The Minnesota Slump Busters

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I'm always amazed at how other teams or players that prior to playing Minnesota were in a major shooting slump miraculously break out of it when playing the Wolves. Here are the latest examples:

Randy Foye - Was shooting around 20% from 3 on the year. He proceeds to knock down 5 3's in the first half and torch us for 17 first half points.

Brandon Knight - Was 1-17 on 3's over the few games prior to playing us. He proceeds to go 7-14 against us! I mean, nevermind the fact he hit 50% of his 3's. How the hell does he get 14 attempts to begin with! :furious:

Jameer Nelson - Essentially was Mudiay's veteran "mentor" coming off the bench as a backup PG. He was shooting sub-30% from 3.....until he played us. He proceeds to torch us, going 4-7 from 3 and scoring 20 points.

Jamaal Crawford - Another guy struggling with his shot until he played us. Proceeds to go 4-6 from 3.


This is just over the past 5 games. Now I know some of this can be placed squarely on our defense. But c'mon, we're not the ONLY team that gives up the occasional open 3. The reason these guys were slumping was because they were missing the open ones and the contested ones. Yet they play us and they go in no matter what!

Just venting.....

[thedoper]

They're all guards. I think our early successes were from size on the perimeter. This is why I've been hoping for a Wiggins Bazz combo at the 2/3. I think it makes the most sense on both sides of the floor. Whether it's Zach or Bazz I want less Martin.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

They're all guards. I think our early successes were from size on the perimeter. This is why I've been hoping for a Wiggins Bazz combo at the 2/3. I think it makes the most sense on both sides of the floor. Whether it's Zach or Bazz I want less Martin.

Bazz and Prince may be similar in terms of their length, but defensive IQ is a completely different matter.

So who is going to be the slump buster tonight? My guess is that either Derrick Williams or Aaron Afflalo go off big from beyond the arc tonight.

[thedoper]

They're all guards. I think our early successes were from size on the perimeter. This is why I've been hoping for a Wiggins Bazz combo at the 2/3. I think it makes the most sense on both sides of the floor. Whether it's Zach or Bazz I want less Martin.

Bazz and Prince may be similar in terms of their length, but defensive IQ is a completely different matter.

So who is going to be the slump buster tonight? My guess is that either Derrick Williams or Aaron Afflalo go off big from beyond the arc tonight.

I just think putting Wiggins on the other guard changes our team D substantially.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

They're all guards. I think our early successes were from size on the perimeter. This is why I've been hoping for a Wiggins Bazz combo at the 2/3. I think it makes the most sense on both sides of the floor. Whether it's Zach or Bazz I want less Martin.

Bazz and Prince may be similar in terms of their length, but defensive IQ is a completely different matter.

So who is going to be the slump buster tonight? My guess is that either Derrick Williams or Aaron Afflalo go off big from beyond the arc tonight.

Williams...always the safer choice to go with the failed ex-Wolf.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

They're all guards. I think our early successes were from size on the perimeter. This is why I've been hoping for a Wiggins Bazz combo at the 2/3. I think it makes the most sense on both sides of the floor. Whether it's Zach or Bazz I want less Martin.

Bazz and Prince may be similar in terms of their length, but defensive IQ is a completely different matter.

So who is going to be the slump buster tonight? My guess is that either Derrick Williams or Aaron Afflalo go off big from beyond the arc tonight.

I just think putting Wiggins on the other guard changes our team D substantially.

Wiggins should be on the other team's best wing regardless. Since Wiggins hasn't been a good help defender, but a good individual one it shouldn't matter who he guards when it comes to the impact on the rest of the team defense. Putting Wiggins at the 2 and Bazz at the 3 solves nothing defensively because Bazz is a bad defender despite his best efforts.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Definitely Williams tonight and Krispy will have a big game too.

[thedoper]

They're all guards. I think our early successes were from size on the perimeter. This is why I've been hoping for a Wiggins Bazz combo at the 2/3. I think it makes the most sense on both sides of the floor. Whether it's Zach or Bazz I want less Martin.

Bazz and Prince may be similar in terms of their length, but defensive IQ is a completely different matter.

So who is going to be the slump buster tonight? My guess is that either Derrick Williams or Aaron Afflalo go off big from beyond the arc tonight.

I just think putting Wiggins on the other guard changes our team D substantially.

Wiggins should be on the other team's best wing regardless. Since Wiggins hasn't been a good help defender, but a good individual one it shouldn't matter who he guards when it comes to the impact on the rest of the team defense. Putting Wiggins at the 2 and Bazz at the 3 solves nothing defensively because Bazz is a bad defender despite his best efforts.

You can still out Wiggins on the best wing or guard depending on where the talent is. All of our guards have been getting burned and have been playing d as atrocious as what Bazz would be bringing from the 3. At least with Bazz and Wiggins we have multiple mismatch opportunities going the other way as well.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

They're all guards. I think our early successes were from size on the perimeter. This is why I've been hoping for a Wiggins Bazz combo at the 2/3. I think it makes the most sense on both sides of the floor. Whether it's Zach or Bazz I want less Martin.

Bazz and Prince may be similar in terms of their length, but defensive IQ is a completely different matter.

So who is going to be the slump buster tonight? My guess is that either Derrick Williams or Aaron Afflalo go off big from beyond the arc tonight.

I just think putting Wiggins on the other guard changes our team D substantially.

Wiggins should be on the other team's best wing regardless. Since Wiggins hasn't been a good help defender, but a good individual one it shouldn't matter who he guards when it comes to the impact on the rest of the team defense. Putting Wiggins at the 2 and Bazz at the 3 solves nothing defensively because Bazz is a bad defender despite his best efforts.

You can still out Wiggins on the best wing or guard depending on where the talent is. All of our guards have been getting burned and have been playing d as atrocious as what Bazz would be bringing from the 3. At least with Bazz and Wiggins we have multiple mismatch opportunities going the other way as well.

I posted in another thread, but Lavine is good at defending spot up shooters. His problems come when he's put in the PnR. Moving him to SG would actually be a big bonus to his defense and our ability to stop catch and shoot 3's because he's really good at it. Lavine is better than Bazz on both ends of the court. Bazz has just been bad this year. He simply doesn't deserve to start. We're too worried about matchups. Put the 5 best guys in the starting lineup and play. We're losing on the team level, not because of 1 or 2 matchups each game.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

They're all guards. I think our early successes were from size on the perimeter. This is why I've been hoping for a Wiggins Bazz combo at the 2/3. I think it makes the most sense on both sides of the floor. Whether it's Zach or Bazz I want less Martin.

Bazz and Prince may be similar in terms of their length, but defensive IQ is a completely different matter.

So who is going to be the slump buster tonight? My guess is that either Derrick Williams or Aaron Afflalo go off big from beyond the arc tonight.

Williams...always the safer choice to go with the failed ex-Wolf.

It's Afflalo. Prior to tonight, he was averaging 12 points per game and 30% from 3. But all is well - the Slump Busters have come to town!