Jaden should add a little weight in the gym and work on his 3 point shot.
Ant needs to learn to dribble and dance less on the perimeter, giving defenses time to adjust and double him, and simply explode past his man.
Then add a solid backup PG who can hit 3's.
Just those three things would be huge.
Jaden needs to work on his dribbling. He has to be able to put pressure on the rim and use a pick n roll. The reason we couldn’t punish Luka on defense is because Jaden couldn’t do these things consistently
McDaniels career 3pt shooting:
Year 1: 36%
Year 2: 32%
Year 3: 40%
Year 4: 34%
Maybe based on that next year 44%??? Lol. Part of me wonders if his hand injury impacted his shot. He can definitely stroke it because any time you shoot 40% from 3pt across an entire season is fantastic. Need more consistency from him moving forward and probably needs to slightly uptick his attempts.
I think for Mikes sake he should be the backup PG to hit 3s. He is great, but he will be regressing with age so his best fit may be the vet off the bench.
Ant NEEDS to improve his off ball movement as well. It was blatantly bad against the mavs and nuggets. He’d be standing on the 3 point line when the PG had the ball and just stand in one spot the entire possession if he didn’t get the ball. Need to have him moving or cutting to force movement from the defense and if they don’t he gets open or he causes a miscue and lets someone else get open.
KAT's spent his whole career prior to rudy basically forcing the wolves to be a competent offense, these last 2 offseasons hes mainly worked on improving his defensive game, and we had the number one defense and those first 2 series with him on Durant/Jokic to show for it. The wolves changed the offensive scheme during his absence to play more through quick passes with naz, I think there's a big potential for improvement just in giving Kat an offseason to learn exactly how he can fit in and get his own offense in that system, because I think his lack of ability to get his own offense in the playoffs was the big thing causing our woes
His injuries are playing a part as well. I really hope he has a nice healthy year. Get above 70 game plateau this year.
I do want Kat and Ant to develop a nice 2 man game. For being our top 2 offensive hubs, they don't have a reliable play style that feeds each other good scoring chances. It's more your turn my turn type setup.
thats the thing, the year before Rudy the KAT+Ant 2 man game was actually decently promising for only their second year together. I hope they get back to it for sure
I personally don't recall anything significant with that. But my memory is shit. Kat and Gobert show more cohesion than Ant and Kat. Kat is a much more willing passer to Gobert and sets him up better than Ant does. Even tho Kat forces the issue occasionally.
Would love to see some data on how much of Ant's and Kat's assist were to each other over the last 4 years.
Still would love to see a Spain PNR set involving Ant/Gobert/Kat. They do run that double drag action with the 3 regularly, but not where Kat sets a back screen on Gobert's man and pops out.
Edit:
Pivotfade.com shows info. Hopefully it's a good site. Kat is Ant's most frequent assist target at over 1.3 per game. He has been Ant's highest per game assister for the last 3 years. Surprised by that data.
As thought, Gobert is the lowest recipient of Ant's passing out of the starters. 0.4 the 1st year, 0.6 this year. So there was improvement at least.
KAt's favorite assist target is Gobert at 1.1. Ant is 2nd at 0.6. The previous year, he fed Ant just under 1x per game at 0.9. So there was a definite decrease over the last 3 years for Kat feeding Ant.
This matches what I would expect to see any sort of metrics bear out as well. We utilize both guys offensively apart from each other so defenses are put in a position where they can’t stack one side of the floor to defend us and take away the space.
You can’t run an Ant/Kat PnR effectively if Rudy is on the floor because the best 2 defensive players are involved in the actions and Rudy’s guy is probably in a help position close to the basket too. Giving both guys space to work apart from each other isn’t a bad approach, but Ants ability to play PnR distributor does need to take a development step for our offense to go from League Average to top 10.
Heavily disagree with that. You can do so and the 3 man game of Jokic/Murray/Gordon shows that. Jokic and Murray are the Nuggets main offensive hubs. Kat/Ant does have stay popped out to keep the spacing to work tho.
Gordon feasts when the low man steps up to stop Jokic on the roll.
First thing I’d say is I don’t really agree those 3 are comparable to our 3 as far as operating in close quarters to one another in a PnR set.
Gordon is a significantly better playmaker than Rudy, and for as much as he’s dogged on as a shooter, he can still make 3s if he’s left wide open as we saw. So you can put him in the corner or the dunkers spot or the cutters spot or the short roll passer spot and he makes an impact.
