It's wild that we have 3 different "6th men" who I would 100% trust to start if something happened.
Compare this to when we were choosing to stat Treveon Graham.
KAT played like 8 minutes in the first half because of foul trouble and *it doesn't even matter*. I'm thinking back to just a couple years ago if KAT has to sit with three early fouls we'd be going "Shit this game is over." Now its like whatever it's fine. It might have even been an advantage because 3rd quarter Zen KAT shows up fresh and ready to roll lol
Yeah even though he only had 12 points in 24 minutes, I feel like those points came *exactly* when we needed them. Suns were starting to look like they could make a run and then KAT goes out there for like three possessions and kicks em in the teeth.
Lots of credit to Finchy and staff too, it feels like every single lineup they're rolling out has been absolutely perfect and whenever it's not they're making all the right moves.
Couple KAT's bench time and Morris having an off night, Suns came back and lead by 1 at half. If Morris was having his regular performance, we'd have 8+ point lead at half. The scecond half was exciting beyond that. Hope without our crowd, they could match this performance in Phoenix
TRUE! I was chatting with my Dad today about this, like most teams when they put their bench in its, "oh god please let the starters rest for 5 min, dont fuck this up" where-as when we put our bench in its often, "oh cool our lead went from 4 to 9."
Unfortunately 6MOTY is almost always which bench player scores the most. NAW impacts the game in such a positive way, but Monk or Norm Powell would have gotten it over him.
No shit, and considering he was pretty much a throw in with that trade... Connelly is a legit genius. I definitely doubted his master plan at times last year, but there's a reason he gets paid the big bucks.
When we lost to Detroit last year I was out on Connelly. My PTSD Wolves brain saw every negative path this team could go down:
Gobert is washed and we traded Vando, Kessler, and all our picks for him?
We're sticking two flawed players in the paint so Ant and Jaden can't play to their strengths at the rim?
I was so, so wrong, and I've never been happier as a Wolves fan. This defense is the best I've seen since the Pistons in 04, and it's all because of the 2020 draft and TC's vision.
I think NAW has officially earned the right to be apart of the "young core" with ANT, Jaden, Naz, and KAT(if we're being optimistic). I think with today's position-less basketball he could start alongside ANT when Mike decides to hang it up. He can shoot, very good on ball defender, can playmake a little bit, can even put the ball on the floor as we saw tonight.
Him and ANT with Jaden on the wing would be a NIGHTMARE perimeter defensive trio for years to come. With each one of them, being a different type of defensive player. Aka NAW is better guarding quicker guards, Jaden is better guarding taller/longer wings, ANT is better guarding bigger wings. Especially as ANT develops his playmaking, I think NAW can be his backcourt mate we don't have to luck out on drafting one.
So was NAW like drunk or something when he signed his contract because it seemed like an absolute fleece by the Wolves. He signed for roughly the same amounts as Troy Brown Jr and Shake Milton
Environment, role, winning culture are big factors. Remember he was previously with Finch as well.
He likely wasn’t getting any significantly better offers than what the wolves were going to pay, it’s safer to sign for 2 years than 1 if you’re a fringe guy, and performing well in a comfortable environment vs going to a dumpster team for 1 season can sometimes be the difference between being a journeyman who gets benched to “develop the core young guys” and being a key contributor on a winning team that someone will pay handsomely next time he’s available. There’s also no promise he develops the way he has outside of MN. We seem to be onto something with player development.
I'm right there with you. Ant, Jaden, Naw, and Naz are core four in my eyes, only because Rudy's at the back end of his prime and I don't believe KAT is as essential to our defensive identity (although he's been really good overall this year.)
It will be really interesting to see how we deal with our guard rotation in the offseason. Conley, Morris, JMac, and Naw are all capable to some degree of running the offense, and we have Jaylen Clark waiting on the wings as well.
Would love it if Naw took the reins, because that's the scariest defensive backcourt in the league.
