Minnesota Sports Forum

60WinTim wrote:

FNG wrote:Both Dane Moore and Chris Finch have said KAT participated in "basketball activities" at Tuesday's practice. We don't know what that means, but I think it's better than NOT participating in basketball activities!

Jon Krawczynski @JonKrawczynski
Chris Finch with @PAOnTheMic today on KAT:

"Today he's going to have some live activity on the floor, the first time in forever. Some controlled, live action on the floor. I know he's looking forward to that."

Still no timetable, but that's notable progress.

The Wolves are not practicing today, so it's unclear what, exactly, the live action will entail. But that's a step in the right direction for Towns. The Wolves do practice tomorrow.

That's huge news I think...seems to put more credence in the 10-15 games narrative (which I prefer to call 31-36 games, including playoffs)! I don't remember for sure, but it seems JMac started playing with a minutes restriction about a week after he began practicing. I suspect they will know pretty quickly how he feels after he begins scrimmaging. How about getting 15 minutes from KAT at the 3/15 home game against Boston? I think I might look for a couple tickets...

FNG wrote:

60WinTim wrote:

FNG wrote:Both Dane Moore and Chris Finch have said KAT participated in "basketball activities" at Tuesday's practice. We don't know what that means, but I think it's better than NOT participating in basketball activities!

Jon Krawczynski @JonKrawczynski
Chris Finch with @PAOnTheMic today on KAT:

"Today he's going to have some live activity on the floor, the first time in forever. Some controlled, live action on the floor. I know he's looking forward to that."

Still no timetable, but that's notable progress.

The Wolves are not practicing today, so it's unclear what, exactly, the live action will entail. But that's a step in the right direction for Towns. The Wolves do practice tomorrow.

That's huge news I think...seems to put more credence in the 10-15 games narrative (which I prefer to call 31-36 games, including playoffs)! I don't remember for sure, but it seems JMac started playing with a minutes restriction about a week after he began practicing. I suspect they will know pretty quickly how he feels after he begins scrimmaging. How about getting 15 minutes from KAT at the 3/15 home game against Boston? I think I might look for a couple tickets...

Wasn't it more like 2 weeks between hearing JMac doing things on the court and him actually playing in a game?

We have 3 days off before heading on a 3-game road trip on the 26th. I would hope KAT is back for that trip. Maybe a game or two before...

60WinTim wrote:

FNG wrote:

60WinTim wrote:

FNG wrote:Both Dane Moore and Chris Finch have said KAT participated in "basketball activities" at Tuesday's practice. We don't know what that means, but I think it's better than NOT participating in basketball activities!

Jon Krawczynski @JonKrawczynski
Chris Finch with @PAOnTheMic today on KAT:

"Today he's going to have some live activity on the floor, the first time in forever. Some controlled, live action on the floor. I know he's looking forward to that."

Still no timetable, but that's notable progress.

The Wolves are not practicing today, so it's unclear what, exactly, the live action will entail. But that's a step in the right direction for Towns. The Wolves do practice tomorrow.

That's huge news I think...seems to put more credence in the 10-15 games narrative (which I prefer to call 31-36 games, including playoffs)! I don't remember for sure, but it seems JMac started playing with a minutes restriction about a week after he began practicing. I suspect they will know pretty quickly how he feels after he begins scrimmaging. How about getting 15 minutes from KAT at the 3/15 home game against Boston? I think I might look for a couple tickets...

Wasn't it more like 2 weeks between hearing JMac doing things on the court and him actually playing in a game?

We have 3 days off before heading on a 3-game road trip on the 26th. I would hope KAT is back for that trip. Maybe a game or two before...

You could be right about the JMac timetable, I don't recall...it may be my rose-colored glasses misleading me.

Two weeks would be the 3/22 home game against Atlanta with, as you said, three days off for trainers to see how he reacted to playing...followed by a potential 0-3 west coast road trip (although the last WC road trip looked like an 0-4 and turned out 3-1...who knows).

