Minnesota Sports Forum

Wolvesfan21 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 18, 2025 9:11 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue Nov 18, 2025 8:19 pm

Wolvesfan21 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 18, 2025 6:11 pm

The reality is he's highly functional and good on offense despite not looking fluid or pretty. You don't like how it looks and it does look clunky! Who gives a crap!

Player A- Shoots 76%, OffRTG 117.6, DefRTG 106.5, Assist/TO ratio 0.88, Reb% 14.4, On/Off +7.4 points

Player B- Shoots 64%, OffRTG 101.6, DefRTG 107.7, Assist/TO ratio 0.80, Reb% 12.5, On/Off -3.1 points

Player A is Rudy and player B is Gafford this year. Rudy shoots it better, assists to turnover better, Off and Def RTG better, Rebounds better, is a net positive on/off the court, the other is not and it's not even close between the two. Rudy is superior in every way. You could pull up career stats too if you want.

Cool obviously has his mind made up that Rudy is awful and no amount of stats or cajoling are going to convince him otherwise.

Gafford has always been more of a part-time player, albeit a solid one. He has a career average of 20 MPG in the regular season and playoffs. There is a reason for that.

He has, Cool likes flash over substance. I'd rather win then be a pretty looking loser.

Cool doesn't just rely on stats to decide if a player can play or not. I know how to use stats inside a comprehensive analysis (Stats Major) and I know that they can also lie. If you're going to rely solely on stats, see if you can find what Rudy's FG percentage is from outside of 5 feet.

Most wins by player the last 10 years

1. Jokic 457
2. Harden 454
3. Gobert 441
4. Giannis 439
5. Paul 426
5. Green 423
6. Curry 422
7. Tobias 418
8. Horford 416

Rudy is like a really good knuckleballer to me. He will average out wonderfully with stats but when he matches up with someone who can hit his pitch it is awful. Theres no in between because he doesnt have a diversity of skills. I appreciate everything he does for this team. He just takes room away from building a roster for the other spots when Rudy eventually gets played off the floor in the playoffs.

thedoper wrote: ↑Tue Nov 18, 2025 11:13 pm Rudy is like a really good knuckleballer to me. He will average out wonderfully with stats but when he matches up with someone who can hit his pitch it is awful. Theres no in between because he doesnt have a diversity of skills. I appreciate everything he does for this team. He just takes room away from building a roster for the other spots when Rudy eventually gets played off the floor in the playoffs.

He was never "played off the floor" so to speak during our last two playoff runs beating some very good teams.

If you want to complain that Luka hit a few shots over him from deep 3? He does that to every NBA player and it's not like Rudy makes 60 million either, he's nearly half that.

We're not restricted at all from paying a ton of other guys like Ant, Ju, Naz, Jaden, etc...

He's actually a little underpaid based on his production and the played off the floor narrative never happened. If you want to cry that the dynasty OKC and a Mavs Luka MVP level player hit shots over him then fine. OK, he's not superman. Though Lakers Luka got cooked by Rudy too, you have to acknowledge that as well. Hey we're 4 for 6 in playoff series with Rudy.

And Rudy actually grades out above avg as a perimeter defender (shot % against). I guess the argument could be he's away from the basket to rebound though, so that might be a positive for overall to have you shoot over him from 3.

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 18, 2025 8:58 pm

FNG wrote: ↑Tue Nov 18, 2025 8:51 pm Interesting stat from Chris Hine today on Dane's pod that I would not have anticipated. With Rudy on the bench, the Wolves have had a DRtg of 110 the past 5 games. Granted we have had some cupcakes in that 5 game series, but still...that's very good. Rudy will continue to be vital to our success, but improved defense in the non-Rudy minutes brings us to a new level...especially if Naz has also found his offensive game.

That is very encouraging.

I wonder what the lineup combinations are

Well I investigated my own question, and the results were interesting for sure.


First the starting lineup is still balling out
(Min)(Off)(Def)(Net)
(116)(125)(109)(+16.5)

Starters minus Ant plus Coney
(66)(127)(105)(+21.7)

Those are the two highest minutes 5 man lineups. Now all of the non Rudy 5 man line ups are at 20 minutes or less, so it's difficult to divine too much, but still encouraging stuff.

