Post Game thoughts. Hornets.

[Foye]

Zeller 7/8 17 pts.

Another scrub turning into an efficiency beast against god awful interior defense.

[Heimdal]

Zeller 7/8 17 pts.

Another scrub turning into an efficiency beast against god awful interior defense.

Rozier impersonating Steph Curry bothered me even more. Every game an opponent just won't miss. The only player who looks capable of really bothering shots is McDaniels, but Saunders won't use him in the clutch.

[Foye]

Zeller 7/8 17 pts.

Another scrub turning into an efficiency beast against god awful interior defense.

Rozier impersonating Steph Curry bothered me even more. Every game an opponent just won't miss. The only player who looks capable of really bothering shots is McDaniels, but Saunders won't use him in the clutch.

Karl Towns looks like the slowest dude on the planet out there after his covid19 illness.

Not doing his health a favour to let him be out there for 31 minutes. Dude should be on a 18 minute restriction until he has recovered his stamina.

No idea which idiot is letting this happen. Its evident he is not close to 80% ready.

[Foye]

Best:

Game threads and post game threads are getting much shorter. Means something should happen soon. A change. Which means when you are the worst team in NBA, that is positive.

Worst:

The rock bottom gets more bottom. And as any Wolves fan knows, true rock bottom is on draft lotto day. As we all hold are breath while being bottom 3 team and praying 1st doesn’t go to Warriors.

Meh:

We are one game closer to new coach.

Positive:

Ball did not light up Edwards. Difference was meh. So by Wolves standards...that is a positive.

20/11/4/3 in 8/15 is considerably better than 21/6/3 on 9/21.

1) is a winning contributor and 2) the stats may look okay but the low efficiency does nothing but hurt the team.

[Wolveswin]

Best:

Game threads and post game threads are getting much shorter. Means something should happen soon. A change. Which means when you are the worst team in NBA, that is positive.

Worst:

The rock bottom gets more bottom. And as any Wolves fan knows, true rock bottom is on draft lotto day. As we all hold are breath while being bottom 3 team and praying 1st doesn’t go to Warriors.

Meh:

We are one game closer to new coach.

Positive:

Ball did not light up Edwards. Difference was meh. So by Wolves standards...that is a positive.

20/11/4/3 in 8/15 is considerably better than 21/6/3 on 9/21.

1) is a winning contributor and 2) the stats may look okay but the low efficiency does nothing but hurt the team.

Exactly. Difference was meh, so by Wolves’ standards that is a positive.

[Sugarless]

So once again the last minutes of a close game are all about having Edwards handle the ball and wasting possessions by forcing the issue and missing shots. It is always about the newest rookie with this franchise, they just can't look past their most recent draft pick while they wait for the next one to take over.

Of course another one of the rookies of these past few years was on the floor as well: the one and only Josh Okogie, who watched while Terry Rozier torched the Wolves and who offered absolutely nothing on the other end.

[winforlose]

So once again the last minutes of a close game are all about having Edwards handle the ball and wasting possessions by forcing the issue and missing shots. It is always about the newest rookie with this franchise, they just can't look past their most recent draft pick while they wait for the next one to take over.

Of course another one of the rookies of these past few years was on the floor as well: the one and only Josh Okogie, who watched while Terry Rozier torched the Wolves and who offered absolutely nothing on the other end.

Okogie was guarding Hayward and did a decent job. Some of it was Hayward not getting in rhythm, but some of that was JO. It was Rubio and Beasley getting torched by Ball and Rozier that made the difference. Rubio played dreadful all night. He was what JO was on Wednesday.

Fundamentally our basics are broken. Rozier had the hot hand so they fed him the ball and ran plays to get him open. For us it was MB and we played keep away from him in the second and third quarters. Nowell is having a bad shooting night so of course we keep feeding the cold hand. Rotations and schemes are where we keep losing.

[Dewey]

The Good: We win the turnover battle 8-20

The Bad: 1.) Rubio and Okogie crush the offense when it comes to how teams defend us. 2.) KAT seemed lethargic. 4.) Lost free-throw battle. 3.). Clearly need DLo as that floor spacer.

The Ugly: We were out rebounded 55-40

[AbeVigodaLive]

Beasley needed to be fed a lot more in more the 2nd and 3rd quarters. They keep the ball away from the hot hand far too often. Nowell being ice cold should have led to Layman filling in. Ryan is the worst coach Possible for this team now. I was praying for Thibs to be fired because I thought it couldn’t get worse, yet it did. Also, Ricky is unplayable right now. For every good decision he will make 4 bad ones. His defense is plain awful, and his passing is overrated.

