Sugarless wrote:The Timberwolves have a systemic problem and the coach is part of it, but replacing him alone won't be a solution, because the roots are much deeper and they will remain untouched.
The Wolves have been operating like a franchise with absolutely no direction for most of the past decade (even longer, actually), and certainly since the beginning of the Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine and later Karl-Anthony Towns era. This is a franchise that does not know what it wants the team to become, or how to get there. And above all it is a franchise that through different FOs and several coaches continues to promote self-entitlement and a profound lack of accountability. They were never willing to keep Zach accountable during the 3 years he spent here, they didn't do it with Wiggins in 5 and a half seasons, and they haven't done so with KAT at any point either. What's worse, while getting rid of Wiggins' contract, they brought Towns' best buddy to the team giving him even more power and tying their future to a pair of players that are not willing / not able to do what it takes to win.
The FO and the coach need to take a long look in the mirror and decide what the hell they want to do. If they want to take the easy way out for however long they have a job here and keep Towns and Russell happy above all things, then by all means keep coddling them on offense and letting them play no defense with absolutely no repercussions. If they want to turn this franchise into something semi-respectable at the very least, then make the hard choices and...
1. Send those two (and anyone else) to the bench when they don't even try to help the team win in any way they can.
2. Move Russell to the SG spot, which is his natural position regardless of what he prefers to play, and let Rubio run the offense and direct on defense (otherwise why the **** did you trade for him?).
3. Assume that if you want to win, and with the roster as currently constructed, you need to bring Edwards and Beasley off the bench. Edwards may have been your #1 pick, but he's not a true #1 project. He's too raw, he doesn't fit the starting 5 for the time being and you can't focus on giving him 30 to 35 mpg and try to win each night at the same time. And the same goes for Beasley, you can't start him at SG alongside Russell with their lack of defense, and he's too small to play SF. You wanted to re-sign him so you wouldn't lose him for nothing, now you have to bring him off the bench and deal with him if he doesn't like it.
4. Shake up the roster, get some balance and depth where you need it the most. You're going nowhere with a hole the size of the freaking Vredefort crater at both forward spots. RHJ is a solid defensive option but as long as he's not even willing to take 3's he's going to have a low ceiling and end up on the bench when you need to space the floor. Juancho and Layman will do a few things on limited roles, but they're not starters in this league and likely won't be in the future. Keeping Culver and Okogie together makes no sense, even less now that you have Edwards and that you've signed another non-shooter in Hollis-Jefferson. Trade Beasley if you're serious about building the right culture. And understand that absolutely no one should be untouchable.
Keep doing the same we've been seeing for years, keep repeating the same mistakes, and this franchise will continue to struggle to become even mediocre.
Your first point may have been a good one. I wanted to give it a Plus. But I don't know that the rest of it outside #4 is something I can agree with at all.
1. You would be hard pressed to show a bunch of moments Karl hasn't been trying on defense in the past two seasons. Of course, he hasn't been playing all that much for the past two seasons either.
- Dlo hasn't played enough games here yet to claim that about him, even given a couple really poor outings to start this season. See #2 for why he's been out of sorts for a chunk of this short season so far.
2. That decision was already attempted to start this season. It unraveled everything. He has a very specific way of playing to get his best from him and it's from PG. He can decide to move off ball in the same possession and the ball can come back to him later at the end of possessions. But to claim he's a SG first, or to claim he should start at SG over someone like Beasley is a big mistake. Jim Peterson mentioned it in a recent game I believe, something I posted here in the spring after his first couple games here. They said Dlo's game is predicated on starting with some early jump shots and showing the defense they can't stop him. All the remaining work plays off that getting started. From there he starts to get others involved as he draws defenses attention. This is no different then watching Harden sit motionless dribbling in iso for 10 seconds of every possession threatoning a defense with a three and waiting to see the teammates and defense react. Dlo is doing the same it just looks different. And so likewise with Harden, you could try to claim they could be shooting guards because they aren't exactly a set forming or drive and kick point guards. But make no mistake we are paying this one and made oodles of moves to make it happen. This is now where you be deliberate about this and go 100% after playing like this. It fits the type of basketball Rosas came from in Houston. Any moves to usurp this are mistakes unless you are going to trade Dlo away now.
3. Aside from your thought of having Edwards off the bench the rest was already tried. And putting Beasley on the bench is the most incorrect thought I've read 20 posters here make since he was traded for. If you can't see Beasley's energy carrying the team most of these games then you should maybe reavaluate how you watch games. Take his heart out of it by putting him back in a hole like Denver was holding down with is the wrong plan. Dlo/Beasley have also shown a few games of defensive effort and ability so far in this early trial and error mess of 11 games. Get it aligned correctly, get the other roster holes fixed correctly such as the Forward roles you spoke about in #4, and you can get along fine with their level of defense. With apt forwards and bigs you could completely hide absolute nonfactor defenders at guard. But we've had nonfactors at Forward roles and somehow everyone wants to point fingers at the positives of the team that for sure our it's main source of offense to rely on.
4. all fine.
X. I don't know what can be done about the Rubio fit factor aside from stopping the play of him and DLo together. One stinking game they gave him his own rotations without Dlo and it looked fine, but they didn't play him enough and people complained about that. Rubio struggling to fit with this roster is also clearly causing him to be uncomfortable and struggle shooting again. It was a bad offseason of choices. Are you going to throw the whole plan away to make a couple bad choices work?
XX. Blame Rosas for claiming a system last season and not sticking to any of it as he made choices this offseason and allowed the start of this season. Also blame him for his disdain for players of size. I don't care how short Rosas is and how much he might hate standing next to a bunch of 6-8 to 7 footers. he's got to get over that. This is the NBA and other teams are changing the leagues movement without him right now.
