Bench buddies
by Stop-n-Pop on Mar 11, 2010 8:00 AM CST
95 comments
Who knew that it would take a Ryan Hollins punch-to-suspension extreme basketball move for the Wolves to run out something approaching a functional lineup? At the very least, the forced subtraction of the team's worst player from the starting lineup made for an entertaining contest. Let's throw out some random thoughts about the game:
- While Kurt Rambis managed to play Kevin Love above 25 minutes, and while he essentially ran with a 3 big lineup, he still found a way to give the Nuggets 3 minutes of court time in the late 3rd with neither Kevin Love or Al Jefferson on the court. To nobody's surprise, the Nuggets took advantage of this situation with a 9-0 run where they took the lead and never looked back. There is no excuse for something like this to happen. Zero. One of your two best players needs to be on the court at all times. Period.
- 8-27, 8-24, and 9-21. This is what the Wolves went from the floor in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th quarters. They were able to keep with the Nugs in the 1st and 4th quarters because they managed 19 FTAs between the 2 quarters. They only attempted 2 FTAs in the 3rd and that's when their ship was sunk. Poor shooting teams need to get to the line. It's not rocket science.
- It's also not rocket science as to why the Wolves hardly drew any trips to the line in the 3rd. Here's a quick run down of some of the team's shots during the quarter: Brewer 20 foot jumper, Darko hook shot, Gomes 19 foot jumper, Flynn 21 foot jumper, Gomes 20 foot jumper, Flynn 25 foot jumper, Jefferson 11 foot shot, Love 23 foot jumper, Flynn 14 foot jumper, Al 12 foot jumper, Gomes 16 foot jumper, Gomes 25 foot jumper, Ellington 19 foot jumper, Brewer 22 foot jumper, Brewer 45 foot shot. 15 of the team's 24 shots in the quarter were from outside 10 feet. Only 4 of them (3 not counting Brewer's heave at the end of the quarter) were from beyond the arc. That's a lot of low-reward mid-range jumpers. That's a lot of not attacking the paint and/or taking advantage of the extra point you get when you step out beyond the 3 point line. Garbage. Absolute garbage. Conversely, the Nuggets took 8 3 pointers during the quarter while getting to the line 7 times. Only 5 of their shots in the quarter were from no-man's land. Leave the mid-range jumpers to Flip Saunders' dinosaur 1/2 court offense. Free throws and three pointers fellas, free throws and three pointers. 10-23 feet is your enemy and you went 14-41 (.341) from there last night while going 21-49 (.429) from everywhere else.
- There were only 19 turnovers in the entire game. Very nice to see.
- The Wolves held the league's best FTA team to 3 FTAs below their average while getting 10 more than they usually get on their own. Despite this, and despite turning the ball over less than their season average, they still lost because they couldn't find a way to attack the paint and reduce the number of mid range jumpers that any team from the JCRC to the EuroLeague would be more than happy to let them have.
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well put
I do really hope they can bring back darko on a decent deal. He is a sound ball player who knows where he is supposed to be and it helps to have guys like that around if you also have a project big. Darko will never set the world on fire, but if he can get his hook shots to start falling he can very easily give you 10-12 points, 7-8 rebounds and 2 blocks in 20-25 minutes of action. Not too shabby.
A Darko Fan since 2010!
by TheEvilProfessor on Mar 11, 2010 8:18 AM CST reply actions
Darko
If Darko wasn’t so heavy handed he may be worth something but how much help will he be if he can’t score (air balls on free throws?). This team is already bizarre enough with Love on the bench much of the time and Hollins and Pavlovic getting playing time instead …
"One of your two best players needs to be on the court at all times. Period."
Especially when they essentially play the same position . . .
This is why we lost.
I agree completely with SnP’s first bullet. Right when Rambis took Love and Jefferson out of the game, everyone knew trouble was on the way. My buddy next to me thought we’d be down 10 at the end of 3 — it was only 7. (We were up 1 when the subs were made.)
Jefferson was thoroughly embarrassed by Nene. I hope there’s a better reason for that than “Al can’t guard Nene.” He doesn’t usually get picked on to that extent — yikes. I liked the Jawai sub — hopefully it put things in perspective for Al when he saw Nathan Jawai doing something on the court that he could not do.
JR Smith’s 360 alley-oop was the best in-person dunk I’ve ever seen, edging out this one.
I’m becoming more convinced that Darko is a starting caliber center. He can pass better than most centers. He can defend as well as most centers. And his post game and shooting is not bad, even if he doesn’t look to score much. Why did he fail so miserably in New York? This guy can clearly play the game.
