How on earth are the Wolves a top-10 defense!?
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
- The Minnesota Timberwolves are a top-10 defense this year, thanks to a creative, unique scheme that involves D'Angelo Russell. This video details how coach Chris Finch has covered up the perimeter defensive weaknesses of Russell and Karl-Anthony Towns, while taking advantage of All-Defense talent like Jarred Vanderbilt, to construct one of the league's best half-court defenses.
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Mike De La Rosa is the video coordinator at Thinking Basketball. Follow him @MiikeDLR on twitter. Ben Taylor is the author of Thinking Basketball, a Nylon Calculus contributor, creator of the Backpicks Top 40 series & host of the Thinking Basketball podcast.
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#ThinkingBasketball
Shoutout to Ben for letting me go down this cool rabbit hole! Hopefully everyone can appreciate Jarred Vanderbilt more! 🐺
Who is Ben?
🐐🐐🐐
@@lucajack007 Ben Taylor is the guy behind Thinking Basketball
Finally another Jarred Vanderbilt fan! The dude is a great defender and outhustles everyone on the boards. I remember in the Lakers game twolves were up 20 but he still went and got three straight offensive rebounds. Very underrated
I checked out you channel. You should throw up some more content, I like your delivery. Merry Christmas
Thats crazy to think that the T. Wolves would ever be considered a good defense, and piloted by D angelo russel.
What a world we live in
never considered D'Lo as a defensive anchor. Good to know he's evolved his game.
I honestly knew it would happen they have the team to do so alot of them can cover alot of ground fr
D’fenceelo Russell
Playing with Draymond really helped, can't help but learn when Draymond constantly screams at everyone lmao
Watching them in even the first game against Houston, that’s what I came away with. “Since when they played defense like that?” Everybody was everywhere all the time. They all were talking and pointing. That ain’t the Minnesota I was used to seeing.
This is the exact reason I love this channel. Even as an active NBA fan, no other basketball media outlet consistently finds interesting and overlooked stories across the league like Thinking Basketball. I learned a lot about the T Wolves defensive improvements that I had no idea about.
Because they don't know the one and outs of basketball. They just talk without substance.
@@j-us-t_be-in-g all they talk is Lebron, kd and curry
D Lo’s value and impact to this team is tremendous, he might be shooting badly this season but he’s making up for it in other facets of the game
Perfectly said
Yeah. Seeing him as a Star doesnt make sence. But that doesnt mean he cant be a great NBA Player
Hmmm they still not winning game through
@@y.serman8810 I think if he’s shooting good he’s a star especially now as a can do other things
@@sodalangstson9438 there only one game out the playoffs that’s a lot better than last year
As a fantasy owner of dlo, I was wondering why his +/- is really high in some of the games. Guess this helps explains it. Great breakdown, also shoutout to Vandy. The guy looks pretty legit
Oh my god, it's a timberwolves Thinking basketball video. I wasn't mentally prepared for this. Thanks as a wolves fan
After just watching your video on Draymond, i wonder how much of D'Los defensive growth was learned during his time on GSW. D'Lo may not be super consistent on the O this year but he has alot of hidden value as a player for sure this year.
There was a "sharing notes with Draymond" line that got cut somewhere along the line for time.
I believe he's not carrying as much of a load offensively, which allows him to put more effort on the defensive end. This isn't difficult to find out.
This crossed my mind
DLo seemed to have levelled up as a D coordinator after time with GSW 💯
D’Lo said himself recently that Draymond played a big part in his defense this year. He roughly said that he learned to be vocal from Draymond
Everyone's defensive habits and intensity got better once Beverley came in too
Something people have been neglecting for years is that Dlo has probably one of the highest basketball IQs the league has ever seen. Sad that hes been in many situations where that characteristic didnt shine thru cause he was relied on as a scorer/shooter. Glad they are trusting him with communication because that man sees the game in a different way!
Lol no he doesn’t
@@therealexquisiteexistentia4743 you can easily dial back to his role on montverde or ohio state and see his game in the rawest and most honest form. although a very good scorer from all 3 levels, he thrilled as a floor general with exquisite vision. that vision translates directly into the ability of predicting certain movements or sets from other teams and thats why hes being so good as a defensive anchor even tho he does not have the physical attributes to ever be All Defense calibre.
Come on now, I love DLO but no way he has one of the highest BB IQ the league has ever seen lol
"..the league has ever seen". Please stop overusing these buzz phrases just to get your point across
His iq maybe underrated
and or even under valued
But it’s definitely not 1 of the best The Association has ever seen.
You pretty much destroyed your own point & quote with that phrase.