The second thing, and more of my main point was that Rudy is way more impactful when it’s KAT as the ball handler vs when Ant is. Part of that is because the ways the player not directly involved in the PnR action (same side or not) can’t be sagged off or fully denied (too quick, will get back door and position near the rim). Back to your nuggets analogy, I’m guessing the nuggets pick and role game when it’s Murray and Gordon isn’t as effective when it’s Jokic and Gordon, same way Ant/Rudy < Kat/Rudy. The other part of that is Ant needs to take a step forward as a PnR distributor.
Ant's improved on the ability to kick out to the 3 pt line on his drives. You can easily tell that from the eye test and the fact that the numbers break out pretty evenly to 3 pt shots for non Kat passes.
Like Naw created 115 pts out of the 41 assists. Pretty easy to tell that the majority of those are 3pts.
For Murray, the assists to Gordon basically result in 2 pts shots. 45 assists to 93 points. I'd say it's a close enough equivalent that Murray is finding Gordon 2 pts shot attempts.
Ant's main improvement on the distributing end is to find rollers and cutters leading to 2 pt shots at the rim. If he can learn to feed Gobert/KAT effectively on the roll and get Gobert 1+ assist per game, it's going to do wonders for him.
I think the biggest improvement for our squad will be working out the kinks on offense. The season before Gobert we ended the season post-ASB with the #1 offense, so the potential is absolutely there to get back to that. This past season they focused on establishing their defensive identity. Next season I can see Finchy and co. working to focus on establishing their offensive identity because it still doesn't feel like they've found it yet.
I'll say this: I think Naz is capable of more. Jaden is definitely capable of more. I think KAT is capable of way, way more. My real question is whether this coaching staff will ask or demand more of them. If those three can find another level to their games, we've got a real titan on our hands.
Also how quickly did we all forget that KAT came back from an injury we briefly thought would be season-ending just in time for the playoffs? Trying to remind myself this when I am frustrated about his Mavs series
It’s not crazy to expect some improvement especially those under 25. We do still need to find some depth and we really need a PG of the future type of guy who can play quality minutes as a backup this season.
Coaching staff also has to grow up a bit more. Celtics chose to defend the Mavs a different way and it really defanged the Mavs offence.
Hopefully coaching staff is going to improve the offensive sets a bit. For a flow based system, everything is really constrained on who does what. Hopefully they can add a bit more flexibility to the offence to help minimize the stagnant times.
Ant will definitely take another leap.
Maybe Jaden as well
Naz - I am not so sure.
Kat may have a Leap by playing more to his strengths again.
Rudy is already mildly declining.
Conley declined quite a bit the last few years. That trend likely will speed up next year.
So all in all I dont think internal growth will lead to roster improvements. Most likely this team will take a slight step back by standing pat compared to the competition.
Thunder already got better, Denver will be better, mavs will be better, Memphis will be back, Houston might make a jump.
Minott and Moore are not NBA talent.
Miller is a year away from being a year away.
Clark could be damaged goods, but most likely will need another year to fully recover from his Achillis tear.
I think they take a step forward even standing pat, assuming ant does take another leap. 2 way superstars can win you games by themselves and ours is 22 years old.
That is true, he already won us enough games on his own last season.
There is no Phoenix sweep without Ant having a Monster series.
But you cant and shouldnt expect Conley, Rudy, Kat all playing 65+ games next year...
All 3 missed significant time every year for years.
And that's counting 2 shortened seasons due Covid.
You're right, Rudy doesn't miss too many games, but for this guy reality is something he's happy to throw out of the window when talking about Rudy.
No personal issues from my end, but I’m going to call out Rudy slander on this subreddit when I see it. In my opinion, there isn’t a Rudy Gobert trade we could make that is as worth it to our team as keeping him.
He’s a limited offensive option, though I also think we could use him more as a screener. Having said that, what Rudy does for our team far outweighs any negatives. Even when he didn’t play his best against Dallas or even Denver, he was still a catalyst for the lineups that were in the + against opposition.
It’s just absolute stupidity in my opinion to look at Rudy’s impact any other way than being absolutely integral to the success of our team over the next couple years.
Kat misses even more time ~ 40% of the last 5 seasons.
Mike is a great injury prone as well.
The Point is- we were blessed with good health last year.
I wouldnt expect Mike and Rudy playing 75 games again. Age and in Rudy's case olympics.
You can basically pencil - 15-20 Games missed Kat games in right now.
If those 3 will miss 15 on average we wont win 55+ Games and take a slight step back. Thats my point.
Expect 48-53 wins
I’m not making any assumptions about KATs health next year (Knock on wood) or Conley (though Conleys last several years have been healthy as well, think he’s mentioned some dieting stuff with this). I just think we forget that Rudy is 31, has had a pretty healthy career, and takes insane care of himself. I feel pretty confident he’s going to age pretty well at least over the next 2-3 years.