Meanwhile... Beasley's frustrations manifest late in a close game where he ignores the team's clearcut best player twice to take contested shots early in the shot clock.

Edwards did this too... and all of it was sandwiched around the embarrassingly botched 3-on-1 with Rubio and Okogie.

Bad teams with young players get into "Get me mine" mode. The Wolves have a lot of young guys... and a lot of shoot-first guys. None of that bodes well on a team when its only signature identity is a shot-making big who needs to be set up on every possession.

[Sugarless]

So once again the last minutes of a close game are all about having Edwards handle the ball and wasting possessions by forcing the issue and missing shots. It is always about the newest rookie with this franchise, they just can't look past their most recent draft pick while they wait for the next one to take over.

Of course another one of the rookies of these past few years was on the floor as well: the one and only Josh Okogie, who watched while Terry Rozier torched the Wolves and who offered absolutely nothing on the other end.

Okogie was guarding Hayward and did a decent job. Some of it was Hayward not getting in rhythm, but some of that was JO. It was Rubio and Beasley getting torched by Ball and Rozier that made the difference. Rubio played dreadful all night. He was what JO was on Wednesday.

Fundamentally our basics are broken. Rozier had the hot hand so they fed him the ball and ran plays to get him open. For us it was MB and we played keep away from him in the second and third quarters. Nowell is having a bad shooting night so of course we keep feeding the cold hand. Rotations and schemes are where we keep losing.

LaMelo scored on Rubio a grand total of 1 time during the whole second half, on a drive to the hoop midway through the 3rd quarter. That was it. On the first half he had a couple of drives where there was no help inside (as usual) and a long 3 where Rubio gave him space (and I'd rather have Ball shooting 3's than driving with no interior D to speak of). That's 4 made shots in a full game. LOL at Rubio getting torched by him.

As for Ricky playing dreadful, I don't know what game you watched but other than his shooting struggles he was on point with his passes (when they let him run the offense, that is), he took care of the ball (only 2 TOs, both on passes that KAT didn't catch, as he was very slow reacting all night), and he was active as usual on defense. He's not going to be a factor off the ball -especially not on a team where he usually takes desperation shots after some good old ball-pounding and a failed drive by one of the other guards- but it would be dumb to expect otherwise.

Regarding Okogie, he didn't defend Rozier, that's right, but like I said he was watching while Terry torched the Timberwolves. If Okogie's on the floor he needs to be defending the guy with the hot hand, not Malik Beasley who can't defend a rock and not Jaden McDaniels who can block some shots and offer some help D but gets completely lost out there. There's literally no other reason to give Okogie minutes, since he's a net negative in every other aspect of the game. You definitely don't have him there to defend Hayward when he's missing bunnies all game. I don't care if it's on him for not taking the challenge (like top defenders do) or if it's on Saunders, there's just no way he can stay on the floor if he's not stopping the other team's best scorer on a given night.

PS: I thought it was an amazing game by Nowell. He got his 9th assist of the year after all. Not bad for a guy who's taken 103 shots already in limited minutes.

[Dewey]

So once again the last minutes of a close game are all about having Edwards handle the ball and wasting possessions by forcing the issue and missing shots. It is always about the newest rookie with this franchise, they just can't look past their most recent draft pick while they wait for the next one to take over.

Of course another one of the rookies of these past few years was on the floor as well: the one and only Josh Okogie, who watched while Terry Rozier torched the Wolves and who offered absolutely nothing on the other end.

Okogie was guarding Hayward and did a decent job. Some of it was Hayward not getting in rhythm, but some of that was JO. It was Rubio and Beasley getting torched by Ball and Rozier that made the difference. Rubio played dreadful all night. He was what JO was on Wednesday.

Fundamentally our basics are broken. Rozier had the hot hand so they fed him the ball and ran plays to get him open. For us it was MB and we played keep away from him in the second and third quarters. Nowell is having a bad shooting night so of course we keep feeding the cold hand. Rotations and schemes are where we keep losing.

LaMelo scored on Rubio a grand total of 1 time during the whole second half, on a drive to the hoop midway through the 3rd quarter. That was it. On the first half he had a couple of drives where there was no help inside (as usual) and a long 3 where Rubio gave him space (and I'd rather have Ball shooting 3's than driving with no interior D to speak of). That's 4 made shots in a full game. LOL at Rubio getting torched by him.

