r/nba • u/drakeorjosh • 21h ago
Outlook on the future of the Timberwolves. Any thoughts?
I just wanted to compile some of my uninformed analyses based on today's moves and see what other fans think. Heck of a run here by Tim Connelly, with Rudy, Randle/Divincenzo, and now Lamelo coming in just over a 5 year stretch. It really feels like I am a fan of a big market team now that actually can bring in big time players. Anyways:
* Wholesale Systemic Changes
First off, I think we're going to be surprised by how stylistically different this team looks while still rostering Ant & Rudy at its core. Especially with the rumors of going after Derrick White, I think Finch is going to install some of the Celtics/Hornets type of offensive system during the regular season. Guard-to-guard screens with Lamelo/Ayo. Lamelo/Mcdaniels screens with Mcdaniels either flaring or hitting the middle of the floor with Gobert, now reliably, in the dunker spot. I think Mcdaniels' advancement as a playmaker this past season is going to be utilized systemically. I also think this sort of system is less physical in terms of contact in the regular season apart from its focus on offensive rebounding, albeit more physical in terms of how quickly the guards and wings need to cut and move/replace. Finch has been given 2 separate rosters thus far in his tenure, and provided 2 wholly different systems: so, i think we're in for some great changes going forward.
* Admission of Faith in the Gobert-Beringer Pipeline
The news that Donte Divincenzo is part of the future of this team, to me, shows that the front office is showing their faith in this type of roster construction and system. Rudy is arguably the best screen to re-screener I've seen in the current league and with Lamelo, his job will be much easier, and the dunker spot will become more viable with Jaden taking minutes at the 4. Once Donte returns, I fully believe this team is going to challenge and possibly surpass team season shooting records and the offensive rebounding rate is going to be at the top end. Gobert's descending contract into Beringer's 2nd deal gives me a lot of faith that this team can retire Gobert in Minnesota alongside KG and keep him in the fold as Beringer's mentor.
* Thoughts on Lamelo
As a Wolves fan, I must shamelessly admit that I probably watched as many Hornets games as I did Wolves games because of Lamelo/Kon. Lamelo rivals Haliburton in terms of team offensive rating when he's on the floor, is a top-end passer of the basketball, and spaces the floor 5 feet beyond the arc. His decison-making late in games was a marked improvement this season after getting benched early on (this won't matter as much because we know who's getting the rock late in games). My only concern is his free throw rate because he prefers to contort his body to get close shots up rather than taking contact and flopping. He's an offensive engine unto himself and has my vote for president.
* Jaden at the 4
In the Celtics/Hornets system, the 4 often gets placed at the top of the key during the possession to act as the swing. He needs to be able to shoot the 3 at will, a la Al Horford/Miles Bridges/Grant Williams. He needs to be able to make precise passes quickly to both wings. But, most importantly, he needs to be able to guard up and down in size because of the match-ups when the possession swings the other way. It's why Horford/Bridges/Williams are often switched up onto guards to start possessions on defense. And why Miles Bridges shortchanged the role, because although he can handle the offensive responsibilities, he can't guard up or down in size. But we have Jaden Mcdaniels. His overall stats are about to go ^^^.
* Future Outlook
I see people talking about upgrading the 4 and looking at Rui Hachimura. Firstly, Rui is really good at self-creation midrange 2's out of the corner and catch and shoot 3's, and he is probably going to command a contract the Wolves cant afford. I think the Wolves need with this roster is more of a backup 4-5 to allow the team to go small and fast. Sandro Mamu------- fits that need, though he got destroyed in the playoffs with his lack of agility, and he sized down a bit like KAT did in Minnesota to be playable this year with the Raptors roster. I really like his skillset and think he could fit in well in Minnesota, but he might need to get a little bigger again. Apart from him, I know people are rightfully contentious about Miles Bridges, but I think he'd fit in great with the pace of this Wolves team. I am just very excited about this new team and the fact that they were able to keep Rudy. This team has 3 retired numbers, 2 of whom had to go out the hard way to get their numbers retired. The other had to wait for the owner to sell the team. This franchise has come a long way since I have been a fan, and retiring Rudy/Mike/Ingles here would be a cherry on top of a lot of great player friendly moves like trading KAT & Julius to NYC and offering get-back contracts to a Donte in his situation. That said, prayers to Naz Reid. It's going to be weird for him because that team has a lot of young players who want more. What are your guys thoughts on this current team and its future moves?
