TNT crew actually gives a thoughtful critique of our current situation

[Benjams]

I like Shaq's view about taking two 3's and if missed, go inside for the 2. That is classic basketball. I may be old school but prefer the inside game first. I think Ant adopting this strategy would help a lot.

I agree with the TNT folks for the most part. I am not sure about Barkley's view on hurting Naz the most, though.

Sent from my SM-S916U1 using RealGM mobile app

[winforlose]

Shaq was spot on about Ant whining about the double teams. "I don't want to hear it"
"Great players find a way"

Chuck also had a good point about Rudy Gobert not helping us at all offensively and us playing 4 on 5 because of it.
3 on 5 if Jaden is having a bad game, which is about half the time.

We also need to make things easier for Ant and get him some reliable playsets with a couple of reads that he can go to.
One of the biggest problems for Ant is he doesn't know where his shots are coming from.
His shot chart is all over the place and it torpedos his efficiency.

I and 1 the first part, disagree on the rest. Rudy is a huge offensive weapon when used correctly. He screens people open, is great in PNR and PNP, is shooting 71.4% from the line, and is a good offensive rebounder. People keep watching an offense designed to harm Rudy and Jaden and blaming Rudy and Jaden for it. If you put V8 in the corner and demanded he play as a catch and shoot 3 point shooter who occasionally gets the ball in other situations would he be better or worse than he was with us? Finch has failed in developing both players and an offensive scheme and has proven he cannot take us to the promised land. He might be better than anyone who came before, but that doesn’t mean there is no better than him who can actually help Ant and Jaden develop properly.

[Benjams]

I and 1 the first part, disagree on the rest. Rudy is a huge offensive weapon when used correctly. He screens people open, is great in PNR and PNP, is shooting 71.4% from the line, and is a good offensive rebounder. People keep watching an offense designed to harm Rudy and Jaden and blaming Rudy and Jaden for it. If you put V8 in the corner and demanded he play as a catch and shoot 3 point shooter who occasionally gets the ball in other situations would he be better or worse than he was with us? Finch has failed in developing both players and an offensive scheme and has proven he cannot take us to the promised land. He might be better than anyone who came before, but that doesn’t mean there is no better than him who can actually help Ant and Jaden develop properly.

I think Rudy should be used more also on offense. He is definitely the most efficient for attempts made. Finch should be capitalizing due to that stat and trying to get him the ball more. Instead, it's what Barkley is saying. Nobody even looks for him on offense, making it 4 vs. 5.

I think Flip was the best Minnesota coach. He brought them to WCF and 2 wins in it. Finch is one game shy of that. In addition, he had Cassell, Sprewell, and Garnett giving 100 every night and won more games in 2004 compared to last season.

Sent from my SM-S916U1 using RealGM mobile app

[shrink]

Shaq was spot on about Ant whining about the double teams. "I don't want to hear it"
"Great players find a way"

Chuck also had a good point about Rudy Gobert not helping us at all offensively and us playing 4 on 5 because of it.
3 on 5 if Jaden is having a bad game, which is about half the time.

We also need to make things easier for Ant and get him some reliable playsets with a couple of reads that he can go to.
One of the biggest problems for Ant is he doesn't know where his shots are coming from.
His shot chart is all over the place and it torpedos his efficiency.

I and 1 the first part, disagree on the rest. Rudy is a huge offensive weapon when used correctly. He screens people open, is great in PNR and PNP, is shooting 71.4% from the line, and is a good offensive rebounder. People keep watching an offense designed to harm Rudy and Jaden and blaming Rudy and Jaden for it. If you put V8 in the corner and demanded he play as a catch and shoot 3 point shooter who occasionally gets the ball in other situations would he be better or worse than he was with us? Finch has failed in developing both players and an offensive scheme and has proven he cannot take us to the promised land. He might be better than anyone who came before, but that doesn’t mean there is no better than him who can actually help Ant and Jaden develop properly.

I agree with much of this, but I end up blaming Ant more than Finch. Finch has a system, with lots of ball movement and it does generate open shots. The problem isn’t the offensive plan (the coach’s job), but the execution (the players’). Ant, and to a lessening extent, Randle, doesn’t stick with the game plan for four full quarters. Finch has talked about the ball getting “sticky” for two-three years, and you know Ant hears it, because he often repeats it in post game interviews after losses (and to his credit, take his rightful blame for that). So he knows, but sometimes, he just wants to score on his own.

