Game Report

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

I didn't watch the game, how did Rubio do against Lillard? I'm assuming Wiggy was on CJ. Maybe this was already mentioned. Pretty disturbing about that backcourt production, but good to see the opponent shot below 50% overall again.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Wiggins is already the best wing defender the Wolves have ever had on their team. Worst case scenario he is a lock down wing defender with some offense. I think he is already so much more. His shots will start falling. I can't see how he doesn't become Jimmy Butler / Paul George / Kawai Leonard type player.

I don't know about this.

The Wolves were one of the worst defensive teams in the history of the NBA last season. I think Wiggins being a top-notch defender has more to do with our hopeful narratives (and ineptitude around him) than anything else.

[Coolbreeze44]

Maybe it's his health, maybe it's Flip's coaching vs Sam's coaching.

If his back is ailing then its going to be far less painful/uncomfortable to take jumper than banging around at this rim. I'm just wondering, the fact they're playing him through the injury suggests they think it will still heal, what exactly is the issue, and how did it happen? Would they not be better to let him heal rather than playing with the issue, would that not shorten the time until the real Wiggins is back?

The thing is I like the idea of Wiggins sitting out if he's indeed hurting.
It would force minutes for LaVine at SG and Miller at PG, it also would give more minutes for Bazz. With added minuted LaVine and Bazz would get it going more, having Miller run point would help it too. So when Wiggins gets healthy he just kicks out Prince out of the rotation minutes and we are a better team afterwards.
And it's not like Wiggins is holding our team together right now.

I don't think he's hurting enough to miss games. He made some moves last night that would suggest he's at least close to 100%. And I can't see anything good about Andrew missing time.

[thedoper]

Wiggins is already the best wing defender the Wolves have ever had on their team. Worst case scenario he is a lock down wing defender with some offense. I think he is already so much more. His shots will start falling. I can't see how he doesn't become Jimmy Butler / Paul George / Kawai Leonard type player.

I don't know about this.

The Wolves were one of the worst defensive teams in the history of the NBA last season. I think Wiggins being a top-notch defender has more to do with our hopeful narratives (and ineptitude around him) than anything else.

It may not be a great accomplishment yet. But which wolf do you think was a better wing defender? Spree, Hassell, JR?? There is no projection. One excellent perimeter defender does not make for great team defense on any team. But in isolation he already has the best technique and skills that I have seen of any Timberwolves defender.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Wiggins is already the best wing defender the Wolves have ever had on their team. Worst case scenario he is a lock down wing defender with some offense. I think he is already so much more. His shots will start falling. I can't see how he doesn't become Jimmy Butler / Paul George / Kawai Leonard type player.

I don't know about this.

The Wolves were one of the worst defensive teams in the history of the NBA last season. I think Wiggins being a top-notch defender has more to do with our hopeful narratives (and ineptitude around him) than anything else.

It may not be a great accomplishment yet. But which wolf do you think was a better wing defender? Spree, Hassell, JR?? There is no projection. One excellent perimeter defender does not make for great team defense on any team. But in isolation he already has the best technique and skills that I have seen of any Timberwolves defender.

By the defensive metrics we have... Wiggins did not have a good season. He was willing... and that goes a long way. But I don't think he was necessarily good at it. I remember the back-to-back games where he willingly took on Zach Randolph one night... and then started the next game on Chris Paul.

I was very impressed at a high-profile rookie being willing to do that in almost impossible circumstances. But when it came down to it, he was almost comically overmatched against each.

For my money, Trenton Hassell (pre-handcheck rules) was really solid.

[thedoper]

Great defensive PGs and PFs have trouble with Paul and Randolph. I've yet to see him outmatched by a 2 or 3 in any game I've watched, whereas I saw Hassel get his ass handed to him more than a few times.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Great defensive PGs and PFs have trouble with Paul and Randolph. I've yet to see him outmatched by a 2 or 3 in any game I've watched, whereas I saw Hassel get his ass handed to him more than a few times.

We're going to have to disagree on this one.

There's absolutely no metrics that I've seen to show that Wiggins was a plus defender last season. As for Hassell... it was more than a decade ago. But I remember him being pretty effective and integral to a 58-win team despite averaging only 5.0 ppg.

In the 2nd round of the playoffs, he was very key in holding Peja Stojakavic to 35.7% shooting.

Here's an old-school article that discusses Hassell's defense:

http://www.nba.com/timberwolves/features/hassell_040205.html

[thedoper]

I am interested in the metrics your referring to since you seem to have some knowledge. Good stats linked to individual defense rarely make sense to me. Are they available for Hassel as well?

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I didn't watch the game, how did Rubio do against Lillard? I'm assuming Wiggy was on CJ. Maybe this was already mentioned. Pretty disturbing about that backcourt production, but good to see the opponent shot below 50% overall again.

I actually thought Ricky played Lillard fairly tough...it's just that Lillard was unbelievable last night. He was putting the ball in the basket even when he had a hand in his face. I would say the same for Zach. It was more about Lillard last night than it was about our defense.

There was a time last night when I thought to myself "Man, can you imagine how Lillard would be doing if he had Miller or Jones on him?", but honestly I don't know if he would have done any better. Rubio and LaVine couldn't stop him, and neither would have Miller or Jones. So maybe it was a night where Sam could have turned to Miller and he wouldn't have hurt us on defense.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I am interested in the metrics your referring to since you seem to have some knowledge. Good stats linked to individual defense rarely make sense to me. Are they available for Hassel as well?

The NBA was a bit different back in 2004. Much more anecdotal. But a quick google search for Hassell + defense provides a wealth of background anecdotes about Hassell being described as a "decent" to "very good" to only one step removed from Bruce Bowen.

Here's a fairly lengthy article about Wiggins' defense last season, with some links to various metrics.

http://hoopshabit.com/2015/03/09/andrew-wiggins-good-defender/