GDT: Minnesota vs. Brooklyn (Preseason)

[60WinTim]

Ant is a ball hog and it's pissing me off tonight.

Yeah, his had a selfish, suckie game. Hopefully Finch will be able to use the film tonight to show him just how shitty his decision making was.

[Jester1534]

Such a weird game. I don't feel like they're playing terrible just not making shots. KD and Kyrie are being their normal self.

The most frustrating is Edwards playing street ball out there. Hopefully it's just a press on one night thing.

I think we've seen in this game how valuable McLaughlin is for the 2nd unit.

Kat can guard and defend the 4 and it's going to keep him out foul trouble.

[BloopOracle]

Reminder that this is the first time towns and gobert have played together, and we came into this game with the best record in the NBA.

[Q-is-here]

Reminder that this is the first time towns and gobert have played together, and we came into this game with the best record in the NBA.

A reminder that Simmons, Irving, and Durant have basically played 6.5 games between the three of them over the past two years yet totally dismantled our starters.

Ok, I exaggerate a bit, but it's not like Brooklyn is this well-oiled machine. The whole franchise was about to fall apart just a few months ago!

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Looked like a simple, old-fashioned ass-whooping tonight. Brooklyn's star players performed at a high level and ours did not, plain and simple. Anthony Edwards was especially terrible. We won't win 50-plus games if this kind of team effort repeats itself often. Luckily, I don't think it will.

[Phenom]

Ant seemed like he was unsure of his place when the starters were out together. He seemed to want to force it when the rest of the guys sat. I think once Finch starts staggering regularly it will come more naturally to him.

It would also be nice if he got even half of the whistles he should be getting.

[Q-is-here]

Some positives, since the negatives were pretty obvious.

- Thought it was nice that the Wolves successfully took advantage of Gobert's size mis-match on switches and managed to get him the ball for some easy dunks or fouls. That has been a looming question and tonight they proved they could do it. Now he just has to make his damn free throws!

- Despite Ant's selfish and discombobulated offensive output, I thought he looked good again on defense. He did pretty well on both Durant and Irving.

- While KAT is still getting his sea legs under him, I didn't see anything concerning in his stamina or they way he moved around. And Gobert is going to give him a waaaay better target than Vando when teams decide to send another big at KAT.

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

D-Lo looks crisp. Pay the man.

Cmon man really? I say pay Nowell 4/50 today and prepare to let Dlo expire. Nowell is flat out better at basketball and should be the starter.

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

Ant is a ball hog and it's pissing me off tonight.

I agree that It looks like it at times, but when he's on, we'll be saying how much we love his aggressiveness. This is just preseason and he's trying find his rhythm.

Ant will be just fine once the games count.

[Lipoli390]

Overall, the Wolves looked slow and unathletic. They look very different from last season's Wolves team with Beverle and Vando. That doesn't mean this team can't be better than last season, but it means they'll have to play a different brand of basketball that will require far more precision and execution.

Edwards looked terrible on the offensive end. I might now worry if this were just one game, but he's looked ineffective and sluggish offensively throughout the preseason. Going into tonight's game he was hitting only 40% of his FG attempts and around 29% of his threes. He's been better on the defensive side of the ball, but I don't think he was as good defensively tonight as Q suggests. He got caught a lot in screens and was late on close outs a number of times. Draymond Green and others got it right when they said the Gobert deal made sense if Edwards takes a significant step forward. There's no evidence yet of Edwards taking a significant step forward. To the contrary, he's regressed. His last couple performances will light a fire under him. But perhaps he needs to lose the 10 pounds he put on. One of my concerns with the Gobert trade was that it was betting too much on the development of a player who just turned 21. It's way too early to panic, but Ant's preseason has given cause for concern.

Like Edwards, McDaniels has shown little sign of any major step forward. That's a problem for this team. But again, it's still too early to panic.

Gobert wasn't dominant defensively and that will have to change. But he was solid on the boards and offensively in the paint.

KAT and DLO were the bright spots tonight. I especially like the way KAT played. He's still getting his legs, but he looked quick and he showed he can guard the perimeter. I really liked his demeanor. He didn't whine or pout. He just went about his business. He was really active talking to and pumping up his teammates. He and Gobert conferred a lot on the court. I see some nice developing chemistry between the two. DLO was very solid tonight and has been solid throughout the preseason.

But tonight's game overall was troubling. The Wolves looked like a team that can't compete with the best teams in the League. The lack of ball movement on the offensive end was disgusting. It's something we saw the first half of last season. A lot of that was on Edwards tonight, but not all of it. What we saw tonight from the Wolves is totally unacceptable. If this sort of play continues, the Utah Jazz will have an extra lottery pick in the 2023 draft.