Conley/Randle/Naz/Jaden/Clark
(21)(120)(110)(+10)

Conley/Randle/Naz/Ant/Clark
(20)(118)(106)(+11.5)

Conley/Randle/Naz/Jaden/Dante
(13)(153)(92)(+51!)

The last lineup is obviously bonkers and certainly has outlier data but these help provide data points to the fact that the Naz/Randle pairing might not be completely devastating defensively as long as it's paired with at least two of our top three perimeter defenders.

Caveats apply regarding strength of competition as well, but I just want to point out that the wolves are the only ones beating up on cupcakes.
Here are the bottom 5 in SOS against
30. PHO
29. OKC
28. Dal
27. MIN
26. SA
25. Denver

Porckchop wrote: ↑Tue Nov 18, 2025 9:27 pm Most wins by player the last 10 years

1. Jokic 457
2. Harden 454
3. Gobert 441
4. Giannis 439
5. Paul 426
5. Green 423
6. Curry 422
7. Tobias 418
8. Horford 416

Wasn't Cool a SAB backer till the bitter end, and even after he left? I mean if you like pretty losers that was one guy to root for. I can't stand guys who half ass it on defense, never take a charge in their career, could never rebound and shoot long 2 bricks all night. Complete soft ass basketball player.

Cool likes the guys who look pretty with a nice looking jumper, even if it sucks and they play like a cone.

I'm not opposed to moving Rudy at some point, because he is at the end of his prime at 33 years old. I'm not going to say trade him because of his production, because he's still our best defender by a mile and his screens are incredibly important to Ant, Jaden, Randle, and whoever has the ball. If we move him for the long term fit in mind, it wouldn't bother me though.

Wolvesfan21 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 19, 2025 8:18 am

thedoper wrote: ↑Tue Nov 18, 2025 11:13 pm Rudy is like a really good knuckleballer to me. He will average out wonderfully with stats but when he matches up with someone who can hit his pitch it is awful. Theres no in between because he doesnt have a diversity of skills. I appreciate everything he does for this team. He just takes room away from building a roster for the other spots when Rudy eventually gets played off the floor in the playoffs.

He was never "played off the floor" so to speak during our last two playoff runs beating some very good teams.

If you want to complain that Luka hit a few shots over him from deep 3? He does that to every NBA player and it's not like Rudy makes 60 million either, he's nearly half that.

We're not restricted at all from paying a ton of other guys like Ant, Ju, Naz, Jaden, etc...

He's actually a little underpaid based on his production and the played off the floor narrative never happened. If you want to cry that the dynasty OKC and a Mavs Luka MVP level player hit shots over him then fine. OK, he's not superman. Though Lakers Luka got cooked by Rudy too, you have to acknowledge that as well. Hey we're 4 for 6 in playoff series with Rudy.

And Rudy actually grades out above avg as a perimeter defender (shot % against). I guess the argument could be he's away from the basket to rebound though, so that might be a positive for overall to have you shoot over him from 3.

Against Dallas and OKC look at the variance in his minutes as Finch was searching for answers. He was played off the floor. Happened in Utah too when they were searching for answers. He can be a great factor and then all the sudden cant find a rebound and will be a complete zero on offense. He was worth the trade, earned his contract, is a hall of famer. But hes also a one trick pony with huge holes in aspects of his game.

thedoper wrote: ↑Wed Nov 19, 2025 8:48 am

Wolvesfan21 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 19, 2025 8:18 am

thedoper wrote: ↑Tue Nov 18, 2025 11:13 pm Rudy is like a really good knuckleballer to me. He will average out wonderfully with stats but when he matches up with someone who can hit his pitch it is awful. Theres no in between because he doesnt have a diversity of skills. I appreciate everything he does for this team. He just takes room away from building a roster for the other spots when Rudy eventually gets played off the floor in the playoffs.

He was never "played off the floor" so to speak during our last two playoff runs beating some very good teams.

If you want to complain that Luka hit a few shots over him from deep 3? He does that to every NBA player and it's not like Rudy makes 60 million either, he's nearly half that.

