Let's make it 4 in a row- Wolves/Philly GDT

[FNG]

Next 8 games are full of opportunity for improving our record. We could go on a nice stretch if we play hard. Last night we ran into a great player who is firing on all cylinders right now. We had no defensive answer for him and he walked into his points. Rudy has to do better and I think he will.

Yep, Rudy was not good last night. I was okay with Finchie's decision to turn Joel into a jump shooter, but it didn't work. We had no answer for Joel, and they had every answer for Austin!

[AbeVigodaLive]

I got a chuckle out of the irony in FNG's post.

[Lipoli390]

I think we're overreacting. All Minnesota needs to do is acquire a point guard that can unlock Rudy Gobert and whisper sweet nothings to him in the locker room. Maybe he could also give Gobert a pat on the back when he fumbles a pass or blows a layup. Preferably, he'd be closer to 40 than 20 so we can rave about his mentorship. Anyone know a guy?

Oof.

You know, your bitterness over the D'Lo trade is really a poor look for you.

I really just don't like doubling down on a bad Rudy Gobert trade and a 35-year old Mike Conley Jr. was never the answer. Fans should be bitter about the makeup of this team considering the cost.

I agree, Cam. There's plenty to be bitter about. The Wolves front office should have allowed last season's young team that finished 10 games over .500 to build on that success this season with the addition of Slo Mo and the substantial improvement we've seen from Ant and Jaden. I think the Wolves would have a better record now if TC had done that even with KAT going down. But assuming I'm wrong and that the Wolves would have about the same record, this organization would have all the players they gave away, lots of draft assets and financial flexibility to work with as they regrouped for the start of next season with a healthy KAT.

I'm actually OK with the DLO trade because of NAW and the three 2nd-round picks we received. I also think Conley could be a good mentor for a younger PG if the Wolves front office can find and sign one. But I also share your frustration that the DLO deal for Conley was obviously motivated at least in part by the desire to improve Rudy's performance. In my view, that's throwing bad money after good. Nearly every respected NBA observer in Country thought the Gobert deal was a bad one when it was made. It looks even worse now given what we've seen from the Wolves with Rudy and how Walker Kessler has performed. Yet, TC seems intent on trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. I grimaced as I read Conley and others talking about precisely how the ball needs to be delivered to Rudy. For Pete's sake, he's a 30-year old vet on a super-max deal who the Wolves gave up a boat load of valuable assets to acquire. To paraphrase a great American President: Ask not what we can do for Rudy. Ask what Rudy can do for us!

Seriously, if some of us are bitter about moves this front office has made, that bitterness is well-founded and this board is a place to express those sentiments. As I've said many times, this mess is salvageable. The cupboard isn't bare. Quite the opposite, we have some impressive young talent on this roster and a PBO who has a good track record identifying good young talent. The key in my view is to move on from Rudy and his huge contract, getting as good a return of younger talent and/or draft assets as possible before Rudy's value declines further. Will TC do that this summer? Probably not. And that part of the frustration/bitterness some of us are expressing.

[Lipoli390]

Next 8 games are full of opportunity for improving our record. We could go on a nice stretch if we play hard. Last night we ran into a great player who is firing on all cylinders right now. We had no defensive answer for him and he walked into his points. Rudy has to do better and I think he will.

The top NBA centers have performed at around their career averages against Rudy over the years. So while I can see Rudy doing better than we saw last night, he's never been a guy who holds other top centers in check. As as he gets up into his 30s I would expect him to decline.

But it wasn't just Embiid last night. Embiid scored 39, but his team scored 117 points and held the Wolves to 94. The Wolves couldn't even break 100 points at home in a League where winning often requires scoring 120 points.

[thedoper]

Next 8 games are full of opportunity for improving our record. We could go on a nice stretch if we play hard. Last night we ran into a great player who is firing on all cylinders right now. We had no defensive answer for him and he walked into his points. Rudy has to do better and I think he will.

The top NBA centers have performed at around their career averages against Rudy over the years. So while I can see Rudy doing better than we saw last night, he's never been a guy who holds other top centers in check. As as he gets up into his 30s I would expect him to decline.

But it wasn't just Embiid last night. Embiid scored 39, but his team scored 117 points and held the Wolves to 94. The Wolves couldn't even break 100 points at home in a League where winning often requires scoring 120 points.

All of Philly's offense sprung from Embiid's gravity last night. Gobert played great D in the first matchup with Embid in spite of the 20 FTAs he had, but he had another center to switch with. Their team offense took off because of Embiid being able to do whatever he wanted. Playing a switching scheme against a Center that can shoot turned out to be the wrong choice. I remember thinking when I was watching the game that I wished other teams would guard Towns in such a predictable way, we would kill other teams although Towns would never get the foul calls.

