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BlacJacMac wrote:Rudy Gobert when asked about not being selected as an All Star, first, he said he was very happy to see KAT and Ant make. And then on himself not making it, he said:

"When it comes to me, I didn't even put that much expectation in it. Not the first time I've been taken for granted, disrespected about these things. I've been in this league for a long time, I know how it works. I mean, I'm happy -- at the end of the day, I get to get some vacation. The best defender in the world, the No. 1 team in the West and the No. 1 defense in the league, and we get to enjoy the beach during the All Star weekend. Might be a blessing, actually."

LOL.. he said that? DAMN. Claimed himself "as the best defender in the world"? We've got some internal strife going on. Oh ****... Rudy deserved the Allstar over Kat easy

Rudy low key laying down some low blows.. deserved

Sabonis deserved KAT's spot, he's had a monster season.

This might surprise some of you, but I've come to appreciate Rudy a lot more this season.
The things he does well, he is doing very well this season, and he has brought energy and effort every game and been one of the most composed players.

But this is a league where the guys with the ball in their hands, who make the plays and take the shots, are the ones who decide whether you win or lose, and Rudy is not the kind of player who is going to be able to turn a loss into a win or stop your team from falling apart in the 4th quarter.
At the end of the day he's still just an A+ role player.

His playoff failures were because the playmakers around him were just not good enough,
and I don't think Ant and KAT are good enough here either.

And that's the big mistake of the Rudy Gobert trade, a year and a half in, is that thinking the guys we already had were good enough for Gobert to be the missing piece, so much so that we were willing to grossly overpay to add him.
If you've got Luka Doncic, maybe it puts you in title contention.
If you've got the dynamic chucker duo, not so much.

We were coming off a horrible playoff series from KAT and Russell when we made that trade, and instead we just kept doubling down instead of moving on from the guys who suck when the lights come on.

younggunsmn wrote:Sabonis deserved KAT's spot, he's had a monster season.

This might surprise some of you, but I've come to appreciate Rudy a lot more this season.
The things he does well, he is doing very well this season, and he has brought energy and effort every game and been one of the most composed players.

But this is a league where the guys with the ball in their hands, who make the plays and take the shots, are the ones who decide whether you win or lose, and Rudy is not the kind of player who is going to be able to turn a loss into a win or stop your team from falling apart in the 4th quarter, because he is not that kind of player.
At the end of the day he's still just an A+ role player.

His playoff failures were because the playmakers around him were just not good enough,
and I don't think Ant and KAT are good enough here either.

And that's the big mistake of the Rudy Gobert trade, a year and a half in, is that thinking the guys we already had were good enough for Gobert to be the missing piece, so much so that we were willing to grossly overpay to add him.
If you've got Luka Doncic, maybe it puts you in title contention.
If you've got the dynamic chucker duo, not so much.

We were coming off a horrible playoff series from KAT and Russell and just kept doubling down instead of moving on from the guys who suck when the lights come on.

I disagree with the Rudy commentary.

He can absolutely determine whether a game is won or lost. He may not be the one taking a last second shot to win the game, sure, but we just saw as recently as the OKC game that his defence can shutdown the opponent from doing the same. If you want to argue he's a "role player" in the sense that he's not a well rounded player I could buy that but I'd counter that he's S tier rather than A if we're going down that path.

I'm also surprised you're still parroting those talking points about his playoff "failures". The Jazz teams came up short because their entire defence operated under the expectation that every single perimeter defender was getting beat every time. That worked wonders in the regular season since Gobert is a top 5 defence all on his own but obviously that scheme came up short in the playoffs.

In terms of the rest of our team though, I sort of agree. I think there was an expectation that Ant would be far further along in his development which, in hindsight, was never fair. He's still maturing and that's ok. He can't be something he's not, at least right now. And KAT, to his credit, appeared to have answered a lot of the questions I had going into the season. But if Ant can't "pull his weight" then it cascades down the whole roster.

Anderson's complete offensive ineptitude has been a bigger issue than anything else on the roster at this point as well. If he were even close to his career average from 3, let alone the roughly 40% he had last season, then I think we'd be in a far better place.

