Identity crisis?

[KGdaBom]

Do MIN have problems with opponent big scoring wings such as DDR, KD?

Every team has trouble with KD. Who is DDR? Sounds like Deutch Democratic Republic.

Take a few seconds to think about whose initials it could be...Demar DeRozan.

Anywho good catch Klomp. When I was 40 I probably would have caught it too, but my 65 year old brain doesn't have the same instant recall.

[winforlose]

Every team has trouble with KD. Who is DDR? Sounds like Deutch Democratic Republic.

Take a few seconds to think about whose initials it could be...Demar DeRozan.

Anywho good catch Klomp. When I was 40 I probably would have caught it too, but my 65 year old brain doesn't have the same instant recall.

DDR is the common abbreviation on RealGM. If you don’t spend a lot of time on the trade or general boards you could easily miss it. It really isn’t big deal.

[KGdaBom]

Take a few seconds to think about whose initials it could be...Demar DeRozan.

Anywho good catch Klomp. When I was 40 I probably would have caught it too, but my 65 year old brain doesn't have the same instant recall.

DDR is the common abbreviation on RealGM. If you don’t spend a lot of time on the trade or general boards you could easily miss it. It really isn’t big deal.

You gave me some +1s. Are you a fan of the Movie Gotcha?
Great movie starring Anthony Edwards Goose of Top Gun fame and Linda Fiorentino of Men in Black and Vision quest.

[winforlose]

Anywho good catch Klomp. When I was 40 I probably would have caught it too, but my 65 year old brain doesn't have the same instant recall.

DDR is the common abbreviation on RealGM. If you don’t spend a lot of time on the trade or general boards you could easily miss it. It really isn’t big deal.

You gave me some +1s. Are you a fan of the Movie Gotcha?
Great movie starring Anthony Edwards Goose of Top Gun fame and Linda Fiorentino of Men in Black and Vision quest.

I have been where you were. Not grasping an abbreviation that others get instinctively. The and 1s were in support of you.

[shrink]

From now on, I am going to try to remember to refer to DeRozan as “Dance Dance Revolution”

[shrink]

Britt made the point earlier this week, that Finch has been able to use this season to experiment with lots of defenses, which will only help us on the playoffs. HOU tried to go smallball against us, and this time, we were like, “oh yeah? We can stop that too.”

And winforlose is correct, that our defensive plan is to take away three pointers, and if a player dribbles past them, we have Gobert inside waiting for them. No individual defense can stop every shot, but mid-rangers are analytically the worst shots to take. Not only are teams limited by only a handful of players that can make that shot enough for it to payoff, but those players would have to make it payoff for an entire 7-game series. And of course, we have defensive athletes that can counter if we are forced to.

I have a lot of confidence in the team, and from the defense we’ve seen so far, they deserve that confidence.

[minimus]

If this series ends today, I will take this as a good run. Lets assume that this iteration is completed. The biggest question is how we improve further.

We have a core of young players:
Edwards - two way superstar
Reid - offensive minded scoring big
McDaniels - defensive star who has not fulfilled his offensive potential yet
NAW - true 3&D

We have veterans:
Gobert - reigning DPOY
Conley - battle tested, hyper efficient but declining PG
Anderson - swiss knife
Morris - solid, experienced backup PG who has been able to stay healthy

We have promising development prospects:
Minott - athletic comboforward
Miller - high motor comboforward with developing 3pt shot
Garza - scoring big without defense
Clarke - excellent defender in students, no offensive game

This current group is #1 defense in regular season. They can defend smallball, they can defend every type of offense, except one man - Jokic. But offensively they are average at best. One of very concerning stories this season has been McDaniels 3pt inconsistent shooting. With Gobert and McDaniels on the floor our opponents can comfortably double team Towns and Edwards in every possesion. In such situations Anderson is the third non shooter in rotation which makes him a liablility. To run weird twin tower lineups we need almost perfect execution, otherwise we have a ton of turnovers, fouls etc. We get almost no rim pressure from PG slot, we get almost no rim pressure from McDaniels (although I like how Jaden crashed boards in offense and using his athleticism to get to the rim). Can I say that our offense is kind of designed to be that clumsy?

How we can improve this?

