Game Day: Wolves (4-3) @ Suns (5-1), Tues 11/1/22

[ShelC]

Good win against a solid team. The Wolves have some big bodies and are a physically strong team, played some really good defense that gave us trouble at times. Was impressed with Edwards' defense on Book. Edwards has all the talent, but needs to play smarter and learn to be more efficient. Having a real PG would go a long way, I don't think DRus is the answer there. Don't like that Reid and Prince gave us some trouble but you can't stop everyone.

KAT doesn't look comfortable at the 4 spot and didn't show much "takeover" ability when the Wolves got close. He's looking more and more like a #2 guy than a dominant go-to guy.

Great night from CamJ on both ends. He looks like he's settling in and finding his rhythm and he held it down defensively against KAT. Thought he got angry after one of his transition baskets where he didn't get the foul and maybe that got him going a bit.

CP looks like he's rounding into form too. Almost a triple double which is weird for a guy who's supposedly cooked. Took over the 4th, knocked down his middy and a 3 to help stop the Wolves from making a real run.

The bench wasn't great tonight but it's part of that learning process. CamP was too wild, Landry hit some shots but also struggled against the Wolves' size when he was playing against their starters. It was good to see Dario get some run and he looked pretty good. Happy he's back on the court after missing last year.

[Wally_West]

The TNT clip that Shel posted of Barkley is pretty much all they said about the Suns in post game show before turning it about the warriors.

[bajanguy008]

The all bench lineup didn’t cut it tonight

It took Monty way too long to recognize that. And it shouldn't be a thing...especially to start the 4th quarter.

I get what the announcers were saying about Monty wanting the bench to learn how to do stuff on their own…but maybe just need the non CP3/Book players to learn. Don’t need to stagger CP3/Book, but maybe put Mikal or CamJ out there with the bench.

100% agree with this
I have no problem at all with these experiments and I didn't even think of your point. We need that development from the Twin and DA so as you said not only ask them to be more attack minded to punish defenses for loading up on CP/Book but even make them the focal points of the 2nd units. See how they handle that

Again, this a very solid point you made so hopefully we see some of that soon when DA comes back

[bajanguy008]

Good win against a solid team. The Wolves have some big bodies and are a physically strong team, played some really good defense that gave us trouble at times. Was impressed with Edwards' defense on Book. Edwards has all the talent, but needs to play smarter and learn to be more efficient. Having a real PG would go a long way, I don't think DRus is the answer there. Don't like that Reid and Prince gave us some trouble but you can't stop everyone.

KAT doesn't look comfortable at the 4 spot and didn't show much "takeover" ability when the Wolves got close. He's looking more and more like a #2 guy than a dominant go-to guy.

Great night from CamJ on both ends. He looks like he's settling in and finding his rhythm and he held it down defensively against KAT. Thought he got angry after one of his transition baskets where he didn't get the foul and maybe that got him going a bit.

CP looks like he's rounding into form too. Almost a triple double which is weird for a guy who's supposedly cooked. Took over the 4th, knocked down his middy and a 3 to help stop the Wolves from making a real run.

The bench wasn't great tonight but it's part of that learning process. CamP was too wild, Landry hit some shots but also struggled against the Wolves' size when he was playing against their starters. It was good to see Dario get some run and he looked pretty good. Happy he's back on the court after missing last year.

Gonna piggyback off another solid post
Agree with lot of this and I was wondering how come nobody else mentioned Edwards D on Book. He locked him up and that's just the truth, his strength and athleticism really gave Book issues and even the couple patented step backs he had he shot with higher arc because Ant was still right there.

[bajanguy008]

Obviously I'm happy to see Cam do work but gotta take time out to thank the Ineptness of Wolves coaching
Wow....

