A1 From Day 1? - Wolves @ Clippers GDT

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

The last two games by Culver are what concern me more than anything. DLO, Beasley, Rubio, Davis, Layman, and Juancho are what they are, warts and all. Edwards is a rookie, which means ups and downs, with more of the latter. Reid can only do so much as a 2nd year big with one year of college. Culver is the guy that could really be an X-factor for us. But he simply can't revert back to being an offensive non-factor.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Hmmmm...

"When things weren't going our way, everybody goes playing selfish. We have to learn. There's a lot of excuses. We're young, blah, blah, blah, this and that, but once you step on the court, you're playing for an NBA team, and the last two games, it's been ridiculously bad.

- Ricky Rubio

[TheFuture]

FNG, I agree with you that in most respects playing defense is about effort. But in KAT's case, he has a very weak base that allows him to be easily bullied inside. Where he can really improve on defense is in his play from the weak side. That takes some desire and coaching. But he is always going to struggle in man defense in the paint unless he can dramatically increase his bulk, particularly in his lower body.

The weak base is largely irrelevant in today's league where hardly anybody posts up anymore.

You're right... weak side help... awareness... those things are where his improvement can have the biggest impact.

Yeah, Towns' defensive instincts are absolute dogshit. His timing is terrible everywhere. Until he fixes those, he will never be more than an incredible one-way offensive player. That is not conducive to winning now from your C position max player.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Hmmmm...

"When things weren't going our way, everybody goes playing selfish. We have to learn. There's a lot of excuses. We're young, blah, blah, blah, this and that, but once you step on the court, you're playing for an NBA team, and the last two games, it's been ridiculously bad.

- Ricky Rubio

Sounds like a thinly veiled shot at DLO. I'm trying to stay open-minded about DLO, but so far he is playing exactly to the type his biggest detractors described: Ambivalent defense, ill-advised shot attempts, and lack of leadership.

[60WinTim]

Hmmmm...

"When things weren't going our way, everybody goes playing selfish. We have to learn. There's a lot of excuses. We're young, blah, blah, blah, this and that, but once you step on the court, you're playing for an NBA team, and the last two games, it's been ridiculously bad.

- Ricky Rubio

Sounds like a thinly veiled shot at DLO. I'm trying to stay open-minded about DLO, but so far he is playing exactly to the type his biggest detractors described: Ambivalent defense, ill-advised shot attempts, and lack of leadership.

On the other hand, I wonder if Rubio's leadership and influence might result in the way the team evolves. It is just game 4 of a brand new season. Let's see how it looks for 10 or 20 games, even if those are without KAT. If that happens, then the Rubio acquisition will be a steal!

[Wolvesfan21]

Hmmmm...

"When things weren't going our way, everybody goes playing selfish. We have to learn. There's a lot of excuses. We're young, blah, blah, blah, this and that, but once you step on the court, you're playing for an NBA team, and the last two games, it's been ridiculously bad.

- Ricky Rubio

Sounds like a thinly veiled shot at DLO. I'm trying to stay open-minded about DLO, but so far he is playing exactly to the type his biggest detractors described: Ambivalent defense, ill-advised shot attempts, and lack of leadership.

As soon as KAT went down DLO went down too. DLO looked to be giving more effort on defense the first two games and playing more team ball. We need KAT back in a big way, but I wouldn't hurry him either. We need him long term healthy.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Hmmmm...

"When things weren't going our way, everybody goes playing selfish. We have to learn. There's a lot of excuses. We're young, blah, blah, blah, this and that, but once you step on the court, you're playing for an NBA team, and the last two games, it's been ridiculously bad.

- Ricky Rubio

Sounds like a thinly veiled shot at DLO. I'm trying to stay open-minded about DLO, but so far he is playing exactly to the type his biggest detractors described: Ambivalent defense, ill-advised shot attempts, and lack of leadership.

