Hungry Like the Wolves (Episode 1)

Hungry Like the Wolves (Episode 1)

how the hell is everybody doing man cave Sports back here with what was formerly known as Timberwolves weekly going forward will be known as Hungry Like The Wolves uh much like uh the the legendary Duran song and tonight we are currently watching the Timberwolves nationally televised game versus the Dallas Mavericks who by the way are missing half their team but the Timberwolves unfortunately are only ahead by three points 7774 with about 5 and a half minutes left here in the third quarter timberwall sitting at 22 and 21 I believe in the ninth spot as far as uh uh the playoff Seasons go which would mean they are in the playin we’re a little over halfway through the season at 43 games be 44 after this game regardless of win or loss but uh an just had a dunk this is a game they should win this is a game they really need to win because they’re I believe a game behind Dallas right now so we’re getting to the point where all these games are meaningful tiebreaker scenarios Etc and with that I’m gonna go to Ramone we don’t really we haven’t been on for two weeks uh haven’t talked about him much but I guess between tonight’s game and what you’ve seen as of late anything that stands out to you from most recent or current you know I think I’m probably going to sound like a broken record that this team just can’t can’t seem to find consistency they win three and we think that the problems are solved that you know the inconsistent effort is a thing of the past or their shooting woses from certain players are a thing of the past or things are solved and it just doesn’t seem to be the case because then they rattle off two straight losses it’s continues to be frustrating um but just looking at the box score tonight it looks like the starting lineup which has been a bit of a problem recently or all season is is really off to a great start Mike connley six for six yep four for four from Deep five assists no turnovers it looks like the entire starting lineup is really really bringing it Finch is still going with that short rotation it looks like only eight guys are playing and with an occasional ninth guy getting five minutes here and there but how I mean I guess a question for the group is how bad is this injury to defen chenzo because I know he’s out I think indefinitely I heard a tow but then I heard a foot fracture so I’m not really certain on what’s going on there that’s a huge blow I guess one of the pluses of that is it looks like Rob Dillingham is getting a chance now a consistent chance to play and be a regular part of the rotation and I know he’s had some ups and downs but sounds like he brought it against the Memphis Grizzlies in a loss but he was bringing it so I guess that’s some positivity but trade deadlines coming it’s going to be very interesting to see what the wolves do I’ll pass on is yeah go on go ahead Mike yeah yeah no doubt and we can talk about some of the trade stuff too here towards the end uh Steve what what’s your take on what what we’re seeing down at uh First Avenue and even on the road like tonight in Dallas which by the way everybody uh we are sans’s Brett tonight but Brett is actually at the game out in Dallas uh I did see some footage on social media so hopefully we’ll see see Brett again soon told him to send us some clips from there so Steve what what’s your take yeah I you know I think they found something with changing up some of the rotation a little bit with divon chenzo um that was working really well it really loosened things up to allow ant space because you had to respect D cenzo’s ability to shoot the three but I saw when he smack he came down on like on another guy’s heel and kind of bent that foot back and then so it’s a big toe uh pretty pretty good Sprain and those things you know you just got to give it time so that’s gonna be a while uh which is unfortunate because um I think I think that we actually found found a rhythm and we started moving things around Randall started playing less they were pulling him out sooner they were only putting him in a different spots we were seeing some different uh looks and things and now you know Finch has kind of gone back to his old Nookie blankie of his lineup there which isn’t really working um you know this team’s biggest problem is itself uh I have yet to see a team other than the one that you know the one the one Knicks game where you know cat came back other than that the the problems we have as a team are our own uh effort and um and focus you know the the effort on defense has to be consistent the effort recently has not been on rebounding Finch had to come out and tell uh Rudy that you have to jump when you rebound you know this is stuff that we you know we teach the kids when when we’re teaching them rebounding you jump up two hands keep the ball above you plant your feet you know um and he’s calling him out in the media to tell Rudy hey jump when you go to rebound and you know don’t just stand there and play volleyball so I mean stuff like that it’s super frustrating um as a fan to watch because you’ve seen him be brilliant at times and you’ve seen him just you know uh just know everybody sleepwalking kind of like this game like you said Luca’s out um you know Lively’s out they’ve got uh you know basically half the half the roster on Dallas out there and we’re we just got to a seven-point lead just a minute ago and actually down by eight to this group and it’s really just because they sleepwalked um I think Finch needs to give Dillingham a lot more run a lot more run to go and if you don’t then nothing’s going to change until Devon chenzo comes back I’d be putting in uh Dillingham every five six minutes just to re-energize this group and wake him back up because he’s a SC plug be naughty well I agree with a lot of things that you were saying and my esteemed colleague and the Very handsome Razer Ramone did bring up he saw on a stat sheet that uh uh Finch’s back to the