Agreed about Darko. He’s far from worthless and he’s legitimately HUGE. If he had any touch, his little hook shots would be a great weapon, because he can get that shot off over anyone. He was able to just turn and fire it over Nene like he wasn’t there, and Nene is a seriously big dude and very good defender. Even if he never gets it down, he’s great to have out there just for his imposing presence and ability to actually get some rebounds.
When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.
The thing that sticks out to me about Darko...
is that it’s so clear from watching him that he’s played a ton of basketball in his life. He’s got great instincts, shooting form, and solid athleticism for a guy his size.
If he were in shape, I honestly don’t know why he couldn’t be a starting center and a pretty good one. You’re right on his jump hook — I was saying the same thing last night. It’s incredibly easy for him to get that shot off.
Too bad he resembles a trebuchet when he launches it. I thought he was going to break the backboard on the one he put down off the glass yesterday. You’re dead on on the great instincts, though. I really wouldn’t mind if they could convince him to come back next year. If the doomsday scenario transpires and he wind up outside of the top 2, I think Darko would look great next to an athletic PF like Favors and would allow us to look seriously at moving one of Al or Love.
When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.
My take on Darko
1. Great passer
2. Good shot blocker
3. Potentially nice jump hook, but not now
4. Needs cut back by about a pack a day, or switch to unfiltered or something—his wind is terrible
5. Wouldn’t mind having him back next year if it means not spending a top five pick on Cole Aldrich (I’m not against Aldrich, but I think Cole will replicate most of Darko’s game mentioned above, save the smoking, and never be more than a mediocre offensive player.)
I agree on all points
but especially that part about Aldrich. Maybe if he slides down to the middle of the round, but otherwise if they keep Love and AlJeff on the roster, can’t move keep Hollins, have a chance at Pek, and a shot at keeping Darko, adding another earthbound big man as opposed to a wing doesn’t seem to make much sense.
The only problem is getting Darko to stay. He’s definitely shown us the massive need that this team has for 1) players who can actually play D and 2) some legit size. Hopefully he appreciates how we’ve embraced him for what he is and how we have no expectations that he become a star and decides he wants to stick around..
When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.
Al Jefferson had better not be healthy.
I attended last night’s game. Brought my good Swarovski birding binoculars and looked like a goof, but I was watching for the little communication signs among the players. In the fourth we moved down close.
Jefferson played, I think, the worst defensive game I’ve seen from a Wolves big, ever. Chris Carr still holds the overall trophy for confused, awful defense, and Troy Hudson put in some gems of inadequacy, but Jefferson last night was a hideous defensive liability. The combination of Jefferson and Love was bad, sure, but the soft spot in that cantaloupe was all Jefferson.
Al’s legs are encased in about two square acres of structural support between the two of them. I hope what we’re seeing is his recovery, his grudging recovery. ‘Cause if we can’t look forward to any sort of defensive improvement…. Ugh.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
by feral on Mar 11, 2010 8:36 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
Good thing I watched this game by myself because I threw a mini-fit everytime a Nugget got a clean layup (which was a lot) because Al didn’t rotate on defense. It seemed like everytime they beat their guy and attacked the rim Al let them have it and started down to the offensive end.
by Funkle Jesse on Mar 11, 2010 3:08 PM CST up reply actions
The only thing I can think:
The reason for the absurd line-ups could truly be the team evaluating a players’ value during specific periods of time during a game. I’m willing to accept the ‘evaluation’ system this year as long as it doesn’t happen next year. On the other hand, I agree with the sentiment that you need to do something to build a winning culture for the future.
Love Grumbling in the Paper
Kevin Love not happy with things these days.
Pining for a Troy Hudson/Marko Jaric backcourt.
I'm suprised it took this long
to hear a little pissing and moaning.
A Darko Fan since 2010!
by TheEvilProfessor on Mar 11, 2010 8:45 AM CST up reply actions
Toss in Al, from Zgoda's blog entry on it:
“For whatever reason, we just ran out of emotional energy. There was no fight or determination to try and close the ballgame out,” coach Kurt Rambis said. “That’s when teams have to really tighten up, find ways to get stops, rebound the basketball. … We lost our composure.”
That wasn’t a particularly popular opinion among his players.
“Coaches see things differently than players. I don’t think that’s what it was,” Jefferson said glumly. “I think they went small, and we stayed big, and that’s what did it.”
