New Board Members — Introductions

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I noticed that there have been some new accounts registered to the site this season. I just wanted to say welcome on behalf of everyone here. Whether you lurk, comment occasionally, or end up becoming a regular, I hope you find this forum entertaining or even enlightening in some way.

If you're comfortable doing so, please go ahead and introduce yourself. What, or who, made you a Timberwolves fan? How did you find the site? How do you feel about the state of the franchise?

Also, let this not be narrowed down to just the newly registered accounts. Let's open the door for anyone who has frequented these parts and has yet to chime in. Fresh ideas and personalities, as well as perspectives, are always encouraged, assuming they aren't of the trolling variety.

Thanks!

[AbeVigodaLive]

I'm just trying out a few new personas.

[TheFuture]

Just trying to see who I'm ignored by.

[davemang]

I don't post super often but I've lurked since the ESPN days and luckily saw the posts about this site before the boards were taken down.

Growing up in Minnesota through the the North Stars leaving, magical Twins seasons and complete fall off, my dad and I turned towards the Wolves and NBA basketball in the mid 90s. My dad was a Hockey/Football guy, but for whatever reason we got really into basketball and he ended up coaching a bunch of my youth teams. Spud Webb was my first favorite Twolves player (although he was pretty late into his career when he was here) and Olajuwon was my favorite NBA player. KG, Googs, Steph all came in at the perfect time to fully solidify my obsession with the wolves/NBA and KG became (and still is I think) my favorite wolf.

As far as how I feel about the current state of the franchise, it's been kind of the same since about the Ricky/Love days where my heart has hope while my head tells me that even though the pieces look good in a vacuum, the construction and types of talent on the roster aren't enough to be considered a contender, if even a playoff team. I think moving forward (once Steph/GSW are really done) a contender in the modern NBA needs a long, athletic, two way player as their star/superstar. Like Giannis or Tatum, potentially Wemby, Zion, and SGA and previously with Kawhi, AD, LeBron, and Durant to an extent. Some lower tier guys that have the right game/style but aren't quite on the same level like Paul George, Jimmy Butler come to mind, and some hopefuls that never quite got there like our own Derrick Williams and/or Andrew Wiggins. Guys like Luka, Jokic, and Embiid are amazing, but need more careful roster construction as a teams franchise player (might be a bit of a hot take to say that about Luka right now though).

When the Wolves struck gold with the Towns pick I had never been more hopeful (other than 03-04) because he would be a great #2 to Wiggins, who would obviously be that long, athletic two-way superstar. Unfortunately Wiggins was a bit more Michael Beasley than Tatum and ended up being mediocre at best for the wolves. I believe Towns is worthy of being a max player and a perennial all-star / all nba candidate, but I don't think wolves can win with him as a #1. My heart wanted to believe that the FO had some kind of inside track on Gobert / Towns working, but my head had a hard time justifying it. Maybe if the experiment is allow to continue over multiple seasons it can end up working out, but I think it will be bad enough in the mean time that it won't be allowed to go on that long.

Or maybe Ant turns into the Jimmiest of Butlers on steroids and becomes a unicorn that breaks the NBA championship meta and what we have is enough!

[SDPup [enjin:21012341]]

Thank you Cam for the invitation. I have been a lurker for 10 or so years, but a Wolves fan since inception. If I dig deep (at least into my memory banks), I think I can find my Pooh Richardson "Cool, Calm and Collected" t-shirt. I am cautiously optimistic about the Wolves. I absolutely love Ant and a lot of our role players. I respect KAT's talent, but am not a fan of his public persona and performance (I realize he may not be the whiny baby he appears to be in real life). I think Gobert and DLo are excellent championship pieces but have their obvious limitations. I think McDaniels, Nowell, Minott, Moore, Reid, McLaughlin, Anderson and Prince are excellent pieces to a championship roster, but they need our big three/four to play at a top level. They all have their flaws, but not many teams have 3-4 potential all-stars (DLo will probably never make it back, but his offensive talent, albeit streaky, is elite). Rocky start to the season, but I am confident they will make the playoffs and would be disappointed if they don't at least make the conference semis (lots of good teams, but no excuses after mortgaging the future for Gobert). This may be my last post, but Go Wolves!