[FNG]

I got a chuckle out of the irony in FNG's post.

I love a good pîece of chuckleable irony, but dammit, my irony detector is in the shop for repairs. Need a little help here, so let's review the tape:
1) Rudy was not good last night. An opinion, but I'm not sure an ironic one. I'm guessing most here would concur with that opinion.
2) I liked Finchies decision to turn Joel into a jump shooter. Finchie said on the radio this morning that was his strategy, and (again my opinion) I agreed with it. He's an 80% shooter around the hoop and far worse than that anywhere else. Seemed like a good strategy to me. Irony there?
3) But it didn't work. Ha, seemed like everything he put up went in, even beyond the arc where's he's 34% for his career! I don't know, maybe that was my ironic statement?
4) We had no answer for Joel. We tried Rudy, we tried Naz, and finally we turned to SloMo. Nuthin worked. Was that the irony?
5) But they had an answer for Rivers. A -13 in 4 minutes for Baby Boy rivers on a night he didn't have to even see the court turned a tie game into a double digit deficit. I'm guessing this might have been my ironic statement, right?

I don't want to miss out on some good irony, especially when I'm the author! Explanation s'il vous plait.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I got a chuckle out of the irony in FNG's post.

I love a good pîece of chuckleable irony, but dammit, my irony detector is in the shop for repairs. Need a little help here, so let's review the tape:
1) Rudy was not good last night. An opinion, but I'm not sure an ironic one. I'm guessing most here would concur with that opinion.
2) I liked Finchies decision to turn Joel into a jump shooter. Finchie said on the radio this morning that was his strategy, and (again my opinion) I agreed with it. He's an 80% shooter around the hoop and far worse than that anywhere else. Seemed like a good strategy to me. Irony there?
3) But it didn't work. Ha, seemed like everything he put up went in, even beyond the arc where's he's 34% for his career! I don't know, maybe that was my ironic statement?
4) We had no answer for Joel. We tried Rudy, we tried Naz, and finally we turned to SloMo. Nuthin worked. Was that the irony?
5) But they had an answer for Rivers. A -13 in 4 minutes for Baby Boy rivers on a night he didn't have to even see the court turned a tie game into a double digit deficit. I'm guessing this might have been my ironic statement, right?

I don't want to miss out on some good irony, especially when I'm the author! Explanation s'il vous plait.

No. It was the "short-term memory loss" stuff.

Immediately preceding the three-game road winning streak... the team had three very bad losses.

The team is what it is... inconsistent, and it's why they've been right around .500 all season.

[FNG]

I got a chuckle out of the irony in FNG's post.

I love a good pîece of chuckleable irony, but dammit, my irony detector is in the shop for repairs. Need a little help here, so let's review the tape:
1) Rudy was not good last night. An opinion, but I'm not sure an ironic one. I'm guessing most here would concur with that opinion.
2) I liked Finchies decision to turn Joel into a jump shooter. Finchie said on the radio this morning that was his strategy, and (again my opinion) I agreed with it. He's an 80% shooter around the hoop and far worse than that anywhere else. Seemed like a good strategy to me. Irony there?
3) But it didn't work. Ha, seemed like everything he put up went in, even beyond the arc where's he's 34% for his career! I don't know, maybe that was my ironic statement?
4) We had no answer for Joel. We tried Rudy, we tried Naz, and finally we turned to SloMo. Nuthin worked. Was that the irony?
5) But they had an answer for Rivers. A -13 in 4 minutes for Baby Boy rivers on a night he didn't have to even see the court turned a tie game into a double digit deficit. I'm guessing this might have been my ironic statement, right?

I don't want to miss out on some good irony, especially when I'm the author! Explanation s'il vous plait.

No. It was the "short-term memory loss" stuff.

Immediately preceding the three-game road winning streak... the team had three very bad losses.

The team is what it is... inconsistent, and it's why they've been right around .500 all season.

Somehow I prefer consistently inconsistent...makes me feel better about my squad for some reason.

[Leado01]

In all fairness....Embid looked twice as good Tuesday as I've seen Jokic play I'm any game this year.

He was a buzzsaw and about the only player in the league that I could have seen slowing him down in that performance was sitting on the bench with his jaw dropped with what he was witnessing

[Monster]

Finally watched this one. This game felt like one where the Wolves simply couldn't make shots and the Sixers were. I'm not suggesting the Wolves played awesome and missed shots but I didn't see a lackluster squad out there and I thought in general they were moving the ball. Embiid was absolutely cooking. Anyway on to the next one.