LightTheBeam wrote:OGSactownballer wrote:It’s a huge effect on their offense though.
Now you have both Gobert - who cannot shoot outside of six feet - and Randle - who is entirely post dominant to be effective - both clogging the paint and Ant is hostile needs very much to get downhill into the paint to be effective.
This screams money cut when Randle expires along with some extra depth at wing and a much needed draft pick.
That team will suffer in the overall picture and that’s without accounting for Randle missing games (has been every year now).
I figure they drop to the 47-49 range and 5/6 in the play in fight overall.
I don't love the Randle fit, but I love them moving off of KAT and adding DDV.
That team is positioned so well to take a massive leap. We saw what Naz looked like as a starter when KAT went down, NAZ was suddenly 16/7 with incredible defense and 43% from the 3pt line playing with the starters.
McDaniels will take another leap this year. Ant is going to soon be considered a clear cut top 5 guy in the league.
The team absolutely didn't miss a beat when KAT went out, arguably they were better, now add DDV who was an absolute stud last year for NY.
We are sleeping if we think Minnesota is suddenly going to be that much worse. .677 win percentage when KAT played, 70% when he didn't. And he was an absolute liability who costed them that Dallas series.
I completely agree about Naz.
As you might recall, before he resigned I 110% wanted Naz HERE as our starting PF next to Domas. I saw his potential and saw him as a seamless fit for this team.
Unfortunately the way it is for Minny right now, he isn’t going to start ahead of Randle. Only when Randle is hurt. So that nullifies some of his ability to help out.
And while I agree about DDV, he also started a lot last year when guys were out so his affect and numbers will also be limited by being a backup.
Lastly I felt that Minnesota had an early jump out last year but tailed down to much more average later and was exposed (Gobert) as usual in the playoffs. I feel that they will come down some anyway since they overachieved and really had pretty good health most of the season. As we saw here, that changes and so does your results as a team.
Edit to add: To your point you are right. They DID NOT miss a beat for exactly the reasons we both agree on - Naz is a FAR better fit next to Gobert and with Ant because he opens up then inside by being a high percentage three and D PF.
But Randle’s NOT that at all. His defense is arguably much than KAT - who actually can rebound and block shots effectively enough to allow their perimeter defense to do its job. He is an automatic clog in the paint as he isn’t anywhere CLOSE to the three point shooter in either volume or ability as KAT. And he needs a lot of volume to put up his normal scoring - which takes the ball out of the hands of the three point shooters.
So overall the defense is worse and so is the offense - which stands a very good chance of stagnating.
We will see but I see a drop off.
but I don't hate adding Dougie to this squad. Wish we prioritized defense but another sniper doesn't hurt.
