Minnesota Sports Forum

CoolBreeze44 wrote:The ball isn't moving on offense. Like Ant said, it's 3 against 5. The ball never moves from side to side and we have 3 guys taking turns jacking up shots. I've seen this coming and it isn't going to work. Finch and the guys keep saying the right things but it doesn't translate to the game.

I agree, Cool. What will it take to get the ball moving? I have to believe that Finch is coaching and preaching ball movement in practice and from the bench, but it's not happening. Is it the personnel? Is DLO simply not a guy who can be trusted to run the offense in a way that keeps the ball moving?

I watched games last year and the ball was moving, WTF has happened in the offseason? Is it the Simmons news???

You could see this one coming...

Not the woefully dismal shooting from Russell, Beasley, Prince and Edwards (1/2), but the Jonas Valunciunas show. He got into Towns head on Saturday. And you know the antics were going to ramped up even more on Monday. He was THE tone setter tonight. He pushed the envelope and dictated how the game was going to be played... and officiated. And he's simply so much better (natural) at playing a physical game than Towns.

And in true heel fashion... he cried and whined to the officials all gameand acted like he broke his nose or had his eyes raked egregiously about 37 times even after the slightest of contact.

We're still in the "Prove it" stage with the Wolves. We've seen this act before. Jester's anecdotal story about late-game stat hunting could be very revealing. Hopefully, there's some meaningful context missing that absolves Towns a bit.

At least PJ Tucker isn't with Milwaukee anymore, so at least we don't have to see him double up on the Valenciunas antics to get in Towns head.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:You could see this one coming...

Not the woefully dismal shooting from Russell, Beasley, Prince and Edwards (1/2), but the Jonas Valunciunas show. He got into Towns head on Saturday. And you know the antics were going to ramped up even more on Monday. He was THE tone setter tonight. He pushed the envelope and dictated how the game was going to be played... and officiated. And he's simply so much better (natural) at playing a physical game than Towns.

And in true heel fashion... he cried and whined to the officials all gameand acted like he broke his nose or had his eyes raked egregiously about 37 times even after the slightest of contact.

We're still in the "Prove it" stage with the Wolves. We've seen this act before. Jester's anecdotal story about late-game stat hunting could be very revealing. Hopefully, there's some meaningful context missing that absolves Towns a bit.

At least PJ Tucker isn't with Milwaukee anymore, so at least we don't have to see him double up on the Valenciunas antics to get in Towns head.

To be completely fair I think KAT was fouled down low several times. The refs simply don't or are not calling marginal contact, sometimes blatant contact when down low.

The post game is dead because of it.

What about 3-14 from DLO?

KAT was still the Wolves best player on the floor for most of the game.

This game was lost because the rest of the team was a shitshow.

WolvesFan21 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:You could see this one coming...

Not the woefully dismal shooting from Russell, Beasley, Prince and Edwards (1/2), but the Jonas Valunciunas show. He got into Towns head on Saturday. And you know the antics were going to ramped up even more on Monday. He was THE tone setter tonight. He pushed the envelope and dictated how the game was going to be played... and officiated. And he's simply so much better (natural) at playing a physical game than Towns.

And in true heel fashion... he cried and whined to the officials all gameand acted like he broke his nose or had his eyes raked egregiously about 37 times even after the slightest of contact.

We're still in the "Prove it" stage with the Wolves. We've seen this act before. Jester's anecdotal story about late-game stat hunting could be very revealing. Hopefully, there's some meaningful context missing that absolves Towns a bit.

At least PJ Tucker isn't with Milwaukee anymore, so at least we don't have to see him double up on the Valenciunas antics to get in Towns head.

To be completely fair I think KAT was fouled down low several times. The refs simply don't or are not calling marginal contact, sometimes blatant contact when down low.

The post game is dead because of it.

What about 3-14 from DLO?

KAT was still the Wolves best player on the floor for most of the game.

This game was lost because the rest of the team was a shitshow.

