Wolves Updates 9/8
by SG on Sep 8, 2010 1:52 AM CDT
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Dwyer on Kevin Love, Aschburner ranks Wolves #1 among teams "whose coaches can play" and more
From Kelly Dwyer/Ball Don't Lie: Kevin Love is still on the bench
I came around on KLOVE, because his game demands it. His skill, yes, but also his production. Kevin Love has not only earned your respect, whether you know it or not, but he's earned about 10 more minutes per game than he was handed last season. More people need to know this.
From Hoopsworld: Minnesota Timberwolves 2010-2011 Preview
From Steve Aschburner/NBA.com: Suit up the suits, and let's see whose coaches can play
1. MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES
Staff: Kurt Rambis, Dave Wohl, Reggie Theus, Bill Laimbeer, John-Blair Bickerstaff
Comment: Size, playmaking, scoring, defense, championship pedigree -- the Wolves' entry has it all. Maybe even bragging rights if it faced the current Minnesota squad.
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Kelly Dwyer's list of "High Basketball IQ players" might be interesting to look over.
Love was, is, a phenomenal player. He seemed to be able to score all over the court, he had a nose for loose balls like few others and his passing was impeccable. His defense wasn’t great or even good, and yet he still reminded me of the most versatile defender I’ve ever seen: Dennis Rodman. Not his defense, mind you, but Love’s nose for boards, his ability to set improvised screens, his passing and derring-do? Reminded me of Rodman, like no other player I’ve seen since Dennis flamed out.
This isn’t to say he’s a Dennis Rodman-type. He isn’t, not with that defense. But for someone to remind me of a player who may have had the strongest basketball IQ in league history, in his rookie year? Solid start.
Also, I believe we should assemble a team that is replete with “derring-do,” immediately.
His derring-do ratio is 0.76
Additionally he is top 10 NBA for effective moxy %.
I think this is the first time in history one man managed to destroy an entire city by himself. Even the Enola Gay had a flight crew.
by Auswolf on Sep 8, 2010 5:37 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions 1 recs
Nice gauntlet thrown down for coach K, too.
So why can’t Kevin Love get a fair representation, by those that really matter?
Like, NBA coaches. Or even annoying-as-piss college coaches who slum as Team USA coaches just so they can be told how fantastic they are?
I feel that article was to make up for the horrid piece he did on the wolves 3 days earlier.
by Timberwolf i.e. Albatross on Sep 8, 2010 9:38 AM CDT up reply actions
That was Trey Kirby
who is a hack. Same blog, different writer. Dwyer is consistently good.
Next thing you know, they'll take my thoughts away.
It's strange to me why Coach K is getting so much hate recently
when the team is playing pretty well and he’s helped to resurrect the Team USA basketball program. Maybe it’s the anti-Duke thing. But I think Coach K is great and I’ve never seen him as a guy who needs the ego boost. Otherwise, why not take one of the many NBA jobs over the years? Why not coach LeBron? I have trouble buying that.
Have to agree.
I don’t watch enough Duke games to really know him in-game, but K doesn’t seem like an ego loose on deck at all. At least, not more than basically every other cult-of-personality college basketball coach. They develop into third world dictators after a while.
Agreed
He to me seems like an emotionally functional version of Bobby Knight – high integrity, smart about the game, strict and tough, but doesn’t come undone.
by Rascal Flatts on Sep 8, 2010 11:21 AM CDT up reply actions
He’s a great college coach and an imperfect, but good Team USA coach. The coaching could certainly be a lot worse for this American team, but that doesn’t mean Coach K’s been amazing. If the US wins it this year, every complaint is useless nitpicking, but if they fall, it’s not going to be because of a lack of talent or willingness to buy into the team concept. It’s more likely to be a result of bad rotations, loading up with iso scorers on the perimeter and a confusing refusal to play two bigs at once.
I think they should be the favorites and failing to meet those expectations has to fall on someone’s shoulders. Coach K makes me a little nervous sometimes.
That said, he’s been huge in building a winning program and putting the 2008 run together. He’s owed a lot of respect for that. Just because I don’t always love his rotations doesn’t mean that he hasn’t been doing a very good job on the whole.
heart of a champion, will of the warrior.
You brought up the two bigs in the past
Don’t you think he is just more comfortable trying to take advantage of playing small ball? It seems that the best talent on the team is centered around a smaller line-up.
by Breaking Ankles on Sep 8, 2010 11:42 AM CDT up reply actions
Not for every single minute of the game. It seems silly to never bother to even try out a Love/Odom, Love/Chandler or Odom/Chandler frontcourt, especially when the US plays talented teams with legitimate big men.
