Duke13 wrote:Is poor play is due to his elbow injury?!? I'm at a loss. Oh my.
Who knows? That's what the owners suspect, but they don't know for sure. One thing that everyone knows for sure though...his numbers this year don't compare to his career numbers. If the reason was the injury that kept him out for several games and it's better now, that would be a very good thing for this club.
Q12543 wrote:Let's first clarify that KAT is playing PF nearly full-time this year. Gorgui almost always guards opposing team's 5's and they in turn almost always guard Gorgui.
As a PF, I don't necessarily find the volume of 3's he's taking as inappropriate when looked at in a vacuum. But I think your larger point is that he actually has a pretty damn good low post and mid-range game. I do agree he should go to work more in the low box and get more elbow touches, ala Kevin Love back in the day we ran the corner offense with him.
I still think that whenever KAT is defended by opponent power forward, it would be better that he would play in low post and try to utilize his size there. He is anyway best post option that Wolves have and Dieng has good enough outside shot to keep his man from dropping too much doubling KAT.
Make opponent first to pay for defending KAT with their power forwards. Then if they change their center to defend KAT, it might be much better idea that KAT would force Drummond, Gobert, Gasol Jordan etc. to follow him outside the paint and if they won't take those open three pointers.
Q12543 wrote:Let's first clarify that KAT is playing PF nearly full-time this year. Gorgui almost always guards opposing team's 5's and they in turn almost always guard Gorgui.
As a PF, I don't necessarily find the volume of 3's he's taking as inappropriate when looked at in a vacuum. But I think your larger point is that he actually has a pretty damn good low post and mid-range game. I do agree he should go to work more in the low box and get more elbow touches, ala Kevin Love back in the day we ran the corner offense with him.
I still think that whenever KAT is defended by opponent power forward, it would be better that he would play in low post and try to utilize his size there. He is anyway best post option that Wolves have and Dieng has good enough outside shot to keep his man from dropping too much doubling KAT.
Make opponent first to pay for defending KAT with their power forwards. Then if they change their center to defend KAT, it might be much better idea that KAT would force Drummond, Gobert, Gasol Jordan etc. to follow him outside the paint and if they won't take those open three pointers.
As usual, our Finnish friend nails it. KAT obviously worked on his post game in the offseason, and his footwork, size and variety of moves makes him a formidable force around the basket against almost any PF. But despite his lack of recent success, I also trust him outside the arc, and the ability to draw elite shot blockers out of the paint really opens things up inside for guys like Wig, Zach and Bazz. The coaches can help KAT become a top-line offensive player by getting him to adapt his game depending on who is guarding him, and also by encouraging him to incorporate his above-average passing skills into his game when he is doubled. I still think KAT can become the best offensive player on this team, and that's saying a lot with Wig and Zach as teammates.
While I agree KAT needs to take opposing PFs in the post more often, working the low post game can be a real slog. It's tough to get good position, it's tough to make the right entry pass, and then it can be tough to make the right read out of double-teams. And believe me, teams don't mind doubling off Gorgui or Ricky and giving them open jumpers.
Meanwhile, a simple pick and pop with Rubio often leads to a wide open outside shot with minimal exertion of energy on KAT's part and also it takes less time on the shot clock.
Again, I'm not suggesting we don't continue to get KAT down in the low post, but it's a lot easier said than done.
Q12543 wrote:While I agree KAT needs to take opposing PFs in the post more often, working the low post game can be a real slog. It's tough to get good position, it's tough to make the right entry pass, and then it can be tough to make the right read out of double-teams. And believe me, teams don't mind doubling off Gorgui or Ricky and giving them open jumpers.
Meanwhile, a simple pick and pop with Rubio often leads to a wide open outside shot with minimal exertion of energy on KAT's part and also it takes less time on the shot clock.
Again, I'm not suggesting we don't continue to get KAT down in the low post, but it's a lot easier said than done.
To add to what you said Q I've seen plenty of instances where Towns hasn't gotten the ball in the post in an adventagious scenario because of his teammates. There are also times where he gets doubled and his teammates haven't helped him out either. Dieng is usually fairly good at finding a space to get out of the play but I remeber one of the last couple games he make a cut and it brought his defender to Towns which did not help matters. Towns has gotten ripped plenty for not moving the ball and he deserves it but it's not all on him there are a few other things to consider.
Again this is a young team (they had the numbers in that game saying it was the youngest team in the league weighted for who actually plays) and playing in a new offense so there will be bumps in the road. Like I've said before if the Cavs guys took a while to figure things out and they have Lebron on their team. There is no shame in the Wolves not able to figure this all out with their 21 year old young 3 (Doris stole my material on the "young 3" but it's ok) and a couple young vets in Rubio and Dieng as starters with little vet help off the bench as well. The good news to me is the young 3 actually have complimentary offensive skills so it's not like I worrry that they are going to get in each other's way a significant amount espcially if this Wiggins 3 point shooting thing is go real which would be a HUGE development offensively.
