Minnesota Sports Forum

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:I think Allen would come here for the minimum unless he gets significantly more to go elsewhere. Staying in Memphis doesn't make much sense right now for him if he wants to win. The Griz look like one of those teams likely to drop into the lottery.

Actually, I don't think the Wolves will make an offer to Allen. It's interesting that Thibs has talked repeatedly since the end of last season about the Wolves need to improve their 3-point shooting and how important three-point shooting is in today's NBA. I was told by folks inside the organization that he identified 3-point shooting improvement as his #1 goal. And yet, as the season approaches, Thibs hasn't added a single bona fide 3-point shooter to the roster. At the same time, he gave up our only elite 3-point shooter (LaVine) in the Butler deal. So I have to believe that at least two of the remaining 3 roster spots will go to three-point shooters like Morrow and Dunleavy. Aaron Brooks and Deron Williams are two other available vets who can hit threes.

How is going from Rubio to Teague not an upgrade in 3 point shooting?

I think part of why Allen staying in Memphis is that its assumed that they are planning to pay him more than the minimum. From what I have heard they are waiting to figure out the J. Green situation before they know how much they will send Allen's way in terms of salary. But we don't know how much Green is going to get and while there is no money out there for him it's not like the Grizz want to let him go either. He probably doesn't have much interest in playing for a fairly low qualifying offer. Green and Noel's RFA standoffs are plenty interesting.

I'm comfortable with the Rubio/Teague swap. It doesn't bug me like overpaying for Taj with the last $14 million of our cap space. Teague seems like a better fit than Ricky for the way Thibs wants to run the offense. But Teague's low volume from behind the arc doesn't move the 3-point needle much. Teague is definitely more of a scorer than Ricky, but he doesn't significantly improve our three-point shooting.

It's still an upgrade that was my point and itt certainly was something that addressed shooting. It seems reasonable to say having a league average shooter scorer in Teague is a needle moving upgrade (regardless of how much) from one of the worst shooters in the league the past few years.

One other thing to consider is Teague MAY actually create more 3 point opportunities for shooters because he is much more of a threat to score when he drives (and he did that a lot last year and was top 5 in the entire league the 3 previous years) than Rubio who passed over 56% of the time he drove the ball. It's going to be interesting to see how Thibs and the players balance having all these guys who can take the ball into the paint and do something positive with it.

I do think Thibs is banking on creating more volume of 3's by penetrating the paint more often (either by a guard/wing or by a rolling big man) and then kicking out to the corners. It will be very interesting to see our corner 3 volume early in the season and see how it compares to last year's squad.

Unfortunately, we don't have anyone like Klay or Curry or Korver (or LaVine for that matter) that can be run off multiple off-ball screens, receive the pass, and then rise up and hit a 3 practically in someone's face. We're going to have to manufacture more 3's by getting into the paint and collapsing the defense.

Q12543 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:I think Allen would come here for the minimum unless he gets significantly more to go elsewhere. Staying in Memphis doesn't make much sense right now for him if he wants to win. The Griz look like one of those teams likely to drop into the lottery.

Actually, I don't think the Wolves will make an offer to Allen. It's interesting that Thibs has talked repeatedly since the end of last season about the Wolves need to improve their 3-point shooting and how important three-point shooting is in today's NBA. I was told by folks inside the organization that he identified 3-point shooting improvement as his #1 goal. And yet, as the season approaches, Thibs hasn't added a single bona fide 3-point shooter to the roster. At the same time, he gave up our only elite 3-point shooter (LaVine) in the Butler deal. So I have to believe that at least two of the remaining 3 roster spots will go to three-point shooters like Morrow and Dunleavy. Aaron Brooks and Deron Williams are two other available vets who can hit threes.

How is going from Rubio to Teague not an upgrade in 3 point shooting?

I think part of why Allen staying in Memphis is that its assumed that they are planning to pay him more than the minimum. From what I have heard they are waiting to figure out the J. Green situation before they know how much they will send Allen's way in terms of salary. But we don't know how much Green is going to get and while there is no money out there for him it's not like the Grizz want to let him go either. He probably doesn't have much interest in playing for a fairly low qualifying offer. Green and Noel's RFA standoffs are plenty interesting.

I'm comfortable with the Rubio/Teague swap. It doesn't bug me like overpaying for Taj with the last $14 million of our cap space. Teague seems like a better fit than Ricky for the way Thibs wants to run the offense. But Teague's low volume from behind the arc doesn't move the 3-point needle much. Teague is definitely more of a scorer than Ricky, but he doesn't significantly improve our three-point shooting.

It's still an upgrade that was my point and itt certainly was something that addressed shooting. It seems reasonable to say having a league average shooter scorer in Teague is a needle moving upgrade (regardless of how much) from one of the worst shooters in the league the past few years.

One other thing to consider is Teague MAY actually create more 3 point opportunities for shooters because he is much more of a threat to score when he drives (and he did that a lot last year and was top 5 in the entire league the 3 previous years) than Rubio who passed over 56% of the time he drove the ball. It's going to be interesting to see how Thibs and the players balance having all these guys who can take the ball into the paint and do something positive with it.

I do think Thibs is banking on creating more volume of 3's by penetrating the paint more often (either by a guard/wing or by a rolling big man) and then kicking out to the corners. It will be very interesting to see our corner 3 volume early in the season and see how it compares to last year's squad.

Unfortunately, we don't have anyone like Klay or Curry or Korver (or LaVine for that matter) that can be run off multiple off-ball screens, receive the pass, and then rise up and hit a 3 practically in someone's face. We're going to have to manufacture more 3's by getting into the paint and collapsing the defense.

I think that's right, Q. Thibs is clearly banking on better penetration from our PG (and maybe Butler) combined with better 3-point shooting from guys like Wiggins, Belly and possibly Gorgui.

Monster -- Teague has averaged 0.9 threes per game over his career and 1.1 threes last season. Ricky has averaged 0.7 threes over his career and 0.8 last season. When I referred to "bona fide there-point shooter" I wasn't thinking of a guy who has made just under 1 three per game at a 35.5% clip over his career and who brings a net gain of about 0.3 three pointers per game over Rubio. I think we're losing around 2.5 threes per game with the loss of Zach LaVine. But honestly, Wiggins, KAT, Gorgui and Belly are the keys to upgrading our three-point shooting. Those guys, especially Wiggins, will be taking the lion's share of the team's shots, so our three-point shooting will rise or fall on their improvement and on Thibs making better use of KAT's and even Gorgui's 3-point shooting ability. Perhaps part of Thib's genius in signing Taj was a plan to free KAT for more perimeter play and three-point shots. But I'm still disappointed that Thibs spend over $20 million in cap space and a $4.3 million room exception without acquiring anyone known for 3-point shooting. Teague is not known for his three-point shooting, which isn't surprising given that he's been making just under 1 three per game as a 35.5% clip.