Kevin Love expressing doubts about the team's system?

[Calinks]

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wireta ... ve_system/

Big Al chimes in a bit as well basically saying that he doesn't think its the greatest idea to have a big like Love guard Carmelo. I thought if anybody would enjoy this system on this team it would be Love. Even he is expressing that his talents may not be getting maximized. I worry that the biggest issue with our team as it stands right now is that a lot of our important players aren't really playing in a system that benefits them.

Kevin Love is having a tough time figuring things out in Kurt Rambis' system, whether it's the offense or guarding Carmelo Anthony on defense.

"This offense has been easy to run," Love said Wednesday after the Timberwolves' seventh consecutive loss, "but hard to figure out.

"My shooting percentage is down the past 10 games [he's at 42.0 percent over that span] because I don't know when I'm going to get the ball," Love said earnestly. Rambis "is into precision, but I don't feel like we know 100 percent what we need to do out there. There's some confusion, and that's kind of on us and kind of on them [the coaching staff]."

Rambis assigned him to guard Carmelo Anthony, the league's third-leading scorer. "I said, 'Are you sure?'" Love said.

"I love Kevin Love," shrugged Wolves teammate Al Jefferson, "but I don't think he can guard Melo 1-on-1."

Read more: http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wireta ... z0htq6TAqg

[cpfsf]

Win a few games and people assume things are finally coming together. Reality kicks in and losses start piling up. Solution: Blame the triangle.

[Slum_Dillinger]

Its not even through the first year running this system. Not to mention Love missed a pretty chunk of the season and it's understandable. Its a tough offense, especially when you dont have the right pieces for it.

It doesnt sound to me like he is expressing doubt, just expressing some minor issue. I dont even think this coaching staff really got a full off season with this team, plus all the moving parts. I'm not ready to make it a big deal yet.

[Worm Guts]

With the player turnover you have in the NBA, I don't think systems should take a full season to implement. You have to be able to get players acclimated within a couple months if not weeks.

[Whiz Kid]

I agree, this isn't doubt about the system. This is just Love's frustration boiling over with all the losing and with the unpredictable way in which he is being used.

That said, the obvious conclusion from watching the way Rambis is currently coaching is that he and Kahn have no interest in winning games at this point...and I am fine with that, since winning is not in the team's best interests right now. The rotations are absurd, as is the amount of playing time being devoted to dead weight like Sasha P. And if we were really trying to win, would Jonny Fly really have been left in the game against Dallas while he committed TO after TO after TO?! Of course not.

Unfortunatly, Rambis can't exactly gather his team and say "look, I want you to play hard and execute the system, but right now my job is to make sure we don't win, and I will proceed accordingly."

We are tanking in obvious fashion -- putting together bad combinations of players on the court at the same time, asking guys to defend impossible matchups (Love-Melo), leaving in imploding point guards, giving more minutes to your worst player than your best (or 2nd best) player, etc. I don't fault us for that, except two things that really irk me: (1) Sasha is getting way to much burn, and (2) Love is being jerked around.

[Calinks]

Win a few games and people assume things are finally coming together. Reality kicks in and losses start piling up. Solution: Blame the triangle.

With the player turnover you have in the NBA, I don't think systems should take a full season to implement. You have to be able to get players acclimated within a couple months if not weeks.

You have a point here. For instance, with a lot of NBA teams at the deadline, trades were made and new players were playing and playing well within 2 or 3 games. Now with the wolves that has happened with Darko but from the way Rambis was talking with Tucker and the team as a whole, the system was something that would take a while to understand. If we trade for a player will we have to wait weeks until they can really understand the system and play well? That's far too long.

If the system is this complex could it:

-Turn some FA away?
-Turn current players away?
-Hinder some of our players talents?
-Limit the type of talent this team can acquire?

I like Rambis as a coach for the most part so far and I think you could have a great team if the triangle is used properly but I don't know if the ends justify the means. What if we spend three years trying to sculpt a team that can run this system and we still have problems? We may fire Rambis and then we tarnished three years of rebuilding, potentially missed out on acquring talented players who we felt wouldn't fit, and potentially lost good players that couldn't fit or understand the system.

