Wmc 15/16: We are finally at the END! BYE BYRON!!!

Kobe in the game = chucking with no purpose

Kobe injured : Clarkson getting PT and finishing in the All rookie team last season ...

This Wolves team barely belongs in the NBA , just terrible ...

Our starting 5 is going to get blown out a lot ... no ball movement , no purpose

 

Wishing injury on argurably the greatest player in the history of this franchise? Sorry just can't get behind that. Kobe has already been through enough hell with all these injuries. To want that to happen again no I don't agree with that. I want Kobe to be able to ride off into the sunset with no more injuries at the end of the season.

Not like Kobe is the only reason there isn't any ball movement. Even when he was out there the offense wasn't crisp. You had Ryan Kelly of all people trying to create for himself. Clarkson was out of control at times. Lou and Nick were both chucking up shots on the second unit.

 

Well he's not the only problem ... but the biggest one ... with our coach ...

Kobe is a legend but his ego doesn't make things easier for our franchise ...

I care more about our team success than Kobe's legacy and the only numbers I worry about are these two : 17 and 16 ...

 

I think I saw one possession where was good ball movement resulting in a good shot. Other than that, no wonder we struggled to score in that fourth quarter.

 

Our "offense" is based on producing contested shots ...

I really wonder what Scott and the team have worked on during the offseason , training camp , practices

 

... Defense

 

i wanted to cool off before posting, but...i can't. that was awful. and the wolves are a bad basketball team. they will win very few games this year, and sadly, they came into la on opening night and just smashed the lakers in the second half. pathetic all around. the only players i never found myself angry at were clarkson and hibbert.

kobe's shot selection has already been discussed ad nauseum, but again...really? REALLY?! quit it. move the damn ball.

also, where's tarik black. i thought he sat out in preseason because they knew what he had and wanted to give upshaw a look. but bass and kelly aren't centers. black may not be, but he's closer than those two.

anyway, wrong way to start the season if you wanted to make a point about being underrated. they appeared all of the last place team that everyone predicted on this evening.

ok, done whining. let's hope they decide to let the prized rookie pg play pg instead of waterboy next game.

 

Now that I have "calmed down" and having read your posts...

First of, this felt worse than just losing a game one in a particularly stupid fashion. It was a showing of nothing has changed. Byron still calls himself a defensive coach, but we still don't play D and offensively, whoever has the ball, just try to think of something...

I was mad at Kobe tonight, because he took some very unnecessary shots and I, like many here, had hoped, that he would maybe approach this season a little different than 05/06.
Kobe is my favorite player of all time and my interest in the NBA will diminish by a lot when he retires, but this is heartbreaking, I think he could still be a great player, just not by playing like he is 25. Be a facilitator, post-player, mid-range, teach the young guys, choose your spots,...

Not going to happen apparently. And Byron will suck until he is fired.

If both of that is true, we will be horrible. Please tell me that I am wrong.



Additionally, just a side note, when Kobe and a couple of the other starters got out of the game and the bench unit came in in the third, it looked like we lost any aggression. Kobe shot horribly, but at least his ego makes him fight and it doesn't allow the others to relax. In contrast, Minny's bench was hungry, as a bench unit should be...

 

@trodgers : I agree we have new guys, but is that not more or less true for every team and every season? That's what preseason is for, just that Byron chooses to make Russell a spectating SG on opening night after having him play PG (as he should) before...
I'd feel different if I saw a system on O or D that players were trying to establish while going through some growing pains. But I don't see it

 

Kobe to EVERY pg he's ever played with: "Just go stand in the corner."

 

True... that means that there should be hope for improvement...
wow, i cannot believe how pessimistic i feel after one game. makes me feel bad, even in the WMC...

 

All things aside, if i see Kelly at the 5 one more time, i'll do that garbage sig in Paint myself.

 

too much of a strategy but u are getting there

 

Day after and I'm still pissed at this loss. I'll probably still be pissed until we play Sac town tomorrow. I know it's just the first game and what not but it's just the way we lost. We had a double digit least for most of the game and it just got pissed away.

 

oh, and i'll wmc about the refs: the kmart ft parade is what turned the tide in this one, imo. had they swallowed the whistle on any one of those obvious ref-baiting maneuvers, i don't think minny gains the steam necessary for the comeback. i hate that james harden crap. it's not in the spirit of the game. it's on the refs to stop it, though.

 

It seemed that our starting unit does not mesh well. Too many guys need the ball to be effective, too many isolation and not enough catch and shoot guys. We need players like Lou or Bass to be in starting line up.
We need D Load to be confident and be the leader. He can't do that(at least for now) with the starting unit. He needs to be with bench unit and let him do his thing.

 

Last thought : We got torched by Ricky Rubio of all people ... What is it going to be when we face the elite point guards of the West ?