KiwiMatt wrote:I wonder how safe Finch's job is at the moment. I know it's early days but this team simply isn't clicking. There's no set plays or flow on offense.
this isn't on Finch. Everyone knew this would take some time. The effort levels are solely on the players.
kekgeek1 wrote:4-29 from 3. There you go that is why they lost
It's a facsimile of last season. We had multiple guys cold from outside and sputtered our way to a 4-9 start. We were ranked in the bottom 10 in 3pt % through the month of November last season. From that point forward, we started getting hot and ended the season as an above average 3-pt shooting team.
Sounds like wishful thinking to me. You can always find an example to fit your wishful narrative... if you look hard enough
kekgeek1 wrote:4-29 from 3. There you go that is why they lost
It's a facsimile of last season. We had multiple guys cold from outside and sputtered our way to a 4-9 start. We were ranked in the bottom 10 in 3pt % through the month of November last season. From that point forward, we started getting hot and ended the season as an above average 3-pt shooting team.
Q, I watched last night's game from start to finish, and it was astonishing to me how many open looks the Spurs had compared to the Wolves. My god, how do you leave Doug McDermott open over and over again???? With our laughably bad perimeter defense and lack of ball movement, nobody should be surprised at the gap in 3-point percentage. NBA players (other than those on the Thunder and the Lakers) are going to make open 3's...just watch any team in the league at halftime or pre-game. Winning teams in the NBA move the ball and create open looks on offense, and rotate on defense to prevent open looks. Right now the Wolves do neither with regularity, and that's why we are only 4-3 despite being at least 6 point favorites in every game so far this season. We won 4 games not because of good play, but because of three reasons: superior interior defense, occasional terrific one-on-one scoring, and 3 wins against competition that can't make a 3-point shot (LA and OkC). But this formula is not going to work once our schedule gets more challenging.
Normally I would put last night's poor performance on the coach...Pop would never have allowed such poor defense and ball movement. But I think Finchie's hands are tied as long as JMac is out injured. DLo is what he is...a talented player who's never going to understand proper rotation on defense or the beauty of ball movement. Finchie tried to turn to Rivers, but he isn't and never has been a PG. Some here have called for Ant or Nowell to run the point, but frankly they are as bad as DLo at moving the ball. So who does Finchie turn to...there just isn't a healthy PG on our roster that does what he wants for this team. JMAc has two distinct injuries right now keeping him on the bench. If he doesn't return soon, a 50+ win season is a pipe dream.
kekgeek1 wrote:4-29 from 3. There you go that is why they lost
It's a facsimile of last season. We had multiple guys cold from outside and sputtered our way to a 4-9 start. We were ranked in the bottom 10 in 3pt % through the month of November last season. From that point forward, we started getting hot and ended the season as an above average 3-pt shooting team.
Q, I watched last night's game from start to finish, and it was astonishing to me how many open looks the Spurs had compared to the Wolves. My god, how do you leave Doug McDermott open over and over again???? With our laughably bad perimeter defense and lack of ball movement, nobody should be surprised at the gap in 3-point percentage. NBA players (other than those on the Thunder and the Lakers) are going to make open 3's...just watch any team in the league at halftime or pre-game. Winning teams in the NBA move the ball and create open looks on offense, and rotate on defense to prevent open looks. Right now the Wolves do neither with regularity, and that's why we are only 4-3 despite being at least 6 point favorites in every game so far this season. We won 4 games not because of good play, but because of three reasons: superior interior defense, occasional terrific one-on-one scoring, and 3 wins against competition that can't make a 3-point shot (LA and OkC). But this formula is not going to work once our schedule gets more challenging.
Normally I would put last night's poor performance on the coach...Pop would never have allowed such poor defense and ball movement. But I think Finchie's hands are tied as long as JMac is out injured. DLo is what he is...a talented player who's never going to understand proper rotation on defense or the beauty of ball movement. Finchie tried to turn to Rivers, but he isn't and never has been a PG. Some here have called for Ant or Nowell to run the point, but frankly they are as bad as DLo at moving the ball. So who does Finchie turn to...there just isn't a healthy PG on our roster that does what he wants for this team. JMAc has two distinct injuries right now keeping him on the bench. If he doesn't return soon, a 50+ win season is a pipe dream.
We are #6 in defensive rating and #23 in offensive rating. There are strengths and weaknesses within our defense and offense that you point out above, but the bottom line is we've been very good defensively, very bad offensively. That is exactly how we started last season.
Does that mean it will automatically course correct and we have nothing to worry about? Not at all. I'm just not going hit the panic button yet.
kekgeek1 wrote:4-29 from 3. There you go that is why they lost
It's a facsimile of last season. We had multiple guys cold from outside and sputtered our way to a 4-9 start. We were ranked in the bottom 10 in 3pt % through the month of November last season. From that point forward, we started getting hot and ended the season as an above average 3-pt shooting team.
Q, I watched last night's game from start to finish, and it was astonishing to me how many open looks the Spurs had compared to the Wolves. My god, how do you leave Doug McDermott open over and over again???? With our laughably bad perimeter defense and lack of ball movement, nobody should be surprised at the gap in 3-point percentage. NBA players (other than those on the Thunder and the Lakers) are going to make open 3's...just watch any team in the league at halftime or pre-game. Winning teams in the NBA move the ball and create open looks on offense, and rotate on defense to prevent open looks. Right now the Wolves do neither with regularity, and that's why we are only 4-3 despite being at least 6 point favorites in every game so far this season. We won 4 games not because of good play, but because of three reasons: superior interior defense, occasional terrific one-on-one scoring, and 3 wins against competition that can't make a 3-point shot (LA and OkC). But this formula is not going to work once our schedule gets more challenging.
