A1 From Day 1? - Wolves @ Clippers GDT

[FNG]

WolvesFan, I'm with you about KAT's defensive potential and see his absence as a huge factor in the last two blowouts. I have been as much of a KAT defense detractor in conversations with friends as anyone, but I have never lost sight of the fact that KAT came out of Kentucky with a very good defensive reputation. And I thought his defense in the Utah win was exceptional. KAT can play defense at a high level if a coaching staff can bring it out of him.

And that's one reason I'm more accepting of young Ryan than most of you, although I fully acknowledge the "country club" feel of his hiring There seemed to be a strong bond between KAT and Ryan even before the tragic loss of his mom this summer...in fact, one reason I don't fault Rosas too much for selecting Ryan when there were some safer experienced retreads available out there is that I suspect his franchise player was whispering in his ear. And with the shared experience of losing a beloved parent at such a young age, I'm sure Ryan and KAT have grown even closer the past few months.

We don't know why KAT has seemed to flip the switch on defensively since the first two Memphis games, but I do know this- much of defense has to more with "want to" than "can do", and I'm not going to dismiss the fact that wanting to play well for a coach you have a personal bond with might be the reason KAT looked more like the Kentucky defensive monster in the Utah game. I hope he's back soon, or this team is going to dig a deep hole.

[Coolbreeze44]

FNG, I agree with you that in most respects playing defense is about effort. But in KAT's case, he has a very weak base that allows him to be easily bullied inside. Where he can really improve on defense is in his play from the weak side. That takes some desire and coaching. But he is always going to struggle in man defense in the paint unless he can dramatically increase his bulk, particularly in his lower body.

[AbeVigodaLive]

FNG, I agree with you that in most respects playing defense is about effort. But in KAT's case, he has a very weak base that allows him to be easily bullied inside. Where he can really improve on defense is in his play from the weak side. That takes some desire and coaching. But he is always going to struggle in man defense in the paint unless he can dramatically increase his bulk, particularly in his lower body.

The weak base is largely irrelevant in today's league where hardly anybody posts up anymore.

You're right... weak side help... awareness... those things are where his improvement can have the biggest impact.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Also, if your team is deviating from the game plan call a fucking timeout before the lead gets to 30. We would chip away, give it right back and then they went on a run and Ryan just stood on the sideline and watched it completely balloon out of control. If you blow through your timeouts so be it. That's what you do when your team is playing badly and not playing the way they are supposed to.

"You'd like to call a timeout every time it happens (poor execution)... but we don't have enough of those."

- Ryan Saunders

That's a quote I would expect from a bad coach. He sat on a timeout in the 3rd quarter as the lead went back up to 20 and grew to 30 before he used it. There's a difference between burning timeouts every time someone messes up and using one when literally nobody on the court is playing as a team and the deficit is ballooning because of it. He should be able to know the difference and call the timeout when it matters and not after it matters. You don't get to just squat on timeouts for rotations every night. Sometimes you have to use your brain and not the analytics to use them at the right time.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Also, if your team is deviating from the game plan call a fucking timeout before the lead gets to 30. We would chip away, give it right back and then they went on a run and Ryan just stood on the sideline and watched it completely balloon out of control. If you blow through your timeouts so be it. That's what you do when your team is playing badly and not playing the way they are supposed to.

"You'd like to call a timeout every time it happens (poor execution)... but we don't have enough of those."

- Ryan Saunders

That's a quote I would expect from a bad coach. He sat on a timeout in the 3rd quarter as the lead went back up to 20 and grew to 30 before he used it. There's a difference between burning timeouts every time someone messes up and using one when literally nobody on the court is playing as a team and the deficit is ballooning because of it. He should be able to know the difference and call the timeout when it matters and not after it matters. You don't get to just squat on timeouts for rotations every night. Sometimes you have to use your brain and not the analytics to use them at the right time.

Maybe.

But in the grand scheme of things... not using one TO is not among the team's biggest problems.

- Having the star max player sleepwalk through the season's 3rd game to a historic comical degree... that's a problem.
- Having players go off script and play selfishly 4 games in to the season... that's a problem.
- Having one PF with 5 rebounds in 60 minutes... and another shooting 3 - 17 is a problem.
- One TO isn't going to change that. Benching guys is not going to change that. If nothing else... they will revolt and Saunders is gone. That's how the league works. Sucks... but true.

How many players on the Wolves are CAPABLE of making a legit positive impact without scoring?

- Rubio.
- Okogie.
- Towns.

Can you think of any others? Maybe Culver? That's it. That's the list. That's really really bad.

[Coolbreeze44]

Also, if your team is deviating from the game plan call a fucking timeout before the lead gets to 30. We would chip away, give it right back and then they went on a run and Ryan just stood on the sideline and watched it completely balloon out of control. If you blow through your timeouts so be it. That's what you do when your team is playing badly and not playing the way they are supposed to.

"You'd like to call a timeout every time it happens (poor execution)... but we don't have enough of those."

- Ryan Saunders

That's a quote I would expect from a bad coach. He sat on a timeout in the 3rd quarter as the lead went back up to 20 and grew to 30 before he used it. There's a difference between burning timeouts every time someone messes up and using one when literally nobody on the court is playing as a team and the deficit is ballooning because of it. He should be able to know the difference and call the timeout when it matters and not after it matters. You don't get to just squat on timeouts for rotations every night. Sometimes you have to use your brain and not the analytics to use them at the right time.

Maybe.

But in the grand scheme of things... not using one TO is not among the team's biggest problems.

