*** Wolves @ Kings - Wednesday Night - 9pm CT FSN ***

[Calinks]

We can't string together two games.
Thibs laughs at us in 8 Game win streak

[Playmaker17]

Anthony Edwards needs to run defensive transition drills, dear Lord. Dude is such a lazy defensive player, I don't know if it ever gets fixed.

At 19, Lebron, Kobe, McGrady, Zion, Luka, etc all were minus defensive players. It takes a few years to acclimate to the NBA game defensively

[UnFadeable21]

Wolves defense blows it.

Okogie messes up on the switch and left Buddy Hield with a wide open 3 for the Kings

That was on Rubio. They weren’t suppose to switch on that.


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?s=21

Jim Pete says they messed up the switch

[ChiefKeith91]

Wolves defense blows it.

Okogie messes up on the switch and left Buddy Hield with a wide open 3 for the Kings

That was on Rubio. They weren’t suppose to switch on that.


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Read on Twitter

?s=21

Jim Pete says they messed up the switch

Maybe you’re right. I just thought they shouldn’t look to switch on fake screen. JO stayed in good position.


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[winforlose]

Anthony Edwards needs to run defensive transition drills, dear Lord. Dude is such a lazy defensive player, I don't know if it ever gets fixed.

At 19, Lebron, Kobe, McGrady, Zion, Luka, etc all were minus defensive players. It takes a few years to acclimate to the NBA game defensively

Your point is well taken, but it seems half the issue is Ant doesn’t put effort into it. Too much standing around and ball watching. He also doesn’t sprint back often enough.

[LesGrossman]

Anthony Edwards needs to run defensive transition drills, dear Lord. Dude is such a lazy defensive player, I don't know if it ever gets fixed.

Would you say you had your job all figured out at 19 years old? It's easy to fix bad habits, but you need good guidance for it to happen

Effort has to be there, the age excuse failed with wiggins, Lavine, Towns before. Other young players can easily show defensive effort (while naturlaly making mistakes) at 19 and younger. Stop making up excuses.

Besides, what kind of comparison is that? Who here has made the money he makes at 19?

Finally, if oyu look at pro sports, you have racing drivers who put their lives at risk at 19. They either have the maturity or die. Its pro sports.

[LesGrossman]

Wolves defense blows it.

Okogie messes up on the switch and left Buddy Hield with a wide open 3 for the Kings

That was on Rubio. They weren’t suppose to switch on that.


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How can you tell? Do you know the playbook?

[theGreatRC]

Anthony Edwards needs to run defensive transition drills, dear Lord. Dude is such a lazy defensive player, I don't know if it ever gets fixed.

Would you say you had your job all figured out at 19 years old? It's easy to fix bad habits, but you need good guidance for it to happen

Effort has to be there, the age excuse failed with wiggins, Lavine, Towns before. Other young players can easily show defensive effort (while naturlaly making mistakes) at 19 and younger. Stop making up excuses.

Besides, what kind of comparison is that? Who here has made the money he makes at 19?

Finally, if oyu look at pro sports, you have racing drivers who put their lives at risk at 19. They either have the maturity or die. Its pro sports.

What does the money he makes have to do with him being 19? I'm talking about him being 19 and him being young enough to not be a lazy ass on transition defense and mature out of those bad habits. Never even brought up money, so I have no clue what you're trying to say

I quoted the tweet that says "I don't know if it ever gets fixed" to a 19 year old kid in a business where there are people literally hired just to maximize your talents. There will be many people in his ear about his lazy transition defense, he can 100% get out of that habit with effort.

[LesGrossman]

Would you say you had your job all figured out at 19 years old? It's easy to fix bad habits, but you need good guidance for it to happen

Effort has to be there, the age excuse failed with wiggins, Lavine, Towns before. Other young players can easily show defensive effort (while naturlaly making mistakes) at 19 and younger. Stop making up excuses.

Besides, what kind of comparison is that? Who here has made the money he makes at 19?

Finally, if oyu look at pro sports, you have racing drivers who put their lives at risk at 19. They either have the maturity or die. Its pro sports.

What does the money he makes have to do with him being 19? I'm talking about him being 19 and him being young enough to not be a lazy ass on transition defense and mature out of those bad habits. Never even brought up money, so I have no clue what you're trying to say

I quoted the tweet that says "I don't know if it ever gets fixed" to a 19 year old kid in a business where there are people literally hired just to maximize your talents. There will be many people in his ear about his lazy transition defense, he can 100% get out of that habit with effort.

