Minnesota Sports Forum

Good read. We are getting some RESPECT coming in at 12.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/ranking-all-30-nba-starting-lineups-hint-warriors-are-pretty-good/

Thanks for posting Bleed.

In the 59th game of last season, Zach LaVine started at SG and continued to do so the rest of the way. As a team, our offensive rating was 12th best in the NBA between game 59 and game 82, so that matches up quite well with the prediction you posted. HOWEVER, that was our total team rating, bench included.

If you isolate 5-man units for the season, here is a tantalizing comparison:

Westbrook-Durant-Roberson-Adams-Ibaka
Minutes played together = 816
Offensive Rating = 113.3

Curry-Thompson-Barnes-Green-Bogut
Minutes played together = 552
Offensive rating = 109.2

Rubio-LaVine-Wiggins-Gorgui-KAT
Minutes played together = 648
Offensive rating = 113.5

Scoring will not be a problem for this team......

(I'll avoid posting defensive stats. Thibs is hopefully the elixir that cures what ails us).

Q12543 wrote:Thanks for posting Bleed.

In the 59th game of last season, Zach LaVine started at SG and continued to do so the rest of the way. As a team, our offensive rating was 12th best in the NBA between game 59 and game 82, so that matches up quite well with the prediction you posted. HOWEVER, that was our total team rating, bench included.

If you isolate 5-man units for the season, here is a tantalizing comparison:

Westbrook-Durant-Roberson-Adams-Ibaka
Minutes played together = 816
Offensive Rating = 113.3

Curry-Thompson-Barnes-Green-Bogut
Minutes played together = 552
Offensive rating = 109.2

Rubio-LaVine-Wiggins-Gorgui-KAT
Minutes played together = 648
Offensive rating = 113.5

Scoring will not be a problem for this team......

Very interesting - thanx for for posting.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Thanks for posting Bleed.

In the 59th game of last season, Zach LaVine started at SG and continued to do so the rest of the way. As a team, our offensive rating was 12th best in the NBA between game 59 and game 82, so that matches up quite well with the prediction you posted. HOWEVER, that was our total team rating, bench included.

If you isolate 5-man units for the season, here is a tantalizing comparison:

Westbrook-Durant-Roberson-Adams-Ibaka
Minutes played together = 816
Offensive Rating = 113.3

Curry-Thompson-Barnes-Green-Bogut
Minutes played together = 552
Offensive rating = 109.2

Rubio-LaVine-Wiggins-Gorgui-KAT
Minutes played together = 648
Offensive rating = 113.5

Scoring will not be a problem for this team......

Very interesting - thanx for for posting.

The article was an interesting read I am glad it was posted.

Q your comment on the Wolves not having a problem scoring (I agree) and the comments made in the article about the Kings specifically Rudy Gay remind me of a Facebook conversation I had with a college friend that is a Kings fan. He was asking what I thought about the Gay for Rubio rumors (sigh) and we ended up going back and forth about Gay. He thinks Gay is terrific clutch all kinds of delusional things and thought he would be great for the wolves. Ots funny how a player on your own team is so great but you want the best for him so you are willing to trade him to another team. Maybe he just really wants Rubio. One thing I told him was we didn't need another scorer. Another friend came in and commented "Gay is Josh Smith Jr." That made me chuckle but it was an interesting comp even though they bring different strengths to the floor.

Monster, Rudy Gay seems like a poor man's version of Carmelo Anthony. Yes, he consistently averages 17-20 PPG and is a solid rebounder for his position. He also has the size and athleticism to play and guard multiple positions. Yet he just doesn't seem to move the needle much on the teams he's on. At Memphis, they didn't skip a beat after he left. He has done very little to change the fortunes of Sacramento.

While I don't think Rudy is a bad player by any stretch, I just don't see how he'd fit on our squad since at this point we probably need elite role players and specialists more than OK-ish all-around players that don't do any particular thing very well.

As for Rubio, I don't necessarily rank him much higher than Gay overall as an individual player, however, he is such a great fit for us since our scorers are on the wings and the middle. Having an elite passing, defensive-oriented PG is just the perfect fit with guys like KAT, Wiggins, LaVine, and Shabazz needing lots of shots.

Q12543 wrote:Monster, Rudy Gay seems like a poor man's version of Carmelo Anthony. Yes, he consistently averages 17-20 PPG and is a solid rebounder for his position. He also has the size and athleticism to play and guard multiple positions. Yet he just doesn't seem to move the needle much on the teams he's on. At Memphis, they didn't skip a beat after he left. He has done very little to change the fortunes of Sacramento.

While I don't think Rudy is a bad player by any stretch, I just don't see how he'd fit on our squad since at this point we probably need elite role players and specialists more than OK-ish all-around players that don't do any particular thing very well.

As for Rubio, I don't necessarily rank him much higher than Gay overall as an individual player, however, he is such a great fit for us since our scorers are on the wings and the middle. Having an elite passing, defensive-oriented PG is just the perfect fit with guys like KAT, Wiggins, LaVine, and Shabazz needing lots of shots.

Agreed. Toronto got better after he left also. Like you said not a bad player but doesn't move the needle like his talent suggests.

Q12543 wrote:(I'll avoid posting defensive stats. Thibs is hopefully the elixir that cures what ails us).

Yeah, defensively they haven't been very effective as a unit on defense. But it's interesting that each of them has been considered far above average as a defender at some point in their careers...Rubio in the NBA, and the four youngsters in college. Sometimes it takes longer for college players to adapt defensively to the NBA game, but the performance of our four young starters in college tells me that this unit has as much potential defensively as they do offensively.

longstrangetrip wrote:

Q12543 wrote:(I'll avoid posting defensive stats. Thibs is hopefully the elixir that cures what ails us).

Yeah, defensively they haven't been very effective as a unit on defense. But it's interesting that each of them has been considered far above average as a defender at some point in their careers...Rubio in the NBA, and the four youngsters in college. Sometimes it takes longer for college players to adapt defensively to the NBA game, but the performance of our four young starters in college tells me that this unit has as much potential defensively as they do offensively.

Thibs keeps saying it's about playing D as a unit which I think has been the biggest problem for the wolves the last few years. Id say the Wolves under Adelman played better defensively as a unit despite having some flawed defenders. The current Wolves have real potential as individual defenders but as a unit when they were young they were often way too inconsistent which isn't that surprising considering their age and experience. Wiggins individual defense is probably solid but his team defense needs work although there were flashes of guys figuring it out down the stretch last year.

Q12543 wrote:Thanks for posting Bleed.

In the 59th game of last season, Zach LaVine started at SG and continued to do so the rest of the way. As a team, our offensive rating was 12th best in the NBA between game 59 and game 82, so that matches up quite well with the prediction you posted. HOWEVER, that was our total team rating, bench included.

If you isolate 5-man units for the season, here is a tantalizing comparison:

Westbrook-Durant-Roberson-Adams-Ibaka
Minutes played together = 816
Offensive Rating = 113.3

Curry-Thompson-Barnes-Green-Bogut
Minutes played together = 552
Offensive rating = 109.2

Rubio-LaVine-Wiggins-Gorgui-KAT
Minutes played together = 648
Offensive rating = 113.5

Scoring will not be a problem for this team......

Wow. Great research. With the Thibs effect on defense, there's no reason the Wolves should not make the playoffs this year.