Zion + Ime Udoka continues to intrigue me. Defensive core of Amen-Tari-Bari-Zion around Alp + Jalen fascinates me. Zion would be an upgrade to Dillon. Zion averaged 1.8 BLK + 2.1 STL + a ridiculous 84.5 DRTG in college. That is better than even Tari's historic college defensive production.
Oh no man the only reason he's considered even remotely available is he's a bad defender. Defensive rating is not comparable across teams, you're misunderstanding that stat. It's also severely flawed within teams, notoriously full of noise because of how hard it is to isolate someone from a lineup. Practically speaking you can only use it to track an individual's progress throughout one single season - then you have a use for it. For example, it has Naz Reid as a better defender than McDaniels. Wolves fans would have tears in their eyes from the laughter if you told them that. If Naz Reid was the defender these stats make him out to be, he would be the permanent starter there and they'd never let him go. Big men who are that good defensively and can hit 40% of their 3's are worth $30m+. He's obviously not that. He's very slow footed. Watch a game (see what we did to him) and ask some Wolves fans. They don't even like him at the 4 with Gobert protecting the rim and Edwards/McDaniels guarding the perimeter. Good shooter, creative scorer at times. Good at guarding immobile players but who isn't. Nothing more.
No one is alleging that Reid is better defender than McDaniels. As for your claim that Reid is slow footed then you should know that Reid is known as a better perimeter defender than he is a rim protector, even with his 7'3 wingspan. The Wolves are more switchable when Reid replaces Gobert at the 5.
Against us 3 blocks 1 steal 22 pts 7 rebs. Everytime I have watched him play he was a plus player on the floor. He might not be a great defensive player, but he would be a very good fit for us. I was probably over zealous about signing him and trading Sengun, but Sengun's offensive regression is troubling to me and think we need a center that can hit 3's going forward. Hopefully it's Sengun.
It’s shameful. I also think we’re starting to see the limits the “play harder” style of coaching. we arent catching anybody by surprise anymore.
Draft Kaluach no matter what this offseason. Trade up if you have to Tari + filler for Durant FVV + Sengun for Harden Sign Ty Jerome as back up and Clint Capella? Harden / Jerome / Reed Green / Whitmore / Reed Amen / Brooks Durant / Jabari Kuluach / Capella / Adams
No you're misunderstanding: the statistic you're using for Reid also said he's a better defender than McDaniels - which shows the stat is flawed. I've seen this conversation on wolves message boards, do you think it's reasonable most of them believe Reid to be a bad defender but that you know he's actually a good one? It would be like someone coming on here and saying Cam Whitmore is a good defender. Reid is not just slow footed but extremely slow footed. That's why his coach hides him in schemes, that's why they didn't automatically decide to start him even after trading KAT. Only after injuries they give him serious minutes. I'm not speculating with you brother, I'm telling you what 90% of Wolves fans would tell you, I've seen them discuss this on their own boards based on their knowledge of his habits for years. I'm not denying you the right to believe something else but you're asking the team to take a chance on something only you believe in really. It's a hard sell, I don't think it's worth your effort to be honest, there are players we can get at the same price for whom we don't have to start from such a place. We're rich as an NBA team.
An advanced metric like DRTG should not be exclusive of other data so your conclusion that I argued Reid is better defender than McDaniels is an unserious jump in logic. I neither stated nor implied any such thing, ever. And as a voyeur of Timberwoves message boards you should be much more aware that Naz Reid entered the NBA at over 260 lbs but reshaped his body in the ensuing years as well as his guard like game in big man's body. The last 2 seasons Reid has played closer to 235 and this conforms to his improved defensive play. So Reid may have been out of shape + slow footed during combines (reason why he went undrafted) he has sculpted his body since. The vids I shared earlier in this thread shows how much better his perimeter defense has become + the Woves have been using him in their smalllball switch everything lineup. Reid was positional.versatility was essential to Timberwolves historically good defense last season because they figured out that he really is not a center but a big wing. And while I appreciate debate, there really is no need to patronize. https://www.canishoopus.com/2024/12...nse-anthony-edwards-rudy-gobert-julius-randle
Wasn't trying to patronize. The limitations of defensive rating are infamous. Even pioneers of the stat have to state its limitations. It's obvious if it miscalculates the ranking so badly then you can't use it to rank him as a defender by saying he has X rating so he must be good. There's no reason it would be accurate for him and not McDaniels. That's a pretty straightforward statement. On Reid, I started a thread 1.5 years ago saying we should sign him. I know him well. After his weight loss, his biggest weakness is still defense. He is slow at PF, nevermind as a wing. I'm also aware there are many casual YouTube videos stating random things about him. I'm not talking about one off opinions of a content creator. I'm just telling you what most people who have watched like 200 full games of his tend to say. Sorry, I'm sure there has never been a time where the Timberwolves believed they were using Reid for positional versatility on defense. His defensive rating is immensely helped by the fact that Finch always hides him next to great defenders. Would love to see evidence to the contrary from the team.