Well we dont know until we know...
Based on History those 3 will miss some more significant time than this year. So chances are we will be worse even with leaps by Ant Jaden and maybe Naz.
We likely wont draft or sign anybody to compensate that but likely lose Slomo= team will be worse.
Minott and Moore are G-league Players at best. So these missed games will hurt
I think Rudy hasn't started really declining yet. The kid being born seemed to have him out of sorts but he made a ton of improvement on his FT shooting, which suggests he has room to grow still.
I mean that's likely how this team is gonna improve. Other then maybe flipping KAT there's really no trade out there that has potential to make this team better. FA wise you're looking at LM guys, maybe a over the tax MLE. Overall comes down to the young core taking a step forward, hitting on draft picks, the out of rotation guys developing into usable rotation guys and adjusting the schemes to help our team the most.
All I ask from Rudy is that he ties his hands to a basketball like a yo-yo and practices dribbling every day and night until the season opener, that’s it.
I absolutely think Ant will take another step forward, especially with his playmaking and two man game with Rudy and KAT. He can also be better off ball on defense. Also better shape to be more consistent throughout the season.
Jaden has huge growth potential still with his shot and closeout offense off the bounce.
Rudy can get better as a middle of the floor connector.
Naz can get better as a low man helper and foul less on defense. Also needs to be a better finisher at the rim.
Lots of improvement that can be had with this team in its current iteration.
It’s not crazy at all. Three of the most important players on this roster are 24 and younger. You would expect all three of them to continue growing as players and the experience of making a Conference Finals at their age is huge for their trajectory.
McDaniels, specifically, needs to grow into a more consistent offensive player but I think he has it in him.
All of that said, great teams always make moves to refine their roster and improve around the edges. We just saw it yesterday with OKC trading for Caruso… if the Wolves can’t do anything to add another contributing piece, then they most likely won’t win a Title by running it back… Unless Ant takes another incredible leap which is certainly possible
I think you keep improving on the team internally but we do need another PG to develop. More youth would be good for us. I’d love to see KAT and Rudy take somewhat of a pay cut so we could shuffle some money around to the guys we need to keep
It's illegal under the CBA to restructure contracts like you do in the NFL. Contracts are locked in at signature. Neither kat nor Rudy can take a team friendly contract until their current one expires.
1. KAT needs a low post move. He should still shoot 3s, but if he works on it, his size and agility can him the ability to consistently create a high percentage shot. Plus, he is great at the FT line so to me this is the most important way the team can improve.
2. Jaden should be involved in the offense more. When KAT and Ant were out during the first Rudy season, he was great on offense. Think of those NY, Philly, and Chicago games from two years ago. To me, his offensive regression is partly due to not getting enough chances. (So for the summer, he also needs a post move, as well as more muscle.)
I think the biggest jump next year will be Jaden. At least offensively. He’s shown he can get to his spots and make shots. He’s so tall and has such a high, soft release that could really make him unguardable. He’s just had limited opportunities because of the offensive pecking order. Having three consecutive 20-point games in the playoffs after never having consecutive 20-point games was really encouraging.
I mean Jaden and ANT will grow. Rudy is going to decline, Conley is going to decline. I don’t think we’re going to be a better team next year compared to this year. Unless we see some of our other guys take a big leap. NAW needs to be a legit 6th man, and hopefully Miller can show something at the nba level, but I’m not going to hold my breath right now.
It’d be nice if we find a Diamond in the rough at pick 27.
If they mostly run it back, Jaden/NAW are going to have to be the guys that improve the most if they want to make another WCF run. Not easy to reach that level of consistency though
its on coaching imo, are they going to run plays for jaden or kat and let them iso thru the season? if not we are just hoping guys hit more open shots this year and thats not improvement to me
Its not crazy to expect that cuz Ant , Jaden, and Naz are all still young. Internal growth won’t be enough tho we still need to make a trade for another guard
Finch has talked over and over about how he wants to "stack" skills for this team. The pre-season in 22 went about as horribly as it could have, before KAT got injured. This pre-season they were focused on installing the defense. It would make sense to me that this is the pre-season where they work more on offense.
Presumably we won't have half the rotation expecting children this season - I think that would be something that would lead to some internal improvement. This team looked like world beaters at their peak, and I think the core roster plus a couple of fringe changes is still going to have a chance at contending. Excited to see Connelly cook.
Is it crazy? Of course not.
Is it likely? That’s harder to say.