- Having the star max player sleepwalk through the season's 3rd game to a historic comical degree... that's a problem.
- Having players go off script and play selfishly 4 games in to the season... that's a problem.
- Having one PF with 5 rebounds in 60 minutes... and another shooting 3 - 17 is a problem.
- One TO isn't going to change that. Benching guys is not going to change that. If nothing else... they will revolt and Saunders is gone. That's how the league works. Sucks... but true.

How many players on the Wolves are CAPABLE of making a legit positive impact without scoring?

- Rubio.
- Okogie.
- Towns.

Can you think of any others? Maybe Culver? That's it. That's the list. That's really really bad.

I suppose Towns can make a positive impact with his rebounding and passing, but he is literally paid to score - a lot. So if you include Towns, I guess you would have to include Culver based on his guard skills and rebound rate.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

To be fair, it's not like Rubio and Okogie are capable of scoring consistently so they have to find other ways to impact the game.

[Coolbreeze44]

To be fair, it's not like Rubio and Okogie are capable of scoring consistently so they have to find other ways to impact the game.

I see what you did there :thumb:

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Also, if your team is deviating from the game plan call a fucking timeout before the lead gets to 30. We would chip away, give it right back and then they went on a run and Ryan just stood on the sideline and watched it completely balloon out of control. If you blow through your timeouts so be it. That's what you do when your team is playing badly and not playing the way they are supposed to.

"You'd like to call a timeout every time it happens (poor execution)... but we don't have enough of those."

- Ryan Saunders

That's a quote I would expect from a bad coach. He sat on a timeout in the 3rd quarter as the lead went back up to 20 and grew to 30 before he used it. There's a difference between burning timeouts every time someone messes up and using one when literally nobody on the court is playing as a team and the deficit is ballooning because of it. He should be able to know the difference and call the timeout when it matters and not after it matters. You don't get to just squat on timeouts for rotations every night. Sometimes you have to use your brain and not the analytics to use them at the right time.

Maybe.

But in the grand scheme of things... not using one TO is not among the team's biggest problems.

- Having the star max player sleepwalk through the season's 3rd game to a historic comical degree... that's a problem.
- Having players go off script and play selfishly 4 games in to the season... that's a problem.
- Having one PF with 5 rebounds in 60 minutes... and another shooting 3 - 17 is a problem.
- One TO isn't going to change that. Benching guys is not going to change that. If nothing else... they will revolt and Saunders is gone. That's how the league works. Sucks... but true.

How many players on the Wolves are CAPABLE of making a legit positive impact without scoring?

- Rubio.
- Okogie.
- Towns.

Can you think of any others? Maybe Culver? That's it. That's the list. That's really really bad.

In the grand scheme of things one timeout wouldn't have impacted the result of the game at all, but if the coach isn't doing his job why would his players be buying into what he's doing and saying? If he's just gonna sit there a watch them just devolve into individuals on the court throwing out all team play as they get smoked why would they buy in to his system? They got smoked the last two games. That's going to shake the confidence of the team with the gameplan and it's his job to reel them in when they lose all fundamentals. I think you continue to completely undervalue the impact a coach can have on a team. We turned the game against the Pistons around because of his switch to a zone against a bad shooting team. He made a huge and positive impact on that game and now he's not responsible for anything in these blowout losses? If players aren't buying into what he's selling at the first sign of adversity that's on him to figure out. He is supposed to be the young, hip coach who can better connect with his guys over the older more disciplined coaches in the league. Just throwing up a shrug emoji as the team devolves into a bunch of individuals is not coaching and it's not doing the team any favors to let them just get beat down on the floor while being on the sidelines doing nothing.

[Lipoli390]

Abe and Kahns are both right. Building on what others have posted, I'd boil it down to a few things:

1. We have only one elite true all-star caliber player on this team and that player, KAT, is now out of action with an injury. Yes, KAT has had poor defensive metrics over his 5-year career to date, but he's consistently been an elite and highly efficient scorer as well as a terrific rebounder. His scoring is elite both in the post and behind the arc as well as the mid-range in between. KAT's also a good passer with the potential to be very good. That versatile offensive repertoire makes the whole of his offensive game greater than the sum of its parts if the coaching staff takes full advantage of it because it can make defending the Wolves particularly difficult. I'll add that in the first two games, KAT's defensive looked really good.

2. We have only one elite 3-point shooter, KAT again, in a system overwhelmingly reliant on 3-point shooting. DLO is a decent, but not great, 3-point shooter while Okogie, Culver and Layman have thus far proven to be poor 3-point shooters.

3. We have only one really good rebounder, KAT again. So even when KAT's playing, we have a hard time competing on the boards, which hurts the Wolves' possession ratio in games against all but other poor rebounding teams. Beasley, Culver and Okogie are actually pretty good rebounders as shooting guards, but they're not particularly good as SFs and clearly not by PF standards. Vanderbilt might be someone who can rebound at a high level as a big, but his game is undeveloped.

4. We have a below-average head coach who should be in the front office as an analytics assistant or on the bench as an assistant coach in charge of analytics or video, which is what he was before being promoted to head coach.

The Rosas story won't end well. A new owner will bring in a new head of basketball ops. We just have to hope that Rosas doesn't squander the assets we have before a new, highly competent regime has the chance to take over, sort out the roster and hire a top grade head coach.

The good news is that we have some nice player assets in KAT, Edwards, Culver and Okogie. The bad news is that we don't have our 2021 draft picks and DLO probably wouldn't bring much in return as a max player who doesn't provide max-player impact.