Wolves fan commiserate here!
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Finch has said he has wanted to run for years but the team hasn't done it. That has had a lot to do with personnel. Keep in mind Finch was with the Rockets and was a G-league coach when they were trying out the whole playing small jacking up 3's with the Rio Grand Vipers. Lamelo is likely going to increase the pace and a full year of Ayo will help. Randle didn't exactly play fast either which in some ways was odd based on his skill level for a PF.DNatagal wrote: ↑Sat Jul 11, 2026 5:08 pm Any chance that having LaMelo on the roster opens up the Wolves offense? It would be amazing to get some lob dunks on backups, easy layups, and 3's where there isn't a defender in sight. I do not think that the P'n'R offense that Finch runs will be the answer going forward.
Transition is going to help a ton, but I want to see offball screens with a purpose. Movement instead of standing in the corner waiting to see what happens. The Wolves have been a top 10 offense for a while, and I think it has far more to do with the players than with a scheme that is run. Clark and TSJ should benefit from the passes that LaMelo can make. Which will hopefully open up the rest of the team from some "beautiful basketball".Monster wrote: ↑Sat Jul 11, 2026 5:27 pmFinch has said he has wanted to run for years but the team hasn't done it. That has had a lot to do with personnel. Keep in mind Finch was with the Rockets and was a G-league coach when they were trying out the whole playing small jacking up 3's with the Rio Grand Vipers. Lamelo is likely going to increase the pace and a full year of Ayo will help. Randle didn't exactly play fast either which in some ways was odd based on his skill level for a PF.DNatagal wrote: ↑Sat Jul 11, 2026 5:08 pm Any chance that having LaMelo on the roster opens up the Wolves offense? It would be amazing to get some lob dunks on backups, easy layups, and 3's where there isn't a defender in sight. I do not think that the P'n'R offense that Finch runs will be the answer going forward.
100%DNatagal wrote: ↑Sat Jul 11, 2026 7:00 pmTransition is going to help a ton, but I want to see offball screens with a purpose. Movement instead of standing in the corner waiting to see what happens. The Wolves have been a top 10 offense for a while, and I think it has far more to do with the players than with a scheme that is run. Clark and TSJ should benefit from the passes that LaMelo can make. Which will hopefully open up the rest of the team from some "beautiful basketball".Monster wrote: ↑Sat Jul 11, 2026 5:27 pmFinch has said he has wanted to run for years but the team hasn't done it. That has had a lot to do with personnel. Keep in mind Finch was with the Rockets and was a G-league coach when they were trying out the whole playing small jacking up 3's with the Rio Grand Vipers. Lamelo is likely going to increase the pace and a full year of Ayo will help. Randle didn't exactly play fast either which in some ways was odd based on his skill level for a PF.DNatagal wrote: ↑Sat Jul 11, 2026 5:08 pm Any chance that having LaMelo on the roster opens up the Wolves offense? It would be amazing to get some lob dunks on backups, easy layups, and 3's where there isn't a defender in sight. I do not think that the P'n'R offense that Finch runs will be the answer going forward.
That was one of the oddest introductory pressers I've ever heard! LaMelo gave nothing but Popovich-like short answers to every question...Johnny Athletic tried everything to pull him out of his shell, but nothing worked! I was really looking forward to this presser, because like you, I had never heard Ball speak...except for the few times I watched their family TV show. If hadn't heard so many people say what a nice guy he is, I might have thought he was acting like a dick with his one-sentence answers. But I think he's actually just quite shy and not totally comfortable in a situation like that. I had heard someone say at the time of the trade that Ant/LaMelo post gamers were going to be a lot of fun. But I saw a guy who seems a lot more like Jaden than Ant! Anyway, I agree...he seems like a really nice guy.Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 14, 2026 1:16 pm https://www.youtube.com/live/22NuQIY5oy ... yR0_1p7sKm
This is the first time I’ve ever seen LaMello interviewed. Not what I expected. He’s very understated. Man of few words. Nothing close to Ant’s presence or charisma. Hard to get a sense of him from this interview as you’ll see, but his persona seems to align with those who say he’s a nice guy.
A few things jumped out at me:
1. When asked about how the Wolves will fill their PF position, Tim said “we’re looking at a couple free agents.” We know one of them is LeBron. The word “couple” means two. I wonder who the other one is. When asked what the team’s pitching to LeBon is, Tim made a point of saying it’s the same pitch to the other free agents PFs they’re looking at. He then described the pitch as coming to a winning environment where it will fun to play. So it looks like the Wolves are pursing LeBron and one or possibly two alternative free agents for the PF position and given the limited compensation they can offer they’re stressing both winning and fun as the pitch to lure them here.
2. The way they talked about Green, Finch referring to his toughness and defensive versatility, suggests they’re not inclined to move him. Finch referred to the Wolves going small while the League goes bigger so it doesn’t seem like they’re obsessed with getting bigger. Finch or Tim referred to the importance of having size in the backcourt and we certainly have that with LaMello, Ant and Ayo.
3. Finch seems excited about what going smaller can do to unlock Rudy’s full offensive game. He referred to Rudy’s offensive success in Utah where he was surrounded by four smaller guys who spaced the floor around him.
Odd is the right word. I’m going to see if I can find prior Ball interviews on line to see if he was similarly cryptic.FNG wrote: ↑Tue Jul 14, 2026 3:03 pmThat was one of the oddest introductory pressers I've ever heard! LaMelo gave nothing but Popovich-like short answers to every question...Johnny Athletic tried everything to pull him out of his shell, but nothing worked! I was really looking forward to this presser, because like you, I had never heard Ball speak...except for the few times I watched their family TV show. If hadn't heard so many people say what a nice guy he is, I might have thought he was acting like a dick with his one-sentence answers. But I think he's actually just quite shy and not totally comfortable in a situation like that. I had heard someone say at the time of the trade that Ant/LaMelo post gamers were going to be a lot of fun. But I saw a guy who seems a lot more like Jaden than Ant! Anyway, I agree...he seems like a really nice guy.Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 14, 2026 1:16 pm https://www.youtube.com/live/22NuQIY5oy ... yR0_1p7sKm
This is the first time I’ve ever seen LaMello interviewed. Not what I expected. He’s very understated. Man of few words. Nothing close to Ant’s presence or charisma. Hard to get a sense of him from this interview as you’ll see, but his persona seems to align with those who say he’s a nice guy.
A few things jumped out at me:
1. When asked about how the Wolves will fill their PF position, Tim said “we’re looking at a couple free agents.” We know one of them is LeBron. The word “couple” means two. I wonder who the other one is. When asked what the team’s pitching to LeBon is, Tim made a point of saying it’s the same pitch to the other free agents PFs they’re looking at. He then described the pitch as coming to a winning environment where it will fun to play. So it looks like the Wolves are pursing LeBron and one or possibly two alternative free agents for the PF position and given the limited compensation they can offer they’re stressing both winning and fun as the pitch to lure them here.
2. The way they talked about Green, Finch referring to his toughness and defensive versatility, suggests they’re not inclined to move him. Finch referred to the Wolves going small while the League goes bigger so it doesn’t seem like they’re obsessed with getting bigger. Finch or Tim referred to the importance of having size in the backcourt and we certainly have that with LaMello, Ant and Ayo.
3. Finch seems excited about what going smaller can do to unlock Rudy’s full offensive game. He referred to Rudy’s offensive success in Utah where he was surrounded by four smaller guys who spaced the floor around him.