Scouting the Wolves

[Monster]

This is a former NBA assistant that has a Twitter thread breaking down how a team would prepare for an opponent. He made a YouTube video of personnel as if a team was facing the Wolves. It's a pretty cool way of seeing how teams prepare for games and interesting to see some of his takes on Wolves players.

https://twitter.com/bryanoringher/status/1066097349670379520?s=21

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALOmGuiB5vU

[thedoper]

This is a former NBA assistant that has a Twitter thread breaking down how a team would prepare for an opponent. He made a YouTube video of personnel as if a team was facing the Wolves. It's a pretty cool way of seeing how teams prepare for games and interesting to see some of his takes on Wolves players.

https://twitter.com/bryanoringher/status/1066097349670379520?s=21

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALOmGuiB5vU

Great find Monster. This has been my favorite post all year.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Yeah, really interesting stuff monster. I found most of the analysis quite revealing and accurate. The only part I found inaccurate is his conclusion that you can double KAT and not worry about him feeding a 3-point shooter because the Wolves are not a good 3-point shooting team. While he is correct that KAT has not been effective in passing out of the double team, the Wolves are actually a pretty good 3-point team. They rank in the top half of the league in percentage, and are approaching the middle in attempts. 5 players in the 9-man rotation (plus Tolliver) are shooting better than the league average, and of the ones that aren't, I have no problem with Teague, Saric, Jones and even Gorgui letting it fly if they are wide open. It's not the hallmark of a Thibs team, but we are becoming a much better 3-point shooting team...KAT finding the open man when he is doubled will only make us better.

[Duke13]

I haven't watched this, I plan to as it sounds very interesting. I'm guessing what the report was referring to is poor spacing in these situations. Our players fail time after time to space out properly around the perimeter to provide clear passing angles and lanes off double teams. They don't move to create an open look. Kat needs to be quicker with decision making but its more a failure of the other four players to create the spacing. Funny that Covington and Saric know how to do this, maybe they were properly coached. Doesn't help when Teague is given a clear open look he doesn't take it, smh!

[Lipoli390]

I haven't watched this, I plan to as it sounds very interesting. I'm guessing what the report was referring to is poor spacing in these situations. Our players fail time after time to space out properly around the perimeter to provide clear passing angles and lanes off double teams. They don't move to create an open look. Kat needs to be quicker with decision making but its more a failure of the other four players to create the spacing. Funny that Covington and Saric know how to do this, maybe they were properly coached. Doesn't help when Teague is given a clear open look he doesn't take it, smh!

I agree completely.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I haven't watched this, I plan to as it sounds very interesting. I'm guessing what the report was referring to is poor spacing in these situations. Our players fail time after time to space out properly around the perimeter to provide clear passing angles and lanes off double teams. They don't move to create an open look. Kat needs to be quicker with decision making but its more a failure of the other four players to create the spacing. Funny that Covington and Saric know how to do this, maybe they were properly coached. Doesn't help when Teague is given a clear open look he doesn't take it, smh!

I agree completely.

Fair point by Duke, but I think Kat is not blameless here either. I think all of us can recall instances where KAT has had the ball on the block with 2 defenders on him and either not seen or ignored a wide-open teammate beyond the arc. It's frustrating for me, because I remember watching rookie KAT during summer league in Vegas and marveling at how well he passed out of the double team. I remember posting here that he was going to be a terrific assist guy like Marc Gasol. I still think KAT is going to get there, but at least to date his passing has been a big disappointment.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Jon K. made a great point on his latest Souhan podcast about the topic of KAT's passing. He wondered if the offense ran through KAT more and ran Adelman-type sets, would he feel emboldened to become more of a play maker. It's not like KAT doesn't have the skill. It goes back to Thibs motionless offense that depends on folks first beating their guy one on one and THEN looking to pass.

What's funny is that some of the first plays Thibs runs to open games involve a few quick passes on the perimeter to move the ball around a bit before setting up the play, which is usually a side PnR. It seems so perfunctory to me because they are moving the ball around without any intent to do anything other than set up a pick and roll. By the 4th quarter, Thibs cuts out the illusion of ball/player movement and goes to pure PnR or isolation sets. Such little imagination....

[Lipoli390]

Jon K. made a great point on his latest Souhan podcast about the topic of KAT's passing. He wondered if the offense ran through KAT more and ran Adelman-type sets, would he feel emboldened to become more of a play maker. It's not like KAT doesn't have the skill. It goes back to Thibs motionless offense that depends on folks first beating their guy one on one and THEN looking to pass.

What's funny is that some of the first plays Thibs runs to open games involve a few quick passes on the perimeter to move the ball around a bit before setting up the play, which is usually a side PnR. It seems so perfunctory to me because they are moving the ball around without any intent to do anything other than set up a pick and roll. By the 4th quarter, Thibs cuts out the illusion of ball/player movement and goes to pure PnR or isolation sets. Such little imagination....

I agree that KAT's limited passing is largely a function of Thibs' motionless offense. That's the point Duke made. Watching the games live I can clearly see the lack of good passing angles for KAT when he gets doubled in the post. It's obviously the result of poor spacing and a lack of movement off the ball.

Great point about the the Wolves' seemingly perfunctory ball movement to open games and sometimes for a good chunk of the first half of games. And yes, the pretense largely disappears entirely in the 4th.

[Monster]

Lots of conversation...I hope people end up actually watching the video... lol

[thedoper]

Lots of conversation...I hope people end up actually watching the video... lol

Yeah lots of discussion away from the video. I think the scout is accurate on KAT that at present he just isn't passing well out of the post so it's not a strategy to worry about it. Whether it's KAT or Thibs wasn't really the point of the video.