Minnesota Sports Forum

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2025 9:50 pm

60WinTim wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2025 9:43 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2025 9:37 pm As much as I was willing to go to war with NAW in my foxhole two months ago, I now want him out!

Love how hard he works and the hustle, but he's just gotta produce better. He's a vet in a contract year and should have enough in his bag to give us more of a boost with DDV out. Instead he's getting cooked on defense and can't make shots on offense.

An argument has been made that if the Wolves do not intend to re-sign NAW, which has been obvious to me for quite some time, wouldn't it make sense to get an asset in return for him now? I didn't think that was a possibility because it seemed NAW was needed for whatever we were going to accomplish this season. But with Clark's explosion on the scene, and DDV's eventual return, moving NAW seems more possible than I had previously thought.

I agree Tim. At some point, Connelly needs to start turning the page to next season. These last two losses have been absolute back-breakers. And it wasn't due to lack of effort. We just don't have the juice this year, especially at home.

Kekgeek has also mentioned trading Mike Conley. We should be taking offers for both those guys.

Absolutely. NAW and Conley probably should a lot of value down the stretch to contending teams. This is a great opportunity to replenish some of our draft stock without losing anything going forward. We won’t be able to re-sign NAW financially and Conley doesn’t have much juice left in the tank to help us much if at all next season. I think NAW could garner a future top 12 protected 1st round pick or at least a couple second round picks. I think Conley could garner a couple future 2nd round picks.

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2025 9:49 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2025 8:43 pm NAW not helping us here. Getting cooked by DeRozan and missing shots. Not in the mood to pay him $14 or $15M per year!

Yes, I think NAW’s play this season, while good, has confirmed for me that re-signing him should not be a priority. I’d feel differently if we could re-sign him at his current salary but we all know he’ll command far more in the market. In a way I like that we’re missing some of our rotation vets lately. It allows us to start getting a picture of what this team might look like moving forward and what it needs.

The injuries have been enlightening. Guys can either scale up and thrive in a bigger role or they prove to you why the coach limited their role to begin with. NAW is a perfect example of this. Earlier in the year a lot of fans were calling for NAW to play more minutes given how efficient he was, his stellar +/-, etc. Well, may be part of the reason he was so effective was because of the more limited role!

I think a similar thing may be playing out with Luka Garza too. May be one of the reasons he's been so damn good in the minutes we've seen him is because Finch has been extremely situational in how he's used him....until he couldn't be any more with Randle's injury. Now some of the real cracks in Luka's game and physical profile start becoming more glaring when Finch is forced to play him as the first big off the bench.

And then there is Minott.....

Abe's "The Wolves are Gonna Win a Close Home Game Eventually" DVR Review:

- The similarities with the 2014 team continue... that was the 40 - 42 team that should have won about 50 games by nearly every statistical measure. Only they sucked in close games in the clutch, especially PGs Rubio and Barea.

Tonight, Mike Conley scored his first buckets OF THE SEASON in the clutch. He's essentially Kevin Ollie out there right now. Even with numbers on his side, he's zero threat to attack, score, or do much of anything. It's sad. But true.

- Sabonis had a very poor game. Gobert had a great game. You don't want to lose those types of games. It's rare to see Sabonis struggle that much.

- Luka Garza will score 173 points in a high-level men's league game when he's 60. He's just a scorer.

Unfortunately, he's shooting 1 - 11 fg over the last two close home losses.

- Wolves have dropped 4 games by 1 or 2 points at home in less than a month. They have not won any close games at home in that time.

- Anthony Edwards had a tough one. Good job getting off the ball early, but that faded. He dribbled too much, complained a lot and took a couple of bad threes. He worked hard on defense though, just had tough covers.

- Have to dig the new Jaden McDaniels.

- Reid was great. Clark competes hard on defense. Dillingham brings energy.

- On/off numbers be damned. Demar Derozan is a unique and special NBA player. 33/5/7 and 0 TOs tonight.

- The list of regrettable losses grows.

60WinTim wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2025 9:47 pm

AbeVigodaLive wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2025 9:44 pm

KG4Ever wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2025 9:29 pm Kings didn't have De'Aaron Fox but it didn't matter. Chris Finch is an idiot and Doug Christie has really turned the Kings around.

Sacramento was at the end of a 6-game road trip. They were 1 - 4... they lost by...

9 points
23 points
13 points
34 points

If they're planning on winning games only by shooting 65% on midrange shots... have at it, Kings.

But it's also noteworthy the Kings are 3-0, now 4-0, without Fox. He must have been holding them back, too!

Keon Ellis has really stepped up as a defensive whiz. Love that guy! He plays a lot like Christie did.

AbeVigodaLive wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2025 10:01 pm Abe's "The Wolves are Gonna Win a Close Home Game Eventually" DVR Review:

- The similarities with the 2014 team continue... that was the 40 - 42 team that should have won about 50 games by nearly every statistical measure. Only they sucked in close games in the clutch, especially PGs Rubio and Barea.

Tonight, Mike Conley scored his first buckets OF THE SEASON in the clutch. He's essentially Kevin Ollie out there right now. Even with numbers on his side, he's zero threat to attack, score, or do much of anything. It's sad. But true.

- Sabonis had a very poor game. Gobert had a great game. You don't want to lose those types of games. It's rare to see Sabonis struggle that much.

- Luka Garza will score 173 points in a high-level men's league game when he's 60. He's just a scorer.

Unfortunately, he's shooting 1 - 11 fg over the last two close home losses.

- Wolves have dropped 4 games by 1 or 2 points at home in less than a month. They have not won any close games at home in that time.

