Game Report - Wolves v. Rockets

[kekgeek]

For all this guys this guy's are not paying attention during timeouts stuff. It's an interesting time to bring it up when there is a video on twitter on last game during a timeout where tolliver was breaking stuff down to okogie on the bench and towns was getting a lesson from loul Deng.

I think we are just fine

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Yeah, based on the way Okogie brings it when on the court, it's hard for me to get too concerned. Of course we know Kris Dunn had a high motor and similar defensive mindset, yet turned out to be a malcontent.

It is a shame Thibs can't find a way to get the kid 10-15 minutes per night.

How many times in Wolves history can we say that MULTIPLE players deserve more minutes?

Saric is more than a 16 - 20 mpg player. Heck, he started for a 50-win playoff team. Even Tyus Jones has people hoping to see him get more run... and some analytics back it up.

Good point Abe. I think a 10 man rotation suits this team with all bench players getting over 15 -20 minutes.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

For all this guys this guy's are not paying attention during timeouts stuff. It's an interesting time to bring it up when there is a video on twitter on last game during a timeout where tolliver was breaking stuff down to okogie on the bench and towns was getting a lesson from loul Deng.

I think we are just fine

I've noticed some of the same things with Tolliver taking time to talk with the younger players...he seems like a terrific teammate, even when he is out of the rotation. The chemistry between the players on this team appears to be very good, and it seems that has a lot to do with the success since the trade.

Okogie's lack of minutes is puzzling to many of us though, and I offered up his inattention on the bench and sloppy halftime habits as possible reasons Thibs isn't rewarding him with playing time. Thibs is a basketball purist and, I would guess, not very tolerant of players who don't do things the right way. Some have suggested that Josh isn't playing because he's a rookie, but that doesn't make sense given the substantial minutes Dunn got last year. Thibs says Josh isn't playing because he prefers a 9-man rotation, but you can find many instances last year where he departed from that philosophy. We don't know why Josh isn't playing, but knowing Thibs' style, it probably wouldn't hurt him to pay attention when Thibs is talking and actually practice shots at shootarounds he might get in a game.

[kekgeek]

For all this guys this guy's are not paying attention during timeouts stuff. It's an interesting time to bring it up when there is a video on twitter on last game during a timeout where tolliver was breaking stuff down to okogie on the bench and towns was getting a lesson from loul Deng.

I think we are just fine

I've noticed some of the same things with Tolliver taking time to talk with the younger players...he seems like a terrific teammate, even when he is out of the rotation. The chemistry between the players on this team appears to be very good, and it seems that has a lot to do with the success since the trade.

Okogie's lack of minutes is puzzling to many of us though, and I offered up his inattention on the bench and sloppy halftime habits as possible reasons Thibs isn't rewarding him with playing time. Thibs is a basketball purist and, I would guess, not very tolerant of players who don't do things the right way. Some have suggested that Josh isn't playing because he's a rookie, but that doesn't make sense given the substantial minutes Dunn got last year. Thibs says Josh isn't playing because he prefers a 9-man rotation, but you can find many instances last year where he departed from that philosophy. We don't know why Josh isn't playing, but knowing Thibs' style, it probably wouldn't hurt him to pay attention when Thibs is talking and actually practice shots at shootarounds he might get in a game.

I don't think Okogie is playing not because of practice habits but because we have a good team. I would rather have Wiggins/Cov/Rose being our wings. I love Okogie but its not bad for him not getting minutes right now. I am in the belief why break something that is not broken. We are 8-3 since the trade and that 2nd unit with Cov has been one of the best lineups in the NBA since the trade. Okogie time will come.

[Monster]

For all this guys this guy's are not paying attention during timeouts stuff. It's an interesting time to bring it up when there is a video on twitter on last game during a timeout where tolliver was breaking stuff down to okogie on the bench and towns was getting a lesson from loul Deng.

I think we are just fine

I've noticed some of the same things with Tolliver taking time to talk with the younger players...he seems like a terrific teammate, even when he is out of the rotation. The chemistry between the players on this team appears to be very good, and it seems that has a lot to do with the success since the trade.

Okogie's lack of minutes is puzzling to many of us though, and I offered up his inattention on the bench and sloppy halftime habits as possible reasons Thibs isn't rewarding him with playing time. Thibs is a basketball purist and, I would guess, not very tolerant of players who don't do things the right way. Some have suggested that Josh isn't playing because he's a rookie, but that doesn't make sense given the substantial minutes Dunn got last year. Thibs says Josh isn't playing because he prefers a 9-man rotation, but you can find many instances last year where he departed from that philosophy. We don't know why Josh isn't playing, but knowing Thibs' style, it probably wouldn't hurt him to pay attention when Thibs is talking and actually practice shots at shootarounds he might get in a game.

I don't think Okogie is playing not because of practice habits but because we have a good team. I would rather have Wiggins/Cov/Rose being our wings. I love Okogie but its not bad for him not getting minutes right now. I am in the belief why break something that is not broken. We are 8-3 since the trade and that 2nd unit with Cov has been one of the best lineups in the NBA since the trade. Okogie time will come.

Again there has been no injuries since the trade and sure people can say there are times Okogie could have played but again this team has been largely playing well. Tyus is the guy a lot of folks wanted to replace and quite frankly he does a lot of the stuff Okogie does but also does other things better. Remember it has been reported that Tyus had some sort of conversation with Thibs about his role on this squad and Thibs gave him some assurances. If Tyus hadn't turned his play around doing his usual winning play type stuff and being solid maybe eventually Thibs replaces him with Okogie at some point. That didn't happen Tyus solid stuff other than shooting has been better than it was. He still needs to hit shots but...okogie's Overall shooting percentages aren't good either. Tyus has played well for this team in general the the past couple years. I think it's fair to say he has earned a spot in the Rotation over a rookie. You could argue Okogie has shown enough to be in the rotation. I wouldn't argue that either. You could say the same about Tolliver...

People didn't like Dieng in the rotation but he has been decent overall to pretty good. Last game playing Houston the supposed modern genius team has really missed Nene in the lineup and playing Dieng against him made plenty of sense. We still haven't faced a team that doesn't play a center sized guy for Dieng to match up against. Sure you could say Tolliver as a stretch guy sounds good. I would be fine with that. Dieng gives you a little bit of a bunch of different things. It's nice to have a guy with his size that can do stuff all over the floor. He gets almost as many screen assists as Towns in a little over a third of the minutes.

So again it comes back to having more guys that can play than there are spots other than something they did wrong or whatever. 10 man rotation? Sure some teams do it. Lots of coaches don't. There will be an injury or a back to back Rose rests or something like that and Okogie will be the next man up or maybe Thibs will employ him in some sort of matchup he thinks would benefit the team and Okogie's confidence. It's nice to be pining for guys to play because we think they have earned the minutes not because the other guys are playing like poop.