Minnesota Sports Forum

kekgeek1 wrote:I do like that they fought hard but the losses starting to add up. It's the opposite of last year. I'm guessing the wolves are the most injured team in the nba

They are definitely banged up, although the Bucks are without two great players in Middelton and Holiday, but it doesn't matter because Giannis is better than anyone in the NBA other than may be Doncic this year.

We keep running into these buzzsaws: Doncic, Zion, Giannis....just playing at a different level than anything else we have. Ant keeps stacking up some pretty impressive games though and he made some huge plays on both ends tonight. He'll hopefully be in the same conversation as those other guys in a couple years.

Ant, Naz, Garza and Nowell held up their end tonight. But it wasn't enough. DLO wasn't bad, but needed to be better. This team needs far more than what they got from McDaniels tonight. Valiant effort to be sure, but still another loss. The good news is that this was a game the Wolves should have been expected to lose this season. The bad news is that the Wolves have already lost a lot of games they were (and should have been) expected to win.

Q-was-here wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:I do like that they fought hard but the losses starting to add up. It's the opposite of last year. I'm guessing the wolves are the most injured team in the nba

They are definitely banged up, although the Bucks are without two great players in Middelton and Holiday, but it doesn't matter because Giannis is better than anyone in the NBA other than may be Doncic this year.

We keep running into these buzzsaws: Doncic, Zion, Giannis....just playing at a different level than anything else we have. Ant keeps stacking up some pretty impressive games though and he made some huge plays on both ends tonight. He'll hopefully be in the same conversation as those other guys in a couple years.

The only thing holding him back is himself. He unfortunately plays a very stupid brand of basketball. That's partially what sets all those other elite guys apart from the rest. They all have a next-level understanding of the game. If Ant's mental game ever crept up anywhere close to his physical ability, he'd be top-five in the league someday.

Camden wrote:

Q-was-here wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:I do like that they fought hard but the losses starting to add up. It's the opposite of last year. I'm guessing the wolves are the most injured team in the nba

They are definitely banged up, although the Bucks are without two great players in Middelton and Holiday, but it doesn't matter because Giannis is better than anyone in the NBA other than may be Doncic this year.

We keep running into these buzzsaws: Doncic, Zion, Giannis....just playing at a different level than anything else we have. Ant keeps stacking up some pretty impressive games though and he made some huge plays on both ends tonight. He'll hopefully be in the same conversation as those other guys in a couple years.

The only thing holding him back is himself. He unfortunately plays a very stupid brand of basketball. That's partially what sets all those other elite guys apart from the rest. They all have a next-level understanding of the game. If Ant's mental game ever crept up anywhere close to his physical ability, he'd be top-five in the league someday.

I'm hoping he becomes more of a student of the game as time goes on. He plays very instinctually versus clinically.

Q-was-here wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:I do like that they fought hard but the losses starting to add up. It's the opposite of last year. I'm guessing the wolves are the most injured team in the nba

They are definitely banged up, although the Bucks are without two great players in Middelton and Holiday, but it doesn't matter because Giannis is better than anyone in the NBA other than may be Doncic this year.

We keep running into these buzzsaws: Doncic, Zion, Giannis....just playing at a different level than anything else we have. Ant keeps stacking up some pretty impressive games though and he made some huge plays on both ends tonight. He'll hopefully be in the same conversation as those other guys in a couple years.

KAT's the only hugely impactful injury. But this was a game we would have been expected to lose even with KAT. We still have Edwards, McDaniels and DLO and we've had Gobert for the vast majority of the team's games. Unfortunately, this team simply lost too many games against lesser teams earlier in the season when we had KAT. Injuries happen - the Pelicans without Ingram, the Sixers without Harden and Maxey, the Clippers without Kawhi and of course the Bucks without Middleton. All those guys have been out for about half the season. So you have to make hay when you can in this League. The Wolves didn't and now this team is behind the eight-ball.