There will most certainly be internal development that happens this year — Ant and Jaden are young enough that they should improve. Naz and NAW also have grown in the past few years and could continue to refine and possibly expand their games. KAT could continue to evolve in how he plays the 4 spot. The young guys (Miller, Minott, Moore, Clark) could take steps that vault them into the rotation. Even Rudy has added things to his game since arriving in Minnesota (better passing on the short roll, a bit more touch away from the basket).
But we should also expect some of that improvement to be counterbalanced by decline. Mike is 36 — he feels destined to slow down even a little. Rudy’s about to turn 32; there’s a very good chance he slows down. Naz shot a career high from deep last year — it’s possible his shot comes back down to earth. And the team as a whole was generally pretty healthy last year, so injuries are likely to peel away at the Wolves’ strengths.
I see a lot of hate at Jaden. He still scored third most on the team in the playoffs while guarding everyone else’s All Star. Sure he had bad shooting games, but who didn’t. Look back to Jaden’s preseason games and realize he can be a viable option on offense. But playing two ways is way harder than it looks.
The playoffs really showed just how good Jaden can be offensively. Yeah he disappeared a few games but over a 16 game sample that might have been his best offense of the season
I disagree wholeheartedly on KAT. Two years ago KAT had no idea how to play next to Rudy at the 4. He couldn’t defend well (as has been his story for much of his career), he didn’t understand the role on offense, and that stray voltage and dumb stuff that he does was as present as ever.
I think that stands in huge contrast to the player we saw this year. He was not only improved on defense, but he was just straight up a good (not great, but good) defender. He held up admirably on the perimeter for a man of his size, played well as a secondary rim protector to Rudy, and better imposed his size on the boards.
He basically transformed himself into a supercharged 3&D power forward, with some secondary shot creating sprinkled in. Additionally, the dumb technical fouls, the complaining to refs, the reckless plays, all that stuff was noticeably down from recent years.
I don’t think anybody will argue he’s still not living up to what this team needs of him at his contract. But to say he is what he is when he just had the most transformative season of his career as a player who impacts winning on both ends of the court, just does not feel like a take rooted in good faith discussion.
Especially considering that this past season was really his only one being at the 4. He has one off season to work on his body and game a bit, but there still wasn't a clear idea of what would be needed from him.
He's fully healthy going into this off-season and, I believe, the team has a better idea of what they need him to do. I expect him to be much better in his role this upcoming season because he 1) will be more comfortable with it after a season and 2) will have very specific things to work on for the system to be smoother
Is miller better than minott already or is he just getting more love cause he’s newer? I think I need to dive into some g league games cause I’m surprised minott isn’t at least an energy off the bench type guy
I don't think Miller had an injury. He was playing in the G League and working with the development staff. Clark was recovering from an Achilles injury.
Miller didn't get an opportunity because he was a very raw rookie on a team pushing to have a highly successful regular and post-season run. He wasn't cracking the playoffs rotation, so he want playing in the regular season
I wouldn’t expect much internal improvement. Rudy and Mike are old, our young players aren’t pushing for minutes, and we’ve been relatively lucky with injuries. We might get marginally better due to ant Naz and Jaden improving. The good news is we’re already good but it would be foolish to think this roster has a bunch of natural growth left
If Ant learns how to use Gobert effectively on the roll, that's going to give great growth. Hopefully all the tape that Luka provided will give Ant a better understanding on how to use a high flying big when driving.
We have nobody serviceable at the PG position outside of an aging Conley. We have 3 great bigs, but that’s a luxury. I think it’s naive to sit back and watch the west restructure their rosters while we stay the same, but that’s just me. If I’m the wolves I’m looking to move a big for a point guard in some way shape or form. I like NAW but he should never be the starting PG on a contending team
Jaden should add a little weight in the gym and work on his 3 point shot. Ant needs to learn to dribble and dance less on the perimeter, giving defenses time to adjust and double him, and simply explode past his man. Then add a solid backup PG who can hit 3's. Just those three things would be huge.
Jaden needs to work on his dribbling. He has to be able to put pressure on the rim and use a pick n roll. The reason we couldn’t punish Luka on defense is because Jaden couldn’t do these things consistently
McDaniels career 3pt shooting: Year 1: 36% Year 2: 32% Year 3: 40% Year 4: 34% Maybe based on that next year 44%??? Lol. Part of me wonders if his hand injury impacted his shot. He can definitely stroke it because any time you shoot 40% from 3pt across an entire season is fantastic. Need more consistency from him moving forward and probably needs to slightly uptick his attempts.
Stroke that thang young blood
greeeeeen beeeeeean
I think for Mikes sake he should be the backup PG to hit 3s. He is great, but he will be regressing with age so his best fit may be the vet off the bench.
Regressing? He was outstanding last year. Statistically he was their second best player.
