Minnesota Sports Forum

jester1534 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:I think this debate was finalized tonight. You saw why Rubio is no longer a Timberwolve, and why Teague is.

I missed the game tonight, Cool, but the box score supports your observation. We'll see how things play out over the course of the season, but it seems obvious that Teague completely outplayed Ricky. Based on the past few games, Ricky's shooting appears to be regressing to his mean. While I didn't like the 5 turnovers from Teague tonight, he appears to have been highly productive.

Doesn't probably show in the box score Lip but they had to bench the last quarter and half of the game because of how bad he was tonight. Fans were booing him after every miss as well. I felt bad for him.

Ya ricky got boo'ed off the court. He is now 1 of 25 from 3 his last 25 attempts. We ran away from ricky tonight and let him shoot.

If you go to jazz message boards they are turning on him fast

longstrangetrip wrote:

thedoper wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:I think this debate was finalized tonight. You saw why Rubio is no longer a Timberwolve, and why Teague is.

We talk a lot about the modern NBA offenses here yet some people still hold a special place for Rubio. I don't know how your primary ball handler can't score in today's game. I definitely think Rubio has a strong place in the NBA, just not as a starter at this point. Could definitely see him as a back up on the Spurs and even being a huge part of a playoff run for a team.

Doper, Ricky had a terrrible game tonight...heck, he was on the bench much of the second half because of his ineffectiveness (just like Teague was in the San Antonio game). But I"m not sure why you are concluding Ricky can't score. He's outscoring Teague 14.5 to 13 PPG, and his TS% is actually better than Teague's...52.7 to 51.7. Teague is a much better 3-point shooter this season, but Ricky has been more effective in getting to the line and making his free throws, and has made 45% of his 2-point shots as opposed to 41% for Teague. There are more ways to score in the NBA than just threes, and (other than tonight) Ricky is finding a way to score while he is struggling with his 3-pointers at a higher TS% than our PG. If he is able to get back to the three point percentage he put up the last half of last season, I expect his 14.5 PPG will go even higher.

But tonight there is no question...he was garbage.

If you check nba.com they update their stats in real time. Teague just passed Ricky tonight on TS% and it is still a 5 year low for Teague.
Ricky started out hot and is coming back to his norm. Most players peform to their averages. It is more than tonight. Ricky is spiraling back to his typical shooting numbers, whereas Teague is having better games as they move on.

thedoper wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:

thedoper wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:I think this debate was finalized tonight. You saw why Rubio is no longer a Timberwolve, and why Teague is.

We talk a lot about the modern NBA offenses here yet some people still hold a special place for Rubio. I don't know how your primary ball handler can't score in today's game. I definitely think Rubio has a strong place in the NBA, just not as a starter at this point. Could definitely see him as a back up on the Spurs and even being a huge part of a playoff run for a team.

Doper, Ricky had a terrrible game tonight...heck, he was on the bench much of the second half because of his ineffectiveness (just like Teague was in the San Antonio game). But I"m not sure why you are concluding Ricky can't score. He's outscoring Teague 14.5 to 13 PPG, and his TS% is actually better than Teague's...52.7 to 51.7. Teague is a much better 3-point shooter this season, but Ricky has been more effective in getting to the line and making his free throws, and has made 45% of his 2-point shots as opposed to 41% for Teague. There are more ways to score in the NBA than just threes, and (other than tonight) Ricky is finding a way to score while he is struggling with his 3-pointers at a higher TS% than our PG. If he is able to get back to the three point percentage he put up the last half of last season, I expect his 14.5 PPG will go even higher.

But tonight there is no question...he was garbage.

If you check nba.com they update their stats in real time. Teague just passed Ricky tonight on TS% and it is still a 5 year low for Teague.
Ricky started out hot and is coming back to his norm. Most players peform to their averages. It is more than tonight. Ricky is spiraling back to his typical shooting numbers, whereas Teague is having better games as they move on.

The thing with ricky this year a huge dip in assists, even when be was not scoring he was seeing up his teammates. This year he has a bad AST/TO ratio.

I don't know if the jazz use ricky like that every game but they stuck him in the corner all game. Don't think they is smart for a team like the jazz who struggle to score.

I'm liking this Ricky dump a little bit more now that Ricky is starting to really struggle from the floor.

WolvesFan21 wrote:I'm liking this Ricky dump a little bit more now that Ricky is starting to really struggle from the floor.

Yeah, that was as bad as I've seen him. And as someone else said, it has affected the rest of his play. He didn't look good defensively and he made a couple of careless turnovers. It's certainly good news for the Wolves, as we are now 4-0 against our division, which may end up being a really important factor when determining tie-breakers for the 8th seed.

Q12543 wrote:KAT has to pull the trigger on those open 3's. We absolutely need more volume on 3's, not all these drives where there are 11 guys in the paint (including the ref).

Oh, and I'm tired of the Wiggins post-ups. Designing plays for Wiggins to take contested turnarounds is an archaic play design. No one does that anymore Thibs! If had the strength to back a guy down, that's one thing. But 12 foot contested turnarounds....horrible shot!

YES. YES! YES!!!

One example... but one that happens EVERY game... that shows the archaic style the Wolves play. KAT has a wide open three pointer... he hesitates and passes it up.

The possession ends on a 18 foot turnaround jumper into the defender from Wiggins. I FUCKING HATE THAT SHOT. Stop it. Now. Please.

A few notes:

- I feel bad for every fan in Utah. It's one thing for a team to lose (as we all know)... but that team is insufferable to watch. Rubio's TOs are way up... and his assists are way down. There's just nothing there offensively for that team. There's nobody (sans the young, mercurial and selfish Mitchell) who's dynamic. Rubio is in a very bad spot and he's being exposed.

