Minnesota Sports Forum

Sundog60 wrote:I thought it was a pretty fun game overall, good to see the team figuring things out in real time. Nowhere near what they should be yet, but it looks like they are digging themselves out. Outrebounded Philly, more assists, fewer turnovers.

Although, there was a Dlo hero ball moment in the 4th when he took three dribbles past up a screen from Gobert and yanked up a 3 about 8 secs into the shot clock that clanked... I love Dlo, but that stuff drives me batty.

Meanwhile... Mudiay continues his solid play down in Iowa...

I noticed that moment, and shook my head saying "well, that's on brand". But as I said in my (too long) post above, DLo had a pretty good offensive game and that was one of the very few head-scratching moments on offense for him...he was pretty solid on offense.

But that defense though...

FNG wrote:

Sundog60 wrote:I thought it was a pretty fun game overall, good to see the team figuring things out in real time. Nowhere near what they should be yet, but it looks like they are digging themselves out. Outrebounded Philly, more assists, fewer turnovers.

Although, there was a Dlo hero ball moment in the 4th when he took three dribbles past up a screen from Gobert and yanked up a 3 about 8 secs into the shot clock that clanked... I love Dlo, but that stuff drives me batty.

Meanwhile... Mudiay continues his solid play down in Iowa...

I noticed that moment, and shook my head saying "well, that's on brand". But as I said in my (too long) post above, DLo had a pretty good offensive game and that was one of the very few head-scratching moments on offense for him...he was pretty solid on offense.

But that defense though...

FNG - I'll watch the replay and I'll probably notice what you're saying about DLO's defense. I completely agree with you that we know what DLO is - a pretty bad defender who can be really good but inconsistent offensive player who tends to be careless with the ball too often. I don't know what to do with DLO. When he's on offensively, he can carry the team through stretches. I like his demeanor and attitude. But his inconsistency and defense are problems.

I like that we have Mudiay in the organization. But I still wish we had signed Sharife Cooper or Mac McClung to one of our two-way deals. We need options to potentially replace DLO next season. Both Sharife and Mac are having terrific G-League seasons so far. Sharife is averaging 30 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 1.7 steals while shooting 54% from the field and 47.% from behind the arc. He's getting to the line 4.7 times per game and hitting 85% of those free throws. On the negative side, he's averaging 5 turnovers per game. Mac is averaging 20.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 6.2 assists with only 1.8 turnovers per game. He's hitting 46.6% of his field goal attempts and 41% of his threes. As much as I like the way Mudiay is playing, he's 27 years old and it's hard to see him coming close to fulfilling the promise he had back in the 2014 draft. Meanwhile, Sharife is 21 years old and Mac still only 23. Both have untapped upside and both have been improving since they were drafted. Connelly should have signed one of them.

Another great road win. Dlo was great, Nowell finally came alive, Ant had 9 FTs all with Kat in foul trouble.

Just keep winning. Go Wolves.

thedoper wrote:Another great road win. Dlo was great, Nowell finally came alive, Ant had 9 FTs all with Kat in foul trouble.

Just keep winning. Go Wolves.

First game all year I missed. Buddy had a surprise 30th party. Looks likes the wolves found a way. Based on watching highlights they ran a ton of back screens with Rudy to get shooters open 3 pt looks, love that.

3 game road winning streak. We coming we coming

kekgeek1 wrote:

thedoper wrote:Another great road win. Dlo was great, Nowell finally came alive, Ant had 9 FTs all with Kat in foul trouble.

Just keep winning. Go Wolves.

First game all year I missed. Buddy had a surprise 30th party. Looks likes the wolves found a way. Based on watching highlights they ran a ton of back screens with Rudy to get shooters open 3 pt looks, love that.

3 game road winning streak. We coming we coming

Wait, what? Dude had a surprise birthday party for himself? Like, he snuck into your house, waited for you to walk in, turned on the lights and yelled "Surprise! It's my birthday!?"

That guy is my new hero.

I thought it was funny where one sequence DLO got beaten by a backdoor cut. I mean he just completely spaced out on his guy being the lazy defender he is most of the time. And then the next play down, Ant hit DLO on the same backdoor cut for an easy layup. So at least he avenged his lapse with the same play!

The high wall defense really hid a lot of DLO and KAT's deficiencies as defenders last season. The drop coverage scheme forces you to hunker down, fight over screens, and pay attention more since you aren't in scramble mode.

