Minnesota falls to 8-8… that pick would convey to us at 11th or 12th if the season ended today.
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It’s still early but I immediately hated the KAT/Randle deal for the Timberwolves this season. It helps them longer-term cap wise but a travesty for this season which is amazing for us. How great would it be if they sucked this year when we own their pick after making the WCF last year when we didn’t.
I really think people put too much blame on Randle. If anyone has undelivered in that trade, it’s DDV. But the really reason why the Wolves aren’t as good this year is that Mike and Rudy are older. Rudy no longer automatically produces a top 5 defense, or at least he hasn’t so far. Mike looks cooked/is injured. Maybe Rudy can turn it around, but he set an incredibly high standard and I don’t think he looks the same physically. I’m not really sure their fortunes are any different had they not made the trade. My guess is they’d be about the same, maybe even worse.
It’s good news for us though. Randle has been as good as you could have ever hoped for and they still aren’t improved.
I think Randle can be good and the trade still be bad.
The way I see it, the trade does’t matter if Rudy and Mike are at this level. If they had Towns, they’d be right where they are now except in a worse cap situation of Rudy and Mike have indeed slipped.
Reminds of a conversation I had with a couple people on here after the initial Rudy trade happened about how hard father time hits these big, offensively limited, defensive centers right around the age Rudy is now.
He’s still very good, but I still think people underrated how good he was in the regular season. Don’t care to get into a playoff Rudy discussion, but in the regular season he was like a top 10 player. If he’s not that guy and is just very good instead of elite the Wolves aren’t this great RS team. Ant is playing great, but his improvement doesn’t make up for what has been lost between Rudy and Mike’s aging. Mike’s drop off looks even more drastic and at age 37 it shouldn’t be surprising.
Don’t think it gets much better for the Wolves from here. If Rudy and Mike haven’t fallen off, it will happen soon and they are likely going to lose somebody this off season. They had their best chance last year and missed it.
Kris Dunn was defnitely a piece that we gave away. He was probably too old for the next great iteration and would have screwed the tank... but he was a piece.
Having a guy who can lock down the point and who doesnt demand high usage on offense but can still do stuff is very valuable. And he is dirt cheap and has great intangibles.
I mean despite James Harden, they are still a top 5 defense. Dunn leads the team in plus minus.
Having a guy who can lock down the point and who doesnt demand high usage on offense but can still do stuff is very valuable. And he is dirt cheap and has great intangibles.
I mean despite James Harden, they are still a top 5 defense. Dunn leads the team in plus minus.
People put a lot of blame on Randle beacuse they watch him play matador defense like he doesnt care. He is great on offense because he doesnt waste much energy on the other end.
This guy made a video based on Randles first two games with the TWolves. First game he shows defensive lowlights and its all effort failures. There are also moments where he doesnt respect the guys who have been there (like blowing a fuse to Rudy who calls a switch instead of fighting around a screen like he is a tiny guard).
There is also a moment in the video where he highlights the difference in speed when he runs up the court vs when he runs down the court. Guy is a stat padder, not a winning hooper who competes hard.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1ZYiEubD_M
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And they have also had a soft schedule thus far. Its about to get harder though. These are their next 15 games:
FrenchJazzFa
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Absolutely, which is the reason why Rudy look not as good as last year. Today Rudy play really well, 20 Rebound, protect the rim well, score 10 points all by himself, getting offensive rebound or FT. But each time he sit, Boston play with Randle and NAZ and score almost all possessions.... Randle is a fraud, padding stats only. Zero effort in defense and I'm pretty sure they will trade him by the deadline. KAT was playing pretty well with Rudy.
For Mike I'm still in- between. Don't shoot well for the moment but he don't see much the ball as Randle, DDV and ANT don't pass the ball well or keep it way too long. He still leading the team by far in Assist-TO and also leading the team in steals. But could also be that father age is knocking at the door..
The guy he’s replacing wasn’t exactly the most hardworking, winning player either. Some of their struggles can be attributed to Randle+DDV not being as good as KAT…though you could argue the combo of the two gives as much or more value. The real difference for the TWolves is the drop of in Mike/Rudy as individuals. Everyone is putting all the blame on Randle when in reality those two are getting older just like everyone else. Age does not care if it’s Randle or Towns next to them.
Handlogten's Heros
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Wolves losing Kyle Anderson was a big deal. He’s the type of guy that smooths over injuries and multiple deficiencies. It’s a confluence of things but I still think they need a 6 week injury from Ant/Rudy/Randle? To miss the playoffs. We might get lucky if they land in the bottom part of the play in.
I still think Minnesota figures it out. I mean, they barely lost on the road to Boston. It's not like they are playing bad, they just arent the dominant team they were last year. I'm content with the pick being in the low 20's/high teens.
They just recently lost to Portland back-to-back then followed that up with a loss to Toronto. They’re 8-8 and this was the easy part of their schedule. Not like they’re playing good. Look at their next 10 games. They’d be lucky to be 14-12 at the end of it.
All road losses.
Bad road team generally isn’t a good team. Do I think they end up top-10 in the lottery? No. Can they hover around anywhere from 12-18? Yes. Wouldn’t be surprised if they were a play-in team at all.
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They haven’t had a real significant injury yet either. Got to think at some point one of Rudy/Ant/Randle misses a few games. Mike has had a toe injury and been in/out of the lineup recently… but they’ve been relatively healthy. If the hover around this area there is also the possibility the owners (whoever they are?) decide to make a move to cut salary by moving one of DD or maybe Randle.
I don’t know if they figure it out or not but it’s not looking good. I also had basically 0 expectation or hopes that the pick would be higher than 25 so it’s all gravy to me.
Wolves give up 12.3 points less (per 100 possessions) with Rudy on the court than they do when he is off. That is in the 95th percentile in the NBA and also the best on/off mark of his career. Their drop in quality vs last year is clearly on defense and its not on Rudy... its one of the guys supposed to fill in when he is out.
Randle is in the 15th percentile in defensive on/off. Wolves allow 8 points per 100 possessions more when he is on the court, vs when he is off..
How is that Randle number even possible when you actually get to share the court by one of the best for so many minutes?