FNG wrote:I agree with AbeVigoda that 30 MPG for Rubio is a good benchmark for whether this team is trying to win this year. That's about what he averaged last year when he put up win shares of 4.9, far above any T-Wolf except Towns and actually about even with Towns. You can't have a guy like that on the bench if you're serious about winning. Combine that with D-Lo's statement that he prefers to play SG, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if Ryan pairs them together often- but at least at the start and end of games.
I admit I'm in that euphoric pre-season frame of mind that always sets me up for disappointment, but there are a lot of things I'm excited about this year, and first and foremost is Rubio at PG. As Camden pointed out, prolific scorer D-Lo has never shown what he can do next to a gifted pass-first point guard- it's really easy to get excited about that, and I don't find Camden's prediction of a 40% 3-point rate for D-Lo out of the realm of possibility at all. And I'll go further. Edwards was forced to be the primary ballhandler last year at Georgia. Just how good might a superb athlete like him be offensively with a PG always looking to find him open looks.
Defense will be a challenge, of course, but I love the additions of Davis and RHJ- along with the long-shot defensive promise of Vanderbilt. KAT, D-Lo and Edwards certainly don't lack length and athleticism. Might they instantly become at least adequate defenders with the advantage of having defensive-minded vets like Davis, RHJ and Rubio as coaches on the court?
Yeah, likely unrealistic, irrational exuberance on my part. But I can't wait to see how all the new pieces look in the first pre-season game just 11 days from today!
FNG you're only our 2nd optimist on this board and we need that after this awful year. So let me ask you, if our Dynamic duo of besties KAT and Dlo along with Edwards and Beasley playing better than expected, what's your wins prediction?
Oh man, that's a tough one, Jerry. And frankly despite my loyal fandom for several years, I'm the last guy you want to ask...I've been way off a few times!
But I don't want to completely duck your question...I just need the two pre-season games to make my final pie-in-the-sky prediction. Or to completely deflate my balloon :cry: . But right now I'm at least 10 games over the Vegas line of 27.5. And that's admittedly a dangerous place to be.
FNG wrote:I agree with AbeVigoda that 30 MPG for Rubio is a good benchmark for whether this team is trying to win this year. That's about what he averaged last year when he put up win shares of 4.9, far above any T-Wolf except Towns and actually about even with Towns. You can't have a guy like that on the bench if you're serious about winning. Combine that with D-Lo's statement that he prefers to play SG, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if Ryan pairs them together often- but at least at the start and end of games.
I admit I'm in that euphoric pre-season frame of mind that always sets me up for disappointment, but there are a lot of things I'm excited about this year, and first and foremost is Rubio at PG. As Camden pointed out, prolific scorer D-Lo has never shown what he can do next to a gifted pass-first point guard- it's really easy to get excited about that, and I don't find Camden's prediction of a 40% 3-point rate for D-Lo out of the realm of possibility at all. And I'll go further. Edwards was forced to be the primary ballhandler last year at Georgia. Just how good might a superb athlete like him be offensively with a PG always looking to find him open looks.
Defense will be a challenge, of course, but I love the additions of Davis and RHJ- along with the long-shot defensive promise of Vanderbilt. KAT, D-Lo and Edwards certainly don't lack length and athleticism. Might they instantly become at least adequate defenders with the advantage of having defensive-minded vets like Davis, RHJ and Rubio as coaches on the court?
Yeah, likely unrealistic, irrational exuberance on my part. But I can't wait to see how all the new pieces look in the first pre-season game just 11 days from today!
FNG you're only our 2nd optimist on this board and we need that after this awful year. So let me ask you, if our Dynamic duo of besties KAT and Dlo along with Edwards and Beasley playing better than expected, what's your wins prediction?
Oh man, that's a tough one, Jerry. And frankly despite my loyal fandom for several years, I'm the last guy you want to ask...I've been way off a few times!
But I don't want to completely duck your question...I just need the two pre-season games to make my final pie-in-the-sky prediction. Or to completely deflate my balloon :cry: . But right now I'm at least 10 games over the Vegas line of 27.5. And that's admittedly a dangerous place to be.
