Welp Here We Are Again (Wolves vs. Thunder)

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Also, whoops on the double post.

Was trying to edit, not reply.

You should see if you can delete that extra post…

I don't seem to have the delete option, maybe because I accidentally hit "reply" instead of "edit," and then I typed directly into the quoted text? It is cool that you can reply to your own quote, but I just botched that one trying to edit it. Sorry.

[FNG]

I guess we're going to find out if the Sab Magic still works when he tees up the GDT a day early .

Hey hey hey, I knew I would be too busy to make the GT earlier and then people would lose their minds if there was nothing up. I'm always thinking of you guys

You are forgiven, sab. Maybe tee up the Nuggets GDT today?

It's absurd how little attention our Wolves get from the national media...almost every pundit I listened to had OkC winning this game, despite phenom's point that we have the second best rotation in the playoffs. This is a talented team with a great mix of youth and experience, and we showed tonight what we can do when healthy (except Jaden). Regardless of what happens in the playoffs, I'm convinced this is a roster that can challenge for a championship next season if we aren't bit by the injury bug again.

That said, I'm not taking too much from this blowout. The Wolves are so much bigger and talented than the Thunder, anything less than a double digit win would have been disappointing. Rudy and KAT scored 49 points on only 27 shots against the Midget Thunder, and added 21 boards. Finchie brilliantly had NAW start and chase around his cousin, and Rudy and KAT were there to bother him whenever he got into the paint...SGA shot 51% this season, but our combination of interior and exterior defense forced him into an uncharacteristic 5 for 19 shooting night...ballgame.

We rip KAT for his on-court attitude, but I've been saying all season how different he looks this year (um...when he plays)...the whining and not getting back on defense after he doesn't get the call he wants are dramatically reduced this season. His smarter play tonight resulted in only 2 fouls and was a big factor in this easy win. And as Jester said, he has the ability to get a bucket when he wants.

Rudy gets ripped here a lot, even on a night when he goes 21/10 in a blowout win. I get it...he looks so clumsy and unorthodox out there. But his sheer size is something that can't be overlooked, and his shot-blocking reputation seems to lead to 7 or 8 "shots not taken" almost every night, and they are every bit as important as blocked shots. I love defense because I think it wins championships, and the combination of our aggressive perimeter defense combined with a couple 7 footers inside (one a perennial DPOY candidate, and the other who provided 3 blocks tonight) is a challenge for any team's half-court offense.

If anyone in the national media watched last night's game, maybe they might start talking about us a little...

[AbeVigodaLive]

I guess we're going to find out if the Sab Magic still works when he tees up the GDT a day early .

Hey hey hey, I knew I would be too busy to make the GT earlier and then people would lose their minds if there was nothing up. I'm always thinking of you guys

You are forgiven, sab. Maybe tee up the Nuggets GDT today?

It's absurd how little attention our Wolves get from the national media...almost every pundit I listened to had OkC winning this game, despite phenom's point that we have the second best rotation in the playoffs. This is a talented team with a great mix of youth and experience, and we showed tonight what we can do when healthy (except Jaden). Regardless of what happens in the playoffs, I'm convinced this is a roster that can challenge for a championship next season if we aren't bit by the injury bug again.

That said, I'm not taking too much from this blowout. The Wolves are so much bigger and talented than the Thunder, anything less than a double digit win would have been disappointing. Rudy and KAT scored 49 points on only 27 shots against the Midget Thunder, and added 21 boards. Finchie brilliantly had NAW start and chase around his cousin, and Rudy and KAT were there to bother him whenever he got into the paint...SGA shot 51% this season, but our combination of interior and exterior defense forced him into an uncharacteristic 5 for 19 shooting night...ballgame.

We rip KAT for his on-court attitude, but I've been saying all season how different he looks this year (um...when he plays)...the whining and not getting back on defense after he doesn't get the call he wants are dramatically reduced this season. His smarter play tonight resulted in only 2 fouls and was a big factor in this easy win. And as Jester said, he has the ability to get a bucket when he wants.

Rudy gets ripped here a lot, even on a night when he goes 21/10 in a blowout win. I get it...he looks so clumsy and unorthodox out there. But his sheer size is something that can't be overlooked, and his shot-blocking reputation seems to lead to 7 or 8 "shots not taken" almost every night, and they are every bit as important as blocked shots. I love defense because I think it wins championships, and the combination of our aggressive perimeter defense combined with a couple 7 footers inside (one a perennial DPOY candidate, and the other who provided 3 blocks tonight) is a challenge for any team's half-court offense.

If anyone in the national media watched last night's game, maybe they might start talking about us a little...

Gotta do it more than one game.

