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The Non-Jazz NBA Thread in the Jazz Section

IMO the biggest issue with Minnesota is that Jaden McDaniels hasnt taken any kind of skill jump in the past few years. He's still a really bad offensive player who cant make plays or even hit spot up 3's reliably.

That's an issue, but always been an issue. McDaniels is overrated AF. To his credit, he's played well in the playoffs but I think that contributes to the idea he's wayyy better than he is.
 
IMO the biggest issue with Minnesota is that Jaden McDaniels hasnt taken any kind of skill jump in the past few years. He's still a really bad offensive player who cant make plays or even hit spot up 3's reliably.
The biggest issue with Minnesota is the lack of internal growth: McDaniels, Reid and NAW are the same players as last year, while Gobert and Conley noticeably declined. The only player who has visibly improved s Edwards and his improvement does not cancel out the aging of their core and the downgrade from the KAT trade.
 
The standings in the WC are going to be tight-packed. A couple wins could make the difference between the 6th seed and the 10th seed. In turn, that would mean the difference between the Jazz drafting at 13 or 14 and drafting at 21 or 22.
 
Rudy's on court defensive rating is the lowest percentile it's been since his rookie year. Rudy was so good on defense that he would carry anybody who he with. He's still great and one of the best in the league, but so far he's not at the level at the used to be. It's not his "fault", he has just
set a very high standard. If you don't think Rudy has dropped, I don't think you've given enough respect to him previously.

FWIW, his on/off court is also identical to what it was last year. They are worse in the minutes with Rudy on the court and in the minutes where he's off.



Absolutely, besides the glue guy factor he's just a very good player (especially on defense). They are getting more from DDV than they lost from Anderson.
You cant seriously use a team stat to argue Rudys defensive drop when the counter argument is that their defensive drop is largely due to Randle, who also impacts that number (and who has the worst individual DRtg of any rotation guy there).

I mean Rui said that part of Lakers offensive gameplan on Week 1 was to exploit the fact that Randle just stands there on defense. He is a known commodity and It hurts them the most in transition as he doesnt run back. Transition is one area where their defense has gone significantly worse from last year.
 
You cant seriously use a team stat to argue Rudys defensive drop when the counter argument is that their defensive drop is largely due to Randle, who also impacts that number (and who has the worst individual DRtg of any rotation guy there).

I mean Rui said that part of Lakers offensive gameplan on Week 1 was to exploit the fact that Randle just stands there on defense. He is a known commodity and It hurts them the most in transition as he doesnt run back. Transition is one area where their defense has gone significantly worse from last year.

You used a team stat as well. On/Off is a team stat. On/Off actually uses less individual stats than On court alone. If you look at the stats that aim to parse out individual impact, it's not really a conversation. Rudy is down across the board.

Two things can be true, Randle is both not a good defender and Rudy is not as good as he used to be. IMO, if you don't think Rudy has dropped you highly underrated how good he was previously. Rudy used to carry defense no matter who his teammates were. We saw him do it for years right here in UTA. The fact that he cannot do that now, I see that as slippage.
 
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I think I'm ready to actively root for Minny losses. They are bad enough that I think it could actually matter if they win 38 games or 45 games this season.
 
I think I'm ready to actively root for Minny losses. They are bad enough that I think it could actually matter if they win 38 games or 45 games this season.
You haven't already been doing THAT!!! Sir I need you to lock in.
 
You used a team stat as well. On/Off is a team stat. On/Off actually uses less individual stats than On court alone. If you look at the stats that aim to parse out individual impact, it's not really a conversation. Rudy is down across the board.

Two things can be true, Randle is both not a good defender and Rudy is not as good as he used to be. IMO, if you don't think Rudy has dropped you highly underrated how good he was previously.
His defensive on/off differential of 12.3 points is the best mark of his entire career, so the numbers arent down across the board.

However my argument isnt about Rudys level and you may be right about that. I have watched just few all possession recaps of Wolves thus far, and to me Rudy looked fine.. but thats a small sample.

What I do know is that Randle is a low effort defender, and that Rudy hates low effort defenders. I bet he is getting closer to one of his classic boiling points.
 
His defensive on/off differential of 12.3 points is the best mark of his entire career, so the numbers arent down across the board.

However my argument isnt about Rudys level and you may be right about that. I have watched just few all possession recaps of Wolves thus far, and to me Rudy looked fine.. but thats a small sample.

What I do know is that Randle is a low effort defender, and that Rudy hates low effort defenders. I bet he is getting closer to one of his classic boiling points.

I said the numbers that parse out his individual metrics are down across the board. His EPM, BPM, LEBRON ect. All these metrics attempt to isolate the impact of a single player versus his teammates in various ways. On/Off court is team dependent, and I don't have a problem with it being team dependent but it isthe most team dependent number brought up in this discussion.

I think Randle is getting too much heat for the Wolves struggles. There are a lot of reasons why they are worst this season. Rudy has slipped, Mike has completely fallen off a cliff, and Anderson is gone. I think the first two are inevitable. Even if they bounce back in the short term, father time is undefeated (unless LeBron). Their play should be expected to drop off and that is independent of whether Randle is here or not. Many of the same issues would be present with or without the trade happening. I just think people are scapegoating Randle too much.

When it comes to Rudy in particular, I have an extremely high opinion of him and I'm not seeing the same level of play this year. Like I said, it's not his "fault"...but IMO what made Rudy who he was is that it didn't matter who was next to him. He has carried plenty of bad defenders during his years. If he's not a one man show, that's an indication he's slipped or not playing as well because he was really that good.
 
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