Pistons vs Wolves GDT

[kekgeek]

Ricky Rubio with some interesting commentary on the Wolves D postgame -- I'll put it in the pod tonight.

But it sounds like the zone was something added this week. Rubio acknowledged it's why they won, but also said: "When you play zone, it means your defense isn't working."

From Dane Moore

[kekgeek]

Karl-Anthony Towns on returning to the basketball court...

"No matter how fucked up my life is, I'm gonna keep being here for these guys."

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I dont get why people are down on DLo. He just gave us more next to KAT than anything we had since Jimmy. Great win.

This will be a nightly thing whether D-Lo plays well or poorly.

Like whether he makes shots? Because he's a hell of a lot more than a shot maker. Hes got some real chemistry with KAT on and off the ball and hes got real poise. His "bad shots" are just no longer considered that in today's NBA. I loved his game tonight.

I'm in total agreement with you. D-Lo isn't a perfect player, but he does a lot of things well. But there are those here that just hate his game and will look to berate him nightly. The Wolves don't win tonight without him. Period.

Meanwhile, we have a round of applause for Ricky Rubio and I thought he was pretty terrible outside of a handful of plays.

Cam, I hope you're not referring to me. I was very outspoken at the time of the trade saying I didn't want the guy on my team. After that I pretty much left him alone, even though it wasn't always easy to do. And let me be honest with you, no one complains about the same things night after night like you do. Whether it's Saunders, Hernangomez or the offensive system, you harp on the same things regularly. You really shouldn't be pointing any fingers.

Actually, that was pretty generic in who it was towards as there are a number of voices here that routinely complain and knock D-Lo when it's not necessarily justified. You aren't at the top of that list even though you clearly don't enjoy his game, which is fine.

But since you decided to shoot my way, I'll respond. We all have our viewpoints. I'm stubborn in mine because I don't reach my conclusions without taking the time to develop said conclusions. Sometimes those are developed on this forum by posting about it. If that's considered harping, then I'll accept it and maybe I'll post less often.

I will say that the topics you just listed as those that I harp on are pretty legitimate areas of concern... much more so than D-Lo, which takes us back to the original conversation.

I don't want you to post less often. I'm just very adamant that even though DLO isn't my cup of tea, I generally keep my criticism of him to myself.

Kudos to you, Cool. The defensiveness isn't required then since I've already noted that you weren't singled out by my initial comment. We're good here.

[Coolbreeze44]

KAT: "That Karl died on April 13. He ain't coming back. You're talking to the physical me ... That man you're talking about from April 13 or before, I don't know him. He ain't there."

We all grieve in different ways, and losing a parent is really hard. That being said most of us have gone through it or will go through it. You can't let it ruin your own life.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Ricky Rubio with some interesting commentary on the Wolves D postgame -- I'll put it in the pod tonight.

But it sounds like the zone was something added this week. Rubio acknowledged it's why they won, but also said: "When you play zone, it means your defense isn't working."

From Dane Moore

The long-haired, lovable Spaniard isn't wrong. I'd add that zone doesn't typically work against good teams. Thank goodness we didn't play one tonight.

[Jester1534]

Ricky Rubio with some interesting commentary on the Wolves D postgame -- I'll put it in the pod tonight.

But it sounds like the zone was something added this week. Rubio acknowledged it's why they won, but also said: "When you play zone, it means your defense isn't working."

From Dane Moore

The long-haired, lovable Spaniard isn't wrong. I'd add that zone doesn't typically work against good teams. Thank goodness we didn't play one tonight.

Didn't the heat play a lot of zone in the bubble?

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Ricky Rubio with some interesting commentary on the Wolves D postgame -- I'll put it in the pod tonight.

But it sounds like the zone was something added this week. Rubio acknowledged it's why they won, but also said: "When you play zone, it means your defense isn't working."

From Dane Moore

The long-haired, lovable Spaniard isn't wrong. I'd add that zone doesn't typically work against good teams. Thank goodness we didn't play one tonight.

Didn't the heat play a lot of zone in the bubble?

Yes and no. Miami will calculatedly turn to a 2-3 zone as a change of pace meant to disrupt rhythm and then fall back on their man defense. They almost use zone like NFL defenses use the blitz. It's a tool and not a crutch.

Minnesota went to zone starting late in the first half and then fully relied on it in the fourth quarter. I'd say the main difference there is necessity. Minnesota's man defense wasn't holding up and they had to do something different whereas Miami uses it for a stretch run and then goes away from it.

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

Minnesota's stars came up big when they had to. You love to see that.

We only have one star

Lol agreed. Russell is NOT a star.

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

I dont get why people are down on DLo. He just gave us more next to KAT than anything we had since Jimmy. Great win.

My issues with him is he plays above his head too much. He takes off balance deep 3's or tough contested shots in general. Doesn't play good D.

If he played more under control and taking better shots he would be a lot better. I'm not down on him, I'm more neutral. He thinks he can make any shot, but is sacrificing percentages by doing so. Just stick to good looks.

Exactly this

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

I dont get why people are down on DLo. He just gave us more next to KAT than anything we had since Jimmy. Great win.

This will be a nightly thing whether D-Lo plays well or poorly.

Like whether he makes shots? Because he's a hell of a lot more than a shot maker. Hes got some real chemistry with KAT on and off the ball and hes got real poise. His "bad shots" are just no longer considered that in today's NBA. I loved his game tonight.

I'm in total agreement with you. D-Lo isn't a perfect player, but he does a lot of things well. But there are those here that just hate his game and will look to berate him nightly. The Wolves don't win tonight without him. Period.

Meanwhile, we have a round of applause for Ricky Rubio and I thought he was pretty terrible outside of a handful of plays.

I agree. I've never been a DLO fan and wasn't thrilled with the deal to bring him here. But I agree that the Wolves don't win without him tonight. And I want to recognize his defense. I thought he was very good on the defensive end in this game. I liked his effort on the defensive end and his poise on the offensive end. Add to that the fact that he hit some big shots in the second half.

Was he the right choice to add as our second cornerstone player next to Towns? I have my doubts. Is he truly a max contract player? I'm not sure. Does he fit well with what's supposed to be a fast-paced, full-court style with lots of ball movement? I don't think so. But in the half court, he can control the ball with poise and be a bucket getter when you need big shots. And tonight I think he showed that he can play defense if he's fully committed to that end of the floor.

I'll be the first to admit that dlo is an improvement over Wiggins, but I would still prefer that he wasn't on the team. He's overpaid and I just feel like he takes a lot of lazy/bad shots that just waste possessions. My biggest fear is that he blocks the growth of culver/edwards and even Beasley by just jacking up bad shots. The ball movement was better without Russell in the last preseason game and I don't think that was a coincidence. I really think that one of that trio I mentioned will surpass dlo this year as our consensus "2nd star" or 2nd best player.
I can tolerate dlo a lot more if he's more of a distributor and less of a 1st scoring option on offense. I just feel like he calls his own number too much. Kat should be leading this team in shots by a wide margin and I just get super annoyed by the fall away 30 footers by dlo (yes, even when they go in)... dlo is not harden or curry. Obviously the rest of the league sees the same thing some of us are seeing. I hope dlo sent Durant a Christmas card, because without him he would have never gotten a max contract.