TimberWolves Optimists

[worldK]

Cool, I agree completely, and thought it was really funny when Flip addressed the issue and how that should be weighted with the talent a player has. Did he look at Kmart's track record?

From what I can see, we basically lost AK for Brewer and Martin. Didn't upgrade anything with the "raw" draft picks, and now have Turiaf instead of Steimsma which I am not sure is that much of an upgrade, if at all. This team has set themselves up for another injury riddled season.

One of the reasons I would have preferred to go after guys like AI and Mayo. At least they some durability on their side.

Good point sjm

Il add that what flip did is he basically added a lot of depth to the team and strengthen our weakness. Thats good and should be enough to get us back to the playoffs as a 6th-8th seed.

But you have to ask yourself, did he set us up to be a legit contender down the road? We didnt really add a player that would have been a impact player for us long term wise. We used up almost all our assets. With no pick next year and no cap space, we would be banking on love,rubio,pek and dw to make that leap for us. Same situation before flip took over.

After almost a decade of being a lotto team, Im glad that we are looking to get back into the playoffs, but after 2 decades of being a fan of the team, I would like to see us being a legit contender also, thats the ultimate goal i believe.

[Monster]

Martin and AK cancel each other out.

I know people wanted Flip or whoever was leading this team to make us a contender, but I don't see what options were out there that weren't desperate attempts to do so for maybe a year shot or so. Their just wasn't that many opportunities IMHO to add amazing talent to the team. Like most teams we have to hope we have some young guys step up and be legit contributors to take that next step and fill in some gaps. Flip did the later and you have to hope that some combination of one or more of Williams, Shved, Bud, Bazz and even Dieng in his role become nice enough players.

Oh and yeah we hope we can stay healthy. Like Cool said being healthy is a part of the team I mean last year was brutal the team was comprised of injury issue players, but damn it was really rough last year that totality of injuries hopefully was a fluke. Hopefully Love can generally stay away from injuries for the next 5 years. As a rational fan I know that at least Pek, Love and Martin are guys you have to be worried about missing a decent chunk of games. Those are significant players and you live and die with that at this point. No whining if those guys and a player or 2 miss some games. Hopefully the depth we have is going ot help us and hopefully some guys step up when those injuries come.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Ford's offseason grades are similar to Kipers' Draft grades. They don't mean anything until at least a year or two. So does Brooklyn get an A because they added KG, AK, and Pierce? Maybe, but they pay more in luxury tax than the entire Raptors roster. Slim's right, all these BSPN guys are big market lobbyists. They can't wait to spew about Love and Rubio leaving.

[shahidi124 [enjin:6591729]]

I read Ford's write-up and was pretty surprised. I can see you agreeing with some of the points he made in regards to player salaries, but the players he brought in fit well. He has balanced the roster and didn't lose any key pieces of the team. The draft didn't work out exactly as planned, but I also think people are too hard on Muhammad's summer league performance. I feel like people either use summer league to justify their previous beliefs or completely ignore it if it goes against their assessments.

Shabazz or McCollum probably wouldn't have contributed too much this season anyway, so I don't think it's a big deal. Let's wait a bit before jumping on that. And most people were high on Dieng too.

The Wolves shored up their SG position with Martin, Brewer, some Bud. The 3 remains probably the weakest, but deepest position on the team, meaning a player might rise to the occasion and step up. PG was strong before and Rubio will have a full offseason and the front court (Assuming Pek resigns) is solid.


Ford seems to think that we spent too much money on the (role) players we got, but then he looks at other teams who have gone WAY over the tax (Nets) and say they did a great job.

Yeah we didn't make the playoffs last year, but we were decimated by injuries. It's hard to say what the teams ceiling is because of that. Yes, I probably see us getting a 7 or 8 seed, but the wolves have been out of the playoffs for 9 (?) years now? That's a start. The team is young. We were eventually going to have to spend some money and we did. It might handicap our freedom in making moves forward, but I like the players we have gotten.

I don't get how that is a C-.

[60WinTim]

Thank you, shadi!!!

It is silly to say this team cannot contend for a title when we have yet to see the core play together for any length of time. Lets give it a chance to congeal.

[Coolbreeze44]

Tim!! I was wondering when you might chime in on this. I can handle unabashed optimism from you, in fact I kind of enjoy it. Let's hope that someday we DO get to see our core play together for an extended time. Problem is that isn't a sure thing.

[caDustymn [enjin:6596349]]

whether you like the moves made or not, this team obviously has a ton of depth. With a great coach that knows what he's doing, depth (even if it seems like too much) does a couple great things. Not only is it a safety net for injuries if someone does go down, it keeps guys fresh, leaving a smaller chance for injuries. You can also bet that guys will be playing their asses off every minute, because that's the only way they're going to get their minutes. I'm willing to bet the competitiveness of the team improves greatly-it's going to be a really fun team to watch-much better than mediocre or 7th/8th seed.

[thedoper]

I just don't get how the Martin contract could be called horrible when it really seems like right at market value. That was the weirdest part of that article to me. With all of the overpaid contracts in the NBA giving under 7 million to a guy who is a proven scoring 2 seems reasonable. And he will be next to one of the best passing PGs in the NBA. I really believe these people want Love out of Minnesota so will always write bad things about this team which is evident by his last paragraph.