Team chemistry and balance.

[sledgeross]

Ok, Love is back, and Al seems to be getting better with each hitout. Flynn is getting more assists and less turnovers. Ellington seems to be coming along nicely. Gomes and Hollins are energetic and contributing.

So, where can we improve? Obviously having someone besides Love who can shoot 3's accurately is a start. And having a few other people besides Jawai shooting +80% free throws would help.

What are the TWolves strengths and weaknesses, what should management be looking to address sooner rather than later.?

Strengths are rebounding easily, and I cant think of too much else at the moment.

Weaknesses are inexperience from the play maker (or in a triangle, the "initiator") and long distance shooting. Time will fix the offence, but when will players start draining 3's? Especially with Stewie and Cardinal riding the pine!

[revprodeji]

This thread is roughly 7-8 months early. This team is designed to be built this summer via draft/free agency. Only exception would be a possible deadline deal. Otherwise this year is entirely for developing prospects and waiting.

[jade_hippo]

I agree that it is early, but its still nice to hope to see a competitive team on the court instead of 20pt blowouts and lots of hanging heads.

[big3_8_19_21]

While only being able to see highlights and box scores, we seem to be 10x better since Love came back. Part of that is Jonny Flynn was starting to come around on his assist/turnover ratio just before Love came back as well and Jefferson seems to be working the rust off slowly, but obviously a HUGE part of that is getting Love back. I agree with rev. At this point, the best we can hope for is for everyone to stay healthy and improve aspects of their game that will make us a more competitive team next season. A couple big things are Ellington finding his shot/adjusting to the NBA 3pt line and Brewer shooting a less pathetic % from the field. If Flynn and Sessions can mesh and play together at the same time, that would be a big plus as well.

[sledgeross]

Thats what I mean, with minor tweaking, the core of this team can pick up some confidence for next season by playing well now. The maulings on the Pacific swing notwithstanding, this young and inexperienced team, with a bit of luck and experience, could have won a couple more games.

[allweneedisLOVE]

Benching Corey Brewer would have taken our win count from 3 to 10

[JR Rider]

i have several odd ends that seem as though they would fit in this sort of thread.



-corey brewer appears to lack any sort of confidence. once a happy go lucky guy, appears to hate playing basketball now.

-i really do believe the coaching staff is the strength of the organization at this point. if you look at the wolves progress from game one this year, all the way to today, it is remarkable how much better of a team they are.

-i am not a fan of hollins, or pavlovic at all. i know theres a lot of people on board with hollins, but i really think he will never be suited in the NBA for more than (extremely) minimal reserve minutes. pavlovic just straight up sucks.

-the player that really confuses me is damien wilkins.. he either looks solid or horrible.. i want to go with horrible with flashes of solid, which typically is not a good NBA player.

-i like the progression of flynn, love, jefferson, and especially gomes. i have said this repeatedly over time, and i believe gomes is the most complete player we have (not the most talented), and I would like to see him as a piece to the puzzle here long-term.

-jefferson looks like a better player with love on the court. im not sure if its his rehab or what, but im starting to think maybe, just maybe they can compliment each other, somewhere down the line. need to see more first.

-our passing has improved 10 fold

-if brewer can become offensively efficient as a scorer, we would be winning probably 50% of our games. i really think the most important scorer in the offense we run is the wings, especially the 2 (now i say this probably because brewer gets open soo much because hes the least threatening player we have out there when we have our 'best lineup' on the court). If we had a good scoring 2 in the game, or if brewer can develop and shake whatever self-esteem issues hes acquired - awesome..




theres a lot more things i could say, just scratching the surface on a few tidbits here...

[big3_8_19_21]

-i like the progression of flynn, love, jefferson, and especially gomes. i have said this repeatedly over time, and i believe gomes is the most complete player we have (not the most talented), and I would like to see him as a piece to the puzzle here long-term.

Would you say Gomes is more complete than Love? Those are easily our 2 most complete players.

