lipoli390 wrote:thedoper wrote:Is there any reasonable defense left for Taylor? He is far and away the worst owner in the league (yes move over Sarver and Dolan). How there aren't people with placards begging Taylor to sell the team at every Timberwolves event is beyond me.
This rigorous search didn't include a godfather offer to Mike Zarren? Trajan Langdon and Calvin Booth sound like great guys, but seriously this is going to right this ship? Looks like Taylor is after someone who can lull him back to his crypt to go back into hibernation. I don't get why his ego is so attached to this team. Take the money, sell it to someone who cares and is willing to take the appropriate risks based on the future trajectory of the league. Not amass their knowledge of greeting cards and doilies into a plan for basketball success pretending all the while we're not on a sinking ship.
I'm as unhappy with Taylor's management of this franchise as anyone. But the fact is that he's been trying to sell the team. The only reason he hasn't sold it is because he's holding out for a buyer who will commit to keeping the team in Minnesota and so far he hasn't found anyone willing to buy the team and make that commitment. Let's at least give Glen credit for his loyalty to the community and his effort to keep the team here. And by the way, he's not worse than Dolan when you honestly consider how bad the Knicks franchise has been and for how long in spite of all the advantages it has as a revered franchise in a destination city.
Finally, I actually think Langdon would be an excellent choice as the new Wolves' PBO. Unfortunately, I think Taylor will end up hiring Billups or Rosas and either would, in my view, be a huge mistake. There is no objective basis for hiring Billups who has absolutely no front office, scouting or business experience of any kind. Rosas scares me for several reasons. First, his quick in and out with the Mavs is a giant red flag. Second, I'm not aware of any information that ties Rosas specifically to any of the effective moves or stellar decisions the Rockets have made. In contrast, it's been widely and repeatedly reported that Langdon is the main talent guy for a franchise that has done an excellent job of finding under-the-radar young talent since he's been in their front office. Finally, even if you give him credit for the success of the Rockets, the success of that franchise is not a good model for the Wolves. Houston is a destination city by virtue of its size, Southern climate, history of success and zero state income tax.
I don't know that Langdon is ideal. But he's the only one of the 4 who I'd consider to be a good pick. But again, I'll be surprised if Glen hires him.
Rosas has been the guy overseeing the Rockets developmental team for years. That's something. