Wolves fan commiserate here!
https://forum.midwestvolleyball.com/phpBB3/
https://forum.midwestvolleyball.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=32389
I’m willing to cut them a break as they figure out how to play without ANT. They need to beat the Clippers on Friday, as they have a scheduled loss the next night at the Spurs.
Yeah, they'll be fine. I predicted in the other thread Ant's injury might cost us 5 wins...this was one of them.
I think Ball is playing defense for the first time in his life, and that is where the excessive fouls are coming from. It will take time for him to figure that side of the court out.AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 29, 2026 9:15 am There's no need to overreact 5 games in, but it's a least worth mentioning and monitoring: Ball has been pretty unimpressive or just bad through most of the 5 games.
He was very good against Miami. Brilliant against Toronto, but also.... The fouls, so those take some of the shine off imo. Outside of that he's been meh or worse.
It's not an indictment of anything at this point, but he will need to improve his play.
It's also worth mentioning how poor Rudy has played on offense to start the season and how his great, but still declining defense may not be worth the trade off anymore.
Like I said, it's only 5 games, everything is still incubating and Ant is out now, but there are certainly positives and negatives
Agree on Ball.rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 29, 2026 9:22 amI think Ball is playing defense for the first time in his life, and that is where the excessive fouls are coming from. It will take time for him to figure that side of the court out.AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 29, 2026 9:15 am There's no need to overreact 5 games in, but it's a least worth mentioning and monitoring: Ball has been pretty unimpressive or just bad through most of the 5 games.
He was very good against Miami. Brilliant against Toronto, but also.... The fouls, so those take some of the shine off imo. Outside of that he's been meh or worse.
It's not an indictment of anything at this point, but he will need to improve his play.
It's also worth mentioning how poor Rudy has played on offense to start the season and how his great, but still declining defense may not be worth the trade off anymore.
Like I said, it's only 5 games, everything is still incubating and Ant is out now, but there are certainly positives and negatives
It's crazy that Rudy currently has the 2nd worst field goal percentage on the team at 37% ( not counting Evans and Cody who have taken just 1 and 2 shots so far) That will go up, but teams are really hacking him this season more than usual. Teams aren't afraid of him shooting free throws if the refs do call a foul.
Yeah still early of course, but these two guys are so key to our success, it's worth monitoring. I would say it's a mixed bag so far. My excitement about Ball has diminished since his brilliant start...his assist:TO ratio and PPG are worse than his career averages, and his 4.2 fouls per game is hurting us. But I'm going to present a ray of hope...his defense has been exceptional. His own brother has tweeted about it, saying he has never seen him so aggressive on defense (hence the fouls, huh?). He's so long and has a good understanding of team defense, so when he's putting in the effort, it's not surprising our defense clicks when he is out there. LaMelo trails only Ant in on/off at 13.1, because opponents are scoring 10.7 fewer points per 100 possessions when he is out there. Sure, on/off stats are tricky in only a 5-game sample, but it's notable to me that LaMelo has never had a favorable defensive on/off in his career...and the numbers completely match my eye test. All the talk he and Ant had about defense preseason is coming to fruition.AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 29, 2026 9:15 am There's no need to overreact 5 games in, but it's a least worth mentioning and monitoring: Ball has been pretty unimpressive or just bad through most of the 5 games.
He was very good against Miami. Brilliant against Toronto, but also.... The fouls, so those take some of the shine off imo. Outside of that he's been meh or worse.
It's not an indictment of anything at this point, but he will need to improve his play.
It's also worth mentioning how poor Rudy has played on offense to start the season and how his great, but still declining defense may not be worth the trade off anymore.
