Minnesota Sports Forum

KG4Ever wrote: ↑Sat Oct 14, 2023 9:02 pm Wolves bench outplayed their starters. Shake was team high plus 31, shot well and dished 6 assists. Naz shot fantastic and even had a nice rejection. Slo-Mo was second best plus 27, 8 assists and was 3 for 3. Awesome job! Of the starters Rudy played great defense and got boards. Ant shot poorly but he really worked the glass. KAT shot decently from outside and made some nice passes, but wasn't as sharp on defense or on boards as he was in earlier games. NAW and Conley didn't have good games.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Sat Oct 14, 2023 9:16 pm

KG4Ever wrote: ↑Sat Oct 14, 2023 9:02 pm Wolves bench outplayed their starters. Shake was team high plus 31, shot well and dished 6 assists. Naz shot fantastic and even had a nice rejection. Slo-Mo was second best plus 27, 8 assists and was 3 for 3. Awesome job! Of the starters Rudy played great defense and got boards. Ant shot poorly but he really worked the glass. KAT shot decently from outside and made some nice passes, but wasn't as sharp on defense or on boards as he was in earlier games. NAW and Conley didn't have good games.

Bench has been impressive and may be Little Mac has some of that magic back as an effective backup PG (??). You gotta be 9 or 10 deep in this league given all the injuries that normally happen, so it's encouraging to know that may be our top 9 are legit without much dropoff if any of the 6-9 guys have to step in for a starter. I still do wonder what happens to our defense if Rudy is out for a stretch.

Monster wrote: ↑Sun Oct 15, 2023 11:12 pm Watch this game this afternoon. A couple observations.

Towns was shutting down Randle when he was matched up on him. Towns hasn’t been perfect but I have LOVED what I have seen out of him so far.

Brown hasn’t exactly wowed on offense but his defense is gonna get him on the floor before someone like Minott. There was one sort of transition possession where Brown was matched up on Randle and held up just fine. His offense isn’t as good as Prince but I think his defense has looked clearly better and while he is a bench player for a reason he has played quite a bit of basketball so he is a young vet. I think the Wolves will find a few scenarios where they can throw Minott out there when they need a guy with energy that can grab some rebounds and run around with length and athletic ability. Minott had a good game.

McLaughlin was terrific. He may not play a ton but if he is back to being the effective player he has been much of his NBA career that’s gonna be a bit of a luxury.

The Knicks announcers were annoying.

I liked how the Wolves fought back from being down when they kinda played well just missed open shots but then got really sloppy. Both teams were playing like they cared about this game so I liked how the Wolves carried themselves for the most part.

Naz Reid can score. I know bigs are more key to defense than perimeter guys but if Reid scoring means you can have another good defender on the perimeter instead of a guy that’s out there for getting buckets that can offset some of Reid’s lack of D. He is a guy that blocks some shots at least.

I didn’t watch enough of Montrez Harrell the past few years but FWIW he actually had some advanced stats that said he was far from a liability on D. I don’t think Reid is a liability on that end but as a C he doesn’t provide enough resistance in the paint. I think what he might be able to do more of over time is be a guy that becomes more of a nuisense getting steals defections etc. of course if he would just rebound at a higher rate that would help too. He made some small strides there last year.

It was interesting they didn’t through any other of the guys fighting for a roster spot out there except just a few minutes for Nix. Ryan didn’t even play. Nobody has played so well that I’m banging the table for them to stay one way or another Vit probably intrigues me the most and he did play reasonably well in 1 game. Lol

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 16, 2023 8:42 am

Monster wrote: ↑Sun Oct 15, 2023 11:12 pm Watch this game this afternoon. A couple observations.

Towns was shutting down Randle when he was matched up on him. Towns hasn’t been perfect but I have LOVED what I have seen out of him so far.

Brown hasn’t exactly wowed on offense but his defense is gonna get him on the floor before someone like Minott. There was one sort of transition possession where Brown was matched up on Randle and held up just fine. His offense isn’t as good as Prince but I think his defense has looked clearly better and while he is a bench player for a reason he has played quite a bit of basketball so he is a young vet. I think the Wolves will find a few scenarios where they can throw Minott out there when they need a guy with energy that can grab some rebounds and run around with length and athletic ability. Minott had a good game.

