Good thoughts everyone. Very annoying/frustrating. It seems to be sinking in around the webs that the Wolves have a 25-win ceiling.

Id rather go with a blend of the good and the bad for starters. For example, don't we want to see Love and Rubio on the floor more together? Why not start Barea at the 2? Maybe having Wes play more with Rubio off the bench would get him some better opportunities? His issue is confidence. He may not be a good player but he is shooting 0-fers night in and night out. Out of character for an NBA player. There is more to it than being shitty.

Barea was probably taken out because of his injury...cap on his minutes and what not. Other than that, he continues to be excellent. Love his little spin move in the lane. Was confused why Casey didnt exploit the kind of glaring DeRozan/Barea mismatch a little more. Not complaining.

Agree on the Love complaining/whining. Out of hand.

I'm not so much going to dog love for having a bad night, but praise Amir Johnson for shutting him down. That man did a HELL of a job last night. Player of the game over Bargnani in my opinion. But only because Ridnour stuffed Bargnani.

Love might be working TOO hard out there. Adelman should reduce his minutes by 5 or so, give him some more rest. Maybe give Pek some 'physical' minutes. 40+ minutes for that physical of a player in this condensed season, he is going to get hurt. Give those 5 to D Will (who looks better and better each game might I add) or Pek. It's our backcourt that lacks players. We have plenty of capable forward/Centers who can play spot minutes. I love the pick and roll stuff, but why not mix it up and see if Pek can get some buckets in the paint against defensive non-wizard Bargnani? Different strategy?

WallyWorld wrote:
Now that is a great suggestion - reduce KLAV's minutes. He's going to wear out like Gasol did last year.

College Wolf wrote:
96 backcourt minutes per game. Divide by 3. 32 minutes for Rubio, Ridnour and JJ. Agree that you can sprinkle in Wes and Wellington here and there to bring down the minutes on the other 3.

1. I'd start Rubio and Ridnour. Let JJ come off the bench. I can understand that Adelman might like the Rubio and JJ combination. But watching every game tells you that we play our best when one of them is out there running the show. As long as they are both healthy, I'd make sure the ball is in one of their hands all the time.

2. Just don't play Wes and Wayne together ever. They have already proven that is a terrible situation for the Wolves to be in. They haven't earned really any playing time, but if you are going to play them together for extended minutes, you are conceding that the majority of that time you are going to be outplayed/outscored.

I know it is early and Adelman is trying to figure out who plays best with whom. And he is dealing with a number of injured guys that force him to play the guys available. And I know in this compressed season, you can't play Rubio & others 48 minutes. So I am willing to be a little patient with Adelman in the current situation.

It's just frustrating to be losing these games, especially when you have guys playing extended minutes that cannot hold their own out there.

But I am confident it will get better. And that could happen quicker if K-Lav hangs out with Jared Allen and learns a thing or two about attitude and being a team leader.

I am not one of the wealthy elite that have cable/satellite, so I went to my mother in laws with two of my kids to watch the game. It was the first time I would be able to watch a game this year. Right as I walked in, my daughter threw up all over the floor....

So, I managed to watch about 5-10 mins. Anyways.... which looked to be a sloppy game I was impressed with one thing. Rubio seems to actually enjoy playing defense. I don't mean the type that shows up on the stats. He looked really aggressive playing man to man. You can tell which players like to lock down their man and the ones who just want to get back on offense.

The short time I got to see Rubio and Ridnour together..... it was worse than the barf I was cleaning up.

can wes just not play, period?!

i realized we really need someone that can finish down low. darko isnt aggressive enough, derrick and klove are too small, and it just seems like we are really lacking someone that can really post someone up (al jefferson? )

we are set at PF and PG, but reality is we still need to figure out who will play the 3, is it beasley? williams? and we need a C that has SOME offensive game. and dont forget about our mess at SG.

dont get me wrong, i think our team has talent, and is playing better, harder, smarter then last year, but we still have holes and ? marks.

In spite of the fact that we got ripped off for Al Jefferson, in the long run I'm glad we traded him. His game just does not translate to Wins, because he doesn't pass and doesn't play defense. Not a coach's player, that's for sure.

On the other hand, with Beasley, Ridnour, and Jefferson, we could have the team with the lowest assists per 48 EVER. That team would be the exact opposite of Rubio.