[Vindicater]

-if brewer can become offensively efficient as a scorer, we would be winning probably 50% of our games. i really think the most important scorer in the offense we run is the wings, especially the 2 (now i say this probably because brewer gets open soo much because hes the least threatening player we have out there when we have our 'best lineup' on the court). If we had a good scoring 2 in the game, or if brewer can develop and shake whatever self-esteem issues hes acquired - awesome.

Brewer will never be an efficient scorer.

Hes a defensive stopper off the bench.

[Worm Guts]

-i like the progression of flynn, love, jefferson, and especially gomes. i have said this repeatedly over time, and i believe gomes is the most complete player we have (not the most talented), and I would like to see him as a piece to the puzzle here long-term.

Would you say Gomes is more complete than Love? Those are easily our 2 most complete players.

Why is Gomes a complete player? He's not a great passer or rebounder, he's OK defender I guess.

[karch34]

I will say that the team seems to be at least competing every game recently which is the biggest thing for us. Keeping that up and executing down the stretch which we did at Denver, but didn't last night is the next step.

Agree with all the other stuff. Hollins is looking like a talented project, heavy on the project part. Pavlovic is doing nothing.

[allweneedisLOVE]

Gomes has been looking absolutely phenomenal on the offensive end lately. he's hitting all of his 18 footers, driving to the lane strong, hitting the occasional 3. He's really starting to impress me

[Foye]

I agree. He needs to keep doing this all season long.

[deeney0]

Gomes is streaky. He had a few good games. Don't bet on is last into January, let alone all season.

[Vindicater]

Gomes is streaky. He had a few good games. Don't bet on is last into January, let alone all season.

Thats it, rip on our only solid player to date this season/

[Vega06]

-if brewer can become offensively efficient as a scorer, we would be winning probably 50% of our games. i really think the most important scorer in the offense we run is the wings, especially the 2 (now i say this probably because brewer gets open soo much because hes the least threatening player we have out there when we have our 'best lineup' on the court). If we had a good scoring 2 in the game, or if brewer can develop and shake whatever self-esteem issues hes acquired - awesome.

Brewer will never be an efficient scorer.

Hes a defensive stopper off the bench.

Name the last player Brewer "stopped".

[Chi town]

I'd love to see you guys sign Gay or Joe Johnson via FA. You are one shooting scorer away from being a solid up and coming team that could sniff the playoffs.

You have PG, PF, and C all locked down for the next 10 years. Now you just need a BEST player at SG or SF to really put you over the top.

[Vindicater]

-if brewer can become offensively efficient as a scorer, we would be winning probably 50% of our games. i really think the most important scorer in the offense we run is the wings, especially the 2 (now i say this probably because brewer gets open soo much because hes the least threatening player we have out there when we have our 'best lineup' on the court). If we had a good scoring 2 in the game, or if brewer can develop and shake whatever self-esteem issues hes acquired - awesome.

Brewer will never be an efficient scorer.

Hes a defensive stopper off the bench.

Name the last player Brewer "stopped".

Let me rephrase... He should try to "become" a defensive stopper off the bench

[deeney0]

Gomes is streaky. He had a few good games. Don't bet on is last into January, let alone all season.

Thats it, rip on our only solid player to date this season/

Solid? Gomes is exhibiting huge game-to-game variation, same as last year. He's averaging 12.4 ppg, but the standard deviations is 6.8 ppg. That's huge huge variation. Al, who no one would call consistent this year, has a standard deviation of 4.6 ppg.

Gomes, for some reason, exudes a "solid, dependable, consistent" vibe. It might be that he is far less likely to make big mistakes than other members of the Timberwolves, Al included. It might be the lack of other superlatives to give him. You certainly can't call him athletic or prolific or game changing, so he's consistent. It might be his haircut, I don't know. But he disappears for games on end.

Take last night for example. 4 points on 2 for 6 shooting, 1 board, 1 dime, 2 TOs in 29 minutes. I didn't watch the game but seems silent/invisible to me.

[Vindicater]

So your gonna rip on a guy for deviation? I understand thats frustrating, but averages are still averages. He is still putting up 12 and 6 as a starter.

I dont want him as a starter but I think he is great as a sixth man.