As someone sitting in the front row of the upper deck with binocs at that point, I’m going to go with Al’s explanation. Denver saw Love matched up on ’Melo, and they went at that hard.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
The problem though
Is going small with Mello or big with Andersen were both matchup problems for Love. He struggled guarding either player.
by Rascal Flatts on Mar 11, 2010 11:47 AM CST up reply actions
This is concerning.
I was worried about Laimbeer being an arrogant ass, but it looks like Rambis is in over his head and that is worse.
Better talent next year ain’t gonna fix a coach that players don’t trust.
What does it mean when it's so obvious to us?
I was at the game as well and it was clear when Rambo trotted out that lineup that the wolves wern’t going to be able to score. If casual fans are asking that question, then it leads to one of two conclusions: 1) the coaching staff is just experimenting this year while protecting our position as the 2nd worst team in the league or 2) they really have no clue.
I tend to lean more towards 1, but between that lineup and that crazy attempt to play zone (leading to 3 wide open JR Smith 3s), I have some real concerns about what the coaching staff is doing out there. Obviously it is affecting Love too, as SBG notes.
But what is this team’s identity? Don’t good coaches try to establish something? Defense (Larry Brown)? Mid-range shots (a la Flip)? What does Rambo stand for besides a bastardized version of the Triangle that doesn’t suit the majority of the personnel and certainly the team’s most “talented” player and its “prized” rookie.
That being said, the game was fun, and Darko is such a drastic improvement over Hollins and everyone else at the 5 it’s scary. The guy shows hard on screens, rotates pretty well and holds rebounds he gets to. He’s a bit slow-footed / slow off the ground which hurts him blocking shots, but perhaps more game time will help that. This is a piece we need and we better figure out how to keep him or find a clsoe replacement. Even if his upside is only the Vanilla Gorilla, that is an important piece of good teams and if you are going to compete with the Orlandos and LA’s of the world in the future, you are going to need someone who can bang with Howard and Bynum.
Please can it be
#1? I need that to be true to hang in there until the Summer of Truth for this team.
If we stick to Poor Dick’s Plan for Gradual Improvement On the Way to a Championship (it’s just so much easier to refer to it as “PDPFGIOTWTAC”), the team is going win 20ish games this season, and then improve by ten wins every year for the next four years until hitting 60 wins and a title in the 2013-2014 season (it’s really not that hard when you lay it out like that).
But the next five months are the most crucial period in ensuring that the next four years resemble the plan:
1. Draft another starter in June (Turner)
2. Remove the Love/AlJeff logjam (Assuming Darko’s gone, Al and a pick for a younger center is the frugal plan, Love and somebody for an overpaid big man is the less-likely Spend Like a Drunken Sailor option)
3. Add a real shooting guard in free agency/trade
The revised team, trying to win, and using rotations and players that make sense is easily a 30-win team next year. Then we resolve the Rubio situation one way or the other in 2011, bringing it up to 40 wins that year. The team adds some nice role/bench players before 2012, taking it to 50 wins that year. They congeal in the final year for a championship.
(Cripes, I can’t believe I’m giving away this information for free. GT, if ya wit me, have your people call my people’s people).
They should start by trying to...
clot a little bit. All this bleeding is painful to watch.
by Krotz the Wall on Mar 11, 2010 11:12 AM CST up reply actions
Good call
Every year they keep picking at that scab…
by Eric in Madison on Mar 11, 2010 11:14 AM CST up reply actions
yes, hopefully
Good reality check post PD. I don’t think you are being too optimistic, either.
Anyone expecting a better result from this season than what we’ve seen really only has themselves to blame. Gotta remember, this is year one of the rebuild, even though it feels like year five.
All that said…I am not sure if I will be able to bring myself to watch another game this year. Wake me up before the draft.
Really? Maybe; I'm certainly getting what I expected
but IIRC, the consensus was 25-30 wins was to be expected this year. And it feels like year 5 because it more or less is year 5. Or 4, if you prefer. Or 3. Probably 3. Just because it’s Kahn’s first year doesn’t mean I haven’t been suffering.
by Eric in Madison on Mar 11, 2010 11:48 AM CST up reply actions
It's Year 1 for the backcourt.
Or Year (-2) maybe, since we gave away our old backcourt for a guy that would come over in two years.
Injuries to Love and Jefferson set the tone for this season. It was going to be bad, regardless, but Jefferson’s knee and Love’s hand probably cost us a handful of wins in the first couple months that could have set us on a slightly better track.