Like I said, it's only 5 games, everything is still incubating and Ant is out now, but there are certainly positives and negatives
I feel like Joan has looked a lot better defensively since the first game. He's fouling less and not getting blown by as much. His defensive rebounding is night and day better than last season (so far). He is obviously a work in progress on that end, but I've seen growth.FNG wrote: ↑Thu Oct 29, 2026 10:04 amYeah still early of course, but these two guys are so key to our success, it's worth monitoring. I would say it's a mixed bag so far. My excitement about Ball has diminished since his brilliant start...his assist:TO ratio and PPG are worse than his career averages, and his 4.2 fouls per game is hurting us. But I'm going to present a ray of hope...his defense has been exceptional. His own brother has tweeted about it, saying he has never seen him so aggressive on defense (hence the fouls, huh?). He's so long and has a good understanding of team defense, so when he's putting in the effort, it's not surprising our defense clicks when he is out there. LaMelo trails only Ant in on/off at 13.1, because opponents are scoring 10.7 fewer points per 100 possessions when he is out there. Sure, on/off stats are tricky in only a 5-game sample, but it's notable to me that LaMelo has never had a favorable defensive on/off in his career...and the numbers completely match my eye test. All the talk he and Ant had about defense preseason is coming to fruition.AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 29, 2026 9:15 am There's no need to overreact 5 games in, but it's a least worth mentioning and monitoring: Ball has been pretty unimpressive or just bad through most of the 5 games.
He was very good against Miami. Brilliant against Toronto, but also.... The fouls, so those take some of the shine off imo. Outside of that he's been meh or worse.
It's not an indictment of anything at this point, but he will need to improve his play.
It's also worth mentioning how poor Rudy has played on offense to start the season and how his great, but still declining defense may not be worth the trade off anymore.
Like I said, it's only 5 games, everything is still incubating and Ant is out now, but there are certainly positives and negatives
Then there's Rudy, and again it's a mixed bag...although even more dramatic than LaMelo. His inability to catch the ball or finish when he does catch it has reached the comical level...I find myself cringing every time a teammate feeds him. It's no surprise to anyone here (small sample size alert again) that we are scoring an alarming 16.4 fewer points per 100 when he is out there. But the other side of the coin is his defense, which I think has been extraordinary so far. He does such a great job of taking care of his body, and he looks like he's even in better shape than last year. He's very active jumping out on defense while also playing very big around the rim...I don't have the stats, but I'm not seeing us giving up many points in the paint when Rudy is out there. And his defensive rebounding is so elite, we're just not giving up many second chance points at all when he is out there. Again, it's no surprise to me that we are giving up 21.3 fewer points per 100 when Rudy is out there. He remains an imposing defensive and rebounding force. But those hands though...
I know Joan is the shiny new toy here, but I find myself cringing when he is out there on defense to the same extent I am when Rudy fumbles the ball. It's amazing what a mirror image of each other our two centers are! Joan has so much potential as a 2-way player, but he is still so raw and ineffective on defense. I can't criticize his effort at all, but he is constantly out of position and also regularly getting beat when he is guarding the perimeter. Despite his defensive struggles, we're somewhat surviving his minutes on the court because of his exceptional ability to keep offensive possessions alive with his relentless rebounding...every misses shot is in play when Joan is out there! But again, opponents scoring 26.3 more points per 100 when he is out there totally matches my eye test. The good news? He has all the tools to become a defensive force, and he is going to learn.
I'm not worried about Ball...he's going to make us better. And Joan will continue to struggle on defense, but it will be fun to watch him improve. And Rudy? His hands are never going to get better, but he is so good on the boards and on defense, we will still be much better when he is out there.
