Minnesota Sports Forum

I didn’t see the game but from the posts in this thread and the score it appears the Wolves did not play well and were lucky to come away with an ugly win against a bad extremely short-handed team. I noticed we squandered a 17 point halftime lead. Apparently, we were outscored 31-20 in the 3rd quarter and Ant had 12 of our 20 points. I’m not sure who was on the court for the Wolves in the 3rd, but that’s a telling and damning stat. I guess the Denver win did not signal that this team has turned the corner.

I’m curious from those who watched the game why Dilly only got 11 minutes while Conley got 31 minutes shooting 1-9 from the field with only 4 assists. There are a number of teams with far better records than the Wolves that have been giving rookies and 2nd year players drafted lower than Dilly substantially more minutes than Dilly has been getting. Maybe Conley was the better bet to protect the ball and run the offense, but it doesn’t appear that the offensive was running all that well. Ant’s inefficient scoring and Conley’s abysmal shooting suggest that we could have benefitted form more minutes of Dilly on the court. But I’ll defer to those who saw the game.

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 1:10 am I didn’t see the game but from the posts in this thread and the score it appears the Wolves did not play well and were lucky to come away with an ugly win against a bad extremely short-handed team. I noticed we squandered a 17 point halftime lead. Apparently, we were outscored 31-20 in the 3rd quarter and Ant had 12 of our 20 points. I’m not sure who was on the court for the Wolves in the 3rd, but that’s a telling and damning stat. I guess the Denver win did not signal that this team has turned the corner.

I’m curious from those who watched the game why Dilly only got 11 minutes while Conley got 31 minutes shooting 1-9 from the field with only 4 assists. There are a number of teams with far better records than the Wolves that have been giving rookies and 2nd year players drafted lower than Dilly substantially more minutes than Dilly has been getting. Maybe Conley was the better bet to protect the ball and run the offense, but it doesn’t appear that the offensive was running all that well. Ant’s inefficient scoring and Conley’s abysmal shooting suggest that we could have benefitted form more minutes of Dilly on the court. But I’ll defer to those who saw the game.

Lip, I feel like whenever Dilly is out there it's a bit of a high-wire act. There is a lot of excitement and thrills, but also quite a bit of risk involved. I think we tend to overvalue some of the instant offense he brings to the table while brushing off his youthful mistakes that, while part of the growth process, actually hurts the team.

One example last night that doesn't show up in Dilly's box score is a 2-on-1 fast break he and NAW had off a steal. Dilly was streaking down the floor with the ball and NAW was trailing. Dilly did what appeared to be the unselfish thing of dropping the ball off to NAW. But the Houston defender saw this coming and set up for what ended up being a blatant charge on NAW. You've heard the saying of throwing a guy open? Well, this was the opposite! A seasoned PG simply doesn't eff a 2-on-1 up like that.

Another example is Dilly got fouled and he missed both FTAs. I'm sorry, but if your primary role is to be an offensive sparkplug and need to be hidden on defense, you just gotta capitalize on freebees like that. It's like Minott's multiple blown layups around the rim. He's just gotta convert those given the other things he doesn't do so well.

And finally, Conley did end up with a +/- of +7 and Dilly was a +/- 0, so at the end of the day we won the minutes that Conley played even though he missed a bunch of shots. I thought his defense was stellar.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 8:38 am

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 1:10 am I didn’t see the game but from the posts in this thread and the score it appears the Wolves did not play well and were lucky to come away with an ugly win against a bad extremely short-handed team. I noticed we squandered a 17 point halftime lead. Apparently, we were outscored 31-20 in the 3rd quarter and Ant had 12 of our 20 points. I’m not sure who was on the court for the Wolves in the 3rd, but that’s a telling and damning stat. I guess the Denver win did not signal that this team has turned the corner.

I’m curious from those who watched the game why Dilly only got 11 minutes while Conley got 31 minutes shooting 1-9 from the field with only 4 assists. There are a number of teams with far better records than the Wolves that have been giving rookies and 2nd year players drafted lower than Dilly substantially more minutes than Dilly has been getting. Maybe Conley was the better bet to protect the ball and run the offense, but it doesn’t appear that the offensive was running all that well. Ant’s inefficient scoring and Conley’s abysmal shooting suggest that we could have benefitted form more minutes of Dilly on the court. But I’ll defer to those who saw the game.