[thedoper]

Thank you Cam for the invitation. I have been a lurker for 10 or so years, but a Wolves fan since inception. If I dig deep (at least into my memory banks), I think I can find my Pooh Richardson "Cool, Calm and Collected" t-shirt. I am cautiously optimistic about the Wolves. I absolutely love Ant and a lot of our role players. I respect KAT's talent, but am not a fan of his public persona and performance (I realize he may not be the whiny baby he appears to be in real life). I think Gobert and DLo are excellent championship pieces but have their obvious limitations. I think McDaniels, Nowell, Minott, Moore, Reid, McLaughlin, Anderson and Prince are excellent pieces to a championship roster, but they need our big three/four to play at a top level. They all have their flaws, but not many teams have 3-4 potential all-stars (DLo will probably never make it back, but his offensive talent, albeit streaky, is elite). Rocky start to the season, but I am confident they will make the playoffs and would be disappointed if they don't at least make the conference semis (lots of good teams, but no excuses after mortgaging the future for Gobert). This may be my last post, but Go Wolves!

You should post more but if your prefer to lurk so be it. Either way welcome.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I don't post super often but I've lurked since the ESPN days and luckily saw the posts about this site before the boards were taken down.

Growing up in Minnesota through the the North Stars leaving, magical Twins seasons and complete fall off, my dad and I turned towards the Wolves and NBA basketball in the mid 90s. My dad was a Hockey/Football guy, but for whatever reason we got really into basketball and he ended up coaching a bunch of my youth teams. Spud Webb was my first favorite Twolves player (although he was pretty late into his career when he was here) and Olajuwon was my favorite NBA player. KG, Googs, Steph all came in at the perfect time to fully solidify my obsession with the wolves/NBA and KG became (and still is I think) my favorite wolf.

As far as how I feel about the current state of the franchise, it's been kind of the same since about the Ricky/Love days where my heart has hope while my head tells me that even though the pieces look good in a vacuum, the construction and types of talent on the roster aren't enough to be considered a contender, if even a playoff team. I think moving forward (once Steph/GSW are really done) a contender in the modern NBA needs a long, athletic, two way player as their star/superstar. Like Giannis or Tatum, potentially Wemby, Zion, and SGA and previously with Kawhi, AD, LeBron, and Durant to an extent. Some lower tier guys that have the right game/style but aren't quite on the same level like Paul George, Jimmy Butler come to mind, and some hopefuls that never quite got there like our own Derrick Williams and/or Andrew Wiggins. Guys like Luka, Jokic, and Embiid are amazing, but need more careful roster construction as a teams franchise player (might be a bit of a hot take to say that about Luka right now though).

When the Wolves struck gold with the Towns pick I had never been more hopeful (other than 03-04) because he would be a great #2 to Wiggins, who would obviously be that long, athletic two-way superstar. Unfortunately Wiggins was a bit more Michael Beasley than Tatum and ended up being mediocre at best for the wolves. I believe Towns is worthy of being a max player and a perennial all-star / all nba candidate, but I don't think wolves can win with him as a #1. My heart wanted to believe that the FO had some kind of inside track on Gobert / Towns working, but my head had a hard time justifying it. Maybe if the experiment is allow to continue over multiple seasons it can end up working out, but I think it will be bad enough in the mean time that it won't be allowed to go on that long.

Or maybe Ant turns into the Jimmiest of Butlers on steroids and becomes a unicorn that breaks the NBA championship meta and what we have is enough!

Thanks for commenting, Dave! It sounds like you've followed the team plenty long enough to have seen the lows followed by the semi-highs and then right back to the lows where they've stayed for much of their existence. That loyalty runs deep. Ha!

I agree that in order to contend in today's NBA a team's best player has to play well on both ends of the court. Specifically, I think they have to set the tone in that regard or else it gets very difficult for other guys to hold them accountable or buy-in themselves. For instance, if a role player has to keep the team's best player in check, they're probably not good enough to lead the team anywhere relevant. Unfortunately, we've lived through that with Al Jefferson, Kevin Love, and now Karl-Anthony Towns. We did get Jimmy Butler for a blip, but of course all good things must blow up in our faces. That's the Minnesota way!

I agree with your sentiments about the Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns experiment. I think they'll either figure it out and win plenty of games, or they'll pull the plug as soon as this off-season and reconfigure the roster. Patience over the course of multiple seasons isn't really on our side.

I think we're seeing too much pressure on Anthony Edwards' (and Jaden McDaniels') development already, and relying on him to be a key part of a contender at just 21-years old might have been a misstep, but his talent and physical ability at least gives him and the team a chance. His mental approach needs more refinement than anything, in my opinion.