I don't disagree with any of that.

lipoli390 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:The ball isn't moving on offense. Like Ant said, it's 3 against 5. The ball never moves from side to side and we have 3 guys taking turns jacking up shots. I've seen this coming and it isn't going to work. Finch and the guys keep saying the right things but it doesn't translate to the game.

I agree, Cool. What will it take to get the ball moving? I have to believe that Finch is coaching and preaching ball movement in practice and from the bench, but it's not happening. Is it the personnel? Is DLO simply not a guy who can be trusted to run the offense in a way that keeps the ball moving?

Kat is a huge culprit, same with Dlo. Ant is also. He's playing iso ball also, but he's been more of a willing passer and I think he's actually a good passer on kick outs and finds the open guy. We're creating very few open looks for other guy. So I think there a lot of context to the poor shooting numbers, it's the lack of movement. Ant is 20, the other two are supposed to be our leaders, and if I hear about Dlo's high basketball IQ once more I'm gonna vomit.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

WolvesFan21 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:You could see this one coming...

Not the woefully dismal shooting from Russell, Beasley, Prince and Edwards (1/2), but the Jonas Valunciunas show. He got into Towns head on Saturday. And you know the antics were going to ramped up even more on Monday. He was THE tone setter tonight. He pushed the envelope and dictated how the game was going to be played... and officiated. And he's simply so much better (natural) at playing a physical game than Towns.

And in true heel fashion... he cried and whined to the officials all gameand acted like he broke his nose or had his eyes raked egregiously about 37 times even after the slightest of contact.

We're still in the "Prove it" stage with the Wolves. We've seen this act before. Jester's anecdotal story about late-game stat hunting could be very revealing. Hopefully, there's some meaningful context missing that absolves Towns a bit.

At least PJ Tucker isn't with Milwaukee anymore, so at least we don't have to see him double up on the Valenciunas antics to get in Towns head.

To be completely fair I think KAT was fouled down low several times. The refs simply don't or are not calling marginal contact, sometimes blatant contact when down low.

The post game is dead because of it.

What about 3-14 from DLO?

KAT was still the Wolves best player on the floor for most of the game.

This game was lost because the rest of the team was a shitshow.

I don't disagree with any of that.

Where is Cam so he can hump that 3-14 DLO stat line.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

WolvesFan21 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:You could see this one coming...

Not the woefully dismal shooting from Russell, Beasley, Prince and Edwards (1/2), but the Jonas Valunciunas show. He got into Towns head on Saturday. And you know the antics were going to ramped up even more on Monday. He was THE tone setter tonight. He pushed the envelope and dictated how the game was going to be played... and officiated. And he's simply so much better (natural) at playing a physical game than Towns.

And in true heel fashion... he cried and whined to the officials all gameand acted like he broke his nose or had his eyes raked egregiously about 37 times even after the slightest of contact.

We're still in the "Prove it" stage with the Wolves. We've seen this act before. Jester's anecdotal story about late-game stat hunting could be very revealing. Hopefully, there's some meaningful context missing that absolves Towns a bit.

At least PJ Tucker isn't with Milwaukee anymore, so at least we don't have to see him double up on the Valenciunas antics to get in Towns head.

To be completely fair I think KAT was fouled down low several times. The refs simply don't or are not calling marginal contact, sometimes blatant contact when down low.

The post game is dead because of it.

What about 3-14 from DLO?

KAT was still the Wolves best player on the floor for most of the game.

This game was lost because the rest of the team was a shitshow.

I don't disagree with any of that.

I thought the officials gave KAT some slack on the defensive side in the second half and let him get pretty physical in battling with JoVal. That's not to say that he wasn't screwed on some of those early no-calls, but he did get away with some pretty aggressive contact himself on defense and they didn't call the foul.

KAT ultimately did collect himself and had a solid game. We can't have a bunch of our perimeter high-priced shooters (DLO, Prince, and Beasley) miss so many damn shots, many of which were open and in rhythm.

Despite a monster game by JoVal, the Pelicans are not a very good team with Zion out. I see them as a fringe playoff team even if Zion can come back healthy. So what does it tell us when our Wolves are 100% healthy and can only play the Pels even at home? It tells me that this team is what many of us thought they were...an improved team that isn't likely to sniff the playoffs.

