Minnesota Sports Forum

lipoli390 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:I like that Young to Capella game. It's something DLO and KAT can do. Looks like Young is now back on his game. Atlanta's going to win this game.

Capella is simply better at being a tim runner and setting screens etc. if Finch can actually get Towns to play like a big that would be a big development. Look at what Ayton was doing in the previous game.

KAT is a dominant low-post scorer. In that sense, he clearly plays like a big. He's not some soft perimeter guy who hangs out at the three point line. However, as you noted, his screening is poor and his rim-running is sub-par. But I think Finch can get him to improve in those areas. It will help to have guards like DLO and Ant who can facilitate.

Towns used to be a dominant low post scorer but that's gone away to some extent the last few years. Some of that is the league and sole of that is the offense and some of that is Towns getting too frustrated. He isn't soft but...he ain't rugged either. He plays hard though I just think he isn't the same as those other Bigs. Obviously he is a terrific shooter which is a big thing to have but it also I think can be somewhat of a negative. Towns himself needs to put his offensive skill all together but so does the freaking coaching staff. Towns is to blame for how he is or isn't used but I think it's been malpractice at times how he isn't or isn't used.

Embiid, Jokic, and Bam out now. KAT is definitely not as good as the first two and he's arguably not as good as the third.

Provides further data that Edwards is the key. Hope he's in a gym somewhere right now working his ass off with LaMelo's Ball picture hung from the rim!

Q12543 wrote:Embiid, Jokic, and Bam out now. KAT is definitely not as good as the first two and he's arguably not as good as the third.

Provides further data that Edwards is the key. Hope he's in a gym somewhere right now working his ass off with LaMelo's Ball picture hung from the rim!

Speaking of Lamello Ball...today I saw a commercial with him and Lonzo and I thought to myself...Melo looks a lot like Jr from the show "Blackish". Lol

I missed a few minutes of the game tonight but I'll admit I see why people are down on Ben Simmons. I would do a Russell for Simmons deal with no hesitation and I'm probably one of the more optimistic people about Russell on this board. Part of that is that I think Simmons and Towns would work better together offensively and Simmons as a defender next to Towns (and others) would help a ton on that end. It will be interesting to see what the Sixers do. They need a more dynamic guard although Seth Curry was pretty good for them. He has some pretty nice playoff stats. I'm still annoyed the Wolves never signed him.

Q12543 wrote:Embiid, Jokic, and Bam out now. KAT is definitely not as good as the first two and he's arguably not as good as the third.

Provides further data that Edwards is the key. Hope he's in a gym somewhere right now working his ass off with LaMelo's Ball picture hung from the rim!

Yes. Embiid is out because their other star, Simmons, can't score and was afraid to shoot. Jokic is out because their other star, Murray, was out injured. Bam is out because Butler had a terrible series. Luka is out because he didn't have another star on his team or a good enough supporting cast to advance. The Nets are out because Durant had only one injured, out-of-shape, star playing along side him by the end. Put KAT on the Nets and I think they win the game against Milwaukee. Put KAT on the Mavs and perhaps they would have advanced.

I don't think the playoffs this year have taught us anything we didn't already know. We've always known that it takes at least two elite players (stars) plus a borderline allstar and good supporting cast to advance in the playoffs and be a true contender. We have one star and his name is KAT. We have one potentially elite player and his name is Edwards. We have a borderline all-star and his name is D'Angelo Russell. We have McDaniels who looks like he'll be a really good two-way player and perhaps even more. So I agree that whether the Wolves become a contender will depend on the development of Edwards. He's the one guy on our roster who looks like he can give us the two stars you generally need to contend for a championship. I've always thought that your best player needs to be a guard or wing who can control the ball and make plays for both himself and others off the dribble. There have been exceptions to that general rule like Dirk and Duncan. But those are exceptions. Ant can become our lead star who controls the ball and makes things happen. KAT will be a great #2 or #1b. Then we'll see how much more we can get from DLO and how much better McDaniels can become.

I see the offense eventually being initiated by Ant. So though I would love to move DLO for Simmons or anybody who can play, I don't feel like we want Simmons anymore. Jaden may even become someone that can initiate. And then you never know when Simmons back is going to act up. The Sixers have a problem.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:I see the offense eventually being initiated by Ant. So though I would love to move DLO for Simmons or anybody who can play, I don't feel like we want Simmons anymore. Jaden may even become someone that can initiate. And then you never know when Simmons back is going to act up. The Sixers have a problem.

I agree, Cool. The Sixers definitely have a problem. There's no doubt in my mind they're going to move Simmons this offseason. The only questions are were he ends up and what the Sixers get in return.

Wildest stat of all. Ben Simmons attempted only 4 shots in the 4th Q of a 7 game series. That is nuts!!

kekgeek1 wrote:Wildest stat of all. Ben Simmons attempted only 4 shots in the 4th Q of a 7 game series. That is nuts!!

Only 4 more than me.

Wow, yeah, watching game 7, you can really see the best and worst of Ben Simmons on full display.

Some of the defense he was providing in that game was unbelievable, guarding everyone from Trey to Galinari. And he created a lot of transition opportunities by pushing the ball and finding the open man before the defense could get fully set.

But woof, that free throw shooting and just total passivity with his shot. He really was a clear liability in any half court offense or set offensive play, even without an explicit hack-a-ben approach. Just the possibility that the opponents could intentionally foul him and put him on the line down the stretch really did make him borderline unplayable. He's a 60% FT shooter for his career, which is bad to start with, but that just cratered in the playoffs this year.

It's a shame, because if he could just get his FT% up to about 70% reliably and at least be a Rubio-level threat from deep, something like 25%-30%, then you're looking at a more athletic Draymond Green. His defense is really special and he's such a great passer. It's such a shame that shooting is such a glaring weakness/absence for him.

Yeah, at this point, I'm not sure I would trade DLO for him any more. I'm fairly confident his FT shooting will come back a bit--we've got 4 full seasons of 60% shooting, so that's probably a better predictor than the 20% or whatever he shot in the playoffs here. But just the chance it could get that bad, coupled with the difficulties of having to build around him, I guess I'd still stick with DLO--although DLO causes all sorts of other problems to build around and I'm pretty sure those aren't fixable with him on the roster.