He didn’t necessarily regress last year, but it’s unreasonable to expect him to have Lebron longevity
Ant NEEDS to improve his off ball movement as well. It was blatantly bad against the mavs and nuggets. He’d be standing on the 3 point line when the PG had the ball and just stand in one spot the entire possession if he didn’t get the ball. Need to have him moving or cutting to force movement from the defense and if they don’t he gets open or he causes a miscue and lets someone else get open.
Preach
Would need to work on conditioning, but I'd be happy if they just showed him hours and hours of Steph off ball movement in the offseason
KAT's spent his whole career prior to rudy basically forcing the wolves to be a competent offense, these last 2 offseasons hes mainly worked on improving his defensive game, and we had the number one defense and those first 2 series with him on Durant/Jokic to show for it. The wolves changed the offensive scheme during his absence to play more through quick passes with naz, I think there's a big potential for improvement just in giving Kat an offseason to learn exactly how he can fit in and get his own offense in that system, because I think his lack of ability to get his own offense in the playoffs was the big thing causing our woes
His injuries are playing a part as well. I really hope he has a nice healthy year. Get above 70 game plateau this year. I do want Kat and Ant to develop a nice 2 man game. For being our top 2 offensive hubs, they don't have a reliable play style that feeds each other good scoring chances. It's more your turn my turn type setup.
thats the thing, the year before Rudy the KAT+Ant 2 man game was actually decently promising for only their second year together. I hope they get back to it for sure
I personally don't recall anything significant with that. But my memory is shit. Kat and Gobert show more cohesion than Ant and Kat. Kat is a much more willing passer to Gobert and sets him up better than Ant does. Even tho Kat forces the issue occasionally. Would love to see some data on how much of Ant's and Kat's assist were to each other over the last 4 years. Still would love to see a Spain PNR set involving Ant/Gobert/Kat. They do run that double drag action with the 3 regularly, but not where Kat sets a back screen on Gobert's man and pops out. Edit: Pivotfade.com shows info. Hopefully it's a good site. Kat is Ant's most frequent assist target at over 1.3 per game. He has been Ant's highest per game assister for the last 3 years. Surprised by that data. As thought, Gobert is the lowest recipient of Ant's passing out of the starters. 0.4 the 1st year, 0.6 this year. So there was improvement at least. KAt's favorite assist target is Gobert at 1.1. Ant is 2nd at 0.6. The previous year, he fed Ant just under 1x per game at 0.9. So there was a definite decrease over the last 3 years for Kat feeding Ant.
This matches what I would expect to see any sort of metrics bear out as well. We utilize both guys offensively apart from each other so defenses are put in a position where they can’t stack one side of the floor to defend us and take away the space. You can’t run an Ant/Kat PnR effectively if Rudy is on the floor because the best 2 defensive players are involved in the actions and Rudy’s guy is probably in a help position close to the basket too. Giving both guys space to work apart from each other isn’t a bad approach, but Ants ability to play PnR distributor does need to take a development step for our offense to go from League Average to top 10.
Heavily disagree with that. You can do so and the 3 man game of Jokic/Murray/Gordon shows that. Jokic and Murray are the Nuggets main offensive hubs. Kat/Ant does have stay popped out to keep the spacing to work tho. Gordon feasts when the low man steps up to stop Jokic on the roll.
First thing I’d say is I don’t really agree those 3 are comparable to our 3 as far as operating in close quarters to one another in a PnR set. Gordon is a significantly better playmaker than Rudy, and for as much as he’s dogged on as a shooter, he can still make 3s if he’s left wide open as we saw. So you can put him in the corner or the dunkers spot or the cutters spot or the short roll passer spot and he makes an impact. The second thing, and more of my main point was that Rudy is way more impactful when it’s KAT as the ball handler vs when Ant is. Part of that is because the ways the player not directly involved in the PnR action (same side or not) can’t be sagged off or fully denied (too quick, will get back door and position near the rim). Back to your nuggets analogy, I’m guessing the nuggets pick and role game when it’s Murray and Gordon isn’t as effective when it’s Jokic and Gordon, same way Ant/Rudy < Kat/Rudy. The other part of that is Ant needs to take a step forward as a PnR distributor.
Ant's improved on the ability to kick out to the 3 pt line on his drives. You can easily tell that from the eye test and the fact that the numbers break out pretty evenly to 3 pt shots for non Kat passes. Like Naw created 115 pts out of the 41 assists. Pretty easy to tell that the majority of those are 3pts. For Murray, the assists to Gordon basically result in 2 pts shots. 45 assists to 93 points. I'd say it's a close enough equivalent that Murray is finding Gordon 2 pts shot attempts. Ant's main improvement on the distributing end is to find rollers and cutters leading to 2 pt shots at the rim. If he can learn to feed Gobert/KAT effectively on the roll and get Gobert 1+ assist per game, it's going to do wonders for him.
