Minnesota Sports Forum

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

crazy-canuck wrote:3 things I liked that saunders did last night.

1. He took wiggs out for half the 3rd. It allowed wiggs to ball out to start the 4th rested, then took him out with a couple of minutes still left in the game for a job well done. No way thibs does that.

2. He let okogie take the technical ft. The kid has really been struggling with his shot, so showing faith in him to shoot that ft is a confidence booster. No way thibs does that.

3. He tells guys to be ready and isnt afraid to play them meaningful minutes. It's much easier to be ready when you know there is a chance to play. Thibs might do that, but only if we are down or up by 30 with a minute left in the game.

Trying something new with the rotations (and benching a vet player) paid off and was HUGE in that win last night.

These are great points...I hadn't considered 1 and 2.

Look, Ryan is young and is going to make some mistakes and be outcoached by the great ones out there on certain nights. But he also is showing some differences that many of us were asking for when Thibs was coaching. I like the mark he is putting on this team so far, and am hopeful that future changes will also be beneficial after he has had more practice time.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

crazy-canuck wrote:3 things I liked that saunders did last night.

1. He took wiggs out for half the 3rd. It allowed wiggs to ball out to start the 4th rested, then took him out with a couple of minutes still left in the game for a job well done. No way thibs does that.

2. He let okogie take the technical ft. The kid has really been struggling with his shot, so showing faith in him to shoot that ft is a confidence booster. No way thibs does that.

3. He tells guys to be ready and isnt afraid to play them meaningful minutes. It's much easier to be ready when you know there is a chance to play. Thibs might do that, but only if we are down or up by 30 with a minute left in the game.

Trying something new with the rotations (and benching a vet player) paid off and was HUGE in that win last night.

The irony that Ryan is playing Luol Deng after Thibs gets fired is kinda amusing. I think Ryan should getbsome credit for his creative mixing and matching but there is some necessity is the mother of invention aspect also. Still there is little doubt in my mind that Ryan is going to be more likely to try things and encourage guys good and bad than Thibs. Whether that ultimately helps the team we will see. There have already been some good returns.

In think this jazz have will be interesting for saunders.

A few writers, especially dane Moore, have been clamoring for more kat/wiggs high pnr. It turned well this game and the okc game. But does he go back to using it more frequently or does he go back to our pg oriented offense with wiggs as the floor spacer.

He also chimeds in about the twolves identity.

https://zonecoverage.com/2019/featured/point-andrew-wiggins-expands-timberwolves-identity/

crazy-canuck wrote:In think this jazz have will be interesting for saunders.

A few writers, especially dane Moore, have been clamoring for more kat/wiggs high pnr. It turned well this game and the okc game. But does he go back to using it more frequently or does he go back to our pg oriented offense with wiggs as the floor spacer.

He also chimeds in about the twolves identity.

https://zonecoverage.com/2019/featured/point-andrew-wiggins-expands-timberwolves-identity/

This is why I don't think they go get an emergency PG. I'm sure Ryan wants to give Wiggins every chance to be successful, so here we go with Gen 3 of "Point Wiggins". Let's hope it works out better than the first two times we tried it!

Q12543 wrote:

crazy-canuck wrote:In think this jazz have will be interesting for saunders.

A few writers, especially dane Moore, have been clamoring for more kat/wiggs high pnr. It turned well this game and the okc game. But does he go back to using it more frequently or does he go back to our pg oriented offense with wiggs as the floor spacer.

He also chimeds in about the twolves identity.

https://zonecoverage.com/2019/featured/point-andrew-wiggins-expands-timberwolves-identity/

This is why I don't think they go get an emergency PG. I'm sure Ryan wants to give Wiggins every chance to be successful, so here we go with Gen 3 of "Point Wiggins". Let's hope it works out better than the first two times we tried it!

