Minnesota Sports Forum

lipoli390 wrote:I missed the game tonight, but I'm looking forward to watching the DVD replay tomorrow. The stat line tells me that DLO was key to the win with 25 points in 24 minutes. It also looks like Edwards had a horrible shooting night along with a terrible 7 turnovers. However, I like that he had 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. We rarely saw Wiggins put up those kind of do-shit stats on his many poor-shooting nights. Good game for Juancho? His stat line looks pretty good.

Having DLO back on the floor will make a big difference for the Wolves in their remaining 21 games. The sliver lining in Beasley's injury is that we should get to see a DLO/Ant backcourt. In my view, that's the backcourt of the future if this team's going to become a contender with DLO and KAT on the roster.

Nowell's absence should open up an opportunity to give Culver a lot more playing time, but so far we haven't see that happen. If up to me, I'd have DLO, Ant, McDaniels Vando and KAT as my starters the rest of this season. I'd have Culver as the first wing off the bench in the rotation

Up and down game for Ant but he was key early in the 4th to keep the Wolves in it. Then Dlo put it away when the Kings were out of gas. Ant calibrating to a third option until his shot is more reliable is good for his development.

lipoli390 wrote:I missed the game tonight, but I'm looking forward to watching the DVD replay tomorrow. The stat line tells me that DLO was key to the win with 25 points in 24 minutes. It also looks like Edwards had a horrible shooting night along with a terrible 7 turnovers. However, I like that he had 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. We rarely saw Wiggins put up those kind of do-shit stats on his many poor-shooting nights. Good game for Juancho? His stat line looks pretty good.

Having DLO back on the floor will make a big difference for the Wolves in their remaining 21 games. The sliver lining in Beasley's injury is that we should get to see a DLO/Ant backcourt. In my view, that's the backcourt of the future if this team's going to become a contender with DLO and KAT on the roster.

Nowell's absence should open up an opportunity to give Culver a lot more playing time, but so far we haven't see that happen. If up to me, I'd have DLO, Ant, McDaniels Vando and KAT as my starters the rest of this season. I'd have Culver as the first wing off the bench in the rotation

Finch does not want to play Culver, he pulled him 16 seconds into his stint into the 2nd half for terrible defense.

The interesting thing is Dlo played all but 1 minute with a PG. They made it work. Something that didn't work with Saunders.

They also used Dlo as a screener a lot, screening Kat guy. Was nice to have Dlo move off the ball and it was not just Iso Dlo.

Fun game, good coaching and players executed

Ant was taken first in a draft that was decidedly weak. It should come as no suprise that there would be hardships along the way. He's not a generational talent. What he does bring to the table that this team has lacked is aggressiveness. Sometimes it works other times not. A full offseason of practice, gym time and video study should be allotted to him before we make a full assessment. There's a lot of skills to work with there. IMO

Nice win over a decent team. DLO hunted a lot of shots and shot a Rubioesque percentage. I get the enthusiasm about getting a win in his return, but don't read too much into it. Sustainability is the goal. Let's hope we see it someday.

PorkChop wrote:Ant was taken first in a draft that was decidedly weak. It should come as no suprise that there would be hardships along the way. He's not a generational talent. What he does bring to the table that this team has lacked is aggressiveness. Sometimes it works other times not. A full offseason of practice, gym time and video study should be allotted to him before we make a full assessment. There's a lot of skills to work with there. IMO

Ant is going to be just fine. There is no doubt in my mind.

PorkChop wrote:Ant was taken first in a draft that was decidedly weak. It should come as no suprise that there would be hardships along the way. He's not a generational talent. What he does bring to the table that this team has lacked is aggressiveness. Sometimes it works other times not. A full offseason of practice, gym time and video study should be allotted to him before we make a full assessment. There's a lot of skills to work with there. IMO

I agree, Pork. He's definitely an all-star talent, but not a generational one. He's only 19 years old with one season of college ball, no meaningful NBA training camp and 51 NBA games under his belt. The upcoming offseason will be really important to his development. I'm excited to see what he can be after an offseason and full Wolves training camp next fall. If he puts the work in this offseason then he should take a big leap forward.

kekgeek1 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:I missed the game tonight, but I'm looking forward to watching the DVD replay tomorrow. The stat line tells me that DLO was key to the win with 25 points in 24 minutes. It also looks like Edwards had a horrible shooting night along with a terrible 7 turnovers. However, I like that he had 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. We rarely saw Wiggins put up those kind of do-shit stats on his many poor-shooting nights. Good game for Juancho? His stat line looks pretty good.

Having DLO back on the floor will make a big difference for the Wolves in their remaining 21 games. The sliver lining in Beasley's injury is that we should get to see a DLO/Ant backcourt. In my view, that's the backcourt of the future if this team's going to become a contender with DLO and KAT on the roster.

Nowell's absence should open up an opportunity to give Culver a lot more playing time, but so far we haven't see that happen. If up to me, I'd have DLO, Ant, McDaniels Vando and KAT as my starters the rest of this season. I'd have Culver as the first wing off the bench in the rotation

Finch does not want to play Culver, he pulled him 16 seconds into his stint into the 2nd half for terrible defense.

The interesting thing is Dlo played all but 1 minute with a PG. They made it work. Something that didn't work with Saunders.

They also used Dlo as a screener a lot, screening Kat guy. Was nice to have Dlo move off the ball and it was not just Iso Dlo.

Fun game, good coaching and players executed

Interesting observation on Finch's attitude towards Culver. Your observation rings true given how little Finch has played him since he came back from his injury. I watched my recording of the first quarter tonight. Culver looked lost and defeated. He has absolutely no confidence. And he also seems a bit clueless, which was especially apparent when he took the ball into the lane and then tried to lay the ball up over Whiteside. It showed a complete lack of court awareness. He has some talent, but I just don't know how he can get out of his funk without more of an opportunity to play and it doesn't seem like he'll get that opportunity here. The problem is that his trade value is incredibly low right now and the only way it can go up is if he plays and starts to gain some confidence and rhythm. His value can't go down, so there's only upside in playing him

D'Angelo Russell in the fourth quarter:

13 points, 3-6 FG, 2-3 3P, 5-5 FT in just under seven minutes of play.

The next closest player was Karl-Anthony Towns with seven points. D-Lo is and was a closer last night. He took over in the fourth quarter. Great to see in his first game after surgery. And as kek already noted, all but one of his minutes last night came at the off-guard position. Minnesota has missed that shot-making and versatility.

If you weren't able to watch the game last night I highly recommend going back and doing so. It was fun and enjoyable.

Late Night, After Putting the College Kids to Bed, DVR Watch...

- I tuned in to the Wolves in this one most interested in seeing the rookie battle. As everybody knows, I really wanted the Wolves to trade down for Haliburton. Both rookies did pretty much what we expect them to do...

- Edwards wasn't very efficient (5 - 15 fg) with too many three pointers... but had some explosive moments that always entice and delight and got his points. He's a scorer. He had a rough night turning the ball over with 7 TOs, but had do-shit stats. He looked mostly abysmal on defense again. Overall, he looked the part of the fun precocious wing who could be great when he puts it all together.

- Maybe because I was watching the rookies more, or listening to a certain announcer more, it seemed like Haliburton was more involved than the boxscore would suggest. Shot 4 - 9 and had 7 assists and a couple of blocks and steals and ended with only 9 points. For the +/- boxscore warriors... Haliburton was the only Kings with a positive ratio (+9). Edwards was (+15).

It seemed to encapsulate why both teams/fanbases probably feel very happy in their choice. One guy who probably wishes it turned out differently? Jim Peterson. He really really really wanted us to know about all the little things Haliburton is doing that may never get to the boxscore.

- Like Russell... hate Russell... he definitely gives the Wolves something that Rubio and McLaughlin cannot... bucket after bucket. The 7 - 19 fg wasn't great. But he played much better in the 4th when the shots started falling. The most promising thing was the 9 free throws. It's why he was able to bump the points up to 25. It's absolutely imperative that Russell starts getting to the line more than he has previously in his career.

As noted, he played off the ball more. And with 19 shots (and all those free throws) in only 24 minutes... I couldn't help but wonder if he and Finch have an agreement. "You're going to be off the ball more, but when you get it, do whatever you want to do with it. You're a gunner now." I dunno. Will be interesting how it plays out. Tough to tell after only one game.

- The Wolves will go into soft-tank mode eventually. So this is a stretch where we can finally start to see if the Russell/Towns thing has legit, sustainable potential. So enjoy it while it's here.

I finally watched the game. KAT was terrific as usual. DLO came alive in the 4th. I'm looking forward to seeing whether he can flourish here under a real head coach. I'm still skeptical, but haven't totally written off the possibility of this thing working with DLO. I really don't like the DLO/Beasley backcourt.

McDaniels didn't show much in the box score, but he was still solid in my view. He's typically solid even when he's not shooting particularly well or filling up the stat sheet. Naz Reid played well. Edwards was inefficient, but he had some great buckets in the lane. He had some bad moments on defense, but he also had some nice ones on that end of the court as well. He seems to have a knack for ball thievery. And I just like the way he plays.

But I want to focus on JMac. I really liked the way he played in this game. He seemed like the JMac I remember before he had that long layoff. I respect FNG's take on Rubio from inside the arena. Nevertheless, I thought JMac was better than Ricky in this game.

I'd like to see the Wolves move Ricky this off season and give JMac a real contract. He's much quicker than Ricky. And unlike Ricky, he can shoot. He can finish layups and even dunk and he can hit perimeter shots. When JMac shoots you expect it to go in. When Ricky shoots, you expect the opposite. Probably the best game the Wolves have played since acquiring DLO was last season's game in Miami. I recall that JMac and DLO had a lot of time together on the court and it worked. JMac did most of the ball-handling while DLO played mostly off the ball. But when DLO was the lead guard, JMac was a guy who could get buckets. So I'm all in on having DLO as a second PG on the floor, playing primarily off the ball. But I'd rather see him out there with JMac than Ricky.