Well, thats your opinion. My experience is
1. you can coach kids 14 y/o to play on a high level, so 19 is an age where certain things should be almost developed - see Rubio, Luka, Jokic at that age
2. It is extremely hard to get rid of established automated habits. "Practice makes permanent" includes bad practice too unfortunately. See Wiggins, Towns, Harden, Kyrie for prominent examples
3. Its absurd to compare his maturation to that of an average person. He wants to be right there unlike the normal 19 year old guy, so he has to deliver.

Overall for me theres too much EGO in that guy. He doesnt seem very humble, but rather acts like being the #1 pick went to his head in an instant. He objected to being benched, as a rookie ...he has to be begged to stop chucking or give up the ball. He claims he already has been there and has all the traits in his bag. Thats all alarming signs not indicating that he is picking up the right stuff right now. And we've seen this exact thing happen before with high talent guys that didnt receive proper coaching.

[Sugarless]

I don't plan to do this every game, I don't have the time or the interest in doing it, as there are literally dozens of plays like these every single night, but I thought I'd post this one so we can take a look at Russell and Edwards' 'effort'.

This is the last play of the first half. The first few tenths of a second are missing, but basically Rubio misses the layup, Russell is at the half-court line and going back for the last defensive possession, Edwards is on par with our old friend Moe Harkless (not slightly behind him, as we see at the start of the clip), and this happens. Just take a look at 19 yo Edwards' effort (the least you can do at that age is RUN) and Russell's defensive awareness as he moves away from Harkless (who's running all alone) and from the basket, despite being by far the deepest defender and the one best positioned to impede an easy bucket for the Kings.

Nice dunk at the buzzer for Sacramento.

Gfycat Video - Click to Play

Bonus track for AbeVigodaLive: 'Lo pointing out the wrong guy to his teammate (Juancho should have stayed in front of Haliburton, but he ends up staying between two guys as Russell directs him to Hield) while going for the wrong guy himself and completely forgetting about his man (our good old friend Moe again!) who gets another easy dunk.

PS: Edwards and KAT are nowhere to be found, not even at the end of the play.

Gfycat Video - Click to Play

[Playmaker17]

Effort has to be there, the age excuse failed with wiggins, Lavine, Towns before. Other young players can easily show defensive effort (while naturlaly making mistakes) at 19 and younger. Stop making up excuses.

Besides, what kind of comparison is that? Who here has made the money he makes at 19?

Finally, if oyu look at pro sports, you have racing drivers who put their lives at risk at 19. They either have the maturity or die. Its pro sports.

What does the money he makes have to do with him being 19? I'm talking about him being 19 and him being young enough to not be a lazy ass on transition defense and mature out of those bad habits. Never even brought up money, so I have no clue what you're trying to say

I quoted the tweet that says "I don't know if it ever gets fixed" to a 19 year old kid in a business where there are people literally hired just to maximize your talents. There will be many people in his ear about his lazy transition defense, he can 100% get out of that habit with effort.

Well, thats your opinion. My experience is
1. you can coach kids 14 y/o to play on a high level, so 19 is an age where certain things should be almost developed - see Rubio, Luka, Jokic at that age
2. It is extremely hard to get rid of established automated habits. "Practice makes permanent" includes bad practice too unfortunately. See Wiggins, Towns, Harden, Kyrie for prominent examples
3. Its absurd to compare his maturation to that of an average person. He wants to be right there unlike the normal 19 year old guy, so he has to deliver.

Overall for me theres too much EGO in that guy. He doesnt seem very humble, but rather acts like being the #1 pick went to his head in an instant. He objected to being benched, as a rookie ...he has to be begged to stop chucking or give up the ball. He claims he already has been there and has all the traits in his bag. Thats all alarming signs not indicating that he is picking up the right stuff right now. And we've seen this exact thing happen before with high talent guys that didnt receive proper coaching.

Ant gives good effort defensively the vast majority of the time. I’m not concerned about that. Where he strugggles is understanding the nuance of help defense. He is fine in man...just struggles in zone and off ball situations. And as I said earlier, that takes a few years

[Sugarless]

Ant gives good effort defensively the vast majority of the time.

He really doesn't. I understand rooting for the home guy, but you still need to be honest when it comes to his flaws. Edwards' lack of effort on defense is abundantly clear, night in and night out. You can take the film from any game and you'll see him walking around and jogging back most of the time.

Now, you may think like many Wolves fans that he will change that, and that's ok, but right now he's just coasting on defense and most of his 'effort' comes when he overplays his man or jumps into a passing lane hoping to come up with a steal, which more often than not backfires and leaves his guy undefended.

[ChiefKeith91]

This team really lacks accountability. It’s hard for a player to take advice from Rubio when he makes mistakes in the clutch. Same goes for DLo when he has careless TO’s and bad defense. Hard to take advice from KAT when he commits rookie mistakes like the late foul on Tatum.

