Exercise in Futility - Wolves @ Hawks GDT

[FNG]

For the month of March (5 games), Anthony Edwards is averaging 28.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.

TC said that developing Ant was one of the main reasons for the PG trade, and while it often takes some time to get used to a new backcourt partner, those stats indicate his strategy is turning out just fine! Ant's improvement recently on the defensive side of the ball has been clear also. Ant was going to be a star regardless of who he had playing next to him, but it looks like he may be progressing even faster than we might have thought. It's fun to dream about his ceiling!

[AbeVigodaLive]

Good professional win.

The only downside is the gimmick triple double chase from Anderson. And, as much as we used to rip Towns for stealing rebounds, Gobert is just as bad. Anderson got mad at him in the 3rd quarter in his early chase for his triple double.

[FNG]

Good professional win.

The only downside is the gimmick triple double chase from Anderson. And, as much as we used to rip Towns for stealing rebounds, Gobert is just as bad. Anderson got mad at him in the 3rd quarter in his early chase for his triple double.

Ha, I didn't notice the Gobert/Anderson dustup! Character flaw confession...I'm such a homer, that I rip players on other teams when they hunt for a triple double, and celebrate them for my guys (except for Ricky Davis). I love the joy SloMo brings to the court, so I have to admit I liked it when Finchie left him in long after the game was decided. But I would have ripped the coach if Kyle had gotten hurt...

[Carlos Danger]

For the month of March (5 games), Anthony Edwards is averaging 28.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.

TC said that developing Ant was one of the main reasons for the PG trade, and while it often takes some time to get used to a new backcourt partner, those stats indicate his strategy is turning out just fine! Ant's improvement recently on the defensive side of the ball has been clear also. Ant was going to be a star regardless of who he had playing next to him, but it looks like he may be progressing even faster than we might have thought. It's fun to dream about his ceiling!

Yup. Our scoring has actually been up in the "Post DLO" era. In 57 games leading up to the trade, we had 115.4 points/game average. In the 12 games since, we are up to 117.2. It drops to 114.8 if I take out the game both DLO and Conley sat (we scored 143 that game!). But regardless - so far it looks like we can still score enough without DLO which was a legitimate concern at the time of the trade. And we hopefully still have KAT coming back.

I see DLO is doing well over in LA too. Everyone should be happy.

[Monster]

There is no team in the Association more difficult for me to figure out than our beloved Timberwolves. I'm pretty good at predicting whether a team is going to win or lose on a given night, but completely inept when it comes to the Pups. They have now won 4 games in a row on the road, and lost 4 in a row at home, and I would have guessed that most of those games would have gone the other way. Maybe it's a good thing I'm forecasting only two wins in the next 8 games, and Tim predicts only one win!

So let's celebrate an almost perfect game. Trae Young was brilliant on offense with 41 points, but Snyder just can't find a way to hide him on defense. I love how Finchie told Jay-DEE to attack him when Quinn put Trae on him at the start of the game...love seeing 6'1" trying to defend 6'10"! And then Conley torched him when Trae moved over to him.

We beat a pretty good Atlanta team on the road by 21 points with Ant going 2-10 on threes and 6-10 from the line. But Ant was brilliant getting to the bucket, and still had an impressive 32/8/5 line with a +23. The other three starters are rather stoic, but it's really fun to see how joyful SloMo and Ant are on the court when things are going well. I got to see SloMo a lot when he was playing at UCLA, but while he was really good, he didn't display the childlike joy he does now...he's both fun, and good.

Few negatives last night, but I'll throw out a couple. While we're close to 40% AD on three-point shooting (43% last night after two bad shooting games), our free throw shooting is abysmal...below 70% again last night. And I don't know if Kek pointed it out in the thread, but it's tough to watch how easy we are to score on inside when Rudy sits...even worse with Garza than Naz. But there was nothing else to dislike last night. If we play like that tomorrow, we can take down the Celtics and pretty much clinch a playoff berth.

Edit: Gotta love 39 assists...I wonder what the all-time record is for the Wolves! Best in the Association this season is 44 by the Nuggets (against us :X )

FNG the NBA is full of teams around .500 so I'm gonna guess there are a lot of fans of teams that have little idea whether their team will win or lose. Lol

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Last night was a well-executed game, especially offensively against a bad defensive team, but I would disagree with the premise that the Wolves offense (and/or defense) has been performing as well since the deadline.