Lots of good thoughts here and we hope you share more throughout the season!

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Thank you Cam for the invitation. I have been a lurker for 10 or so years, but a Wolves fan since inception. If I dig deep (at least into my memory banks), I think I can find my Pooh Richardson "Cool, Calm and Collected" t-shirt. I am cautiously optimistic about the Wolves. I absolutely love Ant and a lot of our role players. I respect KAT's talent, but am not a fan of his public persona and performance (I realize he may not be the whiny baby he appears to be in real life). I think Gobert and DLo are excellent championship pieces but have their obvious limitations. I think McDaniels, Nowell, Minott, Moore, Reid, McLaughlin, Anderson and Prince are excellent pieces to a championship roster, but they need our big three/four to play at a top level. They all have their flaws, but not many teams have 3-4 potential all-stars (DLo will probably never make it back, but his offensive talent, albeit streaky, is elite). Rocky start to the season, but I am confident they will make the playoffs and would be disappointed if they don't at least make the conference semis (lots of good teams, but no excuses after mortgaging the future for Gobert). This may be my last post, but Go Wolves!

Welcome! I think most of us have real estate in the suburbs of Cautious Optimism. However, some have since moved over to the woodlands of Heedless Pessimism. I'm not sure those fans will return anytime soon...

I share your thoughts on much of what you mentioned here. I love Anthony Edwards' talent, however, I'm still lukewarm at best on his seriousness and mentality as a winning player. Ultimately, I know that he's just 21-years old and might grow into that more as he matures.

And as much as it pains me to admit, I'm also growing tired of Karl-Anthony Towns' persona and play style. He really is an unbelievable talent and has the ability to be an offensive dynamo, which is what made many of us big fans of him to begin with, but the inability to control his emotions and unwillingness to play through his biggest strength (as a perimeter-shooting big) has made me grow tired of him.

I'm glad there's another here that recognizes the many good things that D'Angelo Russell provides to this team. The shot creation alone is much-needed let alone the shot-making ability, albeit streaky at times. Anyways, it often gets lonely over here on D-Lo Island. Grab a chair!

Like you, I still think this team eventually clicks and firmly makes the playoffs. I just don't know what part of the season that will come. 40 games? 60 games? Naturally, we're impatient fans who demand results, but I'm trying my best to wait this out. There's just too much talent on the roster not to.

Thanks for sharing! It seems like you have valuable insight and the board would benefit from you posting more (at your own discretion). Also, does "SDPup" indicate West Coast roots? Any chance you're a Chargers fan?

[Lipoli390]

I don't post super often but I've lurked since the ESPN days and luckily saw the posts about this site before the boards were taken down.

Growing up in Minnesota through the the North Stars leaving, magical Twins seasons and complete fall off, my dad and I turned towards the Wolves and NBA basketball in the mid 90s. My dad was a Hockey/Football guy, but for whatever reason we got really into basketball and he ended up coaching a bunch of my youth teams. Spud Webb was my first favorite Twolves player (although he was pretty late into his career when he was here) and Olajuwon was my favorite NBA player. KG, Googs, Steph all came in at the perfect time to fully solidify my obsession with the wolves/NBA and KG became (and still is I think) my favorite wolf.

As far as how I feel about the current state of the franchise, it's been kind of the same since about the Ricky/Love days where my heart has hope while my head tells me that even though the pieces look good in a vacuum, the construction and types of talent on the roster aren't enough to be considered a contender, if even a playoff team. I think moving forward (once Steph/GSW are really done) a contender in the modern NBA needs a long, athletic, two way player as their star/superstar. Like Giannis or Tatum, potentially Wemby, Zion, and SGA and previously with Kawhi, AD, LeBron, and Durant to an extent. Some lower tier guys that have the right game/style but aren't quite on the same level like Paul George, Jimmy Butler come to mind, and some hopefuls that never quite got there like our own Derrick Williams and/or Andrew Wiggins. Guys like Luka, Jokic, and Embiid are amazing, but need more careful roster construction as a teams franchise player (might be a bit of a hot take to say that about Luka right now though).