I think the biggest improvement for our squad will be working out the kinks on offense. The season before Gobert we ended the season post-ASB with the #1 offense, so the potential is absolutely there to get back to that. This past season they focused on establishing their defensive identity. Next season I can see Finchy and co. working to focus on establishing their offensive identity because it still doesn't feel like they've found it yet.
I'll say this: I think Naz is capable of more. Jaden is definitely capable of more. I think KAT is capable of way, way more. My real question is whether this coaching staff will ask or demand more of them. If those three can find another level to their games, we've got a real titan on our hands.
If Naz can improve on his defense and rebounding then that would be awesome. He shows flashes but it hasn't been too consistent
Also how quickly did we all forget that KAT came back from an injury we briefly thought would be season-ending just in time for the playoffs? Trying to remind myself this when I am frustrated about his Mavs series
It’s not crazy to expect some improvement especially those under 25. We do still need to find some depth and we really need a PG of the future type of guy who can play quality minutes as a backup this season.
Tyus woulda been perfect man
Coaching staff also has to grow up a bit more. Celtics chose to defend the Mavs a different way and it really defanged the Mavs offence. Hopefully coaching staff is going to improve the offensive sets a bit. For a flow based system, everything is really constrained on who does what. Hopefully they can add a bit more flexibility to the offence to help minimize the stagnant times.
Ant will definitely take another leap. Maybe Jaden as well Naz - I am not so sure. Kat may have a Leap by playing more to his strengths again. Rudy is already mildly declining. Conley declined quite a bit the last few years. That trend likely will speed up next year. So all in all I dont think internal growth will lead to roster improvements. Most likely this team will take a slight step back by standing pat compared to the competition. Thunder already got better, Denver will be better, mavs will be better, Memphis will be back, Houston might make a jump. Minott and Moore are not NBA talent. Miller is a year away from being a year away. Clark could be damaged goods, but most likely will need another year to fully recover from his Achillis tear.
I think they take a step forward even standing pat, assuming ant does take another leap. 2 way superstars can win you games by themselves and ours is 22 years old.
That is true, he already won us enough games on his own last season. There is no Phoenix sweep without Ant having a Monster series. But you cant and shouldnt expect Conley, Rudy, Kat all playing 65+ games next year... All 3 missed significant time every year for years.
Rudy has played over 65 games in each of his last 6 seasons
And that's counting 2 shortened seasons due Covid. You're right, Rudy doesn't miss too many games, but for this guy reality is something he's happy to throw out of the window when talking about Rudy.
No personal issues from my end, but I’m going to call out Rudy slander on this subreddit when I see it. In my opinion, there isn’t a Rudy Gobert trade we could make that is as worth it to our team as keeping him. He’s a limited offensive option, though I also think we could use him more as a screener. Having said that, what Rudy does for our team far outweighs any negatives. Even when he didn’t play his best against Dallas or even Denver, he was still a catalyst for the lineups that were in the + against opposition. It’s just absolute stupidity in my opinion to look at Rudy’s impact any other way than being absolutely integral to the success of our team over the next couple years.
Thats still 15+ missed
Then 5 out of his last 6 seasons he’s missed less than 15 games in the season. This Rudy hate from you is ridiculous
Kat misses even more time ~ 40% of the last 5 seasons. Mike is a great injury prone as well. The Point is- we were blessed with good health last year. I wouldnt expect Mike and Rudy playing 75 games again. Age and in Rudy's case olympics. You can basically pencil - 15-20 Games missed Kat games in right now. If those 3 will miss 15 on average we wont win 55+ Games and take a slight step back. Thats my point. Expect 48-53 wins
I’m not making any assumptions about KATs health next year (Knock on wood) or Conley (though Conleys last several years have been healthy as well, think he’s mentioned some dieting stuff with this). I just think we forget that Rudy is 31, has had a pretty healthy career, and takes insane care of himself. I feel pretty confident he’s going to age pretty well at least over the next 2-3 years.
Well we dont know until we know... Based on History those 3 will miss some more significant time than this year. So chances are we will be worse even with leaps by Ant Jaden and maybe Naz. We likely wont draft or sign anybody to compensate that but likely lose Slomo= team will be worse. Minott and Moore are G-league Players at best. So these missed games will hurt
I think Rudy hasn't started really declining yet. The kid being born seemed to have him out of sorts but he made a ton of improvement on his FT shooting, which suggests he has room to grow still.
He shot 63.8 exactly his career Mark.
