Pretty Simple

The Wolves new lawyer statistician must be aware of these numbers. Maybe he is having trouble with the interpretation.

and also one of the three best frontcourt players, if not one of the two best front court players.

I don’t really care what his limitations are at this early stage in his career he needs to be playing near 30 mpg every night.

He was +7 in a 10 point loss lol.

I’m pretty sure there was a 4 minute stretch in the 4th where he was the only person to score for us.

He basically does everything Beasley does…except better and more efficiently.

He should know by now not to start and play Wes, Darko and Beasley/Ellington together.

I realize that he has to play them because of depth, but good Lord they don’t have to play together. It’s way past the time where he needs to make a line up change and just ween those three in gingerly with 4 better players around them.

If we play awesome and just barely lose, that will be really frustrating.

I do NOT fear the bulls!

Derrick Rose had 8-4-6 with 5 TOs vs Atlanta a few days ago. Dwight Howard had 5 pts 4 rebs in 19 mins last game (ORL still won). Kobe went 6/28 earlier this season. Let’s not go overboard on why suddenly Love doesn’t deserve the max. Let’s see how he responds tomorrow.

I thought he looked rusty in the first half but he sure looked well oiled in the second, if only other Wolves could snap out of a funk that fast. Love performed like he was tired, the new quickness and bounce was missing but I thought he took a step backwards in the wasting time whining category. AR, though always a mixed bag, did more to help than in any previous game. JPete made an interesting comment about Williams not yet adjusting to the size of NBA opponents. I’ve expressed my skepticism about this team being helped by trades because there are just too many holes but on a night like tonight I find myself thinking the old, one more piece thoughts. Then I look at all the injuries around the league and I realize this could be one long brutal short season.

First quarter was playing the wrong players.

Fourth quarter was inability to do anything against decent defense.

3-7 seems inevitable. Disappointing three-game stretch against lower-half Eastern teams. Thought we’d sweep and only took one victory.

The better we play (i.e. the farther away from a top 5 pick we get) I wonder how likely a cap relief trade with NOH can become?

I have noticed that they are incredibly thin up front as it appears they only have 4 PF’s/C combined but they have a lot of ’depth" if you want to call it that on the wing.

They have 18 million tied into Okafor and Ariza through 2014, Not sure exactly what there plan is, but that is a lot of coin for two pretty average players.

I wonder if there would be a trade of Beasley/Randolph/Darko/Ridnour/Wes (depth and cap relief) plus our Utah and Memphis picks for our own 1st round pick back, Okafor, Ariza and Xavier Henry.

This would give us two guys that can play the 2 (Ariza is arguably the version of Wes Johnson that actually works a little bit) plus a functional center (and a lineup that would allow Williams to play the 3 being Rubio/Ariza/Williams/Love/Okafor)

It would save N.O. a ton of money, give them frontcourt depth and a quality back up pg.

Hmm?

but even on a good night I don’t think going to him in the post like he was Al Jefferson is a very good idea. He may develop a good post game but right now it is pretty rudimentary. Seems to get stripped, blocked, or just miss when defended well.

I like Love better in the pick & roll or pick & pop up top. He also thrives off offensive rebounds and putbacks, as well as spotting up for the catch & shoot.

I’d prefer putting the ball in Williams’ hands if someone other than Rubio/Barea is trying to create a shot. Barring a trade, I’m wondering if he will become our ‘go to’ guy. He has range, the ability to put it in the floor, and goes hard at the rim which leads to free throws. I know he missed some tonight, but he made a pretty clutch basket late.

Last, WTF is the deal with Darko and his hands??! I is like the creepy thing with Mike Miller and his man nipples. Darko is constantly rubbing his hands, looking at his hands incredulously after both makes and misses. Tonight after a bad play he came out, sat on the bench, and stared at his hands while talking about it with Pekovic. Does he sweat like Ewing, but only in the hands? Does he have no feeling from the elbows on down? (Would explain a lot). Is he trying to blame his hands for goofing him up, like you see 2nd graders doing? Honestly curious about this one…

1) Look what a difference average or above wing play made for the few minutes Barea played.
2) Can’t keep spotting the other team 10+ point leads with our starters in both the first & second half. Too big of a hill to climb.

Seems that Rubio has a pattern of playing well every other (alternate) game but the wins depend on how the rest of the team plays, such as with the Mavericks. One game, he is on fire, the next, getting by, although with always a highlight. He needs to be more consistent with each game and that’s what he needs to address. I had a feeling he would not do as well with the Raptors since he played well in the Wizards game. Let’s see what happens with the Bulls. No matter the results, if Ricky follows the pattern, he should play well.

but fortunately for us, neither does the rest of the league.

The sooner we can just start whatever makeshift lineups maximize the playing time for our players who don’t suck, the better off we’ll be. We need Darko for about 7 teams with good centers. Other than that, we can get by with AR/Love at the 5. There are so few competent SGs. Barea can probably start there and help more than he hurts most nights. Likewise, Webster, in his infinite simple competence, will be a godsend from what we’ve got now when he gets back.

In the meantime, I’m not breaking any new ground in saying that these garbage lineups are killing us. We’re going out of our way to play our sucky players, and in the process, limiting the total number of minutes our superior backups can play, and forcing them to endure painful 12+ minute stretches of playing time just to get them to approach 30 minutes/night. There’s a reason every NBA team plays its best guys for four 9 minute stretches per game. It’s the best, most efficient way to maximize their time on the floor without totally wearing them out. I’d really like to know what’s going on in Adelman’s head, and why he won’t go to this, since in his case, contrary to past Wolves coaches, gross incompetence isn’t the likely explanation.

Oh, and we lost several possessions in the 4th quarter to lollygagging up the court, crossing midcourt around the 17 second mark, then waiting another 5-10 seconds just to start running a set. By the time the first pass was made, a player was already being pressured to get a shot up before the shot clock expired. I’m not sure why Adelman or our point guards allowed this to happen more than once.

I think he will be the next Gortat

was balls-out. Worth sitting through an otherwise frustrating moments.

He of course said ivring and rubio. But brought up williams, if they trade Beasley, which he said they need to do ASAP

everything was pointing to this being a huge year for him and it might be his worst year ever

I realize he is more of natural 3, but given our limitations at 2 could we have Martell play there for the rest of the year. do a solid job and focus on getting a real on this off-season??

He could be the answer at the 2, at least in the short term

who can’t stop looking at the guy on fire in the Chris Paul/Jordan advertisement? Lordy is that distracting.