When the Wolves struck gold with the Towns pick I had never been more hopeful (other than 03-04) because he would be a great #2 to Wiggins, who would obviously be that long, athletic two-way superstar. Unfortunately Wiggins was a bit more Michael Beasley than Tatum and ended up being mediocre at best for the wolves. I believe Towns is worthy of being a max player and a perennial all-star / all nba candidate, but I don't think wolves can win with him as a #1. My heart wanted to believe that the FO had some kind of inside track on Gobert / Towns working, but my head had a hard time justifying it. Maybe if the experiment is allow to continue over multiple seasons it can end up working out, but I think it will be bad enough in the mean time that it won't be allowed to go on that long.

Or maybe Ant turns into the Jimmiest of Butlers on steroids and becomes a unicorn that breaks the NBA championship meta and what we have is enough!

Great post, DM. There have definitely been some hopeful moments in the history of this franchise.

After drafting Marbury to pair with KG, it looked like this franchise was destined to be a perennial championship contender for many years. And they would have been if Marbury hadn't had some sort of mental breakdown. Not many people remember, but the Wolves were 1st in West when they traded him. The Wolves traded for Terrell Brandon to replace Marbury, but they subsequently also signed Billups. A couple years after Marbury left, it looked like the Wolves were going to land on their feet as Billups was really starting to shine. He was a late bloomer and a reminder of why NBA front office execs need to be patient with young players. Alas, the Wolves front office blundered by letting Billups go in favor of the almost always injured Brandon. In an obviously short-term move, the Wolves acquired Spree and Sam to combine with KG and this team came within a Sam Cassell injury of likely making the NBA finals. The Wolves owned Detroit in the regular season back then so I think it's a good bet the Wolves would have won an NBA championship if Cassell hadn't injured himself with his moronic dance on the sideline.

Much later the Wolves again looked like they were going to become a contender with Rubio and Love clicking as the Wolves were climbing up the standings and viewed as one of the best young teams in the League. Alas, Rubio went down with an ACL tear and neither he nor that team ever recovered back to where they where when he went down. Nevertheless, the Wolves again generated excitement in that brief moment when Jimmy Butler was here, but it ended badly as I thought it would at the time because the deal was simply a bad fit for this young team. Finally, last season we saw the Wolves rekindle hope with an exciting young team that came on strong the 2nd half to finish 10 games over .500 and nearly knock off the 2nd seeded Grizzlies. Of course, the Wolves front office again couldn't get out of its own way and that's where we're at this season.

As bad as the Wolves history has been, that same history has shown us brief moments of what this franchise can potentially achieve. Some of the reason for past disappointments has been bad luck, but an honest examination of franchise history tells us that it ultimately comes down to a lack of front office competence. We've had some decent front office execs, but not nearly good enough. It's like the player who puts up nice numbers but mentally implodes in big moments with multiple blunders. That's the Wolves front office profile over the years and it has created brief moments of possibility that invariably ended in disappointment.

We can't help but look at the Wolves situation today without gazing through that historical lens. In my view, we are once again living through the disappointment that comes with front office executives whose blunders overshadow their successes and who ultimately snatch defeat from the jaws of possibility. Yet, history also shows us that things can turn around and sometimes fairly quickly. Marbury left, but the Wolves were soon back on track with Billups before the really poor decision to let him walk. This team still has most of the young talent they had last season in Edwards, McDaniels, Nowell, JMac and Naz. They've added Minott and Garza to the fold. KAT is still a perennial all-star at the front end of his prime. There are, of course, a lot of ifs associated with all those players. But there's a ton of possibility as well.

I agree with you that KAT can't be the #1 on a championship contender. I think he's proven that. However, we know Jokic can be a #1 on a contender and if he can be a #1 then clearly KAT can be a strong #2 - just not with Gobert in my view. Towns isn't just an elite scorer, he's a highly efficient score who also scores in multiple different ways. Add to that the fact that he's an excellent rebounder. He's also a good and improving passer. I won't belabor his negatives since they've already been discussed at length. As Q pointed out, Edwards isn't yet ready to be that #1 for this team. He may never be, but I've thought from the beginning that it was unreasonable to expect that he would be when he's barely 21 years old. It's also way too early to give up on McDaniels. Let's remember Chauncey Billups.

