Preseason Game 1 vs Pelicans

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

No amount of cajoling or gimmicks is going to improve our D-rebounding rate. With the roster we have, we have to accept it as a weak point.

The last time the Wolves didn't have a bottom 10 defense was '13-14 - 8 years ago! - and the two bigs that played the most minutes were the hall of fame defensive duo of Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Love. Those two guys did two things really well - 1) defending without fouling by walling up and making it hard for guys to go through them, and 2) defensive rebounding. Having a strong base and big body helps in both of these areas. We completely lack that on this roster.

Now I'm not asking for two wide bodies to start, but we have literally zero players on the roster capable of going toe to toe with Embiid, JoVal, Adams, Jokic, Capela, Gobert, Drummond, or Sabonis in the paint.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Now I'm not asking for two wide bodies to start, but we have literally zero players on the roster capable of going toe to toe with Embiid, JoVal, Adams, Jokic, Capela, Gobert, Drummond, or Sabonis in the paint.

Yep, but my counter would be how many guys in the league can slow down Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, and Domantas Sabonis? I'd argue not many. Similarly, how many guys can slow down Karl-Anthony Towns, who actually is on Minnesota's roster mind you? I'd argue the list is even smaller due to his perimeter game. Steven Adams, Clint Capela, and Rudy Gobert are very valuable players, but they aren't game-breakers in the way the first four guys I named are. They're definitely a handful, but teams can and do win without those types.

What I'm sure we can agree on is that Minnesota should have added someone who measures up at 7'0, 250-pounds just for the sake of making those guys work a bit harder. The Wolves opted for speed and lateral quicks instead. The rebounding will be an issue all season long, but they'll have to make up for it in other areas -- forcing turnovers, limiting their opponent's fast break points, scoring in transition themselves, and winning the three-point shooting battle.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Chris Finch on Malik Beasley's role this season:

"We've said that if you want to be a good team, you're going to have seven or eight quality starter players. He's a starter player but maybe best if the strength of his role with different lineups than the starting lineup."

I think Dane Moore messed up this quote towards the end, but it essentially reaffirms what we've thought here. Beasley will come off the bench.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

If you have 20 minutes to spare, this is a pretty good watch. It's interesting to see what Karl-Anthony Towns is thinking during these plays.


[youtube] https://youtu.be/xiSIQ-GBHOs [/youtube]

[Monster]

Finally got to watch this one.

Okogie was terrific on defense. If he plays team defense like that he is gina get votes for all-NBA defense. That's a big if but that's one of the things I had hoped for him improving this year. Also it seems like he is getting the benefit of the doubt on calls when playing D which is a big deal for a guy like him.

Loved the overall energy of the team. The defense from the starters was pretty good although obviously the Pelicans didn't field all their top players and the wolves did. Injuries may already be taking a toll on the pelicans.

Edwards is clearly taller.

McLaughlin looked good in this game.

The end of the bench didn't have guys that could get buckets. Knight did some nice things and Wright had at least 3 terrific defensive plays in the time he was in there. Bolmaro showed some good things. Interesting that Nowell seems like someone will have to ne out of the lineup for him to get minutes.

Those are just a couple thoughts before I start reading through the thread. There is more to say but overall I thought it was a pretty good showing for this group.

[Monster]

Coaches seem to like Okogie more then us. If he wasn't completely inept on offense.... maybe this is his breakout year??????

I really like Okogie....as a backup 3.

I need him to just be minimally effective as a shooter and scorer. I think if he doesn't turn it around "be somewhat effective" he'll be overseas after his stint here. I hope he does, but the odds seem very low.

Agree. So sad though that he went from a promising college shooter to one of the worst shooters in the NBA. Not sure what he did differently this offseason that will change that trajectory.

Okogie's will keep him in the league.

[Monster]

Just read through the thread


Prince was really good in this game. Note a couple of passes he made too. He isn't just a 3 and D guy he can make some plays.

Yes rebounding could be a big problem. I will mention there was one play where I saw Okogie after basically guarding 2 guys sprinted into the paint and boxed out a guy. Idk if that is something he does consistently but that the type of winning plays guys need to make if they want to win this year including not getting killed on the boards. I'll be interested to see if Finch encourages some sort of minor move this season that results in a bigger player landing here. Jake Layman fan being up playing at PF in the 2nd half wasn't great to see.

Like Lip said Naz was really good as well.