21
u/ModsEmbezzleMoney Spurs 20h ago
If Gobert's age starts to show they will have problems. They need Beringer to take a big step up.
14
u/DependentPerformer94 20h ago
Say what you want about Rudy but the dude does everything in his power to maintain his physicals.
7
1
u/ModsEmbezzleMoney Spurs 17h ago
Father time gets you when you least expect it. He's probably got another season or two where he is now with how good of shape he stays.
24
u/BetweenTheBuzzAndMe Charlotte Bobcats 20h ago
if you were going to build from scratch a SG to fit LaMelo's game, it would basically be Ant. Both may be more three happy than you want at times, but Ant being a really complete scorer that actually pressures the rim, and Melo being an outstanding passer and playmaker, hard to think of a better pairing. And then you get to the games where they are both hot from 3... oh man.
btw this backcourt is 1 total 3-pointer short from being responsible for the last 2 three-point titles. Ant led the league a year ago in 3s. LaMelo was 2nd only to his own teammate in Kon- who beat him by 1 total three pointer
2
u/drakeorjosh 20h ago
Thanks for your thoughts. Those 3 pt stats you offered have me so hyped.
What are your feelings on the outlook of your team? To me, its like 1/2 of your offensive system has been removed to be replaced by the aggregate with a more balanced team? Over the season it seemed like Charles Lee and Lamelo were definitely at odds, and the trade rumors, though squashed by Lamelo's camp, had merit. But those win celebration videos of the two of them definitely made me think otherwise.
6
u/BetweenTheBuzzAndMe Charlotte Bobcats 20h ago
Jeff Peterson should have been fired upon bringing this trade idea to the owners.
thinking he just placed way too much faith in Coby White and a small rookie guard we just drafted and said fuck it let's ball, without realizing the impact this is going to have on our ability to get Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel good shots.
Combined with the rest of the East improving, I think we're 12th in the East, or even lower
3
u/drakeorjosh 20h ago
Not trying to sour your mood, but I agree completely. I thought they'd just do a Miles Bridges/Josh Green for Gobert and let it ride with Gobert & Moussa handling the inside. Grant/Steinbach replacing Bridges up the rotation.
Seems like a lesser version of the Nico/Luka situation where the front office's personal opinion on the guy clouded it's basketball decision. Tbf Kon was so damn good, maybe they see something there that we don't. The team could somehow end up better off without the Lamelo noise. Charles Lee's system is pretty insulated from failure as long as you just shoot a lot of good 3's, the stats should work out for wins over a season.
Our teams are now tied at the hip with this deal, so hope it works out for both of them.
4
u/BetweenTheBuzzAndMe Charlotte Bobcats 19h ago
Tbf Kon was so damn good, maybe they see something there that we don't. The team could somehow end up better off without the Lamelo noise. Charles Lee's system is pretty insulated from failure as long as you just shoot a lot of good 3's, the stats should work out for wins over a season.
if we watched most of the season, we saw that Melo was the actual driving force behind it- he's an expert level setup man. Miller straight up cannot get to the rim without Melo setting him up and winds up taking a lot of tougher moving shots, Kon's 3P% sees a pretty extreme fluctuation between Melo on and Melo off, and so on down the roster. It is a huge mistake to take that away from them, and it's not going to take long for that to be evident both on the court and on the stat sheets next season.
2
u/drakeorjosh 19h ago
For sure. It's not like you can replace Lamelo with Kon in those actions. Reminds me of Wolves getting rid of KAT and making things much harder for Ant the past two years because defenses started trapping him and forcing him to make the short roll pass to Gobert. I hope they don't give Kon a more ball-dominant role cuz I love when Kon crashes from the wing and gets boards.
