GM/POBO/Head Basketball guy

[Monster]

The Bulls to Nebraska? Quite the drop off. Maybe he just wants a place to hide.

I'm a Hoiberg homer (my parents are from Ames) and I thought it was a complete pipe dream a few weeks ago. Ultimately I think he wants to coach somewhere and that's unlikely to be the NBA anytime soon. I don't think any team is going to offer him a GM job including the Wolves (would be awkward to hire someone that clearly thinks they are a good coach). Plus if he doesn't coach in the NBA he still gets another 5 million from his old buddies the Bulls. Meanwhile the word is Nebraska is planning to make him a top 10 paid coach at like 4 million per. It also turns out that Fred has a lot of connections to Nebraska. He was born here and his dad has all his 3 degrees from Nebraska. His Grandpa coached the basketball team for 8 years back in the 60's. He has a number of family in the area still. Of course it's pretty close to Ames too. Nebraska has top 15 attendance and...the as you know product hasn't been that stellar although Miles has made it at least a roller coaster ride with an ensuing MC all the way till the end. The facilities are pretty good with a newer arena. Prohm just got an extension at Iowa state through 2025 and Miles has now been let go. I'm starting to really think this is gonna happen.

Bleed mentioned Fred didn't like recruiting...probably still true but after what happened with the Bulls he may like having control over his own roster and bringing in players that actually fit his system. I also tend to think he probably fits in the Midwest in the big 10 compared to say the UCLA job. If Fred is successful here he is gonna be revered for years and will become the Mayor of two towns. Lol the Athletic director Bill Moos might be working on his own statue bringing in Scott Frost and if he gets Hoiberg too? Um...that's pretty good.

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

when I watch the clipper game tonight, I get especially irritated at how lazy our front office has been. This seems like a good place to vent about this. I see a guy like Zubac, who I think is a good prospect and Clippers got him for nothing from the Lakers. Where were we when he was available for nothing? Then I look at what the clippers got from Philly for Harris... two firsts and Shamet (another first), but we couldn't even get one first for Jimmy Butler? Then the LA theme makes me think about when the Lakers gave a late 1st to the Nets to take Russell... why weren't we in on this? He's friends with Towns and he was on a rookie contract... what was the risk? Oh and one more, although I'm sure we could all name dozens more... Montrez Harrell. Anyone could have had him. Why is it never us getting these guys? It's not bad luck, its fricking laziness and stubbornness, not to mention stupidity. Like Benz and Peterson were saying tonight... look at what the two LA teams have done over the last year, it's night and day. The clippers went from losing their big 3 two years ago, to now having a lot of young talent, a lot of draft picks and a lot of cap space. The Lakers on the other hand have been a train wreck. Why aren't we ever the team identifying the weak GM's (Magic/Pelinka, Knicks, etc.) and fleecing their players from them? It's because our decision makers are lazy. It's the teams like the Clippers, Rockets and Celtics that always make the good trades or acquisitions and it's not because they're just luckier than the other teams.

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

Ryan Saunders seems like a great guy and pretty good assistant, but maybe our goal for this off-season can be to get either a coach or a GM (heaven forbid both) who doesn't have their job in the NBA because their dad was a coach/gm in the league. Again, nothing against Ryan Saunders... you have to take the job if someone offers it to you.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Ryan Saunders seems like a great guy and pretty good assistant, but maybe our goal for this off-season can be to get either a coach or a GM (heaven forbid both) who doesn't have their job in the NBA because their dad was a coach/gm in the league. Again, nothing against Ryan Saunders... you have to take the job if someone offers it to you.

Word on the twittersphere is it's basically already Ryan's job because of the injuries and not getting a real chance to coach this team at full strength. Covington never played a game for him and Teague and Rose were in and out of the lineup. I don't agree with that thought process, but it's Glen Taylor so that's just par for the course. The other thing to factor in is Glen has been burned hard for his last 2 out of country club hires in Kahn and Thibs. He's likely gonna be retreating into his shell because of those two fucking up and not bringing any stability to the organization.

[Monster]

Ryan Saunders seems like a great guy and pretty good assistant, but maybe our goal for this off-season can be to get either a coach or a GM (heaven forbid both) who doesn't have their job in the NBA because their dad was a coach/gm in the league. Again, nothing against Ryan Saunders... you have to take the job if someone offers it to you.

Who are these awesome coaches we are picking Ryan Saunders over? Luke Walton? Some other guy that hasn't been an NBA head coach either? I had 3 concerns about Ryan getting this job this season.