The bottom line is that this team can't be taken seriously come playoff time if DLO and KAT can't defend in a drop scheme. It's just way too much to expect Gobert and McDaniels to do all the dirty work, with Ant only able to provide defense in spurts.

BTW, for those of you hoping some of the boys from Iowa could some day come riding in on a white horse, just be aware they play almost exclusively a high wall scheme. So any one of those guys that plays with Gobert would have to make a similar adjustment.

lipoli390 wrote: I like that we have Mudiay in the organization. But I still wish we had signed Sharife Cooper or Mac McClung to one of our two-way deals. We need options to potentially replace DLO next season. Both Sharife and Mac are having terrific G-League seasons so far. Sharife is averaging 30 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 1.7 steals while shooting 54% from the field and 47.% from behind the arc. He's getting to the line 4.7 times per game and hitting 85% of those free throws. On the negative side, he's averaging 5 turnovers per game. Mac is averaging 20.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 6.2 assists with only 1.8 turnovers per game. He's hitting 46.6% of his field goal attempts and 41% of his threes. As much as I like the way Mudiay is playing, he's 27 years old and it's hard to see him coming close to fulfilling the promise he had back in the 2014 draft. Meanwhile, Sharife is 21 years old and Mac still only 23. Both have untapped upside and both have been improving since they were drafted. Connelly should have signed one of them.

I guess I don't understand why no team in the league has picked up on either of these guys, despite a pretty terrific track record. It's weird -- is there something that we don't know about?

But that kind of thinking reminds me of the old economist joke: The young economist looks down and sees a $20 bill on the street and says, "Hey, look a twenty-dollar bill!" Without even looking, his older and wiser colleague replies, "Nonsense. If there had been a twenty-dollar lying on the street, someone would have already picked it up by now."

Sometimes you have to trust what your eyes are seeing.

For people who regularly go to games, does dlo always not join the timeout huddles when he is not in the game? I was at the game and in the second half he regularly would go to the basket during timeouts to shoot the ball against the back of the backboard.

kekgeek1 wrote:

thedoper wrote:Another great road win. Dlo was great, Nowell finally came alive, Ant had 9 FTs all with Kat in foul trouble.

Just keep winning. Go Wolves.

First game all year I missed. Buddy had a surprise 30th party. Looks likes the wolves found a way. Based on watching highlights they ran a ton of back screens with Rudy to get shooters open 3 pt looks, love that.

3 game road winning streak. We coming we coming

Yeah. Its becoming pretty clear to me that Gobert is our best player. Not by any means our most talented. But he's a pro. We have a long way to go in integrating him with our lineup and hes on the back end of his career but Ive been enjoying his blue collar game.

thedoper wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

thedoper wrote:Another great road win. Dlo was great, Nowell finally came alive, Ant had 9 FTs all with Kat in foul trouble.

Just keep winning. Go Wolves.

First game all year I missed. Buddy had a surprise 30th party. Looks likes the wolves found a way. Based on watching highlights they ran a ton of back screens with Rudy to get shooters open 3 pt looks, love that.

3 game road winning streak. We coming we coming

Yeah. Its becoming pretty clear to me that Gobert is our best player. Not by any means our most talented. But he's a pro. We have a long way to go in integrating him with our lineup and hes on the back end of his career but Ive been enjoying his blue collar game.

Yes, Gobert has played like the solid pro that he is. But Ant and KAT have both been better.

Even though Ant has been a bit of a disappointment so far this season, I think he's still been our best player -- not just our most talented player. On the other hand, I think there's a strong case that KAT has been our best player. He's averaging 21.3 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game. He leads the team in nearly every advanced stat category, including BPM, VORP and WS. Gobert doesn't lead the team in any advanced stat and Towns is ahead of him in every advanced category. Prince and Edwards have the best net ratings on the roster at 7.9 and 2.9 respectively. KAT checks in with a net rating -0.9 while Rudy has a net rating of -2.2.

KAT's become a familiar target on this board, but his production so far this season has been impressive considering that (1) he's being asked to play a different position; and (2) he missed training camp with a serious illness that put him in the hospital and took more than 10 pounds off his frame. In contrast, Rudy is playing the same position and role he's played his entire career and he was primed to hit the ground running in full game shape after playing in Europe. So yes, Rudy has been solid, but he hasn't been our best player.