Its Zach Lavine the REAL reason the wolves were underperforming?

[Hellcrooner]

Clear question.

Wolves were doing worse than people expected.
Lavine statlines were bigger than ever and his role bigger than ever.

Rubio was having an awful year and people were starting to think he was already deadweight/a bust/ horrible contract.

Now, suddenly Lavine goes out and
Wolves start winning games.
Rubio actually starts playing like he is supposed to.

So.
Is Lavine the problem?

Not being really a Point guard nor really a Sg makes the Rubio and Lavine BC pairing bad.

Just maybe team suffers from him filling his stats?

Whats your opinión?

[Shock Defeat]

Maybe, he's not a winning player. Great athlete and can shoot, but doesn't have high BBIQ.

[RaptorsLife]

Let him be a spot 3 point shooter for right now. Defense matters always. Different between being a demar derozan and a Jimmy Butler or a kawhi leonard

[OrangeBlueSkies]

Let him be a spot 3 point shooter for right now. Defense matters always. Different between being a demar derozan and a Jimmy Butler or a kawhi leonard

Well yes...but Butler and Leonard came into the NBA as defensive players...they acquired offensive skill. Demar and Lavine...not so...

[RaptorsLife]

Let him be a spot 3 point shooter for right now. Defense matters always. Different between being a demar derozan and a Jimmy Butler or a kawhi leonard

Well yes...but Butler and Leonard came into the NBA as defensive players...they acquired offensive skill. Demar and Lavine...not so...

Derozan and lavine are super athletics they should play able to play defense with there quickness. No instics or defense iq and effort I guess is the difference

[wablty]

The change has been a larger responsibility for Rubio. Is Zach's defense poor? Sure. But the more Rubio handles the ball, the better the offense runs and the less likely the opponent is to have opportunities to push the ball before Minnesota can get their defense set, which is one of the two areas they really, really struggle (the other being communication on screens).

Prior to that, Rubio had been marginalized in favor of a ton of ISO, which lead to a bunch of forced last second shots and long 2's. So no, I don't think LaVine has anything to do with it. The shift in offensive philosophy does.

[Merc_Porto]

No, the real change is obvious.
Let Ricky Rubio be the playmaker of this team instead of sitting him in the corner. After that decision Ricky has:

15 ast vs Dallas
17 ast vs Rockets
14 ast vs OKC

3 wins.

The Wolves are 8-1 when he has +10 ast.
And KAT is back to his superstar form on both ends of the floor too.

[Hindenburg]

He's a bit of a ballhog and a blackhole. I love his athleticism and passion but it seems like everytime he gets the ball it's like he goes into "screw this, I am getting mine" mode. And he moves Wiggins out of his preferred 2 spot anyways.

I wouldn't mind trading him and Rubio away for some defense and/or picks. I think he'll have a mini Harden like explosion if he goes on a right team and gets tons of greenlight

[seorang]

Towns has also been beasting inside not settling for threes . He gave Adams a real hiding tonight.

[Zeitgeister]

No. FYI, the Wolves have been a top 10 defense in the past 30 days or so. Wolves are 8-9 in the last 17 games, arbitrary cut off yes but the defensive improvement coincides with that.

Wiggins + LaVine is not a great pairing because they are mostly scorers and don't do a lot of the little things. The thing is, LaVine is a much better scorer than Wiggins, it's not close really. Wiggins kills ball movement more than LaVine and Towns was killing ball movement until the past 10+ games or so.

The Wolves have also gotten MUCH better bench production from Shabazz Muhammad recently and that has been huge.

Rubio has had some very nice games recently, he's learned how to play in Thibs system more and Towns has been a beast lately.

[Domejandro]

No, the real change is obvious.
Let Ricky Rubio be the playmaker of this team instead of sitting him in the corner. After that decision Ricky has:

15 ast vs Dallas
17 ast vs Rockets
14 ast vs OKC

3 wins.

The Timwolves are 8-1 when he has +10 ast.
And KAT is back to is superstar form on both ends of the floor too.

Bingo. That said, Andrew Wiggins has always clearly been a Shooting-Guard.

