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The Score: It's up to the T-Wolves' backcourt to make their new frontcourt work

Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2022 8:20 pm
by Calinks
https://www.thescore.com/nba/news/2485375/its-up-to-the-t-wolves-backcourt-to-make-their-new-frontcourt-work

They are basically saying our guards need to step up big time. They are making our bigs look worse than they are.

The Gobert-Towns fit itself, while far from seamless, hasn't been the problem. In fact, Towns has been better than anyone on the team, by far, at targeting Gobert and utilizing his finishing ability. Nearly half of Gobert's assisted baskets have come from his frontcourt mate, many of them off of high-low feeds but plenty more out of 4-5 pick-and-rolls and driving lobs to the dunker spot. The issue has been the lack of synergy between the frontcourt and the backcourt, particularly as it pertains to Gobert.


David Berding / Getty Images
Making a two-big alignment work is usually contingent on elite guard play, or at least elite off-the-dribble shot creation. There's a reason things have looked more functional in Cleveland and Memphis than they have in Minnesota. Whether it's Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell or Ja Morant and Desmond Bane, those teams' guards can mitigate spacing issues and offensive limitations around them thanks to their pull-up shooting, downhill juice, tight-window passing, and switch-busting ability.

Re: The Score: It's up to the T-Wolves' backcourt to make their new frontcourt work

Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2022 8:28 pm
by Klomp
Every freakin' year!

Look at the Top 12 total win shares in franchise history on Basketball Reference....only 2 are guards (Rubio and Brandon lol)

Re: The Score: It's up to the T-Wolves' backcourt to make their new frontcourt work

Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2022 11:17 pm
by Neeva
In other words DLO has sucked BIG time , Ant has been inconsistent some games. Nowell has sucked after a nice start, jmac is small and can’t defend, Forbes has sucked.

Re: The Score: It's up to the T-Wolves' backcourt to make their new frontcourt work

Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2022 11:31 pm
by Klomp
Listen to Flagrant Howls. They had JimPete on and he doesn't mince words. But for a dose of reality, he also brings up how bad Mike Conley was early on in Utah and how long it took him to adjust from playing with an offensive big like Marc Gasol to playing with Gobert. He also brings up how Towns is essentially playing the role Joe Ingles did for Rudy in Utah.

Re: The Score: It's up to the T-Wolves' backcourt to make their new frontcourt work

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 12:09 am
by winforlose
Ant and Dlo are both defending poorly. Way below what they were expected to be able to handle. It really is that simple

Re: The Score: It's up to the T-Wolves' backcourt to make their new frontcourt work

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 3:28 pm
by shrink
Klomp wrote:Listen to Flagrant Howls. They had JimPete on and he doesn't mince words. But for a dose of reality, he also brings up how bad Mike Conley was early on in Utah and how long it took him to adjust from playing with an offensive big like Marc Gasol to playing with Gobert. He also brings up how Towns is essentially playing the role Joe Ingles did for Rudy in Utah.

I came to recommend that podcast, and reiterate the Conley and Ingles ideas, so nice work, Klomp!