The Pivot Perspective - Lakers at Wolves GDT

[kekgeek]

The Jaden we saw last night is the Jaden we should see nearly every game. He has the talent. He needs to play at a consistently high level on both ends of the court. Of course, that also means not fouling so he can stay on the court.

Overall, the Wolves won a game they certainly should have won. It’s nice to see the reemergence of last season’s defense. But their offense still isn’t close to where it needs to be.

Do you think we saw great Jaden because he had a super easy defensive matchup tonight. Like it had to be the most energy he has had in a long time because he didn’t need to guard an All Star caliber player tonight

He's actually been playing better for a few games now, but obviously last night he was at his best. And he was still guarding his guy hard.

That being said, I can't wait for the day when Randle is gone and Finch starts experimenting a bit more with having Jaden at the 4 for stretches. I think he can be a very effective off ball defensive presence plus switch on wings the way Randle does now but of course Jaden would be way better at it. I also think he'd be better offensively in that position.

We need to dump the 2-big, stagnant iso-ball experiment.

That’s super fair, will he interesting to see what the wolves starting lineup looks like in 2 years. A lot of ways they can go and a lot of possible movable pieces

[60WinTim]

One of the beat writers tweeted that for the most part Jaden was not guarding the point of attack, which allowed him to be more of a help defender. It certainly showed up in his stats.

[Lipoli390]

The Jaden we saw last night is the Jaden we should see nearly every game. He has the talent. He needs to play at a consistently high level on both ends of the court. Of course, that also means not fouling so he can stay on the court.

Overall, the Wolves won a game they certainly should have won. It’s nice to see the reemergence of last season’s defense. But their offense still isn’t close to where it needs to be.

Do you think we saw great Jaden because he had a super easy defensive matchup tonight. Like it had to be the most energy he has had in a long time because he didn’t need to guard an All Star caliber player tonight

He's actually been playing better for a few games now, but obviously last night he was at his best. And he was still guarding his guy hard.

That being said, I can't wait for the day when Randle is gone and Finch starts experimenting a bit more with having Jaden at the 4 for stretches. I think he can be a very effective off ball defensive presence plus switch on wings the way Randle does now but of course Jaden would be way better at it. I also think he'd be better offensively in that position.

We need to dump the 2-big, stagnant iso-ball experiment.

I agree completely, Q. Interestingly, I see Naz as a 4/3 rather than a 4/5. Minott strikes me as a 4/3 or 3/4. TSJ is a 3. Miller looks like a 4/3. In any case, position aside, all these younger guys - Naz, Minott, TSJ, Miller, and Jaden are long, athletic, mobile multi-skilled front—court players. The future of the Wolves is not a two-big front. That experiment was successful last season but it effectively ended when KAT was traded. Randle is just a temporary fill-in until we finally move on to the next phase of this team.

I’ve been pretty critical of Jaden this season in large part because I see the talent and realize how important he is this team’s success going forward. I put responsibility for most of his struggles this season on him. But to be fair to Jaden, the organization needs to put him in the best position to optimize his talents for the benefit of the team. The two-big lineup isn’t optimal for Jaden or Ant.

My one caveat on moving on from Randle is that we need to figure out how we get the 20+ points per game he’s been giving us. The main point of moving on from Randle is to significantly improve our offense. I’m not sure exactly how we get the net gain when we start out having to cover the missing 20+ points we’ve been getting from Randle. How much more will we get from Ant with the lane more open and more flow in the offense? Will Jaden step up and become a consistent 20+ per game scorer? think he has the talent but I’m not sure and we certainly haven’t seen it from him to date. When will Dilly be ready to assume the starting PG role? We’re just not going to get the offense from Conley that we got from him last season and that we’ll need at his position without Randle’s 20 + points per game.

So I’m all for moving on from Randle. But I’m concerned about whether we have what we need to move successfully into the next post two-big phase.

[60WinTim]

Do you think we saw great Jaden because he had a super easy defensive matchup tonight. Like it had to be the most energy he has had in a long time because he didn’t need to guard an All Star caliber player tonight

He's actually been playing better for a few games now, but obviously last night he was at his best. And he was still guarding his guy hard.

