Minnesota Sports Forum

It’s only 4 games, but I thought I’d call out what I view as the main positives for the Wolves so far. Here they are:

1. Team defense. The Wolves defense has been really good for 7 of the 8 halves they’ve played. That’s a great sign given the organization’s goal to build the team’s identity around defense.

2. Rudy Gobert. I still hate the trade that brought him here and I don’t think he provides anything close to max player value given the Wolves mix of talent. But he’s been really good defensively so far this season and has also helped at times on the offensive end, especially with his screening. I love the way his running and moving on the court. His energy has been fantastic. He looks much better than last season and I’m really pleased with what he’s given us so far.

3. Karl Anthony Towns. KAT’s shooting has been off both inside and from the perimeter. But he has a long track record that tells us his shooting will come around. What’s really exciting about KAT is how well his played defensively, avoided fouling and curtailed his whining. KAT’s defense has been excellent through these first four games and he’s substantially reduced his fouling on both sides of the ball. We haven’t seen those dumb fouls that we’ve seen all too often throughout his career. I have this lurking fear in the back of my mind that he’ll eventually revert to his old ways, but honestly don’t think he will.

4. Naz Reid. Naz has picked up where he left off last season shortly before he injured his wrist. He’s been a key positive for the Wolves thus far and I see him continuing to get better. He plays well with either Rudy or KAT. As I’ve always thought, he’s more of a PF than a center both offensively and defensively.

I still don’t see the KAT-Rudy pairing as optimal. But seeing the substantial individual improvement in both of them gives me hope that this team can do really well this season in spite of the suboptimal pairing. Those two and Naz give the Wolves an incredibly formidable threesome at the Center and PF positions.

Now I want to see Ant improve his finishing at the rim, his decision-making and his ballhandling. I’m looking for Jaden to get a rhythm after his early injury and take his game to the next level. I think Milton will play better.

Yeah, we're 2-2 without anyone going nuts with their shooting, and if anything, underachieving on offense. If this team keeps it up defensively, than we just need to be a top 15 offensive team to be really good. It seems absurd that we can't even be average with the likes of Ant and KAT on the roster, but it goes to show the difficulty these guys have synergizing with each other (along with poor hands Rudy).

Last season we were incredibly consistent over 20 game stretches of being a .500 team, no matter who was healthy or who our PG was. Didn't make a difference. We always found a way to play up or down to our competition, so could never break out of mediocrity. Will it be any different this year?

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 6:22 pm Yeah, we're 2-2 without anyone going nuts with their shooting, and if anything, underachieving on offense. If this team keeps it up defensively, than we just need to be a top 15 offensive team to be really good. It seems absurd that we can't even be average with the likes of Ant and KAT on the roster, but it goes to show the difficulty these guys have synergizing with each other (along with poor hands Rudy).

Last season we were incredibly consistent over 20 game stretches of being a .500 team, no matter who was healthy or who our PG was. Didn't make a difference. We always found a way to play up or down to our competition, so could never break out of mediocrity. Will it be any different this year?

That’s the question, Q. We are now one game over .500 after a convincing win at home over Utah. These are the games we’re supposed to win and we should win most of them convincingly like we did tonight. Tonight we saw KAT’s shooting coming around. Hopefully Jaden will lay off the weed and round into form. We need his shooting as well as his defense.

This team needs to string a bunch of wins together now and avoid a string of losses. Until that happens we’re still a team like last season that’s hovering around .500.

Still lamenting those 2 losses so far. We should be 4-1 minimum.

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 10:52 pm Still lamenting those 2 losses so far. We should be 4-1 minimum.

True. But sometimes a loss can be a blessing in disguise and the Atlanta loss might be a reminder that the Wolves can't take a quarter off and expect to win. Time will tell.

Here are the only three players in the Association with defensive ratings under 100 so far this season:

Rudy Gobert: 94.9
DeAndre Ayton: 97.7
KAT: 98.8

FNG wrote: ↑Sun Nov 05, 2023 4:27 am Here are the only three players in the Association with defensive ratings under 100 so far this season:

Rudy Gobert: 94.9
DeAndre Ayton: 97.7
KAT: 98.8

Good stuff. We have the #1 defense in the league, so we're bound to have some guys at or near the top of individual defensive ratings. Really impressed with KAT's defense so far. It's far from perfect and his tumbles along the baseline when he unsuccessfully drives to the hoop hurts us in transition, but overall he's been solid and he's not a guy we need to hide.

To me, Conley is the guy teams target. He's certainly a better defender than DLO, but his size and age make him vulnerable to getting picked on.

Speaking of DLO, last night he shot the ball a team high 17 times and only made 4 shots. Meanwhile AD was 10 for 15, LeBron was 8 for 15 and Austin Reeves was 7 for 11. Even before last night's game, I read that both AD and LeBron were miffed with DLO's ball hogging ways. I'm glad he's somebody else's problem. You would think the Lakers would have learned something from the Westbrook fiasco.

Wolves are third best in turnovers and a lot of that is due to Mike Conley. Conley has only one turnover in 5 games.

Kyle Anderson is still good. He will be playing more SF but there are team where that can be an advantage or not a bad thing. Utah is one of those teams where he is some of the time matched up with Lauri.