winforlose wrote:minimus wrote:winforlose wrote:
I haven’t seen enough of him shooting from the corners. It will be interesting to see how effective he is in the NBA from the corners.
It is not necessary shooting from corners. I'd say attacking from corners after running to empty corners and stretching the floor. And TSJ has done plenty of these actions in SL:
- he consistently attacking opponent closeouts hitting baseline jumper and floaters
- he consistently attacking opponent closeouts hitting layups and dunks
- he is shooting open threes from corners, and using jab step to create 3pt shot
But the best example of his skillet and mentality was one episode during last game vs IND: TSJ had a hustle play in defense (I don't remember whether it was rebound or block), he was last line in defense, and right after it in live ball situation, he sprinted the court all 92ft and got himself open in corner. That was high IQ move.
The most painful thing for me as a Wolves fan last year was watching any of our players break down the defense, kick it to the corner, and having Kyle refuse to shoot it. TSJ has impressed the hell out of me so far. He is showing good defensive instincts, a willingness to fight for boards, a talent for attacking the rim, the ability to draw fouls, and more. But, the one thing I think we all need to see, is an ability to do what Kyle could/would not, hit the corner 3. He will be in late clock situations or in straight up packed paint situations, and he needs to be able to catch and shoot. If he cannot, he cannot play with Rudy because they will play off of him, just like Kyle.
Our roster by design was not able to fully take advantage of corner threes:
- Towns is not shooting corners threes, but it is kind of by design: he cant run in transition and fill open corner like many natural stretch four forwards do. Towns is slow by comboforwards standards and his sweet spots are on top of the three point arc and above the break. Towns just feels uncomfortable with such big feets in corner, he needs more space
- McDaniels has been inconsistent 3pt shooter
- Anderson, Morris and McLaughlin did not offer much as corner 3pt shooters for many reasons. I mean even if Morris has good touch, he was injured, McLaughlin lacks size it means that he shoots only wide open threes
- Reid is also not a natural corner three point shooter, but he at least is mobile and has size
In other words, to maximise effect from three point shot from corners you need to have mobile, decent sized shooters who are willing to fill these spots, because it kind accelerate offensive flow, stretches the floor. TSJ fits this role perfectly.
I like the obvious comment but you might be surprised. Defense is a collective, collaborative process. Plus they will most likely be playing against the other 2nd unit. When you have that much offensive firepower as we do all you have to be is adequate on the defensive end.