Like other said the twin tower thing is terrible. Like if I think of AD-Cousins as the last legit one in this small ball area they had the skillset to punish small 4s. Even though Lakers big lineup from the bubble had a defensive center with AD those guys were stress on the boards

KAT insistence on living out on the perimeter is laughable
Cam is torching them and is guarding one of your "star players" on the other end and I count 3 times in the whole game that KAT posted Cam. That is so ridiculous but anyways whatever, not my issue

Was so glad we never traded for that turnstile on D who is the self proclaimed "best ever shooting big"
Smh lol

[virtual9mm]

I'm not ready to call the Twin Towers a failure...BUT:

(1) It's pretty easy to attack Towns on the PnP
(2) You can guard Towns on the perimeter with a big SF
(3) Gobert still has the same flaws and clogs the lane for everyone else

I still wonder if an Ayton-Towns combo would work a lot better because Ayton's a lot more mobile -- but I suspect that the same strategy would still work. And I suspect that Towns is going to become an even bigger high-post playmaker.

[LazarusLong]

Wolves in desperate need of a distributer. Russell is nowhere near an effective point.
And for all the talk of Minnesota's size, the Suns had twice the number of blocks.

Side note: I was in Minneapolis several months ago visiting my son.
We were sitting outside at bistro, enjoying a beer or two and talking NBA.
I college-aged guy waiting for a bus heard us talking about Gobert and Towns.
He said, "What do you think of the trade?"
I told him I was a Suns fan and thought Gobert might help them, but Towns is not a PF.
"Damn!" he said. "That's what me and my friends are saying. We like KAT, but he's not good hanging on the outside..."

[AmareIsGod]

Bridges and Johnson's offensive development this year has been so noticeable. CP3 is basically the 5th scorer in the offense right now which allows him to just focus on setting people up.

We need to make a trade ASAP.

[Drewsprocket]

I'm not ready to call the Twin Towers a failure...BUT:

(1) It's pretty easy to attack Towns on the PnP
(2) You can guard Towns on the perimeter with a big SF
(3) Gobert still has the same flaws and clogs the lane for everyone else

I still wonder if an Ayton-Towns combo would work a lot better because Ayton's a lot more mobile -- but I suspect that the same strategy would still work. And I suspect that Towns is going to become an even bigger high-post playmaker.

I’m calling it. They’re an 8th seed never getting out of the first round.

[pickle]

Bridges and Johnson's offensive development this year has been so noticeable. CP3 is basically the 5th scorer in the offense right now which allows him to just focus on setting people up.

We need to make a trade ASAP.

Trade for what? Bench depth? Sorry not questioning or challenging you, just wasn’t obvious the transition between the two paragraphs.

[pickle]

I'm not ready to call the Twin Towers a failure...BUT:

(1) It's pretty easy to attack Towns on the PnP
(2) You can guard Towns on the perimeter with a big SF
(3) Gobert still has the same flaws and clogs the lane for everyone else

I still wonder if an Ayton-Towns combo would work a lot better because Ayton's a lot more mobile -- but I suspect that the same strategy would still work. And I suspect that Towns is going to become an even bigger high-post playmaker.

I don’t think the issue is Gobert’s mobility, I think their defensive flaws are much more on KAT who is basically a traffic cone out on the perimeter. On the offensive side I think they don’t have a clear pecking order and that means KAT isn’t able to dominate on that end to cover up for his defensive warts.

[AmareIsGod]

Bridges and Johnson's offensive development this year has been so noticeable. CP3 is basically the 5th scorer in the offense right now which allows him to just focus on setting people up.

We need to make a trade ASAP.

Trade for what? Bench depth? Sorry not questioning or challenging you, just wasn’t obvious the transition between the two paragraphs.

Sarcasm. There are plenty of folks around here that feel like this team has no chance this year unless they make a big trade because doing what we've done the past 2 years with our roster isn't enough. They completely disregard player growth and development for our key players (Bridges and Cam, for example) and forget that our coach has learned some lessons along the way. I was just getting ahead of the pessimism that is sure to drop.

[pickle]

Ah ok. Well I’m quite enjoying the growth from Mikal and Cam. But I still do want to shore up the reserves a bit at the same time. I think Payne Shamet Landale and Craig are all useful depth pieces and reasonably effective, but as others have said none of this group gives me great confidence for the playoffs right now. The broadcast had one graphic that Craig is shooting 64% in the first six games… I like what I’m seeing out of both Payne and Shamet, and other than that one wild cross court pass I didn’t mind what Payne did on the court for this game. Shamet is a good shooter and he’s starting to knock down more of his open shots so that’s great to see, and I’m also thrilled with Landale obviously.

