Anyone watching? Mavs v Wolves

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Here's some fun with numbers since I have the time...

Karl-Anthony Towns was 145-198 (.423) in games played with Andrew Wiggins.

Towns is 28-21 (.571) in games played with D'Angelo Russell.

Wiggins is 65-47 (.580) in a Warriors uniform -- 60-32 when he's played with Steph Curry and 5-15 without him.

What does this tell me? Regardless of how you feel about Jonathan Kuminga, that trade is looking more and more like a win for both teams.

[thedoper]

Here's some fun with numbers since I have the time...

Karl-Anthony Towns was 145-198 (.423) in games played with Andrew Wiggins.

Towns is 28-21 (.571) in games played with D'Angelo Russell.

Wiggins is 65-47 (.580) in a Warriors uniform -- 60-32 when he's played with Steph Curry and 5-15 without him.

What does this tell me? Regardless of how you feel about Jonathan Kuminga, that trade is looking more and more like a win for both teams.

Sometimes basketball success is about fit. Wiggins should never have been in a ball dominant role, yet it was probably good for his long term development to have had the ball so much in Minnesota. Kumminga would have been nice but I never thought it was a bad trade.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Here's some fun with numbers since I have the time...

Karl-Anthony Towns was 145-198 (.423) in games played with Andrew Wiggins.

Towns is 28-21 (.571) in games played with D'Angelo Russell.

Wiggins is 65-47 (.580) in a Warriors uniform -- 60-32 when he's played with Steph Curry and 5-15 without him.

What does this tell me? Regardless of how you feel about Jonathan Kuminga, that trade is looking more and more like a win for both teams.

Sometimes basketball success is about fit. Wiggins should never have been in a ball dominant role, yet it was probably good for his long term development to have had the ball so much in Minnesota. Kumminga would have been nice but I never thought it was a bad trade.

Agreed. Andrew Wiggins slid into the role Harrison Barnes used to play for the Warriors during the early days of their dynasty. Kudos to him for buying in and producing the way that he has for them.

Simply, the Wolves needed a massive change and they jumped at the opportunity to acquire another highly-talented young player that could fit better with Karl-Anthony Towns. The early returns were underwhelming due to injuries, but when healthy they've shown that as a pairing they are dangerous -- much more so than Towns and Wiggins were.

It just goes to show how many factors are involved in a player's successes or failures. Talent, health, work ethic, culture, primary role, teammates, coaching staff, etc.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I agree that the trade is increasingly looking like a win-win. Both these guys need the right setting to be net positives. In DLO's case, he needed a coach he respected and a culture that demanded he actually tries on defense. It's a little pathetic to me that we needed a bunch of planets to line up perfectly just to get DLO to give a shit about defense, but it is what it is. He's without question been a big difference maker this year.

[FNG]

Very good win tonight with lots of game balls to pass around. Some might dismiss the win since Dallas was missing their best player (and KP for half the game), but not having watched Dallas this season, I was surprised at how good they looked last night. I don't know that I have seen a team move the ball around the perimeter better than what I saw last night. But I would say that the Wolves largely were up to the challenge and protected the 3-point line very well. Dallas is clearly a playoff team in my opinion, and we did what we needed to do on our home court.

I agree with the lauding in this thread toward Vando, Nowell, DLo and Jaden. Beasley didn't shot well again, but I never question his hustle on the court, and his ball handling and distribution is notably improved this season.

Jim P mentioned it last night, but Jaden's demeanor is 180 degrees from what it was earlier in the season. He is much more aggressive on offense (while still displaying the same great defense) and is showing he can contribute off the bench.

Nice win. Should we be concerned that we are 13-15 with Ant against a soft schedule, and 0-2 without him against two playoff teams ;-) ?

[Lipoli390]

FNG - I know your last question was tongue-in-cheek, but it left me thinking that it's probably a good thing Edwards didn't play in these past two victories for several reasons:

1. It showed the rest of the team that they can win big games without Edwards, which should boost their confidence and help ensure they don't become overly dependent on Ant either physically or psychologically.

2. It should help keep Edwards humble and perhaps encourage him be a little less sticky-fingered with ball

3. It gave Nowell a chance to get meaningful minutes and start to break through as I've always thought he would. From a talent perspective, in my view he's our best all-around guard off the bench. He's not the three-point shooter that Beasley is and may not be quite as good on the boards as Beasley. But I think he's an all-around better talent who can defend better than Beasley, play both guard positions and score in multiple ways.

4. it gave Beasley more minutes to put up more threes. He's still struggling from behind the arc. But the only way he'll break out of his shooting slump is to keep shooting at a high volume in games. These last couple games as a starter gave Beasley a chance to put up more threes get a better rhythm and regain some confidence. It also allowed him to showcase his improved ball-handling, passing and defense. I think he'll be more effective off the bench going forward because of these past two games.