1. It would flat your be too big for him. That hasn't been the case just watching him. He has looked plenty comfortable talking to the media and out there coaching. Ryan is a good dude and all that but he doesn't come across as a super outgoing dude like his dad. He seems to be fine though.

2. We would end up just letting him go at the end of the year and everything would be really awkward and screwed up. I think even if he didn't get the job I think it could be ok depending on who they hired. I'm not saying it was all good but it went fine. It could blow up later but so far it hasn't.

3. Just like any coach is he actually any good. We really don't know that yet. We can make some assessments but we really don't know. Rookie head coach with a flummoxed roster taking over in the middle of the season for a coach that tended to do things his way and leaned an old way of doing things.*

So really we are down to the main and most important question which is whether or not he can actually coach and make his players better. That's not a terrible place to be. He has a lot of support from his current players young and vets. That's not a bad thing. As Pat Riley told a young JVG if players think you will help them win games and get better they will allow you to coach them.

*I was thinking about this today. Beginning of this season the Wolves with Thibs had trended to do things more modern. They were getting up some more 3's playing with pace and doing much more switching. So some of the stuff you would have expected any moderately more modern coach replacing Thibs we had already started doing at the beginning of the year. Could that have even been influenced by Ryan himself? Who knows but it's something to consider. Look at Dave Joeger was a grit and grind guy for Memphis and last season the Kings were even less modern than the Wolves taking a ton of long 2's and less 3'a and they played at the slowest pace last year. This year they are 2nd in the league in pace. Joeger has a pretty good resume but still that's something. I'm up for giving Ryan Saunders a chance to actually do a legit job with an off-season and training camp and hopefully some sort of reasonable healthy roster and all that before saying he isn't the guy and yes I recognize it's very possible he might not be. You can say that about most coaches teams hire.

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

yeah, I think he'll be back next season and good for him personally, he's handled a tough situation pretty well and he'll absolutely be a good coach one day. So assuming he's back, we absolutely need to get a strong GM/PBO. A couple examples come to mind of young coaches that have been very successful. Spoelstra and Brad Stevens both experienced a lot of success at a young age and look at who they had in the GM/PBO roles... Riley and Ainge. So I guess my point is if we want to be in the playoffs next year, one of these two spots needs to be strong. If we keep Saunders, we need to get someone to come in and do what Lawrence Frank did with the clippers... make solid logical moves. But if we're gonna keep someone like Layden around, we better go find someone to coach who's on the same level as Budenholzer.

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

you're right Monster, nobody really stands out as being better than what Saunders has shown himself to be. We just need to hit a home run (or at least a double) on the GM/PBO position.

[Monster]

yeah, I think he'll be back next season and good for him personally, he's handled a tough situation pretty well and he'll absolutely be a good coach one day. So assuming he's back, we absolutely need to get a strong GM/PBO. A couple examples come to mind of young coaches that have been very successful. Spoelstra and Brad Stevens both experienced a lot of success at a young age and look at who they had in the GM/PBO roles... Riley and Ainge. So I guess my point is if we want to be in the playoffs next year, one of these two spots needs to be strong. If we keep Saunders, we need to get someone to come in and do what Lawrence Frank did with the clippers... make solid logical moves. But if we're gonna keep someone like Layden around, we better go find someone to coach who's on the same level as Budenholzer.

I used to think because Ryan wasn't an outgoing dude we needed someone to be the face of the franchise as the executive. Ryan has looked like he isn't just gonna be I n the shadows so another guy that's friendly enough to talk to the media and do their job is good enough. We need to hire a guy that's going to work with Ryan Saunders. Ryan is a guy that seems to want to be a collaborator. Towns seems all about the everyone be together type thing. Let's do that. Let's have some legit synergy around this franchise. Maybe it sounds campy or what Glen would do but it can actually be a good thing and something legit to build on. Like you said let's get someone in here that's competent and at least hit a double. Who thought that Tim Connelly was gonna be a guy leading the Nuggets to where they are? Get someone who will hire smart people and then listen to them. Keep in mind Ryan could have a different looking coaching staff next year too which may help his cause. Assistant coaches matter. It also wouldn't hurt to have guys actually working out with the team in the off-season more than last year where...according to Jon K...basically all the players were pretty much nowhere to be found. I keep hearing the Wolves really want to work on being a developmental team. I don't know why it's taken so long to come to this realization. Hopefully it actually like happens and stuff.

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

saw an article about Calvin Booth potentially being a candidate. I'd be interested in knowing what, if anything, he's been responsible for in Denver since he's been there.

[BloopOracle]

John K wrote a piece for the athletic today here is the main snippet

https://i.redd.it/qp8269hk62q21.jpg

Could it be Sam Hinckie!?