longstrangetrip wrote:I listened to Sam's post-game comments driving home from a terrible Wolves performance tonight. Unlike many of his pressers, I found tonight's comments quite measured and thoughtful. He didn't fight with the press, but instead talked about what he was displeased with. And the main thing he was displeased with is the same thing I was mostly displeased with tonight...our horrible perimeter defense. After a depressing game, I was heartened to hear Sam say there would be lineup changes in light of the recent poor defensive effort.
Anybody want to venture a guess as to why we ranked in the top 10 in defense and were 4-2 after our first 6 games, and why we have now lost 7 of our last 8 games and rank near the bottom defensively? Anybody? Anybody? Buehler? After the 6th game, Rubio got hurt again, and as the losses began to mount up, Sam inserted Kevin Martin into the starting lineup in an effort to get more offense on the court. And our defense has been a disaster ever since that move. We're scoring more points, to be sure...but defense wins ballgames and the futility of our defense with #23 on the court far offsets the additional offense he provides. I will be very disappointed if Sam doesn't revert back to the lineup that was so successful at the start of the year: Rubio, Wiggins, Prince, KG and Towns.
Maybe it's just me, but I much prefer first quarters that end with 22-17 leads like they were at the start of the season rather than the 32-26 deficits we're seeing with Kevin in the lineup. Going back to the original successful lineup works because:
1) It puts our best defense on the floor from the start of the game, and doesn't allow the opponents offense to get in gear and their confidence to build.
2) It forces our budding offensive stars Towns and Wiggins to be active offensively and handle most of the scoring from the start, which hopefully carries through to the rest of the game.
3) It allows our weaker defensive second unit to line up against the other team's reserves who will be less able to exploit our defensive weakness, while still providing some potent offensive firepower from Martin, LaVine and Shabazz.
It's very simple really. It worked at the start of the season, and it will work now. Sam is too hard-headed to admit he made a mistake in taking Tay out of the starting lineup, but I do expect him to make this simple lineup change tomorrow.
LST, That's definitely the lineup I think he goes back to. I also wouldn't be surprised if we see Payne bump Bjelica from the lineup. Bjelly has been in a major slump lately and the refs have had it in for him.
Frankly, "tweaks" to the rotation aren't going to fix this. Everyone except may be KG has been slipping defensively. As Tim mentioned, defensive discipline and focus is required in addition to effort. There are just too many mental lapses right now - by multiple players. I'm not sure how that gets fixed through a lineup tweak.
