Minnesota Sports Forum

That's was fun right?

Ok seriously I know we are all pissed right now and we have every right to feel that way. Let's take a bit of a step back.

Towns turns 22 in November and we all know his immense offensive gifts and he puts up plenty of other stuff like blocks steals and rebounds. It's not like he doesn't do anything else.

This is still the beginning of his 3rd year. He hasn't got it on defense. Yeah it's sucks it's annoying and concerning but the guy is legitimately young and inexperienced. 40 games from now we may be saying he is starting to get it. I've been hard on him the last few hours and I think with his talent and his talk we hold him to a higher standard than other players. Even with his annoying cliches he would say he relishes that challenge or whatever.

As frustrated as I am right now I think he can still get there and be a top of the league 2 way franchise changing player.

We this team to take a legit step forward sooner we have a lot of pieces to go right now and I think ultimately we will be a playoff team (if we can stay relatively healthy) but we may need to take a step back every once in a while. It's sucks is annoying we have been doing that for over 10 years but there is probably still truth to that approach with Towns.

monsterpile wrote:Towns turns 22 in November and we all know his immense offensive gifts and he puts up plenty of other stuff like blocks steals and rebounds. It's not like he doesn't do anything else.

Why does he get a pass? Other third year players are playing defense and not looking like a rookie on that end. Enough excuses.

monsterpile wrote:40 games from now we may be saying he is starting to get it.

If he's a typical Wolf then in 60 games he'll take three steps back, then in 70 games two steps forward and find himself in exactly the same place he began. It's pretty much the same story with Rubio and Wiggins.

monsterpile wrote:
As frustrated as I am right now I think he can still get there and be a top of the league 2 way franchise changing player.

And Rubio may still develop a reliable three point shot. Wiggins may still find consistency in at least one area other than inefficient scoring. TheSP may just be the top pick one of these seasons too. I mean hell, if we're gonna dream...

If this shit play continues I just may find myself a fan of every team they play. Vikings fans are fond of saying "Just one in my lifetime" hoping for a championship. With the Wolves it's to the point that the one thing will be one decent 8th seed season.

I'm only being half smart ass above, I'm sick and **&(&&^ tired of seeing no progress. I'm old enough to remember when the Clippers were professional sports biggest joke and they weren't as a big a joke as this team.

The answer is Willie Cauley-Stein. Didn't Calipari platoon Kat and Stein at Kentucky? One played D, the other O

papalrep wrote:The answer is Willie Cauley-Stein. Didn't Calipari platoon Kat and Stein at Kentucky? One played D, the other O

Towns was statistically a very good defender in college. Hell the whole team was very good. Obviously they were ridiculously talented.

We're hitting the point where the defense will come is no longer a sure thing. He's actually regressed defensively since KG left and since his "stardom" has taken hold. It's a big red flag when someone says all the right things all the time, but never executes those things on the court. It's a sign of someone who thinks they get it, but they really don't. And his effort and intensity on defense clearly show he doesn't care to execute what he says on that end. For going on 3 years now he's been a stat hunter who doesn't make the winning plays regularly during a game. How many guys like that just magically flip a switch and realize it's a team game and they need to elevate their teammates play rather than just get theirs? His attitude off the floor and his play on the floor are saying two different things and until they align it's gonna be a problem for us because it just means he doesn't understand what the problems are and thus won't make the right corrections to fix them.

khans2k5 wrote:We're hitting the point where the defense will come is no longer a sure thing. He's actually regressed defensively since KG left and since his "stardom" has taken hold. It's a big red flag when someone says all the right things all the time, but never executes those things on the court. It's a sign of someone who thinks they get it, but they really don't. And his effort and intensity on defense clearly show he doesn't care to execute what he says on that end. For going on 3 years now he's been a stat hunter who doesn't make the winning plays regularly during a game. How many guys like that just magically flip a switch and realize it's a team game and they need to elevate their teammates play rather than just get theirs? His attitude off the floor and his play on the floor are saying two different things and until they align it's gonna be a problem for us because it just means he doesn't understand what the problems are and thus won't make the right corrections to fix them.

So we are 2 years and 5 games in and we know he won't ever really play D? Yeah it's not a sure thing but maybe let's wait another 20 games or so before we hit the The panic button quite that hard. That's probably what I am trying to say here.

Note I am not completely disagreeing with what you or any of the other posters have said. The last year plus has been overall fairly disappointing for this franchise which seemed to be really on its way and so we were hoping for more of significant leap overall. It could still happen and so think there is some legit reason to hope among the legit reason for concern as well.