On the other hand, I wonder if Rubio's leadership and influence might result in the way the team evolves. It is just game 4 of a brand new season. Let's see how it looks for 10 or 20 games, even if those are without KAT. If that happens, then the Rubio acquisition will be a steal!

Yes, we'll see. I never had visions of grandeur with DLO. I see him as a flawed player, but at least a highly skilled one. My best-case-scenario hope is that his general tendency toward lazy play is overwhelmed by the hustle and competitiveness of guys like Rubio, Beasley, Culver, and Okogie, such that he becomes the outlier. The problem is those guys need to make shots. It doesn't matter how well Culver plays defense and rebounds if he goes 0-10 from the field.

[FNG]

Hmmmm...

"When things weren't going our way, everybody goes playing selfish. We have to learn. There's a lot of excuses. We're young, blah, blah, blah, this and that, but once you step on the court, you're playing for an NBA team, and the last two games, it's been ridiculously bad.

- Ricky Rubio

Sounds like a thinly veiled shot at DLO. I'm trying to stay open-minded about DLO, but so far he is playing exactly to the type his biggest detractors described: Ambivalent defense, ill-advised shot attempts, and lack of leadership.

On the other hand, I wonder if Rubio's leadership and influence might result in the way the team evolves. It is just game 4 of a brand new season. Let's see how it looks for 10 or 20 games, even if those are without KAT. If that happens, then the Rubio acquisition will be a steal!

My immediate thought was Ricky was taking a shot at D-Lo and Ant. Culver shot poorly, but I didn't see any selfishness from him. I don't expect Ricky to change D-Lo in any way...Russell is what he is and probably sees himself as more of a star than Rubio. But I am optimistic that Ricky can mold Edwards into the kind of player we want him to be. If Ant can work as hard as Rubio does on defense and attack the basket along with taking the open three, he will be a star for years to come. There's no question the physical gifts are there.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Hmmmm...

"When things weren't going our way, everybody goes playing selfish. We have to learn. There's a lot of excuses. We're young, blah, blah, blah, this and that, but once you step on the court, you're playing for an NBA team, and the last two games, it's been ridiculously bad.

- Ricky Rubio

Sounds like a thinly veiled shot at DLO. I'm trying to stay open-minded about DLO, but so far he is playing exactly to the type his biggest detractors described: Ambivalent defense, ill-advised shot attempts, and lack of leadership.

On the other hand, I wonder if Rubio's leadership and influence might result in the way the team evolves. It is just game 4 of a brand new season. Let's see how it looks for 10 or 20 games, even if those are without KAT. If that happens, then the Rubio acquisition will be a steal!

My immediate thought was Ricky was taking a shot at D-Lo and Ant. Culver shot poorly, but I didn't see any selfishness from him. I don't expect Ricky to change D-Lo in any way...Russell is what he is and probably sees himself as more of a star than Rubio. But I am optimistic that Ricky can mold Edwards into the kind of player we want him to be. If Ant can work as hard as Rubio does on defense and attack the basket along with taking the open three, he will be a star for years to come. There's no question the physical gifts are there.

I've waited long enough... I was pretty open-minded about the Russell trade. Heck, he's still only played 3 games with Towns!

But, I just don't like how he plays. Yep, sometimes it's as simple as that. I remember being at a Wolves game with a basketball buddy years ago. We got into an argument about Troy Hudson. I said "Nope." He doesn't have it. It's better to dump him for next-to-nothing now than watch him try to direct an offense. We're just biding time.

I'm not the greatest basketball mind. But I think I'm ok. I like to think that being a hoops junkie (on the court and watching tv) for... well... ummm... decades... has given me some insights. Some of those are spot on. Some are woefully, embarrassingly wrong.

But sometimes you just know... with every fiber of your bones.

I knew the moment(s) I saw Troy Hudson run a PnR that he wasn't the answer.
I knew the moment I saw big man Hasheem Thabeet spend more time on the ground than in the air back in a big UConn game.
I knew the moment I heard the name Rashad McCants that he was the devil disguised as a human being.
I knew the moment the Wolves were without multiple bigs... and Wiggins was asked to play "up" in size in some meaningless game... only to see him grab ONE rebound that game.

