Wolves 2022-23' Preseason Thread

[Hawkeye15]

Nowell is a tough player. When he is on offensively you leave him out and let him play. If he is off you sit him. He reminds me a lot of Shabazz that we had. He's definitely more like an 8th man spot scorer then he is a long term starter.

NAW has really seemed to be a keeper. I think he can be our 6th man going forward. He just needs to get more confident in his skill set. He is definitely starting to show his worth though.

I don't think we have any reason to re-sign Nowell. None. Guys who can score 13 a night on meh efficiency and guard nobody are easy to come by.

[Hawkeye15]

The problem is he seems to forget when is a good time vs bad time to drive. I still think a lot of his plays are pretty predictable. He tends to over dribble when he is going to shoot, specifically from 3 point range. His play making needs to take the next step in order to become a better player. He just seems to lack the ability to pass accurately to bigs and turns it over too often. Once he learns that and continues to develop his shot we will see him laucnch into all star and MVP considerations.

Agreed, and I hope so man. Ant hasn't improved even slightly in advanced metrics this year. There are 2 very easy fixes, but will he figure them out? Get to the line a LOT more, and stop throwing 2-3 ridiculously stupid passes a game that are auto-turnovers.

At the end of the day, he is 21 haha. Even incremental improvement means he is a perennial all star during his prime.

[Hawkeye15]

in case we need any proof that Jaden is a 1st team all NBA defender:

Matching Difficulty (output of individual he matches up with each minute): 100th percentile
Ball Screen Recognition: 99th percentile
Adjusted Rim Points scored: 99th percentile
Rim eFG% vs expected: 94th percentile
Position guarded dispersion: 100th percentile
Weak side rim points vs expected: 98th percentile

So he guards the other teams best player, regardless of position (Gobert usually handles Centers, but even there Jaden guards them 9.8% of the time). He predicts going over/under on screens better than anyone. He challenges shots at the rim better than Ben Wallace did. He covers mistakes from the weakside.

Jaden McDaniels is the best individual defender in the league. At age 22. Watching him defend is seriously a treat. I know most of you guys know this, but really tune into him on the defensive end. While I wouldn't be shocked if he is denied an all NBA selection this year, I would be shocked if he doesn't land on the all defensive teams for a number of years.

[Hawkeye15]

Few key things need to happen for next season:

1. Conley is fine, he really is. But we need a long term solution at PG, who can distribute off the PnR, hit open jumpers, and defend at least above average.

2. Ant needs to figure out how to get to the line more, and continue rebounding at a higher clip. If he can become a 27-7-5 player on above average efficiency by next year, he is on his way.

3. Jaden badly needs to become a consistent corner 3 shooter. He shoots nearly 40%, but it always comes by being super hot, or can't hit ****. He needs to land in that 41-42% and be consistent.

4. Sign 2 shooters who can consistently make 3s


Until Ant becomes more efficient, Jaden becomes more consistent offensively, and we sign a couple of shooters, our offense, even with KAT, is just not good. Defensively, the team we have had the last 45 days would be a top 8 defense, but we introduce KAT back soon, and he will drop it without a doubt. Hopefully he also ticks the offense up, even though the 21 games we saw with him earlier this season were a nightmare on both ends...

[Hawkeye15]

Worst loss I can remember against Portland. For my own mental health, I am checking out the rest of this season.

I am not sure how much longer I can take KAT on the team. Starting to build towards Wiggins levels, and while KAT is obviously a better player, he clearly isn't the guy we are going to be paying him to be, and if we don't trade him, we are missing the best opportunity in our history to retool the team into a real winner with a single move.

Goodnight for the next 5 months everyone....since we have no pick and no money for FA, no point in checking in this summer.

[Oefarmy2005]

I was away for the last 10 games or so because I was so tired of the rollercoaster drama. But, WTMF? Jaden breaks his hand punching a wall after picking up a FOUL and Gobert punches Anderson because he for some reason decided it was ok to tell Gobert "Shut the ****** up, b**ch." And ANT is around all of that nonsense. This team is as self-destructive as ever and this was all where they at least got the better of the play-in seeds where you are at least guaranteed 2 games.

[Hawkeye15]

I was away for the last 10 games or so because I was so tired of the rollercoaster drama. But, WTMF? Jaden breaks his hand punching a wall after picking up a FOUL and Gobert punches Anderson because he for some reason decided it was ok to tell Gobert "Shut the ****** up, b**ch." And ANT is around all of that nonsense. This team is as self-destructive as ever and this was all where they at least got the better of the play-in seeds where you are at least guaranteed 2 games.

why would you even want this team to win and move onto Memphis? **** that, let them lose out and we can be done with this season already...

[Hawkeye15]

KAT has to go. We need to trade him sooner rather than later, when his massive deal limits options.

He just doesn't fit, and doesn't show up in the playoffs at all. 3 series in, and he is laughably bad the majority of the time.

This is Ant's team, we need to stop treating it like anything but that.