Lets go beyond DRTG then. Reid’s propensity for steals, with his 93rd percentile turnover percentage (TOV%) per CleaningTheGlass, is more like that of a smaller guard or wing. Unlike most other big men, he moves in space, which is often seen in his electric dribble moves and drives. This helps him greatly on defense where his quickness coincides with his awareness of making even obvious passes risky. Further per CleaningTheGlass, opponents score 4.2 fewer points per 100 possessions against the Wolves when Reid's on the floor (84th percentile). It’s almost a complete flip from 2022-2023 season when opponents scored 4.5 more points per 100 possessions with Reid on the floor (15th percentile). That said, Reid is best as a help defender vs iso defender but he's improved tremendously in this area.
Finch quote on Naz last season: "His defense has gone from strength to strength,” Finch said. “His rebounding, it’s just fun to watch him get better all the time, it really is.” https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5374455/2024/03/28/naz-reid-timberwolves-nba-sixth-man-award/ And Wolves have improved defensively with Randle out + Reid starting at 4 spot this season. Wolves recently beat OKC with both Gobert + Randle out of lineup with Reid playing 5.
Are you ignoring every article + vid I posted? The Wolves have obviously used him at both 4 and 5, defending perimeter + post. Let's just agree to disagree.
I saw videos/articles stating he defends the perimeter rather than the rim. I know that happens because there's no other choice, he's a slow footed big. That doesn't mean they didn't it because he's good at it or versatile. That's why I asked for just one instance of the team admitting this which would be plentiful if true. Ask me to show you a clip of our coach talking about the same thing for any good defender on our roster and that would be easy to find. Dude, watch this video, these are his best of the best defensive highlights of last season. All fits in under 3 minutes. Look at who he's guarding in these clips - slow bigs and mediocre corner shooters most of this video even. That's what the team thinks of his defense. Hey man I don't have a problem with you at all, I'm just showing that you're very far from the opinions of people who know more about Reid than you and me (I.e. the Wolves). I've been excited about players too and just didn't realize something about them in the grander context, it happens, I'm not shaming you or patronizing you. He's the least versatile defender possible, he can only guard the 4. He can't protect the rim so no 5. He's too slow for the 3 downwards. He's not even good at guarding quick PF's or PF's with decent handles, they typically stick him on guys that don't move much who he can sag off (mediocre corner shooters). I wasn't anticipating you'd dig your heels in so far on something so widely known. Very few people even know he lost weight, most have only ever heard of him after that. Agreeing to disagree is ok, no hard feelings from my end.
What about a strategy of holding onto the valuable draft picks and trading all our other assets for a star to pair with Amen? @carl_herrera was advocating trading most of our draft capital for the #1 this year, which would be fine if that ends up being an option, but (hear me out)… could we get that 2nd true star by trading any combo of current players not named Amen, plus the Suns 2025 pick. We keep a couple of our core along with those valuable future picks? with the new CBA being so restrictive I’m convinced teams will need to continue to use rookie scale contracts to keep their caps in check. Even teams that are contending. I think it might be better to consolidate what we have on the roster instead of giving up future high end draft capital. The only guy we know for sure will be a star on this team is Amen. Maxey? JJJ? Halliburton?
I think Naz is pretty solid defensively as well. He doesn't move as well laterally as Jabari but his movement is more fluid than you would expect for someone that broad-shouldered. He also has good hands and he's smart. He's obviously strong and can body most of the league's centers. He's also vastly superior offensively to Jabari. Not only does he shoot better from distance but he can actually handle the ball and create his own shot. I hope Jabari continues to improve and he may eventually become the better player. Right now though, Naz Reid is clearly superior.
I've never seen a 6'11" player look 6'7" before Jabari. He looks vastly smaller on the court than he is. That just me?