This team needs 2-3 vets who will hold our young core accountable on defense and in late game situations. Idk the FA market or trade targets but we need to make those upgrades in the off-season.


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[AbeVigodaLive]

Ant gives good effort defensively the vast majority of the time.

He really doesn't. I understand rooting for the home guy, but you still need to be honest when it comes to his flaws. Edwards' lack of effort on defense is abundantly clear, night in and night out. You can take the film from any game and you'll see him walking around and jogging back most of the time.

Now, you may think like many Wolves fans that he will change that, and that's ok, but right now he's just coasting on defense and most of his 'effort' comes when he overplays his man or jumps into a passing lane hoping to come up with a steal, which more often than not backfires and leaves his guy undefended.

At some point... we have to acknowledge that the eye test + the numbers aren't lying to us.

Teams continue to raise the Wolves three point percentage up and up and up. Right now, it's up to 39.8%. That's absurd... and almost certainly the worst of all time.

When a guy literally says "defense is all about effort" and then proceeds to play really lousy defense where the effort is obviously lacking... it's ok to question that player (at any age). When that player is regularly lauded for his offensive skill and defensive ineptitude is overlooked... when that player is playing alongside arguably the worst defensive max contract in the league...

We can all point to Edwards getting better with age. But we've also seen young players get rewarded for doing things their own way and never improve as expected. What way will it go with Edwards?

ONLY Anthony Edwards knows.


[Note: Thanks for the shoutout and clips, Sugar. I dig those.]

[Playmaker17]

Ant gives good effort defensively the vast majority of the time.

He really doesn't. I understand rooting for the home guy, but you still need to be honest when it comes to his flaws. Edwards' lack of effort on defense is abundantly clear, night in and night out. You can take the film from any game and you'll see him walking around and jogging back most of the time.

Now, you may think like many Wolves fans that he will change that, and that's ok, but right now he's just coasting on defense and most of his 'effort' comes when he overplays his man or jumps into a passing lane hoping to come up with a steal, which more often than not backfires and leaves his guy undefended.

I think you’re mistaking lack of effort with getting lost on a particular defensive sequence. I really have not seen him loaf or willingly not try very often defensively. I do, however, see him get lost more often than I would like. Dlo on the other hand doesn’t give af on the defensive end

[Nick K]

What does the money he makes have to do with him being 19? I'm talking about him being 19 and him being young enough to not be a lazy ass on transition defense and mature out of those bad habits. Never even brought up money, so I have no clue what you're trying to say

I quoted the tweet that says "I don't know if it ever gets fixed" to a 19 year old kid in a business where there are people literally hired just to maximize your talents. There will be many people in his ear about his lazy transition defense, he can 100% get out of that habit with effort.

Well, thats your opinion. My experience is
1. you can coach kids 14 y/o to play on a high level, so 19 is an age where certain things should be almost developed - see Rubio, Luka, Jokic at that age
2. It is extremely hard to get rid of established automated habits. "Practice makes permanent" includes bad practice too unfortunately. See Wiggins, Towns, Harden, Kyrie for prominent examples
3. Its absurd to compare his maturation to that of an average person. He wants to be right there unlike the normal 19 year old guy, so he has to deliver.

Overall for me theres too much EGO in that guy. He doesnt seem very humble, but rather acts like being the #1 pick went to his head in an instant. He objected to being benched, as a rookie ...he has to be begged to stop chucking or give up the ball. He claims he already has been there and has all the traits in his bag. Thats all alarming signs not indicating that he is picking up the right stuff right now. And we've seen this exact thing happen before with high talent guys that didnt receive proper coaching.

Ant gives good effort defensively the vast majority of the time. I’m not concerned about that. Where he strugggles is understanding the nuance of help defense. He is fine in man...just struggles in zone and off ball situations. And as I said earlier, that takes a few years

Good post! All of that is exactly right. At times he just doesn't know what to do. He's so new to this. He'll get it with coaching and repetition.

A few of the posters here expect perfection from Ant which really demonstrates their ignorance and lack of understanding. He's a year and a half out of high school and only has played basketball for a few years. I'd like to see them out there showing us how to do it. That would be a real comedy.

Comparing him to Rubio, Luca, etc. who have been playing with men since they we're 14, is absolutely absurd. For him to be doing what he's doing, with so little playing experience is amazing! This kid is a natural talent prodigy. They also fail to realize his personality is part of what makes him great. He believes there is nothing he can't do. He's probably right.

[theGreatRC]

Effort has to be there, the age excuse failed with wiggins, Lavine, Towns before. Other young players can easily show defensive effort (while naturlaly making mistakes) at 19 and younger. Stop making up excuses.

Besides, what kind of comparison is that? Who here has made the money he makes at 19?