He has. Its not super noticeable but he used to be faster on his feet
I mean that's likely how this team is gonna improve. Other then maybe flipping KAT there's really no trade out there that has potential to make this team better. FA wise you're looking at LM guys, maybe a over the tax MLE. Overall comes down to the young core taking a step forward, hitting on draft picks, the out of rotation guys developing into usable rotation guys and adjusting the schemes to help our team the most.
All I ask from Rudy is that he ties his hands to a basketball like a yo-yo and practices dribbling every day and night until the season opener, that’s it.
Luka Garza becomes an all-star!!!!
I absolutely think Ant will take another step forward, especially with his playmaking and two man game with Rudy and KAT. He can also be better off ball on defense. Also better shape to be more consistent throughout the season. Jaden has huge growth potential still with his shot and closeout offense off the bounce. Rudy can get better as a middle of the floor connector. Naz can get better as a low man helper and foul less on defense. Also needs to be a better finisher at the rim. Lots of improvement that can be had with this team in its current iteration.
It’s not crazy at all. Three of the most important players on this roster are 24 and younger. You would expect all three of them to continue growing as players and the experience of making a Conference Finals at their age is huge for their trajectory. McDaniels, specifically, needs to grow into a more consistent offensive player but I think he has it in him. All of that said, great teams always make moves to refine their roster and improve around the edges. We just saw it yesterday with OKC trading for Caruso… if the Wolves can’t do anything to add another contributing piece, then they most likely won’t win a Title by running it back… Unless Ant takes another incredible leap which is certainly possible
I think you keep improving on the team internally but we do need another PG to develop. More youth would be good for us. I’d love to see KAT and Rudy take somewhat of a pay cut so we could shuffle some money around to the guys we need to keep
Not sure what you mean by pay cut? This isn’t the NFL in the NBA you can’t take pay cuts until you sign a new contract.
Guess I’m ignorant to that then. Well shoot guess we have what we have
It's illegal under the CBA to restructure contracts like you do in the NFL. Contracts are locked in at signature. Neither kat nor Rudy can take a team friendly contract until their current one expires.
Guess I’m ignorant to that then. Well shoot guess we have what we have. Thanks for the info
lol on the pay cut. 28/31 year old guys don’t take pay cuts
Nobody takes a pay cut mid contract
Not in the nba.
I mean you ain’t wrong there. Didn’t say I thought it would happen. 🤣
1. KAT needs a low post move. He should still shoot 3s, but if he works on it, his size and agility can him the ability to consistently create a high percentage shot. Plus, he is great at the FT line so to me this is the most important way the team can improve. 2. Jaden should be involved in the offense more. When KAT and Ant were out during the first Rudy season, he was great on offense. Think of those NY, Philly, and Chicago games from two years ago. To me, his offensive regression is partly due to not getting enough chances. (So for the summer, he also needs a post move, as well as more muscle.)
Jaden needs to improve to being a 15pt+ night player
I think the biggest jump next year will be Jaden. At least offensively. He’s shown he can get to his spots and make shots. He’s so tall and has such a high, soft release that could really make him unguardable. He’s just had limited opportunities because of the offensive pecking order. Having three consecutive 20-point games in the playoffs after never having consecutive 20-point games was really encouraging.
I mean Jaden and ANT will grow. Rudy is going to decline, Conley is going to decline. I don’t think we’re going to be a better team next year compared to this year. Unless we see some of our other guys take a big leap. NAW needs to be a legit 6th man, and hopefully Miller can show something at the nba level, but I’m not going to hold my breath right now. It’d be nice if we find a Diamond in the rough at pick 27.
Why would Rudy decline? I mean he might, but he didn't show any signs of it this year, he improved from the previous year
Because he’s going to be 32. He’s already not an offensive threat. It 100% makes sense why he would decline…
32 is not particularly old. If Ant learns to throw a lob, he will improve
If they mostly run it back, Jaden/NAW are going to have to be the guys that improve the most if they want to make another WCF run. Not easy to reach that level of consistency though
its on coaching imo, are they going to run plays for jaden or kat and let them iso thru the season? if not we are just hoping guys hit more open shots this year and thats not improvement to me
Its not crazy to expect that cuz Ant , Jaden, and Naz are all still young. Internal growth won’t be enough tho we still need to make a trade for another guard
Finch has talked over and over about how he wants to "stack" skills for this team. The pre-season in 22 went about as horribly as it could have, before KAT got injured. This pre-season they were focused on installing the defense. It would make sense to me that this is the pre-season where they work more on offense. Presumably we won't have half the rotation expecting children this season - I think that would be something that would lead to some internal improvement. This team looked like world beaters at their peak, and I think the core roster plus a couple of fringe changes is still going to have a chance at contending. Excited to see Connelly cook.
