Minnesota Sports Forum

Q12543 wrote:

Duke13 wrote:I think a lineup of Lavine, Wig, Belly, Towns would be a great lineup to possibly finish games. You could play Cole or Gorgi with that 4 or Tyus, Ricky or Dunn eventually. Those 4 would be lethal! Told ya if Belly got minutes with the starters he'd flourish.

Let's give it more time, as I would suspect anyone from our bench added to the KAT-Wiggins-Dieng-Rubio foursome is going to do better than playing with their normal bench mates.

Bjelly at 3 is an interesting thought though (and I know not a new one) because you could still have Wiggins guarding the opposing team's best wing. It certainly gives us more overall size in the starting lineup.

I think starting Wiggins at the 2 is the answer going back to last year. We gain alot with the matchups on both sides of the floor that way. Lavine is great and with competent pgs in the 2nd unit he would still thrive. Belly or Bazz depending on matchups at the 3. The instinctual fit to have the starting lineup Thibs has started with makes sense, but I think we play into other teams' strengths when Zach starts at the 2. We can really mess with teams with our size if we want to. It worked tonight that is for sure.

I'll point this out in the 2 + 1 also, but anybody notice Wig's improvement on defense this year? Certainly not a finished product, but I see noticeable progress particularly from an intensity standpoint.

thedoper wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

Duke13 wrote:I think a lineup of Lavine, Wig, Belly, Towns would be a great lineup to possibly finish games. You could play Cole or Gorgi with that 4 or Tyus, Ricky or Dunn eventually. Those 4 would be lethal! Told ya if Belly got minutes with the starters he'd flourish.

Let's give it more time, as I would suspect anyone from our bench added to the KAT-Wiggins-Dieng-Rubio foursome is going to do better than playing with their normal bench mates.

Bjelly at 3 is an interesting thought though (and I know not a new one) because you could still have Wiggins guarding the opposing team's best wing. It certainly gives us more overall size in the starting lineup.

I think starting Wiggins at the 2 is the answer going back to last year. We gain alot with the matchups on both sides of the floor that way. Lavine is great and with competent pgs in the 2nd unit he would still thrive. Belly or Bazz depending on matchups at the 3. The instinctual fit to have the starting lineup Thibs has started with makes sense, but I think we play into other teams' strengths when Zach starts at the 2. We can really mess with teams with our size if we want to. It worked tonight that is for sure.

Not sure. I get that we become longer with this type of lineup, but we're really not that much thicker and stronger. A lot of our defensive woes is the ease with which players can score in the paint when they put a shoulder into our guys.

I guess if we were to eventually go in the direction of Wiggins at the 2, I'd ideally want someone like an Aminu or MKG type of 3 that is big, strong, and tough.

Also, LaVine would be a great 6th man with his ability as a shot maker - certainly better than Bazz, who really can't do much off the dribble and needs the ball in specific spots. But you have to believe he and his agent would not be too happy about that kind of move as an emerging young talent on a rookie contract. Think James Harden with OKC (although not quite that good).....

Oh no, now we gotta go hear the put Zack to the bench narrative.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:I'll point this out in the 2 + 1 also, but anybody notice Wig's improvement on defense this year? Certainly not a finished product, but I see noticeable progress particularly from an intensity standpoint.

I need more time. When he's locked in one on one, he's been pretty good since his rookie year. Where he sometimes falls short is losing his man on back door cuts, offensive rebounds, and transition. He also NEVER takes charges.

Duke13 wrote:Oh no, now we gotta go hear the put Zack to the bench narrative.

Wait, you like Bjelly starting at the 3 with the starters. So where does Zach play then?

I said to finish games. Our version of the "death" lineup.

thedoper wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

Duke13 wrote:I think a lineup of Lavine, Wig, Belly, Towns would be a great lineup to possibly finish games. You could play Cole or Gorgi with that 4 or Tyus, Ricky or Dunn eventually. Those 4 would be lethal! Told ya if Belly got minutes with the starters he'd flourish.

Let's give it more time, as I would suspect anyone from our bench added to the KAT-Wiggins-Dieng-Rubio foursome is going to do better than playing with their normal bench mates.

Bjelly at 3 is an interesting thought though (and I know not a new one) because you could still have Wiggins guarding the opposing team's best wing. It certainly gives us more overall size in the starting lineup.

I think starting Wiggins at the 2 is the answer going back to last year. We gain alot with the matchups on both sides of the floor that way. Lavine is great and with competent pgs in the 2nd unit he would still thrive. Belly or Bazz depending on matchups at the 3. The instinctual fit to have the starting lineup Thibs has started with makes sense, but I think we play into other teams' strengths when Zach starts at the 2. We can really mess with teams with our size if we want to. It worked tonight that is for sure.

I'd like to see Belly get a run in the starting lineup as our 3 with Wiggins at the 2 if Zach could accept being and thrive as our 6th man. If not, I still want to see Belly play more 3 than 4 and I'd like to give Cole more minutes (he seems to play better with more minutes) to help with Belly's transition. AP might also be able to play some minutes as tonight's performance warrants at least another look. I wouldn't mind if Zach and Bazz missed a little more time so we could evaluate whether an adjustment in the lineup might make sense.

I'm out of town and missed tonight's game. Looks from the box score like Wiggins carried the team with some help from Belly and Ricky. Why didn't Zach play? Did Wiggins look as good as the box score suggests? How about Belly? Ricky looked solid with 10 assists, 4 boards and 3 steals. Did he play as well as it appears in the box score? Towns scored over 20 points but his shooting percentage was pathetic. What's the story with him tonight? Looks like our defense was better than it's been lately. Is that true or did the Lakers just miss shots they should have made? What was the key to tonight's win overall other than the obvious scoring from Wiggins and Belly?

lipoli390 wrote:I'm out of town and missed tonight's game. Looks from the box score like Wiggins carried the team with some help from Belly and Ricky. Why didn't Zach play? Did Wiggins look as good as the box score suggests? How about Belly? Ricky looked solid with 10 assists, 4 boards and 3 steals. Did he play as well as it appears in the box score? Towns scored over 20 points but his shooting percentage was pathetic. What's the story with him tonight? Looks like our defense was better than it's been lately. Is that true or did the Lakers just miss shots they should have made? What was the key to tonight's win overall other than the obvious scoring from Wiggins and Belly?

Zach, Bazz, and Rush were out with injuries. Zach and Bazz day-to-day with a sore knee. Rush with turf toe. Zach was jogging up to Wiggins after the Lakers called a timeout to give high-fives, etc. and he was noticeably limping.

Wiggins was in attack mode all night. His size and length at the 2 was a huge advantage. Hit a couple threes, lived at the free throw line, and relentlessly attacked the rim. Fun to watch. He was phenomenal.

Ricky showed us what we've been missing in the early stages of the season. The offense and defense runs so smoothly with him on the floor. He played very well.

Belly either hit a 3 or attacked and got to the rim. Great performance after getting the start at the 3.

Towns shot was off but he hit some big shots in moments when it seems like the Lakers were on the verge of making a comeback. Uncharacteristicly shot poorly from the line. He's fine.

Wolves defense was pretty solid all night. There is so much added depth with Wiggins at the 2 and Belly at the 3. Lots of tipped passes which turned into transition buckets.

The key to the victory was clearly when Payne starting making shots. He was the real catalyst tonight.