[MightyMoog]

Minnesota went in the wrong direction with that trade. I thought they needed to trade Towns for a younger prospect and a package of picks.

Now they’re completely hampered and still no shot of being a top contender.

They’d be better off if they had Ant, Vanderbilt, someone like Ayton, all THEIR picks and a few of ours.

Towns is great, but he never really meshed with Ant, let alone Gobert.

Last night Gobert looked like Alex Len.

[virtual9mm]

Wolves in desperate need of a distributer. Russell is nowhere near an effective point.
And for all the talk of Minnesota's size, the Suns had twice the number of blocks.

Side note: I was in Minneapolis several months ago visiting my son.
We were sitting outside at bistro, enjoying a beer or two and talking NBA.
I college-aged guy waiting for a bus heard us talking about Gobert and Towns.
He said, "What do you think of the trade?"
I told him I was a Suns fan and thought Gobert might help them, but Towns is not a PF.
"Damn!" he said. "That's what me and my friends are saying. We like KAT, but he's not good hanging on the outside..."

Yeah, starting to think this, too.

[virtual9mm]

I'm not ready to call the Twin Towers a failure...BUT:

(1) It's pretty easy to attack Towns on the PnP
(2) You can guard Towns on the perimeter with a big SF
(3) Gobert still has the same flaws and clogs the lane for everyone else

I still wonder if an Ayton-Towns combo would work a lot better because Ayton's a lot more mobile -- but I suspect that the same strategy would still work. And I suspect that Towns is going to become an even bigger high-post playmaker.

I’m calling it. They’re an 8th seed never getting out of the first round.

This is pretty damning, isn't it?

[virtual9mm]

I'm not ready to call the Twin Towers a failure...BUT:

(1) It's pretty easy to attack Towns on the PnP
(2) You can guard Towns on the perimeter with a big SF
(3) Gobert still has the same flaws and clogs the lane for everyone else

I still wonder if an Ayton-Towns combo would work a lot better because Ayton's a lot more mobile -- but I suspect that the same strategy would still work. And I suspect that Towns is going to become an even bigger high-post playmaker.

I don’t think the issue is Gobert’s mobility, I think their defensive flaws are much more on KAT who is basically a traffic cone out on the perimeter. On the offensive side I think they don’t have a clear pecking order and that means KAT isn’t able to dominate on that end to cover up for his defensive warts.

It's really highlighting KAT's flawed nature as a player, isn't it? He's an outside-in center that can't play with anyone who would play in the post, but can't actually be the defensive anchor himself. I do think he could become an excellent high-post center offensively and do think he'll make the adjustment, but not sure what he could (or thinks he could) do defensively. Either he's a sieve inside or a traffic cone outside.

Gobert you can still go five-out, kind of like what Dallas did against us, except that Ayton's pretty good to decent on the perimeter. Our issue is that our PFs can't be that secondary rebounder and shotblocker you need when Ayton's stuck out at the 3-pt line. Or maybe we just need to switch like crazy, almost like the Kevin Garnett zone defense where you park Ayton at the top of the key and have him move in or out according to need.

[Split T]

Probably need to put Towns next to a guy like Turner. Give him someone who protects the rim and spaces the floor.

[Mori Chu]

Maybe both Towns and Gobert are bums. You can't win with a center as offensively limited as Gobert, and you can't really play Towns at the 4 (too slow/fat) nor 5 (doesn't play defense, doesn't protect the rim). My takeaway from this experiment by Minny is that a team can have only 1 big man, and that big man has to be good on both ends of the floor or else he's a net negative.

[ShelC]

Maybe both Towns and Gobert are bums. You can't win with a center as offensively limited as Gobert, and you can't really play Towns at the 4 (too slow/fat) nor 5 (doesn't play defense, doesn't protect the rim). My takeaway from this experiment by Minny is that a team can have only 1 big man, and that big man has to be good on both ends of the floor or else he's a net negative.

That's kind of where I'm at with those guys, especially KAT. If the Wolves made the trade because they didn't think KAT could hold down the 5 spot and he then fails as a PF, where do you go from there?