Agree and disagree
I’m not sure they’d have even gotten to 25 with both of them healthy. It’s been a baffling combination of trotting out strange lineups and a team that lacks energy on too regular of a basis. Does anyone other than Brewer and Wilkins play hard more than 50% of the time?
by pagingstanleyroberts on Mar 11, 2010 5:02 PM CST up reply actions
I'm gonna disagree on Flynn playing hard
He often plays hard but he more than occasionally makes little to no effort to fight through screens and he, like Love and others, often puts his head down and does not hustle back after something doesn’t work for him on the offensive end of the court.
but, in these debates, it’s difficult to determine what’s really the right answer.
to me, Brewer obviously hustles all the time. Flynn, Love, Al do not obviously hustle all the time. Difficult to rank them in terms of proportion of time hustling.
I prefer Ghostface Pryzbilla
over Vanilla Gorilla, but it’s close.
by highpockets on Mar 11, 2010 11:52 AM CST up reply actions
Kelly Dwyer was complaining about Vanilla Gorilla for Pryzbilla
Which was apparently the nickname for Brad Lohaus. Before my time, I guess. Anyway, Ghostface Pryzbilla is a pretty great nickname.
Rambis re-iterated during the telecast that he has been "very consistent" with playing time...
If a player is not playing well, then other players will get playing time over them. The fact that Ryan Hollins still gets ANY playing time points to the inaccuracy of this statement.
What Rambis really does is take players out when they’re not playing well RELATIVE to their standard output. So anytime Love is producing below HIS average, he’s going to get yanked…even though “Love’s below average” is leagues better then Ryan Hollins’ “good”.
Obviously, this seems like a losing strategy.
I think Rambis looks more at effort than production
Guys like Hollins and Brewer and Flynn are inconsistent, but they’re always trying. Love is productive, but I think I’m pretty safe in saying there are times where he outright gives up on plays, and I think that’s what gets him pulled off the floor
but...
then Jefferson would sit a lot as well. I think Love gives a consistently-higher level of effort than Big Al does.
Perhaps Rambis is going Gardenhire on them
Occasionally over at TwinkieTown people question why Gardenhire can be so hard on rookies or guys like Delmon Young or Kevin Slowey and so easy or high on obviously overmatched bit players just called up from the minors (or Nick Punto), and the general consensus over the years is that Gardy is hard on the guys who are very talented but haven’t achieved their ceiling yet. Conversely, once Gardy realizes that a guy is doing everything he can and is still a marginal major leaguer at best he eases up and praises him up one side and down the other. In other words, unless you are Joe Mauer, if Gardy only praises you it kind of means he’s given up on you. In a bizarre way being in his doghouse means that he thinks you still have potential.
I’ve wondered about this with Rambis and Love for some time now – if Rambis is harder on Love than he is on Hollins because he knows how much higher Love’s ceiling is, and because he’s figured/figuring out that the only thing preventing Love from getting there is consistent Corey Brewer-like effort. I mean look at Darko for crying out loud – dude’s about to have a heart attack and puke during every break but he’s still trying his hardest. I’d never considered that players were yanked due to comparing them to their own standards of performance, but in a development year it might make for a profound message – playing hard is more than just producing on the floor; you’re always trying to move the floor of your performance upwards with each minute, each game. Furthermore, a losing squad will always be a losing squad if their best players feel like they can take plays off occasionally.
Not sure where Al Jeff or Ramon fit in with this. I do hope that Rambis is truly just experimenting, otherwise this team is going to suck for the next three years. Love’s comments seem a bit petulant and immature from a certain perspective, but it also raises concerns for me that the staff is too focused on details and has lost the bigger picture. It’s bizarre laissez-faire micro-management.
Growing my own "Darko-stache" since last Monday.
by biggity2bit on Mar 11, 2010 10:25 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Kind of makes sense...
But doesn’t account for the incredibly long leash he’s given Jonny Flynn. How many times has Rambis put Jonny back in when he’s having a terrible game, but he never does that for Love.
To me, Rambis is more like Baby Monkey. He has watched Daddy Monkey (Phil Jackson), and he’s trying his best to mimic his behaviors (sitting on your chair=being Zen-like), but he doesn’t actually understand how/why to coach.
HE PLAYS RYAN HOLLINS PEOPLE!
Rambis has stated PG is far and away the most difficult position to learn
so he is giving Flynn plenty of opportunity to learn.