Lip, I feel like whenever Dilly is out there it's a bit of a high-wire act. There is a lot of excitement and thrills, but also quite a bit of risk involved. I think we tend to overvalue some of the instant offense he brings to the table while brushing off his youthful mistakes that, while part of the growth process, actually hurts the team.

One example last night that doesn't show up in Dilly's box score is a 2-on-1 fast break he and NAW had off a steal. Dilly was streaking down the floor with the ball and NAW was trailing. Dilly did what appeared to be the unselfish thing of dropping the ball off to NAW. But the Houston defender saw this coming and set up for what ended up being a blatant charge on NAW. You've heard the saying of throwing a guy open? Well, this was the opposite! A seasoned PG simply doesn't eff a 2-on-1 up like that.

Another example is Dilly got fouled and he missed both FTAs. I'm sorry, but if your primary role is to be an offensive sparkplug and need to be hidden on defense, you just gotta capitalize on freebees like that. It's like Minott's multiple blown layups around the rim. He's just gotta convert those given the other things he doesn't do so well.

And finally, Conley did end up with a +/- of +7 and Dilly was a +/- 0, so at the end of the day we won the minutes that Conley played even though he missed a bunch of shots. I thought his defense was stellar.

+- can be a flawed stat from game to game. If Minott doesn't miss two layups under the basket with no one within 5 feet of him Rob is a +4. I do think Mike's defense in the 4th quarter was a big reason we won the game. Mike isn't going to be be here in 2 years, you need to take the good and the bad in Rob and let him develop.

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 9:15 am

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 8:38 am

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 1:10 am I didn’t see the game but from the posts in this thread and the score it appears the Wolves did not play well and were lucky to come away with an ugly win against a bad extremely short-handed team. I noticed we squandered a 17 point halftime lead. Apparently, we were outscored 31-20 in the 3rd quarter and Ant had 12 of our 20 points. I’m not sure who was on the court for the Wolves in the 3rd, but that’s a telling and damning stat. I guess the Denver win did not signal that this team has turned the corner.

I’m curious from those who watched the game why Dilly only got 11 minutes while Conley got 31 minutes shooting 1-9 from the field with only 4 assists. There are a number of teams with far better records than the Wolves that have been giving rookies and 2nd year players drafted lower than Dilly substantially more minutes than Dilly has been getting. Maybe Conley was the better bet to protect the ball and run the offense, but it doesn’t appear that the offensive was running all that well. Ant’s inefficient scoring and Conley’s abysmal shooting suggest that we could have benefitted form more minutes of Dilly on the court. But I’ll defer to those who saw the game.

Lip, I feel like whenever Dilly is out there it's a bit of a high-wire act. There is a lot of excitement and thrills, but also quite a bit of risk involved. I think we tend to overvalue some of the instant offense he brings to the table while brushing off his youthful mistakes that, while part of the growth process, actually hurts the team.

One example last night that doesn't show up in Dilly's box score is a 2-on-1 fast break he and NAW had off a steal. Dilly was streaking down the floor with the ball and NAW was trailing. Dilly did what appeared to be the unselfish thing of dropping the ball off to NAW. But the Houston defender saw this coming and set up for what ended up being a blatant charge on NAW. You've heard the saying of throwing a guy open? Well, this was the opposite! A seasoned PG simply doesn't eff a 2-on-1 up like that.

Another example is Dilly got fouled and he missed both FTAs. I'm sorry, but if your primary role is to be an offensive sparkplug and need to be hidden on defense, you just gotta capitalize on freebees like that. It's like Minott's multiple blown layups around the rim. He's just gotta convert those given the other things he doesn't do so well.

And finally, Conley did end up with a +/- of +7 and Dilly was a +/- 0, so at the end of the day we won the minutes that Conley played even though he missed a bunch of shots. I thought his defense was stellar.

