The “we’re gonna turn it on during the playoffs” shit made me so mad. Can’t act like that as if you’re the 2019 Warriors. Totally unearned laziness.

Exactly. OKC and SAS coming into the playoffs scorching hot was no coincidence, it was the result.

Andrew Schlect from the Athletic years ago came out with a stat that showed early season success is the biggest key to future success in the season and the playoffs. Even if you go on a slump, having a reference point of how to play is always so crucial.

Yep. As talented as they are, they still can’t seem to get past some of the knucklehead stuff.

In the past, it was KAT picking up fouls 90 feet from the hoop for no reason. But last night McDaniels got in on the act and was committing completely pointless fouls. Or like when Ant randomly pushed Wemby on that fast break dunk. Ant shouldn’t have let someone get behind him, but once the guy is in the process of dunking, you don’t do something stupid like push him just to give him another free point. They just make unforced errors all over the place.

Minnesota needs a leader like Dame - someone who will say to the guys “we don’t do that bullshit here. On this team, we execute and do our jobs perfectly and if you can’t get on board with that, go ask for a trade.”

That’s why I hate the narrative that the regular season doesn’t matter.

There is also probably something with Health Luck in there. As in, healthy teams have: good regular seasons, high seeds, and successful playoff runs.

Taking the regular season really seriously (training, sleep, diet, etc.) also probably lines up with Health Luck though.

damn that’s a crazy stat

Yeah they took a 73 win team that had already won a ring and added a top 15 player, it was easily the best team in league history

Bad defender is crazy

He did get lazy at times just paying attention on D. Had some injuries so might give him a pass. Just think he’s too streaky to be elite. There are too many times when you flat out know the ball is going in or out.

He’s not a bad defender he’s solid . Kyrie does not want to go live in Minnesota people never factor that in only way they want to stay is if they get traded .

Using Kyrie as an example of effort and team chemistry is pretty funny. He is amazingly talented and can help a team win games, but this is not the example for him.

Giannis either, he is a prima dona, doesn’t even sit with the team at timeouts sometimes, apparently shows up late to things, and does whatever he want, isn’t very good witout the ball in his hands, cant shoot.

Wolves are good, but they are not great, they are basically where they should be. Spurs have a bunch of very athletic great defenders, same with OKC, that is the difference. They have better teams and better superstars. “It is what it is”

Pre-Mavs Kyrie is not the same as Post-Mavs Kyrie….but we’ve yet to see how he’ll be if the team is not a contender, so he might revert back to his old ways.

Hard to be hungry when the fridge is full.

That seems so much worse… Ant is supposed to be THE guy, he’s supposed to be the one setting the tone for everyone. He can’t be so reliant on his 2nd or 3rd option to emotionally carry him each game.

Rudy is high effort, but can also be real mercurial when he doesn’t feel involved and/or has to cover for teammates’ lack of defensive effort. Which is understandable, but also moody

I think Ant would benefit tremendously from being in an org like OKC or SA, being surrounded by players who are 100% bought in.

Then again you could probably say the same about every player. I just hate to see him not being able to get to the next level.

Yeah timberwolves fans won’t admit it but he’s just not a top 3-5 player you can build a team around and expect to sleepwalk into a 1-2 seed. I’m not saying he can’t win a title as a number one option but he’s just not good enough to win without a really solid team around him like the Jokic or Giannis early 2020s teams

Agreed, and I don’t like the fanbase’s focus on keeping Ant’s friends together instead of trying to win chips. I’m sure he’d like playing with his friends for years to come, but if push comes to shove and we retool heavily I’m sure he’d like playing for an actual contender too, so it balances out IMO.

Ant may not like how it is shaken up but we need more professionals on the roster

I don’t think the Wolves are at this point but it’s inching towards being similar to the Parise/Suter years for the Wild. They know they’re going to make the playoffs every season and the coaching staff just lets the stars control everything, which creates very bad habits.

I don’t love the idea of getting rid of Ant’s besties on the roster but the reality might just be that this group isn’t the right combination of players.

Absolutely, there’s a balance. I don’t think/expect/want us to go 82-0 treating all games like the NBA finals game 7, but on the other hand you can’t look at the losses we’ve had vs the Suns, Kings and Clippers and think those are acceptable in any way.

It begs the question: Why does this team need a WWE storyline to give a shit?

which is too bad bc I know he really did try and work on it… and other times he clearly gave up and mocked the crowd (the thumbs-down was funny I admit)

Good dude but he has never fixed that terrible body language.

A lot of players can have a bad scoring night and help the team in other ways, with defense, rebounding, passing, etc. things that minimize damage. Randle, on the other hand, has a bad scoring night and it’s everyone’s fucking problem too. Drags down the whole team with him

He has a loser mentality, much like Brandon Ingram.

Wait, the Knicks were right?

McDaniels moodiness hurts because then he starts trying too hard and gets in foul trouble (kat was kinda similar for a lot of years). Randle just checks out and lets guys get uncontested offensive rebounds.

When he’s frustrated, usually you get a random tech for delay of game, or some stupid foul.

It’s not great, and also is something the staff probably should have worked on.

Mcdaniels is representative of the team, the good and the bad. They need some more veteran presence, conley isnt enough.

That’s a good point. He’s still out there trying. I originally thought McDaniels too but i think you’re right

Even when he’s frustrated you at least get hustle from McDaniels.

True, but you also get very, very stupid fouls

Maybe they just got outplayed by a healthier and better rostered team…

they go crazy and all outt for the Nuggets lol

Rudy has literally thrown games to prove a point.  Like the one possession game where he intentionally took a 3 second violation when the team wouldn’t pass him the ball.

The GM too. Not all good players can be leaders. Kawhi was successful in San Antonio and Toronto because he didn’t have to be the leader. Then the Clippers expected him to lead and it was a failure.

Tilts me.

You’re sorely mistaken lol. I actually hope he coaches the Wolves forever

Why? Because I like to watch the T wolves play but I hate the whiny stuff. That shit trickles down as Finch is whiny and blames refs and other things except for himself. That shit trickles down. You have a no excuses coach, guess what you can pass that down to your players. Just like one game he bitched about the fouls in a loss. Nah motherfucker, your team missed clutch free throws and had some dumb turnovers. They fix those problem they boat race majority of the schedule and Minnesota would be talked about in the same breath as OKC and Minnesota. This is what Naz is talking about.

Ant has to get better at getting his teammates good looks this offseason. The only thing really missing from his game

OKC fan posted this with the eyes rolled into the back of their head, can’t wait to see that team get decimated by the Spurs

Yeah I don’t get why people are lumping Rudy in with this. Sure he can be a bit moody but I can think of like twenty games at least since he’s joined the Wolves where they’ve come out flat and disinterested against a bad team and Rudy is the one guy who’s giving 100% to drag them over the line.

Slomo seems like a good teammate as well

Yeah Naz and Jaden are besties. They’re both pretty emotional but this is clearly calling out the dude who completely quit on his team once he learned he was being shopped at the trade deadline.