T-Wolves Regular Season Thread

[kab21]

 

Tough loss tonight. I really liked the effort though, considering the early deficit. Offense looked broken. Poor shot selection, indecision throughout. Probably just because Teague got swapped in after being out a week.

I would start tyus. Every game. But, that’s just, like, my opinion.

You said that last year too but I don't see it. Tyus is proving to be an excellent backup but I don't think he is better than either Teague or Rubio.

The Wolves beat a bad team and an okay team with Tyus last week. They lost to two okay teams with him. I think they go 3-1 with Teague.

 

I would cut Teague's minutes down to 32ish and play Tyus more than he had been playing though.

[Pardon My Dinger]

You said that last year too but I don't see it. Tyus is proving to be an excellent backup but I don't think he is better than either Teague or Rubio.

 

The Wolves beat a bad team and an okay team with Tyus last week. They lost to two okay teams with him. I think they go 3-1 with Teague.

 

I would cut Teague's minutes down to 32ish and play Tyus more than he had been playing though.

He might not be as good as Teague, but everything seems to gel better when he is running the floor. And he’s a real smart defender. I won’t be shocked when he gets plugged back into the starting five at some point. Edited December 2, 2017 by Pardon My Dinger

[Pardon My Dinger]

What do you folks think about the DeAndre Jordan rumors? Jordan starts at C, allowing Towns to play in the 4 spot (which I’ve always thought is a much more natural fit)?

 

I like Gibson though.

[bluechipper]

With KAT showing no interest in becoming a good defender at the 5, I'm starting to question if you can win with him there instead of at the PF. I always thought that he would be a fine defender, but it's past time where he should have shown that.

[Pardon My Dinger]

I never understood the commitment to KAT as a Center. Even when it was KAT and Gorgui. KAT looks like a PF to me. Always has.

[kab21]

KAT looks like a 7 foot tall SF to me.

 

I have no idea what a Teague - Butler - Wiggins - KAT - Jordan would do on offense. It is an interesting idea. I am assuming that the deal would have to be Dieng and Aldrich for Jordan. Salaries should roughly matchup and the Clippers get a good young player that the Wolves barely play anyway. Taj slides to a 6th man role and Bjelica might not get off the bench.

The defense would definitely improve but I have no idea what would happen on offense. Better/Worse?

[Thegrin]

I hate Jordan.  It seems like his numbers are unimportant .  The Clips play the same wether Jordan plays well or disappears.  

 

[Pardon My Dinger]

This game...more Tyus, please.

[Pardon My Dinger]

Wow. That was, I think, our first real look at a Jimmy G Buckets signature match. God bless that man. Haven’t had a player like that since KG.

[Thegrin]

I spent a lot of the Clippers game watching Jordan.  He does not seem to have a lot of "want to" when he is playing.

[Pardon My Dinger]

Setting the clock back to Twitter games ago, to measure Tyus’ worth vs Teague...

 

So far, it’s Tyus 2, Teague 0.

[BuxtonBandwagon]

Real terrible loss. KAT playing as bad offensively as he did tonight doesn't help because of how bad he is defensively.

[Pardon My Dinger]

Real terrible loss. KAT playing as bad offensively as he did tonight doesn't help because of how bad he is defensively.

Yup.

 

On the plus side, jimmy’s figuring out how to take control of the floor when this team needs him. Give it until the all star break, and this team will be rolling.

 

More tyus, though, please.

[BuxtonBandwagon]

 

Yup.

On the plus side, jimmy’s figuring out how to take control of the floor when this team needs him. Give it until the all star break, and this team will be rolling.

More tyus, though, please.

That's HUGE for this team. If only he woulda got it done tonight.

 

But yes Tyus looks good. I was worried he wouldn't be a serviceable backup but I was way wrong he looks good. Defensively he plays really well for his size/athleticism

[Thegrin]

Tyus does look good.  I do like him better than Jeff Teague.  However, I miss Ricky Rubio's long passes on the break.  

[kab21]

The Wolves are 3-1 against bad teams which is alright but they haven't looked great winning those 3 though. 

Butler has found his groove right now. He is avg'ing 25/6/6/2/0.5 in the 5 December games on 50% shooting. He is also averaging 40+ minutes/game...

[Pardon My Dinger]

Well, i’ll say this (of course, i’m not the first, obviously): when it comes to play by play, the wolves are second to none. Turned off that ESPN feed after two minutes. Gotta have Jim Pete.