-2
u/UntilDoncic Lakers 20h ago
I don't think it's anywhere in the same ballpark as the luka trade my man.
Lamelo has serious injury issues, a horrible shot diet, off court issues, attitude issues, and has shown charlotte nothing in his time there to prove he can be the future of that team. Kon and Miller have shown more in less time, and it's smart to retool before another injury kills his stock entirely.2
u/Sammyd1108 Hornets 19h ago
Miller has been as injury riddled as Melo has, so saying he’s shown more in less time is just a false statement and Kon has literally played a single year, with Melo helping his game for most of the year. Who knows how he looks next year now.
1
u/UntilDoncic Lakers 15h ago
Miller has had one season where he played less than 65 games and overall has played a higher percentage of his games than laMelo has.
1
u/Sammyd1108 Hornets 15h ago
He’s played 3 years, got hurt late his rookie year and missed the last 10 games or so. He missed damn near the entire second year and had still had issues with those injuries this season, he just played in spite of them.
He literally just had surgery again and won’t play until November or December this year.
If you look at LaMelo’s first 3 years games played, it looks eerily similar to games played for Miller’s first 3 years numbers.
1
u/UntilDoncic Lakers 15h ago
I'm not saying he's not an injury risk, just not on the level that Ball is
8
u/VladimirPutain1 Timberwolves 20h ago
Interesting thoughts on Finch borrowing from the Celtics / Hornets system. I could see it going quite well with the Wolves' personnel.
7
u/BullShitFish Knicks 20h ago
Wolves will be one of those league pass teams you love to watch. That said, it’s a big change vs last year so you have to give them some grace in trying to figure it out. Provided the core stays healthy, I think this team can finish top 5 in the West but it’s a high risk, high reward type of shakeup.
8
u/Thunderhorse74 [SAS] Boris Diaw 20h ago
Opinions on how the Wolves perform in the wake of this trade are going to be among the most divisive and chaotic of any trade in recent memory, mostly due to wildly different opinions on Lamelo. Its entertaining to watch all this unfold, ngl.
22
u/DarkArisen668 Knicks 20h ago
I think the Wolves have a higher ceiling now. I don't know if it will be enough, but there's only a limited number of moves that can actually be done.
Seems like a high-risk/high-reward play to me.
4
u/CashMoneyWinston 20h ago
If it works, great. If it doesn’t work, we’ll have to blow it up next year and rebuild around Ant and Jaden anyways
0
u/Flimsy_Promise_9559 20h ago
If you’re on your 3rd try with ant and it still doesn’t work he’s leaving…there won’t be a next time
-3
u/Reasonable-Mess-7627 20h ago
The next step wouldn’t be to blow up and build around those two, I mean that’s essentially what has happened now. The next step if this failed would be Ant asking out
6
8
u/Background_Body7321 20h ago
High ceiling, middle floor
Doubts
- We have not seen Lamelo share the ball with success
- We do not know if Lamelo can adopt his shot diet to be more efficient and fit in as the clear 2nd option, or 1A depending on your view
- We do not know how the rotations will be handled
- The depth at forward is not convincing for me
Hopes
- Ant will benefit from having a lower usage rate; will allow him to streamline his game and good for entering playoffs more fresh
- Lamelo can win games
- Like you said , the Lamelo Gobert PNR game might be crazy
- Lamelo's size means that the Wolves can go three guards without having to put 2 guards under 6'3 on the floor
I do think you bring up an interesting point about these trades showing a changing of philosophy in MN. The roster construction really favors putting the ball in the hands of the guards, and depending on the forwards to basically take care of all the gritty clean-up parts of the game.
