Minnesota Sports Forum

The modern NBA offense is dominated by perimeter play. Three point shooting to space the floor, penetration to put the defense into rotation, and bigs who can contribute or at least stay out of the way. Look at the Spurs, Clippers, Thunder, Rockets, Warriors, Heat - multiple ball handlers who can collapse the defense, 3-4 three point shooting threats to maintain spacing, and highly skilled and/or athletic bigs who can set all the screens and facilitate.

Now look at the Wolves. One ball handler, Rubio, who can penetrate, only he's not a threat to score so the defense doesn't have to collapse. One big, Pek, who can score from the post but can't pull his man out of the lane. A wing, Martin, who can knock down shots but can't handle. Another wing, Brewer, who can't shoot or handle. And finally, a big, Love, who might be the best offensive PF in the league. By my count, that's precisely 0 ball handlers who can score and 2 shooters out of five.

The modern NBA defense calls for a rim protector surrounded by a bunch of relatively interchangeable wings who can quickly rotate and recover. Pacers have Hibbert (as well as length and perimeter defense everywhere), Spurs have Duncan, Warriors have Bogut, Houston has Howard, Thunder have Ibaka, and the Heat are something of a special case because they have multiple shot-blocking wings. Anyways, neither Pek nor Love gives us any shot-blocking, and we have maybe one plus defender on the wing.

This is simply a deeply flawed roster in today's NBA. Year's past, maybe things would have been different. But now? With three point shooting front and center, you can't be a bottom-five three point shooting team and expect to compete. With hand-checking gone and perimeter guys penetrating nonstop, you can't have zero rim protectors and a bunch of plodding wings. The Wolves aren't built to succeed in the modern NBA, and they won't.

Couldn't agree more Horatio. I was saying the same things before we signed Pek. I think he's a great player but championship teams don't need centers and offering him 12 million a year was way too much in my opinion. The volume of 3 point shooting is going up each year (I believe Zach Lowe of Grantland had a good piece on this).

Guys like Paul, Wesbrook, Lillard, Curry, and now Dragic will continue to beat us with Pek and Rubio. We are definitely built like a team from the 70's. But I like Pek and Rubio, they're fun to watch. So I guess I'll enjoy the Wolves as entertainment but I agree, don't think we're built for a championship.

There are many ways to build a good team. I think you could build a championship roster around Ricky, Love, and Pekovic.

Starts by not signing guys non-core guys to 4M+. We have:
[list]
[*] Budinger (Flip)
[*] Brewer (Flip)
[*] Barea (Kahn)
[*] Mbah a Moute (Flip)
[/list]

Team is really stuck at this point moving forward. Dieng fits your model of a shot blocker. Shabazz doesn't fit your model as a ball handler. I really think this team needs a combo guard that can score to replace Barea. Someone that can play with Rubio and back him up.

Below is a list of options.

Crawford - Boston
Stuckey - Pistons
Shumpert - Knicks
Vasquez - Raptors
Miller/Foye - Nuggets

I think Shumpert, Stuckey, and Crawford would all be great options. We just don't have anything to give up for them. Ideally Shved would be that guy for us, but Barea is killing the second unit. I like guys like Lowry and Nelson too, but this team needs a backup at SG too and it would help if they could play alongside.


I think if Flip can figure out this we will be fine.

I think pek, love, and ricky can play for a contender - but not the same contender. Think about what they're missing as a unit. The remaining two starters would have to be an elite wing defender and an elite dribble drive threat - and they would both have to be three point shooters. I'm describing borderline all-stars here, and still haven't addressed shot blocking.

I'm not 100% sure pek works on any modern nba contender. I know Ricky, having no scoring ability from the pg spot, absolutely doesn't work. And the rest of the roster? Who among contending teams would even want them at the rates we're paying?

But hey, maybe that's why they're here at all. In which case, trade love tomorrow, move to Seattle next week.

First year this team is constructed. One of the best starting fives in basketball. Two key bench players just got back. Tweaks need to be made, but to say this can't work going forward is silly.

"I know Ricky, having no scoring ability from the pg spot, absolutely doesn't work." -- This is dumb. Plenty of teams have won an NBA championship without a scoring PG. Ricky just needs to get back to 10 PPG consistently. Meaning more FTAs or better finishing ability, preferably both.

Kevin Martin's production compared to salary is a bargain. I don't know how many times that needs to be said before it clicks with some of you.