I've been complimenting DLo's improved defense- it's a building block in potentially turning this team around. But his ineptitude on the offensive end in all three games is puzzling to me. Cam and I were correct in predicting DLo would come out hunting for his shot like he didn't in Game 2, but we were not correct in predicting success- he was dreadful. We fans should not have to feel relieved when a marginal NBA player like J-Mac subs in for him. But I think almost all of us would say the offense just looks much better right now when DLo is on the bench. I think we all believe DLo's offense will improve- he's not going to shoot 31.8% for the season. But will his defense hold up? My prediction is that once the glow of a winning preseason and 2-0 start wears off, we will see the same DLo we're used to seeing...pointing frantically on defense while his man is left wide open for another three.

We needed to start the season 3-0 against weak competition at home, but we could just as easily be 1-2 right now and talking each other off the ledge. With PatBev now on the team and Ant's exciting upside, I think this team is going to be much more fun to watch then last year. But last night told me that the playoffs are a pipe dream, unless Gutpa is somehow able to pull a Simmons rabbit out of his hat. And I'm not holding my breath.

But an example of how much fun we are going to have this season was Ant's unbelievable third quarter- I've seldom seen a dominating performance like that, and he nearly willed us back into the game. Almost as significant to me was the expression on his face as he was scoring his 23. The joy he shows when he is lighting it up and we're winning was absent, as he had his game face on the entire time. That really showed me something, and for the first time I'm convinced he is going to be a star. He can be playful when we are winning big and that is entertaining for us fans, but he has the gravitas to not clown around when we're behind- even when he's putting up 23 points in a quarter. That was fun.

We need to talk about Naz, because he is off to a terrible start this season. His 35% shooting is almost as bad as DLo, and his rebounding has also been substandard. Finch had to play KAT 40 minutes last night because he realized he could successfully match up Naz against JoVal- he's just way too small. Frankly, the jury is out on whether his offseason weight loss was a good thing. I'm going to chalk his two consecutive poor games up to being completely intimidated by JoVal, and expect a bounce back game against a Bucks team that doesn't have a physically dominating center (unless Lopez is back).

And now rebounding. Some are saying the problem is Finch starting Josh instead of Vando, but I think it's much deeper than that. Vando had ZERO rebounds in his 9 minutes last night (only only a foul, a TO and a -16 showing up in his box), and has Q has pointed out, our team rebounding is actually better with Josh in than Vando. More significant is Jaden's paltry 4 rebounds per game in over 28 minutes. As I look at our personnel, I'm puzzled why our rebounding is so much worse than last year. This year we are getting outrebounded by almost 10 boards a game...by far the worst in the league...while last year we were only outrebounded by about 2 boards a game. We say it's because we are so small, but were we any bigger last year? I don't want to conclude that losing Juancho is the reason our negative differential has increased by 10 boards! It's probably due to two factors- JoVal's dominance, and Finch's new more aggressive defensive scheme that leaves fewer rebounders under the basket. Let's hope that it's more the former than the latter, or this is going to be another very long season.

So again like last year we're 2-1 after winning our first 2, and on our way to an almost certain 2-2. I know many of you are still clinging to playoff hopes, but my expectations are much lower. I want to see improvement in our defense, improvement in our young players, and more maturity from KAT. If I get those three things and we win 35 games, I'll be reasonably satisfied. I just don't think we're built to make the playoff with DLo absorbing over 1/5 of our payroll. It's only been three games, but DLo finds himself as the only starter with a negative expected wins- his minus 27 expected wins is 41 wins behind the next worst starter Okogie who has a plus 14. I think we have to accept that, unless Gupta can find someone who is as much of a sucker as Rosas was.

Chris Finch on Wolves practice: "A little testy. I took it as a good sign. They were bothered because we care... Lotta guys talking about what could have been done better or different. So thought it was a really good practice... I'd rather have that than guys that don't care."