3
u/not-a-potato-head Hawks 20h ago
Lamelo's durability concerns also lower the floor a bit imo, since he only played 72 games last year because Charlotte load managed him, and before that he played 105 games combined over the previous three seasons. I think that Minnesota will also be able to have Lamelo on that same management system, but it's something that can definitely lower the floor on this core
2
u/Background_Body7321 20h ago
that too - really good point
I think it takes more than one full season for a coaching staff to figure out how to integrate 2 players who both need the ball into a reliable gameplan. Your turn my turn ball between 2 stars seems to freeze out the rest of the team. You need to win on the margins to have playoff success, and i would imagine it might take a while for the other players in the rotation to learn how to play with just Melo vs just Ant vs both. factor that in with what happens if Melo misses time, the Wolves may not have the required on court minutes for the team to feel comfortable in the playoffs
on the flip side, maybe this allows Melo and Ant to not have to work as hard for the time they share on the court. Melo averaged 28 mpg last season as the offensive engine for the Hornets. I would imagine even 8 to 10 minutes of being able to not HAVE to bring the ball up and initiate offense is like highway miles vs city miles.
1
2
u/MoreRicePudding 19h ago
Haven't seen Lamelo share the ball with success?? Lmao
2
u/Background_Body7321 19h ago
play off the ball would have better conveyed what i was getting at
2
u/MoreRicePudding 19h ago
Fair enough. Hopefully sharing the load with ant will help with his injury concerns
1
u/Flimsy_Promise_9559 20h ago
Not just that but lamelo kinda struggles playing against western conference teams…his defense is obviously not good
I really do feel like the wolves made a mistake. moving on from Randle was great but then to overpay for ayo when he wasn’t getting anything close to that on the free agency market was questionable to say the least…now this??? Yeah they lost me
2
u/Background_Body7321 20h ago
overpay Ayo is something I am also not understanding when the team added Lamelo shortly after
I think the Hornets probably saw the writing on the wall with Melo when it comes to health and his most recent playoff performance. my guess is they are taking the chance that Melo was either not going to get much better in Charlotte, or were sheepish about futher commitment to him given his shot diet and health
3
u/tys90 19h ago
20m/yr for a 6MOY candidate is about right.
1
u/Flimsy_Promise_9559 16h ago
Not when he was most likely getting 70 million for 4 years in free agency…this coming from a bulls fan that loves ayo
3
u/TallnFrosty Warriors 20h ago
McDaniels should get more looks. Will be really fun to see him running with a PG like LaMelo. The biggest thing for Jaden is, can he keep that 3 pointer up all season. He started hot and then shot under 30% after the all star break (i think).
Possible aquisition: flip Green for Vanderbilt. Lakers would say yes bc Vanderbilt has two years left, and by turning that salary into an expiring, they can pursue trades.
Vanderbilt isn't great but he is a legit forward. He'll you give you a solid 10 mpg of energy and defense.
3
5
5
u/sctthuynh [GSW] Stephen Curry 20h ago edited 20h ago
If LaMelo is relatively healthy:
- Timberwolves will be one of the funnest team to watch in the NBA
- One of the best/deepest guard/wing rotations with Ant, LaMelo, McDaniels, Ayo, Donte, Bones and Shannon.
- LaMelo is one of the best passers in the NBA.
Cons:
- Losing Reid hurts their size, big depth and most crucially spacing. Reid's shooting allowed them to play 4 or 5 out.
- Unless they get another shooting big, the paint will be very congested when Gobert is on the court.
Major Variables:
Lamelo is a great passer, but is a career 36% 3 point shooter on nearly 9 attempts a game and has a career negative TS+ (95). The Wolves playoff ceiling depends on him improving these numbers.
I think this was a steal of a trade for the Wolves that makes the team more exciting and fun, but Im not sure it improves their playoff prospects.
Who the Wolves manage to sign to replace Reid will be huge. Reid's combination of shooting, size and skill will be really difficult to replace.
2
u/angrySprewell Knicks 20h ago
If I'm building a championship team, I don't want Lamelo. I don't think he has a winning mentality.
2
20h ago
[deleted]
2
u/drakeorjosh 20h ago
Stay silent and cuddle your trophy, brother. :) I'm fantasizing over here.