Now it makes sense why the TWolves are in close games damn near every time I’m checking the box scores. Now if DLo’s efficiency was better they’d be winning more, but this is a great building block
Thank you. This Minnesota Timberwolves defense breakdown is by far the most complete I've seen this year.
Traditional media is bringing... almost nothing on the table, but cheap analysis : "killer instinct", "they work hard"
Those guys on TV are basically scratching the surface on how their schemes are run (fundamentals are left of the conversation).
Laker fan here & we just signed both of them. I can see them really helping our defensive needs!
D'Lo as a defensive anchor. Wow, never would have considered that. I gotta catch some Wolves games. Loved Mike's analysis in this, he's a tremendous talent.
much love my guy!
I watched another DLo vid that explained much about his unassuming talents that people don't understand him for (shout outs to Anpherknee) and I'm not surprised he's the defensive coordinator for this team. He's not athletic but if he's put in situations to use his savviness and off-ball awareness to coordinate the athletic on-ball guys, they could get results. I'm also not surprised the last piece for the Wolves defensive stability is KAT turning to a semblance of a defensive anchor much like how Ayton has for the Suns whose defense can handle most smaller based match ups. Would've been a shame if the Wolves couldn't do anything with some of their long athletic they have acquired like Okogie, Vanderbilt, McDaniels, and Edwards along with Pat Bev to apply that on defense. So kudos again to Chris Finch for slowly making things work.
Just to add on, this aggressive scheme has also resulted in a TON of free throws because they there is a thin line between forcing a turnover and committing a foul and they are dead last in opponent free throw rate. They also have some issues with opponents getting offensive boards. It's fascinating that it's a defense of total extremes (Amazing at: forcing turnovers, half-court defensive rating, athletic shot contests; Terrible at: fouling, transition defense, rebounding and allowing corner 3s). Basically, it's a cool experiment to see a team sell out so much on some things and naturally lacking the other side of those coins... and it's resulted in a defense that is 11th on CleaningTheGlass. I call that a success. Maybe if the opponent 3 point shooting trends a little bit more towards the average the defense looks less "impressive" but just getting it at an above average rate - and that sure seems sustainable - is such a departure that it deserves this sort of breakdown and praise. So, yeah, long story short: cool video.
Awesome comment! Thanks for the insight.
Thinking Basketball made a video about my Wolves😭It’s a great day, and i’m glad they’re getting some more respect
YES!!! Another defense video! Thanks for this.
Thanks for this breakdown. As a Wolves fan living in VA, I don't get to see them play a ton. It was great to see where they've improved & where they can still grow!
Watch them on stream East
It's so relieving to see the Wolves with a competent coaching staff, especially after years of guys like Kurt Rambis and Ryan Saunders. The big problem really seems to be that sustained focus as Mike pointed out. Many times players (KAT and Ant especially) will complain about the lack of a foul call and give up an easy 5 on 4 at the other end, or a missed three above the break leads to an easy leak out. I do also worry about instances where D'Angelo Russell has to play man defense, as he got cooked by Jalen Brunson last night. I should really be positive about the Timberwolves, but years of watching this team has made me pessimistic.
this is literally so entertaining to watch. basketball is really poetry i love it
Absolutely loving these defensive breakdowns!
Oh my gosh the joy when I saw this video in my sun box, I’ve been waiting for you to break down the wolves. More of this please please please more of this. I hope you dip into how they turn good defense into transition buckets.
Finally Vando is getting some recognition! Thank you!!
You guys are absolutely killing it with the defense focused content! And really refreshing to get such quality content on players and teams that tend to fly under the radar.
As MIN fan, I really appreciate Ben's work! This is no hype, no nonsense type of analysis that I can rarely find nowadays. As usual great job. Also I hope Ben will get a job offer from NBA team, maybe MIN?
Love this format!! Love that you don’t always stick to the most discussed issues/players in the league. No one else has discussed the twolves defence this year! Why I love this channel so much
We love Mike!! Would love see more of him!
Thank you Ben!
This is one of the best NBA videos I’ve ever seen. Wish content like this was more mainstream
Holy moly. This is incredible. And explains a lot.
And the flaws they have are something that reinforce the idea that the Warriors should not be trading for Towns (saw an article suggesting it). He's making progress where he is.
Glad y'all did a video on this! I think the defense was the thing they've been missing to start reaching their potential. I noticed they started doing that 3 man zone on the back line that GS has been doing. Having guys like McDaniels (shout out Federal Way HS. We BEEN had ballers their. Ask Michael Dickerson) and Vanderbilt helps a lot. I love how D Lo has changed his game again this time focusing on the little details. Clearly his high hoop IQ wasn't just for offense lol. I've been hard on these guys for not reaching their potential especially KAT so it's nice to see. Ant man is their best player imo. Love having Pat Bev there putting the battery in his back too!
