Is Rick Adelman transforming this years T-wolves into the Kings of the early 2000s?

[Yung D-Will]

I remember when Rick Adalmen first signed with Minny everyone labeled them as a team on the rise. However, because of injuies to Rubio, love, pek, Jj, B roy, and nearly everyone on that squad the deveopment was put to a hult, and their record disappointed many.

Fast foward to this year, and theyre finally healthy, and Adelman has had a chance to surround Love, Rubio, and Pek with high iq players that can play effectively in his system.

Now lets talk about Adelman, It seems like people have forgotten how excellent a coach he really is. This is the guy who coached Portland to the finals, constructed one of the most offensively dominant teams in the early 2000's in the sacremento kings, and took injury prone Houston teams to the playoffs that really didnt belong there. This is a coach who's been excellent at developing young players throught his career, and has one of the best coaching win perecents of all times. He has a proven system, that hes adapted to drastically different teams and levels of talent. I've never actually considered a guy like Doc Rivers a better coach than Adelman for his ability to adapt and win with a variety of different rosters.

Anyhow, offensively do you think this years Minny squad can get to the level of some of Ricks other teams?

[HomieWeMajor]

I predict a 60 win season for the Wolves within 3 years.

[Yung D-Will]

People really forget how elite an offense Adelman implements

[LakersDaBEst]

I think picking Kevin martin was really nice as well

[FireDavidKahn]

He's been doing it since he got here. The difference this year is that all the players are finally buying in and we brought it some very smart/good vets in Martin and Brewer. This team is legit and even more so once Bud comes back.

[Brook(lyn)Lopez]

This offense can lead to a lot of regular season wins.
Too bad the personnel is piss poor defensively.
It's not a good thing when your best defender is Ricky Rubio, and you have two defensive sieves in the starting line up.
They won't go far in the play offs for this reason unless they sacrifice scoring for at least passable defense.

[FireDavidKahn]

This offense can lead to a lot of regular season wins.
Too bad the personnel is piss poor defensively.
It's not a good thing when your best defender is Ricky Rubio, and you have two defensive sieves in the starting line up.
They won't go far in the play offs for this reason unless they sacrifice scoring for at least passable defense.

The context of that sentence makes it seem like you think Ricky is a bad defender, which he is far from. He is an upper echelon defender.

[Brook(lyn)Lopez]

The context of that sentence makes it seem like you think Ricky is a bad defender, which he is far from. He is an upper echelon defender.

I'm not, I know he's a great defender, but he's a point guard, and they traditionally have the least impact defensively out of all positions on the court, so to make up for the other poor defenders in the starting line up, he'd have to be a transcending defender at the point guard position and that would sacrifice some of his energy on the offensive end.

[Yung D-Will]

I think a big thing with Rick Adelman, is that even though hes an elite offensive coach, he still wants his teams to be above average defensively. He might not have great individual defenders but the team defensive schemes usally make his teams effective, on that end of the floor.

[andremiller07]

The Kings other than the PG spot were all more talented and better passing players than the current Twovles, but I can see what OP is trying to say though Rick is a elite coach.

[Yung D-Will]

The Kings other than the PG spot were all more talented and better passing players than the current Twovles, but I can see what OP is trying to say though Rick is a elite coach.

Ot: I pmed u like 2 days ago lol.

[andremiller07]

Ot: I pmed u like 2 days ago lol.

I didn't get anything man,you sure it was to me?

[La Frescobaldi]

This offense can lead to a lot of regular season wins.
Too bad the personnel is piss poor defensively.
It's not a good thing when your best defender is Ricky Rubio, and you have two defensive sieves in the starting line up.
They won't go far in the play offs for this reason unless they sacrifice scoring for at least passable defense.

remains to be seen. They are shutting down stars so far, which in this league, wins a lot of games. Now whether these guys are having off nights who knows. 3 games in there's no answer yet.

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

I predict a 60 win season for the Wolves within 3 years.

Shoot, I think they can hit 50 this season. ...if they stay healthy.

But funny coincidence, I was just talking to an online buddy of mine about this the other night, comparing this TWolves team to the early 00s Kings teams. Here's how I broke it down.

- Pek : Divac - Pek is more physical and technical. Divac is the better passer, which fits Adelman's O better. But Adelman's system needs a rebounder/middle clogger on D. While different styles, I like Pek better, even though Divac is the better fit for Adelman

- KLove : CWebb - KLove is basically a less athletic CWebb w/ less passing ability, but way better rebounding and range. It's almost a wash here in regards to Adelman's system. CWebb can pass, KLove can shoot. Both are needed for Adelman's O.

