monsterpile wrote:Lip as I have said before my assumption was Thibs brought Teague here more as a complimentary player with everyone able to score from various players on the court. I think there was some of that which occurred but as you said Thibs sort of asked Teague to do a lot and more than he was a capable. I look back at his time in Indiana playing for Nate McMillen playing with at least one and often more players that needed the ball a lot. He had a really nice season. If you are convinced that Thibs had a negative effect on certain players why not consider Teague if he can stay healthy may have more to offer than he showed here? One significant reason I think there is more "upside :)" to Teague next season is Towns screen game took a pretty big jump this year and that was a big part of Teague's skill set was pick and roll. Assuming Saric starts he would then have two guys that are threats to screen and then score pretty much everywhere on the floor. It might even be interesting to play Teague more with the bench and see if he develops some chemistry with Dieng. Thibs tended to stick with what was working and in his idea of what was happening. To some extent I do think you can make an argument that at times he was right. There was times it certainly seemed tinkering with things a bit more made a heck of a lot of sense. It SEEMS Ryan is much more open to trying out new things. I'm excited about that. I'm not excited about Teague next season as the starting PG BUT I would not be shocked to be a bit pleasantly surprised by his play overall.
One last thing about Teague. There has been a lot of people noting his body language on the court and questioning if he wants to be here. I also think about how he was a guy that openly said how he thought the team should play offensively and defensively, saying Tyus should play more, wanting to play with Tyus, etc etc. It's seems he went against Thibs to me although I honestly don't think Thibs cared (which we could go into but we are already talking about Thibs too much in this post!) I think Teague even though he said he was effected by everything that went on he was. He was injured more than any of his fairly healthy career and played through a lot of injuries when he did play. I'd guess it was more his frustration with his own season and the team's season than him just wanting out. I haven't heard reports about him loving Ryan like reports from other vets but Teague isn't a big talker so there may not be much to read into there. This season was frustrating as a fan can you imagine how bad it was for Teague? Just some things to think about when this franchise needs to be one that gets more out of players to benefit itself one way or another.
My main issue with Teague has always been his contract and to a lesser extent his fit. As I indicated, he's a pretty poor defender on a team that needs defenders, a mediocre floor general on a team filled with scorers who need a good facilitator, and a low-volume mediocre 3-point shooter on a team that needs more three-point shooting. I also think his body is starting to break down. Finally, given his less than optimal fit and age, I don't see him as part of the long-term horizon for this team.
Having said all that, he's a pretty good player in the right situation. Moreover, by all accounts he's a very good teammate. Importantly, it's clear that he'll be with the Wolves at least through the first 4 months of the season, and as much as I like Tyus, I see Teague logically as our starting PG unless we get lucky and end up with Ja in the June draft. It's also clear that Teague couldn't stand Thibodeau and that, as you suggested, Thibodeau often asked too much of Teague. So I don't think we've necessarily seen the best of Teague with this group of players. So I'll say again that, if Teague opting in is a problem, it's WAY down the list of problems this organization should be concerned about. :)
