Presser at 10

[FNG]

I've also always enjoyed DLO as a person, but I think the way he talked yesterday is no different than the way he has always conducted himself. He's a smart, deep thinking guy who also seems to have a solid understanding of the game. It hasn't translated to his play on the court however, as shown by his metrics...a negative ORtg vs DRtg every year of his career, even his all-star year. I agree with the consensus here that it's unlikely DLO will be traded, so I continue to believe that DLO playing substantially better than he has thus far in his career is our only hope for getting anywhere near 40 wins this year. I think most of us saw some improvement in DLOs play toward the end of last year (I think he even was putting up positive on/off numbers the final 15 or so games of the season), so that is something to hang our hat on.

[Monster]

Video of a bunch of guys getting a photo together and Towns and McDaniels are next to each other.

https://twitter.com/danemoorenba/status/1442673111221026816?s=21

Interesting. Accounting for Jaden's hair and KAT's slight slouch, I still looks like Jaden is KAT's height. I'd say that Jaden definitely grew a couple inches since the Wolves drafted him. His length, athleticism, skills and basketball IQ combine to give him enormous upside. Again, I simply would not include him in any deal for Simmons.

Being Towns height as a wing defender who might also be a small ball PF at times is pretty impressive and honestly fairly unique.

[Monster]

Monster, I personally think D'Angelo Russell responded to the Ben Simmons question in the manner that he did because it's not something he can control nor is it something he's focused on. I believe him when he says he attacked this offseason like it was a contract year, which basically means total dedication to the craft and ignoring outside noise. He also made sure to note that he feels great physically after having issues with his knee last year. It should come as no surprise here, but I think D-Lo's going to have a hell of a season for Minnesota.

Cam - No surprise that you think DLO's going to have a great season. What might be surprising is that I do too. :)

To me the biggest thing for Russell is his health. If he is nearly by I have little doubt he will be a worthwhile player. If he stays healthy then the question will be how good will he be. Having various injuries has also affected his play.

I thought the way Russell interacted with the person that mentioned his defense being better in the last few games was really interesting.

[Lipoli390]

Monster, I personally think D'Angelo Russell responded to the Ben Simmons question in the manner that he did because it's not something he can control nor is it something he's focused on. I believe him when he says he attacked this offseason like it was a contract year, which basically means total dedication to the craft and ignoring outside noise. He also made sure to note that he feels great physically after having issues with his knee last year. It should come as no surprise here, but I think D-Lo's going to have a hell of a season for Minnesota.

Cam - No surprise that you think DLO's going to have a great season. What might be surprising is that I do too. :)

To me the biggest thing for Russell is his health. If he is nearly by I have little doubt he will be a worthwhile player. If he stays healthy then the question will be how good will he be. Having various injuries has also affected his play.

I thought the way Russell interacted with the person that mentioned his defense being better in the last few games was really interesting.

I thought DLO's reaction was hilarious and telling. When someone mentioned that his defense looked better the latter part of the season as prelude to a question, an obviously surprised DLO opened his eyes wide and through a broad smile, he asked, "statistically?" The guy asking the question clarified a that it was an observation, not based on any stats. I'm not sure what to read into DLO's reaction. One take-away is that he really wants recognition as a better defender and he realizes that his improvement needs to show up in his stats.

[FNG]

[

Monster, I personally think D'Angelo Russell responded to the Ben Simmons question in the manner that he did because it's not something he can control nor is it something he's focused on. I believe him when he says he attacked this offseason like it was a contract year, which basically means total dedication to the craft and ignoring outside noise. He also made sure to note that he feels great physically after having issues with his knee last year. It should come as no surprise here, but I think D-Lo's going to have a hell of a season for Minnesota.

Cam - No surprise that you think DLO's going to have a great season. What might be surprising is that I do too. :)

To me the biggest thing for Russell is his health. If he is nearly by I have little doubt he will be a worthwhile player. If he stays healthy then the question will be how good will he be. Having various injuries has also affected his play.