To be fair to Ant, (and Randle), they do pass some. Randle leads the team in assists (4.5) and Ant is #3 at 4.0. However, there are often sections of the game where they abandon the plan. Now, if Finch was a junior high or high school coach, he could, and should, bench guys that don’t follow the plan. But in the NBA, there is only limited control of your superstars, and the front office may remind the coach that he is always more expendable than the star. Again, to Ant’s credit, he likes Finch and wants to be coached hard. But when the coach tells him to keep swinging the ball and it will get back to you, Ant doesn’t always do that. Both Ant and Randle can generate their own shot, but it much harder when defenses load up on you when they defy the coach, and start with their “take turns” one-on-two driving.

We can’t forget Ant is a young player, with very little basketball background before he got here. Still, he needs to become a better and more willing passer (particularly to Rudy), and he needs to mature and trust the swing-swing process. It works when he does.

[winforlose]

Shaq was spot on about Ant whining about the double teams. "I don't want to hear it"
"Great players find a way"

Chuck also had a good point about Rudy Gobert not helping us at all offensively and us playing 4 on 5 because of it.
3 on 5 if Jaden is having a bad game, which is about half the time.

We also need to make things easier for Ant and get him some reliable playsets with a couple of reads that he can go to.
One of the biggest problems for Ant is he doesn't know where his shots are coming from.
His shot chart is all over the place and it torpedos his efficiency.

I and 1 the first part, disagree on the rest. Rudy is a huge offensive weapon when used correctly. He screens people open, is great in PNR and PNP, is shooting 71.4% from the line, and is a good offensive rebounder. People keep watching an offense designed to harm Rudy and Jaden and blaming Rudy and Jaden for it. If you put V8 in the corner and demanded he play as a catch and shoot 3 point shooter who occasionally gets the ball in other situations would he be better or worse than he was with us? Finch has failed in developing both players and an offensive scheme and has proven he cannot take us to the promised land. He might be better than anyone who came before, but that doesn’t mean there is no better than him who can actually help Ant and Jaden develop properly.

I agree with much of this, but I end up blaming Ant more than Finch. Finch has a system, with lots of ball movement and it does generate open shots. The problem isn’t the offensive plan (the coaches job), but the execution (the players). Ant, and to a lessening extent, Randle, don’t stick with the game plan. Finch has talked about the ball getting “sticky” for two-three years, and you know Ant hears it, because he often repeats it in post game interviews after losses (and to his credit, take his rightful blame for that). So he knows, but sometimes, he just wants to score on his own.

To be fair to Ant, and Randle, they do pass some. Randle leads the team in assists (4.5) and Ant is #3 at 4.0. However, there are often sections of the game where they abandon the plan. Now, if Finch was a junior high or high school coach, he could, and should, bench guys that don’t follow the plan. But in the NBA, there is only limited control of your superstars, and the front office may remind the coach that he is always more expendable than the star. Again, to Ant’s credit, he likes Finch and wants to be coached hard. But when the coach tells him to keep swinging the ball and it will get back to you, Ant doesn’t always do that. To me, that is on Ant, and he needs to mature and trust the process. It works when he does.

Tell me honestly, if we had Mike Daigneault (OKC head coach,) do you think Jaden would primarily stand in a corner. Or that we would run so little PNR and PNP. Or that Mike would spend so much time not running the offense? Or that we would have so little off ball movement? Coaches use systems at this level to make the game easier on players. They can fall back on the scheme and they know what to expect from the teammates. Yes Ant is proving he is not a leader, yes Randle has glaring flaws, but the simple truth is Finch is not getting the best out of his players. He isn’t a terrible coach like we are used to, but that doesn’t make him a great coach by default. We have too much talent to be this inconsistent and bad on offense.

[younggunsmn]

Shaq was spot on about Ant whining about the double teams. "I don't want to hear it"
"Great players find a way"

Chuck also had a good point about Rudy Gobert not helping us at all offensively and us playing 4 on 5 because of it.
3 on 5 if Jaden is having a bad game, which is about half the time.

