Camden wrote:- Offloading Andrew Wiggins for only one first-round pick while somehow getting D'Angelo Russell in return will always be a good move to me.
- Acquiring Patrick Beverley for players that no longer had a role in Minnesota was a steal.
- Signing Naz Reid as a two-way player and then locking him into a team-friendly deal before his rookie season was a win.
- Firing Ryan Saunders and replacing him with Chris Finch was smart. A lot of us here have been won over by Finch and it's still early.
- Trading Robert Covington for Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, and a first-round pick that would later be used to acquire Jaden McDaniels and Leandro Bolmaro. While I wasn't thrilled at the time, it's proved to be a savvy move.
- Drafting Anthony Edwards looks like the right move for this franchise and where it's heading. There's a chance he wouldn't be here without Rosas.
I agree with all of your favorite positive Rosas moves except the first one. I agree with firing Ryan Saunders as a high point, but that positive is tainted by the fact that Rosas was the one who hired Saunders in the first place. All in all, I think Rosas might be the best PBO the Wolves franchise has ever had. I'm not happy with the decision to terminate him right now, but I strongly suspect there were compelling non-basketball reasons for the termination - probably confidential reasons that we'll never know.
Right, and I would (and have) push back by saying that Glen Taylor mandated that Ryan Saunders retain his job as head coach when he hired Gersson Rosas even though it's quite clear that Chris Finch was his guy all along. But that's not worth rehashing and I agree that Rosas was likely dismissed for inappropriate actions in the workplace. I shared a rumor earlier that could point to why he was let go, but it's way too early to put too much weight into it. Only time will tell.
Fair push-back on the Ryan Saunders hire. However, I continue to believe Rosas had discretion not to hire Ryan, but felt pressure to hire him to please his boss. I believe Taylor expressed his preference for hiring Saunders but didn't mandate it. Of course, we'll never know.
I saw the tweet you posted. I know others have been quick to dismiss it's credibility. But my gut tells me it wasn't made up and was, in fact, a true account from someone the tweeter knows. I have no followers on twitter, but I used to have really good, high-level contacts in the Wolves organization and was privy to all sorts of significant behind-the-scenes things. Even if the tweet was a complete fabrication, it's exactly the sort of conduct that generally results in this sort of abrupt, mysterious termination.
When a GM moves on for whatever reason and has some positive track record especially when it comes to identifying young players I always wonder...who were the actual people identifying the talent. Obviously Rosas or whoever the top executive was when the picks or moves were made gets the credit but there are times when there are others in the organization that greatly influence those moves. Let's hope if that was the case for Mn the last couple years they are still here and stuck around.
My favorite Rosas moment may have been the Juancho for Beverly deal. Still kinda amazing at that deal.
I'll add that while Rosas and Finch had history and I think they had a lot in common when it came to the "modern game" I don't think they completely aligned in how they saw the game. I think Rosas still felt pretty strongly about the system and adhering to that. I think Finch believes in the numbers and wants to take advantage of them (he also leans more towards offense than defense) but I also think he thinks outside the box more and it seemed pretty clear he wants to play bigger players. I don't think the way they looked at the game was wildly different or anything like that but I could see a path to where they maybe weren't on the same page at some point in the future. IF...Finch is actually a good coach what the Wolves might need is an executive that just goes out and builds the team for what the roster needs and what Finch kinda wants instead of the GMs vision. I do think overall during Rosas time there was some legit positives in terms of talent acquisition. I wasn't against the system he wanted to put in place. It seems apparent that Ryan Saunders wasn't the right coach to instill it which is a pretty big deal. If Finch is the right guy that could make whoever gets this job have an easier time.
monsterpile wrote:When a GM moves on for whatever reason and has some positive track record especially when it comes to identifying young players I always wonder...who were the actual people identifying the talent. Obviously Rosas or whoever the top executive was when the picks or moves were made gets the credit but there are times when there are others in the organization that greatly influence those moves. Let's hope if that was the case for Mn the last couple years they are still here and stuck around.
My favorite Rosas moment may have been the Juancho for Beverly deal. Still kinda amazing at that deal.
I'll add that while Rosas and Finch had history and I think they had a lot in common when it came to the "modern game" I don't think they completely aligned in how they saw the game. I think Rosas still felt pretty strongly about the system and adhering to that. I think Finch believes in the numbers and wants to take advantage of them (he also leans more towards offense than defense) but I also think he thinks outside the box more and it seemed pretty clear he wants to play bigger players. I don't think the way they looked at the game was wildly different or anything like that but I could see a path to where they maybe weren't on the same page at some point in the future. IF...Finch is actually a good coach what the Wolves might need is an executive that just goes out and builds the team for what the roster needs and what Finch kinda wants instead of the GMs vision. I do think overall during Rosas time there was some legit positives in terms of talent acquisition. I wasn't against the system he wanted to put in place. It seems apparent that Ryan Saunders wasn't the right coach to instill it which is a pretty big deal. If Finch is the right guy that could make whoever gets this job have an easier time.
Monster, I agree on that Beverly trade. It was a great move.
It only takes two or three great moves in the NBA to create the foundation of a winning team. If Edwards eventually turns into a superstar and McDaniels into a top notch role player, that single draft by itself will make Rosas one of the best GMs we've had in our history. He really may have laid the foundation for a great future! We'll get a clue this season....
Q12543 wrote:It only takes two or three great moves in the NBA to create the foundation of a winning team. If Edwards eventually turns into a superstar and McDaniels into a top notch role player, that single draft by itself will make Rosas one of the best GMs we've had in our history. He really may have laid the foundation for a great future! We'll get a clue this season....
Good points. Edwards, McDaniels, Naz, Vanderbilt, J-Mac, Beasley and Beverley are all solid additions, Edwards and McDaniels might turn out to be stellar additions. That's a pretty impressive track record over two years - in spite of the Culver debacle and what I consider the overpay for DLO.