I thought the way Russell interacted with the person that mentioned his defense being better in the last few games was really interesting.

I thought DLO's reaction was hilarious and telling. When someone mentioned that his defense looked better the latter part of the season as prelude to a question, an obviously surprised DLO opened his eyes wide and through a broad smile, he asked, "statistically?" The guy asking the question clarified a that it was an observation, not based on any stats. I'm not sure what to read into DLO's reaction. One take-away is that he really wants recognition as a better defender and he realizes that his improvement needs to show up in his stats.

Lol...I loved that too. He's one of the more engaging players on the team (less so than Ant, but probably more intelligent :) ), and that was my favorite moment of the interview.

Lip, Cam, and monster- I note your optimism about Dlo this season. Lip and Cam are predicting a "great season" and monster says he has "little doubt he will be a worthwhile player". I really hope you guys are right, because he is absorbing almost a quarter of our payroll. So, I'm interested in your criteria for determining a "great season" or even "worthwhile player". I know what I would need in order to even meet the criteria for worthwhile player (a low bar I think for a max player), and they are three statistics I don't think he has ever achieved in his career:

1) An ORtg that exceeds his DRtg. As I mentioned in another thread, DLo has never had a positive rating in his six years, and for his career has an Ortg of 103 and a DRtg of 113. In contrast, our other max player has never had a negative season, and for his career has an ORtg of 119 and a DRtg of 109.

2) A TS% that is at least above the league average for guards. Dlo is going to score points, but if he does it inefficiently, it reduces his positive impact. His career TS% of 53% is below the league average. He needs to become a more efficient scorer for the Wolves to be successful this season.

3) A positive on/off statistic. Dlo has not shown up well in this stat throughout his career, but started to show some improvement toward the end of this year. If we are going to pay him $30 million per year, shouldn't we expect the team to perform better when he is on the court than it does when he is off.

Those are the three stats I will be focusing on in evaluating DLO this season, and I think it's essential that he improve significantly in all three. I hope he does.

What measures are you guys going to emphasize in evaluating whether DLO is earning his $30 million or not?

[cpg29]

Anybody know why Beverly wasn't interviewed yesterday? Seemed odd.

[FNG]

Anybody know why Beverly wasn't interviewed yesterday? Seemed odd.

It wasn't disclosed, cpg, but they did say 2 players still had to have their second vax shot. I suspect PatBev was one of the two, and the Wolves are just being extra careful. I'm just guessing though.

[Monster]

Anybody know why Beverly wasn't interviewed yesterday? Seemed odd.

It wasn't disclosed, cpg, but they did say 2 players still had to have their second vax shot. I suspect PatBev was one of the two, and the Wolves are just being extra careful. I'm just guessing though.

I read/heard someone say he was traveling but the vaccination thing is a possibility also.

[Monster]

Some context when it comes to league average TS% the last few years.

https://aminoapps.com/c/nba/page/item/year-by-year-league-average-ts/wKgr_EQQspIBPl0l71boaZNMVpbqLvabKb0

2011 .541
2012 .527
2013 .535
2014 .541
2015 .534
2016 .541
2017 .552
2018 .556
2019 .560
2020 .563
2021 .572

Also when we look at Russell's TS% (about 55.5% the last 2 seasons) it might be worthwhile comparing it to perimeter players not bigs that that live mostly in the paint but I'm open to someone digging further into that if they are interested.

Also the biggest thing I'm look at when it comes to Russell being a worthwhile player if healthy is wins.

[cpg29]

Anybody know why Beverly wasn't interviewed yesterday? Seemed odd.

It wasn't disclosed, cpg, but they did say 2 players still had to have their second vax shot. I suspect PatBev was one of the two, and the Wolves are just being extra careful. I'm just guessing though.

I read/heard someone say he was traveling but the vaccination thing is a possibility also.

Yeah, either of those would make sense. I'm just pumped to have a pg that can stop the ball. Don't want him to be traded.