Rudy trade startin to look a lil better now ain’t it. He’s the only one in the playoffs who locked Jokic down to below 50% shooting. They even said T Wolves were the toughest team they faced. This team is dangerous
this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2023
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Just needed some time to gel. KAT's injury last year fucked everything up, and we still made a tiny bit of noise in the playoffs even with our starters playing like 15 games together
For me the biggest indicator of this team’s success is their defense. Even with their offense at 15th, we know they can be better than that. Just look at what Ant did last playoffs. I’m a nuggets fan, and honestly he was the scariest player (other than Devin Booker) that we saw.
Yeah they said themselves they want to make defense their identity this year, and you can tell everyone has bought in. Offense will find their flow like you said. I'm really excited for the rest of the season. Doing way better so far than I imagined. Hope we meet you guys in the playoffs again with two fully healthy squads
It would be an exciting series, especially cuz the timberwolves are really putting it together. And I will be dreading Ant lol
T-Wolves fans gotta be loving this. Not only does their lack of continuity mean they're likely to get better together if anything, their long term guys are all pretty young among contending teams that otherwise pretty much all have concern in that regard. Fuckin Ant is 22.
Yeah but he ain’t Rui.
Not every team has a Jokic stopper like Rui
It definitely was. The other three series were mainly "competitive" due to bench minutes, if you only count starters' score then Denver was basically dominating them all completely. With Wolves the starters were much much closer and Nuggets' bench did more to keep the score. That series' 1-4 was decided in bigger part by minutes of Kyle Anderson, Taurean Prince and Jaylen Nowell than Gobert and Edwards.
Bruce Brown fucked our shit up
I’m definitely eating my words after last year
that was bruce brown who said that
i believe that Bruce Brown found Mike Conley and Anthony Edwards harder to play against than jsut Devin Booker, DeAngelo Russell and Austin Reeves, and Grandpa Lowry and Gabe Vincent
"they" as in one person on the Nuggets and that person didn't even say Rudy was the one who gave them problems lol
The success of Tim Connelly's 2 bigs plan for the Tinberwolves can only work with KAT's buy-in with the Wolves defensive identity AND with KAT's sustained threat as an inside-outside scorer.
Rudy anchors the defense and Ant steers the offense with KAT going inbetween creating a dynamic 1-2 punch on both ends of the court.
Not to forget the supporting cast Connelly placed around the big 3 of Ant/KAT/Rudy to help buoy the defense and offense together through the addition of Mike Conely, Slomo and NAW.
And with how everyone dislike KAT for all the dumb things he does, I believe vets like Rudy and Mike Conely will help suppress his dumb-assery. Elston Turner has also been added to the coaching staff, he is a defensive coach who likes to dress down players involved in defensive breakdowns during the half-time break, and hopefully instill that grit & grind mindset from the Grizzlies, where he previously coached Mike Conely.
So in conclusion, whatever success the Wolves achieve this season, its all because of KAT.
It is really fun to see how KAT and Rudy are defending the pick and roll together, which really shows the defensive strengths of the timberwolves. When both of them switch it’s still a great matchup for the wolves, since an athletic big covers an offensive player either way.
And not even mentioning Jaden
The Elston Turner that was on the Bulls and was there to defend Dominique in the playoffs?
That's him. Chicago Rockers player-coach legend.
2 way KAT.
Well I never...
They can shit on KAT all they want but put Ayton or Ben in this situation and we all know both of them will fold.
you said a whole lot without mentioning jaden mcdaniels, one of the best perimeter defenders in the league and a growing offensive threat.
What are the dumbass things that KAT does? I know he can be prone to offensive fouls but isn’t that generally it?
I think that a lot of people forgot that KAT was considered an elite defensive prospect with big upside on offense when he was coming out of Kentucky, and he spent his Freshman year at Kentucky playing PF next to Willie Cauley-Stein.
It makes sense that he's a better defender at PF next to an elite defensive C given his history.
Many people thought that ultra mobile playmaking, inside scoring, defensive PFs are better suited for him. Ex Prime ibaka, evan mobley, draymond green.
Sure, I doubt there is an available trade that would be beneficial to the Wolves.