Rudy have a hell of a season. I follow the jazz for years and he is not the main reason why they failed in the PO. The main reason was Mitchell playing the hero ball and beeing inefficient at clutch time+ a coach letting power to his star player... I can smell a ''deja vu'' story with us this year if ANT don't change.

There is not one standard rating system that voters use for choosing who goes to the All Star Game. This is a game that doesn’t count and only exists as a fan experience, and nobody plays defense. Some heavily weigh putting in popular players. Other voters might put weight into the success the team is having. Another group believes that straight statistical analysis of production should be the defining factor.

Personally, I don’t get too excited over who makes an All Star Game. In a no-defense score fest, I imagine Rudy Gobert wouldn’t fit well anyway, and he would much rather get the DPOY award at the end of the season.

Rudy, domantas, or lauri.. anyone deserved it more. KAT should have kept his comments to himself in regards to it.

Loaf_of_bread wrote:Rudy, domantas, or lauri.. anyone deserved it more. KAT should have kept his comments to himself in regards to it.

I am sure that opinion has no personal bias. I am also sure in your mind Karl didn’t deserve either of his All NBA awards or the other 3 All Star selections.

Loaf_of_bread wrote:Rudy, domantas, or lauri.. anyone deserved it more. KAT should have kept his comments to himself in regards to it.

*YAWN* Can you change the record please? This one is getting really boring

Interesting article and I didn't notice the change but makes total sense when your offense struggles. Wonder if this belong in the fire Finch thread.

https://www.si.com/nba/timberwolves/news/how-a-bench-switch-helped-timberwolves-address-late-game-issues

TimberKat wrote:Interesting article and I didn't notice the change but makes total sense when your offense struggles. Wonder if this belong in the fire Finch thread.

https://www.si.com/nba/timberwolves/news/how-a-bench-switch-helped-timberwolves-address-late-game-issues

That was interesting. I didn't know that the visiting team got to pick where they wanted their bench. TBH, never paid attention.

frankenwolf wrote:

TimberKat wrote:Interesting article and I didn't notice the change but makes total sense when your offense struggles. Wonder if this belong in the fire Finch thread.

https://www.si.com/nba/timberwolves/news/how-a-bench-switch-helped-timberwolves-address-late-game-issues

That was interesting. I didn't know that the visiting team got to pick where they wanted their bench. TBH, never paid attention.

Not where they want the bench, but what side of the court they want to start/finish on.

Klomp wrote:

frankenwolf wrote:

TimberKat wrote:Interesting article and I didn't notice the change but makes total sense when your offense struggles. Wonder if this belong in the fire Finch thread.

https://www.si.com/nba/timberwolves/news/how-a-bench-switch-helped-timberwolves-address-late-game-issues

That was interesting. I didn't know that the visiting team got to pick where they wanted their bench. TBH, never paid attention.

Not where they want the bench, but what side of the court they want to start/finish on.

That makes more sense.

Can you imagine if Rudy was selected as an All Star replacement?

All the other players trying to run no-defense slam dunks, but Rudy getting in position and swatting them? All the “fun-killer” stares he’d get from guys like Donovan Mitchell? I’d love to see that!

Never forget, Walker Kessler is basically Rudy Gobert, and cheaper!

shrink wrote:Can you imagine if Rudy was selected as an All Star replacement?

All the other players trying to run no-defense slam dunks, but Rudy getting in position and swatting them? All the “fun-killer” stares he’d get from guys like Donovan Mitchell? I’d love to see that!

And is why he wasn't voted in for all star backup

Rudy will soon be a happy father. Congrats to him and GF.

FrenchMinnyFan wrote:Rudy will soon be a happy father. Congrats to him and GF.

First kid at his age. Late start.

KGdaBom wrote:

FrenchMinnyFan wrote:Rudy will soon be a happy father. Congrats to him and GF.

First kid at his age. Late start.

Pretty normal. Average age of first time fathers in the US looks to be around 30. Its even older in Europe: the average age of a first-time father in the UK is now 33.6 years old.

Rudy fined 100k for everything that happened in the Cavs game and after. Looks like no suspension.