The good news in all of this is the consistently elite all-around play the Wolves have been getting from Edwards. At the end of last season it seemed crystal clear that the central mission for this franchise then was to surround the 20-year old Edwards with talent that can grow and develop with him to eventually create an elite team. That should still be the central defining mission of this team now and especially next summer.

Camden wrote:There's zero chance I'd let Naz Reid leave in free agency without a concerted effort. Lock him up and shuffle other parts, if needed.

I agree, Cam! In my view, how they handle Naz will be a revealing test for this front office. They should absolutely lock him up. Naz is really good and will continue to get better as bigs his age typically do. Naz Reid is a highly talented (and multi-talented) player whose style of play and age match well with the age and style of our best player and one potential superstar, Anthony Edwards. And it should be clear that this franchise will rise or fall in the next few years on Ant's continued improvement along with what this front office does to build around him. Naz and McDaniels are my two key keepers for the Edwards era. I still like Nowell going forward and I still favor keeping KAT as our only other all-star caliber player. At age 27, KAT still has a lot of prime years left to be a key part of the Edwards era.

We miss TP

Nice to see the Wolves win the rebounding battle 36-34. Wait, the 34 were only Giannis and Portis. We actually lost the rebounding battle 68-36...yep, you read that right. The Wolves are not a good rebounding team, but obviously we are a pathetic rebounding team without Rudy and KAT.

Not much to add on this game except for the absurd rebounding differential. I will say this though...Q said in another thread that Ant was not a top 25 player, and I agreed. But he has looked like a top 25 player this month...25/6.9/5.2 with 2.4 steals. And he has also played decent on-ball defense. It was a terrible, albeit not unexpected, road trip, but the growth of 21-year-old Ant has been fun to watch.

lipoli390 wrote:

Camden wrote:There's zero chance I'd let Naz Reid leave in free agency without a concerted effort. Lock him up and shuffle other parts, if needed.

I agree, Cam! In my view, how they handle Naz will be a revealing test for this front office. They should absolutely lock him up. Naz is really good and will continue to get better as bigs his age typically do. Naz Reid is a highly talented (and multi-talented) player whose style of play and age match well with the age and style of our best player and one potential superstar, Anthony Edwards. And it should be clear that this franchise will rise or fall in the next few years on Ant's continued improvement along with what this front office does to build around him. Naz and McDaniels are my two key keepers for the Edwards era. I still like Nowell going forward and I still favor keeping KAT as our only other all-star caliber player. At age 27, KAT still has a lot of prime years left to be a key part of the Edwards era.

The Timberwolves will be paying the two guys playing ahead of Reid $77M and then $92M the next two years. I question doubling down on the two bigs... I would question tripling down on three bigs for two spots even more.

Now, if the Wolves think Reid could be a good enough facsimile for Towns... that's a different discussion, I guess.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Camden wrote:There's zero chance I'd let Naz Reid leave in free agency without a concerted effort. Lock him up and shuffle other parts, if needed.

I agree, Cam! In my view, how they handle Naz will be a revealing test for this front office. They should absolutely lock him up. Naz is really good and will continue to get better as bigs his age typically do. Naz Reid is a highly talented (and multi-talented) player whose style of play and age match well with the age and style of our best player and one potential superstar, Anthony Edwards. And it should be clear that this franchise will rise or fall in the next few years on Ant's continued improvement along with what this front office does to build around him. Naz and McDaniels are my two key keepers for the Edwards era. I still like Nowell going forward and I still favor keeping KAT as our only other all-star caliber player. At age 27, KAT still has a lot of prime years left to be a key part of the Edwards era.

The Timberwolves will be paying the two guys playing ahead of Reid $77M and then $92M the next two years. I question doubling down on the two bigs... I would question tripling down on three bigs for two spots even more.

Now, if the Wolves think Reid could be a good enough facsimile for Towns... that's a different discussion, I guess.

Correct, Abe. The Wolves would have to move Rudy or KAT - and it should absolutely be Rudy! I think that's what Cam meant with his point about shuffling other parts in conjunction with locking up Naz.