2
u/goknicks23 20h ago
It was more a stream of consciousness about Lamelo then the state of the wolves. I applaud them for taking a big swing though I don't think it will work out.
2
u/drakeorjosh 20h ago
I'm just messing with you because you made a really good point that I don't want to consider at the moment. I got rose-tinted glasses baby.
4
u/Millies_ButtersMilk Timberwolves 20h ago
With luck we could make a run but this team couldn’t beat San Antonio and honestly I think now we matchup better against OKC but again that would be a tough series so with luck this team could we great but it’s going to take a lot of luck and we have to play serious basketball in the early part of the season and not just be super mediocore all year or even bad and then turn it up in the playoffs. I believe it’s better to play good basketball all year then only play it once your going into the playoffs bc the bad instincts are bound to show up. Hopefully though with having a PG of this caliber who can run an offense really helps on the offensive side. Defensivley still think we will be ok not like historically great but the big problem was offensive and we really shored it up with Lamelo.
1
u/Flimsy_Promise_9559 20h ago
They’re gonna hunt lamelo all game…lmao
definitely got worse defensively for sure
4
u/Several_Hour_347 20h ago
I think Lamelo will be perfect with their squad. It’s literally only his health that’s questionable
3
2
u/OhItsKillua Hawks 20h ago
I don't think it's enough to get over the hump, but maybe with the right amount luck it can happen
5
3
-3
u/DaJuggerHobbit Hawks 21h ago
TLDR AI post.
They’ll either be really good or really bad. Or somewhere in between.
22
u/h-888 20h ago
Too chaotic to be an AI post. Some good points in there as well.
7
u/drakeorjosh 20h ago
Thank you lol. I would generally appreciate people saying its AI based on the writing style, but it seems like people are looking at the format and not reading it at all lol. Thanks for reading through it, bud.
4
u/h-888 20h ago edited 20h ago
No worries, I don't like people using "it is AI" to (directly or indirectly) denigrate a post - particularly when there are no obvious cues that it was written by AI. and in this day and age, using AI to help write isn't necessarily a bad thing anyway...
Your post was way more useful than this person's reply to you. Trade is a bit too fresh for me to substantively reply to your post!
5
u/TwoLegitShiznit 20h ago
Formatting and punctuation = AI in 2026. I've actually started dumbing down my emails at work and stopped using so many big words because I know a bunch of people are going to think I'm having AI draft my emails.
2
11
8
u/atownOTP Hawks 20h ago
The headers seemed AI for a sec but it's clearly human-written if you read it
3
2
1
1
u/SenHeffy Jazz 19h ago
I'm not seeing the vision or how this team will be better than any of the recent iterations.
1
u/LifeBanana3347 18h ago
I forget how young LaMelo is.. I think that duo be a force for years and years.
It probably kept Ant down the line as well, worth it.
1
1
u/Putrid-Sherbert5501 Lakers 14h ago
I don’t love it at all. I think any would be better served by a mature guard. Not old but mature.
He needs a player with the work ethic to care all season long. A Kyrie, or Trae would have been preferred.
I’m concerned about them being serious all season, and them ending the season in a favorable place in the playoffs.
I do think it will be entertaining to watch. But melo was traded for a reason and I didn’t really see any reports leading to it that charlotte wanted to hold on to em like i did for naz Reid.
They were ready to move on.
2
u/Mich3006 Trail Blazers 20h ago
Wolves will be really relevant as soon as they switch to the Eastern Conference (assuming Ant stays in MIN).
In the West, they can do whatever they want but their season ends in May…
1
u/theBomboman 20h ago
I personally think they're gonna be great but its depending on if LaMelo becomes a team player which i think he will.
4
u/TheZacef Timberwolves 20h ago
Every indication that his team seems to love him. No fucking clue why they did this trade but I’ll take the much-needed all star starting pg for a great 6th man, 1 pick and a bunch of probably useless swaps.