As for Ricky playing dreadful, I don't know what game you watched but other than his shooting struggles he was on point with his passes (when they let him run the offense, that is), he took care of the ball (only 2 TOs, both on passes that KAT didn't catch, as he was very slow reacting all night), and he was active as usual on defense. He's not going to be a factor off the ball -especially not on a team where he usually takes desperation shots after some good old ball-pounding and a failed drive by one of the other guards- but it would be dumb to expect otherwise.

Regarding Okogie, he didn't defend Rozier, that's right, but like I said he was watching while Terry torched the Timberwolves. If Okogie's on the floor he needs to be defending the guy with the hot hand, not Malik Beasley who can't defend a rock and not Jaden McDaniels who can block some shots and offer some help D but gets completely lost out there. There's literally no other reason to give Okogie minutes, since he's a net negative in every other aspect of the game. You definitely don't have him there to defend Hayward when he's missing bunnies all game. I don't care if it's on him for not taking the challenge (like top defenders do) or if it's on Saunders, there's just no way he can stay on the floor if he's not stopping the other team's best scorer on a given night.

PS: I thought it was an amazing game by Nowell. He got his 9th assist of the year after all. Not bad for a guy who's taken 103 shots already in limited minutes.

Hilarious comment on Nowell!!

[packforfreedom]

PS: I thought it was an amazing game by Nowell. He got his 9th assist of the year after all. Not bad for a guy who's taken 103 shots already in limited minutes.

glad, you're coming around

[Norseman79]

Best:

Game threads and post game threads are getting much shorter. Means something should happen soon. A change. Which means when you are the worst team in NBA, that is positive.

Worst:

The rock bottom gets more bottom. And as any Wolves fan knows, true rock bottom is on draft lotto day. As we all hold are breath while being bottom 3 team and praying 1st doesn’t go to Warriors.

Meh:

We are one game closer to new coach.

Positive:

Ball did not light up Edwards. Difference was meh. So by Wolves standards...that is a positive.

20/11/4/3 in 8/15 is considerably better than 21/6/3 on 9/21.

1) is a winning contributor and 2) the stats may look okay but the low efficiency does nothing but hurt the team.

Did you take I to account coaching and offensive systems that lend to those stats and efficiency? Edwards, to me, looks way better than Ball from an athlete,scorer, and defensive standpoint. Ball had a better statline, but look at the numbers his teammates put up as part of a system. Edwards is so misused by this staff it is stupid and is still putting up decent numbers. Ball is being played the way he should be.

[jpatrick]

I think the major difference between Ball and Edwards right now is “how” they play. Ball’s BBIQ is off the charts and you can see even though he is labeled a ball dominant PG, he doesn’t pound the Ball. He quickly makes a play or the ball moves.

With Edwards, he really only knows how to play as someone pounding the ball and taking the entire shot clock. Ie, the ball sticks to him and we don’t have good ball movement. We actually have too many of those guys. It’s a reason DLo will never be a key cog on a good team, he does the same thing and he’s not good enough to do so.

Will Edwards eventually be good enough to play like that? I don’t know but there are only a few players that can play like that and lead teams to elite records.

[Jedzz]

PS: I thought it was an amazing game by Nowell. He got his 9th assist of the year after all. Not bad for a guy who's taken 103 shots already in limited minutes.

glad, you're coming around

One off/bad game and he gets sarcasmed with a cheese puff for it.

Here's something to think about. Nowell is a shooting guard. As much as everyone around here wants to turn all guards here into selfless point guards, it's not happening. The best Point Guards aren't even necessarily selfless.

If whoever is initiating the offensive possession spends 18 of the 24 seconds before it comes to Nowell (or whoever it may be) then their job is hopefully to take that shot then or soon. After all, the point of the initial 18-20 seconds was hopefully to find an open or workable shot. It was not to send it to an open player and then have him decide not to shoot and pass again which leaves whoever that is with .5 seconds to get the shot off no matter the situation.

If you want to really attack Nowell for "not passing" enough, you are going to need to show enough possessions where he has control of the ball early in shot clock and then a bad percentage of those never being passed, then probably showing there was someone to pass to that would be less contested. You are going to have to do the work to prove that. I can agree he could move it more with the amount of touches he's getting. But I can't say I've kept track of when he's getting them.

[Charly]

I keep thinking this team plays ugly, with no system plan.
Coaches and Rosas are trash.
Best for players was be traded away this basketball black hole.