eight-man rotation um the starters are looking good this was the first game that I’ve seen I was texting Michael I’m like hey man it’s like 328 and we haven’t seen the Dillard we haven’t seen Nas yet I think there might be something to that uh but in regards to the I mean I could go back because we haven’t done this in two weeks I could go back over all of them but the two games that really stand out to me that Memphis game on Martin Luther King day you know in Memphis on national TV in the town that MLK was killed in uh where the Civil Rights there there’s no way we’re gonna win that and so watching that game I love that game the one thing that popped off to me Slim slim slim tonight he’s actually like doing what he’s going to do what he’s supposed to do what we’re paying him to do uh Michael brought up that uh Diller was 14 and uh uh slim was like negative 18 numbers lot but my big thing is the dealer dude we got a star we got a star and it was weird when he came in the game at three minutes left and then he was playing off the ball but I like what I’m seeing out of this team Michael yeah numbers lie except for if you you talk about Jaden with his 110 uh defensive rating on the year when the I believe the NBA average is 112 So the last two games sir what’s that yeah the the game against Memphis he was ass tonight he looks good tonight he looks good and I mean the the the numbers maybe they don’t tell the whole story but they tell a freaking lot of it and here’s a number for you back off man nobody wants to see that cross stachy got [ __ ] going there um anyways here’s a number for you 18 free throws by ant on Monday first first time I’ve seen him play downhill all freaking year if they’re gonna go somewhere ant needs to do that I I don’t mind him chucking up three threes because he’s hitting at a high percentage but I saw some stuff out of him Monday that I haven’t seen much this year um you know another another thing at that I uh put in here where was it now I missed it anyways I I mean they they look all right tonight now they have a four-point lead with two and a half minutes left in the in the third but this is a this I’m not going to say it’s a must-win game but they can’t keep losing games like this I don’t care that it’s in Dallas and they’re the defending uh uh you know uh they represented the West in in the in the uh NBA finals last year this is a game you got to win Ry with a nice dunk there um anyways I’m going to do some word association I want to mix it up a little bit because we’ve talked about him all year the fan base is talking about him you see some [ __ ] going down in the NBA right now like uh was it Utah and Phoenix and a bunch of people trading picks so you know some stuff’s about to go down and you know it’s probably you know Jimmy Butler’s going to be the the the straw that stir the drink all Reggie Jackson when it comes to NBA trades and my assumption is that’s going to go down any day why why W you run him out of there I don’t know if you saw them the other night sitting on the bench while the team was huddling just being the Monstrous douche that he is and quite frankly always has been but uh let’s do some word association with Timberwolves first one is Julius Randall Ramon Enigma you want me to expand sure oh Julius Randall bit of a scapegoat at times I think he takes the brunt of the blame for what’s wrong with this team and I think some of it is deserved and I don’t I think it’s all his fault obviously I think Finch has made um some mistakes maybe not holding guys accountable enough I think the shooting has been a huge issue Mike Conley’s kind of early struggles have been a big issue but um body language is another thing I want to add about Julius Randall he just looks like he’s kind of pouting a lot and it’s bothersome to me like there are times where I’m like and I and I don’t really understand and him and so I can kind of see why Finch has had such a hard time of maybe giving Nas more of the minutes to Randall because I don’t think ran would be a good good soldier about it to take what B said about Mike Conley I think he could become a big problem if that’s the case so on one hand I’m saying he shouldn’t be the scapegoat but on the other I think that his he kind of Sul and it’s concerning Steve uh fog fog fog he seems to be in a fog um he when when he’s energized and he’s crashing the boards he’s driving you know posting up feeding out to guys it it he’s he’s impressive to watch his physicality like the one thing I do really appreciate him a little positivity for you Beady is I love when he gets physical he drops the shoulder into somebody nobody’s intimidating this guy he doesn’t care if you’re Draymond he doesn’t give a crap who he he’s not afraid of anybody on the basketball court when he’s energized like that I love it and I think he’s a great pickup but you only get that in flashes and glimpses here and there you know as the game’s been going on I’ve been watching all of a sudden you know he’s crashing the boards getting rebounds stuff like that that’s great he’s a powerful guy he’s strong and he’s fast but then other times he’s just like in a fog he’s not focused doesn’t really like know what like I’ve said before it’s like the guy smoked a jade like an hour before the game and like it’s still kind of of you know he’s kind of fading in and out you know he’s like he’s like he’s still high but not high still you know like he’s a partway sober or something it just it’s frustrating to watch because you can see why people loved him out east you know because he is powerful strong he’s he when he gets going he’s he’s impressive to watch but he’s in a fog for me it’s and I think Finch um Finch is doing him a real disservice by um you know not helping him out he’s forcing Julius Randall to be in the spot and to take the blame for the cat trade because that’s what Randall everybody sees not cat there it’s Randall there so he’s going to get the heat noty I disagree I don’t think uh finchy has a