Grizz at Wolves, Redux GDT

[TheFuture]

Guys, Karl-Anthony Towns, Malik Beasley, and Ricky Rubio have played like absolute shit tonight and here you are running your keyboard fingers talking about D'Angelo Russell, who has played a fine -- not spectacular -- game overall. This is absolute lunacy. This is exactly what I'm talking about. It's exhausting and this board is usually smarter than this.

I think much of the criticism on DLO is legit and yes there is plenty of blame to go around tonight for the lackluster effort. You have been hyping up DLO to an absurd level and he didn't stand out in any way. I think you praised his shooting, yet he shoots below 40% for game. Some poor passing and we all know that he doesn't defend well. Not what you want to see out of a max player.

To an absurd level? I've said D-Lo's an All-Star, a good secondary scorer, a very good shooter, and he takes care of the ball. I've already acknowledged that he's a weak defender. All of that is true whether you choose to suck it up and admit it or not. I typically support my stances with numbers and/or anecdotal evidence. You routinely respond to me with emotion and finger-pointing. Excuse me if I just completely dismiss your posts in the future.

We haven't had a scoring point guard forever. Rubio, then Dunn, then Teague. I am fine with him. PG defense is the most difficult, and likely overrated defensive position in today's game. We go as far as KAT on both ends, especially defensively. That is the saddest realization, that he just won't ever be good on that end.

I am pissed off at the lack of attempts to surround our best player with what he really needs, a defensive helper. Reminds me of the vikings and the oline.

[TheFuture]

Guys, Karl-Anthony Towns, Malik Beasley, and Ricky Rubio have played like absolute shit tonight and here you are running your keyboard fingers talking about D'Angelo Russell, who has played a fine -- not spectacular -- game overall. This is absolute lunacy. This is exactly what I'm talking about. It's exhausting and this board is usually smarter than this.

I think much of the criticism on DLO is legit and yes there is plenty of blame to go around tonight for the lackluster effort. You have been hyping up DLO to an absurd level and he didn't stand out in any way. I think you praised his shooting, yet he shoots below 40% for game. Some poor passing and we all know that he doesn't defend well. Not what you want to see out of a max player.

To an absurd level? I've said D-Lo's an All-Star, a good secondary scorer, a very good shooter, and he takes care of the ball. I've already acknowledged that he's a weak defender. All of that is true whether you choose to suck it up and admit it or not. I typically support my stances with numbers and/or anecdotal evidence. You routinely respond to me with emotion and finger-pointing. Excuse me if I just completely dismiss your posts in the future.

You point out DLO is (which is incorrect, its "was") an All-Star in hundreds of posts and most of the time you just refer to him as an All-Star as if that automatically means he is a great or very good player. You never mention that DLO was an injury fill in all-star in Eastern Conference during a year where several teams tanked for the Zion sweepstakes and he was selected by Adam Silver alone. You never mention that he has a career plus minus that is even worse than Wiggins. If we had traded Wiggins for DLO straight up, I'd have no complaints, but giving up a lightly protected pick plus second rounder going into a loaded draft is complete lunacy.

I understood moving on from Wiggins for DLo. We needed a change, so did Wiggins. I am still pissed about the pick though, lottery protected, or at least top 10, removing restrictions over the years. The writing was on the wall that we were destined to be a bottom 10 team rather than a top 16 team. Especially when everyone has been talking about this next draft. I mean, shit, even a pick swap I could have tolerated (though I think golden state's own 21st is gone).

[TheFuture]

Abe's 1st Late Night DVR Review: Choose Your Own Adventure Style...

#1




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[Note: I have more specific comments. Oh... do I have comments. But it's an exhibition game. I'm gonna try to wait on them... I'm gonna try...]

Hahahahha

[TheFuture]

Culver had a good game and I am looking forward to see if he gets over the hump. Culver, Nowell and RHJ have played well.

I still do not understand why the starting lineup does not include Culver. You simply cannot have only one ball handler on the court starting. Neither Beasley or Okogie can dribble or create.

It should be DLo, Beasley, Culver, Layman or Juancho or RHJ (just pick one depending on matchups), KAT

With Rubio (6th man), Edwards, Okogie, Layman Juancho or RHJ, Davis being our top bench players.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I still do not understand why the starting lineup does not include Culver. You simply cannot have only one ball handler on the court starting. Neither Beasley or Okogie can dribble or create.

It should be DLo, Beasley, Culver, Layman or Juancho or RHJ (just pick one depending on matchups), KAT

With Rubio (6th man), Edwards, Okogie, Layman Juancho or RHJ, Davis being our top bench players.

If I had it my way, which I rarely get with this franchise, then I think I'd start Rubio, Russell, Culver, Hollis-Jefferson, and Towns.

I think Minnesota gets the most value out of Rubio when he's on the floor with Russell and Towns. I agree with your point about having multiple ball-handlers on the court and that includes both Rubio and Culver.