D Lo learned from one of the greatest defensive players of this generation, draymond green
This is the first I heard Russell and good D in a single sentence. Great video as usual!
Shout out to the now expanding thinking basketball universe hopefully this means we get even more quality content from this channel 👌 👏 🙌
Love it! create more content for sure, especially if it’s that nice. Always wanted to watch more of your channel
Wow this is pretty cool. Never would have guessed that DLO would be a defensive leader for them. Hopefully they’re not like the Knicks and having a fluke defensive year
They have legitimate good individual defenders, unlike the Knicks. Jered Vanderbilt is an all defense team level defender, and Jaden McDaniels isn't too far behind him.
This is just what thinking basketball needs. More help so he can make more videos and lead the basketball enlightenment age.
appreciate the kind words, Dennis
Dlo has been an amazing piece this season he’s not dropping 50 but I’d argue his impact is even more substantial anyway, especially with his recent efficiency and passing on offense. It’s great to see us actually playing smart and things clicking for us defensively. Gotta appreciate dlo for his leadership this season but we’ve got a ton of great individual defenders on our team this season as well and a bunch of other guys willing to step up and put in effort on that end and while dlo has been giving fantastic reads and callouts I gotta say the defense is also hugely impacted by a culture change that’s 100% pat bevs doing. Lots of stuff clicking this season, it’s been fun to watch. Now we just need some consistency in our effort and focus game to game.
Shoutout Vando. I only followed twolves last year but even then he was a joy to watch. I'd usually just watch him away from the ball. Dude does everything, covers 1-5 too. Hoping for a long career for him.
Great stuff Ben and Mike
thank you Yahaly!
I literally use these videos to help coach my Highschool team and get them excited about defense. Loving all the content recently!
Great video, I love the breakdown from Mike. would definitely appreciate more like this.
thanks man!
It's like a weaker version GS defense, which really shows how the little details are difficult to be perfected and how it can kill a team, it's really really awesome, it shows that with just little changes they can reach even higher.
One of the coolest parts is D'Angelo having the same role as Green even though, physically, they're complete opposites. Reveals that you can be a huge contributor to the team defense if you are a Maestro even if you don't have a huge frame, a huge boost for smaller guys.
P.S. i got Daniel Li vibes watching this video, i was juat waiting for the lip syncing (i missed the on court audio tho, like it was in the GS video)
This off-season with the Lakers is gonna be so underrated for D’lo and their team defense he’s finally gonna get time to understand the coaching staffs schemes and embody it. Next year Lakers defense is gonna be wild!
Ok, D-Lo is now a defensive leader on the floor. The world is definitely in Armageddon mode.
As a long time Wolves fan, this is incredibly insightful and well done. (Funny how you put KATs efforts very very nicely.) Great work.
Lakers now got Dlo, Van and Beasley. Thats gonna be dope and easy to adapt as they played together alrdy. 👏🔥
Amazing vid but I gotta add theres a mistake in the summary. It says DRTG without D'angelo twice.
Also I'm not sure if KAT will take the leap to be a good playoff defender as popping bigs like Valancuinas and AD can roast him and he's ALWAYS been this eager to ' jump first , think later'
Other than that thanks for the vid Mike and Ben.
After sticking with my guys thru these years of losing over and over, it's such a relief to see my wolves being competitive this season after the first few hype games of the season. Hopefully we can keep up this energy on D and sneak into the playoffs/play-in this year! Wolves Back!!
Real basketball. 😳😳 Subscribed 👍
Watching it the second time around. Lakers now have DLo, Vando, and Beasley. Replacing Jaden and Towns with Bron and AD sounds interesting.
For real. The depth is there now, also AR, DS, Rui, Mo and Reed gonna be Pat like. They need to start winning, Tonight v Gsw! 🤷♂️💪
We just got to hope ham can scheme something close to this
They're a lot of fun to watch, to boot! I wonder how they will tighten up their defense when they don't have momentum, since they have the communication down. I don't know if they can apply a scheme in the same fashion, but they might be able to work on attention and first responses.
If Towns stays on his feet and is more willing to contest from the ground, a lot of his current deficiencies improve but then he needs to develop his timing for a jump contest. Similarly, they could work on facing the play and attention to the ball in retreat, but then they'll need to figure out placement.
We may also be seeing the benefit of Russell's stopover in Golden State, since he observed a good defense with strong ethos in a down year and got to work with All-Defensive talents.
People need to understand the value of a great defensive communicator, I just never thought that person would D’lo 😅
As A MN fan one of the biggest things holding us back is the culture of our team, when things dont go our way the heads drop, when that should be fuel
I love this format. Good stuff.
Super cool video, well done!
