Minnesota Sports Forum

thedoper wrote:I didnt watch the game but it looks like Rubio's 7 assists kept us within 30. Ant is garbage and Towns should be traded by 10. Go wolves.

I thought Ryan was the problem?

Progress?

[table]
[tr]
[th]Coach[/th]
[th]Games[/th]
[th]Wins[/th]
[th]Losses[/th]
[th]Percentage[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Saunders[/td]
[td]31[/td]
[td]7 [/td]
[td]24[/td]
[td].226[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Fitch[/td]
[td]13[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]10[/td]
[td].231[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

Carlos Danger wrote:Progress?

[table]
[tr]
[th]Coach[/th]
[th]Games[/th]
[th]Wins[/th]
[th]Losses[/th]
[th]Percentage[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Saunders[/td]
[td]31[/td]
[td]7 [/td]
[td]24[/td]
[td].226[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Fitch[/td]
[td]13[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]10[/td]
[td].231[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

I was hoping so, but like I said before, the players are the problem. Youngest roster in the NBA, some talent but it's too raw and inconsistent.

Coaches can only do so much, it's always up to the players in the end.

Maybe when DLO and Beas get back or we make a little trade we can start winning a few more games regularly.

Absolutely dreadful second half. Ant's shot selection was stupid, Rubio had his worst game of the year, and KAT's defense and rebounding were atrocious. If anyone can find a youtube video on "boxing out", please forward it to KAT...he must have missed that day of practice at Kentucky. Yeah, the bench made some shots...good for them. But not one of them except Culver (who only played 8 minutes, thank god, because his offensive game is worse than ever) showed any understanding of how to play defense, or maybe even interest. Layman and Nowell have both shown flashes of defensive ability this season, but not last night,

Difficult to find anything to like last night, but in the limited minutes they played, you could see the potential Vando and McDaniels have. As poorly as everyone else played tonight, I would name their foul problems as the main reason for tonight's loss. The game was still close when Jaden got his 4th foul, but I said to myself "game over". The Wolves' defense looked good when both were on the court, but it was a disaster when either or both of them were out. And even when Jaden was on the court after his 4th foul, you could see how he was holding back on defense and that he was even reluctant to set a good screen on offense. He had foul issues in college which limited his minutes, but until last night it has not been in issue in the pros. Still, I would argue that nobody in the league has bothered Luka as much as Jaden did last night. Such upside in this kid.

WolvesFan21 wrote:

Carlos Danger wrote:Progress?

[table]
[tr]
[th]Coach[/th]
[th]Games[/th]
[th]Wins[/th]
[th]Losses[/th]
[th]Percentage[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Saunders[/td]
[td]31[/td]
[td]7 [/td]
[td]24[/td]
[td].226[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Fitch[/td]
[td]13[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]10[/td]
[td].231[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

I was hoping so, but like I said before, the players are the problem. Youngest roster in the NBA, some talent but it's too raw and inconsistent.

Coaches can only do so much, it's always up to the players in the end.

Maybe when DLO and Beas get back or we make a little trade we can start winning a few more games regularly.

We agree. There was zero chance someone was going to come in and coach up this current roster. There needs to be significant changes (again). History has shown our young guys rarely get significantly better, so I no longer hope on that.

The refs were almost as atrocious as the Wolves last nite.

Carlos Danger wrote:

WolvesFan21 wrote:

Carlos Danger wrote:Progress?

[table]
[tr]
[th]Coach[/th]
[th]Games[/th]
[th]Wins[/th]
[th]Losses[/th]
[th]Percentage[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Saunders[/td]
[td]31[/td]
[td]7 [/td]
[td]24[/td]
[td].226[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Fitch[/td]
[td]13[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]10[/td]
[td].231[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

I was hoping so, but like I said before, the players are the problem. Youngest roster in the NBA, some talent but it's too raw and inconsistent.

Coaches can only do so much, it's always up to the players in the end.

Maybe when DLO and Beas get back or we make a little trade we can start winning a few more games regularly.

We agree. There was zero chance someone was going to come in and coach up this current roster. There needs to be significant changes (again). History has shown our young guys rarely get significantly better, so I no longer hope on that.