As they noted several times during the broadcast... the Wolves beat a lot of good teams this season, multiple times. And they lost to the dregs of the league multiple times, too.

The Wolves haven't been nearly consistent enough to get too much credit. For now... "not a normal #8 seed" seems about right.

________________

As for Towns' smart play... He only had two fouls. But again I question how many offensive fouls he would have received with a different officiating crew and opponent.

The line between "smart" and "damn it, why does Towns get so many offensive fouls" is often very slim and decided by outside forces.



[Note: I liked that the officials didn't reward the flopping vs. Towns.]

[FNG]

Yeah, we've lost to dreg teams all season, and then beat the good ones. But that's exactly why this team should be interesting to the pundits, because we're not going to see any dregs teams again this season!

I certainly get the Rudy complaints because he is so awkward out there. But he averaged a double double again this season (and had another one last night) and is one of the most intimidating interior forces in the Association. His size is an asset that can't be overstated because he is generally the biggest guy on the court. Unfortunately he now gets matched up against a guy on the Nuggets who is bigger than him (but not longer...Rudy has 6" on Jokic in wingspan). The Gobert/Jokic matchup is intriguing and likely will decide how this series goes. I'm going to have to go back and review some GDTs to refresh my memory as to how the matchup went this season.

[Lipoli390]

Yeah, we've lost to dreg teams all season, and then beat the good ones. But that's exactly why this team should be interesting to the pundits, because we're not going to see any dregs teams again this season!

I certainly get the Rudy complaints because he is so awkward out there. But he averaged a double double again this season (and had another one last night) and is one of the most intimidating interior forces in the Association. His size is an asset that can't be overstated because he is generally the biggest guy on the court. Unfortunately he now gets matched up against a guy on the Nuggets who is bigger than him (but not longer...Rudy has 6" on Jokic in wingspan). The Gobert/Jokic matchup is intriguing and likely will decide how this series goes. I'm going to have to go back and review some GDTs to refresh my memory as to how the matchup went this season.

I often cringe watching Rudy. Along with the questionable hands and clumsiness, I’ve never seen him get an and-one. If you touch him, he won’t finish. However, Rudy was great last night and he’s been good most games the last half of the season.

I’m not putting much stock in the Rudy-Jokic matchup. The top centers, including Jokic, have hit their career averages scoring and rebounding against Rudy. I’m interested in what KAT will do with Rudy out there. We won’t have the size advantage we had against OKC, but we’ll still have a size advantage against Denver. That’s major part of what the Gobert trade was all about - i.e., giving the Wolves a size advantage. The Wolves need to exploit that against Denver. If Rudy and KAT play the way they played last night - which wasn’t out of the norm for them - then I like our chances against the Nuggets. I wouldn’t bet on the Wolves winning the series, but I think we can make it competitive and possibly get lucky.

[Lipoli390]

On the Jaden thing, I don't mean to overstate my concerns or to suggest I definitely think he does have problems.

The padded wall point is a good one that I hadn't thought of. It's understandable that he wasn't aware of the danger he was putting himself in rather than being completely reckless.

It's also true that other guys have punched walls or done otherwise dumb, risky things and were just fine. I guess what I'm getting at is that I think there's a difference between those guys and Jaden in this way: we know (or knew) what Kareem's or LeBron's or KG's or Kevin Love's personalities were like outside of that moment of frustration or risk-taking, so we could understand that this was just that--just a moment of frustration that they would return from. With Jaden, I honestly have no idea what his personality is like because he doesn't project any personality at all (at least that I can see through my limited vantage point). I honestly can't remember any other emotions from him in any other instances. So I don't have the security of knowing that he'll be fine because this was a divergence from his personality.

This is why I'm stressing that if the guys on the team know him, and have a sense of his personality that we just can't see on camera and feel like he'll be fine, then great. He's an awesome defender, he's getting better, and he's a perfect fit with what this team needs. But because I don't know that myself, I have to hope that the guys on the team who know him have a sense for his personality and whether or not this was (as I assume) just an immature moment that really hurt us this season, and not a sign that he's capable of doing something (and how likely he is to do it) in the next few years on or off the court that could end up making him unavailable to play for even longer. Obviously, guys with good personalities do bad things too (Ted Bundy was highly charismatic, actually). I'm not talking about autism either, since that's not a predictor of decision-making. But there are some people who just seem detached from the world and I just have no idea what to expect from them. Part of that may be my own personal bias, since I've known a couple students and one former neighbor like this and they all went on to do things that, well, let's just say they wouldn't be cleared for work after that. And again, my view is limited, and the guys on the team would absolutely know better and I trust their judgment. But after last Sunday, there's a small question mark there for me abut Jaden that wasn't there before, and it's not a question mark I had at all about Rudy or Kyle because we could all predict basically how they'd respond.

