kekgeek1 wrote:WildWolf2813 wrote:kekgeek1 wrote:Jimmy in the NBA Finals. We didn't need him.
Thibs was right, Jimmy was right.
Don't want to hear it wasn't in the timeline for the Wolves.
Bam: 3rd year player
Robinson: 2nd year player
Herro: rookie
Dragic: vet middle tire starting pg.
Also off of not making the playoffs for the heat
Thibs was right and Wolves fucked it up.
But get rebuild of the rebuild is happening
Go wolves
I'm not giving Thibs credit for anything. He coulda did something about it but instead sat there and watched Rome burn. To hell with Thibs.
If he thought Wiggins and/or Towns weren't good enough, he had 2 options:
1. Get rid of them and build around Jimmy (he had the right to do that. It was his job)
Or
2. Don't take the job at all because clearly there was a young core the franchise had in mind that everyone seemingly liked (that now everyone was wrong about but just won't admit it)
There are reports in the year the wolves traded lavine and the offseason after that Glen Taylor didn't let thibs trade wiggins.
He added a player who is the best player on a finals team. I'll take that any day of the week
I don't recall those reports - at least not from any reputable reporters. I've talked a a number of pretty connected people since that time and every single one has told me emphatically that Glen did not stop Thibs from trading Wiggins for Butler. I'm told that Thibs saw Wiggins as the most talented player on the team - as did Butler if you recall - and Thibodeau through Butler would help his development. Thibodeau was given complete control over basketball personnel. There is absolutely no evidence suggesting that Thibs had anything less than full control. To the contrary, Rubio was Glen's favorite on the team, yet he allowed Thibodeau to trade him.
When Thibodeau took job here, he said the Wolves had the best young talent in the NBA. He didn't suddenly change his mind. He knew that Wiggins and KAT were the two most talented players on what he considered the most talented young roster in the League. He simply thought that by bringing in Butler, he could take the team to another level much faster. Actually, Thibs turned out to be right. But then things imploded when Jimmy became jealous of the KAT and Wiggins contracts. Thibodeau thought winning would cure Butler's dissatisfaction, but it obviously didn't. The rest is history.
Butler is a really good player and a winner. No doubt about that. He had only one really good player with him on the Wolves and that was Towns. Wiggins put up hollow numbers and Teague was inconsistent. If Butler and Towns had Herro, Robinson and Dragic with them on the team and if Butler had stayed healthy, the Wolves would have probably had more success that season. Heck, if Butler hadn't gotten hurt, the Wolves were on track to finish in the top 4 or 5. Imagine a healthy Butler that season and imagine further than we had Dragic, Herro and Robinson instead of Wiggins and Teague. Oh, and imagine if our head coach had been Eric Spoelstra.