We're not restricted at all from paying a ton of other guys like Ant, Ju, Naz, Jaden, etc...

He's actually a little underpaid based on his production and the played off the floor narrative never happened. If you want to cry that the dynasty OKC and a Mavs Luka MVP level player hit shots over him then fine. OK, he's not superman. Though Lakers Luka got cooked by Rudy too, you have to acknowledge that as well. Hey we're 4 for 6 in playoff series with Rudy.

And Rudy actually grades out above avg as a perimeter defender (shot % against). I guess the argument could be he's away from the basket to rebound though, so that might be a positive for overall to have you shoot over him from 3.

Against Dallas and OKC look at the variance in his minutes as Finch was searching for answers. He was played off the floor. Happened in Utah too when they were searching for answers. He can be a great factor and then all the sudden cant find a rebound and will be a complete zero on offense. He was worth the trade, earned his contract, is a hall of famer. But hes also a one trick pony with huge holes in aspects of his game.

Defenders seem to get away with a lot on Rudy. If Rudy pushes someone in the back trying to rebound he always gets called for a foul, but if someone pushes him in the back it never gets called a foul. Defenders are constantly holding down Rudy's arms when boxing him out. It's why he often can only get one arm up trying to grab the boards.

We got blown off the court in game 5 against Dallas when he played just 26 minutes, other than that he averaged the same 34 minutes per game in the series that he averaged against Denver and Phoenix. The two OKC games we got blown out, he played lower minutes. Otherwise he played similar amount of minutes in the other 3 games that he played in the Lakers and Golden State series. Finch should always be able to adjust his lineups on the fly, if he has something working or if you need more offense because you're down, or more defense because you're up.

thedoper wrote: ↑Wed Nov 19, 2025 8:48 am

Wolvesfan21 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 19, 2025 8:18 am

thedoper wrote: ↑Tue Nov 18, 2025 11:13 pm Rudy is like a really good knuckleballer to me. He will average out wonderfully with stats but when he matches up with someone who can hit his pitch it is awful. Theres no in between because he doesnt have a diversity of skills. I appreciate everything he does for this team. He just takes room away from building a roster for the other spots when Rudy eventually gets played off the floor in the playoffs.

He was never "played off the floor" so to speak during our last two playoff runs beating some very good teams.

If you want to complain that Luka hit a few shots over him from deep 3? He does that to every NBA player and it's not like Rudy makes 60 million either, he's nearly half that.

We're not restricted at all from paying a ton of other guys like Ant, Ju, Naz, Jaden, etc...

He's actually a little underpaid based on his production and the played off the floor narrative never happened. If you want to cry that the dynasty OKC and a Mavs Luka MVP level player hit shots over him then fine. OK, he's not superman. Though Lakers Luka got cooked by Rudy too, you have to acknowledge that as well. Hey we're 4 for 6 in playoff series with Rudy.

And Rudy actually grades out above avg as a perimeter defender (shot % against). I guess the argument could be he's away from the basket to rebound though, so that might be a positive for overall to have you shoot over him from 3.

Against Dallas and OKC look at the variance in his minutes as Finch was searching for answers. He was played off the floor. Happened in Utah too when they were searching for answers. He can be a great factor and then all the sudden cant find a rebound and will be a complete zero on offense. He was worth the trade, earned his contract, is a hall of famer. But hes also a one trick pony with huge holes in aspects of his game.

Doper, There are indeed opponent lineup combinations where Rudy's defense is mitigated, like a spread offense where everyone can shoot and Rudy can't lurk off anyone in the paint. At that point his offensive limitations exceed his defensive strengths and it doesn't make sense to have him out there. But we win all those other minutes he IS in the game, including in the playoffs. Why can't we win the minutes he's on the bench? That's the real problem.

Go look at how many minutes Isaiah Hartenstein played in OKC's run. It was less than what he played per game in the regular season, that's for sure. Look at Brook Lopez's playoff minutes when Milwaukee won the title a few years ago. Or Myles Turner's minutes in Indiana's run to the Finals last season. And Brook and Myles can actually shoot, yet they STILL played less than 30 MPG in the playoffs. It's just not unusual for big Centers to sit more during the playoffs.