Towns and Wiggins lead the NBA in contested shots taken

[BloopOracle]

http://stats.nba.com/players/shots-closest-defender/#!?sort=FGA&dir=1&CF=FGA*GE*2&Season=2016-17&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&PerMode=Totals

Wiggins does it to himself quite a bit but Towns leading the NBA and still shooting a very high percentage interests me greatly.

Who do we blame for this, Ricky's spacing issues, our shit supporting core, or Towns' youth?

[bleedspeed]

Interesting. I think they have not learned to create space yet and have been successful not. Or it might be because they have not learned to make them pay by passing to a large degree. It might be them or they are playing with less talented teammates. I wonder where LaVine would rate if he wouldn't have gotten hurt.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

You have to factor in fouls drawn too. It's funny how far down the list Harden is - I'm not sure how that's possible, but I have to believe part of it is that whenever he's guarded closely, he shoves his arms into people to draw the foul. That doesn't count as a shot attempt on this chart even though he's being tightly guarded.

Neither KAT or Wig do a lot to initiate contact. All of their fouls are truly naturally legit fouls drawn, which is honorable, but these guys need to learn to thrown their bodies/arms into people more often.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

http://stats.nba.com/players/shots-closest-defender/#!?sort=FGA&dir=1&CF=FGA*GE*2&Season=2016-17&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&PerMode=Totals

Wiggins does it to himself quite a bit but Towns leading the NBA and still shooting a very high percentage interests me greatly.

, Ricky'sWho do we blame for this spacing issues, our shit supporting core, or Towns' youth?

Hmm...if the guy making the decisions about playing time allows two players forcing things on offense and playing very poor defense to finsih among the top 5 in the league in MPG, I might suggest you havent included all the possible answers in this multiple choice question...especially since it's easy to argue that all three of the factors you cited were more extreme last season. Many of us applauded Thibs when he benched Towns after a very poor defensive effort or Shabazz after charging his way into a 1 on three, but why didnt he do this earlier? Awarding minutes is a way of endorsing play.

[BloopOracle]

http://stats.nba.com/players/shots-closest-defender/#!?sort=FGA&dir=1&CF=FGA*GE*2&Season=2016-17&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&PerMode=Totals

Wiggins does it to himself quite a bit but Towns leading the NBA and still shooting a very high percentage interests me greatly.

, Ricky'sWho do we blame for this spacing issues, our shit supporting core, or Towns' youth?

Hmm...if the guy making the decisions about playing time allows two players forcing things on offense and playing very poor defense to finsih among the top 5 in the league in MPG, I might suggest you havent included all the possible answers in this multiple choice question...especially since it's easy to argue that all three of the factors you cited were more extreme last season. Many of us applauded Thibs when he benched Towns after a very poor defensive effort or Shabazz after charging his way into a 1 on three, but why didnt he do this earlier? Awarding minutes is a way of endorsing play.

....what does this have to do with spacing? Ok so say Thibs cuts both their minutes to below NBA average starter minutes the entire season, wtf does that have to do with spacing? Who are these bench players Thibs could substitute to improve our spacing?

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

http://stats.nba.com/players/shots-closest-defender/#!?sort=FGA&dir=1&CF=FGA*GE*2&Season=2016-17&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&PerMode=Totals

Wiggins does it to himself quite a bit but Towns leading the NBA and still shooting a very high percentage interests me greatly.

, Ricky'sWho do we blame for this spacing issues, our shit supporting core, or Towns' youth?

Hmm...if the guy making the decisions about playing time allows two players forcing things on offense and playing very poor defense to finsih among the top 5 in the league in MPG, I might suggest you havent included all the possible answers in this multiple choice question...especially since it's easy to argue that all three of the factors you cited were more extreme last season. Many of us applauded Thibs when he benched Towns after a very poor defensive effort or Shabazz after charging his way into a 1 on three, but why didnt he do this earlier? Awarding minutes is a way of endorsing play.

....what does this have to do with spacing? Ok so say Thibs cuts both their minutes to below NBA average starter minutes the entire season, wtf does that have to do with spacing? Who are these bench players Thibs could substitute to improve our spacing?

Maybe I read your question wrong, Bloop, but I read it as you asking who was responsible for Wig and KAT leading the league in contested shots. And you gave three possible culprits, one of which was the possible spacing issues Ricky creates. I didn't see that you were asking who was responsible for our spacing issues, but if you were, I misread your post. I would have to see if KAT and Wig also led the league in contested shots last year, but if they didn't, it might be reasonable to look at what is different this year. In any event, my eye test tells me that KAT and Wig (and Bazz too, of course) often force things when other players are wide open. If a coach doesn't hold players accountable for poor decision making or poor effort, I think he misses out on a teaching moment and tacitly endorses their behavior. Popovich has always been the master of tough love...I think Thibs could be stronger in this area.

[60WinTim]

This stat should surprise no one. I am not sure what infuriates me more -- the weak ass defense, or the lack of desire to create shots for teammates.

A lot of problems would be solved if both Wiggins and KAT made personal goals of reaching 5 assists per game. It would make everyone better. And feeling better makes it easier to play as a unit on defense. Thibs is always preaching about sharing the ball. Wiggins and KAT don't get it, yet. Hopefully it comes with maturity.

[Brooklyn_Wolves [enjin:14608167]]

Wiggins is #2, #2, #1 in the last 3 seasons, basically all of his young career.
Towns was #10 last year. I guess it's who they are. They are chuckers on a subpar team who don't like to pass.

[Duke13]

This has been bother me for quite some time. On offense we mind as well put two cones on the floor along with Ricky, Wig and Kat. Wig and Kat never pass the ball. Granted they are great 1-1 players but it's on conducive to winning.

You watch many of the top teams in the league play offense, it's generally not dominated so much by the PG and it's not ISO ball from one or two players. Christ we don't have anyone else who can run a break. I dream of the day to see someone get a rebound and speed dribble up the court to create a fast break. We are damn near last in pace of play.

I didn't watch the game the other night, when I looked at the box score the first thing I looked at was the assists. Kat and Wig had ZERO! And of course Ricky had a bunch. I'd take Ricky with 8 assist verse 16 if it meant other guys were making plays for teammates.

This isn't Ricky's fault, I'm very impressed with his play, but I think we have become very reliant on his play making, to the point we have nobody else creating offense for anyone else. I hope we find some play makers this offseason. I absolutely hate our offense l, I don't care what the numbers say.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I'm not sure why Thibs doesn't run more elbow action with KAT (similar to what Denver does with Jokic). KAT has the skills to be a great passer.