Wolves @ Jazz - GDT - Maybe Tonight?

[kekgeek]

35 minutes, 0 rebounds, 0 assists.

If Andrew Wiggins didn't wanna play tonight he shoulda just let Mitchell know.

I'm not sure where his head was tonight, but let's not complain about his assist total. He made several passes for would-be assists that weren't converted. He can only make the pass, not make the shot too.

35 minutes, 0 rebounds, 0 assists.

If Andrew Wiggins didn't wanna play tonight he shoulda just let Mitchell know.

I'm not sure where his head was tonight, but let's not complain about his assist total. He made several passes for would-be assists that weren't converted. He can only make the pass, not make the shot too.

I'm not worried about Andrew's assist totals. I'm not even worried about an off-night shooting from him. What concerns me about Wiggns is his consistently poor rebounding numbers, all too frequent failure to hustle back on defense, and repeated failure to come up with or even pursue loose balls. I certainly hope he can improve his awkward handle as well as his three-point shooting. And I definitely think he can. But I worry that the other things I mentioned are things that are deeply rooted in his nature and, therefore, unlikely to change much. If so, then I'm doubly thankful we have KAT as a star to build around. Aw

It is a good problem to have, the wolves could potentially have 4 future all stars on their roster with Wiggins, towns lavine and the 1st round pick.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Wow, Wiggins looked like he wasn't even trying out there. Jogging instead of running--even worse than usual. Losing his guy on D a lot. There was a moment in the 4th quarter where Rubio lost the ball and it was bouncing out of bounds right past Wiggins and all he had to do was reach down and get it and he didn't even make an attempt. No excuse. It was obviously off Rubio. Even stars need to be benched when that happens to send a message. He's just so talented, but he can't have nights like that.

But at the same time, wow, Towns was amazing (so excited for that kid's future), and Dieng has been great for us. Dieng makes some mistakes, but his overall impact is clearly very positive, he's really skilled, and makes hustle plays on both sides of the ball. He clearly needs to be considered part of our core going forward. If we get a big banger who is a legit 5 to go down low with those two, we'll have a great 3 big rotation.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Rookie of the Year front-runner compared to a Western Conference All-Star... http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&y1=2016&p1=townska01&y2=2016&p2=aldrila01&p3=&p4=&p5=&p6=

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Playing around with that comparison tool is pretty fun Cam.

Boy, Towns and Zingas are both having rookie years that are getting close to being in Duncan range in some respects. They don't have the raw numbers Duncan had (23 and 12 as a rookie, what?!), but they also aren't as old and aren't playing as many minutes. Per 36, they're right up there with Duncan except of course they are better shooters from range and the FT line. Wow.

[AbeVigodaLive]

One of the few games I didn't see. At all. So boxscore watching...
Dieng, Towns and LaVine had great games (offensively), among their best this season...

And the team still loses easily (13 points) against a team below .500.

Yikes.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Our perimeter defense is terrible in general, and last night was another example. We gave up way too many open three pointers, and too much penetration which triggers help and then other teams get offensive rebounds against us because our bigs aren't set to box out since they're helping stop penetration our guards are allowing. Hypothetically, Rubio and Wiggins should be a good defensive backcourt, but Rubio is not a consistently great on the ball defender despite how many TOs he forces, and Wiggins isn't nearly defender he was expected to be. I still like both guys, but they're not really that good defensively. Both Towns and Dieng do sometimes go for blocks too much too, which adds to us giving up offensive rebounds too much.

Offensively, we just went frigid in the second half.

[Lipoli390]

One of the few games I didn't see. At all. So boxscore watching...
Dieng, Towns and LaVine had great games (offensively), among their best this season...

And the team still loses easily (13 points) against a team below .500.

Yikes.

Abe - A few thoughts:

1. We lost the game in the 3rd quarter when Sam had a lineup on the floor of Zach, Bazz, Prince, Belly and Pek. An absolutely horrible lineup that, no surprise, couldn't score. Pek and Belly were especially bad - Pek because he has nothing left in his body and Belly because he has absolutely no confidence. Belly was the worst I've seen him so far. Sam called a time out shortly after Belly came in. Belly was missing shots and turning the ball over. Same screamed at Belly during the timeout. Not surprisingly, Belly was even worse after the timeout. Nothing like screaming at a guy whose main problem is a huge lack of confidence.

2. Drew is right about our defensive issues last night, but with our roster we should be able to outscore teams that score 103 points.

3. We can't expect to win, especially on the road, when our supposedly best or second best player scores 5 points with 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 blocks and no hustle on defense.

Interestingly, Sam didn't scream at Wiggins. And if you're Bell or Zach - guys Sam screams at for mistakes -- imagine how you'd feel about your coach after watching him ignore a teammate's lack of hustle.

[60WinTim]

I have wondered about that, too, Lip. Is Wiggins being coddled by this coaching staff? If ever there was a guy that needed a kick in the ass, it is Wiggins!

[Coolbreeze44]

We didn't score for like over 7 minutes. And while we were doing this, the Jazz finally started to miss an occasional shot but we couldn't take advantage. The Jazz was tough on offense last night. they work the shot clock until they get an open look, and then they bury it. It was really frustrating to be playing extremely well in the first half and not be able to grab a lead.

[Coolbreeze44]

Wow, Wiggins looked like he wasn't even trying out there. Jogging instead of running--even worse than usual. Losing his guy on D a lot. There was a moment in the 4th quarter where Rubio lost the ball and it was bouncing out of bounds right past Wiggins and all he had to do was reach down and get it and he didn't even make an attempt. No excuse. It was obviously off Rubio. Even stars need to be benched when that happens to send a message. He's just so talented, but he can't have nights like that.

But at the same time, wow, Towns was amazing (so excited for that kid's future), and Dieng has been great for us. Dieng makes some mistakes, but his overall impact is clearly very positive, he's really skilled, and makes hustle plays on both sides of the ball. He clearly needs to be considered part of our core going forward. If we get a big banger who is a legit 5 to go down low with those two, we'll have a great 3 big rotation.

These kids are 20 years old. They are going to have off nights every once in a while. Wiggins has had them before, Zach has had a lot of them, and even Towns has had them. You guys expect these kids to be finished products already and it's just not realistic. After a bad Wiggins performance, and it was bad, you're ready to damn him to a mediocre career. He's been great for the last month and kept us in a lot of games. You have to see the forest through the trees and not overreact to every hiccup along the way.