Biggity
I think you’re spot on. He’s riding the people with the most potential so it pays off down the line. Kevin Love’s never been told he’s not doing everything right. I think it will only motivate him in the off-season.
Not sure though
Like Blakely said above, it sure seems like Flynn gets a longer leash than Love. I think he is generally consistent with his treatment of players except for Flynn and Jefferson. Flynn gets a long leash because he is a rookie and Jefferson gets a long leash because he is a vet and the team’s highest paid player. Otherwise, folks are rotated in and out based on “playing the right way” as opposed to production. I don’t necessarily agree with this, but if we come out of the other side of this mess with an improved team next year, then perhaps he really is a zen master.
by Rascal Flatts on Mar 11, 2010 1:02 PM CST up reply actions
Disagreed...
… Al’s failures look worse, but Love doesn’t run the floor hard a lot of the time, and he rarely makes an effort to close out on shooters, perhaps because he doesn’t want to be out of position for his precious defensive rebounds, perhaps because those boards make his efficiency stats look amazing! (Or maybe just because he’s out-of-shape or lazy. Who knows.) Anyway, I’d say both Love and Jefferson occasionally don’t do the things they’re asked, and it reflects poorly on them and the coaching staff.
Or maybe
Maybe he doesn’t close out on shooters because he knows he has Ryan Hollins behind him, and a 50% chance the opposing makes a jumper is worse than the 90% chance the opposing team gets an offensive rebound and dunk.
I’m only halfway serious. I agree that both players have plays where they don’t hustle.
Fair point...
…but if that’s the case it’s still both unprofessional and disrespectful to his teammates and coach, who expect him to close out on perimeter shooters.
Has this been an ongoing problem?
I guess I noticed it when Love made Ryan Anderson look like Glen Rice, but I haven’t really seen the close out issue repeat itself with Love. Maybe I’m wrong.
Love doesn't match up with perimeter players very often...
… but when he does, he gets torched and ends up on the bench. It’s discouraging for those people who were talking about him as having the potential to move to the SF position later in his career, which we now know can’t happen because of his lack of lateral quickness.
You would think
that with 3 of their top 6 players out and Wolves playing at home Denver was more than beatable. No Lawson, Nene & Martin…… No chance for Wolves = Disappointment.
Nene played, as did Martin, Billups and JR Smith. Denver minus Lawson and Martin is still 5x more talented than we are.
When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.
There's more to winning.......
Think Wall or Turner!
by mnsportsjunkie on Mar 11, 2010 10:17 AM CST reply actions
My binoculars showed me Rambis's clipboard
So one plus of being willing to look silly with my big ol’ 10×42 roofs at a game is that I can read the coach’s clipboard during timeouts.
It was surprising to me how often Rambis’s message to the players was extremely basic. Late in last night’s game he wrote “Stops” in marker on the board. Then, talking to the players, he circled it to make his point.
Not exactly rocket science. (It wasn’t even the Etch-a-Sketch Anthony Carter described from back in McHale’s first coaching stint.)
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
8-) Tell you what,
it was kind’ve a revelation how accessible certain things were with the long optics.
Spent all last year with season tickets, and never really used ‘em. I’d recommend it.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
Heh heh.
Just joshin’ you. I’m a big enough of a dork that I try to read the lips of players and coaches when they’re talking to each other. The difference between you and me is that I’m too big of a wuss to actually bring the binocs to the game.
Plus, I’d get caught staring at chicks and cheerleaders.
Hmmm . . .
. . . maybe that’s the problem.
THE PLAYERS AREN’T CONCENTRATING ON SCORING MORE POINTS THAN THE OPPOSITION!!!
Wait a minute you guys
This explains everything!
The bad offense, the bad defense, the reason Love, who makes good quick decisions with the ball, gets yanked while Flynn, of the Jonny Stop fame, has an extremely long leash… It’s all about the STOPS.
Maybe instead of Ivan Radovic
we can bring in John Madden?
Oh I Don't Know
I watch the NBA on ESPN quite a bit and they have those miked huddles and it seems like every coach in the NBA speaks in cliches in the huddle. I think my HS coach had more specific instruction than a lot of these guys provide.
Pining for a Troy Hudson/Marko Jaric backcourt.
What I thought of, seeing it,
was Stan Van Gundy’s hoarse screams in Orlando’s huddles.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
Exactly
Any coach-turned-broadcaster can show that coaches aren’t necessarily Rhodes scholars. Plus, if their problem defensively was lack of effort (which it was), no scheme in the world is going to correct that.
by pagingstanleyroberts on Mar 11, 2010 5:08 PM CST up reply actions
I've always found that amusing.