We'll fire up a wins prediction thread in the next week or so. Typically most of us put in our predictions prior to the pre-season games, then immediately revise downwards after the pre-season games. So you're right on track!
FNG wrote:I agree with AbeVigoda that 30 MPG for Rubio is a good benchmark for whether this team is trying to win this year. That's about what he averaged last year when he put up win shares of 4.9, far above any T-Wolf except Towns and actually about even with Towns. You can't have a guy like that on the bench if you're serious about winning. Combine that with D-Lo's statement that he prefers to play SG, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if Ryan pairs them together often- but at least at the start and end of games.
I admit I'm in that euphoric pre-season frame of mind that always sets me up for disappointment, but there are a lot of things I'm excited about this year, and first and foremost is Rubio at PG. As Camden pointed out, prolific scorer D-Lo has never shown what he can do next to a gifted pass-first point guard- it's really easy to get excited about that, and I don't find Camden's prediction of a 40% 3-point rate for D-Lo out of the realm of possibility at all. And I'll go further. Edwards was forced to be the primary ballhandler last year at Georgia. Just how good might a superb athlete like him be offensively with a PG always looking to find him open looks.
Defense will be a challenge, of course, but I love the additions of Davis and RHJ- along with the long-shot defensive promise of Vanderbilt. KAT, D-Lo and Edwards certainly don't lack length and athleticism. Might they instantly become at least adequate defenders with the advantage of having defensive-minded vets like Davis, RHJ and Rubio as coaches on the court?
Yeah, likely unrealistic, irrational exuberance on my part. But I can't wait to see how all the new pieces look in the first pre-season game just 11 days from today!
FNG you're only our 2nd optimist on this board and we need that after this awful year. So let me ask you, if our Dynamic duo of besties KAT and Dlo along with Edwards and Beasley playing better than expected, what's your wins prediction?
Oh man, that's a tough one, Jerry. And frankly despite my loyal fandom for several years, I'm the last guy you want to ask...I've been way off a few times!
But I don't want to completely duck your question...I just need the two pre-season games to make my final pie-in-the-sky prediction. Or to completely deflate my balloon :cry: . But right now I'm at least 10 games over the Vegas line of 27.5. And that's admittedly a dangerous place to be.
We'll fire up a wins prediction thread in the next week or so. Typically most of us put in our predictions prior to the pre-season games, then immediately revise downwards after the pre-season games. So you're right on track!
Wow only 27.5? Hmm i guess with Beasley the gunman, not to be confused with Rifleman Chuck Person, Vegas is going low. But I'm going with FNG too. Gotta beat that number. We'll look for your thread Q.
FNG wrote:I agree with AbeVigoda that 30 MPG for Rubio is a good benchmark for whether this team is trying to win this year. That's about what he averaged last year when he put up win shares of 4.9, far above any T-Wolf except Towns and actually about even with Towns. You can't have a guy like that on the bench if you're serious about winning. Combine that with D-Lo's statement that he prefers to play SG, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if Ryan pairs them together often- but at least at the start and end of games.
I admit I'm in that euphoric pre-season frame of mind that always sets me up for disappointment, but there are a lot of things I'm excited about this year, and first and foremost is Rubio at PG. As Camden pointed out, prolific scorer D-Lo has never shown what he can do next to a gifted pass-first point guard- it's really easy to get excited about that, and I don't find Camden's prediction of a 40% 3-point rate for D-Lo out of the realm of possibility at all. And I'll go further. Edwards was forced to be the primary ballhandler last year at Georgia. Just how good might a superb athlete like him be offensively with a PG always looking to find him open looks.
Defense will be a challenge, of course, but I love the additions of Davis and RHJ- along with the long-shot defensive promise of Vanderbilt. KAT, D-Lo and Edwards certainly don't lack length and athleticism. Might they instantly become at least adequate defenders with the advantage of having defensive-minded vets like Davis, RHJ and Rubio as coaches on the court?
Yeah, likely unrealistic, irrational exuberance on my part. But I can't wait to see how all the new pieces look in the first pre-season game just 11 days from today!
