Minnesota Sports Forum

The good news is that we have multiple guys now that can manufacture shots when in a mis-match situation or all else breaks down. The bad news is that both Butler and Wiggins are heavily reliant on post-ups, turnarounds, mid-range jumpers, and long 2's. These are shots opposing defenses want us to take!

I think our offense overall will be fine, but I do question how high its ceiling is given the type of shots these guys prefer.

Q12543 wrote:The good news is that we have multiple guys now that can manufacture shots when in a mis-match situation or all else breaks down. The bad news is that both Butler and Wiggins are heavily reliant on post-ups, turnarounds, mid-range jumpers, and long 2's. These are shots opposing defenses want us to take!

I think our offense overall will be fine, but I do question how high its ceiling is given the type of shots these guys prefer.

Q, I also am not a big fan of Butler and Wig taking the turnaround jumper, but I don't have a big problem overall with their shot selection. I don't know what the league average is for wings, but both Butler and Wig have 43% of their made shots layups or dunks...not too bad. Watch Butler's footwork in this video...it's impressive how he uses his footwork to create easy dunks or layups. I'm sure he and Wig will go against each other one on one in practice, and it can only help Wig to watch such professional footwork. Both of them need to cut back a little on the 16+ 2-pointers (both of them have about 20% of their made shots in this "long 2" range at about a 38% success rate), but I won't be too unhappy if they both continue to have twice as many shots at the rim as long 2's.

longstrangetrip wrote:

Q12543 wrote:The good news is that we have multiple guys now that can manufacture shots when in a mis-match situation or all else breaks down. The bad news is that both Butler and Wiggins are heavily reliant on post-ups, turnarounds, mid-range jumpers, and long 2's. These are shots opposing defenses want us to take!

I think our offense overall will be fine, but I do question how high its ceiling is given the type of shots these guys prefer.

Q, I also am not a big fan of Butler and Wig taking the turnaround jumper, but I don't have a big problem overall with their shot selection. I don't know what the league average is for wings, but both Butler and Wig have 43% of their made shots layups or dunks...not too bad. Watch Butler's footwork in this video...it's impressive how he uses his footwork to create easy dunks or layups. I'm sure he and Wig will go against each other one on one in practice, and it can only help Wig to watch such professional footwork. Both of them need to cut back a little on the 16+ 2-pointers (both of them have about 20% of their made shots in this "long 2" range at about a 38% success rate), but I won't be too unhappy if they both continue to have twice as many shots at the rim as long 2's.

Butler's skills making plays for others is a pretty big upgrade though and should help a lot late in games. Remember the Bulls weren't exactly a team built with shooters last year and Butler had a career year and helped get a less talented team than the Wolves project to be to the playoffs.

thedoper wrote:

crazysauce wrote:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MyIVWB6zBmA

Good watch. Enjoy.

Thanks for that. Him and Wiggins on the Wing with KAT in the middle is going to be so fun to watch this year. I am so pumped.

The videos on this channel are really top notch. I watched one of Jamal Crawford and spent like a half hour watching them afterward. Really good stuff IMO.

I posted this in the Wolves links thread but I will post this here. Lengthy but worth it IMO.

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/kzzjxw/jimmy-butler-has-something-to-say

monsterpile wrote:I posted this in the Wolves links thread but I will post this here. Lengthy but worth it IMO.

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/kzzjxw/jimmy-butler-has-something-to-say

Interesting piece, thanks for posting.

He is sort of a weird mix between grittiness and cliched NBA entourage/SoCal ethos. I like one half of him better than the other!

I am very intrigued (and somewhat concerned) by how he and Wiggins gel together. Based on the KG experiment and Wiggins' enigmatic persona, I'm not so sure he won't be repelled by Butler's intensity.

Q12543 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:I posted this in the Wolves links thread but I will post this here. Lengthy but worth it IMO.

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/kzzjxw/jimmy-butler-has-something-to-say

Interesting piece, thanks for posting.

He is sort of a weird mix between grittiness and cliched NBA entourage/SoCal ethos. I like one half of him better than the other!

I am very intrigued (and somewhat concerned) by how he and Wiggins gel together. Based on the KG experiment and Wiggins' enigmatic persona, I'm not so sure he won't be repelled by Butler's intensity.

Interesting that you mention KG, becasue I thought about him a few times as I read the article...there are definitley some similarities between the two. I guess I view Jimmy as a much more lovable version of KG...possessing the same intensity and drive to be the best and intolerance for anything less than 100% effort, but having a less unattractive chip on his shoulder. I said it in another thread and I'll repeat it here...Butler will retire in 7-8 years as the most popular T-Wolf of all time.

Q12543 wrote:I am very intrigued (and somewhat concerned) by how he and Wiggins gel together. Based on the KG experiment and Wiggins' enigmatic persona, I'm not so sure he won't be repelled by Butler's intensity.

If Wiggins wilts under the pressure of an intense teammate he'll be useless in a close playoff game. I'm not too concerned though because I think there is a big difference between Jimmy's intensity and KG's intensity mixed with being a jackass.

I will never get the hate and disrespect for the greatest wolf of all time. Was he an angel, no. But i would take him anyday over the sallys that play today. A fiery competitor who wanted to win who was loved by the fans, yet so many trash talk him. Distasteful.

I think Butler seems to have mentioned a few times and it's mentioned in the article I posted that not everyone is like him and while it's hard for him to not expect all that from everyone he seems to realize not everyone is him. I remember there was an article where he said Wade helped him a lot last year in how to be a leader. Butler said he likes confrontation so he isn't going to be a teddy bear but he also seems to have some intelligence about him as well.

There is an article about how Randy Moss and Dalvin Cook are similar and different that resonates to me talking about kg and Butler. Even though KG was a high pick he still played with a chip on his shoulder. Butler clearly has plenty of intensity. Moss said he never let go of how he dropped in the draft etc. Cook just seems to move on etc. Butler seems like a guy that while intense can turn off for a while and just chill. It's not all basketball all the time. He actually told Bill Simmons he didn't watch the Finals.

I think Taj will be a good guy to have around not just for helping guys out with Thibs but maybe with Butler also. Crawford will probably helps as well. I think it's been well documented KG would test guys and play mind games with them. Sam Mitchell said Wiggins is too smart for many of the coaching tricks and if KG tried some of his stuff Wiggins may not have appreciated that. Wiggins oddly seems very cerebral. It's like the kid that you absolutely have to sit down and explain things too. I have some good friends that have a kid like that. You basically treated him like an adult. His family jokes he was 2 going on 55. That hasn't changed much he has just gotten older. Wiggins seems plenty interested in working his butt off and basketball seems to be the priority for him. I don't think Butler will have many problems with how he works. His effort level? Maybe. I wouldn't be shocked if they got along well.

Also for as much as Butler does some flashy stuff he also sits around and plays cards and dominos on a card table that looks so shoddy my wife wouldn't let me keep it. lol There is still some simple humbleness to Butler that is nice to see and also endearing.