The winning DOES NOT start tonight - Wolves at Jazz GDT

[Lipoli390]

Mo's performance tonight wasn't much different than any other game. He slows down the offense and stifles any sort of offensive flow. He's the opposite of a player who makes his teammates better. He's a streaky shooter who, when hot, can put a lot of points on the board. But he has no dribble penetration game and is an unbelievably bad defender. Overall, I'm not down on Flip like some others. But Flip's infatuation with Mo does make me wonder.

We have poor caliber vets on this team with the exception of Rubio, Pek and Martin. And two of those three have huge flaws in their games and can't stay healthy. My main point is that it's all about the future and the development of the young players - Wiggins, Shabazz, Zach, and Dieng. I'm not willing to tie our future to Bennett although he is extremely talented. The brightest ray of hope so far is clearly Shabazz.

[kekgeek]

I also learned I am never trusting Cam ever again with a scouting report his two "loves" Thad Young and Stauskas have been dog shit

Young isn't this bad. Or wasn't this meh in previous years. Really. Think he's dogging it because he's played with shit teams his whole career, essentially, and thought it'd be different this year, but it isn't due to injuries. Pre-2014 Thad is a good basketball player. This version of him doesn't even look like the same guy. His mom dying didn't help either, but he should still be a professional ball player even with that. I get it, but sure, blame me.

I still believe in Stauskas, actually. The guy can't get minutes on that Kings team, but Ray "Big Shitty" McCallum can get PT somehow. Unfortunate situation for him, but I expect him to prove me right at some point. That's another "wait and see" situation. (Raise your hand if you were a Noah Vonleh or James Young fan. Let's re-hash that)

"My guys" in that draft were: Jabari Parker, Julius Randle, Nik Stauskas, Jarnell Stokes and K.J. McDaniels.

Guys I was firm about staying away from: Joel Embiid, Noah Vonleh, James Young, Cleanthony Early.

I also said Bennett was dog shit while everyone here hyped him up, but I'm never right. :thumb:

Sorry for attacking you, I was just in a pissy mood after the game, I know thad is better than this also, I like thad, I am just extremely disappointed in his play

[bleedspeed]

(Raise your hand if you were a Noah Vonleh or James Young fan. Let's re-hash that)

Vonleh fan here. Looked bad in summer league and got hurt during preseason. Trending towards a bust, but I would trade Bennett for him at this point.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I know there were a couple Baz supporters on the board, but did anybody expect him to be as good as he's been of late?

I did. He was the one player I liked in that draft. How can you go wrong with someone who loves to score and has an insane work ethic. That was what all of his coaches had said about him. I am very happy he is putting it together. And good on Flip for playing him.

Mark Madsen is wondering how you missed him tanking for the Wolves?!?

I was an early party arriver also with doper and wildwolf, and thought he was the SOD. BUT, I have to admit I didn't think he would ever be comfortable with the passing game. Tonight he had two assists, and could have had several more. I'm not surprised with his relentless effort and scoring, but his passing is beginning to look legit...not great, but adequate, and that's fine with me.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Mark Madsen is wondering how you missed him tanking for the Wolves?!?

Most embarrassing performance I've seen on a basketball court. It was a slap in the face to every Wolves fan... mostly those who paid to see that game.

[mjs34]

After watching last nights game, I came away with a couple conclusions on Flip. The first is that Flip is very similar in his coaching style to adelman in that they both tend to ignore in-game results, and continue to go to guys that in their mind, are stable performers when closing out games. The second is that Flip clearly doesn't value defense.

How could Flip, with a clear conscience put Young and Mo back in the game to blow another win. Both are huge liabilities defensively, and neither had it going offensively last night. We win that game if Thad is content to just stay in front of his man defensively, rather than continually reach for a steal. IT has gotten so bad, that now we have Gorgi automatically coming over to double team Thad's man.

I read that Flip had a huddle with the young guys to challenge them to compete against Utah's young core, but closing out the game he has Zach sitting on the bench. Why not play Bennett or Hummel in place of Thad, who had another horrible night on both ends of the floor. What do we have to lose at this point?

How do you continue to play Bud significant minutes, while not at least giving Daniels a chance to show if the other night was a fluke? He certainly has to be better defensively!

My last observation is on the officiating. Is Ingles the next Dirk or something. The guy fouled WIggins three times on one drive never getting called. He almost collapsed Young's chest a second time before getting called for his one foul. The guy missed his calling, he should have been a wrestler.

Is there a rule that says Wiggins can't go to the line? How do you miss the grab by Hayward with Wiggins coming off the pick and then allow the steal with even more contact late in the game? How many steps does Favors get before you call a moving screen, and then to compound the problem, you call a foul on our PG's. Kanter on a couple occasions took at least 4 steps without a dribble to finish down the lane without a traveling call. Of course they certainly reviewed the play late to take the possession away from the wolves. Flip has got to start picking up some T's when this shit is happening. Stop pulling an Adelman and showing disgust and sitting back down. Start making a scene like Pop, RIvers, and others do when not getting calls. Hell Pop does it whether he is getting calls or not.

edit: I almost forgot the best or worst call of the evening. Thad Young gets whistled for hitting the ball into Haywards face by an official who had zero visibility to what actually happened. Very similar to the goal tend called on Gorgi. Once again the official with the worst viewpoint made the call. At the very least they need to start fining these guys when they clearly have no view of the play.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Some good points there, sjm. The one point I disagree with you on is Flip closing the game out with Mo instead of Zach. While Mo is not a good defender, Zach isn't either (yet), and Mo is clearly the better offensive PG. Flip is still playing to win, and I agree with him that Mo is our best option at PG to close out games.

Damn, I wish Rubio would hurry back...

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Mark Madsen is wondering how you missed him tanking for the Wolves?!?

Most embarrassing performance I've seen on a basketball court. It was a slap in the face to every Wolves fan... mostly those who paid to see that game.

In fairness to Mad Dog, he was wide open on every 3-point attempt :)

[AbeVigodaLive]

Mark Madsen is wondering how you missed him tanking for the Wolves?!?

Most embarrassing performance I've seen on a basketball court. It was a slap in the face to every Wolves fan... mostly those who paid to see that game.

In fairness to Mad Dog, he was wide open on every 3-point attempt :)

I assume this post is facetious?

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Here's my issue with all the "bench Thad Young" stuff. Nobody's taken the starting job from him with their play. Bennett has been poor. Adrien's our backup center and a journeyman around the league. Hummel's been decent off the bench in spurts, but he's not going to be an upgrade to our starting lineup. It would have to be Flip trying to shake things up except he'd have zero justification to his players on why he's benching Thad.

In my opinion, we absolutely have to keep starting Thad. He's better than his play thus far, and we shall see that when Rubio returns.