Honest Naz Thoughts

TLDR: Naz can be frustrating

Naz is beloved by fans, has won us countless games in the regular season over the years, and is the reigning 6MOTY. He’s one of my favorite Wolves of all time.

However, this season he has struggled to live up to that standard. His defense is below average for his size, his decision making can be poor, and he misses a disproportionate amount of wide open 3s. We rely on him to be a spark plug off the bench, but it turns into him being a reliable scorer like every 4 games now. He’s also regressed from the regular season in his two playoff runs.

Obviously he’s going through a slump right now, and Randle coming back has affected his flow in the team, but since the end of last season he’s regressed in almost all stats. We’ve seen a leap from Jaden, but haven’t seen anything like that from Naz.

I’m curious what people’s honest opinions of Naz are since it feels like the fanaticism around him has outpaced his play, and sometimes feels like he’s immune to criticism. Especially with looming free agency decisions and what kind of money he might command, I personally don’t feel like he’s worth $20+ mil a year given the current roster, but feel like a team like Brooklyn may offer him that.

Last thing I’ll say is if he turns it around and balls out in the playoffs this will all be moot, but this has been something I’ve been feeling since last years playoffs.