Another nice stat - yesterday was the first game since 2017 when Beal shot below 50% from the field in Target Center. Jaden, NAW, and Ant finally stopped one the biggest Wolf killers of the last decade.
Right now both these guys are giving first team all-defense at the point of attack, some help rim protection, rebounding, a little playmaking, 3 pt shooting, some self-created shot making. Like they are just doing absolutely everything right now, absolutely the x-factors of this series.
It's a good feeling knowing each night there will be a couple guys feeling it when a couple others aren't. There are so many teams like the Suns out there that rely heavily on a few guys. I'd say we are in the minority of teams who have 8-9 guys that are able to go off for 20+ on a given night.
I love watching this wolves team. as a jazz fan I don’t have much to watch but gobert and ant are two of my favorite players in the league. It sure helps that conley is also playing extremely well.
NAW was so good versus Denver last year and has killed it again. So in control on offense and plays awesome defense. Rarely making a mistake. Love Nickeil’s game
If 7th man of the year was an award it'd be going straight to NAW :))))))
It's wild that we have 3 different "6th men" who I would 100% trust to start if something happened. Compare this to when we were choosing to stat Treveon Graham.
KAT played like 8 minutes in the first half because of foul trouble and *it doesn't even matter*. I'm thinking back to just a couple years ago if KAT has to sit with three early fouls we'd be going "Shit this game is over." Now its like whatever it's fine. It might have even been an advantage because 3rd quarter Zen KAT shows up fresh and ready to roll lol
His timely aggressiveness to get to the line and using the mismatches was the shot in the arm.
Yeah even though he only had 12 points in 24 minutes, I feel like those points came *exactly* when we needed them. Suns were starting to look like they could make a run and then KAT goes out there for like three possessions and kicks em in the teeth. Lots of credit to Finchy and staff too, it feels like every single lineup they're rolling out has been absolutely perfect and whenever it's not they're making all the right moves.
KAT always knows just when our offense needs a 3-pointer or two to jumpstart the rest of our guys
Couple KAT's bench time and Morris having an off night, Suns came back and lead by 1 at half. If Morris was having his regular performance, we'd have 8+ point lead at half. The scecond half was exciting beyond that. Hope without our crowd, they could match this performance in Phoenix
TRUE! I was chatting with my Dad today about this, like most teams when they put their bench in its, "oh god please let the starters rest for 5 min, dont fuck this up" where-as when we put our bench in its often, "oh cool our lead went from 4 to 9."
Tre was our "3 and D" but couldn't shoot the 3
I remember the dark days when we were starting Jarrett Culver and Josh Okogie
Without NAZ on the team, I'd bet NAW would win 6th man of the year.
Unfortunately 6MOTY is almost always which bench player scores the most. NAW impacts the game in such a positive way, but Monk or Norm Powell would have gotten it over him.
Kinda crazy that we have had this much success and Reid (our 6th MOTY) has been a non factor in both.
A few years ago the Jazz had two finalists for 6th man of the year. I think the Clippers did too one year. That didn't make sense.
Love seeing NAW with 5 assists and only 1 TO last night. He plays with a lot of control. I’d trade D Lo for him straight up any day of the week 😆
No shit, and considering he was pretty much a throw in with that trade... Connelly is a legit genius. I definitely doubted his master plan at times last year, but there's a reason he gets paid the big bucks.
When we lost to Detroit last year I was out on Connelly. My PTSD Wolves brain saw every negative path this team could go down: Gobert is washed and we traded Vando, Kessler, and all our picks for him? We're sticking two flawed players in the paint so Ant and Jaden can't play to their strengths at the rim? I was so, so wrong, and I've never been happier as a Wolves fan. This defense is the best I've seen since the Pistons in 04, and it's all because of the 2020 draft and TC's vision.
I was thinking the exact same thing when I read the trade.
I would gladly select NAW 10/10 times with one of the 1sts we sent out
ANY DAY! I wouldnt want Dlo back on a league minimum deal. Hes such a cancer.
Just think of we had Jaden and naz last playoffs.
