Minnesota Sports Forum

monsterpile wrote:I forgot to say it before but awesome to see the 2+1 back!

LST on Okogie's do shot stats...they had him down for 1 block...what? I thought he had like 4. I agree he wasn't particularly good in this game but there were times he made some plays on d and the NBA announcers were befuddled as how he wasn't getting the charge calls. Now Josh gets the benefit of the doubt quite about as he plays pretty intense physical D but he did some good things out there and to be honest they didn't really have anyone else that I would rather have out there.

Teague did some good things...he had 5 steals. He was absolutely cooking early on in the game and that's against OKC.

I generally like Josh on defense, but last night he looked like a rookie to me. And he better be very good to make up for his deficiencies on the offensive end.

The 9-man roster is most common in the NBA right now. Let me ask the question we're all thinking. If everyone is healthy, who are the two guys who get left out of the rotation? Even though I like them both, I gotta believe it's Okogie and Tolliver. Maybe Ryan gets creative and gives guys nights off occasionally like Pop does (and Thibs never did). But absent that, I'm having a hard time determining who Josh and/or Tolliver would replace.

Unless I missed someone commenting on it, the win last night coupled with other teams losing has put the Wolves in a 3-way tie for 9th in the West. That sure was a quick climb up the ladder. Win the next two games and Wolves could be knocking on the door of the eighth seed!

longstrangetrip wrote:

monsterpile wrote:I forgot to say it before but awesome to see the 2+1 back!

LST on Okogie's do shot stats...they had him down for 1 block...what? I thought he had like 4. I agree he wasn't particularly good in this game but there were times he made some plays on d and the NBA announcers were befuddled as how he wasn't getting the charge calls. Now Josh gets the benefit of the doubt quite about as he plays pretty intense physical D but he did some good things out there and to be honest they didn't really have anyone else that I would rather have out there.

Teague did some good things...he had 5 steals. He was absolutely cooking early on in the game and that's against OKC.

I generally like Josh on defense, but last night he looked like a rookie to me. And he better be very good to make up for his deficiencies on the offensive end.

The 9-man roster is most common in the NBA right now. Let me ask the question we're all thinking. If everyone is healthy, who are the two guys who get left out of the rotation? Even though I like them both, I gotta believe it's Okogie and Tolliver. Maybe Ryan gets creative and gives guys nights off occasionally like Pop does (and Thibs never did). But absent that, I'm having a hard time determining who Josh and/or Tolliver would replace.

That idea sounds very Tibs like. I hope Ryan is smarter then that.

Everyone is getting all jacked up on Wigs. I'll be the wet blanket. It won't last. We've seen this before.

I personally think Tolliver needs to be used as 4 in "small ball" lineups. His 3 pt shooting can be such a weapon and open the floor up for others.

60WinTim wrote:Unless I missed someone commenting on it, the win last night coupled with other teams losing has put the Wolves in a 3-way tie for 9th in the West. That sure was a quick climb up the ladder. Win the next two games and Wolves could be knocking on the door of the eighth seed!

Yep, that's right. And none of the teams we're battling with are as good as we are IMO...especially the Lakers who have James now battling a hernia as well as a groin problem. They're terrible without him. Lip has talked a couple timies about how many teams are between us and the 8th spot, but 4-5 days later we have passed most of them! This is a good club, and even better now that Thibs is gone. If we're healthy at all, we make the playoffs easy, and even the 5th or 6th seed is a possibility. I mean does anyone really believe that the Clippers are better than a Thibs-less Wolves team? I don't.

I think Okogie is too important to the future of this team to sit him when he can obviously provide quality minutes. A rotation at the 2-3 of him, Wig and RoCo is very interchangeable and really solid imo. I wouldn't hesitate to trade Rose and/or Teague for future assets/flexibility.

Easy to make the playoffs LST?

BizarroJerry wrote:Everyone is getting all jacked up on Wigs. I'll be the wet blanket. It won't last. We've seen this before.

I'm seeing people jacked up more about his performance last night than getting overly frothy on his future prospects.

Duke13 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:

monsterpile wrote:I forgot to say it before but awesome to see the 2+1 back!

LST on Okogie's do shot stats...they had him down for 1 block...what? I thought he had like 4. I agree he wasn't particularly good in this game but there were times he made some plays on d and the NBA announcers were befuddled as how he wasn't getting the charge calls. Now Josh gets the benefit of the doubt quite about as he plays pretty intense physical D but he did some good things out there and to be honest they didn't really have anyone else that I would rather have out there.

Teague did some good things...he had 5 steals. He was absolutely cooking early on in the game and that's against OKC.

I generally like Josh on defense, but last night he looked like a rookie to me. And he better be very good to make up for his deficiencies on the offensive end.

The 9-man roster is most common in the NBA right now. Let me ask the question we're all thinking. If everyone is healthy, who are the two guys who get left out of the rotation? Even though I like them both, I gotta believe it's Okogie and Tolliver. Maybe Ryan gets creative and gives guys nights off occasionally like Pop does (and Thibs never did). But absent that, I'm having a hard time determining who Josh and/or Tolliver would replace.

That idea sounds very Tibs like. I hope Ryan is smarter then that.

I think he is smarter, and that's why I see this team making the playoffs. And I agree that Ryan needs to find a way to use a veteran like Tolliver...his 3-point shot is sweet. But as much as I like Josh's energy, I don't see him helping us reach our potential this year. There's a reason he ranks 72nd among SGs in RPM currently, with negative ratings on both offense and defense. He's only making 36% of his shots, and only 24% of his threes, with almost as many turnovers as assists... and is still undisciplined on defense. Q left him off his most recent "20 games in thread" but his ortg/drtg stats are atrocious...at a minus 16, he is almost 12 points worse than anyone in our current rotation. Yeah, it's fun to watch him running around the court like a wild man, but I want wins more than entertainment, and he just isn't playing at an NBA level right now. But I agree that he needs minutes to develop his game and hopefully learn to shoot against pro defenses. I maintain that the G League was designed exactly for guys like Josh...high energy athletic 20-year-old guys who might have a great future ahead of them, but aren't quite ready to contribute on an NBA team that is fighting for a playoff spot.

But a G League stint is not going to happen, and it's because Glen won't let it happen. The local fan base loves Josh and he puts fannies in the seats, and that's what drives Glen. I think he may even force Ryan to find a way to give him regular minutes to please the fans, and the stats show that won't be a good thing for our playoff chances. We'll just have to see what Ryan does when (or if) everyone is healthy.