Post Game Thoughts. At Spurs.

[packforfreedom]

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unbelievable

[Dewey]

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I can't watch games lately but that is crazy

This is on the coaching staff And so is Okogie with heavy minutes vs McD & JV is on the coaching staff

3-point shooting is critical to our success YET we are 2nd to last in 3pt% in league ... less than average FTA/game ... less than average Assists/game.

A lot of our under-lying issues are directly related to KATs absence, yet the two biggest problems We have right now are fixable and on Ryan ... (1) DLo’ ego is bigger than the team. (2) Okogie is a 5-10 mpg player playing 25-30 mpg (ahead of two better options). Seriously... does Ryan see this as winning basketball on Kats return? Does he want DLo chuckin? Does he actually want Okogie 25-30 minutes - at forward?? This is just totally #%£<¥% up.

PG jobs to Rubio and McL.
SG/wing to Beasley and DLo
SF/wing To Ant and Culver
PF to McD and JV
C to KAT and Reid
Roles: Layman, Juancho, Okogie, Davis, Nowell

[Dewey]

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unbelievable

DLo can believe what he wants ... this is on Ryan. These are the little chats a HC has with his PG when he has his team shooting free-throws instead of chucking 3’s.

I’d like to hear Rubio take on what went down

[Charly]

I'm fed up with this D'lo's no system.
I'm fed up with no ball movement when this guy desires.
I'm fed up with small ball in every 4th quarter but only see a player chucking.
I'm fed up with this chucker touching his f***g balls in defense. It's all I hate in life.
I'm fed up with coach Sounders giving lectures to Rubio but not letting him rule the attack.
I'm fed up with coach Sounders giving any change to nobody but D'lo.

What a **** is it going on in this franchise?
What a class of coach Sounders is? Why is he not able to sit this guy if he don't follow any system?
I am not a negative person but they are getting me angry every 4th quarter in all game.

[Sugarless]

I'm fed up with this D'lo's no system.
I'm fed up with no ball movement when this guy desires.
I'm fed up with small ball in every 4th quarter but only see a player chucking.
I'm fed up with this chucker touching his f***g balls in defense. It's all I hate in life.
I'm fed up with coach Sounders giving lectures to Rubio but not letting him rule the attack.
I'm fed up with coach Sounders giving any change to nobody but D'lo.

What a **** is it going on in this franchise?
What a class of coach Sounders is? Why is he not able to sit this guy if he don't follow any system?
I am not a negative person but they are getting me angry every 4th quarter in all game.

I like your way of writing 'Sounders' instead of Saunders, but I think it can be improved. He should be called Sonders, given his merits to hold the Timberwolves HC position.

(Ryan, if you're reading this, it's all in jest, I'm sure you're a great guy and don't deserve your name to be toyed with. Just get your head out of your rear, do the right thing and take a coaching position that suits you better at this moment in time).

[Jedzz]

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unbelievable

DLo can believe what he wants ... this is on Ryan. These are the little chats a HC has with his PG when he has his team shooting free-throws instead of chucking 3’s.

I’d like to hear Rubio take on what went down

I'm fairly certain someone, coaches, on the team has said words to the effect of Dlo is our shooter late. Have some awareness of the game at hand. It's almost like this team needs a coach sitting in a booth watching the TV feed to have a better overall view of games who can call down into the Head Coaches ear and wake him up to the bigger picture items. Because no one there seems to get it from the court sidelines.

I can remember losses during the Butler season in December/January where fans got really pissy with Butler for taking too many final shots. Complaints o'plenty. Then later when Butler was hitting winning shots he was the man. This is how those go. Trouble is, this game was too many possessions and given how the rest of the team was shooting and playing it wasn't the correct decision to even go this route this game. They led almost every statistical marker this game for a reason. The team arrived to play. This wasn't one of those back and forth battles where you needed a leader to carry the stress in the end. The coaches threw this away in the 4th and created this entire scenario out of thin air.

Overall, it looked ugly how it finished the same every position at the end. But this to me was coaching more than anything. Bad enough they asked the team to finish this way, they decided to change it all up at the end... But. It should never have gotten to such a point.

The lead should never have been allowed to evaporate without trying to stop it. No time outs were called during a 16-2 run and the entire lead was gone before he called a timeout. This has been a recurring theme all season. This was a great game to watch up until every 4th quarter decision happened and it keeps happening. Makes me not want to bother anymore.

Team can send up some flares to let us know when they have decided to stop being fools. Until then I'm done paying to watch.

[Dalvin]

Hey D'Lo, if you're reading this: You suck!

[Dewey]

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unbelievable

This truly explains it ... he does not connect winning to one way of playing early on as compared to playing differently and losing ... It’s not clicking and feels no sense of accountability - again this is in Ryan.

[Jedzz]

Hey D'Lo, if you're reading this: You suck!

Can't run from it, he really sucked at the end of this one.

[Andri]

Dlo, again, is fools gold. Only a mayor swift in his mindset and game style would change that.

He is an avarage spot up shooter. He is an average off the dribble shooter. He is a bad finisher because he is a below avarage athlete. He is an ok passer, but an avarage guard at handling. And he is a very bad defender, both individual and helper. But he plays with usage as a superstar (all star or whatever you name it).

These are facts by numbers.

He could be usuful, but he would have to accept being an off ball guard or a main ball handler for a second unit. And I am afraid he won't be able to embrace the change until next contract kicks in.