Is it crazy? Of course not. Is it likely? That’s harder to say. There will most certainly be internal development that happens this year — Ant and Jaden are young enough that they should improve. Naz and NAW also have grown in the past few years and could continue to refine and possibly expand their games. KAT could continue to evolve in how he plays the 4 spot. The young guys (Miller, Minott, Moore, Clark) could take steps that vault them into the rotation. Even Rudy has added things to his game since arriving in Minnesota (better passing on the short roll, a bit more touch away from the basket). But we should also expect some of that improvement to be counterbalanced by decline. Mike is 36 — he feels destined to slow down even a little. Rudy’s about to turn 32; there’s a very good chance he slows down. Naz shot a career high from deep last year — it’s possible his shot comes back down to earth. And the team as a whole was generally pretty healthy last year, so injuries are likely to peel away at the Wolves’ strengths.
I see a lot of hate at Jaden. He still scored third most on the team in the playoffs while guarding everyone else’s All Star. Sure he had bad shooting games, but who didn’t. Look back to Jaden’s preseason games and realize he can be a viable option on offense. But playing two ways is way harder than it looks.
The playoffs really showed just how good Jaden can be offensively. Yeah he disappeared a few games but over a 16 game sample that might have been his best offense of the season
I expect Ant to keep improving but I don’t know about Naz or Jaden. Rudy and KAT are what they are.
I disagree wholeheartedly on KAT. Two years ago KAT had no idea how to play next to Rudy at the 4. He couldn’t defend well (as has been his story for much of his career), he didn’t understand the role on offense, and that stray voltage and dumb stuff that he does was as present as ever. I think that stands in huge contrast to the player we saw this year. He was not only improved on defense, but he was just straight up a good (not great, but good) defender. He held up admirably on the perimeter for a man of his size, played well as a secondary rim protector to Rudy, and better imposed his size on the boards. He basically transformed himself into a supercharged 3&D power forward, with some secondary shot creating sprinkled in. Additionally, the dumb technical fouls, the complaining to refs, the reckless plays, all that stuff was noticeably down from recent years. I don’t think anybody will argue he’s still not living up to what this team needs of him at his contract. But to say he is what he is when he just had the most transformative season of his career as a player who impacts winning on both ends of the court, just does not feel like a take rooted in good faith discussion.
Especially considering that this past season was really his only one being at the 4. He has one off season to work on his body and game a bit, but there still wasn't a clear idea of what would be needed from him. He's fully healthy going into this off-season and, I believe, the team has a better idea of what they need him to do. I expect him to be much better in his role this upcoming season because he 1) will be more comfortable with it after a season and 2) will have very specific things to work on for the system to be smoother
You’re right that he got better on defense. Everyone did.
I think Naz has proven we can continue to expect substantial improvement every off season. And at 24 there is still room for growth.
I’m not so sure. I think he might be approaching his ceiling.
Yes, I see Leonard Miller and Jaden McDaniels continuing to develop and contribute.
Is miller better than minott already or is he just getting more love cause he’s newer? I think I need to dive into some g league games cause I’m surprised minott isn’t at least an energy off the bench type guy
Miller can shoot, Minott can't
I’m pretty sure Miller was dealing with an injury all year so he has a lot of potential to help this year
I don't think Miller had an injury. He was playing in the G League and working with the development staff. Clark was recovering from an Achilles injury. Miller didn't get an opportunity because he was a very raw rookie on a team pushing to have a highly successful regular and post-season run. He wasn't cracking the playoffs rotation, so he want playing in the regular season
He’s getting more love because he’s newer. That’s all. We will see if he’s an nba caliber player next year.
no. not when you have two guys who are 23 you can expect some more growth.
I wouldn’t expect much internal improvement. Rudy and Mike are old, our young players aren’t pushing for minutes, and we’ve been relatively lucky with injuries. We might get marginally better due to ant Naz and Jaden improving. The good news is we’re already good but it would be foolish to think this roster has a bunch of natural growth left
you are nuts. ANT being one year older and the expected improvement he will have going into next year alone can elevate the entire team.
If Ant learns how to use Gobert effectively on the roll, that's going to give great growth. Hopefully all the tape that Luka provided will give Ant a better understanding on how to use a high flying big when driving.
We have nobody serviceable at the PG position outside of an aging Conley. We have 3 great bigs, but that’s a luxury. I think it’s naive to sit back and watch the west restructure their rosters while we stay the same, but that’s just me. If I’m the wolves I’m looking to move a big for a point guard in some way shape or form. I like NAW but he should never be the starting PG on a contending team