And I’m also not a huge fan of the rotations on the perimeter either. Rose/Billups/Durant seems like a pretty bad idea when Rose and Billups both go into attack mode and forget that the best scorer on the planet is on the floor with them. A lineup of Rose/Iggy/Durant/Love/Odom should get serious play, ditto for a Westbrook/Billups/Durant/Love/Odom lineup. Give me players who are comfortable letting Durant take control of the offense and love to get stops, rebound the ball and can knock down open looks.
heart of a champion, will of the warrior.
match-ups
I agree it wouldn’t hurt to see a real 4/5 NBA combo of some sort but I guess where I was going is that I wonder if coach K isn’t forcing a small ball game by making the other teams match up to his strength. I have only watched Team US play a game and a half and I don’t recall if that is the case. This is a weaker front court than what he has had to deal with in the past – Boozer, Howard, Bosh (of course lebron played some 4 on that team as well).
I see your point on Rose Billups Durant – if one of the point gaurds was a pass first defensive player it would work better, or having an actual 2 all the better. there are some small sg in this tourney.
by Breaking Ankles on Sep 8, 2010 3:15 PM CDT up reply actions
In the angola game
there were about 3 minutes of a Chandler/Love frontcourt. It looked ok, with love playing the high post and Chandler the low.
It was a very small sample size, and it was all in garbage time, but it wasn’t catastrophic.
Next thing you know, they'll take my thoughts away.
Stupid topic for Ash to write about (IMO)
Would rather hear about what players actually work on over the summer, or rule changes, or the CBA negotiations, or the Worlds, …
Woj – who I don’t even like due to some of his iffy “sources” – wrote a very interesting article on the Russian basketball team: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Ahz8hAkduJbeFl9Lypdsdd.8vLYF?slug=aw-russiaworlds090910
"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." -- Yogi Berra
I thought it was great to read something in September
that I hadn’t already read three times in the past week.
No autopsy, no foul.
Nemanja has
11 at the end of the 1st, making everything but his Free Throws, Rubio has 2 assists, nobody playing D on Spain but him. Every time I watch Rudy play I’m so glad we didn’t trade for him, plays no D, takes terrible shots.
by NorthernLights666 on Sep 8, 2010 10:20 AM CDT reply actions
Bjelica
Dominating! Rubios D is awesome as well
No doubt about Rudy
the guy is a flopping, whining diva with Wayne Ellington’s game. No thanks.
"Styx might be the mullet of bands."
The whole Spain team is whiny
It gets really old really fast. They complain about every call.
Lead by example:
Pau Gasol. He passed on an ugly torch.
You're not letting natural selection take its course! You're like the guy who invented the seatbelt...
Rubio is playing extremely well so far
3 assists, one steal, no TOs. If only Spain could hit the open 3s that Rubio is finding them.
Rubio out with 4 fouls
With like 6 minutes left. Navarro/Lull are blowing the game while Rubio’s on the bench. Driving into the lane and getting stuck in the air, and Navarro isn’t jumping out and contesting shots. A couple open 3s for the Serbians that he should have stepped out on.
Bjelica fouled out
14 points, perfect from the field including 3-3 from distance, 4 rebounds.
Great game
makes you forget last season. Here’s my question about Navarro – is he that good, or is it that nice to have some great PGs setting you up?
"Styx might be the mullet of bands."
I didn't see this game
but in the others I watched, JC usually created his own offense and didn’t rely a lot on Rubio setting him up. Rubio usually sets up the big guys on high screen and roll or throws pin point alley-oops to athletes like Fernandez. Since JC Navarro isn’t exactly an elite athlete that can receive a pass over the top of a defense, he ends up doing a lot himself off the high screen and roll. It’s not unusual for all to watch Rubio bring the ball up the court, then pass it to JC on the wing and let him go to work playing a two-man game with another big. With the shorter 3-point line and that runner of his, he truly is an elite European player. In the NBA, he’s at a size and athleticism disadvantage at the 2, but not in Europe.
by Rascal Flatts on Sep 8, 2010 12:20 PM CDT up reply actions
Very good game
Interesting to watch the Spain offense stall when Rubio is taken out. It just seems much sloppier and less organized.
Here's what I saw
Navarro makes some circus shots. A lot of talent. A little out of control. I agree with Rascal’s analysis. Serbia won making lots of three’s, the last with the game ties 3.1 sec left, from about 25+ feet (probably 5 feet behind the line).