Yes, and fair. I would add that part of that is on Ant, for either never learning (or wanting) to learn how to use Rudy Gobert’s screens and the pick-and-roll. I understand that it takes time to learn it - even Mike Conley said it took him a year once he reached Utah, and he came to Utah with a lot of NBA experience while Ant had virtually none. But if Conley has the physical skills to make that a very effective play (and one of Finch’s favorites), a better scoring, more explosive Ant should be able to run that play better, once he starts doing it.

I recently saw a graphic measuring on-ball and off-ball gravity. Gobert (and Jaden) are both negatives in both categories, so Ant is right - the defenders on Rudy and Jaden are getting a head start to double team them. But the way to beat that is to make the pass that both players can score on, and punish defenses for cheating up on you. That’s the pathway to get better looks, and stop being double-teamed.

If it's the same graphic I saw it's the one where Rudy is by far the worst in the NBA (IE most ignored by opposing defenses).

Using a baseball analogy, throwing a pass to Rudy is like trying to hit the lower outside corner with a pitch every single time with Aaron Judge up to bat. There is no margin for error, and even if you make the perfect pitch there is still the chance the Umpire (Rudy) is going to miss the call (fumble the pass).

I watched KG for 12 years nimbly catch everything within like a 10 foot radius. Every pass, every rebound.

I've watched Rudy be a disaster offensively for 2 1/2 years now.
He's been in the league for 10+ years.
There is no "making it work better".
There is only coming to terms with his weaknesses.
Defenses do not respect him one iota. They are fine giving up the occasional lob.
If Rudy gives them even a sliver of reaction time it devolves into a strip or a low percentage (for him) layup attempt.

Best case is he uses his positioning to maximize spacing for his teammates and catches the occasional lob or pass in the dunker spot. Half his point should come on putbacks.

We've been using him a lot high up on the floor to set screens, which he should in theory be able to do.
But because of the utter disrespect teams have for him, doing that has become an automatic trap, and instead of hiding like an assassin on the weakside baseline, he's gumming up the entire middle of the floor, which is the best place to break down the defense and pass from.

If you run the empty corner set with Rudy and Mike or Ant, most of the time the defense is going to give you the 8-10 foot floater.
Mike has lost his ability to shoot that shot this year and Ant doesn't like it.
And it's of middling efficiency.

If you ask me, a lot of our offensive problems stem from overusage of our worst offensive player.

[winforlose]

Shaq was spot on about Ant whining about the double teams. "I don't want to hear it"
"Great players find a way"

Chuck also had a good point about Rudy Gobert not helping us at all offensively and us playing 4 on 5 because of it.
3 on 5 if Jaden is having a bad game, which is about half the time.

Yes, and fair. I would add that part of that is on Ant, for either never learning (or wanting) to learn how to use Rudy Gobert’s screens and the pick-and-roll. I understand that it takes time to learn it - even Mike Conley said it took him a year once he reached Utah, and he came to Utah with a lot of NBA experience while Ant had virtually none. But if Conley has the physical skills to make that a very effective play (and one of Finch’s favorites), a better scoring, more explosive Ant should be able to run that play better, once he starts doing it.

I recently saw a graphic measuring on-ball and off-ball gravity. Gobert (and Jaden) are both negatives in both categories, so Ant is right - the defenders on Rudy and Jaden are getting a head start to double team them. But the way to beat that is to make the pass that both players can score on, and punish defenses for cheating up on you. That’s the pathway to get better looks, and stop being double-teamed.

If it's the same graphic I saw it's the one where Rudy is by far the worst in the NBA (IE most ignored by opposing defenses).

Using a baseball analogy, throwing a pass to Rudy is like trying to hit the lower outside corner with a pitch every single time with Aaron Judge up to bat. There is no margin for error, and even if you make the perfect pitch there is still the chance the Umpire (Rudy) is going to miss the call (fumble the pass).

I watched KG for 12 years nimbly catch everything within like a 10 foot radius. Every pass, every rebound.

I've watched Rudy be a disaster offensively for 2 1/2 years now.
He's been in the league for 10+ years.
There is no "making it work better".
There is only coming to terms with his weaknesses.
Defenses do not respect him one iota. They are fine giving up the occasional lob.
If Rudy gives them even a sliver of reaction time it devolves into a strip or a low percentage (for him) layup attempt.

Best case is he uses his positioning to maximize spacing for his teammates and catches the occasional lob or pass in the dunker spot. Half his point should come on putbacks.

