they are defending Dieng with center since Dieng is not a big threat behind three point line.

In those cases I really would like to see KAT in post against forwards like Morris, Lauer, Siakam and Patterson. Dieng stretches the floor still enough that they can play KAT in low post with him. In Toronto game 3rd quarter, there was a stretch when KAT was scoring at will from low post, then it looked like they stopped feeding him or KAT stayed mostly in perimeter that and Wolves lost 4th quarter badly.

A few comments about whether Towns is shooting too many three pointers...

The game is changing before our eyes. Multiple teams are on an NBA record pace shooting three pointers. One of them is Brooklyn. Brook Lopez is averaging 5.4 per game. He's taken 114 already. He took 31 total three pointers his first 8 seasons combined. He's shooting 36.8%.

DeMarcus Cousins is taking a career high 4.6 attempts. 36.9%. He's taken 321 over the past two seasons. He took 69 over his first 5 seasons.

Marc Gasol is taking a career high 3.6 per game. 43.7%. He's taken 87 so far. He took 66 in his first 8 seasons.

Coming into tonight, Towns was taking 3.8 per game. He was shooting 36.3%. Unless he falls off a cliff with efficiency... I think we're gonna see more of them. That's today's NBA. That's why Towns is considered such a prize. Like it or not...



[Note: The Wolves are going to easily surpass the previous team record for 3 point attempts. Even so... they're still 25th in the league for attempts per game.[