But a small sample size 7.3 net rating, while good, isn’t screaming that these two are a great fit destined for playoff success. Especially when this is below the average net rating of several Wolve’s players including Towns.
I mean when those two are playing it is almost always against the other teams starters. When one is off the court the other team is playing their bench. It's somewhat expected.
Somewhat expected for what? What is the expectation here?
There are other high profile combinations that are doing better than this, and many teams best performing lineup combinations are their starters.
The problem is the tax and cap now. This team is not sustainable long term money wise.
Not sure why you’re getting downvotes, that has always been the underlying reason why a trade has been expected.
Very unfortunate timing for Connelly making this move then having the harsher luxury tax restrictions come into effect
OP was talking about the on-court product. There are still people not paying close attention that think KAT-Rudy on court, or either one with Naz, actually works as an on-court product.
All of the trade stuff from national media is also just pure speculation based on known realities of the second apron. No one knows what the orgs plans are.
Without a doubt the front office and ownership are currently devising different strategies based on what our record and seeding is by the trade deadline. But I don’t think any of them are actually talking to national media, other teams, or agents about those strategies at this time.
There’s also the fact that if we do continue like this and Rudy is a DPOY again, and KAT makes All-Star and All-NBA based on his playing, their trade value will increase. Prior to this season, the trade value for both was in the basement. MN will never get back for either of them what they gave up for Rudy, but they’ll get something.
All that can be true: the pairing is working far better than expected, trade value is increasing, OP was talking about just this season, media is speculating etc.
None of that changes the fact that there will be enormous pressure to make moves because of payroll. Gobert, KAT, Naz Reid, Jaden McDaniels and Edwards on a max will all be getting paid next season. For a team that is valued 29th out of 30 that is simply not sustainable, especially when paying Naz Reid replicates some of KAT’s skill set.
Another point: it’s the media’s job to speculate? It’s also your front offices job to talk to other teams and agents to gauge value, which typically reveals something about what their strategies may be. In any case, you are merely speculating about what they may or may not be doing which is hilariously hypocritical.
I mean, the best way to be hypocritical is hilariously so.
That’s not an on-court thing, that’s a front office thing.
OP is saying the national media narrative is that the on-court product doesn’t work.
Which is currently, very clearly not true.
If the team continues to play like this, the Wolves will not be trading KAT or Rudy by the deadline, and the second apron issue will be a thing to deal with after the playoffs.
Most of the smart people in the national media already realize that no matter how well this team plays, it’s not sustainable past this season. They have 4 max contracts on the books, and have to cut somewhere.
And it’s considering KAT not so great start statistically.
If the wolves clinch a high seed they will make a deep playoff run. First time in my life I might actually see them get past the first round.
So what the fuck do they do now next year? They could literally win the title this year and still have to break it up somehow. Trading Kat was the easiest answer.
If they win the title by not making a trade but have to trade KAT after the season, I think all involved will be ok with that. Including the fans.
It makes sense at face value since KAT really plays like a 7ft wing as a faceup big man with 3pt range
After seeing some of these plays and runs, it makes it clear how much we were robbed of when Cousins tore his Achilles on the Pelicans with pre-Lakers AD. That would have been a super fun playoff team to watch with Rondo leading the fast break and feeding them the ball low.
If this is successful, maybe it marks an inflection point in the league. If Cousins-AD was the first 3-ball era big man centric team, then the LeBron-AD Lakers are a candidate for a successful example. Hopefully the T-Wolves make some noise and shake up the strategy metagame a bit.
I'm collecting apologies all season long.
Two bigs is the new way forward of the NBA with all the shooting bigs. Teams were exploiting your only big by pulling him out by using the opposing big man as the screener and then having good driving and cutting lanes because the rim protection was gone. (Curry cooking Gobert comes to mind, my God that was fun).
Now if you do that you can pull the first big out but the second big just replaces them in the paint. Forces you to finish over rim protection and you can play much more aggressively on the perimeter because if you get beat they have to settle for low value midrange shots or finish over traffic.
Offensively it works if you have one of your bigs able to shoot the 3 because they are just another wing at that poknt