Jerry Zgoda ‏@JerryZgoda

Pek is ill and it's not known if he'll return in the second half



JUST TWIT

Well, I'm done with the man. That's about it. I wish it weren't true, but Kevin Love is absolutely a bad basketball player this year. The thing is, this stretch of bad basketball is FIFTEEN GAMES LONG! What the hell kind of slump lasts 15 games?!

And worse, every other "superstar" contributes other places when their shot is off. I was at the game today and I just about punched an old man in front of me I was so angry at his defense. Harden just blows past him twice in a row to win the game. A joke. He provides NOTHING on the other end of the floor. Put in Williams. Seriously.

The fuck was Pek doing on offense? Jesus. I appreciate Rubio, JJ, Shved, Williams, and HAM for at least trying.

What a brutally devastating loss, considering Houston was coming off a back-to-back, and we were up by like 15 points in the 3rd quarter. But then of course we go and have our classic, second-half epic collapse. This hurts even more because Houston is a team just barely above us in the playoff standings.

Is K-Lav's hand still really freakin hurt or something??? I mean, my god he's shooting 36% overall, 24% on 3's!!!, and a sad 68% on free throws. Those numbers are almost historical y terrible for a player of his skillset and shooting ability in the past. And if his hand is still hurt, then WHY come back so early?!?

Even then, a hurt hand doesn't excuse his absolutely pitiful, god-awful defense. Disgusting. I would consider trading Love for Ibaka straight up at this point. Maybe we could get Lamb and Perry Jones in the deal as well.

Yeah, the thing is you guys really aren't overreacting too much. I mean, like Daddy said, it has been 15 games. K-Love was complete garbage out there tonight. So his shot was off. Elite players contribute even when their shot is off. Team leaders on playoff teams help the team even when their shot is off. Last night, K-Love was a genuine liability on the court in quarters 2, 3, and 4.

I don't care how good the rest of the season goes, K-Love has pissed away almost 1/3rd of the season now - A season where I legitimately think we have been better without him than with him (disclaimer: I don't expect this to remain the case...but throught 26 games it is TRUE). So I do not want to hear anything comparing him to KG, giving him any MVP type discussion, saying KAHN is an idiot for not giving him the Max of all Maxes, nothing. He has not made the team better. He still seems out of shape (last year he could do some things off the dribble...this year - Nothing. His pump fake is worthless, because he can't dribble by ANYBODY even if they do bite on it). He has missed games for 3 different ailments, and the main one was probably caused by him being a reckless drunk. He better not make the All-Star team this year.

BonK wrote:
The out of shape thing is legit. My lord he can't even move out there. He is more immobile than Pekovic. He has stopped being the hustle, dirty-work player and has turned into Antoine Walker.

BonK wrote:
Truth. Howl! PREACH ON!

haha. Man I was heated. Antoine Walker? That's an exaggeration. Getting Asik out of the paint was helpful enough, even if he couldn't score or create from the perimeter.

Bottom line, he needs to put in the hustle on D that he does on the boards. Shot's broke? Help the team with your passing (which he did), floor spacing (he did), and energy level/effort (didn't have it, hasn't had it as much this year).

You all thought I was tripping when I said Williams fits better with the current squad than Love didn't you?

Danterrick Williamsham is right up there with Trenton Hassell as my favorite T-Wolves unsung hustle roleplaying tweener forward. Williams is learning. Coachable.

The importance of the Shved, Dante Cunningham, and Andrei Kirilenko signings cannot be oversold. Without thse three we would be a 5-21 mess with JJ Barea leading the league in 1 on 5 fastbreaks, Ridnour leading the lead in "d-oh!"s, and Love leading the league in pouting.

wolfenstein wrote:
Yes you're tripping. The old Love clearly is the much better player. This version of Love doesn't fit better than anyone. I'd rather start Loren Woods than Kevin Love right now.

daddyfatsax wrote:
Who said anything about the old Love?

wolfenstein wrote:
You think he'll continue to suck forever? It's something more than a slump, but he'll get it back. I don't think he'll be 26 and 13 back, but 20 and 13 back. As a better player than Derrick Williams, clearly.

A better player in a vacuum, sure... But it seems like Derrick doesn't need to be covered up on D nearly as much as Love. And given consistent minutes, he could probably throw 18/8 up on a night in, night out basis.

If you look at it on the whole, 48 minutes of Derrick Williams and Dante Cunningham might end up with a better +/- this year than 40 minutes of Love and 8 minutes of Cunningham. The x-factor is those hustle rebounds and putbacks by Love that most other guys just don't get. But if he gives up 30 ppg what's the point? Just saying. He's at the point where if he wants to spout off to Woj he needs to nut up and put up.

Again, keep in mind that Pek also needs help on D. Not as much as Love, but he's not the world's best defender in space.

Yea I really don't like Love & Pek paired up together. I guess it would be a little better if Love re-discovered how to shoot because then they can simply outscore their matchups, but up until that point, our interior defense is a huge weak spot.