AbeVigodaLive wrote:CoolBreeze44 wrote:AbeVigodaLive wrote:CoolBreeze44 wrote:AbeVigodaLive wrote:To be fair, it's disingenuous to say there was no "conceivable plan" to improve.
The Timberwolves gave Andrew Wiggins a max contract AFTER trading for Butler. Obviously, they didn't expect him to regress. And it's not like every single fan or poster disagreed with the move. Again, we're blaming Thibodeau for everything and letting woefully underwhelming and disappointing players off the hook.
This isn't absolving Thibodeau of everything. Only pointing out that the plan was for KAT + Butler + Wiggins be a Big 3. Turns out Wiggins has been a below-average player instead. Blame Thibs for that? In some ways... sure. But you have to blame the player too for not improving and actually getting worse.
See I don't think you can have it both ways. You can't be on here on a weekly basis pounding on how bad of a player Wiggins is, and then say the plan was for Wiggins to be part of a big 3. If he's that bad, than he should never be counted on to be part of your championship level core.
Why would my opinion about whether or not Wiggins should be part of that plan be in any way relevant to this discussion...
The plan was not mine. I'm not a Timberwolves employee. They never asked me my thoughts on Wiggins or Butler... I'm merely stating that obviously the team THOUGHT that Wiggins would improve, and was part of the long-term plan... otherwise they wouldn't have given him $146M.
If they gave him that contract while thinking he'd reach his peak... they're the worst franchise in the history of sports.
Well we know they're the worst franchise in the history of sports. But to your main point, even a Wiggins supporter like me knew the potential was capped the night of the Butler trade. So I"M telling YOU, there was no viable plan going forward to make us a championship contender. YOU can certainly disagree with that and argue that Thibs had a championship plan. But i think it makes YOU look hypocritical.
No offense. But you're not making much sense right now.
[Note: If you knew it was capped then... it's interesting that you waited nearly two years to finally admit that Wiggins sucked balls.]
I will always disagree with people that think Thibs didn't have a plan and that the Jimmy trade was a bad one. KAT hits his MVP potential, we get 4 prime years of Butler a top 20 if not better player in the NBA (last 2 years on his max contract would see decline) and hope Wiggins develops into an All Star player where he would be more efficient being the 3rd option, not having the opponents best defender guarding him and him not having to carry the offense and defend the opponents best player. Theoretically allowing Wiggins to excel at other aspects of the game not having to carry the team both ends of the court.
Now if you want to blame Thibs knowing the personality he was adding to the core in Butler, sure he deserves some of the blame. We were a 3rd seed before people got hurt. Being a third seed this year could of gotten us to the WCF. Then the Warriors lose Durant, Chris Paul gets another year older and he have a 2 year window of the wolves possibly being a title contender. And when Butler contract is up after the 4 year max, Wiggins and Towns are 28 and 27 in the prime of there career where they can possibly add another star with them if they developed how they hoped.
Thibs gave up no future draft picks. He actually added more draft picks than traded away in his tenor. It also all come back to the draft. If Thibs drafts Collins instead of Patton, Thibs would be considered a genies. Well he didn't and that is some of the reasons his plan failed.
Thibs had a plan and it did not work, It was a legit plan to be a consistent playoff team and possibly a contender. But we are in no better shape today with Dunn, Lavine who is a overpriced sixth man and Markannan who is good but how good can he get because for us competing with Markannan he would needed to become a top 20 player and I just don't see that.
Thibs plan failed but he had a logical plan to turn the wolves into a contender.