As most of us are probably aware, points per game doesn't account for pace or possessions used (efficiency). It's simply a raw average. In my opinion, offensive/defensive ratings provide a more accurate depiction of how a team (not an individual) is performing by adjusting those raw values to 100 possessions. They're also more comparable that way.

I won't include the matchup against Utah on February 8 to pre or post as it was an in-between game with odd circumstances (both D'Angelo Russell and Mike Conley Jr. sat out for their respective teams at the time).

Pre-Trade (57 GP):
112.8 ORtg, 112.6 DRtg, +0.2 Net

January 1 - February 7 (20 GP):
114.7 ORtg, 112.1 DRtg, +2.5 Net

Post-Trade (11 GP):
111.9 ORtg, 114.2 DRtg, -2.3 Net

On the bright side, those post-trade numbers are trending in the right direction as they were hovering around a -5.0 net rating just a game or two ago. And this is not to say that Minnesota can't or won't flip the script down the stretch, especially if or when Karl-Anthony Towns returns, but I haven't seen any strong indication of this team outperforming what they were prior to making their deadline deal (yet). It continues to remain a matter of personal preference and future projection in my view.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I apologize in advance if someone already touched on this, but I was really pleased with Jaden McDaniels' aggressiveness last night. He shot 8-10 from the field including 1-1 from three and 7-9 in the restricted area! He was attacking early and often. I thought he really set the tone for Minnesota.

[kekgeek]

I apologize in advance if someone already touched on this, but I was really pleased with Jaden McDaniels' aggressiveness last night. He shot 8-10 from the field including 1-1 from three and 7-9 in the restricted area! He was attacking early and often. I thought he really set the tone for Minnesota.

I think this was huge for a litmus test for Mcdaniels development. You can't just hide your worse defender on him because Mcdaniels will punish him. Small development but huge long term for the growth

[thedoper]

Atlanta fans must be pissed. They really looked up and coming after that run a few years ago and now they look lost. They've got way too much talent to be where they are at. If we got sick of ISO ball I can't imagine how their fans feel.

[Carlos Danger]

Last night was a well-executed game, especially offensively against a bad defensive team, but I would disagree with the premise that the Wolves offense (and/or defense) has been performing as well since the deadline.

As most of us are probably aware, points per game doesn't account for pace or possessions used (efficiency). It's simply a raw average. In my opinion, offensive/defensive ratings provide a more accurate depiction of how a team (not an individual) is performing by adjusting those raw values to 100 possessions. They're also more comparable that way.

I won't include the matchup against Utah on February 8 to pre or post as it was an in-between game with odd circumstances (both D'Angelo Russell and Mike Conley Jr. sat out for their respective teams at the time).

Pre-Trade (57 GP):
112.8 ORtg, 112.6 DRtg, +0.2 Net

January 1 - February 7 (20 GP):
114.7 ORtg, 112.1 DRtg, +2.5 Net

Post-Trade (11 GP):
111.9 ORtg, 114.2 DRtg, -2.3 Net

On the bright side, those post-trade numbers are trending in the right direction as they were hovering around a -5.0 net rating just a game or two ago. And this is not to say that Minnesota can't or won't flip the script down the stretch, especially if or when Karl-Anthony Towns returns, but I haven't seen any strong indication of this team outperforming what they were prior to making their deadline deal (yet). It continues to remain a matter of personal preference and future projection in my view.

Whether you choose to use ORtg or Points per Game, the results will be similar.

In the (12) post DLO games (including that Feb. 8th game) their ORtg is 114.2. In other words, they have continued to maintain a similar ORtg as that 20 game stretch - for an additional 12 games even without DLO. That's something we should all be happy about (right?).

My point stands that offense doesn't seem to be an issue so far (Post DLO). Anthony Edwards is not being shut down by other teams without DLO as some have opined. Maybe it will be an issue in the playoffs - hopefully we get to find out.

On the flip side, it's interesting that the DRtg has gotten worse Post DLO. Nobody saw that coming - ha! We are still dealing with small samples. The inclusion (or omission) of one game i.e. the Feb. 8th game both Conley and DLO sat out will make a big difference. How we present/paint the data will simply come down to "glass half full or half empty" perspectives. That's part of the normal forum decorum. I'm a half full guy so that's mostly what I share. I get enough doom and gloom in the real world.

Last night was a good win. They are 3-2 for this month and 4-2 in their last 6 games. KAT is getting closer. I don't expect to beat Boston. But I do see lots of winnable games left. I think we are going to be ok.