Minnesota Sports Forum

I'll just say the ball movement last night was tremendous. While some of the wide open shots are being credited to a disinterested Jazz team, I say a lot of it was great ball movement, both around the perimeter and inside-out. Which was something Finch commented on in his presser. Of course, I suppose another thought would be Gobert wasn't on the floor clogging things up... Time will tell.

Well, the team did just trade a better player that was a decade younger for Rudy Gobert's caretaker, essentially. So there's that... The team is in desperation mode with Gobert and trying to make his fit on the team work above all else.

It's not that Mike Conley Jr. is unplayable or awful. That's not true (yet). He's fine. But this trade screams that Gobert is the focal point for this team when that shouldn't be the case.

sjm34 wrote:

Camden wrote:

Q-was-here wrote:

60WinTim wrote:Th

FNG wrote:

Phenom's_Revenge wrote:What did everyone make of Jim Pete's comments throughout the game last night? He seemed generally excited about the trade and it seemed to me that his wording danced around that the players might be too. He kept saying how excited he is for Ant and how sometimes its hard to lose a teammate and sometimes it isnt. Maybe it is just part of the company line but it seemed veiled to me.

Not surprisingly, the mood was a little more somber on the Utah feed. Kind of revealing, huh?

You should see some of the interviews with Clarkson, Markkanen, Kessler and Horton-Tucker after the game. They were all clear devastated and had nothing but praise for Conley.

Ant and Jaden are being swaddled in cloths of veteran leadership and character that we only wish we had back when KAT, LaVine, and Wiggins were babes! Kyle Anderson, Taurean Prince, Mike Conley, Austin Rivers, Rudy Gobert....

Ricky Rubio, Kevin Martin, Thaddeus Young, John Lucas III, Andre Miller, Kevin Garnett, Tayshaun Prince, Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson, Jamal Crawford, Jeff Teague, Derrick Rose... Not exactly nobodies in the leadership/character department.

I have never been a DLO fan, but after reading some of these threads about the chemistry/stress on the team, I have to ask the question.

HOW SOFT IS THIS TEAM?

Does anyone really believe that Taurean Prince would put up with any crap from DLO?

Is it DLO's fault that a 7 footer making 40 mil, can't catch a pass, has no low post game, and can't guard the PnR?

If you need to bring in another player to assist Gobert, he may be overpaid!

This franchise has always had a glass jaw, from the top down.

Camden wrote:Well, the team did just trade a better player that was a decade younger for Rudy Gobert's caretaker, essentially. So there's that... The team is in desperation mode with Gobert and trying to make his fit on the team work above all else.

It's not that Mike Conley Jr. is unplayable or awful. That's not true (yet). He's fine. But this trade screams that Gobert is the focal point for this team when that shouldn't be the case.

Cam - You stated exactly what I've been trying to articulate. My problem with this deal isn't really about the specifics of the deal; it's about the front office thinking that this deal reveals. That's what troubles me. It tells me this front office continues to rationalize their bad gamble last summer rather than facing up to its failure with the guts and savvy to fix it by moving Rudy for as much as they can get while they can still get it.

lipoli390 wrote:

Camden wrote:Well, the team did just trade a better player that was a decade younger for Rudy Gobert's caretaker, essentially. So there's that... The team is in desperation mode with Gobert and trying to make his fit on the team work above all else.

It's not that Mike Conley Jr. is unplayable or awful. That's not true (yet). He's fine. But this trade screams that Gobert is the focal point for this team when that shouldn't be the case.

Cam - You stated exactly what I've been trying to articulate. My problem with this deal isn't really about the specifics of the deal; it's about the front office thinking that this deal reveals. That's what troubles me. It tells me this front office continues to rationalize their bad gamble last summer rather than facing up to its failure with the guts and savvy to fix it by moving Rudy for as much as they can get while they can still get it.

As much as Rudy bothers many of us, the alternative is giving Rudy away for 30 cents on the dollar to move KAT back to C not even knowing if you wanna keep him around for the long term either despite giving him a supermax, so that leaves the team with possibly Reid being the last man standing?


Rudy can stay, but he has to get in where he fits in like everybody else.

Well... if nothing else... the JMAC faction of the board should be ecstatic.

Conley might not put up 30 very often, but he's still by most reports considered an analytics and +\- darling.

Basically, he's like JMAC... only much much better and proven. Only time will tell if Russell is indeed the empty calories player many think he is... and whether conley's steady but sorta boring style truly makes a difference.

It also needs to be mentioned that Minnesota hit the reset button again on their lineups/rotation. That will take some time to figure out, though hopefully not long since Mike Conley Jr. is a very well-seasoned veteran.

For instance, Chris Finch had done a good job of staggering D'Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards so that there was at least one shot creator or shot-maker on the floor for much of the game, and then incorporating them together during important stints. That was a nice development since Karl-Anthony Towns got injured and it was that backcourt that kept this team alive to this point with their creativity and bucket-getting. That's now scrapped. You can't expect to do the same thing with Mike Conley Jr. -- different player that requires different combinations around him. He's a more limited offensive player at this point in his career. I expect there to be a "figure it out" stretch of games as they mesh him with the players still here. Hopefully they can gel on the fly, especially as they reintegrate Towns. It's almost like Minnesota is starting the season all over but only have 24 games to figure everything out. That's not ideal.

It's also worth mentioning that the starting five once Towns got injured -- Russell, Edwards, McDaniels, Anderson, and Gobert -- were dominating when on the floor together. That was a very strong five that could be relied upon at both ends of the floor. That unit had a 114.6 ORtg, 101.7 DRtg, and 12.9 NetRtg in 253 minutes. Wowzers.

Among the 19 lineups in the NBA that logged 250 minutes or more together, Minnesota's starters ranked third in net rating behind the starting lineups for Golden State and Denver.

I think this trade screams Edwards as the focal point more than Gobert. We get short term benefits of familiarity of Gobert and Conley, but this is the first of many moves to build this team around Ant as I see it.

thedoper wrote:I think this trade screams Edwards as the focal point more than Gobert. We get short term benefits of familiarity of Gobert and Conley, but this is the first of many moves to build this team around Ant as I see it.

Ant and Jaden. I wouldn't even bet on Towns being here next season.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Well... if nothing else... the JMAC faction of the board should be ecstatic.

Conley might not put up 30 very often, but he's still by most reports considered an analytics and +\- darling.

Basically, he's like JMAC... only much much better and proven. Only time will tell if Russell is indeed the empty calories player many think he is... and whether conley's steady but sorta boring style truly makes a difference.

Mike Conley Jr. scored single digits in 20 of 43 games this season. He also shot below 40-percent from the field in 23 of those 43 games. We're not quite back to the Ricky Rubio days, but awfully close.

Don't expect much individual offensive production. He's another guy that doesn't help a lot, but doesn't hurt a lot either. Can't wait.