I can see here three paths:

First way is to improve on margins and run it back: our management uses internal resources such as optimised offensive schemes, draft picks, plus FAs (vetmin) to get role players. I would not expect that Towns will improve as player, but I certainly think that he can improve as decision maker playing in the same system for three years. He is kind of slow to learn things, but here are some examples how he can elevate his teammates with his passing and providing spacing. Such development would fill two biggest holes in our offense: a movement shooter and connective hub.

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In this case we keep our identity around defensive presence of Gobert, try to finetune existing scheme, hoping that Reid, McDaniels and Edwards continue to grow organically.

Second path is to trade Towns and try to find replacement that allows soft rebuild in next couple seasons. Considering Towns contract it is not an easy task, even technically MIN will limited by new CBA. But the biggest question is that new acquired pieces must be an ideal missing piece. I think that Connelly has done that before by bringing Aaron Gordon to compliment Jokic. Jokic and Gordon is an ideal fit, blend of skills, experience and physical tools. If our management decides that Gobert-Towns is not such combo, or Towns-Edwards is not such combo, then I wonder what player makes sense? I dont see such player on market, but if I have to name one, then it would be Deni Avdija: high IQ, devensive minded comboforward with passing skills. At some degree Jalen Johnson can be this type of player. Another architype of player is a movement shooter who might solve our offensive issues by creating perimeter gravity and using all screens that Gobert can set.

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Watch video above, someone can say that it was Ant fault, but I remember that even Conley had troubles with finding Rudy with right pocket pass. I truly believe that Towns and McDaniels are much better options because they can pass over defense.

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Watch first possession above as example. Towns, Rudy and McDaniels showed that level of passing. And second possession is an excellent kickout McDaniels pass to Towns. And at the same time a big movement shooter can help immensely here, because unlike small Conley or slasher Edwards he can take an open shot that Rudy creates with his screens. And if same big movement shooter can also pass over offence to Rudy it can open up many opportunities in offense.

I think if we trade Towns wу should get player who is not necessary a better player, but should absolutely be a better fit. It means with such player Edwards can elevate his game and whole team. Right now we see that in this playoff series DEN are able to stop either Edwards or Towns and completely destroy team offense rhythm

Finally, there is a unrealistic scenario, where we trade Towns just to get a high level scorer like DeMar DeRozan (UFA). In this scenario we hope that a high level scorer shares scoring load with Edwards and makes the need of elite decision maker not so dramatic.

P.S. I also think that we should be prepared to see Conley missing games because of injuries or having bad nights when opponents plays more physical, bigger guys against him. Before playoffs I was sure that Morris can be an answer to our backup PG problems. But we still need to find a young PG prospect.

[minimus]

If this series ends today, I will take this as a good run. Lets assume that this iteration is completed. The biggest question is how we improve further

I would add that MIN belong to top4 teams in NBA. That a big success. Some thoughts about further improvements:

1) I wonder if balance is the most important thing when no big injuries happens in playoffs. I mean DAL are balanced on the floor:

- Gafford/Lively/Kleber. Gafford rim runner/physical big, banger in paint, Lively mobile big, rim protector, rim runner, Kleber stretch 5
- Luka big playmaker, scorer
- Irving off ball scorer, secondary playmaker
- Hardaway - shooter
- PJ Washington - stretch 4, versatile defender
- Green - 3&D
- Jones Jr. - 3&D, rim runner
- Hardy - 3rd playmaker

salary-wise:

- Gafford/Lively/Kleber. Gafford 12mil, Lively on rookie deal 5mil, Kleber 11 mil. They make less Towns
- Luka on baby (???) max 40 mil. Same as Gobert "old"max
- Irving max (???) 37mil
- Hardawy 17 mil
- PJ Washington 17 mil
- Green on rookie deal 5mil
- Jones Jr. on min
- Hardy on rookie deal 2mil

Meanwhile MIN roster is unbalanced, lacks elite shooter and secondary ball handler.

2) Kyle Anderson solid play in DAL series makes me wonder if this prototype of comboforward might be a possible replacement for Towns at PF. Someone who can: defend position, pass and shoot at league average

3) I think it is obvious that we cant go further with Conley as main option at PG. Connelly must find either solid backup or/and long term prospect at PG. Conley injuries might be even more a problem in future, and this risk must be mitigated, because he simply wont be available all games. NAW is not an answer as backup PG

4) Conley is being targeted by DAL in defense. Nothing to do here, since Mike is always given 100% effort. However, if we can get a big playmaker here, it will solidify team defense even more. Can guys like Nembhard, Caruso, Suggs help?

