Wolves vs Heat GDT

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

By the way, Naz Reid was wide open on the opposite wing on that final play. Jaden McDaniels just never saw him. Oof. Missing Kyle Anderson there on the inbound pass.

[Q-is-here]

Missed this one, as I was flying back home from Minnesota. What a shame to lose to a thin Miami team ripe for the taking. Of course the one time we get our 3's to fall, our starting backcourt turns the ball over 14 times. Jesus. Limit that to "just" 10 or 11 turnovers and they win the game.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Turnovers. A game to forget for Rudy Gobert. Transition defense. Zone offense. A very bad loss against a thin Miami team.

[WildWolf2813]

Good news is betting against the Wolves spread is once again profitable.

Bad news is that it feels like the Wolves got out of a long prison sentence last year just to do something stupid and go right back in.

Again, it's not just the Gobert stuff that's bothersome. Nobody is taking advantage of the opportunities presented to them except Reid who might as well be a goner by February.

[Lipoli390]

This team misses KAT, by the way. I know his antics are annoying, but his ability to score without blinking is sorely needed.

Spot on, Cam!

[Lipoli390]

Turnovers. A game to forget for Rudy Gobert. Transition defense. Zone offense. A very bad loss against a thin Miami team.

I'd say Rudy has been pretty forgettable all season. Seriously, he hasn't been an impact player for the Wolves this season - at least not in a positive way. Tonight he had 10 points, 8 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals and 0 blocks along with 2 turnovers. So sure, he's had better games. But tonight's game wasn't a total aberration for him. As I've mentioned before (master of the obvious), the one major personnel move this franchise made since last season was swapping Vando, Beverley and Beasley for Gobert. The result? The team has a much lower winning percentage, is worse offensively, no better defensively and no better on the boards than last season. Just isolating this season, the team also has a worse winning percentage with Gobert on the floor than without him.

Cam - I know you weren't a fan of the Gobert deal, yet you've preached patience to see if the team can turn things around yet this season with Rudy. But I'll just say that I don't have the patience to wait until next summer to move on from Gobert. You would probably respond that I had better have patience because he won't be moved, if at all, until after the season. I'd have to admit you're right, but I'm at a point where I think I'll just have to tune this team out for the rest of the season. And unfortunately, I don't think the Wolves front office will trade Rudy next summer under any circumstances so I don't see patience paying off.

I agree with you that the team misses KAT and I expect this team will improve once he's back and has returned to game shape. But this time without KAT has simply confirmed my sense of Rudy Gobert. Many of us, including me, have been saying for two years that DLO's not a max player. Well, neither is Rudy. Make me Wolves PBO for a day (or at least until the Feb. trade deadline) and I'll trade Rudy for as many pennies as I can get. Unfortunately, it will be pennies compared to what the Wolves gave up.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I've rooted for a lot of bad Timberwolves teams over the years. Many teams much much worse than this version. And I've rooted for the team despite watching some players I really really hated to watch play basketball.

Rashad McCants. Obviously. Top of my list.
Shabazz Muhammad.
Darko Milicic.
Mark Blount.
Darrick Martin.
Gerald Glass.
Et al.

But I don't know if I've had to root for three players I dislike simultaneously... and have them in such prominent roles. D. Russell is not a bad basketball player, he's fine... just not my type of PG. At all. And Rudy Gobert has been an All NBA performer previously. But I legit HATE watching him play on offense. It literally hurts my eyes... and soul. And then there's poor Jaylen Nowell who'd make Rashad and Shabazz blush right now.

Tonight, there was a play very early in the game where the 7'1" Gobert had the ball directly under the Heat basket against a ridiculously undersized opponent. Gobert went up for the shot and was fouled... but not in any way that should have prevented him from missing the bunny. He literally just missed the 1 foot shot. I cannot think of another NBA player this side of Bismack Biyombo (maybe?) who'd miss that shot. Gobert is being paid handsomely. And he missed it. And then the subsequent free throws.

I don't mind losing. I've seen more losing over the past 33 years than almost every other NBA fan. But I'm just not entertained right now. I don't like this team. I don't find it to be enjoyable basketball. And maybe it's in part that the worst franchise in the history of the NBA put its future in the hands of a bumbling 7 ft+ center who literally misses 1 foot shots.



[Note: Serious question... we're not talking about setting picks which is boring and sorta irrelevant for the Wolves personnel and the way they play. Or, standing under the hoop and jumping to dunk which is ridiculously easy for 7 footers. But... where is Rudy Gobert in the pecking order of awkward, stilted, terrible offensive centers in franchise history? He is a trainwreck with the basketball in his hands.]

[FNG]

Terrible loss to a Heat team missing its two best players...we needed this one. The loss was especially tragic considering we got terrific performances from Ant (except for the TOs of course), Naz, Jaden and Rivers. But their good games couldn't make up for:

1) A seemingly disinterested Rudy Gobert. He simply has to dominate a team forced to play Jovic and Robinson at center with Bam out, but he just didn't show up...he was our worst player tonight. Just an awful game from him.