+- can be a flawed stat from game to game. If Minott doesn't miss two layups under the basket with no one within 5 feet of him Rob is a +4. I do think Mike's defense in the 4th quarter was a big reason we won the game. Mike isn't going to be be here in 2 years, you need to take the good and the bad in Rob and let him develop.

I understand +/- can be a flawed stat. I guess my point is we ultimately didn't lose the Conley minutes. May be we would have won those minutes by even more if Rob had some of them, we don't know. Conley had 4 steals and only 1 TO (although I lamented the TO at the time), so he contributed to winning in other ways even though his shot wasn't falling.

I'm a Dillingham fan and think he should play every night and every half. But I'm still willing to give the benefit of the doubt to Finch on flexing those minutes up or down situationally. I feel like as long as he's playing every night, he is developing and learning. It doesn't have to be 20+ MPG, although that might be coming with NAW's injury!

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 9:27 am

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 9:15 am

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 8:38 am

Lip, I feel like whenever Dilly is out there it's a bit of a high-wire act. There is a lot of excitement and thrills, but also quite a bit of risk involved. I think we tend to overvalue some of the instant offense he brings to the table while brushing off his youthful mistakes that, while part of the growth process, actually hurts the team.

One example last night that doesn't show up in Dilly's box score is a 2-on-1 fast break he and NAW had off a steal. Dilly was streaking down the floor with the ball and NAW was trailing. Dilly did what appeared to be the unselfish thing of dropping the ball off to NAW. But the Houston defender saw this coming and set up for what ended up being a blatant charge on NAW. You've heard the saying of throwing a guy open? Well, this was the opposite! A seasoned PG simply doesn't eff a 2-on-1 up like that.

Another example is Dilly got fouled and he missed both FTAs. I'm sorry, but if your primary role is to be an offensive sparkplug and need to be hidden on defense, you just gotta capitalize on freebees like that. It's like Minott's multiple blown layups around the rim. He's just gotta convert those given the other things he doesn't do so well.

And finally, Conley did end up with a +/- of +7 and Dilly was a +/- 0, so at the end of the day we won the minutes that Conley played even though he missed a bunch of shots. I thought his defense was stellar.

+- can be a flawed stat from game to game. If Minott doesn't miss two layups under the basket with no one within 5 feet of him Rob is a +4. I do think Mike's defense in the 4th quarter was a big reason we won the game. Mike isn't going to be be here in 2 years, you need to take the good and the bad in Rob and let him develop.

I understand +/- can be a flawed stat. I guess my point is we ultimately didn't lose the Conley minutes. May be we would have won those minutes by even more if Rob had some of them, we don't know. Conley had 4 steals and only 1 TO (although I lamented the TO at the time), so he contributed to winning in other ways even though his shot wasn't falling.

I'm a Dillingham fan and think he should play every night and every half. But I'm still willing to give the benefit of the doubt to Finch on flexing those minutes up or down situationally. I feel like as long as he's playing every night, he is developing and learning. It doesn't have to be 20+ MPG, although that might be coming with NAW's injury!

Good give and take here on Rob and Conley between Q and Rap. To answer Lip's question about why Rob had so few minutes, I think Finchie desperately wanted to win this game, and sensing that we were a bit off as a team, thought Mike gave us a better chance to win. I agree with Rap that while Mike shot horribly, his defense was stellar the entire game. We commented in our household that he actually looked young on defense...he was so active, and his 4 steals plus some other deflections really helped us. That said, I still think Finchie needs to loosen the reins with Rob. In fact, I would not be opposed to putting him in the starting lineup and letting Mike provide stability off the bench. Let's see what he can do. On nights where he is being targeted too much on defense or is struggling on offense, Finchie can sub in Mike (or Divo when he returns) a little more. I'm confident this kid is our future at PG.

2nd half was especially ugly but there was a bit of this is a better team that did enough out there to win feel to as well. I know Atlanta wasn't exactly putting out a super sweet lineup but the Wolves did have some stretches of really good defense.

On the Dillingham Conley thing...Conley other than missing shots played well. Dillingham did some good stuff and I could see a argument for getting him some more minutes later in the game ultimately he played 11 minutes and was reasonably productive and effective for a bench guy. Probbaly one reason he didn't get minutes was how much impact NAW was having and when he was out I think it was Jaden that was back in there. So far what I have seen from Dillingham has been good. It's also a big positive that Conley is looking good too.

