Knicks game thread.. or whatever.

[Lucamilo23]

It's pretty funny seeing people blame the coaching when it is the team's lack of ability that leads to them losing, over and over. At least there is some amusement in watching this miserable basketball.

Saunders is not even close to blameless though. He has not showed anything. Constant mistakes and poor judgement calls. Poor rotations. As well as his job required to motivate and lead his players. All a big yikes from me.

Maybe he has not had the best teams and injuries have for sure hurt. But he has showed NOTHING. This team with Kat back should be able to get a few wins at minimum. He has coached for how long and not shown anything at all. Time for a change.

[NattaNerNutta]

Unfortunately I can see Ryan sticking around until the end of the year. I am interested in people's take on maybe seeing Cheryl Reeve getting the call to be Saunder's replacement. She is definitely someone that could successfully step in and be respected and take the reins as the NBA's first female HC.

[Araxen]

I want the Wolves to run a play that doesn't have Rubio driving into the lane as an option.

Well you're free to want whatever cmes to your mind, however Rubio was the hghest % shooter of the team tonight so there wasnt anything fundamentally wrong to give him the ball. The real problem is more that eveyrone else looks frozen in their spots once they are off the ball; there are zero outlets because no cutting and no screening takes place. I refuse to believe htey are suposed to run but dont, after so many games. It looks like this is our "offense" and thats what the players said, too. There are no options or cuts or runs, Saunders just matches players to positions and they dont seem to know what to do once they are on that pposition.

If you think Rubio taking a fading mid-range shot in the last minute is a good idea, there really isn't anything to discuss since we clearly have very different views on how the offense needs to play to be successful.

Rubio shouldn't even be in the game if they are going to put him in that situation. It's not a position he'll do well in. That high PNR just doesn't work when it's Rubio/KAT. It may work with Jmac/KAT or ANT/KAT. Rubio just isn't that enough of a threat for the play to work which is to get KAT free.

[RiRuHoops]

If the goal for the rest of the season is to have best lottery odds to keep top3 pick then Ryan is a good option.

If they want to build a cohesive team for next season then it's a disaster.

We don't know what Rosas and Taylor are thinking. Or if they are thinking at all.

[winforlose]

Does anyone know our odds at 2nd and 3rd if we are the worst team by record but don’t get the first pick? Is it 40% all the way or does it modify?

[RiRuHoops]

Well you're free to want whatever cmes to your mind, however Rubio was the hghest % shooter of the team tonight so there wasnt anything fundamentally wrong to give him the ball. The real problem is more that eveyrone else looks frozen in their spots once they are off the ball; there are zero outlets because no cutting and no screening takes place. I refuse to believe htey are suposed to run but dont, after so many games. It looks like this is our "offense" and thats what the players said, too. There are no options or cuts or runs, Saunders just matches players to positions and they dont seem to know what to do once they are on that pposition.

If you think Rubio taking a fading mid-range shot in the last minute is a good idea, there really isn't anything to discuss since we clearly have very different views on how the offense needs to play to be successful.

Rubio shouldn't even be in the game if they are going to put him in that situation. It's not a position he'll do well in. That high PNR just doesn't work when it's Rubio/KAT. It may work with Jmac/KAT or ANT/KAT. Rubio just isn't that enough of a threat for the play to work which is to get KAT free.

Neither Jmac nor Ant are good for that job. Jmac is nothing special as scorer and Ant is an up and down rookie who is mostly bad. DLo probably the best option and he's out. It's a roster problem, lack of talent.

[LesGrossman]

If you think Rubio taking a fading mid-range shot in the last minute is a good idea, there really isn't anything to discuss since we clearly have very different views on how the offense needs to play to be successful.

Rubio shouldn't even be in the game if they are going to put him in that situation. It's not a position he'll do well in. That high PNR just doesn't work when it's Rubio/KAT. It may work with Jmac/KAT or ANT/KAT. Rubio just isn't that enough of a threat for the play to work which is to get KAT free.

Neither Jmac nor Ant are good for that job. Jmac is nothing special as scorer and Ant is an up and down rookie who is mostly bad. DLo probably the best option and he's out. It's a roster problem, lack of talent.

The irrational hate towards Rubio is mildly amusing by now. He shot the highest percentage, played a well rounded game and yet two or three guys asked for his head from the first minutes on. Guess its a lose-lose situation there of all people, KAT and Ricky are not the ones to look at for tonights loss.I really looked at the screen today a few times and thought my stream had frozen, because there was literally no movement whatsoever. I dont understand how the coach can be pardoned here. Thers not evne a simple perimeter pass available let alone any open shot or layup.

[Lucamilo23]

Rubio did play a good efficient game. The issue with him is he is not a player that is going to make his own shot. He just doesn’t have the ability to create space. So when things fall apart, it leads to poor shots thrown up by him. He needs a bailout option when things fall apart because he is not the one.

[LesGrossman]

Rubio did play a good efficient game. The issue with him is he is not a player that is going to make his own shot. He just doesn’t have the ability to create space. So when things fall apart, it leads to poor shots thrown up by him. He needs a bailout option when things fall apart because he is not the one.

The floating short jumper on the left side is his trademark shot, its not a poor shot at all. He manages to create this one for himself consistently, too. It just happened not to fall, just like KATs short hook. Both shots were good decisions given the situation (late shotclock, no outlets).