We've been using him a lot high up on the floor to set screens, which he should in theory be able to do.
But because of the utter disrespect teams have for him, doing that has become an automatic trap, and instead of hiding like an assassin on the weakside baseline, he's gumming up the entire middle of the floor, which is the best place to break down the defense and pass from.

If you run the empty corner set with Rudy and Mike or Ant, most of the time the defense is going to give you the 8-10 foot floater.
Mike has lost his ability to shoot that shot this year and Ant doesn't like it.
And it's of middling efficiency.

If you ask me, a lot of our offensive problems stem from overusage of our worst offensive player.

Again, the NBA doesn’t track screen assists. Rudy was very good last year and the early part of this year at PNR. He is great at PNP (see Rudy screening guys open from deep, especially KAT last year.) If I tie your hands behind your back and demand you drive a car with your mouth, whose fault is it when you crash? Finch is running these guys in the worst possible ways and demanding they not crash. Then when they do crash he blames them for not listening to him. Some guys like Ant need to listen more, guys like Jaden need their hands freed.

[shrink]

Shaq was spot on about Ant whining about the double teams. "I don't want to hear it"
"Great players find a way"

Chuck also had a good point about Rudy Gobert not helping us at all offensively and us playing 4 on 5 because of it.
3 on 5 if Jaden is having a bad game, which is about half the time.

Yes, and fair. I would add that part of that is on Ant, for either never learning (or wanting) to learn how to use Rudy Gobert’s screens and the pick-and-roll. I understand that it takes time to learn it - even Mike Conley said it took him a year once he reached Utah, and he came to Utah with a lot of NBA experience while Ant had virtually none. But if Conley has the physical skills to make that a very effective play (and one of Finch’s favorites), a better scoring, more explosive Ant should be able to run that play better, once he starts doing it.

I recently saw a graphic measuring on-ball and off-ball gravity. Gobert (and Jaden) are both negatives in both categories, so Ant is right - the defenders on Rudy and Jaden are getting a head start to double team them. But the way to beat that is to make the pass that both players can score on, and punish defenses for cheating up on you. That’s the pathway to get better looks, and stop being double-teamed.

If it's the same graphic I saw it's the one where Rudy is by far the worst in the NBA (IE most ignored by opposing defenses).

Using a baseball analogy, throwing a pass to Rudy is like trying to hit the lower outside corner with a pitch every single time with Aaron Judge up to bat. There is no margin for error, and even if you make the perfect pitch there is still the chance the Umpire (Rudy) is going to miss the call (fumble the pass).

This must be hyperbole. The lob to Rudy is a pass of 5 feet or less, vs 60 feet six inches from mound to plate.

And because Gobert shoots FG 63% (though many of those passes are less than perfect), he’s 7th in the NBA in OFF RTG at 130.6.

This is a weapon that isn’t getting utilized, and because of that, defenses sag off and double cover Ant.

[younggunsmn]

Shaq was spot on about Ant whining about the double teams. "I don't want to hear it"
"Great players find a way"

Chuck also had a good point about Rudy Gobert not helping us at all offensively and us playing 4 on 5 because of it.
3 on 5 if Jaden is having a bad game, which is about half the time.

We also need to make things easier for Ant and get him some reliable playsets with a couple of reads that he can go to.
One of the biggest problems for Ant is he doesn't know where his shots are coming from.
His shot chart is all over the place and it torpedos his efficiency.

I and 1 the first part, disagree on the rest. Rudy is a huge offensive weapon when used correctly. He screens people open, is great in PNR and PNP, is shooting 71.4% from the line, and is a good offensive rebounder. People keep watching an offense designed to harm Rudy and Jaden and blaming Rudy and Jaden for it. If you put V8 in the corner and demanded he play as a catch and shoot 3 point shooter who occasionally gets the ball in other situations would he be better or worse than he was with us? Finch has failed in developing both players and an offensive scheme and has proven he cannot take us to the promised land. He might be better than anyone who came before, but that doesn’t mean there is no better than him who can actually help Ant and Jaden develop properly.

If Rudy Gobert is a "huge offensive weapon" then so is Steven Adams.
Sound ridiculous? I thought so. And Adams is more skilled than Rudy.

Finch didn't ask for this. He didn't ask for his GM to trade for Rudy Gobert and to trade away KAT for Julius Randle.
I don't like some of the decisions he has been making or the lack of structure in the offense at times,
but he's trying to turn lemons into lemonade and that isn't easy.
If anything he is giving the players way too much leeway to play the way they want to.
KAT last year was the lone guy who seemed to sacrifice at all to try to make things work for the rest of the team.