When a star player tanks his first game without the other team's star player... and only the 3rd game of the season... more than any other player I've ever seen while watching literally thousands of basketball games...
I knew my suspicions were more than that.

I just know.



[Note: There's no way that Russell makes an All Star game and earns $100+ million without being talented. He will continue to hit really tough shots. He'll even carry the Wolves to some wins. He'll be celebrated. He'll be ripped. And I'll earnestly try to take it all in with an open mind. But deep inside... I already know how this story ends.]

[Lipoli390]

Hmmmm...

"When things weren't going our way, everybody goes playing selfish. We have to learn. There's a lot of excuses. We're young, blah, blah, blah, this and that, but once you step on the court, you're playing for an NBA team, and the last two games, it's been ridiculously bad.

- Ricky Rubio

Sounds like a thinly veiled shot at DLO. I'm trying to stay open-minded about DLO, but so far he is playing exactly to the type his biggest detractors described: Ambivalent defense, ill-advised shot attempts, and lack of leadership.

On the other hand, I wonder if Rubio's leadership and influence might result in the way the team evolves. It is just game 4 of a brand new season. Let's see how it looks for 10 or 20 games, even if those are without KAT. If that happens, then the Rubio acquisition will be a steal!

My immediate thought was Ricky was taking a shot at D-Lo and Ant. Culver shot poorly, but I didn't see any selfishness from him. I don't expect Ricky to change D-Lo in any way...Russell is what he is and probably sees himself as more of a star than Rubio. But I am optimistic that Ricky can mold Edwards into the kind of player we want him to be. If Ant can work as hard as Rubio does on defense and attack the basket along with taking the open three, he will be a star for years to come. There's no question the physical gifts are there.

FNG - I agree with you that DLO is what he is and we shouldn't expect Ricky to have any impact on him. The hope is that Ricky can have a positive impact on Edwards. Let's hope that Russell doesn't have a negative impact on Edwards.

Like Q, I've tried to have an open mind about Russell even though I didn't like the trade that brought him here. Unfortunately, he's confirming my concerns so far this season. His last two games have been abysmal, but even his first two games when he put up some good numbers were chalk full of bad DLO moments where he would jack up bad shots and get lazy with the ball. He's never struck me as a guy with elite talent. But he's very skilled and has good size for a PG. The problem with him is what I see as a loose screw between his ears. There's something wrong and I can't quite put my finger on it. I wouldn't be too concerned if he had Malik Beasley's contract and wasn't brought here as the second pillar of this team.

To assess Russell you need to ask yourself what teams would trade for him and what would they give up? Specifically, is there any team that finished in the lottery last season who would, in exchange for DLO, give up their 2021 1st and second round picks with the 1st-round pick only top 4 protected and then unprotected the next year? Would the Wizards have given us those picks with John Wall to get DLO? To get Westbrook, the Wizards only had to give up a lottery-protected 2023 1st round pick, which goes down to top 8 and if not conveyed becomes a 2nd round pick. Would they have given up what the Wolves gave up to swap Wall for DLO? I wonder.

We'll see how DLO progresses throughout this season. I'm not totally closed to the possibility that he blossoms into the borderline all-star player he has the potential to be. But if he doesn't start playing much better than he has so far this season on a consistent basis, then I'd love to put him on the market and see what we can get. Of course, there's risk in trading him given his friendship with KAT. That friendship was probably part of Gersson's motivation in trading for DLO in the first place. Turning around and trading DLO now would probably alienate KAT far more than failing to trade for DLO in the first place. It's like Glen's decision to name Ryan Saunders interim head coach. That made it more difficult for Gersson to hire someone else on a permanent basis because it created an expectation that didn't exist. KAT now expects DLO to be here with him and it probably matters even more to KAT given the death of his mom and other family members.