The more I see Rubio, he’s SO much like Jason Kidd. Good D, amazing passing, and limited (but timely) offense. That’s not hyperbole, but just noting Rubio & Kidd have very, very similar games.
From what I've seen of him, he's just that good
He played very well during his stint with the Grizzlies. I was pretty sad that he decided to go back to Spain. He’s undersized for an NBA shooting guard and not capable of being a full time point guard, but he’s got a deadly shooting touch and is pretty versatile for his build. A lot like Ben Gordon
Navarro seems to be an awesome Euro guard
He’s a classic tweener in the NBA at 6’3 and with a scorer’s mentality, but he’s built for the euro game. He’s a lights out 3pt shooter with a solid handle and a deadly floater, so he can run the PnR or step back and drain it. If the defense doesn’t rotate correctly or gets on their heels he has enough of a handle to pull it back and then blow by his guy, or just go by them straight up, and drop in one of his little floaters from the free throw area. He’s a very skilled player, he’s just not athletic or big enough to hack it as a stud in the NBA. Fun to watch in the international game, though.
Interviewer: Can you understand why teams value potential ahead of experience and accomplishment in the draft? Wes Johnson: "Yeah. I understand. It’s the youngness of everything – older guys like young women, so it’s the same way."
His floater is deadly
Can’t stress this enough. He knows he’s not getting all the way to the rack, so if he gets 2 steps inside the 3pt line he’ll throw up this crazy little floater from 10-15 feet and hit it more often than not. Ricky could really do well to adopt that part of JCN’s game.
Interviewer: Can you understand why teams value potential ahead of experience and accomplishment in the draft? Wes Johnson: "Yeah. I understand. It’s the youngness of everything – older guys like young women, so it’s the same way."
Sounds remarkably like
Rubio’s nemesis (and Europe’s best PG), Milos Teodosic.
"Styx might be the mullet of bands."
Coach K
Seems to me that every player coach K spends some time with in the summer become better ball players and better people. He just seems to have that effect and hopefully we will see it in loves game this year.
by FunkDoobious on Sep 8, 2010 12:10 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
Bjelica having a great game, Rubio, not so much (Serbia vs Spain)
"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."
I suggest making Rubio
an off-the-bench defensive sub, and grow from there. He does put good
pressure on the ball, but at this point, he doesn’t look like an NBA starting
Point. Jus’ sayin’. He needs seasoning & he needs to make himself a
scorer & scoring option. His lack of being a scoring threat hurts his game.
"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."
Yeah Rondo shouldn't start either cause he just can't score
Please put down the crack pipe.
Sorry ---- Flynn/Ridnour start
Rubio needs to be more hard-nosed for NBA. He’s playing too soft.
I want to see more aggression, more hard drives to the iron, more
shake n bake, stops & pops. It could be the Euro style is holding him
back there. They seem to value over-passing.
"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."
If he can score 12-15 a game, I'm good with him.
If he could just put up Nash numbers, I’d change my mind.
"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."
He'll learn to be more selfish over time - take what the other teams will give him
Having a pass first defensive point guard is a really good place to start. He’ll just get better over time as he decides to keep the defenders on their toes with a more balanced attack. It is harder to teach them to develop the other way – shoot first pgs to pass more.
by Breaking Ankles on Sep 8, 2010 3:21 PM CDT up reply actions
Yes, Ricky passes a lot
But how huge will it be next year when his Wolve teammates start hitting their wide open shots? He’ll average 10 assists easily. Like they said, the Wolves will be better than alot of people think. They will surprise alot of people.
Wes in one corner, Webster in the other
Beasley somewhere between them, Darko right under the hoop, and Love in whatever spot the defense forgets to cover. For a guard with Rubio’s court vision, that’s a dream come true
Six-on-five!
That is a PG’s dream come true! :P
by nextmove on Sep 8, 2010 6:03 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
Let's get greedy
Add in Pek plowing people out of the way under the basket, Brewer slashing to the basket and Luke hanging out at the 3 point line. Since we won only 15 games last year we should be able to play 10 on 5.
by hoopsfan1 on Sep 9, 2010 11:51 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions
Think we would have won
25 games last year?
You're not letting natural selection take its course! You're like the guy who invented the seatbelt...
15+
We should be able to win more than 15 games if we can play 6 on 5
by FunkDoobious on Sep 8, 2010 6:19 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
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