It was only 2 on 0 practice, but there were several reports of how good KAT looked during the drills. Finch said KAT wants to start during much more, but they are being cautious. 5 on 0 will come next followed by actual scrimmaging. It's promising to hear Finchie talking about "when" Karl returns rather than "if", and that 2-week timetable is starting to look more likely. Finchie said KAT will likely start out coming off the bench, and says Karl has no problem with that...probably JMac-like minutes at first.

Finchie said yesterday that it's not unlikely that KAT comes off the bench after he returns. I like this. As much as I love NAZ, his defensive deficiencies are really hurting us...the Wolves give up 4.3 more points per 100 possessions when NAZ is on the floor, and overall the Wolves are outscored by 6.4 points per 100 (worst on the team among players currently in the rotation). There may still be a role for Naz, but my first move would be to give KAT Naz's 18 minutes off the bench until he is ready to go 30+. This keeps SloMo in the starting lineup where he has been quite effective, and gives us an upgrade on the second unit at both ends of the court. We eventually need KAT in the starting lineup and SloMo shoring up the second unit, but KAT coming off the bench in 10 days for a few games will really improve us.

FNG wrote:Finchie said yesterday that it's not unlikely that KAT comes off the bench after he returns. I like this. As much as I love NAZ, his defensive deficiencies are really hurting us...the Wolves give up 4.3 more points per 100 possessions when NAZ is on the floor, and overall the Wolves are outscored by 6.4 points per 100 (worst on the team among players currently in the rotation). There may still be a role for Naz, but my first move would be to give KAT Naz's 18 minutes off the bench until he is ready to go 30+. This keeps SloMo in the starting lineup where he has been quite effective, and gives us an upgrade on the second unit at both ends of the court. We eventually need KAT in the starting lineup and SloMo shoring up the second unit, but KAT coming off the bench in 10 days for a few games will really improve us.

This would also mean Naz plays minutes instead of Garza or Knight. I like both of those guy but Naz is a better player.

FNG wrote:Finchie said yesterday that it's not unlikely that KAT comes off the bench after he returns. I like this. As much as I love NAZ, his defensive deficiencies are really hurting us...the Wolves give up 4.3 more points per 100 possessions when NAZ is on the floor, and overall the Wolves are outscored by 6.4 points per 100 (worst on the team among players currently in the rotation). There may still be a role for Naz, but my first move would be to give KAT Naz's 18 minutes off the bench until he is ready to go 30+. This keeps SloMo in the starting lineup where he has been quite effective, and gives us an upgrade on the second unit at both ends of the court. We eventually need KAT in the starting lineup and SloMo shoring up the second unit, but KAT coming off the bench in 10 days for a few games will really improve us.

I agree, FNG. If a healthy KAT had come off the bench instead of Naz last night there's no question the Wolves would have won the game. At some point our two super-max bigs will be playing together in the starting lineup. I continue to have doubts about how well that will work, especially defensively.

I realize it's only 1 on 1, but anybody see any evidence of injury here? I'm going to predict he practices tomorrow in Boston and returns to play 15 minutes off the bench against Atlanta on 3/22.

https://twitter.com/DaneMooreNBA/status/1635019127390875648?s=20

FNG wrote:I realize it's only 1 on 1, but anybody see any evidence of injury here? I'm going to predict he practices tomorrow in Boston and returns to play 15 minutes off the bench against Atlanta on 3/22.

https://twitter.com/DaneMooreNBA/status/1635019127390875648?s=20

That looks like some pretty decent work he is getting in.

While the report from the Wolves that KAT "is expected to return in the coming weeks" was a little weird, it was encouraging to hear he is participating in 5 on 5 play in the "Stay in Shape League". While it's only coaches and players not in the rotation, it's still real basketball. Encouraging to hear he is involved with real scrimmaging. I'm sure they are curious to see how he responds to game-like action. I've been saying 3/22 against Atlanta (with 9 games left in the season) and that doesn't sound unreasonable if he is already playing full contact and full court.