Part of this is also a testament to how high Jaden's stock is right now (and to a lesser degree how expensive he'll probably be in the future). Every contract requires a risk-reward analysis. All I'm saying is that because I have no idea what he's actually like as a person, that punch raises the question (a small question) of a possible risk that I normally wouldn't even really think about as a fan. It's probably a 99.99% chance I've got nothing to worry about. But before last week that was 100% and that just sticks in the back of my head a bit.

As a player, I love what he brings to the floor.

Good write-up, Drew. I understand your point. Jaden is a bit enigmatic, but his personality doesn’t sound any alarm bells in my head. It’s obvious that he’s highly competitive. Apparently, he committed a lot of technical fouls in college complaining to officials, but that’s not so out of the ordinary and he’s clearly controlled that impulse since coming to the NBA. He’s never been known to get in fights on or off the court or deliver cheap shots to opponents. For me that “wall” doesn’t provide any insight into Jaden because it was so obviously just a hanging curtain in Jaden’s mind. Jaden is stoic on the court. But so were Joe Dumars and John Stockton. Maybe Jaden will do something that causes me concern, but so far all I see is a lot of talent, a terrific work ethic, a high level of competitive intensity, and a serious approach the the game — lots to love and nothing to fear. That’s my take.

[Monster]

Yeah, we've lost to dreg teams all season, and then beat the good ones. But that's exactly why this team should be interesting to the pundits, because we're not going to see any dregs teams again this season!

I certainly get the Rudy complaints because he is so awkward out there. But he averaged a double double again this season (and had another one last night) and is one of the most intimidating interior forces in the Association. His size is an asset that can't be overstated because he is generally the biggest guy on the court. Unfortunately he now gets matched up against a guy on the Nuggets who is bigger than him (but not longer...Rudy has 6" on Jokic in wingspan). The Gobert/Jokic matchup is intriguing and likely will decide how this series goes. I'm going to have to go back and review some GDTs to refresh my memory as to how the matchup went this season.

I often cringe watching Rudy. Along with the questionable hands and clumsiness, I’ve never seen him get an and-one. If you touch him, he won’t finish. However, Rudy was great last night and he’s been good most games the last half of the season.

I’m not putting much stock in the Rudy-Jokic matchup. The top centers, including Jokic, have hit their career averages scoring and rebounding against Rudy. I’m interested in what KAT will do with Rudy out there. We won’t have the size advantage we had against OKC, but we’ll still have a size advantage against Denver. That’s major part of what the Gobert trade was all about - i.e., giving the Wolves a size advantage. The Wolves need to exploit that against Denver. If Rudy and KAT play the way they played last night - which wasn’t out of the norm for them - then I like our chances against the Nuggets. I wouldn’t bet on the Wolves winning the series, but I think we can make it competitive and possibly get lucky.

Good posts.

I hope that Gobert just plays well not to take some sort of personal challenge against Jokic. That is what has gotten Towns in trouble in the past and quite frankly used to be a problem with Jokic too before he turned himself into an MVP. I’m less worried about Jokic going off doing his thing game to game and more concerned if Gobert simply has an impact and plays his game. Same for Towns. Just play well play hard but don’t expect to do everything to win the game. There is still enough on the Wolves roster talent that can be shared among everyone and this Allie’s to Edwards as well.

This is just another playoffs that I think it’s gonna come down to health and what team/s play most like a team. The Wolves have 2 key injuries in McDaniels and Naz but if somehow they actually played like they are capable and some other teams don’t really put it together they could make a run. There are basically 8 WC teams that are capable of playing really good basketball but which ones will actually do it. Keep in mind though having said that once you get to playing. A series you can come times play like poop squat in a least one game of a series and still win and or be the best team in a series. Let’s hope the Wolves play some good ball that they are capable of. I’m not getting my hopes up for them winning this series but I do have some hopes of them winning at least a game or two and looking like they belong in the playoffs. If that happens without McDaniels and a possible key rotation guy in Naz that’s kinda encouraging despite all what happened this season.

[Coolbreeze44]

Say we do go on a long run, what is the earliest McDaniels could return? From what I've read most of the healing with metacarpal fractures occurs in the first 3-4 weeks. Could we see him if we make the conference finals?

[FNG]

Say we do go on a long run, what is the earliest McDaniels could return? From what I've read most of the healing with metacarpal fractures occurs in the first 3-4 weeks. Could we see him if] we make the conference finals?

You misspelled "when", cool.

I don't have the answer on Jaden. I think it was reported that Naz will be back for the finals though (six weeks to heal they said)