Re: Timberwolves defense
Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2023 4:17 pm
The best aspect of having Rudy on defense is it allows for the perimeter defenders to play more aggressive and tight to their man. If they get by it's not the end of the world, shoot a medium or long two (bad shot for most players) or try and take on Rudy at the rim (bad shot again).Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 10, 2023 11:57 pm Excerpt from a Saturday Strip article on the Wolves. Rudy has been outstanding defensively this season. That’s great, but even better is the fact pointed out in the article that the Wolves have been very good defensively without Rudy on the floor.
106
Defensive rating when Rudy Gobert is off the floor.
Even by his lofty standards, Gobert has been a revelation on the defensive end of the floor. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year didn't receive any votes for the All-Defensive team last season, but now he's the betting favorite to win his fourth DPOY.
There's going to be skepticism that Gobert and the Wolves can keep this up in the playoffs, given that Gobert's Utah teams, which were always highly rated defensively, struggled at times in bad playoff matchups. That may have been because the defenders around Gobert couldn't pull their weight. Look no further than the on-off defensive numbers Gobert's last two Utah teams had. There was a difference of -11.9 in the 2020-21 season for the Jazz's defense when Gobert wasn't on the floor and -7.8 difference in the 21-22 season. For this season? Only -2.
This Wolves team is playing defense at a higher level without him than Gobert's previous Utah teams did, and it's a sign that if Gobert is injured in the regular season, the Wolves can weather that. It's also a sign that the defensive talent, specifically its ability to guard the ball, around Gobert is stronger than his Utah, and some of the worries about him getting played off the floor in a bad matchup might not come to fruition in Minnesota.
18th
Minnesota's defensive rebounding percentage ranking
Improving in this area was a high priority for the Wolves from a season ago, when they were 26th. They have taken steps, but if there's one area the Wolves can stand to improve, it's this. When the Wolves play half-court defense and limit opponents to just one shot, they are one of the toughest teams to play against in the league. They only hurt themselves at times by not cleaning up on the glass.
33.6%
What opponents are shooting from three-point range against the Wolves, tied for third-best in the league.
This is the area of the Wolves' defense where they might be on the lookout for some regression to the mean. There are some who think three-point percentage defense is largely a product of missing shots. But the Wolves might argue that their ability to contest shots on the perimeter is better than most teams, and their defense might play a role in that number. Keep an eye on this if opponents start to shoot better against the Wolves in the future, especially as the quality of teams they face increases.
I do think the non Rudy stats will change up a bit from 3P though. KAT has been much better on defense though, so give him credit. I even heard him finally say in his post game the other night was just wall up and make the defender hit a tough shot. Like finally! Don't try and block everything and hack the dude. I've been saying that for years. His foul rates have dropped overall as well this season some. You can't use KATs offense if he is off the floor in foul trouble. And when he is in foul trouble his defense would in the past go to complete crap (trying not to foul out). He's made progress.
It all trickles down to having Rudy at his best ever (Finches postgame quote BTW where he said he thinks he is better then ever). I certainly didn't watch a ton of Rudy in Utah so it's hard for me to say for sure, but I think I agree.