[shrink]

Shaq was spot on about Ant whining about the double teams. "I don't want to hear it"
"Great players find a way"

Chuck also had a good point about Rudy Gobert not helping us at all offensively and us playing 4 on 5 because of it.
3 on 5 if Jaden is having a bad game, which is about half the time.

We also need to make things easier for Ant and get him some reliable playsets with a couple of reads that he can go to.
One of the biggest problems for Ant is he doesn't know where his shots are coming from.
His shot chart is all over the place and it torpedos his efficiency.

I and 1 the first part, disagree on the rest. Rudy is a huge offensive weapon when used correctly. He screens people open, is great in PNR and PNP, is shooting 71.4% from the line, and is a good offensive rebounder. People keep watching an offense designed to harm Rudy and Jaden and blaming Rudy and Jaden for it. If you put V8 in the corner and demanded he play as a catch and shoot 3 point shooter who occasionally gets the ball in other situations would he be better or worse than he was with us? Finch has failed in developing both players and an offensive scheme and has proven he cannot take us to the promised land. He might be better than anyone who came before, but that doesn’t mean there is no better than him who can actually help Ant and Jaden develop properly.

If Rudy Gobert is a "huge offensive weapon" then so is Steven Adams.
Sound ridiculous? I thought so. And Adams is more skilled than Rudy.

Finch didn't ask for this. He didn't ask for his GM to trade for Rudy Gobert and to trade away KAT for Julius Randle.
I don't like some of the decisions he has been making or the lack of structure in the offense at times,
but he's trying to turn lemons into lemonade and that isn't easy.
If anything he is giving the players way too much leeway to play the way they want to.
KAT last year was the lone guy who seemed to sacrifice at all to try to make things work for the rest of the team.

Last year, Finch’s favorite play is the Conley-Gobert pick-and-roll. In fact, Conley said Finch wants to run it all the time when he calls set plays, but Mike feels it’s important to spread the ball around a little more than that.

[younggunsmn]

Yes, and fair. I would add that part of that is on Ant, for either never learning (or wanting) to learn how to use Rudy Gobert’s screens and the pick-and-roll. I understand that it takes time to learn it - even Mike Conley said it took him a year once he reached Utah, and he came to Utah with a lot of NBA experience while Ant had virtually none. But if Conley has the physical skills to make that a very effective play (and one of Finch’s favorites), a better scoring, more explosive Ant should be able to run that play better, once he starts doing it.

I recently saw a graphic measuring on-ball and off-ball gravity. Gobert (and Jaden) are both negatives in both categories, so Ant is right - the defenders on Rudy and Jaden are getting a head start to double team them. But the way to beat that is to make the pass that both players can score on, and punish defenses for cheating up on you. That’s the pathway to get better looks, and stop being double-teamed.

If it's the same graphic I saw it's the one where Rudy is by far the worst in the NBA (IE most ignored by opposing defenses).

Using a baseball analogy, throwing a pass to Rudy is like trying to hit the lower outside corner with a pitch every single time with Aaron Judge up to bat. There is no margin for error, and even if you make the perfect pitch there is still the chance the Umpire (Rudy) is going to miss the call (fumble the pass).

This must be hyperbole. The lob to Rudy is a pass of 5 feet or less, vs 60 feet six inches from mound to plate.

And because Gobert shoots FG 63% (though many of those passes are less than perfect), he’s 7th in the NBA in OFF RTG at 130.6.

This is a weapon that isn’t getting utilized, and because of that, defenses sag off and double cover Ant.

Rudy shoots 63% on 6.2 FGA/game. In 33 minutes. That's a FGA every 5.5 minutes.
SCALE MATTERS.
SHOT CREATION MATTERS.
If you shoot 63% on 20 shots a game you are a superstar.
If you shoot 63% on a shot every 5.5 minutes you are a scrub who is only making wide open dunks.
Given the shots available to him he should be at 70% minimum.
A guy who requires this much help from his teammates to be successful is not a reliable offensive weapon.

His PEAK FGA per game is 8.8 in 12 years in the league. He's 32 years old now and will continue to physically decline.
"We are underutilizing Rudy Gobert" is a cliche than has been uttered for many years now by fans of both the Wolves and Jazz.
It's simply not true.