Minott ceetainly did look a little out of control. It's worth mentioning that this is really his first season playing any legit minutes in a rotation. It kinda reminds me of when Vanderbilt got to play that first year with the Wolves. He played more than Minot and showed more game but imagine Minott getting chances on that crappy team which was playing for nothing. He would have had to just beat out Juancho for minutes. Would 21 year old Vando with very little experience as a rotation player have gotten the opportunity on this team to play? Probably not especially since he was more of a big back then. I think Minott has a chance to be a worthwhile contributor for this franchise and maybe even this season. It would be nice to have TSJ healthy as another option especially since he would be a better defensive option against wings and guards. I hope a younger player keeps getting chances. In that rotation spot.

Anyway they got a win hopefully they can keep it going.

Thanks to Q, Rap, Monster and FNG for their insights on my Dilly-Conley question. I guess for now I can go along with Finch ramping down Rob’s minutes situationally as he apparently did last night based on Conley’s defense and Finch’s read on who gives us the bench chance to win that game. But if it were up to me, I’d take my chances with Rob last night as part of a design to make sure Rob gets at least 20 minutes per game the rest of the season. I agree with FNG that Finch needs to loosen the reins and open up the rotation. I agree with Monster’s take on Minott, but I’d have him on a tighter leash than Dilly.

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 11:29 pm Thanks to Q, Rap, Monster and FNG for their insights on my Dilly-Conley question. I guess for now I can go along with Finch ramping down Rob’s minutes situationally as he apparently did last night based on Conley’s defense and Finch’s read on who gives us the bench chance to win that game. But if it were up to me, I’d take my chances with Rob last night as part of a design to make sure Rob gets at least 20 minutes per game the rest of the season. I agree with FNG that Finch needs to loosen the reins and open up the rotation. I agree with Monster’s take on Minott, but I’d have him on a tighter leash than Dilly.

Over the last 5 games Dillingham is averaging over 15 mpg and let's remember he is still a rookie that's played in 21 games and a little over 200 minutes of NBA action. The Dallas game he only got 9 mins. Statistically he didn't put up production and I don't think he played as well in that game either. I'm general he is doing what you would expect scoring and making some things happen on offense and he is giving plenty of effort out there. Until Donte is back he is gonna get regular minutes. I would not be surprised if there is a game he gets 25 or more minutes because he is playing well.

Meanwhile it seems like Conley is playing well when he is out there. Sure he is still not making 2 point shots but even with an 0-5 in the last game from 3 he is shooting nearly 43% on threes in January.

Another thing to consider is Finch does at times play bench guys based on match ups. He might be less likely to play Dillingham if a team has really big guards out there. There is some merit in that but sometimes I think just play your guys. Of course sometimes it depends on what players you have available and how they are playing.

https://youtu.be/YsEpp0VIIx0?si=Eh_FJ6JUbUhwB7TH

Apparently, Ant disagreed with Finch’s assessment of the way the Wolves played in the third quarter - although he said he “didn’t disagree.” . For those of you who watched the game you might agree with Finch and be irritated by Ant’s explanation: “We just missed shots.” Overall, I find myself smiling every time I listen to Ant talk. He’s so darn charismatic and likable.

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 29, 2025 1:03 am https://youtu.be/YsEpp0VIIx0?si=Eh_FJ6JUbUhwB7TH

Apparently, Ant disagreed with Finch’s assessment of the way the Wolves played in the third quarter - although he said he “didn’t disagree.” . For those of you who watched the game you might agree with Finch and be irritated by Ant’s explanation: “We just missed shots.” Overall, I find myself smiling every time I listen to Ant talk. He’s so darn charismatic and likable.

Lip, I don't necessarily disagree with Ant's assessment...we did miss a lot of shots that we would normally make. But you also can't excuse having only 18 assists with 16 turnovers. We need to play better if we expect to beat the Suns tonight.

Yeah, I find myself smiling when I listen to Ant also. One of the most endearing things about him is how he lights up when he talks about how his teammates played. He's a good teammate.