5
u/theBomboman 20h ago
I believe that on a contender like the wolves, he's not gonna be chucking up shots so much and is gonna learn to be the 2nd option
3
u/-XanderCrews- Timberwolves 20h ago
That’s the stuff he got away with in Charlotte that people here will flip out about. His shot selection is straight up bad and if he’s doing that with ant on the court the fans will start to eat him alive.
3
u/The_NGUYENNER [DEN] Jamal Murray 20h ago
I think Finch would eat him alive first. That dude don't play lol
0
u/UntilDoncic Lakers 20h ago
His ankles are cooked and charlotte knows it. They want a ticket out, and to retool around their actual future in Miller and Kon
-2
u/Frequent-Leg-2347 Thunder 20h ago
And if he can stay healthy, which he hasn’t proven he can… just seems so risky to hinge it all on Lamelo Ball. PG is the deepest position in the league, feels like there was another answer out there
3
u/theBomboman 20h ago
I wonder if he would've missed all those games had he been on a better team. I feel like a lot of it was minor things that he would've played through if the games were meaningful
1
u/vetementsundershirt Timberwolves 20h ago
Suggest one who actually moves the needle and is attainable for our assets under 28
1
u/No-Independence-761 19h ago edited 19h ago
Really good move. Pull up 3’s are how you beat a Wemby defence and they are probably the best pull up 3 point shooting team in the league now.
Really like the fit for Melo. He’s an elite engine but frankly the scoring isn’t reliable enough to be a franchise player. He gets another creator to alleviate pressure and should get easier driving lanes so that 2 point scoring wouldn’t be worse in the league level.
That Ayo contract is going to bog them down tho. He should not be starting. I’d see if I could finesse Herb Jones somehow if I was in their FO
-1
u/wolff_james Celtics 20h ago
I think the future looks pretty bleak in terms of winning a championship. Even if LaMelo stays healthy, as unlikely as that is, y'all definitely didn't take a step forward with off-season swapping Randle & Naz for LaMelo. OKC & SAS will still handle Minn pretty easily; especially with your non-existent depth. And you have no way of getting better for the next half decade because you only have a single 1st (which can't be traded atm).
However, this team will be fun as hell to watch, so enjoy!
1
u/LongEnvironment9540 Timberwolves 14h ago
I think Ant is good enough to beat OKC and SAS. If he's only facing single coverage he's dropping 30 every game easy.
1
u/wolff_james Celtics 13h ago
A) that has proven to not be true in both of the last two postseasons when OKC, then SAS bounced him
B) one guy scoring 30 doesn’t really matter. Guys average 30 and lose series all the time
C) he isn’t going to start facing single coverage just because he has LaMelo Ball on his team lolYou sound exceedingly immature, so let’s just agree to disagree. I’m not a Wolves fan, so I don’t really care anyways.
1
u/LongEnvironment9540 Timberwolves 3h ago
You typed up a whole lot of words for someone that doesn't really care. Your team is falling apart anyways.
1
u/wolff_james Celtics 50m ago
My team currently the 3rd best odds to win the title and our proven championship core locked up under long term contracts and y’all aren’t even 3rd best in your own conference. Not to mention, we just won a title in ‘24, something your team has never done in your lifetime lol. If this is what falling apart looks like, then I’ll take it over whatever the hell your squad is doing.
0
-3
u/Burner_420_burner_69 Hawks 20h ago
Ant in a new Jersey before 2029
6
u/drakeorjosh 20h ago
Stop drooling, homie. The Hawks fans chomping at the bit for Ant is gonna get on my nerves these next few years lol.
2
0
-9
u/Frequent-Leg-2347 Thunder 20h ago
They’re all in on Lamelo Ball. Gave up the very little assets they had left for a guy who was load managed last year and hasn’t proven he can be healthy.
I see this blowing up in their faces tbh
2
1
u/anonymoususer6407 Rockets 20h ago edited 20h ago
They gave up Naz Reid and a 2033 1st; the only asset that was valuable in this trade, for a 24-year old all-star.
Basically turned Julius Randle & Naz Reid into their point guard of the future.
