Minnesota Sports Forum

monsterpile wrote:

WolvesFan21 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Great win, but I didn't see anything that made me feel like this team is going to outperform expectations. On offense, we clanked tons of 3s and were overly reliant on Wiggins to create shots. On defense, we played an outstanding 1st half, but then totally collapsed in the 3rd quarter and struggled to keep them off the boards. Sound familiar?

Having said that, it's clear that we have some guys willing to compete and play hard with the likes of Okogie, Graham, and RoCo. RoCo had a quiet second half, but we know he is capable of being all over the place defensively. The other two have that hard-nosed intensity about them too. This team needs that, because other than KAT, we are short on talent. We are going to need to out-grit and grind teams to eek out some wins.

Lastly, Culver looked like the rookie he is. He looked tentative to me and his outside shot looks horrible. I like working him in the rotation for brief stretches, as it appears that he won't hurt us a ton out there, but he is a long ways off from the shot maker and play maker we so desperately could use on the wing.

I think Wiggins 3 pointer looks far worse than Culvers. Wiggins was shooting scud missiles, no arc at all. I feel better about Culver developing a solid 3 point game, while with Wiggins, it's close to zero at this point. He has had streaks of good shooting but it never lasts, I don't know why.

To be fair Wiggins is a career 33% NBA 3 point shooter. He has shot that or better 3 straight seasons. He is streaky but but isn't some guy that flat out cant hit any.

Q12543 wrote:One of the great coaching malpractice ever committed is the inability or unwillingness to park Wiggins in the short corners as a spot up shooter and baseline cutter. He is a career 43% shooter from the corners, yet has taken only 16% of his 3-pt attempts from there. That means he is shooting under 30% from all other spots beyond the arc. How does a coach not see this and adjust the scheme to play to his strengths? It's malpractice I tell you!!!

Thibs and R. Saunders are the primary offenders in this case since Flip and Smitch had Wiggins early in his career and were trying to turn him into an elite shot-creating wing. But by the time Thibs came on board and certainly Ryan, we knew damn well that he was more Jeff Green than James Harden.

WolvesFan21 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

WolvesFan21 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Great win, but I didn't see anything that made me feel like this team is going to outperform expectations. On offense, we clanked tons of 3s and were overly reliant on Wiggins to create shots. On defense, we played an outstanding 1st half, but then totally collapsed in the 3rd quarter and struggled to keep them off the boards. Sound familiar?

Having said that, it's clear that we have some guys willing to compete and play hard with the likes of Okogie, Graham, and RoCo. RoCo had a quiet second half, but we know he is capable of being all over the place defensively. The other two have that hard-nosed intensity about them too. This team needs that, because other than KAT, we are short on talent. We are going to need to out-grit and grind teams to eek out some wins.

Lastly, Culver looked like the rookie he is. He looked tentative to me and his outside shot looks horrible. I like working him in the rotation for brief stretches, as it appears that he won't hurt us a ton out there, but he is a long ways off from the shot maker and play maker we so desperately could use on the wing.

I think Wiggins 3 pointer looks far worse than Culvers. Wiggins was shooting scud missiles, no arc at all. I feel better about Culver developing a solid 3 point game, while with Wiggins, it's close to zero at this point. He has had streaks of good shooting but it never lasts, I don't know why.

To be fair Wiggins is a career 33% NBA 3 point shooter. He has shot that or better 3 straight seasons. He is streaky but but isn't some guy that flat out cant hit any.

Are you saying that 33% is good? I think his corner percentage is good, but other areas are poor. 33% is not the last in the league for starting guards, but it's certainly not good. If we go to TS% he is next to last if I remember right.

monsterpile wrote:

WolvesFan21 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

WolvesFan21 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Great win, but I didn't see anything that made me feel like this team is going to outperform expectations. On offense, we clanked tons of 3s and were overly reliant on Wiggins to create shots. On defense, we played an outstanding 1st half, but then totally collapsed in the 3rd quarter and struggled to keep them off the boards. Sound familiar?

Having said that, it's clear that we have some guys willing to compete and play hard with the likes of Okogie, Graham, and RoCo. RoCo had a quiet second half, but we know he is capable of being all over the place defensively. The other two have that hard-nosed intensity about them too. This team needs that, because other than KAT, we are short on talent. We are going to need to out-grit and grind teams to eek out some wins.

Lastly, Culver looked like the rookie he is. He looked tentative to me and his outside shot looks horrible. I like working him in the rotation for brief stretches, as it appears that he won't hurt us a ton out there, but he is a long ways off from the shot maker and play maker we so desperately could use on the wing.

I think Wiggins 3 pointer looks far worse than Culvers. Wiggins was shooting scud missiles, no arc at all. I feel better about Culver developing a solid 3 point game, while with Wiggins, it's close to zero at this point. He has had streaks of good shooting but it never lasts, I don't know why.

To be fair Wiggins is a career 33% NBA 3 point shooter. He has shot that or better 3 straight seasons. He is streaky but but isn't some guy that flat out cant hit any.

Are you saying that 33% is good? I think his corner percentage is good, but other areas are poor. 33% is not the last in the league for starting guards, but it's certainly not good. If we go to TS% he is next to last if I remember right.

Your post made it sound like he couldn't shoot. Wiggins TS% problems aren't from his 3 point percentage it's from his poor midrange shooting especially with his volume which is compromised by his downturn in getting to the line hitting those FTs he gets and Finishing at the rim. No he isn't a good 3 point shooter but 33% isn't a train wreck especially since as you and Q brought up he has success shooting corner 3's.

khans2k5 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:One of the great coaching malpractice ever committed is the inability or unwillingness to park Wiggins in the short corners as a spot up shooter and baseline cutter. He is a career 43% shooter from the corners, yet has taken only 16% of his 3-pt attempts from there. That means he is shooting under 30% from all other spots beyond the arc. How does a coach not see this and adjust the scheme to play to his strengths? It's malpractice I tell you!!!

Thibs and R. Saunders are the primary offenders in this case since Flip and Smitch had Wiggins early in his career and were trying to turn him into an elite shot-creating wing. But by the time Thibs came on board and certainly Ryan, we knew damn well that he was more Jeff Green than James Harden.

Who is getting the ball to Wiggins in the corner? The sad state of this team is Wiggins has to be a primary creator because we don't have guys who can fill that role. Who's the creator off the dribble attacking the basket and kicking the ball out to Wiggins in a Teague/Wiggins/Graham/Covington/Towns lineup? Corners 3's only become a volume shot when you have guys who can attack the basket with the ball and kick it out to those corners. That was a blatantly clear problem last night when Napier came off the floor and that lineup was trying to create offense. Covington and Graham are the spot up shooters in that lineup and Wiggins has to be the ball handler when Teague plays like he did last night with no aggressiveness with the ball.