minimus wrote:cupcakesnake wrote:I'd say Towns' problem is being too fast a thinker! Really rushes and forces things, especially in iso and as a passer. He's a super talented passer, and every couple of games he looks relaxed and plays a fantastic brand of normal basketball. Then the next game he goes completely haywire, throws passes out of bounds, drives into offensive fouls, passes up open shots to drive into traffic, forces a post-up against a bad matchup. (But yeah I think we mean the same thing here)
Yeah, agree. I just call it force things. I think the main problem is that Towns does not have a go-to move AND counter move, that allow him to stay calm under pressure. I mean Jokic can always post-up AND/OR pas, play DHO. Karl can go straight line drive going right, but it is to predictable and he gets offensive fouls. Karl can shoot 3s, but his footwork is slow so this option will be taken away by quicker defenders.
I still wonder what happened to Karl in DAL series. I guess after two rim protectors took away his post/slashing game, he his role reduced to a volume 3pt shooter at PF which he never has been, and only then he failed.cupcakesnake wrote:Boston is an interesting example, with the biggest difference being: Jrue Holiday and Derrick White can play much bigger minutes than Conley and SloMo could, without giving up any advantage. If we had 2 borderline all-stars playing heavy minute roles next to Ant and Kat, we'd be winning championships. We spent our money on a one-man monster defensive advantage (Gobert) who makes Ant and Kat's decision making tree slightly more difficult. Now Kat loves to throw lobs to Gobert, but really struggles to identify when to drive/post based on where Gobert is on the floor. Ant loved tearing apart Phoenix and Denver with their lack of paint protection, but the decisions got too difficult when Dallas shrunk the floor on him.
I don't think Ant is that far away from Tatum as a playmaker, and think he might even have better potential in this regard. Boston has simplified the game for Tatum: run pick & roll, collapse the defense as best you can, kick out in any direction to our monstrous 3-point shooting machine. It's kind of an easy job and Tatum is capable of doing it. Ant has to navigate weirder lineups, and still hasnt mastered the art of the interior pass, so there's so many missed opportunities. He's excellent at hitting the corners now so hopefully he can build on that. Ant growing as a primary playmaker will make it much easier to slow in defenders, shooters, and play finishers around him.
Yes, before Gobert trade Ant was an ISO scorer in free flow Finch offense. He has improved a lot, he is playing much more under control now. Next step is finally incorporating high level structured plays/reads in his game. Such as double drag play that Doncic used to kill MINcupcakesnake wrote:I like the idea of Shannon being used in a similar role to Reid, while allowing us to play quicker lineups.
I find it very intriguing that Shannon and Reid can be guys who are playing off the catch, who are natural aggressive scorers. My biggest hope is that Shannon brings physicality in second unit. MIN bench is 21st in FTA. Reid as scoring big from bench is particularly bad at earning FTs. For instance, Malik Monk averaged 3.9FTA per36, Reid averaged 2.7FTA per36. Obviously other bench players such NAW, Anderson and Morris/McLaughlin didnt apply any rim pressure neither.
Also MIN bench is 21st in 3PA. This is despite Reid highest 3pt shooting rate. Hopefully it will improve with addition of Rob and Shannon. I really hope that Reid-Shannon-NAW-Dillingham unit can find chemistry and run and attack with league highest pace. The only question I have is who defend big wings? Shannon? Minott? Miller? Clark?
Reid-(Minott/Miller/Clark)-Shannon-NAW-Dillingham
I haven't thought about that before, that Kat's struggles come from not having a go-to move/counter, but that explains it perfectly. It can be something that can plague a mega-talent: I can do anything, so what should I do specifically?
I think Kat has to embrace becoming a high volume 3-point shooter to maximize his value on this roster. When the Mavs/Wolves matchup was set, I remember thinking: oh they wont be able to shrink the floor against us quite as easily as they did OKC, Kat and Naz can bomb them to death from 3. Instead Kat only upped his attempts a tiny amount, and seemed overly eager to pump fake and drive, despite being gifted a ton of open 3s (which he bonked to the tune of 24%...). If the defense is going to give you something, you have to be ready to take it. He should have been attempting 12 threes per game that series, in my opinion.
The times I felt out offense looked the most potent were with Towns all the way up at the top and Ant attacking from the right elbow. (I liked it especially if this configuration forms after Kat comes off a pin-down). Towns standing there makes it paralyzing for the defense to help, and if they want to guard Ant and Towns (without leaving Gobert open in the paint), they have to bend the defense a lot more. Defenses became a little less panicked guarding that formation though, when it became clear that Towns wouldn't always punish them for it. He'll shoot it sometimes, but sometimes he'll prepare to drive, allow the close out to happen, and essentialy reset the possession with no advantage gained.
I agree that the team trying to add more rim pressure and more spacing is the way to go. There's room to improve in this offense through 3s and free throws. I'm not sure whether the rookies will carve out roles in year 1, but they're the right kinds of young guys to add.
In terms of guarding big wings, I get that Jaden is skinny and struggled at times againt Luka (though I still don't get why he had to go over every screen when Luka was killing us in the pick & roll rather than with step back 3s). I still don't think this is a horrible weakness for us. We have the size and paint protection behind our ball pressure to be annoying to score against, even if we don't have a perfect man-to-man matchup. Like Zion would be a hard player for us to put a body on, but if we can keep Gobert near the paint, we should survive. Losing SloMo is definitely a drain on our defensive versatility. For all the love Jaden, NAW, and Ant got for their ball pressure, SloMo was our highest IQ defender with the best hands and strongest base. I don't see our young guys (Minott and Shannon) being able to replicate that, though if either of them popped we'd have another good defensive athlete in the rotation.