5) If we have to break Gobert/Towns bromance, the positive thing is that we can try to different development paths:

- replace Gobert with cheaper, younger version: rim protector/rim runner - maybe Sarr?
- replace Gobert with cheaper player: versatile defender/passer/non shooter big - Draymond Green type
- replace Towns with stretch four - Kevin Love type
- replace Towns with scorer - DDR type?

Overall, I think what makes the situation difficult is that MIN already are top-4 this season and you need to improve without losing depth, identity. However, I can see us losing some talent to create better fit, I also can see rookies, young players succeed in right environment: see Lively, Nembhard examples.

[minimus]

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I find interesting here two things. First, playmaking from KA, who was making all right reads to create passing lane. Second, Towns acting as movement shooter, filling empty corner.

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Here KA is playing fake five-out big role.

These are little things, but without these little things our offense wont be able to get 100% from our personnel. Also I can see how a true movement shooter can make difference. Reid has shared load as movement shooter, Towns has had these moment in last game, but what if we get someone who can play 100% of time moving off the ball and shoot open threes?

P.S. Watching KA playing five-out big role, I have a question: is there any chance that MIN can keep same defensive minded identity by asking KA to play full time fiveout big in offense, keeping Towns at PF and in defense playing more switching and less drop? I mean if we trade Gobert, getting a young rim protector AND future starting PG. Keep KA away from SF slot.

Towns/rim protector/Reid
KA/Reid/Miller
MCD/Minott/???
Edwards/NAW/Clark
Conley/Morris/future PG prospect

[Worm Guts]

I think it would be kind of tough to trade Gobert. As a 32 year old making 40+ million a year, where is he going to be more valuable than here?
It would also mean we need to find a significant rim protector if we don't want to change our identity. Not necessarily impossible, but difficult.

[Klomp]

I think it would be kind of tough to trade Gobert. As a 32 year old making 40+ million a year, where is he going to be more valuable than here?

I think there's only one place where he could be valued to a level where it would make sense to do the trade: In Atlanta with Quin

[Klomp]

These are little things, but without these little things our offense wont be able to get 100% from our personnel. Also I can see how a true movement shooter can make difference. Reid has shared load as movement shooter, Towns has had these moment in last game, but what if we get someone who can play 100% of time moving off the ball and shoot open threes?

This is why...if a trade with Atlanta were to happen (talking Towns here probably, not Gobert), instead of the expiring Capela I might actually target Bogdan Bogdanovic (who I believe we had reported deadline interest in)

[Guest84]

Might be time for another rebrand

[minimus]

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While MIN under Finch have showed that they can run a pretty motion offense around Towns-Edwards a-la DEN, I think here lies a system problem. By design the most effective scheme is fiveout around Towns-Edwards. Both would absolutely kill opponent when the court is stretched to maximum, that was something that Rosas tried to implement: three wing sized players + Towns + Edwards. It means a lot of elbow pick-n-rolls, Towns in post, Edwards in post etc. However, it is not possible to implement any kind of elite defense when you ask Towns to anchor such defense, that is why Finch implemented high wall defense. That high wall defense got crashed in playoffs when MEM exploited our weaknesses on boards. TC brought here Gobert who single handily raised our defense to #1.

However, motion offense, for instance, elbow pick-n-roll is not efficient when Gobert is sitting under rim. Finch wants DEN like offense, but it is not possible. Unless you get an elite movement shooter, who can play with Gobert, at some degree it is something that Conley does. This is essential part of our offense, because as we can see, the minute Conley got injured our offense suffers mightily.

[shrink]

This summer, if we can put Mike Conley’s experience maximizing Gobert offensively into Ant, we would take a giant leap forward.

[minimus]

This summer, if we can put Mike Conley’s experience maximizing Gobert offensively into Ant, we would take a giant leap forward.

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From what I understand, Finch sees potential in building Towns+Ant offensive cohesiveness. Rudy centric offense should be more a B option, when option A is not working. I also believe that we are one movement shooter away, to consistently punish opponents when they go under Gobert screen.

[shrink]

This summer, if we can put Mike Conley’s experience maximizing Gobert offensively into Ant, we would take a giant leap forward.

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From what I understand, Finch sees potential in building Towns+Ant offensive cohesiveness. Rudy centric offense should be more a B option, when option A is not working. I also believe that we are one movement shooter away, to consistently punish opponents when they go under Gobert screen.

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