Minnesota Sports Forum

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

crazy-canuck wrote:I think the kat/wiggs high pnr should be something we implement regularly and not just when rose and teague are out. They have pretty good chemistry and one of them always seems to get an open look because the defense can't sag nor play up nor send 2 at one of them.

Its unfortunate that the wolves never made a real effort to maximize that potential.

Mmmm, I think they did try two years ago. In the front end of that season, we did a ton of "point Wiggins" sets, with Ricky sharing a lot of the half court ball handling with Wig. It didn't go so well for the same reasons we often see now: Lots of ball handling problems, getting stripped, minimal assists, long 2's, etc. Eventually Thibs went back to rely far more on Ricky as the season progressed.

Now may be Wiggins will get better and what we saw last night will be more of the norm. But we say that every time after a good game from him, only to be sorely disappointed for a few weeks. And then another good game comes along!

I was really surprised Utah let him get to his right hand so easily. The book on him is to take that right hand away and make him go left. A good defensive team oughta know that.

I don't know if that's fair Q. He's had some good games along with some clunkers, but I see more consistency in his performance since Thibs was let go. Let's hope he continues to trend in that direction.

Meh... maybe? But not really...

21.0 ppg
7.0 reb
39.6% fg
34.8% 3fg
67% ft
2.1 apg
2.6 TO

Seems to me like he's basically the same guy who has two lousy games then a good game then a lousy game then a good game, etc... who's simply shooting more... He's literally the worst high-volume shooter in the league this side of Russell Westbrook... but that guy does other things pretty well to incredibly awesome to make up for it.

To be fair, the rebounding uptick is nice. It's noticeable and it's a bright spot. Hopefully, it continues.

Q12543 wrote:

crazy-canuck wrote:I think the kat/wiggs high pnr should be something we implement regularly and not just when rose and teague are out. They have pretty good chemistry and one of them always seems to get an open look because the defense can't sag nor play up nor send 2 at one of them.

Its unfortunate that the wolves never made a real effort to maximize that potential.

Mmmm, I think they did try two years ago. In the front end of that season, we did a ton of "point Wiggins" sets, with Ricky sharing a lot of the half court ball handling with Wig. It didn't go so well for the same reasons we often see now: Lots of ball handling problems, getting stripped, minimal assists, long 2's, etc. Eventually Thibs went back to rely far more on Ricky as the season progressed.

Now may be Wiggins will get better and what we saw last night will be more of the norm. But we say that every time after a good game from him, only to be sorely disappointed for a few weeks. And then another good game comes along!

I was really surprised Utah let him get to his right hand so easily. The book on him is to take that right hand away and make him go left. A good defensive team oughta know that.

Q he was referring to Wiggins and Towns in PNR TOGETHER. How many times did we see that with Wiggins as the main guy? I think we would remember that if it happened at any significant frequency then. It was more Wiggins just getting the ball and doing something. Even if Wiggins was James Harden...they still set screens to get him favorable matchups. Under Thibs it seems like whether it wS coaches or players we would just go at whoever was guarding the guy that had the ball. Mismatch in te post sure we went there but often we would just stupidly attack on the better perimeter players without even trying to get a screen. That was the worst thing about that era IMO. If you want to run an iso offense fine but actually attack the weakness of the defense. Back to Wiggins and Towns...why not involve those 2 guys with each other? Makes so much sense.

Yeah, I don't see any big change in Wiggins' game since Thibs left other than the rebounding. And even that you have to wonder whether it's a sustained trend or small sample size error.

As for KAT and Wig, I do think when Thibs was experimenting with the Point Wiggins approach a couple seasons ago, he used KAT as a ball screener. Thibs tried his best to make these two guys the focal point of the team in his first season. But it didn't work, so he went out and got Butler.

One thing Ryan has done, knowing that Wiggins is better going to his right, is he does a lot of handoff and screening action from KAT to Wig with Wig curling around KAT going to his right. So credit to Ryan for at least trying to take advantage of one of his strengths. (but his overall scoring/efficiency numbers really aren't all that different as Abe pointed out).