That being said, I can't wait for the day when Randle is gone and Finch starts experimenting a bit more with having Jaden at the 4 for stretches. I think he can be a very effective off ball defensive presence plus switch on wings the way Randle does now but of course Jaden would be way better at it. I also think he'd be better offensively in that position.

We need to dump the 2-big, stagnant iso-ball experiment.

I agree completely, Q. Interestingly, I see Naz as a 4/3 rather than a 4/5. Minott strikes me as a 4/3 or 3/4. TSJ is a 3. Miller looks like a 4/3. In any case, position aside, all these younger guys - Naz, Minott, TSJ, Miller, and Jaden are long, athletic, mobile multi-skilled front—court players. The future of the Wolves is not a two-big front. That experiment was successful last season but it effectively ended when KAT was traded. Randle is just a temporary fill-in until we finally move on to the next phase of this team.

I’ve been pretty critical of Jaden this season in large part because I see the talent and realize how important he is this team’s success going forward. I put responsibility for most of his struggles this season on him. But to be fair to Jaden, the organization needs to put him in the best position to optimize his talents for the benefit of the team. The two-big lineup isn’t optimal for Jaden or Ant.

My one caveat on moving on from Randle is that we need to figure out how we get the 20+ points per game he’s been giving us. The main point of moving on from Randle is to significantly improve our offense. I’m not sure exactly how we get the net gain when we start out having to cover the missing 20+ points we’ve been getting from Randle. How much more will we get from Ant with the lane more open and more flow in the offense? Will Jaden step up and become a consistent 20+ per game scorer? think he has the talent but I’m not sure and we certainly haven’t seen it from him to date. When will Dilly be ready to assume the starting PG role? We’re just not going to get the offense from Conley that we got from him last season and that we’ll need at his position without Randle’s 20 + points per game.

So I’m all for moving on from Randle. But I’m concerned about whether we have what we need to move successfully into the next post two-big phase.

You must have missed my trade proposal that replaces Randle with John Collins...

[DNatagal]

With all those wings it is almost like positionless basketball is the next move. Will the Wolves draft a center that can allow for 5 out basketball but still protect the rim and play defense?

[Wolvesfan21]

The offense gets bad when we have 3 non or poor shooters on the court which is obviously Rudy, Randle at times and Jaden at times.

You're just going to have easy double and triple teams on Ant. Ideally we get a better shooting version of both Randle and Jaden going forward. Make teams pay for doubling Ant. I don't know the numbers this year but I still prefer to see Randle in the corner when Ant has the ball also.

[Q-is-here]

Do you think we saw great Jaden because he had a super easy defensive matchup tonight. Like it had to be the most energy he has had in a long time because he didn’t need to guard an All Star caliber player tonight

He's actually been playing better for a few games now, but obviously last night he was at his best. And he was still guarding his guy hard.

That being said, I can't wait for the day when Randle is gone and Finch starts experimenting a bit more with having Jaden at the 4 for stretches. I think he can be a very effective off ball defensive presence plus switch on wings the way Randle does now but of course Jaden would be way better at it. I also think he'd be better offensively in that position.

We need to dump the 2-big, stagnant iso-ball experiment.

I agree completely, Q. Interestingly, I see Naz as a 4/3 rather than a 4/5. Minott strikes me as a 4/3 or 3/4. TSJ is a 3. Miller looks like a 4/3. In any case, position aside, all these younger guys - Naz, Minott, TSJ, Miller, and Jaden are long, athletic, mobile multi-skilled front—court players. The future of the Wolves is not a two-big front. That experiment was successful last season but it effectively ended when KAT was traded. Randle is just a temporary fill-in until we finally move on to the next phase of this team.

I’ve been pretty critical of Jaden this season in large part because I see the talent and realize how important he is this team’s success going forward. I put responsibility for most of his struggles this season on him. But to be fair to Jaden, the organization needs to put him in the best position to optimize his talents for the benefit of the team. The two-big lineup isn’t optimal for Jaden or Ant.