Edited December 13, 2017 by Pardon My Dinger

[BuxtonBandwagon]

Is this sixers team that much worse w/o covington? they're making the wolves look great defensively

[Pardon My Dinger]

Woof. That game. Deserved the win for so many moments. Deserved to lose for so many reasons. Calling all big KATs.

[Shane Wahl]

Some strange comments here. Towns is better defensively this year than he has ever been. Tyus works in his backup role and is not better than Teague. The team is actually very good right now. I cannot explain what on earth is happening against these Eastern Conference teams, but whatever.

[Pardon My Dinger]

Some strange comments here. Towns is better defensively this year than he has ever been. Tyus works in his backup role and is not better than Teague. The team is actually very good right now. I cannot explain what on earth is happening against these Eastern Conference teams, but whatever.

If I may:

 

Towns is better defensively (in the past two weeks) than he has ever been. Tyus is a better FIT for this team (and also, Teague kind of sucks but whatever), and yes, the team is doing too well to really complain too much.

 

Above that, the most improved player to this point is #22. Wiggy has good games and bad games offensively, but his defense over the past two months has been above (my own) expectations.

Edited December 16, 2017 by Pardon My Dinger

[Taildragger8791]

If I may:

Towns is better defensively (in the past two weeks) than he has ever been. Tyus is a better FIT for this team (and also, Teague kind of sucks but whatever), and yes, the team is doing too well to really complain too much.

Above that, the most improved player to this point is #22. Wiggy has good games and bad games offensively, but his defense over the past two months has been above (my own) expectations.

Towns is still a stud and will be fine. He just needs to get stronger (find those man muscles) and keep gaining experience.

 

Wiggy still has too many games where he doesn’t contribute anything outside of scoring with mediocre efficiency. In the last game he had 1 rebound and no assists, steals, or blocks. That’s unbelievable. Season averages on non-scoring stats are nearly identical to his career. Scoring efficiency is actually down, which is disconcerting since he focuses so hard on it. The guy doesn’t know what to do on a basketball court if he doesn’t have the ball or isn’t guarding the ball.

 

The defense is a little better, which is nice to see, although I’m not sure yet how much of that is his own improvement and how much is from having Butler and Taj flanking him. You can see some improvement in his more active hands at least.

Edited December 16, 2017 by Taildragger8791

[Shane Wahl]

Wiggins is having his worst season so far, by the way. Basically literally every stat available demonstrates this.

[kab21]

 

Wiggins is having his worst season so far, by the way. Basically literally every stat available demonstrates this.

The disappointing thing for me is that his shooting %'s are down across the board and getting to the point where he is a bad player (31% 3 pt - 64% FT). I would expect his offensive usage (and scoring) to go down with Butler (and Teague) on the team but he needs to find a way to be more efficient when he does have the ball.

[drjim]

I feel for all of you who are still fans.

[Lefty74]

These guys are very hard to watch!! I don’t think Thibs constant barking helps, in fact I think he is losing the younger guys.

 

KAT is going to continue to grow and get better every year. He has the passion/energy and talent to be a real force in the league. Should be fun to watch as he matures.

 

Wiggins may be the anchor that keeps this franchise from accomplishing much. $150M for a player ranked 193 in Player Efficiency Rating! The biggest concern is he is NOT getting better. Examples:

 

In his 4 years his shooting % has averaged .448, league average .458

3 pt shooting %. .310. .364

Rebounds per game 4.0 avg rebounds per game for a team = 43.3 so I would say he is way underachieving on this stat. He’s 6’8” and plays forward!!

There is not any stat where he shines. He plays with a look of disinterest that is troubling. He stands straight up and down on defense and when rebounding; no athleticism even though it’s clear he’s a great athlete.

 

4 years is not a small sample size. He is not changing and due to his contract and the minutes he plays we are going to struggle unless he steps it up. The contract is our anchor unless he really changes his game.

[Lefty74]

And I should have added that in almost every category his #’s are down this year.....very troubling.

[Thegrin]

The youngsters got to learn.  Thib got Butler and Gibson to rejoin him.  They must respect him and understand them.  The kids will learn.  

[Deduno Abides]

Thibodeau has got to go. Having a bunch of players lead the league in minutes is like having a bunch of pitchers lead the league in innings. They may be great talents, but they get worn down. Thibs is, at best, the Dusty Baker of basketball coaches.

 

Corrected.

[Thegrin]

Ugly win, but I'll take it.