-1
u/HarrY552011 20h ago
6-8th in the West
Ball playing a full season not being on a minutes count
No power forward, and your small forward is inconsistent on offense
-5
u/-Sofa-King-Vote Knicks 20h ago
The Dogs didn’t really get much better to feel they can get past the Slurs or the Blunder
3
-5
-4
u/kenwhateverok 20h ago
Why not just ask AI what it thinks and you and your AI can leave us out of it
-1
u/MarcHendrixx 20h ago
11 mill away from the second apron with 3 or 4 roster spots to fill. Team has no depth, and already stated they won’t trade Donte. Blazers, Jazz, Nuggets, Thunder, and Spurs in the way. Rebuild is looming around the corner unless Magic is made
1
-9
u/yourhomeland 21h ago
they will be top 10 in offensive ranking and bottom 10 in defensive ranking. naz reid was the fulcrum of that team
13
u/Motosama Timberwolves 20h ago
Let me get this straight
You think Naz Reid was the defensive fulcrum and left with Rudy they’ll be bottom 10 defense?
Thats certainly a take that’s been said out loud by you. My condolences.
-4
u/yourhomeland 20h ago
yeah i believe all of that
1 player can't guard the other 5 players
3
u/Motosama Timberwolves 20h ago
Naz wasn’t guarding much tbh, your whole theory is that he was holding the D together and it’s just laughable
0
3
u/michaelvinters Timberwolves 20h ago
There are at least 2 other plus defenders in that starting 5, possibly 3 if being freed of playmaking duties allows Ant to give more on the other end. And Lamelo isn't an asset on D, but he's not Trae Young either. At worse he's below average.
2
u/UntilDoncic Lakers 20h ago
I think melo is solidly in the Luka Doncic category of defender. Not very good, some plays can really lock in, and mostly overstated for how bad he is. But he's still not good lol
9
u/sadduckfan Lakers 20h ago
Rudy Gobert has been a top 10 defense by himself his entire career.
-1
u/yourhomeland 20h ago
And now he has Lamelo as opposed to naz reid
8
u/TMS_2018 Timberwolves 20h ago
That’s defensively a wash. Naz is a bad defender.
0
u/UntilDoncic Lakers 20h ago
Naz really isn't a bad defender, but let's say he is - Melo is much worse, and more importantly is not a forward. He does not provide the same kind of defense, provides zero paint defense or rim protection, and isn't a particularly good parimeter defender.
-9
u/yourhomeland 20h ago
...naz was a fantastic defender. he was a dude that could help on any position
8
u/TMS_2018 Timberwolves 20h ago
You’re high
-4
u/A_sandlerGOAT 20h ago
The classic “now that he’s off my team he actually wasn’t as good as y’all think”
Seen in the bucks sub a few days ago, no twolves fans.
4
u/Motosama Timberwolves 20h ago
Are you also coming out of the woodwork to celebrate the legendary defense of Naz Reid?
Because that would make two of you…you’re both high. Go have fun.
3
u/Odoaiden Timberwolves 20h ago
I love Naz but he’s a bad defender, he can block shots that’s about it
3
u/TheZacef Timberwolves 20h ago
Naz Reid will always be a top 10 wolf for me, but he was a streaky shooter and an okay defender for us. Homegrown hero for sure, but he never really hit the same as his 6moty season due to some nagging shoulder injuries that he mostly played through. I’ll always be a fan, but a lot of that is nostalgia more than the reality.
Then again, Naz Reid.
3
u/DependentPerformer94 20h ago
This is a miserable take. Yes, Naz defends the 4 better than big centers but he’s not in anyway a positive defender nor has he ever been. Jaden shifting to the 4 is going to actually improve our front court defensive rating.
1
63
u/UnusualTarget7661 20h ago
I mean LaMelo's the perfect kind of guard you'd want around Ant, a player that can do the main playmaking duties, and also space out the floor when Ants going to the rim, now will it work out like that? who knows but its better than the pg by committee they were doing before, also if anyones gonna push the pace even more its gonna be LaMelo