[Whiz Kid]

I just don't think the system is really THAT complex. Maybe more complex then a simple system, but not rocket science. The problem in my mind is the lack of consistent rotations. A great team usually has a steady starting 5, a regular 6th man, and typically 2 other regular subs. With that, you get used to playing with the same guys and their tendencies, which is even more important in a more complex system like ours.

Our rotations the last few weeks have been bordering on random. The only principles that I can discern are (1) avoid winning, and (2) give the young guys lots of PT.

[Foye]

I don't like the triangle for our team.

Maybe Rambis doesn't know any other offense?

[Cyborg21]

I don't blame him.

[digitaldropoff]

I love me some Love...but he needs to shut his fat ****in mouth with this. The system isn't made for the players we currently have....everyone knows this. So he needs to recognize this as well...if he can't see that this team is going to be completely different then the one he fields next year, maybe it's he that should be traded. This whole season has been all about evaluation...Love isn't a dumb kid, but come on...this season was over before it started in terms of winning. I trust in Rambis, because all he is doing is putting young players in uncomfortable positions to learn from for the future. It sucks now, but how do we know what 4 or 5 guys to bring back next year?

[Devilzsidewalk]

he's just saying what everybody on the team must be thinking, no need to bash on Klove. The whole team looks lost on both sides of the ball. Hopefully it just takes time, most of this team is pretty young and inexperienced. Look at the veteran leadership on LA where Kobe and Phil have been together for a decade or Boston where you have Ray and KG, 2 guys that have been around forever and know the game backwards and forwards, or Dallas where Dirk has been in Dallas so long he's forgotten what "Berlin... du bist so wunderbar... Berlin... du bist so wunderbar" means.

Its a rookie coach and a bunch of young punks, they just gotta keep working. Its probably been a huge shock, especially for Flynn, at how long the season is and how fast the games are. Their tanks are on "E". Consistency will only come with time and training. They aren't (Please Use More Appropriate Word), they just don't know how to find their potential yet w/ nobody on the team like a Kobe out there 35 minutes showing them how physically peaked and mentally focused you have to be to be on every single possession to be consistently good for 82 games.

[Narf]

With the player turnover you have in the NBA, I don't think systems should take a full season to implement. You have to be able to get players acclimated within a couple months if not weeks.

You need talent, not acclimation. We suck, any system we run we'll still suck. It's just that simple.

[mnWI]

Win a few games and people assume things are finally coming together. Reality kicks in and losses start piling up. Solution: Blame the triangle.

So true. It's funny because the Wolves actually run the triangle quite well, and Rambis has received compliments on it via text from Phil Jackson. Maybe this is a bad sign, but a Wolves exec told me that the fastest big man at picking up the nuances of the triangle has been Jawai.

[horaceworthy]

mnWI, did that conversation take place before or after Darko was acquired? Or does it just look like Darko picked it up more quickly because it suits him better?

[sledgeross]

Jawai actually has a decent passing game from the post, just dont ask him to dribble!

[dunkonu21]

Wow, where the freakin loyalty. This really pisses me off. Good thing I'm a timberwolves fan... these guys r jokes right now

[dunkonu21]

I mean seriously I can handle the losing cuz I knew it was part of the plan. But the whining and having no faith in guys is rediculous!...Hopefully Jonny doesn't jump on the bandwagon and criticize his coach too!

[revprodeji]

With the player turnover you have in the NBA, I don't think systems should take a full season to implement. You have to be able to get players acclimated within a couple months if not weeks.

Majority of teams do not run an offensive system but the same basic 5 or 6 plays. System offenses work better, but you are correct that players are not at a place long enough. Also, many of our early entry players do not have the BBIQ to move properly without the ball.

[Woomanchu]

Kevin Love's mental toughness leaves a lot to be desired.

[Calinks]

Win a few games and people assume things are finally coming together. Reality kicks in and losses start piling up. Solution: Blame the triangle.

So true. It's funny because the Wolves actually run the triangle quite well, and Rambis has received compliments on it via text from Phil Jackson. Maybe this is a bad sign, but a Wolves exec told me that the fastest big man at picking up the nuances of the triangle has been Jawai.

Even faster than Love? I guess Rambis wasn't kidding when he talked about how high of a basketball IQ Jawai has. He always goes on about how smart Jawai is.