- Anthony Edwards had a tough one. Good job getting off the ball early, but that faded. He dribbled too much, complained a lot and took a couple of bad threes. He worked hard on defense though, just had tough covers.

- Have to dig the new Jaden McDaniels.

- Reid was great. Clark competes hard on defense. Dillingham brings energy.

- On/off numbers be damned. Demar Derozan is a unique and special NBA player. 33/5/7 and 0 TOs tonight.

- The list of regrettable losses grows.

Abe, what's really ironic is that Sacramento was headed down that same path earlier in the season whereby their "expected" win total was way higher than their actual wins because they kept losing close games under Mike Brown. They have since turned that around under Christie and tonight proved it against us.

Now I don't know if it's Christie's in-game tactics or just better shot making variance that has led to their more recent success. Either way, something's gotta give with the Wolves. Can't keep losing close game after close game.

(and even that Wolves team from 2014 did start winning close games....but they had dug too deep of a hole by that point for it to save their season).

It seems obvious at this point we need to maneuver to extend NAZ. I like NAW but he can go. Randle can go. DDV can go. But dammit, find a way to keep Reid.

The next time we watch a half season of a young player (Dunn, Culver, Minott) and I tell you he can't play, can we just skip the succeeding three years of arguments and just trust me?

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2025 11:40 pm It seems obvious at this point we need to maneuver to extend NAZ. I like NAW but he can go. Randle can go. DDV can go. But dammit, find a way to keep Reid.

Spot on, Cool! I’ll add that I’d like to keep DDV based on what he brings the court and his team-friendly contract. On the other hand, DDV is a player who could bring a really good return in a trade.

AbeVigodaLive wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2025 9:44 pm

KG4Ever wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2025 9:29 pm Kings didn't have De'Aaron Fox but it didn't matter. Chris Finch is an idiot and Doug Christie has really turned the Kings around.

Sacramento was at the end of a 6-game road trip. They were 1 - 4... they lost by...

9 points
23 points
13 points
34 points

If they're planning on winning games only by shooting 65% on midrange shots... have at it, Kings.

He's 10-6 overall. Not too shabby! Those two big losses were against OKC and the Knicks.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2025 10:31 pm

AbeVigodaLive wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2025 10:01 pm Abe's "The Wolves are Gonna Win a Close Home Game Eventually" DVR Review:

- The similarities with the 2014 team continue... that was the 40 - 42 team that should have won about 50 games by nearly every statistical measure. Only they sucked in close games in the clutch, especially PGs Rubio and Barea.

Tonight, Mike Conley scored his first buckets OF THE SEASON in the clutch. He's essentially Kevin Ollie out there right now. Even with numbers on his side, he's zero threat to attack, score, or do much of anything. It's sad. But true.

- Sabonis had a very poor game. Gobert had a great game. You don't want to lose those types of games. It's rare to see Sabonis struggle that much.

- Luka Garza will score 173 points in a high-level men's league game when he's 60. He's just a scorer.

Unfortunately, he's shooting 1 - 11 fg over the last two close home losses.

- Wolves have dropped 4 games by 1 or 2 points at home in less than a month. They have not won any close games at home in that time.

- Anthony Edwards had a tough one. Good job getting off the ball early, but that faded. He dribbled too much, complained a lot and took a couple of bad threes. He worked hard on defense though, just had tough covers.

- Have to dig the new Jaden McDaniels.

- Reid was great. Clark competes hard on defense. Dillingham brings energy.

- On/off numbers be damned. Demar Derozan is a unique and special NBA player. 33/5/7 and 0 TOs tonight.

- The list of regrettable losses grows.

Abe, what's really ironic is that Sacramento was headed down that same path earlier in the season whereby their "expected" win total was way higher than their actual wins because they kept losing close games under Mike Brown. They have since turned that around under Christie and tonight proved it against us.

Now I don't know if it's Christie's in-game tactics or just better shot making variance that has led to their more recent success. Either way, something's gotta give with the Wolves. Can't keep losing close game after close game.

(and even that Wolves team from 2014 did start winning close games....but they had dug too deep of a hole by that point for it to save their season).

10 of our our 23 losses have been by 5 points or less. 9 of our 27 wins have been by 5 or fewer points. So yes, we need to win more close games. But a number of our close losses shouldn’t have been close in the first place. Bottom line is that the Wolves essentially a .500 team this season. We’re not as good defensively as we were last season and in the bottom half of the league offensively. We need to score more points to win more game. I don’t care whether the points come in “clutch” moments of the 4th quarter or the early part of the 1st quarter and I don’t care whether we win by a lot or a little.

I’ll add that the Wolves deserve no slack based on recent injuries. The Thunder are 39-9 so far this season. That’s the best record in the NBA. Yet, OKC’s starting center, who is also one of their top three players, has played in only 10 of OKC’s 48 games. Jaylin Williams has played in only 20, Caruso in only 28, Hartenstein in only 27, Jalen Williams in 45 and SGA in 46. Meanwhile, Randle has played in 48 of the Wolves 50 games. Gobert has played in 49, Edwards in 48, Jaden in 49, Conley in 44, Naz in 48, NAW in 49, and even DDV in 40. The Wolves are 27-23.

The point I’m obviously driving is that the Wolves aren’t a very good team - period, exclamation mark. I’d reach the same conclusion regardless of whether we were to lose all our remaining games by 2 points or 10 points. If we take a step back and take a truly honest look at this current version of the Wolves, I think we have to admit we’re not close to being a good team. The question to ask is how we can become a good team next season and even better in the seasons that follow.

I know Abe was just pointing out how we’ve been losing a lot of close games recently and wasn’t suggesting that we’re close to being a good team. It just got me thinking more about this team overall and how the roster has to change if we’re going to become a good team again.