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You know who's a cool team now? The Minnesota Timberwolves are, that's goddamn right! The Story So Far Last season was a solid season, as Towns, Ant and D'Lo (who was good during the season) lead the team to 46 wins, a play-in victory and a fun/strange/still tight first round series with the Memphis Grizzlies. They had solid help from Patrick Beverly, Malik Beasley (in the 2nd half of the season) and Jared Vanderbilt, though it was clear the team had gaps, as Vanderbilt helped paper over defensive issues by being pretty much nothing on offense, and the team's offense had issues with playmaking. But then the front office was revamped and some poo poo went down in the offseason so now it's time to see what this era of Wolves will look like. Coach  Longtime assistant (and English league player!) Finch is a pretty solid, if unexciting coach. He's got the team playing decent defense and seems to strike a balance in getting everyone involved in offense while still developing new players. He probably isn't a top-tier coach, but he's basically what you want a small market to have on the bench because he'll get productivity out of everyone without trying to push a square system through a round team. I'm looking forward to the inevitable "The GM didn't hire him so he'll be fired for stupid reasons" down the line that will piss me off. WHO IS GONE Pat Bev, Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley, a few other guys who largely don't matter. And a bunch of draft picks are gone. Pat Bev will be missed as the franchise really appreciated his fire, Malik was a competent player and Vando played real hard which was nice. But the losses were for a purpose which is a nice change, instead of guys leaving on paycuts so they can actually be on TV. WHO IS NEW :format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71100975/1241745628.0.jpg) So the big one is Rudy Gobert. Rudy will be taking over the center duties on defense and playing P&R man on offense. His role is essentially the same as vanderbilt had last year but he is SOOOO much better at everything. The idea here is you will need to make some decisions on defense, and we've seen KAT play just fine next to a mainly paint/roll man in vanderbilt and Naz Reid last season.  Kyle Anderson gives the Wolves a guy who can give a little of everything and I expect he'll get a fair bit of playing time next to KAT this season. I'm really excited as we had a lack of just competent, smart players who can find a way to stop a bad run or take advantage of a bad matchup. I was stoked we got him even before the other moves. Austin Rivers and Bryn Forbes rounds out the most impactful new guys who will be part of (near the back of) the rotation. What the team will look like Starters will be: ------------------------- Gobert KAT Jaden McDaniels (6'10 multipurpose forward who has the potential to be real good, is in a good role as 5th forward) ANT (Now at SG full time, which will help) D'Lo ------------------------- As a starting unit they basically will have D'Lo and Ant start a lot of the offense and probably see a lot more P&R with Gobert and D'lo, KAT playing his usually Outside/In game with maybe more matchup issues. I actually think you'll see this lineup less than you'd think as the team will probably try to use it's depth a bit more and have starters mixed with the bench. I think the two other lineups you'll see a lot is: ------------------------- KAT Anderson McDaniels/Prince Ant McLaughlin ------------------------- This is an offense-oriented lineup that will probably be what the Wolves use in the 2nd half of the first quarter. KAT and Ant play well together, McLaughlin is disruptive enough to take some pressure off, and Kyle Anderson can give a little playmaking/defense. This will then turn into: ------------------------- Gobert Prince McDaniels/Nowell Rivers/Nowell D'lo ------------------------- This is the P&R heavy offense with Nowell helping the scoring and just choking out other 2nd units defensively. This 10 man rotation can basically always guarantee a good lineup on the floor and not overplay anyone. How it could go wrong KAT and Gobert could not mesh. ANT could regress with a team that will look somewhat different, they don't have any shooters you can bet the farm on, so spacing could be an issue. D'Lo can look like playoff DeAngelo and not Regular Season/Play-in DeAngelo. I think the first part of the season will be shaky, but I expect them to round into a good regular season team. Playoffs I think they have holes and KAT will need to cut down his fouling on both sides when the whistles are quicker to be blown. ANT was good last year but this is a big year for him and even holding steady would be a disappointment. Outlook This is essentially the team for the next 4 seasons (depending on what happens with D'Lo). So for the trade to be worth it I'd like to see a 2 playoff series wins in total, though I'd probably take making the playoffs each year and 1 series win. They do that the trade was a success. This is probably not a contender unless ANT really blows up or McDaniels or someone takes a big step. But they were a fun team to watch last year, and really that's what I want the most. So that considered, I am looking forward to this season. Lockback fucked around with this message at 21:46 on Oct 14, 2022 |
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Oct 14, 2022 21:37
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