The little things...

[AbeVigodaLive]

We've been talking about the subtle things that separate winning from losing recently. And with that in mind, this snippet from an interview with Marc Gasol jumped out at me. It's a learning process and many Wolves have quite the way to go to get there.

Zach Lowe: It almost reminds me of the way Andre Iguodala talks about the game -- how he's always saying that he does all these little things that people don't appreciate, or don't show up in traditional stats. Like, the way you might bump a cutter, or shift into a passing lane at just the right moment. Little things that sometimes go unnoticed.

Mark Gasol: You have to do them, anyway, even if no one notices. That's what the team needs you to do. If you don't bump the cutter, it's gonna open something up for someone else -- that's what the plays are designed for. But if you bump him, you're disrupting the whole timing. We talk about timing, and passing, and all those things. Just by bumping a guy, you take away their whole possession.

We have a lot of pretty good basketball minds here. But most of this stuff goes unnoticed most of the time. But it helps explain why some teams win more than others.

[bleedspeed]

Good stuff.

[Monster]

Yep they do matter. Thanks for posting that.

[GymRat [enjin:6592663]]

Obviously in order to get the Wolves to win more games we should set up a screening of the Butterfly Effect. They can learn firsthand from Ashton Kutcher how simple and largely unnoticed movements and actions can change the course of history.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Great quote by Gasol.

PER is not my favorite advanced stat, but it's a generally accepted metric for measuring the degree to which someone fills up the box score. It especially loves high volume scorers, rebounders, and passers. A PER of 15 is considered about average for an NBA player.

Of the 10 guys we have in our regular rotation, 5 are above a 15 PER and 5 are below (Towns is at the top of the list at 22.5, which is 16th best in the league by the way). So we should be about .500, right? Instead, we've been in a tailspin over the past couple of weeks.

Yeah, a lot of little things done wrong or not done at all lead to a lot of losses.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I didn't know bumping cutters was the little thing guys did to disrupt possessions. I assumed their almost undressing of cutters with how bad everybody holds was the way they disrupted possessions. It's crazy how many guys hold and how egregious it gets at times to stop guys trying to come off screens from getting open.

[Monster]

I didn't know bumping cutters was the little thing guys did to disrupt possessions. I assumed their almost undressing of cutters with how bad everybody holds was the way they disrupted possessions. It's crazy how many guys hold and how egregious it gets at times to stop guys trying to come off screens from getting open.

Well those things wouldn't be classified as little things then would they? ;)

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I really like this thread, and also think it's yet another reason for optimism with our club. Talent is the most important element in building a winner, but doing the little things is also important. We clearly have the talent, but doing the little things right doesn't come naturally for inexperienced NBA players, and 6 of the top 7 guys in minutes played are 25 or younger (and the 7th is Kevin Martin). Contrast that with Memphis where 7 of the top 8 guys in minutes played are 28-34 (and the 8th is only 35). I wouldn't want to be a Memphis fan, because even though they will make the playoffs again this year again because of their experience, their window is about to shut and they have no young players coming up. The Wolves are going to be frustrating to watch this year, but it won't be long before these young guys are vets to whom doing the little things come naturally. And that's when we will get our payoff for sticking with this club through the Dark Ages.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I really like this thread, and also think it's yet another reason for optimism with our club. Talent is the most important element in building a winner, but doing the little things is also important. We clearly have the talent, but doing the little things right doesn't come naturally for inexperienced NBA players, and 6 of the top 7 guys in minutes played are 25 or younger (and the 7th is Kevin Martin). Contrast that with Memphis where 7 of the top 8 guys in minutes played are 28-34 (and the 8th is only 35). I wouldn't want to be a Memphis fan, because even though they will make the playoffs again this year again because of their experience, their window is about to shut and they have no young players coming up. The Wolves are going to be frustrating to watch this year, but it won't be long before these young guys are vets to whom doing the little things come naturally. And that's when we will get our payoff for sticking with this club through the Dark Ages.

To be fair, we don't know if enough Wolves will be willing to the little things yet. That's a huge part of it. Is the 22 ppg star wing going to chuck cutters every time? Is the spry SG going to step in and take that charge even though the team is up 7 at the time?

If every veteran had that mentality... there would be more good games. Some veterans are less willing to do those little things than 20 year olds.

Learning them is one thing. The willingness to do them is quite another.

[TAFKASP]

I thought this was going to be a JJ Barea thread.