Minnesota Sports Forum

khans2k5 wrote:Attack the PG who can't play defense is the game plan for half the league. Kyrie, Lillard, Kemba, Steph, Westbrook, Rose and even Tony Parker back in the day, Trae Young and on and on. How do all their teams make it work? There's maybe on one hands worth of PG's who are both a game changer on offense and good at defense. The rest who can change the game offensively are in the same boat as DLO and their teams make it work. That excuse or "hole" is something a lot of teams deal with so that isn't gonna be our kryptonite anymore than half the league also has to account for.

I would certainly argue it is unfair to the list you provided to compare their defense with DLO's. I mean none of those guys are world beaters, this is true. But DLO is a swinging gate.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:Attack the PG who can't play defense is the game plan for half the league. Kyrie, Lillard, Kemba, Steph, Westbrook, Rose and even Tony Parker back in the day, Trae Young and on and on. How do all their teams make it work? There's maybe on one hands worth of PG's who are both a game changer on offense and good at defense. The rest who can change the game offensively are in the same boat as DLO and their teams make it work. That excuse or "hole" is something a lot of teams deal with so that isn't gonna be our kryptonite anymore than half the league also has to account for.

I would certainly argue it is unfair to the list you provided to compare their defense with DLO's. I mean none of those guys are world beaters, this is true. But DLO is a swinging gate.

Might agree with most of them... but Trae Young is inexplicably awful.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:Attack the PG who can't play defense is the game plan for half the league. Kyrie, Lillard, Kemba, Steph, Westbrook, Rose and even Tony Parker back in the day, Trae Young and on and on. How do all their teams make it work? There's maybe on one hands worth of PG's who are both a game changer on offense and good at defense. The rest who can change the game offensively are in the same boat as DLO and their teams make it work. That excuse or "hole" is something a lot of teams deal with so that isn't gonna be our kryptonite anymore than half the league also has to account for.

I would certainly argue it is unfair to the list you provided to compare their defense with DLO's. I mean none of those guys are world beaters, this is true. But DLO is a swinging gate.

Stephen Curry: 121.2 DRtg [4 GP]
Bradley Beal: 117.7 DRtg
Trae Young: 116.0 DRtg
D'Angelo Russell: 115.4 DRtg
DeMar DeRozan: 113.5 DRtg
Kyrie Irving: 113.1 DRtg
Damian Lillard: 113.1 DRtg
De'Aaron Fox: 112.9 DRtg
Derrick Rose: 112.2 DRtg
C.J. McCollum: 112.0 DRtg
Devin Booker: 111.7 DRtg
Devonte' Graham: 111.5 DRtg
Zach LaVine: 111.2 DRtg
Buddy Hield: 111.0 DRtg
Malik Beasley: 110.9 DRtg
Jrue Holiday: 110.9 DRtg
Luka Doncic: 110.8 DRtg

D-Lo is far from a good defender, but he can still be a big difference-maker and a valuable player for this franchise. The list provided shows prolific scoring guards that are in the same tier as Russell, according to defensive rating. Bottom line is that you can get away with having a weak defender in the backcourt. It's up to Gersson Rosas to supplement the roster with perimeter defenders and rim protectors, as well as capable offensive threats, to put both Russell and Karl-Anthony Towns in a position to carry the team to wins.

But this exaggerated notion that you can't win with a score-first guard with defensive weaknesses is pushing the limits of reality. They are all over the league. As long as Russell can be adequate defensively in moments, which he's shown he can be, then the Wolves will be okay there. Most important, though, is what Rosas does next with this roster.

Noisy numbers? I thought Jrue Holiday was a really solid defender... or does it simply prove the point nothing really matters defensively at that position?



[Note: Holiday used to guard Durant... and still guards LeBron James at times. Those seem like ambitious, but eventually futile, efforts.]

If DLO were the only liability defensively, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. The problem is look who else is on that list: Malik Beasley. So our starting backcourt and starting Center are among league worst in D-rtg (and thank you for using the NBA.com D-rtg vs. the b-ball reference version!).

We need to find two forwards that are damn good defensively, as we simply aren't going to be able to out-shoot people every night (as we've seen lately, the only time we win is with some ungodly shooting efforts that simply aren't sustainable). Two really good defenders + the right scheme and better effort from the others may get us to "good enough" defensively to at least be able to compete for a playoff spot. We'll see.

Q12543 wrote:If DLO were the only liability defensively, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. The problem is look who else is on that list: Malik Beasley. So our starting backcourt and starting Center are among league worst in D-rtg (and thank you for using the NBA.com D-rtg vs. the b-ball reference version!).

We need to find two forwards that are damn good defensively, as we simply aren't going to be able to out-shoot people every night (as we've seen lately, the only time we win is with some ungodly shooting efforts that simply aren't sustainable). Two really good defenders + the right scheme and better effort from the others may get us to "good enough" defensively to at least be able to compete for a playoff spot. We'll see.

Right, which takes us back to the somewhat questionable decision to trade Robert Covington when none of those resources obtained were used to acquire D'Angelo Russell. I'm intrigued with Malik Beasley's talent and I think he's an exciting young player that we should retain at appropriate cost, assuming a trade for Devin Booker doesn't materialize, but it's tough to argue that Beasley fits this team better than Covington.

I have to believe more moves are on the way -- ones that compliment Karl-Anthony Towns and Russell even if it means moving one or two first-round picks in June and/or other players on the roster.

Few on that list are paired with dominant defensive bigs. As long as KAT sucks on D it doesnt matter if we have great defensive wings. Cov wasnt enough to get us there this year with KAT. It looks like the strategy will be to go all out offense and hope we can fill the gap with switchable defenders. I dont see them drafting or signing any more defensive specialists, if Culver and Okogie cant become that they they wont even be playable. If we luck out in the draft somehow and get a 2 way talent that's great. But having Covington didnt materialize anything better than how much we suck now. I just dont see a path to become anything other than an average D building around KAT.

thedoper wrote:Few on that list are paired with dominant defensive bigs. As long as KAT sucks on D it doesnt matter if we have great defensive wings. Cov wasnt enough to get us there this year with KAT. It looks like the strategy will be to go all out offense and hope we can fill the gap with switchable defenders. I dont see them drafting or signing any more defensive specialists, if Culver and Okogie cant become that they they wont even be playable. If we luck out in the draft somehow and get a 2 way talent that's great. But having Covington didnt materialize anything better than how much we suck now. I just dont see a path to become anything other than an average D building around KAT.

Exactly this.

If Towns can't get his head out of his ass, it's not gonna matter and this team can't bandage that.

Fun game. The matchup between Naz and Zion was kinda fun. This was my first time watching a full game of Zion.

The Pels broadcast crew was pretty good. They said the Wolves were really getting everything they wanted with the mid pick and roll.

Good win the Pels looked like a young team with a couple vets but didn't really look like a team that knew what they wanted to do.