I remember when after the first summer league game lip said McLaughlin should go back to becoming a lawyer or whatever. :) If you thought he was bad in that first wolves summer league game look up his summer league stats his first year. were. Personally I thought Wright was just fine in this game. He took some good shots but didn't make them. He isn't a true PG but there aren't a lot of them and few are as good of a defender as he might be. The Nets organization may have had a hand in the development of McLaughlin and he now looks like he is a quality depth PG dirt cheap. What if Wright takes a similar path? I'm not ready to Write him off just yet (no pun intended...or was it?). I'll be interested to see how he does in Iowa.

[Lipoli390]

Just read through the thread


Prince was really good in this game. Note a couple of passes he made too. He isn't just a 3 and D guy he can make some plays.

Yes rebounding could be a big problem. I will mention there was one play where I saw Okogie after basically guarding 2 guys sprinted into the paint and boxed out a guy. Idk if that is something he does consistently but that the type of winning plays guys need to make if they want to win this year including not getting killed on the boards. I'll be interested to see if Finch encourages some sort of minor move this season that results in a bigger player landing here. Jake Layman fan being up playing at PF in the 2nd half wasn't great to see.

Like Lip said Naz was really good as well.

I remember when after the first summer league game lip said McLaughlin should go back to becoming a lawyer or whatever. :) If you thought he was bad in that first wolves summer league game look up his summer league stats his first year. were. Personally I thought Wright was just fine in this game. He took some good shots but didn't make them. He isn't a true PG but there aren't a lot of them and few are as good of a defender as he might be. The Nets organization may have had a hand in the development of McLaughlin and he now looks like he is a quality depth PG dirt cheap. What if Wright takes a similar path? I'm not ready to Write him off just yet (no pun intended...or was it?). I'll be interested to see how he does in Iowa.

Monster - Hmm. I don't recall saying that about JMac. I don't even remember seeing him play for the Nets Summer League team in 2018. The first time I remember seeing him play was in person when he was playing on the Wolves Summer League team in 2019. My wife and I were instantly impressed by him and I remember posting on this board that he was my favorite Wolves prospect from that Summer League. Maybe I did say something about JMac the year before that; I just don't remember. See if you can find my post from that year where I made that comment. I honestly don't recall, so it would be fun to see.

[FNG]

I thought last night was one of the more entertaining preseason games I have seen. I agree with Jonny Athletic's article saying the teams seemed to take this one quite seriously. And I agree with the comments above that our bench looked exceptionally strong.

Unfortunately while a strong bench is certainly an asset, you need a strong starting five to compete in this league...and I haven't seen enough in the first couple games to make me feel like my 35 win prediction is too conservative. We beat up a Pelicans team missing its two best players (although we still got beat on the boards), and our starters were destroyed by the Nuggets' starters. I'm looking at Kek's grades for the game, and I'm mostly in agreement. Ant was our best grade with a B (although I would have given him a C), and everyone else was C's and D's. Not nearly good enough to challenge for the playoffs.

I needed to see a bounce back game last night from Jaden, and I needed to see Dlo play at a high level like he did in Game 1. I got neither. Jaden looks lost out there (1 rebound in 22 minutes...really?), and Dlo looked way too much like the Russell we have seen for most of his career. I somehow still tend to think that McDaniels is for real, and that he will snap out of this weird funk he is in this week. But I'm also afraid that Dlo is who we thought he was, and that moments like Monday night where he looks respectable on defense and scores efficiently are going to be the exception rather than the rule. I really hope he proves me wrong, because Dlo playing at a level at least somewhat close to what we should expect from a max player is our best chance to be respectable.

The good news is both of our backup PGs look like they are ready to step in at the point if Dlo misses games. I agree with everyone here that PatBev brings a look we haven't seen on this roster much, and the more he is on the court, the more his toughness may rub off on our stars. And I was really impressed with J-Mac last night as well as Monday.

Finch is right that he has a lot of options on his bench is starters aren't cutting it. If Jaden continues to struggle, Layman and Okogie look more focused and ready to take on a bigger role if needed. I don't know that either helps us much with our rebounding woes though. But I don't want to have to rely on our bench. Ant needs to be better. And Dlo and Jaden need to be much better. Otherwise mrhockey may be lighting up his victory cigar by December celebrating his dominance in the wins prediction thread.

Our backup PGs look ready to step in at the point if Dlo misses games.

Edit: Whoops, this post and my following one belong in the Denver GDT. Sorry

[FNG]

I just looked at Robson's pre-game tweet about what he was looking for.

1)more hops/better conditioning from Beasley
2)a bounceback from McDaniels
3) better gang rebounding
4) Prince staying hot from deep
5)ongoing Okogoe resurrection
6) KAT/DLo walking talk on D

Other than another nice game from Josh, he got nothing that he wanted.