FNG you're only our 2nd optimist on this board and we need that after this awful year. So let me ask you, if our Dynamic duo of besties KAT and Dlo along with Edwards and Beasley playing better than expected, what's your wins prediction?
Oh man, that's a tough one, Jerry. And frankly despite my loyal fandom for several years, I'm the last guy you want to ask...I've been way off a few times!
But I don't want to completely duck your question...I just need the two pre-season games to make my final pie-in-the-sky prediction. Or to completely deflate my balloon :cry: . But right now I'm at least 10 games over the Vegas line of 27.5. And that's admittedly a dangerous place to be.
We'll fire up a wins prediction thread in the next week or so. Typically most of us put in our predictions prior to the pre-season games, then immediately revise downwards after the pre-season games. So you're right on track!
Wow only 27.5? Hmm i guess with Beasley the gunman, not to be confused with Rifleman Chuck Person, Vegas is going low. But I'm going with FNG too. Gotta beat that number. We'll look for your thread Q.
27.5 that equals what about 31 wins in a typical 82 game season? That feels sorta optimistic really from Vegas I'm a way. It wouldn't be a disastrously bad season. Not good enough but not a disaster.
AbeVigodaLive wrote:I think we'll know quickly whether the Wolves are serious about winning this season... using 30 mpg for Rubio as the barometer.
And the rotations (as noted) will be an evolving thing. The Wolves do have a lot of "serviceable" players to plug and play with.
Finally, that may help the Wolves. I expect Covid and "rest days" to wreak havoc on rosters this season. The Wolves simply won't be good enough against a lot of teams. But they can go to Plan B at PG or the wing and be pretty much the same. The one caveat is at C... no Towns is no bueno.
Abe I think you are right about the Rubio barometer. I think this team is gonna want to do what it can to be good for the first 20 or so games. The Wolves have to be REALLY bad to have a draft pick in 2021. I think they will want to show they did something worthwhile the past few months. I think the fact that they really wanted Rubio says something about that. This is a MUCH lesser thing but will they play Ed Davis at all and especially if other guys don't really play well? Will there be someone else that doesn't play that seemingly was helping them? Will a couple guys forget how to shoot like Napier and Graham did last year? Can they avoid avoid big injury problems?
I fully expect this team to be doing everything they can to compete and win basketball games if for no other reason than to make the first-round pick used in the D'Angelo Russell trade less valuable. This team will not be tanking in the second half of the season as we've seen in the past. I'm not confident in a whole lot with this franchise, but I'm pretty sure of that.
I agree with FNG, somewhere between 25 and 38 wins. We did get better roster wise from last season, coaching wise we didn't. The west is loaded, and we are running essentially a brand new team.
Both LA teams are stacked. Portland, Houston, Denver, Utah, GSW are all clearly ahead of us. The Suns and Dallas likely as well.. We are contending with Memphis, SA, and NO for the last playoff spot.
The only teams I put us firmly ahead of are the Kings and OKC.
Media availability with Russell nothing too amazing that hasn't already been brought up but its less than 10 minutes if you want to check it out for yourself.
Russell was very complimentary of Rubio and even called him Rick a couple times. Russell seemed really comfortable and had a good affect about him. He seemed to carry himself like a vet in a good way.
Camden wrote:I fully expect this team to be doing everything they can to compete and win basketball games if for no other reason than to make the first-round pick used in the D'Angelo Russell trade less valuable. This team will not be tanking in the second half of the season as we've seen in the past. I'm not confident in a whole lot with this franchise, but I'm pretty sure of that.
That's right. There is absolutely no reason for the Wolves to emphasize anything other than winning this season. As you noted, the Wolves get absolutely no reward for losing. They have no second round pick and it's highly unlikely they'll get their first round pick since it's only top 3 protected. Unless Rosas and Saunders are completely insane, the entire front office and coaching staff will undoubtedly be fully and solely committed to winning as many games as possible. How many games they end up winning is hard to predict because there are so many unknowns. This is the season where giving the head coaching position to Ryan Saunders will catch up with the franchise.