[RiRuHoops]

if Rubio shat the bed this game, it was the missed FT, that was final nail.
Overall he doesn't seem to care about his situation on the team this season and who can blame him. Even KAT was all smiles and hugging Randle at the final whistle.

[Heimdal]

"Tom, your reaction to the Wolves firing Ryan Saunders after the game?"

[Sugarless]

If I didn't know this board better, it would amaze me how many people here are completely impervious to the lack of player and ball movement on this team. But, alas...

[LesGrossman]

If I didn't know this board better, it would amaze me how many people here are completely impervious to the lack of player and ball movement on this team. But, alas...

Should make a gif of it. You can make one thats at least 3, if not 5 sec long where the only thing moving will be the bouncing ball.

[Jedzz]

Does anyone know our odds at 2nd and 3rd if we are the worst team by record but don’t get the first pick? Is it 40% all the way or does it modify?

Without looking again I don't claim to have the real answers. But I thought it was basicaly 14% for #1 overall and decreasing by 1% for each 2,3,4 but odds of getting the 5th pick itself was just under 50%.

So overall you have a slightly larger chance of getting picks 1-4 over pick 5, maybe just over 51%. Trouble is, the draft pick is only 1-3 protected. That pushes the 4th pick odds into danger zone. Couple the 4th with the odds of 5th pick, now you are looking at 60% chance of 4-5 pick and 40% chance of pick 1.2.3.

Basically tanking is just doing Warriors a favor making sure the pick, if conveyed, is the highest it could possibly be (4-5) and if not conveyed it's still a win for Warriors as it's unprotected in 2022. Instead they could have played for wins this year and say earned a middling 11-20 pick and conveyed that now and been done with it. But it seems Wolves are in the business of helping the Warriors or taking risks. Depends on how you want to look at it. Personally I think if the Wolves could ever stop thinking about drafts and start thinking about how best to win it might change everything.

[Jedzz]

"Tom, your reaction to the Wolves firing Ryan Saunders after the game?"

There has to be some truth to this deep down, when no one is looking. Thibs cracks a smile, maybe sheds a tear of happiness over the timing of this. The undertoe pushing Saunders into Thibs job and his Thibs exit here was real and was quickly being leveraged from within and with the local media. It was absolutely horrible to watch playout, to read so many fans play into that, to watch it unravel that team, to wasting that roster push to respectability and then once complete it bought us nothing but another two wasted seasons.

I already see people tweeting that Vanterpool should have gotten an interim now. Now doubt it will become a topic for at least a little while. Please tell me we don't start this infighting crap all over again. I hope for once people can just go into their job with their coworkers and work towards the same goal as if on the same team instead of trying to subvert each other.

[Jedzz]

Rubio did play a good efficient game. The issue with him is he is not a player that is going to make his own shot. He just doesn’t have the ability to create space. So when things fall apart, it leads to poor shots thrown up by him. He needs a bailout option when things fall apart because he is not the one.

The floating short jumper on the left side is his trademark shot, its not a poor shot at all. He manages to create this one for himself consistently, too. It just happened not to fall, just like KATs short hook. Both shots were good decisions given the situation (late shotclock, no outlets).

I would ask why it often seems there are never any outlets in those moments. Who draws that up?
That being aside from the obvious question of why he's even on the court in this system.

[Jedzz]

If you think Rubio taking a fading mid-range shot in the last minute is a good idea, there really isn't anything to discuss since we clearly have very different views on how the offense needs to play to be successful.

Rubio shouldn't even be in the game if they are going to put him in that situation. It's not a position he'll do well in. That high PNR just doesn't work when it's Rubio/KAT. It may work with Jmac/KAT or ANT/KAT. Rubio just isn't that enough of a threat for the play to work which is to get KAT free.

Neither Jmac nor Ant are good for that job. Jmac is nothing special as scorer and Ant is an up and down rookie who is mostly bad. DLo probably the best option and he's out. It's a roster problem, lack of talent.

JMac is pretty much the only one best capable of what they have been trying to do here. He doesn't really have a weakness offensively. He is a special scorer if you ask him to and that comes along with setting up others. Nobody ever asks him to at the end of games, ever. Ant is capable too, but yes he's a rook and it's going to be 40/60 at best he does things right or blows it. Dlo does have a shot threat and cold veigns so he's maybe more of a 65/35 in those moments.

For real, give JMac the start, 30 minutes including the game finishing minutes. He'll put your take on him to bed. But it won't happen until all first round draft point capable players are out/injured. Just like last year. It's a stupid team. The way this team has been operating if they were to put JMac on the court at the end Rubio would also be on the court with him. You just can't stop them from stepping on their own feet.

[LesGrossman]

Dunno why we are even continuing the discussion. The offense will very soon look very different, lets wait and see.

[Heimdal]

Does anyone know our odds at 2nd and 3rd if we are the worst team by record but don’t get the first pick? Is it 40% all the way or does it modify?

14.0 % #1
13.4% #2
12.7% #3
11.9% #4
47.9% #5

So, with the worst record, 60% chances we lose the pick, 40% we keep the pick.

[winforlose]

Does anyone know our odds at 2nd and 3rd if we are the worst team by record but don’t get the first pick? Is it 40% all the way or does it modify?

14.0 % #1
13.4% #2
12.7% #3
11.9% #4
47.9% #5

So, with the worst record, 60% chances we lose the pick, 40% we keep the pick.

Thanks this was very helpful