CoolBreeze's 2 Things I didn't Like Plus 1 - Preseason Edition

[Coolbreeze44]

As we've all seen, the Wolves are just one player away from being serious contenders. Just because that one player happens to be Lebron, Giannis, or Kawhi, is neither here nor there. So it's in this spirit of optimism I present to you the preseason version of the 2 + 1:

1) The plan being deployed by Rosas has one fundamental flaw: It's not going to be successful. Houston had great players over the years who were surrounded by great shooters. And even with that advantage they were only marginally successful. Copying that strategy is stupid to begin with, but when you don't have the parts for successful execution, it becomes an exercise in futility. Hence my 23 win prediction this year.

2) Poor KAT. He's not a good defender to begin with, but what they are doing to him from a roster standpoint is criminal. What are we going to do if he has to miss any time? I can answer that - Lose. He is going to have to take on every big in the league. He's going to get beat up which is going to make him less effective on the offensive end. I can't begin to speculate on how fast he is going to tire of this.

Plus 1 - Let's not be completely negative. Here are some positives:

- A lot of games are going to be shootouts which should be entertaining if nothing else

- Edwards improved over the preseason providing for hope going into the regular games

- I'm personally going to enjoy watching the development of our young players, including both first round picks on the roster

- It's great to see so many of you diehards back for another year of punishment. And it looks like we have some new blood to offer their perspective. Good to see.

And that's the preseason edition of the 2 + 1.

[AbeVigodaLive]

- It's great to see so many of you diehards back for another year of punishment. And it looks like we have some new blood to offer their perspective. Good to see.

I'm excited to bludgeon any newbies with a steady, incessant stream of Wolves cynicism until they relent.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

This somewhat goes with your second point, Cool, but I'm personally astounded by Gersson Rosas' roster-building strategy versus my own. It appears that Rosas has placed even more responsibilities on Karl-Anthony Towns' shoulders, especially defensively. He's going to have to be a legitimately good defender just to save this group from being bottom five in the league on defense. Additionally, he has zero help cleaning up the glass as this team is cluttered with poor rebounding forwards. Ironically, this team does have a plethora of guys that want to put up shots, which could mean less shots overal or less open shots for Towns. That's the opposite of what we needed. He should be taking even more shots, in my opinion.

I would have formed this roster to take as much pressure off of him in every way possible -- specifically by adding another big body down low that could defend the more difficult frontcourt matchup as well as help clean up the glass. I think you have to make the game simpler for Towns right now, not more difficult. This front office is basically telling him that the Wolves will either sink or swim solely on his defensive improvement. Combine that with the offensive load he currently carries and that's a pretty big ask.

We'll see how it turns out, but I just don't agree with how Rosas and crew have shaped the roster around Towns. I don't think Rosas has done the team any favors either by keeping the Golden Boy in charge. So, I'm not super optimistic either.

I do think they'll outperform their projected win total, but I think that's mainly because the number was set too low to begin with. Vegas set the over/under at 28.5. Minnesota won 19 out of 64 games last year with Towns playing in just 35 of those.

[AbeVigodaLive]

It's almost mind-boggling what they're doing to help out the biggest issue facing the franchise player.

It's similar to putting Rubio out there with Tony Allen, Josh Okogie, the worst Plumlee brother and Rajon Rondo and expecting them to outscore teams.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

It's almost mind-boggling what they're doing to help out the biggest issue facing the franchise player.

It's similar to putting Rubio out there with Tony Allen, Josh Okogie, the worst Plumlee brother and Rajon Rondo and expecting them to outscore teams.

Yeah, they have completely surrendered the paint unless my guy Vandy gets really good really fast or Ryan goes rogue and decides to play Ed Davis with KAT.

[Lipoli390]

Great job, Cool! Unfortunately, I find myself in complete agreement with your analysis. And I think Cam did a great job amplifying your second point about KAT. This is going to be an ugly season for the Wolves, except perhaps for the development of some of our young guys, especially Edwards. In the meantime, I look forward to new ownership and a new front office in a year or so.

[BloopOracle]

- It's great to see so many of you diehards back for another year of punishment. And it looks like we have some new blood to offer their perspective. Good to see.

I'm excited to bludgeon any newbies with a steady, incessant stream of Wolves cynicism until they relent.

FNG so far is resisting

[KG4Ever]

I really want to see Jarrett Culver break out this year. His 13 for 13 at the stripe gives me some hope. I never believed he'd continue to shoot as bad as he showed last year as free throw shooting in college is the same distance as the NBA and he wasn't horrible there. I hope Edwards shows better than what I expect. Edwards and Culver have the most upside of anyone other than KAT and the Wolves definitely need to hit on at least one of the two.

[Coolbreeze44]

This somewhat goes with your second point, Cool, but I'm personally astounded by Gersson Rosas' roster-building strategy versus my own. It appears that Rosas has placed even more responsibilities on Karl-Anthony Towns' shoulders, especially defensively. He's going to have to be a legitimately good defender just to save this group from being bottom five in the league on defense. Additionally, he has zero help cleaning up the glass as this team is cluttered with poor rebounding forwards. Ironically, this team does have a plethora of guys that want to put up shots, which could mean less shots overal or less open shots for Towns. That's the opposite of what we needed. He should be taking even more shots, in my opinion.

I would have formed this roster to take as much pressure off of him in every way possible -- specifically by adding another big body down low that could defend the more difficult frontcourt matchup as well as help clean up the glass. I think you have to make the game simpler for Towns right now, not more difficult. This front office is basically telling him that the Wolves will either sink or swim solely on his defensive improvement. Combine that with the offensive load he currently carries and that's a pretty big ask.

We'll see how it turns out, but I just don't agree with how Rosas and crew have shaped the roster around Towns. I don't think Rosas has done the team any favors either by keeping the Golden Boy in charge. So, I'm not super optimistic either.

I do think they'll outperform their projected win total, but I think that's mainly because the number was set too low to begin with. Vegas set the over/under at 28.5. Minnesota won 19 out of 64 games last year with Towns playing in just 35 of those.

Yeah, thanks for building on the KAT theme. We should be employing the old philosophy of putting your people in the best position to succeed. They are doing the opposite with KAT. I'd like to see him get more shots too. And they would be from all over the floor, including on the block.

I don't know much, but it makes sense to me to put a real good defensive big next to KAT. I would add some wins to my projected total if we had that player.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I really want to see Jarrett Culver break out this year. His 13 for 13 at the stripe gives me some hope. I never believed he'd continue to shoot as bad as he showed last year as free throw shooting in college is the same distance as the NBA and he wasn't horrible there. I hope Edwards shows better than what I expect. Edwards and Culver have the most upside of anyone other than KAT and the Wolves definitely need to hit on at least one of the two.

For reals. With how he was hitting the backboard before the rim on free throws last season... 13 - 13 is a real sign of progress.

Of everybody, I think he has the best upside THIS season. I don't think he'll ever be a star, but at least I can sort of imagine him developing into a 15/5/5 type of guy with solid defense.