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ORIGINAL: Phil Riewer

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ORIGINAL: twinsfan

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ORIGINAL: wrh

I certainly don't have inside information, but I consider it a credit to Finch and the Team Management/structure that both Naz and McDaniels accepted "reasonable" deals, likely less than they could have held out for or gotten on the market to stay here. Its a good sign!

I thought it was 95% certain Naz was leaving.

Have a Link? [&:]

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ORIGINAL: twinsfan

quote:

ORIGINAL: wrh

I certainly don't have inside information, but I consider it a credit to Finch and the Team Management/structure that both Naz and McDaniels accepted "reasonable" deals, likely less than they could have held out for or gotten on the market to stay here. Its a good sign!

I thought it was 95% certain Naz was leaving.

quote:

ORIGINAL: David Levine

This is looking like last year.

No ball movement. Getting beat to every loose ball.

Ant started out hot and then developed tunnel vision.

Too many plays trying to force Rudy the ball.

Nothing off the bench.

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ORIGINAL: TJSweens

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ORIGINAL: David Levine

This is looking like last year.

No ball movement. Getting beat to every loose ball.

Ant started out hot and then developed tunnel vision.

Too many plays trying to force Rudy the ball.

Nothing off the bench.

They fell into that trap early last year. The Wolves tried to make Rudy into something that he isn't. There is no reason to run plays for Rudy.

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ORIGINAL: Karl Juhnke

79 points at halftime. I guess the offense fixed for two quarters anyway. They scorched Atlanta.

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ORIGINAL: Karl Juhnke

Overlooked a bit in the first two games because the offense was a bit ugly. But the defense kept them in both games. And without McDaniel. That is a very good sign. True, Toronto found a weakness in transition defense and exploited it. But even with that flaw they held the Raptors under 100 and only lost by 3 in a game which the offense was putrid.

So, get the offense straightened out by all means, but in the meantime the defense will keep them in games they have no business being in.

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ORIGINAL: David Levine

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ORIGINAL: Karl Juhnke

Overlooked a bit in the first two games because the offense was a bit ugly. But the defense kept them in both games. And without McDaniel. That is a very good sign. True, Toronto found a weakness in transition defense and exploited it. But even with that flaw they held the Raptors under 100 and only lost by 3 in a game which the offense was putrid.

So, get the offense straightened out by all means, but in the meantime the defense will keep them in games they have no business being in.

Helps that we played an awful offense in Toronto and the Heat without Butler.

We're getting exposed now.

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ORIGINAL: JT2

And to contradict my previous post, Conley was fantastic.

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ORIGINAL: Matt Lang

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ORIGINAL: JT2
And to contradict my previous post, Conley was fantastic.

Apparently he was sick with food poisoning last game

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ORIGINAL: JT2

This one should be a good confidence builder. Beat the champs handily, with a true team effort. We kept Jokic off the stripe. Clogged the passing lanes.

Sometimes we look so bad. Sometimes we show promise. Good win.

And to contradict my previous post, Conley was fantastic.

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ORIGINAL: Karl Juhnke

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ORIGINAL: JT2

This one should be a good confidence builder. Beat the champs handily, with a true team effort. We kept Jokic off the stripe. Clogged the passing lanes.

Sometimes we look so bad. Sometimes we show promise. Good win.

And to contradict my previous post, Conley was fantastic.

Conley can be good for this team in a limited way. He adds veteran leadership. Physically I think he can be as good as ever with limited minutes. Only problem is, ideally you would then need another viable point guard option to share those minutes. The wolves don’t have that. So Conley will be forced to carry more of the load than he should at this stage of his career.

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ORIGINAL: Karl Juhnke

I just read an explanation of the in-season tournament. It makes more sense to me now…not that I think it’s good or bad. Time will decide that.

Here’s a summary. Saves you the trouble if you don’t know. Just skip it if you do:

There are two stages. Group play and knockout round. Each conference is divided into 3 groups of 5. In group play they will each play each other once. Each team gets two home and two away.

The winner of each group along with one wild card from each conference will advance to the knockout rounds. The semi finals and championship are played in Las Vegas.

The games count as part of the 82 game season for stats and standings. Except the championship which stands alone as an 83rd game. Teams not making the knockout round will get two additional games added to their schedule (though the article didn’t say how or when). Presumably losers in the first round of elimination will get one game added.

The winner will be awarded an NBA Cup. The tournament has no bearing on post season, other than how the games affect the standings.

So that’s it you may ask? Why should players care? That was my main question. The answer is money. There is a sizable prize pool. From $50,000 each to players on teams eliminated in quarterfinals, up to $500,000 each for winning the championship. Coaches earn the same amounts too. That’s pretty good money especially for players on minimum contracts.

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ORIGINAL: JT2

quote:

ORIGINAL: Karl Juhnke

I just read an explanation of the in-season tournament. It makes more sense to me now…not that I think it’s good or bad. Time will decide that.

Here’s a summary. Saves you the trouble if you don’t know. Just skip it if you do:

There are two stages. Group play and knockout round. Each conference is divided into 3 groups of 5. In group play they will each play each other once. Each team gets two home and two away.

The winner of each group along with one wild card from each conference will advance to the knockout rounds. The semi finals and championship are played in Las Vegas.

The games count as part of the 82 game season for stats and standings. Except the championship which stands alone as an 83rd game. Teams not making the knockout round will get two additional games added to their schedule (though the article didn’t say how or when). Presumably losers in the first round of elimination will get one game added.

The winner will be awarded an NBA Cup. The tournament has no bearing on post season, other than how the games affect the standings.

So that’s it you may ask? Why should players care? That was my main question. The answer is money. There is a sizable prize pool. From $50,000 each to players on teams eliminated in quarterfinals, up to $500,000 each for winning the championship. Coaches earn the same amounts too. That’s pretty good money especially for players on minimum contracts.

Hopefully, if they continue with this, they will tweak some things. I wouldn't at all be opposed to the winner of the in-season tournament getting the #2 to #5 pick in the draft.

I'm still not clear what the NBA's motivation was to do this, but I guess we will probably see fewer players sitting out for rest/recovery/conditioning/illness.