He's quickly putting the shaq and Duncan comparisons to rest and instead trending towards becoming a rich man's enes Kanter

monsterpile wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:We're hitting the point where the defense will come is no longer a sure thing. He's actually regressed defensively since KG left and since his "stardom" has taken hold. It's a big red flag when someone says all the right things all the time, but never executes those things on the court. It's a sign of someone who thinks they get it, but they really don't. And his effort and intensity on defense clearly show he doesn't care to execute what he says on that end. For going on 3 years now he's been a stat hunter who doesn't make the winning plays regularly during a game. How many guys like that just magically flip a switch and realize it's a team game and they need to elevate their teammates play rather than just get theirs? His attitude off the floor and his play on the floor are saying two different things and until they align it's gonna be a problem for us because it just means he doesn't understand what the problems are and thus won't make the right corrections to fix them.

So we are 2 years and 5 games in and we know he won't ever really play D? Yeah it's not a sure thing but maybe let's wait another 20 games or so before we hit the The panic button quite that hard. That's probably what I am trying to say here.

Note I am not completely disagreeing with what you or any of the other posters have said. The last year plus has been overall fairly disappointing for this franchise which seemed to be really on its way and so we were hoping for more of significant leap overall. It could still happen and so think there is some legit reason to hope among the legit reason for concern as well.

Sure. There's a chance.

But NBA history is not on his (our) side.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:We're hitting the point where the defense will come is no longer a sure thing. He's actually regressed defensively since KG left and since his "stardom" has taken hold. It's a big red flag when someone says all the right things all the time, but never executes those things on the court. It's a sign of someone who thinks they get it, but they really don't. And his effort and intensity on defense clearly show he doesn't care to execute what he says on that end. For going on 3 years now he's been a stat hunter who doesn't make the winning plays regularly during a game. How many guys like that just magically flip a switch and realize it's a team game and they need to elevate their teammates play rather than just get theirs? His attitude off the floor and his play on the floor are saying two different things and until they align it's gonna be a problem for us because it just means he doesn't understand what the problems are and thus won't make the right corrections to fix them.

So we are 2 years and 5 games in and we know he won't ever really play D? Yeah it's not a sure thing but maybe let's wait another 20 games or so before we hit the The panic button quite that hard. That's probably what I am trying to say here.

Note I am not completely disagreeing with what you or any of the other posters have said. The last year plus has been overall fairly disappointing for this franchise which seemed to be really on its way and so we were hoping for more of significant leap overall. It could still happen and so think there is some legit reason to hope among the legit reason for concern as well.

Sure. There's a chance.

But NBA history is not on his (our) side.

I'll add that it's hard to get worse at something as he has at defense and then all of a sudden get better. If he showed any basic defensive fundamentals I wouldn't care as much, but it's that bad at this point. Then add in the mental aspect of him not caring and it's hard to know if the mental switch ever comes on from an effort standpoint will it even matter because he'll have none of the fundamentals to execute well. This is why bad habits need to be broken early and his have just been allowed to run rampant.

khans2k5 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:We're hitting the point where the defense will come is no longer a sure thing. He's actually regressed defensively since KG left and since his "stardom" has taken hold. It's a big red flag when someone says all the right things all the time, but never executes those things on the court. It's a sign of someone who thinks they get it, but they really don't. And his effort and intensity on defense clearly show he doesn't care to execute what he says on that end. For going on 3 years now he's been a stat hunter who doesn't make the winning plays regularly during a game. How many guys like that just magically flip a switch and realize it's a team game and they need to elevate their teammates play rather than just get theirs? His attitude off the floor and his play on the floor are saying two different things and until they align it's gonna be a problem for us because it just means he doesn't understand what the problems are and thus won't make the right corrections to fix them.

So we are 2 years and 5 games in and we know he won't ever really play D? Yeah it's not a sure thing but maybe let's wait another 20 games or so before we hit the The panic button quite that hard. That's probably what I am trying to say here.

Note I am not completely disagreeing with what you or any of the other posters have said. The last year plus has been overall fairly disappointing for this franchise which seemed to be really on its way and so we were hoping for more of significant leap overall. It could still happen and so think there is some legit reason to hope among the legit reason for concern as well.

Sure. There's a chance.

But NBA history is not on his (our) side.

I'll add that it's hard to get worse at something as he has at defense and then all of a sudden get better. If he showed any basic defensive fundamentals I wouldn't care as much, but it's that bad at this point. Then add in the mental aspect of him not caring and it's hard to know if the mental switch ever comes on from an effort standpoint will it even matter because he'll have none of the fundamentals to execute well. This is why bad habits need to be broken early and his have just been allowed to run rampant.

Without consequences... they won't change. Why would they?

And in today's NBA, what's a team like the Wolves to do? They can't bench these guys. The only option is to pay them $150M+ and HOPE it works out.

For the player, if it doesn't work out, they can walk or force themselves out and the organization is left holding the bag and the blame.

Too early to panic. But questions can be asked... and positive results can/should be expected.