Wolves - Slow Pace, No 3's.

[jinxed]

The modern NBA is all about shooting 3's and playing with pace. All the best teams do this.

The Twolves, one of the youngest, most athletic teams in the league played with the 3rd slowest pace in preseason amongst NBA teams.

http://stats.nba.com/league/team/#!/advanced/?sort=PACE&dir=1

They shot the second fewest three's of anyone in the preseason.
[url]
http://stats.nba.com/league/team/#!/?sort=FG3A&dir=1[/url]

We are also one of the league leaders in long 2's.

Slow pace. No 3's, and a bunch of long 2's. This is very disconcerting and I think Mitchell's system is to blame.

[andyhop]

Pace only matters in regards to how it fit your team , being fast or slow doesn't give you any strategic advantage. Last season the Warriors were first in pace and the Cavs were 25th.

Your points about 3 point shots are valid.

[Killboard]

On Wolves pace:
they average 97.29

We played against Memphis 96.23, Toronto 95.29 (twice), Milwaukee 101.24 (Twice), Chicago Bulls 99.001, OKC 99.55
Milwaukee was around mid table, OKC and Chicago around 17-20th, Memphis and Toronto below us.

The pace of your rivals can make you have less possessions. And is not always bad thing play slow ball.
You can make up your D playing slow, and we all know the problems this team had the last years with all this youth.

But watch this:

The wolves was third in the league in AST% FG.
Cleveland:67.8%
Goldens State:66.7%
Timberwolves:66.5%

That is sign of good reads and good patience in offense.


3PTs:
only memphis took less 3's, but we lead the league in 3pt%: 38.0%.
Obviously we need to shoot more 3's, but we need to do it being good at it. At least we are finding the right guys. If we can do it with more consisitence that will be great.

So while we need to get better, there is some good signs of being good in some areas. This team needs time to evolve, as their best players, and we still thinking about the best lineups. So its unfair think about Smitch wolves as finished product like other teams are.

[Klomp]

They shot the second fewest three's of anyone in the preseason.
http://stats.nba.com/league/team/#!/?sort=FG3A&dir=1

I'd rather attempt less and make a higher percentage (we were 1st in 3p%) than shoot the most and make among the lowest percentages (Philadelphia, Houston).

[Foye]

They shot the second fewest three's of anyone in the preseason.
http://stats.nba.com/league/team/#!/?sort=FG3A&dir=1

I'd rather attempt less and make a higher percentage (we were 1st in 3p%) than shoot the most and make among the lowest percentages (Philadelphia, Houston).

True but they still need to turn up the volume a bit if they want to compete in todays nba.

[A1FromDay1]

And they will. Martin only averaged like 16 minutes a game and he took 11 shots from deep. Nema will also get more comfortable.

[theGreatRC]

What was the pace of the last preseason game we played? THAT is how we should play

[Saltine]

Preseason stats??? He only ran his real lineup out there the last game... someone is really reaching.

[AD2K]

How our pace can be critiqued to the point of concern when Rubio only played a couple games is beyond me

[jinxed]

They shot the second fewest three's of anyone in the preseason.
http://stats.nba.com/league/team/#!/?sort=FG3A&dir=1

I'd rather attempt less and make a higher percentage (we were 1st in 3p%) than shoot the most and make among the lowest percentages (Philadelphia, Houston).

Mmm..Depends.

Minnesota makes 45% of there 2's, which equals 0.9 points per shot.

They would only have to make 30% of their three's to equal that number. Meaning it is just as effective to shoot 30% from 3 as it is to shoot 45% from two. And Houston shot exactly 30.7% from three

Of course there is also the value of the 2pt shot that is at the rim, because of fouls drawn, but Minnesota takes a needless amount of long 2's.

[LesGrossman]

Trying to force transition offense comes at a price. You will have to compromise your defensive assignments and most of all your rebounding if you want to do it with a plan (not talking about occasional leakout). Not sure if we want that. However i am not a friend of the current offense. Despite the time that passed since his departure i still feel like we play the very static and predictable offense that Adelman implemented. I dont feel like the offense has been adjusted according to the personnel at hand (nor has the defense).

Edit: as for the long two's, many are the result of late shot clock situations which in turn result from the poor offense that does not put pressure on the defense nor create open shots, be it short or long ones.They just pass the ball around without purpose. If there is one thing Ricky Rubio is good at its creating shots for others, with the ball in his hand and preferrably out of a pick and roll situation. The stagnant offense they play is highly ineffective imho and that can indeed be blamed on the coaching staff.

[Devilzsidewalk]

They need to develop their passing before they start thinking about all the 3s they need to take. These guys are too often turning the ball over on what should be simple passes - they don't have that decisive, ball-movement synergy yet.

[Klomp]

They took 20 3s last night.

[Devilzsidewalk]

hopefully next time they make some of them. Kmart had some decent looks, surprised he couldn't hit anything.

[C.lupus]

They took 20 3s last night.

and shot 25% on them, while shooting >50% on their 2s. And they won.

2s > 3s.

*ducks and runs*

[packforfreedom]

hopefully next time they make some of them. Kmart had some decent looks, surprised he couldn't hit anything.

and he had some K-Mart looks: Slow jab-step, wait, defender still there, shoot anyway.

[Foye]

How our pace can be critiqued to the point of concern when Rubio only played a couple games is beyond me

Yeah, and we also need to consider that we are giving minutes to ancient KG, Prince and possibly Miller. Those guys won't outrun teams anymore. So whenever they are on the floor it is smarter to slow the offense down a bit. We are going to get a quality look anyway.