Finally, if oyu look at pro sports, you have racing drivers who put their lives at risk at 19. They either have the maturity or die. Its pro sports.

What does the money he makes have to do with him being 19? I'm talking about him being 19 and him being young enough to not be a lazy ass on transition defense and mature out of those bad habits. Never even brought up money, so I have no clue what you're trying to say

I quoted the tweet that says "I don't know if it ever gets fixed" to a 19 year old kid in a business where there are people literally hired just to maximize your talents. There will be many people in his ear about his lazy transition defense, he can 100% get out of that habit with effort.

Well, thats your opinion. My experience is
1. you can coach kids 14 y/o to play on a high level, so 19 is an age where certain things should be almost developed - see Rubio, Luka, Jokic at that age
2. It is extremely hard to get rid of established automated habits. "Practice makes permanent" includes bad practice too unfortunately. See Wiggins, Towns, Harden, Kyrie for prominent examples
3. Its absurd to compare his maturation to that of an average person. He wants to be right there unlike the normal 19 year old guy, so he has to deliver.

Overall for me theres too much EGO in that guy. He doesnt seem very humble, but rather acts like being the #1 pick went to his head in an instant. He objected to being benched, as a rookie ...he has to be begged to stop chucking or give up the ball. He claims he already has been there and has all the traits in his bag. Thats all alarming signs not indicating that he is picking up the right stuff right now. And we've seen this exact thing happen before with high talent guys that didnt receive proper coaching.

All fair points. I agree that Ant has a big ego and might do things his way, especially if he puts up numbers which he might believe can excuse him jogging back lazily on D.

I think he's going to be a star and can grow/learn away those bad habits, but we've all lived through the Wiggins era so i'm not going to bet money on it

[Nick K]

This team really lacks accountability. It’s hard for a player to take advice from Rubio when he makes mistakes in the clutch. Same goes for DLo when he has careless TO’s and bad defense. Hard to take advice from KAT when he commits rookie mistakes like the late foul on Tatum.

This team needs 2-3 vets who will hold our young core accountable on defense and in late game situations. Idk the FA market or trade targets but we need to make those upgrades in the off-season.


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Yup, right on.

[LesGrossman]

What does the money he makes have to do with him being 19? I'm talking about him being 19 and him being young enough to not be a lazy ass on transition defense and mature out of those bad habits. Never even brought up money, so I have no clue what you're trying to say

I quoted the tweet that says "I don't know if it ever gets fixed" to a 19 year old kid in a business where there are people literally hired just to maximize your talents. There will be many people in his ear about his lazy transition defense, he can 100% get out of that habit with effort.

Well, thats your opinion. My experience is
1. you can coach kids 14 y/o to play on a high level, so 19 is an age where certain things should be almost developed - see Rubio, Luka, Jokic at that age
2. It is extremely hard to get rid of established automated habits. "Practice makes permanent" includes bad practice too unfortunately. See Wiggins, Towns, Harden, Kyrie for prominent examples
3. Its absurd to compare his maturation to that of an average person. He wants to be right there unlike the normal 19 year old guy, so he has to deliver.

Overall for me theres too much EGO in that guy. He doesnt seem very humble, but rather acts like being the #1 pick went to his head in an instant. He objected to being benched, as a rookie ...he has to be begged to stop chucking or give up the ball. He claims he already has been there and has all the traits in his bag. Thats all alarming signs not indicating that he is picking up the right stuff right now. And we've seen this exact thing happen before with high talent guys that didnt receive proper coaching.

All fair points. I agree that Ant has a big ego and might do things his way, especially if he puts up numbers which he might believe can excuse him jogging back lazily on D.

I think he's going to be a star and can grow/learn away those bad habits, but we've all lived through the Wiggins era so i'm not going to bet money on it

Not only wiggins but Towns for most of his career and even Lavine. The more they get hyped the more overbloated their ego gets. It takes guy like Pop to keep them in check and show them their place. He did it again and again with the greatest of talents, and was rewarded plenty for it, so it can actually be done the right way.

[Foye]

Whether it is on the lowest level of competition or on NBA level. Doesn't matter.

Playing average defense is the the easiest part of the game because it is basically all about commitment and hustle.
You don't have to be talented, you don't have to be skilled, you just have to hustle and stay in front of your guy.

What is much harder is to become excellent on defense. Because it relies on truely reading the opponents movements in advance, having a physical advantage, studying the oppoennts, knowing their sweet spots, etc.

Wolves are not even close to even reaching that basic average level. Night in, night out. There's literally no commitment and hustle whatsoever from certain, almost always the same players. All that offensive skills don't mean a damn if your defense is a handing out layups and open 3's every other possession. There's no defensive mindset, no hustle and no commitment in this organization.

Until the day this finally changes, Wolves team is f*cked.