NoDopeOnSundays wrote:3toheadmelo wrote:NoDopeOnSundays wrote:
Jalen's net rating goes to show that it doesn't mean everything, he was virtually unplayable against the Clippers, and it's part of the reason they let him walk. Even when he helped them get to the WCF he wasn't some huge positive, and even our most recent playoffs he was neutral.
We got past the first round because of Brunson being our best player, not because of Randle, nothing in Town's jacket is as bad as that Hawks series too. I don't see the concerns, we still have Walking Boot on the team, we're going to evaluate whether or not KAT can do it, and if he can't Walking Boot will play next to him against big teams. Maybe the way to beating the Celtics is having a mix of big and smallball, KAT gives us the option that wasn't there before.
It doesn't mean everything, but it's a pretty good indicator of who helped their team more. But like I said, there's more than just net ratings. I've even posted the on and off ratings, DEF ratings, points per possessions with KAT at the 5.. etc.
The Timberwolves couldn't get past the 1st round with Butler as their best player just because of how disastrous KAT was at the 5. So it doesn't really matter who's the Timberwolves best player. The key factor is him playing the 5.
I hear what you saying about us having more options with KAT, but I just don't think it will work based on the years of data we have. Would gladly love to be proven wrong though. I thought Donte was an overpay based on his previous performances in the playoffs before he became Knick and he ended up being a bit better than I thought he would be (although he was still streaky af). Maybe KAT does the same thing.
The Wolves couldn't win with Jimmy because they were going against the 65-17 Rockets, the team that took the KD Warriors to 7, in that series KAT had the best DRTG of the starters, their issue was that they couldn't score, he was net negative because their offense was atrocious. That also needs to be pointed out, when he was first coached by Tom he wasn't really shooting threes like that, in that series against the Rockets he took a total of 11 over 5 games. Tom used him more like a traditional C and not the guy we're getting.
I don't think we're going to be top 5 defensively, but I'm thinking top 10 isn't some stretch based on who we have on the wings. The data on the last time he played the 5 with the Wolves had them in the playoffs as the 13th best defense.
It wasn't just the offense that held them back in that series though, it was KAT's terrible defense.
According to the tracking numbers at Synergy Sports, Towns is giving up an average of 1.036 points per possession as a pick-and-roll defender on 56 plays in the playoffs, putting him in the 18th percentile among players in the postseason.
They tried to play small ball in the series with Butler at the 4 and KAT at the 5 and offensively it was great, but defensively they were awful.
According to NBA.com/Stats, lineups where Towns is the only big man on the floor have an eye-popping offensive rating of 113.7 in 27 minutes in the series. The problem is that they have an equally gruesome defensive rating of 120.0.
We gonna need a top 5-10 defense if we want to compete with Boston. 13th best defense is far behind from Boston.