My one caveat on moving on from Randle is that we need to figure out how we get the 20+ points per game he’s been giving us. The main point of moving on from Randle is to significantly improve our offense. I’m not sure exactly how we get the net gain when we start out having to cover the missing 20+ points we’ve been getting from Randle. How much more will we get from Ant with the lane more open and more flow in the offense? Will Jaden step up and become a consistent 20+ per game scorer? think he has the talent but I’m not sure and we certainly haven’t seen it from him to date. When will Dilly be ready to assume the starting PG role? We’re just not going to get the offense from Conley that we got from him last season and that we’ll need at his position without Randle’s 20 + points per game.

So I’m all for moving on from Randle. But I’m concerned about whether we have what we need to move successfully into the next post two-big phase.

I'm not worried about losing his points Lip. The reality is this team as currently constructed with Randle on the roster is obviously not a title contender. So what do we really have to lose by moving on from him? Since we rely so much on our defense anyway his absence certainly shouldn't hurt us much on that end.

I want this to become truly an Ant-centric team. We finally became that last season when KAT was out and then even when he came back it was clear who our #1 guy was. With Randle on the roster, we are forced to feed him the ball, play a slower pace, and constantly hope he gives enough effort on defense. He's a decent enough player, but not a fit for how this roster needs to look like to maximize Ant while still having Rudy here too.

[Wolvesfan21]

He's actually been playing better for a few games now, but obviously last night he was at his best. And he was still guarding his guy hard.

That being said, I can't wait for the day when Randle is gone and Finch starts experimenting a bit more with having Jaden at the 4 for stretches. I think he can be a very effective off ball defensive presence plus switch on wings the way Randle does now but of course Jaden would be way better at it. I also think he'd be better offensively in that position.

We need to dump the 2-big, stagnant iso-ball experiment.

I agree completely, Q. Interestingly, I see Naz as a 4/3 rather than a 4/5. Minott strikes me as a 4/3 or 3/4. TSJ is a 3. Miller looks like a 4/3. In any case, position aside, all these younger guys - Naz, Minott, TSJ, Miller, and Jaden are long, athletic, mobile multi-skilled front—court players. The future of the Wolves is not a two-big front. That experiment was successful last season but it effectively ended when KAT was traded. Randle is just a temporary fill-in until we finally move on to the next phase of this team.

I’ve been pretty critical of Jaden this season in large part because I see the talent and realize how important he is this team’s success going forward. I put responsibility for most of his struggles this season on him. But to be fair to Jaden, the organization needs to put him in the best position to optimize his talents for the benefit of the team. The two-big lineup isn’t optimal for Jaden or Ant.

My one caveat on moving on from Randle is that we need to figure out how we get the 20+ points per game he’s been giving us. The main point of moving on from Randle is to significantly improve our offense. I’m not sure exactly how we get the net gain when we start out having to cover the missing 20+ points we’ve been getting from Randle. How much more will we get from Ant with the lane more open and more flow in the offense? Will Jaden step up and become a consistent 20+ per game scorer? think he has the talent but I’m not sure and we certainly haven’t seen it from him to date. When will Dilly be ready to assume the starting PG role? We’re just not going to get the offense from Conley that we got from him last season and that we’ll need at his position without Randle’s 20 + points per game.

So I’m all for moving on from Randle. But I’m concerned about whether we have what we need to move successfully into the next post two-big phase.

I'm not worried about losing his points Lip. The reality is this team as currently constructed with Randle on the roster is obviously not a title contender. So what do we really have to lose by moving on from him? Since we rely so much on our defense anyway his absence certainly shouldn't hurt us much on that end.

I want this to become truly an Ant-centric team. We finally became that last season when KAT was out and then even when he came back it was clear who our #1 guy was. With Randle on the roster, we are forced to feed him the ball, play a slower pace, and constantly hope he gives enough effort on defense. He's a decent enough player, but not a fit for how this roster needs to look like to maximize Ant while still having Rudy here too.

Agree. Ideal fit for Randle on this team is more of a 6th man coming in to score (give us 15 bench points) OR simply sit in the corner to space the floor while Ant does his thing. I think Naz starting would really help the offense overall.

I also don't like JR on top of the key as much, teams sag and double more off him as his 3P numbers are not as good as they need to really be. He gets left wide open too much especially when we have a non shooter in Rudy and a streaky shooter in Jaden. The offense is just not as good as it can be. Now if those guys start turning it up a notch then teams won't blitz and double Ant as much leaving space to drive.