That's fair, Q. There's no question that Rudy is helped by starting each half with Jaden and JK (who have been elite defensively) and Ant and Melo (who are both playing the best defense of their careers), while Joan is out there often with TJ, who is still a work in progress on defense. And I agree with you that Joan seems to be learning the art of boxing out on defensive rebounding...although he is still miles away from the rebounding force Rudy is. But I'll also point out that Rudy is usually out there against the opponents' best players, while Joan generally has the benefit of guarding against reserves. The on/off numbers are admittedly far too small of a sample size to draw final conclusions, but the difference between Rudy and Joan is dramatic and matches what I'm seeing. But Joan is going to get better on defense every game...his upside is enormous.Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Oct 29, 2026 11:07 amI feel like Joan has looked a lot better defensively since the first game. He's fouling less and not getting blown by as much. His defensive rebounding is night and day better than last season (so far). He is obviously a work in progress on that end, but I've seen growth.FNG wrote: ↑Thu Oct 29, 2026 10:04 amYeah still early of course, but these two guys are so key to our success, it's worth monitoring. I would say it's a mixed bag so far. My excitement about Ball has diminished since his brilliant start...his assist:TO ratio and PPG are worse than his career averages, and his 4.2 fouls per game is hurting us. But I'm going to present a ray of hope...his defense has been exceptional. His own brother has tweeted about it, saying he has never seen him so aggressive on defense (hence the fouls, huh?). He's so long and has a good understanding of team defense, so when he's putting in the effort, it's not surprising our defense clicks when he is out there. LaMelo trails only Ant in on/off at 13.1, because opponents are scoring 10.7 fewer points per 100 possessions when he is out there. Sure, on/off stats are tricky in only a 5-game sample, but it's notable to me that LaMelo has never had a favorable defensive on/off in his career...and the numbers completely match my eye test. All the talk he and Ant had about defense preseason is coming to fruition.AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 29, 2026 9:15 am There's no need to overreact 5 games in, but it's a least worth mentioning and monitoring: Ball has been pretty unimpressive or just bad through most of the 5 games.
He was very good against Miami. Brilliant against Toronto, but also.... The fouls, so those take some of the shine off imo. Outside of that he's been meh or worse.
It's not an indictment of anything at this point, but he will need to improve his play.
It's also worth mentioning how poor Rudy has played on offense to start the season and how his great, but still declining defense may not be worth the trade off anymore.
Like I said, it's only 5 games, everything is still incubating and Ant is out now, but there are certainly positives and negatives
Then there's Rudy, and again it's a mixed bag...although even more dramatic than LaMelo. His inability to catch the ball or finish when he does catch it has reached the comical level...I find myself cringing every time a teammate feeds him. It's no surprise to anyone here (small sample size alert again) that we are scoring an alarming 16.4 fewer points per 100 when he is out there. But the other side of the coin is his defense, which I think has been extraordinary so far. He does such a great job of taking care of his body, and he looks like he's even in better shape than last year. He's very active jumping out on defense while also playing very big around the rim...I don't have the stats, but I'm not seeing us giving up many points in the paint when Rudy is out there. And his defensive rebounding is so elite, we're just not giving up many second chance points at all when he is out there. Again, it's no surprise to me that we are giving up 21.3 fewer points per 100 when Rudy is out there. He remains an imposing defensive and rebounding force. But those hands though...
I know Joan is the shiny new toy here, but I find myself cringing when he is out there on defense to the same extent I am when Rudy fumbles the ball. It's amazing what a mirror image of each other our two centers are! Joan has so much potential as a 2-way player, but he is still so raw and ineffective on defense. I can't criticize his effort at all, but he is constantly out of position and also regularly getting beat when he is guarding the perimeter. Despite his defensive struggles, we're somewhat surviving his minutes on the court because of his exceptional ability to keep offensive possessions alive with his relentless rebounding...every misses shot is in play when Joan is out there! But again, opponents scoring 26.3 more points per 100 when he is out there totally matches my eye test. The good news? He has all the tools to become a defensive force, and he is going to learn.
I'm not worried about Ball...he's going to make us better. And Joan will continue to struggle on defense, but it will be fun to watch him improve. And Rudy? His hands are never going to get better, but he is so good on the boards and on defense, we will still be much better when he is out there.
Keep in mind who he's out there with too. None of the other regular bench guys are plus defenders. So unless he's playing with Jaden or Kuminga, he has no other good vet defenders out there with him. All the other bench players get to overlap with Rudy somewhat so it helps bring their D-Rating down. Last night we finally saw Finch throw Clark out there with him for a crucial stretch and the defense looked good because Clark was able to finally get some perimeter stops on both Curry and Yax.