Is McCants primarily to blame for 4th quarter collapses?

[Calinks]

From Pioneer Press:

"You've got to be able to pull the trigger at the end to become a good team. That's the one thing I didn't anticipate [that the timberwolves would not be able to do this season]."

Wittman blamed erratic guard play and singled out second year-year player Rashad McCants. McCants was held to a season-low three points against the Clippers after scoring only six the previous game at Seattle. "We expect more out of Rashad He's capable of giving us more by being more aggressive," Wittman said.

[delux55]

Maybe if Wittman got his head out of his rear end and figured out a normal rotation for this team players would bring more consistency. Mccants makes one mistake on the court and gets pulled right away. Then sits for half the game and he is expected to come back in cold and hit clutch game altering shots.

It doesnt only go for mccants. If we want to see if green is worth anything why not play him more consitently, I mean really does buckner need to play and does brewer have to take up so many minutes at the 2.

Chris Richard has also been part of this no set rotation or set playting minutes. He comes out and has shown he could be a productive part of this team and then will get no minutes the next night.

I mean damn we are a 4 win team late in the first half of the season why not let some guys get comfortable with some consistent playing time.

I blame all of our late blown leads on the person whom derserves it
Coach Wittman. He is the problem.

Dont get me worng not saying we should be a 20 win team but this is getting to ugly to watch. Wittman is destroying the team and alot of the youngsters confidence. Get him out of here. Where is Coach Casey when you need him. Hell get Saltwater Jones in here anyone would be better

[revprodeji]

I think it is more than just the fourth quarter. I think it is the entire game. Shad is a good enough offensive player to be a 16-18ppg guy and sometimes he is just content shooting jumpers. He is at his best when he is coming into the lane. Either to finish or to dish off to a big. He shows this in flashes, but never for a whole game and that has truly hurt us.

[delux55]

He shows in flashes due to his jacked up playing time. Im not saying hes a all star but he is bettert than he has played. He has deserved benchings a couple times but on this team you have to let players play through situations to let them learn and develop. Mccants is defenity a better player when he is playing with confidence something coach Wittmans playing rotation has striped him of

[shrink]

I didn't see the game, but looking at the stats, Jaric did nothing.

He looked really sick when he came back from the flu after losing ten pounds. Does he still look like death?

[Gunny]

No one player should shoulder all of the blame. If the team is losing, it's a collective team burden.

When things go wrong, someone is always ready, whether it's a coach or another player, to point the finger.

[Basti]

I think it is more than just the fourth quarter. I think it is the entire game. Shad is a good enough offensive player to be a 16-18ppg guy and sometimes he is just content shooting jumpers. He is at his best when he is coming into the lane. Either to finish or to dish off to a big. He shows this in flashes, but never for a whole game and that has truly hurt us.

I agree with you that shad is really playing somewhat inconsistent but as delux said it if you don't get consistant minutes you're going to have a hard time finding your rythm.

I fully agree with delux, the biggest problem is Wittman. I'm not saying Casey would be the solution, hell no. he also sucked at closing out games but Casey > Witt. nonetheless I'd rather have a coach that knows how to adjust your game when you have to.

and I hate it that Wittman is critisizing Rashad in public. if you have to blame someone than do in behind close doors - not in public. that's killing confidence. stupid move by Wittman. get rid of him ASAP

[Devilzsidewalk]

McCants should definitely get 30 mpg guaranteed unless foul trouble. We need him and Foye to be the primary perimeter scoring options and Foye is gone, so we really really need McCants. Live and die with McCants. 30 mpg+ every game, no matter what.

[4ho5ive]

Singling out Shaddy is a terrible move, why would you point out one player, who isnt getting consistent minutes, for something that the entire team should feel a burden for. Jaric has been just ugly the last few games, Brewer is shooting in the low 30 percentile (and i know thats totally his fault but as delux said Brewer shouldnt be eating up all the minutes at the 2) It just feels like Whitman has given up on Rashad somewhat and this only solidifies that.

[Basti]

McCants should definitely get 30 mpg guaranteed unless foul trouble. We need him and Foye to be the primary perimeter scoring options and Foye is gone, so we really really need McCants. Live and die with McCants. 30 mpg+ every game, no matter what.

devilz for wolves coach!!!

[Calinks]

McCants has been playing himself out of games with his foul trouble. He needs to stop making stupid fouls.

[Calinks]

You know fellas, honestly, I think Wittman doesn't liek Rashad. I don't know if it is because of something McCants has done or what but I get the vibe that he doesn't like him.

I've felt that way ever since he took over. I don't really expect to see Rashad around too much longer if Wittman stays in place. I think that the first opportunity he gets, he will ship Rashad out of here.

[horaceworthy]

I mean damn we are a 4 win team late in the first half of the season why not let some guys get comfortable with some consistent playing time.

I blame all of our late blown leads on the person whom derserves it
Coach Wittman. He is the problem.

Dont get me worng not saying we should be a 20 win team but this is getting to ugly to watch. Wittman is destroying the team and alot of the youngsters confidence. Get him out of here. Where is Coach Casey when you need him. Hell get Saltwater Jones in here anyone would be better

Maybe it's just me, but if we're a 4 win team, I don't want anybody out there comfortable with any aspect of that. I agree with Devilz that McCants should be getting 30 minutes a night, but if one actually tries to understand what Wittman said, he isn't blaming Rashad. He said he expects more from him than 3 points, 2 boards, 6 fouls and 2 turnovers on 20% shooting. I should hope that we all expect more from him, because if we don't, then we've given up on him completely.