But I guess I assumed that they spoke in said cliches just because they were miked up, and that the TV crews out of respect or something would only mike half the timeout, or just agree to omit any real strategy talk. Perhaps I’m wrong on that, though, in which case Rambis using a timeout to tell his players that it would be beneficial to prevent the other team from scoring is not a problem.
Miked UP!
Apparently these are things you need to say during a game to get a seven-figure head coaching job:
1. “Watch him!”
2. “Go go go go go go!”
3. “Aw, come ON!”
4. “No no no NO!”
5. “Awright!”
What do you think they talk about?
Have you ever seen NFL films and their stuff with miked coaches on the sidelines? The coaches are saying the same thing as the rest of us, stuff like ‘Stop him! Why didn’t you stop him?!’ or ‘Go! Go go go go go! Ahhhhh, c’mon! You gotta be kidding me!’
I’d be worried if someone snuck into practice and saw on Rambis’ whiteboard:
Today’s Agenda: Stops
-they help with defense
-getting more will help us win
Any questions?
I think the tasty morsels of details on how to stop a guy or make him foul you usually come from the players, and this is where not having a high quality vet from a winning program hurts us – you could always trust Terry Porter or Sam Mitchell, and later KG and Sam Cassell, to pull guys aside and mention things like that (think KG would’ve had some words for Love on what to watch out for with Melo? I do.) Our vets are Al or Wilkens. I’m sure Wilkens tries, but we need some mentors on the court for this team.
Growing my own "Darko-stache" since last Monday.
One of his other notes was
“talk on defense.”
No duh. So you aren’t half wrong.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
It's not out of the question
That this team might actually need really basic reminders out there. I know that he could be more specific and less cliched, but it wouldn’t strike me as crazy to say that it might be better to keep it simple for this team during the flow of a game.
I agree
these guys are gassed. they aren’t going to remember “complicated” instructions. You can’t make even 3 or 4 separate points to them. You make one point, maybe two and hope it makes a difference.
How about some positivity?
I know we lost, so the gamewrap can’t be full of enthusiasm, but this game fixed a lot of the things we’ve been complaining about. Sasha didn’t play, neither Love or Sessions had their minutes slashed for no reason, we went the the 3 big rotation we’ve always wanted to see, and we cut our turnovers down to 12. Sure, we lost anyway, but that’s to be expected against the Nuggets.
Additional Happy Notes:
-Brewer kept the 3 streak alive
-3 assists for Big Al, a good sign
-All three big men hit double digits for rebounds (Rebounding could be the #1 strength of this team if we just don’t play Hollins)
Would probably prevent Love from ever winning a rebounding title though (not that that’s a bad thing. Turner > rebounding title for Love).
Growing my own "Darko-stache" since last Monday.
One reason I hope Al goes
and Love stays is that adding Turner and Rubio to the starting line up means they would win the BBIQ Championship every year.
They give a trophy for that?
Albert Einstein executing a fundamentally sound bounce pass, perhaps?
by Eric in Madison on Mar 11, 2010 1:43 PM CST up reply actions
Actually,
they get replicas of the leather jacket Gene Hackman wore in Hoosiers. With We’re the NBA BBIQ CHAMPIONS embroidered on the back. Real classy.
If only we still had Mike Miller
He’d be the lynchpin. If ever anyone doubted our worthiness, he’d be there to angrily inform them that we’re playing the game of basketball the way Dr. James Naismith intended it to be played.
In all seriousness, he’d be a pretty nice 3rd wing alongside those two, though I don’t miss him one bit.
My guess is
that Miller will be available for a vet minimum at some point during PDPFGIOTWTAC.
Cripes, we’ll be Dave Berri’s all time greatest team ever!
Plus we'd have three "bigs" who passed extremely well.
Miller had great hands for passing from the high post.
And yeah, I meant “bigs.”
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
I don't know man...
The negatives of taking Turner keep piling up. He might want KG’s old number. He might cost Love a rebounding title. I think it’s time we took a look at Luke Harangody with our top pick instead.
He'd put Tony Campbell and Ty Corbin in the shadows....
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
I've thought about this topic more last night...
What Rambis really needs is a motivation to do well, and currently he has none. There’s no chance the Wolves dump him with his contract, so he can be perfectly happy fooling around and putting in weird line-ups. Hopefully next year, with a little more on the line, things will be different.
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