[winforlose]

If it's the same graphic I saw it's the one where Rudy is by far the worst in the NBA (IE most ignored by opposing defenses).

Using a baseball analogy, throwing a pass to Rudy is like trying to hit the lower outside corner with a pitch every single time with Aaron Judge up to bat. There is no margin for error, and even if you make the perfect pitch there is still the chance the Umpire (Rudy) is going to miss the call (fumble the pass).

This must be hyperbole. The lob to Rudy is a pass of 5 feet or less, vs 60 feet six inches from mound to plate.

And because Gobert shoots FG 63% (though many of those passes are less than perfect), he’s 7th in the NBA in OFF RTG at 130.6.

This is a weapon that isn’t getting utilized, and because of that, defenses sag off and double cover Ant.

Rudy shoots 63% on 6.2 FGA/game. In 33 minutes. That's a FGA every 5.5 minutes.
SCALE MATTERS.
SHOT CREATION MATTERS.
If you shoot 63% on 20 shots a game you are a superstar.
If you shoot 63% on a shot every 5.5 minutes you are a scrub who is only making wide open dunks.
Given the shots available to him he should be at 70% minimum.
A guy who requires this much help from his teammates to be successful is not a reliable offensive weapon.

His PEAK FGA per game is 8.8 in 12 years in the league. He's 32 years old now and will continue to physically decline.
"We are underutilizing Rudy Gobert" is a cliche than has been uttered for many years now by fans of both the Wolves and Jazz.
It's simply not true.

You completely missed the screen assist part of what I said. You missed the offensive rebounding and put back part of what I said. You missed the free throw improvement I talked about above. I would love to know how often we have run PNR in the last 30 days? Also, you blame Rudy for having bad hands (somewhat fair,) but not the people who keep passing low to him. There is a reason guys like JMAC get credit for being good passers. Hitting guys in the shot pocket makes life much easier for shooters. Rudy’s hands are bad, but he is so much better when the ball is placed up rather than down. Go back and see how many guys make Rudy bend for the pass. Again you fail to consider that the sum should be greater than the parts. Our starting five doesn’t have a sum is greater than the parts of the whole dynamic, and you are blaming the parts not the guy who puts them together.

[shrink]

If it's the same graphic I saw it's the one where Rudy is by far the worst in the NBA (IE most ignored by opposing defenses).

Using a baseball analogy, throwing a pass to Rudy is like trying to hit the lower outside corner with a pitch every single time with Aaron Judge up to bat. There is no margin for error, and even if you make the perfect pitch there is still the chance the Umpire (Rudy) is going to miss the call (fumble the pass).

This must be hyperbole. The lob to Rudy is a pass of 5 feet or less, vs 60 feet six inches from mound to plate.

And because Gobert shoots FG 63% (though many of those passes are less than perfect), he’s 7th in the NBA in OFF RTG at 130.6.

This is a weapon that isn’t getting utilized, and because of that, defenses sag off and double cover Ant.

Rudy shoots 63% on 6.2 FGA/game. In 33 minutes. That's a FGA every 5.5 minutes.
SCALE MATTERS.
SHOT CREATION MATTERS.
If you shoot 63% on 20 shots a game you are a superstar.
If you shoot 63% on a shot every 5.5 minutes you are a scrub who is only making wide open dunks.
Given the shots available to him he should be at 70% minimum.
A guy who requires this much help from his teammates to be successful is not a reliable offensive weapon.

His PEAK FGA per game is 8.8 in 12 years in the league. He's 32 years old now and will continue to physically decline.
"We are underutilizing Rudy Gobert" is a cliche than has been uttered for many years now by fans of both the Wolves and Jazz.
It's simply not true.

Yes, Rudy needs to have the ball thrown to him. When that happens, it’s extremely effective.

Fortunately, there are five people on a basketball team, right?

Somehow, in order to blame Gobert, you suddenly hold him accountable for scale? How dare he not score on more passes that players don’t throw him!

[shrink]

Finch didn't ask for this. He didn't ask for his GM to trade for Rudy Gobert and to trade away KAT for Julius Randle.

BTW, how can you say this like it is a fact? I don’t think anyone knows how much influenced Finch had in either trade, right?

We do know that Finch talked about his experience coaching teams with multiple bigs, and we do know he coached Randle before in NOP.