[Merc_Porto]

Rubio has had some very nice games recently, he's learned how to play in Thibs system more and Towns has been a beast lately.

It's more like, Thibs adjustments to Rubio skills.

[Zeitgeister]

No, the real change is obvious.
Let Ricky Rubio be the playmaker of this team instead of sitting him in the corner. After that decision Ricky has:

15 ast vs Dallas
17 ast vs Rockets
14 ast vs OKC

3 wins.

The Timwolves are 8-1 when he has +10 ast.
And KAT is back to is superstar form on both ends of the floor too.

Bingo. That said, Andrew Wiggins has always clearly been a Shooting-Guard.

Wiggins has more than enough length and athleticism to handle the SF position very well. If he was actually a good rebounder and defender he'd make a good 4 in some small ball lineups.

[Domejandro]

No, the real change is obvious.
Let Ricky Rubio be the playmaker of this team instead of sitting him in the corner. After that decision Ricky has:

15 ast vs Dallas
17 ast vs Rockets
14 ast vs OKC

3 wins.

The Timwolves are 8-1 when he has +10 ast.
And KAT is back to is superstar form on both ends of the floor too.

Bingo. That said, Andrew Wiggins has always clearly been a Shooting-Guard.

Wiggins has more than enough length and athleticism to handle the SF position very well. If he was actually a good rebounder and defender he'd make a good 4 in some small ball lineups.

All evidence has shown him to be better at Shooting-Guard, as it gives him a significant physical advantage over his opponents (as opposed to Small-Forward, where he runs the risk of being physically bullied). He is obviously more successful at Shooting-Guard.

[76ciology]

No.

Towns' defense, Lavine's lack of defense and Wiggins' lack of defense/overall game.

[TheProdigy]

No.

Towns' defense, Lavine's lack of defense and Wiggins' lack of defense/overall game.

These are all true, but I think the biggest issue so far this season has been Thibs trying to force Wiggins to be the playmaker for the team. This has taken the ball out of Rubio's hands and basically turned him into a triangle pg. Sadly its taken Thibs almost half the season to realize its a bad idea.

I'm still optimistic though, we're finally starting to play some quality defense.

[leolozon]

No, the real change is obvious.
Let Ricky Rubio be the playmaker of this team instead of sitting him in the corner. After that decision Ricky has:

15 ast vs Dallas
17 ast vs Rockets
14 ast vs OKC

3 wins.

The Timwolves are 8-1 when he has +10 ast.
And KAT is back to is superstar form on both ends of the floor too.

Bingo. That said, Andrew Wiggins has always clearly been a Shooting-Guard.

Wiggins has more than enough length and athleticism to handle the SF position very well. If he was actually a good rebounder and defender he'd make a good 4 in some small ball lineups.

A PF? Is that a joke?

The guy is weighing around 200 pounds. He would need to take 40 pounds to play PF even in a small ball lineups.

And rebounding is more about strength than about length. Wiggins rebounds like a SG, something to be expected, considering his strength and weight are closer to a SG.

[cupcakesnake]

Taking Lavine off the floor splits the perimeter usage between Rubio and Wiggins instead of Rubio, Wiggins and Lavine. Since Rubio has little value off ball, and a few elite on the ball, him having the ball more is better. Especially since Lavine is replaced by Rush who is valuable as a shooter but also because he's happier to stand in the corner, shoot, and make the extra pass. Wiggins is a really awful off-ball defender. Lavine is one of the absolute worst defenders in the NBA. He's to slender and clueless. Rush is okay on defense, mostly just because he's experienced and has a decent build. This lineup allows more bench guys (Muhammad and Bjelica mostly), to assume larger roles since their scoring punch is more needed.

Wolves just look more like a real NBA team by not starting 2 clueless score first youngsters together on the wing.

[76ciology]

Semi-OT: The problem is Towns can't anchor the defense like a Gobert or Whiteside. He's more of a help defender like a Kenyon Martin, and it doesn't work if he plays with two horrible defenders in Wiggins and Lavine. Offensively, they seem to be fine relative to their ORtg.

[TMU]

Lavine and Wiggins are arguably the 2nd worst defensive tandem after Lillard and McCullum. Neither of them try.