Also, this idea works if McLaughlin is on the team and playing minutes when needed. I'm not as confident in this working if him or another capable point guard aren't on the team. Re-signing McLaughlin is a minor move that can seemingly change a lot.

Beasley has always been more of a sixth man type to me -- a gunner off the bench capable of swinging games one way or the other. That's his best role on a good team, in my opinion. While the starting lineup will sorely miss his perimeter-shooting, they will be better off without his poor defense and minimal facilitating ability.

I've gone in depth in my analysis on both Culver and RHJ so I won't tire anyone else out, but I think they'd be solid fill-ins around Rubio, Russell, and Towns. They're both role players willing and capable of doing the little things for the team. 50/50 balls, fundamental defense, energy plays, running hard in transition, etc.

[Lipoli390]

Culver had a good game and I am looking forward to see if he gets over the hump. Culver, Nowell and RHJ have played well.

I still do not understand why the starting lineup does not include Culver. You simply cannot have only one ball handler on the court starting. Neither Beasley or Okogie can dribble or create.

It should be DLo, Beasley, Culver, Layman or Juancho or RHJ (just pick one depending on matchups), KAT

With Rubio (6th man), Edwards, Okogie, Layman Juancho or RHJ, Davis being our top bench players.

I, too, would like to see more minutes for Culver, regardless of whether it's in a starting role. Beasley's not a bad ball-handler and I'm not sure Culver is any better. But Culver is certainly a better ball-handler than Okogie.

As for the PF position, I agree that the choice is Layman, Juancho or RHJ, I also agree that playing time among those three should be allocated based on matchups. The only thought I'd add on this issue is just how sad it is that we're left to choose among those three for our starting PF. Layman and Juancho are really bad defensively. RHJ is a poor shooter. My default choice would be RHJ among those three. This team can't get by with only one defender (Okogie or Culver) on the floor. We need another defender and rebounder on the floor. RHJ is the best we have to fill that role.

Finally, I'll note that Nowell should be a part of the rotation, considering how well he played in the first game on Saturday and how well he played in the G-League last season, It's ridiculous that he only played the last 9 minutes of tonight's game.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Who do you kick out of the rotation to create minutes for Nowell? There's already so many guys deserving of playing time that the team has invested in.

I like Nowell too, but I'm not sure there's any room for him at the moment.

[Lipoli390]

Who do you kick out of the rotation to create minutes for Nowell? There's already so many guys deserving of playing time that the team has invested in.

I like Nowell too, but I'm not sure there's any room for him at the moment.

Edwards played 26 minutes tonight. I know he was the top pick in the draft and I like the way he played tonight. But I would have given Nowell at least 6 of those minutes, boosting Nowell's minutes to 15. DLO played 27 minutes. I would have given 5 of his minutes to Nowell. In total, my allocation would have resulted in Nowell playing around 20 minutes.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Who do you kick out of the rotation to create minutes for Nowell? There's already so many guys deserving of playing time that the team has invested in.

I like Nowell too, but I'm not sure there's any room for him at the moment.

Edwards played 26 minutes tonight. I know he was the top pick in the draft and I like the way he played tonight. But I would have given Nowell at least 6 of those minutes, boosting Nowell's minutes to 15. DLO played 27 minutes. I would have given 5 of his minutes to Nowell. In total, my allocation would have resulted in Nowell playing around 20 minutes.

For a preseason exhibition game, absolutely. I'm right there with you in that. I would have liked to have seen Minnesota give him plenty of run in these games just to give him some experience to build off of.

If this was a regular season game, then I'd have to disagree. I don't think Nowell is ready to be a rotation player. Frankly, I don't think Edwards is either, but the guy's making MLE level money so he better get ready.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Beasley just shouldn't be starting. He's a 6th man scoring punch. We can't afford to give up big leads right out of the gate because D'Lo/Beasley/Okogie/Layman/Towns has 1 defender in that unit. Then we are climbing uphill all game with the bench unit being mostly defenders who aren't great offensive players trying to cut into leads to get the starters back in the game. Get Culver and Okogie out there to make life difficult on the opposing wings early and rely on Russell/Towns to be the offense with Culver as a secondary creator and Layman as a stretch 4. Get Ricky in for Okogie early (6 minute mark) and Beasley/Edwards/RHJ can come in for D'Lo/Culver/Layman around the 8-10 minute mark. Then Davis starts the second for Towns and D'Lo/Culver come in for Ricky and the worse of Beasley/Edwards at the 2-4 minute mark in the 2nd quarter. That leaves us only 2-4 minutes a half with neither Towns nor D'Lo on the court with Ricky running the 2nd team offense and we can have balanced units rather than starting 4 offensive players and bringing in 3 defensive players off the bench when your two best offensive players aren't playing with them. Culver was drafted to be that defender and secondary ball handler next to a guy like Russell so let him play there. Bringing 32 million dollars off the bench in the backcourt is Rosas' fault for being a shitty team builder, but that's what's going to be best for the team to compete in games.

Russell
Culver
Okogie
Layman
Towns

Ricky
Beasley
Edwards
RHJ
Davis