On the radio today, Wittman said he expects McCants to be more aggressive, that he feels that he brings a needed aspect of attacking and creating to the team, but he's become too content lately to settle for jumpers. In the same article where these quotes come from, Wittman talks about needing someone to close out games, then immediately talks about expecting more from Rashad. From the framework of the article (here it is http://www.twincities.com/timberwolves/ ... ck_check=1 ), it seems like Witt expects McCants to be that guy, but he's not going to hand it to him if he's going to settle for perimeter jumpers and not attack. Wittman shouldn't be jerking the minutes around so much, but Rashad should hopefully gain some more aggression, consistency, and learn to play defense without fouling (he did a nice job on Roy in the 1st half yesterday, better than Corey did), and make it so that he's playing well enough Wittman doesn't have a chance to jerk his minutes around.

Wittman deserves a good amount of the blame for the team blowing leads, but that was a huge problem when Casey was here, too. We suck because we suck. Our players aren't as good as those of the other teams, we have a couple injuries, we're young and inexperienced. Wittman is a problem, but he's far, far from the only one.

[TheAlmightyOne21]

I'm sick of Rashad this year. I was furious when he was out for pretty much the whole season last year and this year I expected him to breakout. Now I really don't have any high expectations for him. I used to think he could be an 18 ppg scorer or perhaps higher in this league, now he looks like nothing better than a 6th man on an ok to crappy team. He might be the cockiest player in the league and he hasn't done anything at all. Case in point, last night the Blazers turned it right back over after he made a bad pass, he picked up the ball and dunked it. He then proceeded to pop his jersey and talk and then threw the ball over the ref in the stands to show off and was called for a delay of the game. Last night he was also running his mouth at Brandon Roy continually. God how I wish we kept Roy, but at the time I thought it would be ok getting Foye because our off-guard spot was filled with McCants.

Rashad had a good first two weeks to start the year, ever since then he's been complete trash. He's a turnover machine and a chucker. He needs to step up and be a goddamm leader on this team, instead of going for his own stats and showing up the other team.

[wolves_fan_82au]

Mccants has alwas been like that though dont u remember hes dunk on camby?

i also think hes turnovers have been bad he used too get around a game but he cut it in half and hes fouls are down from earlier in the season

but i agree with wittman Mccants needs too get too the line more and not settle for stupid jumpers all the time

[deeney0]

Any interest at trying some Shad at point for extended periods of time? During the 5 minutes or so in the GS game, it worked well. Some Shad-Brewer-Gomes at 1-2-3 would allow either Shad or Corey to guard the opposing team's PG. Could blow up in our face, but at 4-27, why not give it a shot?

[dunkonu21]

I think most of you are taking this wrong...Wittman seems to be challenging McCants right now...The reason he sits is because he doesn't play defense, same with Green...When players have bad habits, the only way to get rid of them is to not play them til they fix it...IMO Wittman is setting the standard with playing Gomes and Brewer a lot of minutes...Both of those two are hustlers, smart, defensive-minded...now no one should expect McCants to become a defensive-minded player, but he should be able to play defense good enough to make him a valuable player when his shot isn't falling...at this point when his shots aren't falling, he isn't even worth having out there...McCants' offensive prowess is not going anywhere as demonstrated by his still amazing repertoire even after a whole season out...I just wish Wittman would hold up to this standard with Craig Smith (but sadly we are to shallow at the position)...

Many people said McCants was their favorite player because of his attitude, now they hate it...Well you can't have it both ways, McCants attitude is what makes me so excited about him...He needs to learn the basics, and granted it is taking more time than any of us expected, once he learns the basics I expect him to be a ++ player

[theGreatRC]

I think most of you are taking this wrong...Wittman seems to be challenging McCants right now...The reason he sits is because he doesn't play defense, same with Green...When players have bad habits, the only way to get rid of them is to not play them til they fix it...IMO Wittman is setting the standard with playing Gomes and Brewer a lot of minutes...Both of those two are hustlers, smart, defensive-minded...now no one should expect McCants to become a defensive-minded player, but he should be able to play defense good enough to make him a valuable player when his shot isn't falling...at this point when his shots aren't falling, he isn't even worth having out there...McCants' offensive prowess is not going anywhere as demonstrated by his still amazing repertoire even after a whole season out...I just wish Wittman would hold up to this standard with Craig Smith (but sadly we are to shallow at the position)...

Many people said McCants was their favorite player because of his attitude, now they hate it...Well you can't have it both ways, McCants attitude is what makes me so excited about him...He needs to learn the basics, and granted it is taking more time than any of us expected, once he learns the basics I expect him to be a ++ player

Yes. Yes. YES. I agree with this. I love McCants' attitude, it is the same cocky and trash talking spirit that I secretly love to see out of players, I loved it when KG used to get so pumped up and do some crazy ****, McCants is like the echo of KG in terms of intensity, but not passion.

[Cy32]

McCants should definitely get 30 mpg guaranteed unless foul trouble. We need him and Foye to be the primary perimeter scoring options and Foye is gone, so we really really need McCants. Live and die with McCants. 30 mpg+ every game, no matter what.

No player should get a specified amount of playing time, no matter what especially young players as most of them think they are better prepared for the NBA than they are anyway. If you can't earn minutes players shouldn't be playing.

The NBA has been ruined by most of the teams thinking they have to go young all at once putting better players to pasture when they can play better than the young players they are being asked to teach how to play....that's the coaches job or at least it should be.

[big3_8_19_21]

We don't HAVE better, older players. That's the "beauty" of this roster.

Also...what happened to McCants' post-up game? Remember when he had one?