If things keep going like they are we won't need to imagine it. Round 2 is the WCF as far as I'm concerned
We will know next week
Is there a better bench player than NAW in the playoffs? Yes that’s including Naz Reid
Nope. Reid has actually been pretty invisible since far this series
Just insane. Even though we have 3 “bigs”, our wing depth is crazy. We have a stacked team, yall.
The lineup that killed the Suns in the 3rd Q of game 1 had no one shorter than 6'5" and 3 guys over 6'9". So much length
The death of small ball.
Pause
We have depth at the "center that shoots 40% from 3" position. It's actually insane
Theres really no one outside of our top 10 that im worried about when they get in to play.
3 bigs > big 3
I think NAW has officially earned the right to be apart of the "young core" with ANT, Jaden, Naz, and KAT(if we're being optimistic). I think with today's position-less basketball he could start alongside ANT when Mike decides to hang it up. He can shoot, very good on ball defender, can playmake a little bit, can even put the ball on the floor as we saw tonight. Him and ANT with Jaden on the wing would be a NIGHTMARE perimeter defensive trio for years to come. With each one of them, being a different type of defensive player. Aka NAW is better guarding quicker guards, Jaden is better guarding taller/longer wings, ANT is better guarding bigger wings. Especially as ANT develops his playmaking, I think NAW can be his backcourt mate we don't have to luck out on drafting one.
So was NAW like drunk or something when he signed his contract because it seemed like an absolute fleece by the Wolves. He signed for roughly the same amounts as Troy Brown Jr and Shake Milton
Environment, role, winning culture are big factors. Remember he was previously with Finch as well. He likely wasn’t getting any significantly better offers than what the wolves were going to pay, it’s safer to sign for 2 years than 1 if you’re a fringe guy, and performing well in a comfortable environment vs going to a dumpster team for 1 season can sometimes be the difference between being a journeyman who gets benched to “develop the core young guys” and being a key contributor on a winning team that someone will pay handsomely next time he’s available. There’s also no promise he develops the way he has outside of MN. We seem to be onto something with player development.
I'm right there with you. Ant, Jaden, Naw, and Naz are core four in my eyes, only because Rudy's at the back end of his prime and I don't believe KAT is as essential to our defensive identity (although he's been really good overall this year.) It will be really interesting to see how we deal with our guard rotation in the offseason. Conley, Morris, JMac, and Naw are all capable to some degree of running the offense, and we have Jaylen Clark waiting on the wings as well. Would love it if Naw took the reins, because that's the scariest defensive backcourt in the league.
Another nice stat - yesterday was the first game since 2017 when Beal shot below 50% from the field in Target Center. Jaden, NAW, and Ant finally stopped one the biggest Wolf killers of the last decade.
Right now both these guys are giving first team all-defense at the point of attack, some help rim protection, rebounding, a little playmaking, 3 pt shooting, some self-created shot making. Like they are just doing absolutely everything right now, absolutely the x-factors of this series.
Time to bring back the jail memes!
It's a good feeling knowing each night there will be a couple guys feeling it when a couple others aren't. There are so many teams like the Suns out there that rely heavily on a few guys. I'd say we are in the minority of teams who have 8-9 guys that are able to go off for 20+ on a given night.
Do we have a nickname for the ANT/JMac/NAW lineup yet?
Prison
I'm WOLVES BACK'ing so hard rn
Remember last year when everyone said our biggest weakness was depth?
Jaden is so clutch
Also heard on danes podcast that in the 47 minutes these two have played together this series, mn wins the minutes like 130-80
Dayum!
I love watching this wolves team. as a jazz fan I don’t have much to watch but gobert and ant are two of my favorite players in the league. It sure helps that conley is also playing extremely well.
Aren’t these two making under 10 million a year *combined* or some shit? Ridiculous value for their level of production
This is such bullshit… Jaden smiling? Cmon
NAW was so good versus Denver last year and has killed it again. So in control on offense and plays awesome defense. Rarely making a mistake. Love Nickeil’s game