McLaughlin was terrific. He may not play a ton but if he is back to being the effective player he has been much of his NBA career that’s gonna be a bit of a luxury.

The Knicks announcers were annoying.

I liked how the Wolves fought back from being down when they kinda played well just missed open shots but then got really sloppy. Both teams were playing like they cared about this game so I liked how the Wolves carried themselves for the most part.

Naz Reid can score. I know bigs are more key to defense than perimeter guys but if Reid scoring means you can have another good defender on the perimeter instead of a guy that’s out there for getting buckets that can offset some of Reid’s lack of D. He is a guy that blocks some shots at least.

I didn’t watch enough of Montrez Harrell the past few years but FWIW he actually had some advanced stats that said he was far from a liability on D. I don’t think Reid is a liability on that end but as a C he doesn’t provide enough resistance in the paint. I think what he might be able to do more of over time is be a guy that becomes more of a nuisense getting steals defections etc. of course if he would just rebound at a higher rate that would help too. He made some small strides there last year.

It was interesting they didn’t through any other of the guys fighting for a roster spot out there except just a few minutes for Nix. Ryan didn’t even play. Nobody has played so well that I’m banging the table for them to stay one way or another Vit probably intrigues me the most and he did play reasonably well in 1 game. Lol

Good summary, Monster. I watched the game last night and had many of the same take-aways. That’s three games in a row where KAT has played well defensively. Slo Mo finally played well and was terrific. Slo Mo and Naz were our best two players. One concern I have is the fact that the Knicks had twice as many free-throw attempts as the Wolves. Free-throw disparity was an issue last season. That has to change this season if the Wolves are going to be contenders.

WildWolf2813 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 16, 2023 11:19 am

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 16, 2023 8:42 am

Monster wrote: ↑Sun Oct 15, 2023 11:12 pm Watch this game this afternoon. A couple observations.

Towns was shutting down Randle when he was matched up on him. Towns hasn’t been perfect but I have LOVED what I have seen out of him so far.

Brown hasn’t exactly wowed on offense but his defense is gonna get him on the floor before someone like Minott. There was one sort of transition possession where Brown was matched up on Randle and held up just fine. His offense isn’t as good as Prince but I think his defense has looked clearly better and while he is a bench player for a reason he has played quite a bit of basketball so he is a young vet. I think the Wolves will find a few scenarios where they can throw Minott out there when they need a guy with energy that can grab some rebounds and run around with length and athletic ability. Minott had a good game.

McLaughlin was terrific. He may not play a ton but if he is back to being the effective player he has been much of his NBA career that’s gonna be a bit of a luxury.

The Knicks announcers were annoying.

I liked how the Wolves fought back from being down when they kinda played well just missed open shots but then got really sloppy. Both teams were playing like they cared about this game so I liked how the Wolves carried themselves for the most part.

Naz Reid can score. I know bigs are more key to defense than perimeter guys but if Reid scoring means you can have another good defender on the perimeter instead of a guy that’s out there for getting buckets that can offset some of Reid’s lack of D. He is a guy that blocks some shots at least.

I didn’t watch enough of Montrez Harrell the past few years but FWIW he actually had some advanced stats that said he was far from a liability on D. I don’t think Reid is a liability on that end but as a C he doesn’t provide enough resistance in the paint. I think what he might be able to do more of over time is be a guy that becomes more of a nuisense getting steals defections etc. of course if he would just rebound at a higher rate that would help too. He made some small strides there last year.

It was interesting they didn’t through any other of the guys fighting for a roster spot out there except just a few minutes for Nix. Ryan didn’t even play. Nobody has played so well that I’m banging the table for them to stay one way or another Vit probably intrigues me the most and he did play reasonably well in 1 game. Lol

Good summary, Monster. I watched the game last night and had many of the same take-aways. That’s three games in a row where KAT has played well defensively. Slo Mo finally played well and was terrific. Slo Mo and Naz were our best two players. One concern I have is the fact that the Knicks had twice as many free-throw attempts as the Wolves. Free-throw disparity was an issue last season. That has to change this season if the Wolves are going to be contenders.

That's because instead of driving to the basket, they'd drive to the elbow then kick it back out to three hoping someone was open.