Normally I would put last night's poor performance on the coach...Pop would never have allowed such poor defense and ball movement. But I think Finchie's hands are tied as long as JMac is out injured. DLo is what he is...a talented player who's never going to understand proper rotation on defense or the beauty of ball movement. Finchie tried to turn to Rivers, but he isn't and never has been a PG. Some here have called for Ant or Nowell to run the point, but frankly they are as bad as DLo at moving the ball. So who does Finchie turn to...there just isn't a healthy PG on our roster that does what he wants for this team. JMAc has two distinct injuries right now keeping him on the bench. If he doesn't return soon, a 50+ win season is a pipe dream.
We are #6 in defensive rating and #23 in offensive rating. There are strengths and weaknesses within our defense and offense that you point out above, but the bottom line is we've been very good defensively, very bad offensively. That is exactly how we started last season.
Does that mean it will automatically course correct and we have nothing to worry about? Not at all. I'm just not going hit the panic button yet.
I'd take the defensive rating with a grain of salt.
The Timberwolves are playing some of the least talented teams in the league... and those teams have been without their best player(s) in several of those games.
The easy schedule is the only thing keeping a disjointed start from looking worse in the standings.
[Note: The one good thing is that this is a really weird year. Several "good" teams are struggling and the bottom-feeders have taken advantage.]
kekgeek1 wrote:4-29 from 3. There you go that is why they lost
It's a facsimile of last season. We had multiple guys cold from outside and sputtered our way to a 4-9 start. We were ranked in the bottom 10 in 3pt % through the month of November last season. From that point forward, we started getting hot and ended the season as an above average 3-pt shooting team.
Q, I watched last night's game from start to finish, and it was astonishing to me how many open looks the Spurs had compared to the Wolves. My god, how do you leave Doug McDermott open over and over again???? With our laughably bad perimeter defense and lack of ball movement, nobody should be surprised at the gap in 3-point percentage. NBA players (other than those on the Thunder and the Lakers) are going to make open 3's...just watch any team in the league at halftime or pre-game. Winning teams in the NBA move the ball and create open looks on offense, and rotate on defense to prevent open looks. Right now the Wolves do neither with regularity, and that's why we are only 4-3 despite being at least 6 point favorites in every game so far this season. We won 4 games not because of good play, but because of three reasons: superior interior defense, occasional terrific one-on-one scoring, and 3 wins against competition that can't make a 3-point shot (LA and OkC). But this formula is not going to work once our schedule gets more challenging.
Normally I would put last night's poor performance on the coach...Pop would never have allowed such poor defense and ball movement. But I think Finchie's hands are tied as long as JMac is out injured. DLo is what he is...a talented player who's never going to understand proper rotation on defense or the beauty of ball movement. Finchie tried to turn to Rivers, but he isn't and never has been a PG. Some here have called for Ant or Nowell to run the point, but frankly they are as bad as DLo at moving the ball. So who does Finchie turn to...there just isn't a healthy PG on our roster that does what he wants for this team. JMAc has two distinct injuries right now keeping him on the bench. If he doesn't return soon, a 50+ win season is a pipe dream.
We are #6 in defensive rating and #23 in offensive rating. There are strengths and weaknesses within our defense and offense that you point out above, but the bottom line is we've been very good defensively, very bad offensively. That is exactly how we started last season.
Does that mean it will automatically course correct and we have nothing to worry about? Not at all. I'm just not going hit the panic button yet.
I'm not hitting the panic button yet either, but my hand might be hovering in the vicinity ;-) .
I was just going to mention what Abe did...that our defensive rating might be benefiting from the quality and health of our opponents. I would argue that we have only seen an elite offensive player in two of our 7 games...SGA in one game, and an aging but still elite LeBron. I shudder to think how we are going to play once we face some of the top offensive players in the league.
I will say that I think our interior defense is top-notch. Rudy has been as advertised, and McDaniels, KAT and even Naz and Slo Mo have been effective around the basket. But rather than going to the usual suspects in maligning our perimeter defense, I'm starting to worry about Jaden's off-ball defense outside. I see him as an elite on-ball defender and rim protector, and that's great. But I'm noticing his role in not properly rotating around the perimeter and allowing wide open threes. Jaden doesn't provide what the other perimeter culprits (DLo, Nowell, KAT, Ant) provide on offense, so it's vital that he improves his perimeter rotation.
Jaden's rebounding has been absolutely anemic too. Perhaps he is so exhausted chasing around perimeter players that he just doesn't have the energy to crash the glass. He is averaging 2 defensive rebounds per game.
But the reality is this team's problems land squarely on last year's "big three": DLO, KAT, and Ant. Gobert is doing his part. These three need to figure this thing out on both ends. And we all know that if they can't, it's probably DLO that is the fall guy, whether he deserves it or not.
To me the problems are much simpler. Like Jim Pete has said, we have too many zero-pass possessions. I don't mind KAT shooting whenever he has an opening, but Ant, DLO, and Nowell all play with an "I'm going to get mine" mentality. Cutters are largely ignored, and as a result we do a lot of standing around in the half court. I may be old school, but offense should come out of the flow of a well executed system. Our players have too much freedom.
One thing I've noticed about Jaden's rebounding is he tends to turn his back to the basket, seek out the closest guy, and block him from getting to the rim. Most times he doesn't even appear to be going for the rebound, but rather eliminating his opponent from the play. What I don't know is whether he is being coached to do this, or if this is a flaw in his game that needs to be corrected. As long as he isn't being beat for opponent offensive rebounds, Rudy and KAT should be able to clean the glass.