It's true that our young guys rarely get significantly better. But the more important point is that draft picks rarely become what they weren't in college. Poor shooters in college generally remain poor shooters in the NBA. Bad defenders in college typically end up as poor or mediocre defenders in the NBA. The list goes on. Culver had a broken shot coming out of college and never showed any signs of being an elite player worthy of the 6th in the draft, much less worthy of trading up to get him. So no surprise, he has a broken shot now with the Wolves and hasn't shown any signs of becoming a good NBA player. Edwards was a high volume scorer and highlight maker, but also a really inefficient, streaky shooter and sporadic defender in college. Surprise, surprise - that's exactly what he's been this year with the Wolves.

The good news is that Naz Reid has been better than he was in college. So I'll credit Rosas for signing him and the Wolves coaching staff for helping him develop. Nowell's G-League stats last year looked like his stats in college - efficient scoring and solid production in other categories. His NBA numbers are looking similarly comparable to his college numbers this season now that he's had the chance to get some significant consistent minutes with the Wolves. Note also that KAT's numbers with the Wolves have been far better than his numbers in college.

With rare exceptions, NBA players will develop into the NBA versions of who they were before coming to the NBA. And they'll do that no matter who they play for or who coaches them, provided they are given the opportunity to play. If you draft the right players like KAT and KG, you'll end up with really good NBA players. KG was great with the Wolves and subsequently great with the Celtics. If you draft the wrong players like Dunn you'll be disappointed. Note that Dunn has gone on to be no better with any other team than he was with the Wolves. Had we drafted Murray instead, I have no doubt he'd be as good here as he's been in Denver and, as a result, the Wolves would be better. There's a long list of Wolves draft picks who went on to play for other teams but were no better there than they were here.

Lip - we agree. My comment regarding rarely seeing signficant improvement came from my jumping off point with the Wolves (Thibs first year 16/17). I was so invested in that team. 21 year old KAT, Wiggins and Lavine plus #5 overall pick (Kris Dunn) and 20 year old over achiever Tyus Jones. I thought those guys were going to really be good with the right coach. In comes Thibs and he improved them by 2 wins over what they had done under Mitchell. Then they blew it up to get Butler and build the Timberbulls which did move the needle short term, but we all know how that ended. I was really hoping all those 21 year olds would get better each year and we as fans would be along for the ride. It was a short ride. And in hindsight, KAT/Wiggins have stayed roughly the same while LaVine is now the only All Star out of that group. I only follow the team about 1/3 of what I used to back then. The constant roster churn is less interesting for me than watching a guy like KG grow up over 10 years playing for my home team. The drafting/development for this franchise has been total comedy and as you laid out - the biggest reason we are were we are.

In nine games this month, rookie Anthony Edwards is averaging 25.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per game while shooting 32.5% from 3-point range. He's taking 9.2 attempts per game from downtown over that span.

UGH. So much talent. So much ability. Get to the rim, kid. Focus on that.

Carlos Danger wrote:Lip - we agree. My comment regarding rarely seeing signficant improvement came from my jumping off point with the Wolves (Thibs first year 16/17). I was so invested in that team. 21 year old KAT, Wiggins and Lavine plus #5 overall pick (Kris Dunn) and 20 year old over achiever Tyus Jones. I thought those guys were going to really be good with the right coach. In comes Thibs and he improved them by 2 wins over what they had done under Mitchell. Then they blew it up to get Butler and build the Timberbulls which did move the needle short term, but we all know how that ended. I was really hoping all those 21 year olds would get better each year and we as fans would be along for the ride. It was a short ride. And in hindsight, KAT/Wiggins have stayed roughly the same while LaVine is now the only All Star out of that group. I only follow the team about 1/3 of what I used to back then. The constant roster churn is less interesting for me than watching a guy like KG grow up over 10 years playing for my home team. The drafting/development for this franchise has been total comedy and as you laid out - the biggest reason we are were we are.

I'm tracking you and share your frustration. In addition to making poor draft decisions, the Wolves organization has too often made bad judgments about which young players to keep or trade and, as part of that, has too often failed to show enough patience with young talent that showed promise in favor of a win-now veteran. They made that mistake when they let Billups go in favor of putting their eggs in the Terrell Brandon basket. They did it again when Thibodeau bailed on continuing to build around the young core he inherited in favor of a 27 year old veteran, Butler, to play with his remaining young 21/22 year old tandem. And in the process, he traded the wrong guy, Zach, instead of Wiggins. But his biggest mistakes were drafting Dunn over Murray or Hield and drafting Patton over Collins or Anunoby. Or how about keeping the pick, trading down and drafting Mitchell. Anyway, it's painful to look back at Wolves history. Of course, it's almost as painful to look ahead.