choice to bench him that there’s no way that jws is coming off the uh the pine so you got to start them they the big story with the cat trade hey Julius Randle said hey VY well this is some coach at uh in New Orleans uh yeah he unlocked me and I I think it’s finchy scared of him um the as uh referring back to Razer the body language bro holy [ __ ] dude when he was on the bench in the Memphis game everybody was standing and he had a towel around his head and he was looking around everybody he was the only one sitting down I don’t know I want to love uh Julius Randle because I’m the wild card I like the bad guys I’m trying to find something to like and combat you guys with but it’s it’s almost impossible uh Michael yeah I I was you know something I I thought about and was reading to day and I know Steve youve seen this because I put it up on X Twitter uh out of 35 man lineups in the NBA that had logged at least 150 minutes together the Timberwolves starting five is one of them ranks 17th with a plus 0.4 um and if you swap that out with uh Nas re as far as net rating you swap that out with nas Reed it goes to 27.2 so they are a lot better with nas out there and I know he’s historically come off the bench and done a great job for them but at some juncture when you’re sitting here around 500 fighting for your freaking playing lives you need to start making the adjustments and it seems like Finch’s been bending a little bit but is it enough to save the season I don’t know but we’ll see what happens with the trade rumors because or with with any trade options because Randall due due to the fact that he even has just the oneyear player option left which my assumption is if he’s still here he’ll take I don’t think anybody’s going to offer him more than the 30 million he’s going to make next year what they’re going to do because I mean who knows you know uh Connelly hasn’t been afraid to to do controversial moves or big big moves so we’ll see what happens uh next one Rudy goar Ramone tired he looks a little worn out out there he doesn’t seem to have or maybe a little bit old maybe’s showing some age his rebounding isn’t what it’s been um and it just seems like if there’s he’s in a scrum for a rebound he’s often not coming up with it and I don’t know if he’s maybe dealing with some sort of an injury that we’re on aware of or maybe it’s just the long SLO of the season but he just looks a little bit he looks like he’s lost some explosion and his his rebounding I don’t know what his overall rebounding numbers are but just when I’ve when I’ve watched games he he’ll have one game where he’s rebounding very well then another game where he has like four rebounds and concern ironically he was just shooting free throws and they panned over to Derek lley and luuka and they were laughing so that kind of upset me bastard how many does he have tonight do you know for for points or for rebounds I I’m not sure I mean okay he just hit a couple of free throws so his free throw shooting’s actually been pretty good I remember 80% maybe two years ago when he would throw occasional airball up at free throw uh he’s got six boards tonight all right all right Steve what do you think Steve what do you think about Rudy um well I you know I think Rudy has done some things well coming into the season and in other places he’s definitely regressed I think one of the things he’s done really well is his free throw shooting he his free throw shooting is really good he really F you can tell he focus on it so I will be very positive I don’t feel worried when he goes up to the line anymore right I’m like you know he’s going to get he’s either going to get both or going to get one or two you know I’m not worried about them bricking both anymore like I was last year so that’s good um one of the things though that you know like you’re talking about we do miss the rebounding and who’s top five in rebounding right now cat in the NBA both for average and total boards um so I don’t know if this was something that we just didn’t see as much of because of cat’s presence and you know being able to get as many boards as he does but um it’s very very clear um even this game I was I was checking out while while we’ve been talking here we went a little bit of a spurt there um where we got up by seven or eight and that’s because Rudy was B rebounding uh Randall was rebounding and just getting crazy after it I think Rudy um it’s very frustrating to watch him with the ball if it’s not a dunk um not automatic dunk for him he is like a little deer lost in the headlights doesn’t know what to do with the ball and um he doesn’t finish it’s very weird to watch him not be able to finish a guy that tall and that big he’s not an automatic finisher unless he’s you know catching a you know unless he’s catching an oop you know you don’t know even even at the protected Circle it’s like at the protected Circle he should be slamming that thing down right like seven what is he 7 foot one with that wingspan that should be an automatic he gets around that protected Circle down there at the bottom that should be an automatic two points and it’s not he’s going to you know he he does this thing where he kind of like lays it up and like tries to be Mike connley with a floater I’m like just you’re that big slam her down knock it off nauy take it I don’t want all right you know what as usual I totally eff and disagree with you sir um I’ve been a part of a lot of baseball teams in my life and sometimes I’m the favorite sometimes I’m not and there’s no in between and I think what I’m seeing with Rudy it’s either he’s a douchebag or nobody likes him on the team he’s never set up in position they never try to have him Excel they just uh kind of flip it over to him Rudy I think is getting a bad rep I think it’s a bad rep wait a minute wait a minute Finch puts him in a good spot a lot ant doesn’t hit him but how many times we said that on this show even right we said that on this show R God Julius you know it say they