I feel like you are attributing your own feelings to Finch here.

[BlacJacMac]

Finch didn't ask for this. He didn't ask for his GM to trade for Rudy Gobert and to trade away KAT for Julius Randle.

BTW, how can you say this like it is a fact? I don’t think anyone knows how much influenced Finch had in either trade, right?

We do know that Finch talked about his experience coaching teams with multiple bogs, and we do know he coached Randle before in NOP.

I feel like you are attributing your own feelings to Finch here.

What we do know is TC went to Finch before the Gobert trade to get his input on it and to see if he thought it could work and if it made sense. Both men were very upfront about that right after the trade.

[younggunsmn]

This must be hyperbole. The lob to Rudy is a pass of 5 feet or less, vs 60 feet six inches from mound to plate.

And because Gobert shoots FG 63% (though many of those passes are less than perfect), he’s 7th in the NBA in OFF RTG at 130.6.

This is a weapon that isn’t getting utilized, and because of that, defenses sag off and double cover Ant.

Rudy shoots 63% on 6.2 FGA/game. In 33 minutes. That's a FGA every 5.5 minutes.
SCALE MATTERS.
SHOT CREATION MATTERS.
If you shoot 63% on 20 shots a game you are a superstar.
If you shoot 63% on a shot every 5.5 minutes you are a scrub who is only making wide open dunks.
Given the shots available to him he should be at 70% minimum.
A guy who requires this much help from his teammates to be successful is not a reliable offensive weapon.

His PEAK FGA per game is 8.8 in 12 years in the league. He's 32 years old now and will continue to physically decline.
"We are underutilizing Rudy Gobert" is a cliche than has been uttered for many years now by fans of both the Wolves and Jazz.
It's simply not true.

Yes, Rudy needs to have the ball thrown to him. When that happens, it’s extremely effective.

Fortunately, there are five people on a basketball team, right?

Somehow, in order to blame Gobert, you suddenly hold him accountable for scale? How dare he not score on more passes that players don’t throw him!

Oh I see it's been a 12 year long conspiracy to not get Rudy Gobert the ball.
All those teams conspired to hold him under 8 or 9 shots per 36 minutes.
Wow guy makes 5 of 8 shots per game let's center our offense around him even though only reliable shot he can make is a lob dunk.

If there was a way to scheme a guy into 10-12 lob dunks every game this would be a completely different league.
Newsflash: There isn't.

[thinktank]

Yeah no team can unlock Rudy on O.

It’s Rudy.

Its not the rest of the NBA.

[winforlose]

Yeah no team can unlock Rudy on O.

It’s Rudy.

It’s not the rest of the NBA.

He has played for two teams. Both teams knew how to use him. Lob dunks, PNR, PNP, screen assists. We don’t use him for much of any of that these days.

[thinktank]

Yeah no team can unlock Rudy on O.

It’s Rudy.

It’s not the rest of the NBA.

He has played for two teams. Both teams knew how to use him. Lob dunks, PNR, PNP, screen assists. We don’t use him for much of any of that these days.

His hands are terrible. Mitchell didn’t want to pass to him and Ant doesn’t want to either. Rudy has had a lot of teammates and he is what he is. He can catch a few lobs but he’s not consistent enough at catching and finishing to make himself more of a threat. Plus, he has no moves at the rim so he’s not much of a roll threat either. He needs it on a silver platter. Everything needs to be just right for him to score. You can’t rely on it.

[winforlose]

Yeah no team can unlock Rudy on O.

It’s Rudy.

It’s not the rest of the NBA.

He has played for two teams. Both teams knew how to use him. Lob dunks, PNR, PNP, screen assists. We don’t use him for much of any of that these days.

His hands are terrible. Mitchell didn’t want to pass to him and Ant doesn’t want to either. Rudy has had a lot of teammates and he is what he is. He can catch a few lobs but he’s not consistent enough at catching and finishing to make himself more of a threat. Plus, he has no moves at the rim so he’s not much of a roll threat either. He needs it on a silver platter. Everything needs to be just right for him to score. You can’t rely on it.

Go back and listen to Jim Pete talks about how we win most games when Rudy shoots 8 times or more, and lose most when shoots 7 or more. After you do, explain to me how the pattern makes sense with what you just said. Also please note that the pattern is not based on made shots, only attempted shots.