There's no question in my mind that the Wolves blundered again using all those assets to fill a particular need with Rudy who is 30 years old and, at best, at #3. Those assets should have been preserved to potentially use as a way to acquire an alternative #1 or #2 in the event Edwards or KAT can't fill that role. Or those assets could have been used for a couple of really good two-way rotation players. Nevertheless, it is what it is and I see a couple possible paths out of the hole TC put us in. Fortunately, I think TC has the chops to get us out of this hole once he fully accepts the reality of his blunder. Meanwhile, we'll have to suffer through this season and continue to hope that TC and his front office cohorts were right when then pulled the trigger on the big deal last summer.

[Wolvesfan21]

I don't post super often but I've lurked since the ESPN days and luckily saw the posts about this site before the boards were taken down.

Growing up in Minnesota through the the North Stars leaving, magical Twins seasons and complete fall off, my dad and I turned towards the Wolves and NBA basketball in the mid 90s. My dad was a Hockey/Football guy, but for whatever reason we got really into basketball and he ended up coaching a bunch of my youth teams. Spud Webb was my first favorite Twolves player (although he was pretty late into his career when he was here) and Olajuwon was my favorite NBA player. KG, Googs, Steph all came in at the perfect time to fully solidify my obsession with the wolves/NBA and KG became (and still is I think) my favorite wolf.

As far as how I feel about the current state of the franchise, it's been kind of the same since about the Ricky/Love days where my heart has hope while my head tells me that even though the pieces look good in a vacuum, the construction and types of talent on the roster aren't enough to be considered a contender, if even a playoff team. I think moving forward (once Steph/GSW are really done) a contender in the modern NBA needs a long, athletic, two way player as their star/superstar. Like Giannis or Tatum, potentially Wemby, Zion, and SGA and previously with Kawhi, AD, LeBron, and Durant to an extent. Some lower tier guys that have the right game/style but aren't quite on the same level like Paul George, Jimmy Butler come to mind, and some hopefuls that never quite got there like our own Derrick Williams and/or Andrew Wiggins. Guys like Luka, Jokic, and Embiid are amazing, but need more careful roster construction as a teams franchise player (might be a bit of a hot take to say that about Luka right now though).

When the Wolves struck gold with the Towns pick I had never been more hopeful (other than 03-04) because he would be a great #2 to Wiggins, who would obviously be that long, athletic two-way superstar. Unfortunately Wiggins was a bit more Michael Beasley than Tatum and ended up being mediocre at best for the wolves. I believe Towns is worthy of being a max player and a perennial all-star / all nba candidate, but I don't think wolves can win with him as a #1. My heart wanted to believe that the FO had some kind of inside track on Gobert / Towns working, but my head had a hard time justifying it. Maybe if the experiment is allow to continue over multiple seasons it can end up working out, but I think it will be bad enough in the mean time that it won't be allowed to go on that long.

Or maybe Ant turns into the Jimmiest of Butlers on steroids and becomes a unicorn that breaks the NBA championship meta and what we have is enough!

Thanks for commenting, Dave! It sounds like you've followed the team plenty long enough to have seen the lows followed by the semi-highs and then right back to the lows where they've stayed for much of their existence. That loyalty runs deep. Ha!

I agree that in order to contend in today's NBA a team's best player has to play well on both ends of the court. Specifically, I think they have to set the tone in that regard or else it gets very difficult for other guys to hold them accountable or buy-in themselves. For instance, if a role player has to keep the team's best player in check, they're probably not good enough to lead the team anywhere relevant. Unfortunately, we've lived through that with Al Jefferson, Kevin Love, and now Karl-Anthony Towns. We did get Jimmy Butler for a blip, but of course all good things must blow up in our faces. That's the Minnesota way!

I agree with your sentiments about the Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns experiment. I think they'll either figure it out and win plenty of games, or they'll pull the plug as soon as this off-season and reconfigure the roster. Patience over the course of multiple seasons isn't really on our side.

I think we're seeing too much pressure on Anthony Edwards' (and Jaden McDaniels') development already, and relying on him to be a key part of a contender at just 21-years old might have been a misstep, but his talent and physical ability at least gives him and the team a chance. His mental approach needs more refinement than anything, in my opinion.

Lots of good thoughts here and we hope you share more throughout the season!

Ant was the star player of the Wolves in the playoff round last year. He welcomes the pressure unlike most of the team. KAT was drastically up and down, DLO was almost all down, etc.

Leave it up to the second year guy to be the most consistent piece. There is a reason why people were ready for Ant to take a big leap. He already proved it in the playoffs. It is not unreasonable despite his age to expect to see more. And I think he welcomes the pressure because he thrives under it.