This channel is so awesome
Wolves are actually fun to watch this year. Nice video
I imagine DLO learned from the #1 Defensive player in the league in Draymond Green, and the #1 lead defense in the GS-Warriors. Took those lessons he learned back to Minnesota.
Jarred Vanderbilt has been unreal this season, the games without him are so obvious its crazy he needs that respect
D'lo and Vando now Lakers 👀
Easily the best NBA RUclips channel right now
That's the Draymond influence during his quick stint in GS.
It amazes me how many straight banger videos y’all make.
Legit the power of belief and buying in, love to see it
Suprised you didnt mention Pat Bev ,I think he's really got the young guys dialled in
Was thinkin the same thing. I guess this video is more about on court stuff. Pat Bev no doubt is having an impact on court with his defensive skills, but I reckon he's having even more impact on these young guys off court
The goat is back
I think opponents shooting 29.5% from 3 with D Lo on the floor is a big reason why the defense is a lot better with him on the floor. Not sure how much he's contributing to that.
Likely some regression there for DLo's numbers, but the open 3 pt shooting data doesn't suggesting too much luck for the overall team defense.
Thanks for the vid
Dope vid !
Love this channel
Really great, underrated aspects of the Lakers signing both DLo and Vanderbilt.
here after game two of the Nuggets wolves WCSF...the seeds were sown long ago. finch is a genius, IMAGINE THEY HAD JARED VANDERLIT STILL
Excellent video as always, just to point out at 9:46 ish it says "DRTG without D'Lo" twice, just in case you guys repost for stuff like this. It's a minor error though, Great video as always, best basketball channel on youtube!
I saw that as well
Yeah, let Mike do more vids!
thanks man!!
@@MDLR you do a great job.
OH MY GOD ITS HAPPENING BEN IS COVERING THE WOLVES
Pat Bev is the reason, he brought the energy to the team. Dlo improved heavy tho defensively
These are the types of videos I.love from this channel
Just another piece of evidence supporting the FACT that this is the best basketball channel on RUclips.
Welcome back to lakers, D'Angelo Russell! Return of the Prodigal Son
Fantastic video!
It's always amazing to see resurgence of teams that have been losing for so long.
Always impressed by your content man I love it.
Let’s go lakers
Ben Taylor rn is on his 2016 Curry arc
Putting out work at insane volumes while maintaining efficiency and quality
Haha, a comment worthy of thinking basketball. I can almost picture how much of an outlier this is on that graph :P
What a great analysis
I mean great video for sure, but I'm not going to pretend that that Jokic pass at the beginning isn't the part that a I rewound and rewatched the most lol
Looks like He learned a lot from Steph
& The Warriors.
Good for D Russ
He really matured while in Brooklyn
and that maturity led to Him taking full
advantage of His short time with a
Championship Franchise
which has all led to this and His leadership with The Wolves 🐺
In a more holistic way, I think this kind of thing proves how NBA defense is a lot more than just having 5 good defenders on the floor. It's a lot more about having a scheme that makes the most out of the skill sets of the guys you have.
DLo is not a great individual defender, but he has great vision and anticipation (he's a top 10 passer in the league) so he can use that on defense to set up his teammates to play great defense, the same way he can set up his teammates on offense to make shots.
Been a big DLo guy for years, as a Buckeye and Nets fan. Glad to see him providing that kind of value. I'd like to see him transition more to a playmaker and passer on offense and give up a bit of that scoring volume to Ant, Towns, and even guys like Beasley and Nowell.
Was not expecting to wake up and learn that Russell was spearheading a top ten defence. Great job guys!
Finch and Nurse have had very similar coaching resume's and even coached against each other in the UK before working together for the Raptors. He's always been known to run a great offense so I'm glad to see that he's having success on the defensive end (maybe Nurse taught him a few tricks?).
It actually blows my mind how much good coaching is underrated in the NBA. A good coach that knows how to use his players strengths properly and builds a system around them instead of trying to force players to his system ands probably the best thing for a defense.
Hey love the content. Just thought I should point out that you've got 'without' on both defensive ratings with d'lo on the floor and off the the floor. Second one should be 'with'. Very informative, teaches me a lot about basketball!
great video
Talks are seriously intense!!! 🔥🥵
I remember seeing it this one game and i thought i was tripping. Thank God for this video lmaoo
🥺 I’m so proud of Dlo bro
Do something on the Cavs, they looks strong this season. Great work as always
Who would have thought a team that has two players who are generally considered bad defenders would be a top ten defense in the league
Great video. I think that you should do a video reviewing the Cavs defensive improvement.
All for different contributors/narrators as long as the quality stays the same. Good video. 👍🏽
shoutout Mike De La Rosa for real
much love!