Friday Open Thread

Sorry for the late thread today but fear not, I have come to provide a fresh new comments section to the loyal Canis faithful so everyone can come together on this beautiful Friday to discuss basketball and other things.

The Wolves play the Suns tomorrow night in Phoenix. I suggest getting Karl-Anthony Towns in your DFS lineups if that’s something you participate in. I’m thinking somewhere around 29 points, 16 rebounds, and three blocks. This should be a high-scoring affair and the hope is Minnesota can get back in the win column after getting humbled at Oracle two nights ago.

Phoenix is a bad basketball team, but they do play fast. The Wolves transition defense, while cleaned up a bit after those two Butler-less duds against Indiana and Detroit, is still an area of a concern. Keep an eye on that. The Suns are third in Pace at 103.2 (3rd of 30).

Here are the offensive and defensive ratings:

Wolves: Off Rtg: 108.7 (11th of 30) Def Rtg: 111.2 (27th of 30)
Suns: Off Rtg: 102.3 (26th of 30) Def Rtg: 112.1 (28th of 30)

What I want to see...

Besides a convincing win, I’m hopeful that Jimmy Butler can get things going a bit offensively against another really crappy defensive unit. Thibodeau has said as much, but Butler is probably being unselfish to a fault right now.

In particular, I want to see the Wolves run a lot more (like WAY WAY WAY MORE) high pick-and-rolls with Butler and Towns. That action will give opponents hell and they need to develop that two-man game. All of the little things Butler does for this team are incredible, he’s the grit and the glue, and he maintains that winning is all that matters to him right now, but the Wolves can take another step forward if they run more offense through Mr. Buckets.

Two more things:

1) Make sure to listen to Neil and Scott’s latest episode of Wolvescast! Wolvescast 57: Logistical Gift.

2) Here’s a song from Frank...