Minnesota Sports Forum

I'm not a fan of the hero ball concept the starting lineup has with putting offensively inept players next to Wiggins and Towns to force them to produce. Good NBA offenses are system based. They have ball movement that generates open shots for potentially anyone on the court based on what the defense gives you. Everyone on the court needs to be a participant in the offense, not just 3 guys. I'm already tired of the narrative that starting Prince and KG sets the tone defensively for the rest of the team when the entire second unit that replaces the starters can't stop anyone. At this point the group I want to see most on the court together is Ricky/Lavine/Wiggins/NB/Towns. That group played well in the LA game and got us back into the game before Martin subbed in for Lavine. That unit is filled with guys who can move the ball on offense and at least in the LA game played really hard on defense and got a few stops. I don't care how young and inexperienced that group is. That's who I want to see play the most together because it is a great lineup to play the development card and I actually think it has some good balance to it to show some positive results overall.

Also to everyone who keeps saying they understand what Sam is doing, is that what you really want to see this team do? Do you really believe the starting lineup (as is) is the best lineup for this team to utilize moving forward? Do you actually like watching that unit play basketball? I certainly don't. I don't care if it makes sense on any level. That's not what I want to see and if it's not what you want to see then stop backing up Sam. You should fight for who you want to see play, not scratch and claw for reasons to defend Sam's thought process. Sam hasn't done anything to earn our unwavering support. I don't get the attitude that some guys like Prince and KG in the starting lineup to set a tone that has no effect on the players who replace them and then you also want to see young guys not following that tone at all to play more. That defensive starting 5 has meant jack shit in terms of setting a defensive tone the rest of the team follows because the rest of the team either doesn't give a shit about defense (Martin/Bazz and Lavine sometimes) or just sucks at it anyway (Dieng/NB/Lavine and Bazz other times).

Khans, I agree I'm done with the starting line-up. I get defensive mind-set Sam is trying to instill, but if KG cannot hit a shot and needs to be subbed out quickly then what is the defensive mind-set? I do appreciate KG's presence, but is the team going all-out in practice?

The reason I ask about going all out in practice is it just seems like the positioning, timing, and shots take forever to begin to get up to game speed. If KG and Prince cannot provide more minutes in a game what makes you think they can provide the speed in a practice environment?

One bright spot has been our defense. It remains to be seen whether we can keep it up against the tougher schedule coming up. Last year it seemed we routinely gave up .500+ shooting nights to the opposition, and that has yet to happen this year. If the defensive trend continues, we will win some game when our shots start falling.

Some great analysis here guys.

My two cents:
As pointed out there is an unbalance in the starting lineup / second unit. Wiggins and KAT are being asked to take on too much of the scoring load in the starting lineup. Prince and KG are lucky to score 2ppg and Rubio is a facilitator.

People will be getting sick of me harping on about this but I think it's a simple fix. Swap Bazz for Prince.

Wiggins has struggled the most offensively in the starting lineup. He always draws the best opposition wing defender and often gets doubled team, because Prince stands in the corner offering nothing on offense. Bazz in the starting lineup up would take a lot of this defensive pressure off Wiggins and give us a consistent scorer. It worked great last season when Flip started those two together and both flourished. Prince would give the 2nd unit something it literally doesn't have; a decent defensive player.

Rubio / Wiggins / Bazz / KG / KAT

LaVine / Martin / Prince / Bjelica / Dieng

Q12543 wrote:

Hicks123 wrote:http://thebiglead.com/2015/11/06/the-minnesota-timberwolves-have-two-of-the-worst-starters-in-the-nba-in-kevin-garnett-tayshaun-prince/

The problem with this Hicks is it completely ignores the impact they have on the other end of the floor. Defense isn't reflected in per 36 stats.

Mitchell's goal with this squad was to get off on the right foot defensively in halves and so far they are doing that. No more 40 point blitzkreigs in the 1st quarter!

I'm not sure how sustainable this starting lineup is over the rest of the season and it's probably not how I would have done it, but like I've said before, I get the logic and can get behind Mitchell on this one.

Ha, I don't know the author of this article, Stephen Douglas, but here's his twitter account if any of you are jonesing for some more of his sports insights!


https://twitter.com/stephen_douglas

Seriously, how can a guy get away with writing an article where he defines the value of a player's worth as only his offensive game...what a knucklehead! He apparently isn't aware that the Wolves are easily defeating the other team when "two of the worst starters in the NBA" are on the floor. If Tay and KG are really that bad and the team is plus 12.6 points per 36 when they are on the floor, the other three starters better be in the conversation for MVP. Wig, KAT and Ricky must at least be all-stars if they're able to carry those other two stiffs!