- Apparently, Rodney Hood is unable to drive. Ever. Him creating offense seems to be shooting 24 footers with a hand in his face. And he makes Wiggins look like Draymond Green in filling out the rest of the boxscore.

- Joe Ingles is arguably the cheapest player in the L right now. So many nudges. Bumps. Slaps. All completely accidental though. ahem.

- Count Utah out. There were legit warning signs with Gobert. But at least they were good defensively. They don't stand a chance without him. I expect them to lose at least 2/3 of their games without Gobert over the next 4-6 weeks.

- Injuries or not... 41 minutes for KAT and 39 for Gibson and only 13 for Bjelicia in a game the Wolves led from beginning to end and by 20+ points late in the 2nd half is a bit alarming.

- Butler hasn't helped much with offensive flow or efficiency. But the guy does know how to play. He makes some creative passes and finds ways to be involved.

- Maybe Shabazz Muhammad and Nerlens Noel can write a joint story in The Players Tribune about how players overvalue themselves and lose out on a tens of millions of dollars. Both should recover somewhat... but they are two of the most disappointing players in the NBA right now after both turned down big, fair-market deals to bank on themselves this season for a payout next season.

- Muhammad could walk into any pickup game in the world and dominate. He could scored bucket after bucket. But that doesn't mean he's a good basketball player. He might have one of the game's most limited offensive skillsets (under 6'10" division).

Unfortunately, it's not just Kat who does this. Butler does it all the time, the ball will be rotated to him on the 3 pt line, defender not within 7 ft from him, he will pump fake nobody and dribble right into a defender. You would think the coaches would inform the players that the shot fake doesn't work unless you're guarded or someone is aggressively closing out on you. Butler and Teague do this a lot. You get an open spot up 3 off ball rotation, SHOOT THE F'ing BALL!!!

Duke13 wrote:Unfortunately, it's not just Kat who does this. Butler does it all the time, the ball will be rotated to him on the 3 pt line, defender not within 7 ft from him, he will pump fake nobody and dribble right into a defender. You would think the coaches would inform the players that the shot fake doesn't work unless you're guarded or someone is aggressively closing out on you. Butler and Teague do this a lot. You get an open spot up 3 off ball rotation, SHOOT THE F'ing BALL!!!

How much is on the player... and how much on the preferred style in messages from above?

With KAT, I can't help but think they don't want him shooting out there too much. Maybe it's PTSD from the early Kevin Love years... or maybe it's because even Jim Pete rips some of those shots (which leads me to think he's clued in on the Wolves preferences)... or maybe just my imagination.

KAT looks like he's always debating whether to take those or not. He used to pump fake... and then mess up his rhythm when he did take them. At least now, he either shoots it or drives... avoiding those out of rhythm misses. But you can hear the gears working in there when he gets open behind the arc sometimes.

But the game has changed. EVERYBODY knows this now. An open 3 point shot for 35% shooters HAS to taken. It simply has to happen. EVERY time. Welcome to 2018 NBA basketball. Heck, welcome to 2016 NBA basketball.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:A few notes:

- I feel bad for every fan in Utah. It's one thing for a team to lose (as we all know)... but that team is insufferable to watch. Rubio's TOs are way up... and his assists are way down. There's just nothing there offensively for that team. There's nobody (sans the young, mercurial and selfish Mitchell) who's dynamic. Rubio is in a very bad spot and he's being exposed.

- Apparently, Rodney Hood is unable to drive. Ever. Him creating offense seems to be shooting 24 footers with a hand in his face. And he makes Wiggins look like Draymond Green in filling out the rest of the boxscore.

- Joe Ingles is arguably the cheapest player in the L right now. So many nudges. Bumps. Slaps. All completely accidental though. ahem.

- Count Utah out. There were legit warning signs with Gobert. But at least they were good defensively. They don't stand a chance without him. I expect them to lose at least 2/3 of their games without Gobert over the next 4-6 weeks.

- Injuries or not... 41 minutes for KAT and 39 for Gibson and only 13 for Bjelicia in a game the Wolves led from beginning to end and by 20+ points late in the 2nd half is a bit alarming.

- Butler hasn't helped much with offensive flow or efficiency. But the guy does know how to play. He makes some creative passes and finds ways to be involved.

- Maybe Shabazz Muhammad and Nerlens Noel can write a joint story in The Players Tribune about how players overvalue themselves and lose out on a tens of millions of dollars. Both should recover somewhat... but they are two of the most disappointing players in the NBA right now after both turned down big, fair-market deals to bank on themselves this season for a payout next season.

- Muhammad could walk into any pickup game in the world and dominate. He could scored bucket after bucket. But that doesn't mean he's a good basketball player. He might have one of the game's most limited offensive skillsets (under 6'10" division).

Muhammad has been a disaster in my opinion, but it's hard to rip him too much on a minimum deal. He's paid what he's worth, but I don't believe he should be in an NBA playoff rotation. I would honestly prefer Bjelly play more SF and double his minutes and simply go with a 9-man rotation.

Butler is a very good passer, but unfortunately it requires a lot of possession time for him to make the pass. You can tell he molded himself into the player he is as a late bloomer, because it seems like such a grind versus instinctual. That's both good and bad. Hopefully his work habits rub off on others, but his game is not exactly a thing of beauty.

Yeah, Utah is on the ropes and they simply don't have the offensive talent to dig themselves out. They were kind of a fun team to root for, but this is good news for the Wolves....one less team to compete with us for that 7th or 8th seed!