2) A very poor game from D-Optional Russell. Question: How do you turn Max Strus in the midst of a horrible season into Steph Curry? Answer: Have D-Optional "guard" him. Finchie did a good job moving Russell over to Oladipo (who is no longer an offensive threat) when Victor was out there, but he needed him out there for his offense, and just couldn't hide him on defense when Victor wasn't out there.

I see Nowell is getting ripped here often, and I get it...his misses on some easy 2/s tonight were costly. But I've actually seen some hustle from him on defense the past couple games, and I'm not giving up on him. And we really need him with JMac, Prince and SloMo out.

We really needed this one...

[Lipoli390]

I've rooted for a lot of bad Timberwolves teams over the years. Many teams much much worse than this version. And I've rooted for the team despite watching some players I really really hated to watch play basketball.

Rashad McCants. Obviously. Top of my list.
Shabazz Muhammad.
Darko Milicic.
Mark Blount.
Darrick Martin.
Gerald Glass.
Et al.

But I don't know if I've had to root for three players I dislike simultaneously... and have them in such prominent roles. D. Russell is not a bad basketball player, he's fine... just not my type of PG. At all. And Rudy Gobert has been an All NBA performer previously. But I legit HATE watching him play on offense. It literally hurts my eyes... and soul. And then there's poor Jaylen Nowell who'd make Rashad and Shabazz blush right now.

Tonight, there was a play very early in the game where the 7'1" Gobert had the ball directly under the Heat basket against a ridiculously undersized opponent. Gobert went up for the shot and was fouled... but not in any way that should have prevented him from missing the bunny. He literally just missed the 1 foot shot. I cannot think of another NBA player this side of Bismack Biyombo (maybe?) who'd miss that shot. Gobert is being paid handsomely. And he missed it. And then the subsequent free throws.

I don't mind losing. I've seen more losing over the past 33 years than almost every other NBA fan. But I'm just not entertained right now. I don't like this team. I don't find it to be enjoyable basketball. And maybe it's in part that the worst franchise in the history of the NBA put its future in the hands of a bumbling 7 ft+ center who literally misses 1 foot shots.



[Note: Serious question... we're not talking about setting picks which is boring and sorta irrelevant for the Wolves personnel and the way they play. Or, standing under the hoop and jumping to dunk which is ridiculously easy for 7 footers. But... where is Rudy Gobert in the pecking order of awkward, stilted, terrible offensive centers in franchise history? He is a trainwreck with the basketball in his hands.]

Abe - You captured my sentiments completely. I've bolded the portions that resonated with me the most. It is truly painful to watch Rudy play. That's especially true on the offensive end, but it's also hard to watch opposing guards wiz by him for layups while Rudy looks like he's in slow motion.

I'll add that I'm not surprised by what we're seen from Gobert this season. I've watched him enough over the years to know he has no offensive skills (other than setting picks), has poor hands and isn't tough. I think many have underestimated the talent around Rudy when he was with the Jazz. Moreover, those teams were designed to maximize his strengths and minimize his weaknesses - on both sides of the ball. Donovan Mitchell didn't like playing with him and I don't think Edwards does either ("the smaller we play the better I am."). The Wolves front office seems to suffer from "smartest man in the room syndrome." Suffering from that syndrome they somehow thought they would get more from Rudy offensively at age 30 than coach Snyder got out of Rudy in his prime.

Like you Abe, this is the toughest season for me as a Wolves fan - and that's saying something!

[FNG]

Last night was a night to jump on the Lip "bad-trade" train...it was embarrassing to see Rudy get outplayed by 2 G League quality centers. Further, Jon K has an article in the Athletic today asking where the Rudy of last season has gone. There are a lot of reasons to question the trade right now, especially since after the next two games, there's a good chance we will be 4 games under .500.

But I'm not jumping off the train yet for a couple reasons:

1) In almost every GDT, Kek points out how our interior defense falls apart as soon as Rudy leaves the court. His blocks may be down, but he is still a major rim protecting force.

2) Jonny K laments in his Athletic article how our starting backcourt has been largely unsuccessful in getting Rudy effectively involved in the offense. And it's true...Rudy has a negative rating when on the court with either Ant or Russell, and a negative rating when he is out there with both of them. This doesn't make sense to me, because both of our starting guards should be talented enough to thrive in a pick and roll offense with one of the best screening centers in the Association. But at least so far it isn't working.
The silver lining? The 2 players that Gobert pairs with best through this point in the season are both currently out...SloMo and JMac. Both have shown an ability to find Rudy open for easy dunks, while also providing effective defense when out there with him. We don't know when JMac will be back, but SloMo's back is good enough to go (he missed last night's game because he was sick). Hopefully Finchie will pair these two up more frequently with Rudy once they are both ready to go.