The other thing is the matchups for Randle against subs. He could cook pretty well with his ISO ball against a lot of backups. Now could his ego, trade value and salary really fit that role?

[Leado01]

They have options on the bench...TJS is a very switchable defender that plays in the grill and can spot up or drive.

I'd still love to see us play hockey style lines occasionally with Dilly, TJS, NAW, Minot and NAZ on the floor...I think the pace would be outrageous and you would have 3 good rebounders on the floor with NAZ who could just box the big

[FNG]

I agree completely, Q. Interestingly, I see Naz as a 4/3 rather than a 4/5. Minott strikes me as a 4/3 or 3/4. TSJ is a 3. Miller looks like a 4/3. In any case, position aside, all these younger guys - Naz, Minott, TSJ, Miller, and Jaden are long, athletic, mobile multi-skilled front—court players. The future of the Wolves is not a two-big front. That experiment was successful last season but it effectively ended when KAT was traded. Randle is just a temporary fill-in until we finally move on to the next phase of this team.

I’ve been pretty critical of Jaden this season in large part because I see the talent and realize how important he is this team’s success going forward. I put responsibility for most of his struggles this season on him. But to be fair to Jaden, the organization needs to put him in the best position to optimize his talents for the benefit of the team. The two-big lineup isn’t optimal for Jaden or Ant.

My one caveat on moving on from Randle is that we need to figure out how we get the 20+ points per game he’s been giving us. The main point of moving on from Randle is to significantly improve our offense. I’m not sure exactly how we get the net gain when we start out having to cover the missing 20+ points we’ve been getting from Randle. How much more will we get from Ant with the lane more open and more flow in the offense? Will Jaden step up and become a consistent 20+ per game scorer? think he has the talent but I’m not sure and we certainly haven’t seen it from him to date. When will Dilly be ready to assume the starting PG role? We’re just not going to get the offense from Conley that we got from him last season and that we’ll need at his position without Randle’s 20 + points per game.

So I’m all for moving on from Randle. But I’m concerned about whether we have what we need to move successfully into the next post two-big phase.

I'm not worried about losing his points Lip. The reality is this team as currently constructed with Randle on the roster is obviously not a title contender. So what do we really have to lose by moving on from him? Since we rely so much on our defense anyway his absence certainly shouldn't hurt us much on that end.

I want this to become truly an Ant-centric team. We finally became that last season when KAT was out and then even when he came back it was clear who our #1 guy was. With Randle on the roster, we are forced to feed him the ball, play a slower pace, and constantly hope he gives enough effort on defense. He's a decent enough player, but not a fit for how this roster needs to look like to maximize Ant while still having Rudy here too.

Agree. Ideal fit for Randle on this team is more of a 6th man coming in to score (give us 15 bench points) OR simply sit in the corner to space the floor while Ant does his thing. I think Naz starting would really help the offense overall.

I also don't like JR on top of the key as much, teams sag and double more off him as his 3P numbers are not as good as they need to really be. He gets left wide open too much especially when we have a non shooter in Rudy and a streaky shooter in Jaden. The offense is just not as good as it can be. Now if those guys start turning it up a notch then teams won't blitz and double Ant as much leaving space to drive.

The other thing is the matchups for Randle against subs. He could cook pretty well with his ISO ball against a lot of backups. Now could his ego, trade value and salary really fit that role?

WF, I may be more of a Randle fan than most here, although I admit he frustrates me at times. But still, I have become an advocate of replacing him in the starting five with Naz. First, while I have been a detractor of Naz on defense over the years, I've seen improvement this season. And unlike Julius, I never question Naz's effort on defense. Defense is still the identity of this team, and Naz helps us there a little more than Randle. Second, I like the way Julius and Donte work together...both seem adept at finding the other one for open looks. Sub in both of them midway through the first quarter, and I see them providing a big spark off the bench. Maybe playing Donte more with Randle would unlock some of last year's DiVo magic. I note that the lineup of Divo, Randle, Ant, Naz and NAW has a net rating of +20 in 170 minutes this season.