wait it seems like they want him to fail I don’t know it’s early I’m not going to panic on it I’m still a Rudy guy Michael you know an interesting thing tonight and they’re up by four at the end of the third so we’ll we’ll I got one more uh word association then we’ll probably close out of here a little bit different uh AC Capello style tonight from us but that works um all all five starters have at least 13 points but none more than 18 it’s crazy so the balance in scoring tonight is pretty crazy no bench points so we have eight points off of uh Finch’s Great rotation of Nas Nelle and Dillingham what happened to Josh Minot by the way I he was playing meaningful minutes and all of a sudden he th he disappeared off the face of the Earth anyways let’s do one more word association then we’ll close out and watch this game hopefully a timber wolves win Rob Dillingham Ramone before I get into Dillingham just wanted to point this out real quick about Rudy goar he’s averaging 10.3 rebounds a game which is the lowest he’s had in 11 years when he was 22 years old so is it a sign of decline we shall see Rob Dillingham I would go with electric the future inconsistent fun those are the words I can think of I mean when the guy is in there you can’t take your eyes off him part of it is cu he’s the littlest guy in the court but a lot of it is because the the man can just flat out shoot the man can just flat out handle the ball and he is not he’s not afraid and while he does have a lot of defensive limitations due to his size due to the fact that he’s so young and so inexperienced you can’t fault him for a lack of effort because he is trying his ass off on defense and that at this point in his career that’s all you can really ask for I just wish he’d get a little bit more of an opportunity I do think that on one hand he has like those games where he looks brilliant and then the next game he looks terrible and he looks like he’s really struggling but I I didn’t watch the Memphis game but I heard he was electric and he was getting it done and on those nights I feel like Finch has to let him ride him and I don’t think he did down the stretch from what I understand if he’s having a rough night and he’s struggling a ton then yeah maybe you you shorten the the rotation minutes but if he’s if he’s cooking let the man go to work they need a lift Steve uh spark plug this kid’s a spark plug he every time this team starts sleep walking anytime if I was Finch if I saw that I would put him in immediately because Dillingham plays faster than everybody else on the court he runs up and down the court quicker it Sparks Randall one of the things I noticed when dillingham’s been in is that Randall will get out and run with Dillingham and they will they will go ahead and um uh and and push the pace with Dilly hams out there and then tonight I was watching him and n on defense there and he and N because of their speed uh they shut down uh you know they shut down Kyrie and I forget who the offguard was but they were trying to do switches in this on that and it was beautiful it was like textbook how you switch and play and the communication they had was awesome and so I think this kid needs a lot more run and if I was if I was a coach anytime I saw the team start sleepwalking boom I’d have in there instantly and just say go run him go run him run that other team off the court because when he’s out there like the other night at Memphis you get openings for ant you put him on the floor with ant they have to respect that kid’s speed and quickness and he does have a three ball so the why we’re not giving him more run especially with d ven chenel’s injury I get when D van chenzel is healthy because that guy is a Bonafide stud but when dant chenzel is out give this kid more Wheels give him more run nauy well I agree and I disagree with both my esteemed colleagues Mr Steve and uh Razer rumon um I think that he’s not so fast as he was when he got run uh about 15 games ago and I don’t think he’s as bad on defense even being a young player as he is what I saw in the two prior games uh especially Memphis I I saw a guy that’s under control I saw a guy that was playing defense and being in the right spot and this guy is going to be a star Diller the killer you heard it from Bady Michael all right so the wolves are up by nine Nas Reed hit a couple of nice threes I’m sure you guys are watching in the background or following on your devices uh Dillingham love him love him got a got a Jersey this year uh of him my son picked out a Jaden for the city Edition and I got a Dillan hand one I have not yet worn it but I can’t wait to break it out based on his recent play so um no just crushed a three yes are you a little ahead of me let me see says there up 12 here on on the computer y okay just saw the N3 so you’re a couple of seconds ahead of me Steve way to way to spoil it oh yeah we’re by 12 n and a half left so cross your fingers downstairs and I’m gonna watch the game see youat all right Brian we’ll see you in a bit all right gentlemen that wraps up this week’s edition the inaugural edition of Hungry Like The Wolves uh you know everything is going to be we’re we’re rebranding the the the the programming just uh just to mix it up a little bit maybe change the aura that surrounds our Minnesota based teams that’s it you know we we’ll we’ll go with that but appreciate it gentlemen we will be back next week everybody please like subscribe Etc Steve I’ll see you after the game we will see you next week for sure in fact you’ll see me before then because we got to talk about what’s going on February 1st which yes sir freaking stoked about by the way it’s gonna be aesome it will be thank you everybody that is Hungry Like The Wolves for this week we will be back next week have a good evening

The Man Cave crew discusses the Timberwolves recent performance, trade rumors, and the year-to-date performance of some of the key team members.

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