Also, he is setting a terrible example for the young pups. Then fans ask why the Wolve's culture is what it is. Well, you have the reason in a nutshell with his last statement after the game.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I really think THIS time, a new coach is gonna change everything. THIS time, we'll get somebody in here to reach these very young $100M athletes. THIS time we'll prove to the NBA that coaches are more important than players.

For the (x,xxx) time... Saunders is NOT a good coach, if for nothing else, his message isn't reaching his players. After the Orlando loss, Saunders basically said the same things about "hero ball." It fell on deaf ears.

But, is he ready to be fired? I have my doubts. Why?

Because this is in part a Gerson Rosas-created mess... at least when it comes to the failed pairing of Russell and Rubio. They aren't working together. I saw a stat where they're the 38th worst pairing on the Wolves this season, something like -25 per 100 possessions. It aint working.

So what does that have to do with Saunders? Flip's kid was put in that spot as a scapegoat. When a new GM shows up talking about lengthy rebuilds... you know instantly that he's angling for longer job security. The first domino was the old players (all but two shipped out). The next is the young, green coach we can all blame.

The Towns injury is huge. Obviously. But it actually buys this regime more time. These guys can't truly be judged on much without Towns. He's their built-in excuse. This season is already a lost cause, but Rosas can play the "yeah but Towns was out" card. Once Towns returns and things still suck, he can play the "but the coach isn't reaching them" card as long expected.

Then after a meh season with a new coach, Rosas can play the "it takes time for the new coach"... Meanwhile, that gives him more time to take HR swings while he's extending his lifeline.



[Note: I guess it's conceivable he fires Saunders before Towns returns... has better success with an assistant for obvious reasons... but still chooses a new coach next offseason. But I don't see how that extends Rosas' tenure any more than the first scenario.]

[Calinks]

I'm not mad at guys like DLO and KAT getting big shots down the stretch, I just don't think they should only get those shots unless they are open. DLO should be taking big shots but not every damn time, especially when he's not making them and he has other options on the court.

They needed to give Beasley some looks, maybe let Ant do some iso. I wouldn't have had Rubio out there in that scenario either as it hasn't worked out yet this season, no reason to try it again during crunch time. I can live with the team missing shots and flopping, seeing one guy take all the shots and miss and be totally predictable for 5 minutes is not fun.

[6ers83]

I like Minnesota it’s my second favorite team but roster looks like a G League roster to be honest. The coach is bad but it’s probably the least talented roster in the NBA. That’s on the GM.

[life_saver]

McDaniels looks pretty promising, I wanna see him getting more game time...he looks solid on both ends of the ball. Infact all three - McDaniels, Ant, Nowell have looked good in recent weeks. Layman also is playing well. Hope KAT returns soon

[Shaka_Zulu]

I just watched the game. WTF ARE WE DOING? Truly I wanna know. Are we tanking? Without having our pick? I REALLY dont get it, whats the approach here, we cant be this incompetent surely, near flawless Bball for 3 quarters, and suddenly just DECIDE to throw it all away on 4th, for the upteenth time? This was by far the most winnable game of all season, Spurs had NO advantage over us except for BS ref calls (**** that call on Beasley on Derozan, he wasnt even CLOSE to touching him). Why in the hell are we rewarding this (Please Use More Appropriate Word) **** that we saw in 4th? This Coach needs to wake up tommorrow jobless, like really ASAP.

Why are you even a coach when you dont have self respect to coach your team? One of your players is shooting you out of the game, tell him sit down or pass the **** ball, keep ball moving like you done all game to score, and most importantly, make plays for the guy who was shooting flawlessly all game. And not a bum who hunts for fouls and long 2s in a slower motion then my grandma doing Tai chi...

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**** off Saunders, **** off Dlo, and **** off Naz Reid for being a dumbass end of games ALLWAYS.

[Klomp]

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[Baseline81]

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If only there was someone capable of subbing him out or calling a timeout to discuss the importance of running the offense (the one seen in the first three quarters of the game)...

[Neeva]

We are paying a lottery pick for DLO smh.

[Dewey]

I watch some game replay ...

DLo actually had a few good takes to the basket w/contact ... no calls.

ANT had 3 takes that drew contact 2-3 times "each" pocession ... no calls.

Spurs got several Popovich ghost calls (5 for sure that I picked up) ... no contact, but got the And1's

Did not find a highlight of Okogie other than he finally made a 3.

Reid was abused on defense ... spinning in circles.

The last play all 4 players herded up to the side and it appears DLo definetly shoulda taken it to the basket vs. stepback-kickout 3pt attempt. Never should have come down to this.

NO excuses for the blown lead, and it is what it is. BUT, it's worse now after seeing the reruns and witness officials making calls when they are not in the position to. Worst was a no contact whistle on ANT. He had nicely beat Derozan to his spot near the free-throw-line and was already straight up as Derozan forced his shot and flopped back. The official back down under the basket along baseline made the call. Impossible to see, plus, he was trying to look between two other players who were blocking part of his view. wow.

[shangrila]

It's clear that if you're going to get the most out of DLo you need a structured offensive system with plenty of action happening away from the ball. We, for whatever ungodly reason, don't do that. It's just the DHO with everyone else standing around.

That might be on coaching. It might be a mandate from the FO. Whatever it is it needs to be fixed.