I read the article it was pretty good. Maybe someone remembers something different but what's I remember of point Wiggins or initiator Wiggins Thibs first year was basically him dribbling up the floor and isolating. There was little in the way of screens set for him to create a mismatch or a chance to go downhill or throw the ball tot he screener. That was the thing that bugged me the most about the offense under Thibs was I'm ok with isolating but set screens and get a matchup that actually favors you. No reason to just stand there and attack someone that's good. There is gonna be a better matchup available. I think one reason why Wiggins doing this type of thing working better now is Towns is a MUCH better screener than he was back then. Heck put Wiggins and Saric together out there playing a 2 man game. Like it was said in the article some doses of Wiggins in the PNR makes a ton of sense.

Well, I think it's worth a try in the absence of multiple point guards. Good defensive teams will force him left and bait him into contested mid-range shots, which he can't resist taking. So yeah, we've seen this movie before with mixed results at best. But if this keeps him engaged and he gets to the line and collapses the defense, then it's certainly better than asking Bayless or Terrell to try to break the defense down. We just don't have a lot of options right now.

I'm surprised by all the positivity towards Saunders. Personally, I don't see much of a difference with this team. That's probably because the players have a greater impact on the game than the head coach, but it just feels like Saunders is *there* -- not really changing anything or making any kind of impact. Sure, he's much more likely to make you smile and he's less likely to yell at you. Cool. Everyone wants him to be the next guy, but it's likely that he's just a placeholder.

Camden wrote:I'm surprised by all the positivity towards Saunders. Personally, I don't see much of a difference with this team. That's probably because the players have a greater impact on the game than the head coach, but it just feels like Saunders is *there* -- not really changing anything or making any kind of impact. Sure, he's much more likely to make you smile and he's less likely to yell at you. Cool. Everyone wants him to be the next guy, but it's likely that he's just a placeholder.

LOL, what did you expect, a total overhaul of the offense in the middle of the season? He's definitely changed the substitution patterns He also interacts with his players in a much different way than Thibs. Whether this actually translates to more wins is TBD, but I like what I've seen so far.

Q12543 wrote:

Camden wrote:I'm surprised by all the positivity towards Saunders. Personally, I don't see much of a difference with this team. That's probably because the players have a greater impact on the game than the head coach, but it just feels like Saunders is *there* -- not really changing anything or making any kind of impact. Sure, he's much more likely to make you smile and he's less likely to yell at you. Cool. Everyone wants him to be the next guy, but it's likely that he's just a placeholder.

LOL, what did you expect, a total overhaul of the offense in the middle of the season? He's definitely changed the substitution patterns He also interacts with his players in a much different way than Thibs. Whether this actually translates to more wins is TBD, but I like what I've seen so far.

Yeah, the changes have been quite remarkable. As Q says, there just isn't time to totally change offensive and defensive schemes with so little practice time available so in many ways the same flaws are present under Ryan that were there under Thibs. But while the schemes are similar (I'm interested in seeing what Ryan can do with a preseason to put his mark on the team), so many other things have changed, and they are enumerated well in this thread. It's debatable whether Ryan's changes are the reason this club is staying close to .500 despite being without its best defender and top 3 PGs or why they had the fight to come back from a 23-point deficit last night, but whatever the reason, something is clearly different with this team, and it's making them much more fun to watch. And it's easier for me to attribute the reason to Ryan replacing Thibs rather than Bayless replacing our other 3 PGs.

Sure, we're only 8 games into the Ryan era and the jury is still out. But there are a lot of smart basketball guys in this forum, and the comments about the coach are certainly much more positive about the current guy's early performance than they were about Thibs in the beginning. Things may change, but I suspect that the interim label will be removed before the end of the season.

Q12543 wrote:

Camden wrote:I'm surprised by all the positivity towards Saunders. Personally, I don't see much of a difference with this team. That's probably because the players have a greater impact on the game than the head coach, but it just feels like Saunders is *there* -- not really changing anything or making any kind of impact. Sure, he's much more likely to make you smile and he's less likely to yell at you. Cool. Everyone wants him to be the next guy, but it's likely that he's just a placeholder.

LOL, what did you expect, a total overhaul of the offense in the middle of the season? He's definitely changed the substitution patterns He also interacts with his players in a much different way than Thibs. Whether this actually translates to more wins is TBD, but I like what I've seen so far.

Agreed q. Any fan who watch the games will noticed the substitution patterm and minutes management has improved.