- Brewer : Christie - yeah Brewer is SF and Christie was SG, but I'll address that in a bit. Both players basically fit the role of defender/athletic slasher type. Though I think Christie was the better defender (not based on my opinion, based on the lack of games I've seen Brewer play - maybe a handful).

- KMart : Peja - here's the key, the shooting wing (SF or SG, doesn't matter). Peja was a better pure shooter, but KLove can fill that spot. Having the 2nd shooter in KMart is just icing on the cake. He can just chill in the corner and shoot like Peja did adding a supplemental shooting threat. While Bibby was a good shooter, he was handling the ball. And Hedo came off the bench, spelling Peja usually. Here, the TWolves have 2 off-ball shooters on the floor at the same time.

- Rubio : JDubb/Bibby - Rubio is a better JDubb. Bibby was probably more fundamentally sound, but Rubio is young and can develop. Rubio is basically the prototypical PG for Adelman's O

- Turiaf/Dieng/Cunningham/Williams : Keon Clark/Funderburke/Pollard - pretty similar bench bigs - got a defender, rebounder, poster, banger, etc. Advantage to TWolves for Derrick Williams range and athleticism.

- Budinger/Shabazz : Hedo/Gerald Wallace - Budinger fits the Hedo role of bench shooter, though is probably more athletic. Shabazz and Wallace are washes as Wallace was way underdeveloped and Shabazz is also unproven so far.

- JJ Barea : Bobby Jackson - the little spark plug off the bench. Wash.

The teams aren't carbon copies, obviously, though there are lots of similarities. So, while the Adelman Kings teams had better passing bigs, I think the TWolves team is better suited w/ the extra range, athleticism, and interior presence it has. Rubio makes up for the lack of passing bigs.

The one disadvantage the TWolves have is that they play in a much more stacked West than the Kings played in. I don't like the "era debate" in regards to individual play/skill/talent. But I definitely do acknowledge eras in regards to team accomplishments. And it was easier for the Kings.

[Yung D-Will]

Shoot, I think they can hit 50 this season. ...if they stay healthy.

But funny coincidence, I was just talking to an online buddy of mine about this the other night, comparing this TWolves team to the early 00s Kings teams. Here's how I broke it down.

- Pek : Divac - Pek is more physical and technical. Divac is the better passer, which fits Adelman's O better. But Adelman's system needs a rebounder/middle clogger on D. While different styles, I like Pek better, even though Divac is the better fit for Adelman

- KLove : CWebb - KLove is basically a less athletic CWebb w/ less passing ability, but way better rebounding and range. It's almost a wash here in regards to Adelman's system. CWebb can pass, KLove can shoot. Both are needed for Adelman's O.

- Brewer : Christie - yeah Brewer is SF and Christie was SG, but I'll address that in a bit. Both players basically fit the role of defender/athletic slasher type. Though I think Christie was the better defender (not based on my opinion, based on the lack of games I've seen Brewer play - maybe a handful).

- KMart : Peja - here's the key, the shooting wing (SF or SG, doesn't matter). Peja was a better pure shooter, but KLove can fill that spot. Having the 2nd shooter in KMart is just icing on the cake. He can just chill in the corner and shoot like Peja did adding a supplemental shooting threat. While Bibby was a good shooter, he was handling the ball. And Hedo came off the bench, spelling Peja usually. Here, the TWolves have 2 off-ball shooters on the floor at the same time.

- Rubio : JDubb/Bibby - Rubio is a better JDubb. Bibby was probably more fundamentally sound, but Rubio is young and can develop. Rubio is basically the prototypical PG for Adelman's O

- Turiaf/Dieng/Cunningham/Williams : Keon Clark/Funderburke/Pollard - pretty similar bench bigs - got a defender, rebounder, poster, banger, etc. Advantage to TWolves for Derrick Williams range and athleticism.

- Budinger/Shabazz : Hedo/Gerald Wallace - Budinger fits the Hedo role of bench shooter, though is probably more athletic. Shabazz and Wallace are washes as Wallace was way underdeveloped and Shabazz is also unproven so far.

- JJ Barea : Bobby Jackson - the little spark plug off the bench. Wash.

The teams aren't carbon copies, obviously, though there are lots of similarities. So, while the Adelman Kings teams had better passing bigs, I think the TWolves team is better suited w/ the extra range, athleticism, and interior presence it has. Rubio makes up for the lack of passing bigs.

The one disadvantage the TWolves have is that they play in a much more stacked West than the Kings played in. I don't like the "era debate" in regards to individual play/skill/talent. But I definitely do acknowledge eras in regards to team accomplishments. And it was easier for the Kings.

Excellent post