We should be an even better team when Edwards returns. We just have to hope that KAT, DLO and Beverley continue to test negative for Covid.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

FNG, I just posted an update to the Player Ratings thread. I think if you look at that, it's hard to say that Ant is a major impact player yet when it comes to sustained winning basketball. Yes, he can take over games at times and gives a great interview - the sky is the limit. But in between all the sexy stuff he does is a lot of missed shots and ball stopping. He's still a net positive, but he's not "great" by any means.

We have one truly great player on this team and it's KAT. One could argue DLO is in that category too this season given how much we struggle without him, but KAT has a more trustworthy track record.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

FNG - I know your last question was tongue-in-cheek, but it left me thinking that it's probably a good thing Edwards didn't play in these past two victories for several reasons:

1. It showed the rest of the team that they can win big games without Edwards, which should boost their confidence and help ensure they don't become overly dependent on Ant either physically or psychologically.

2. It should help keep Edwards humble and perhaps encourage him be a little less sticky-fingered with ball

3. It gave Nowell a chance to get meaningful minutes and start to break through as I've always thought he would. From a talent perspective, in my view he's our best all-around guard off the bench. He's not the three-point shooter that Beasley is and may not be quite as good on the boards as Beasley. But I think he's an all-around better talent who can defend better than Beasley, play both guard positions and score in multiple ways.

4. it gave Beasley more minutes to put up more threes. He's still struggling from behind the arc. But the only way he'll break out of his shooting slump is to keep shooting at a high volume in games. These last couple games as a starter gave Beasley a chance to put up more threes get a better rhythm and regain some confidence. It also allowed him to showcase his improved ball-handling, passing and defense. I think he'll be more effective off the bench going forward because of these past two games.

We should be an even better team when Edwards returns. We just have to hope that KAT, DLO and Beverley continue to test negative for Covid.

If only Nowell was a couple inches taller and bigger and we never had to see Prince on the floor again! As it stands today, he's still stuck behind Edwards and Beasley when we're healthy, but I like how he's starting to challenge Beasley for minutes. May be he can play some spot PG too so that we can put Bolmaro out of his misery and back to the G-League where he belongs??

[FNG]

FNG - I know your last question was tongue-in-cheek, but it left me thinking that it's probably a good thing Edwards didn't play in these past two victories for several reasons:

1. It showed the rest of the team that they can win big games without Edwards, which should boost their confidence and help ensure they don't become overly dependent on Ant either physically or psychologically.

2. It should help keep Edwards humble and perhaps encourage him be a little less sticky-fingered with ball

3. It gave Nowell a chance to get meaningful minutes and start to break through as I've always thought he would. From a talent perspective, in my view he's our best all-around guard off the bench. He's not the three-point shooter that Beasley is and may not be quite as good on the boards as Beasley. But I think he's an all-around better talent who can defend better than Beasley, play both guard positions and score in multiple ways.

4. it gave Beasley more minutes to put up more threes. He's still struggling from behind the arc. But the only way he'll break out of his shooting slump is to keep shooting at a high volume in games. These last couple games as a starter gave Beasley a chance to put up more threes get a better rhythm and regain some confidence. It also allowed him to showcase his improved ball-handling, passing and defense. I think he'll be more effective off the bench going forward because of these past two games.

We should be an even better team when Edwards returns. We just have to hope that KAT, DLO and Beverley continue to test negative for Covid.

OK, so you jinxed PatBev, but did you have to take Vando too??? (This recent Covid outbreak is making the NBA difficult to watch).

Some good points, Lip. I also think it was good for the team to learn they can win without their (arguably) most exciting player, and also to give Nowell some court time. Ant has an enormous upside, but to Q's point below, is far from being a "great" player yet in terms of having a consistent positive impact on this team. My sense of Ant though is that he has a burning desire to get better, and it's somewhat likely he has used his brief time off to see how well we played without him...a little less ball stickiness and a little smarter defense can bring his game to an even higher level.

[FNG]

FNG, I just posted an update to the Player Ratings thread. I think if you look at that, it's hard to say that Ant is a major impact player yet when it comes to sustained winning basketball. Yes, he can take over games at times and gives a great interview - the sky is the limit. But in between all the sexy stuff he does is a lot of missed shots and ball stopping. He's still a net positive, but he's not "great" by any means.

We have one truly great player on this team and it's KAT. One could argue DLO is in that category too this season given how much we struggle without him, but KAT has a more trustworthy track record.

Yeah, thanks for posting the updated ratings, Q...I found them interesting, and good statistical support for what most of us have seen this season. KAT is our one great player, but you can't ignore the contribution PatBev, DLo and Vando have made at both ends of the court. DLo has almost entirely turned his game around...looks very little like the guy I have watched for the past 6 years. And I especially love the offensively-challenged Vando having the second best Offensive Rating on the team! We all know Vando isn't a good shooter or ball handler, so it just goes to show how important his elite offensive rebounding is to our offense. Think about what happens after a player gets a big offensive rebound. The defense is generally discombobulated after a missed shot, so Vando's terrific offensive rebounding not only prolongs the possession, but also often results in a wide-open three. In a year in which our 3-point shooting has not been very good, Vando's offensive rebounding is an underappreciated asset in our offense.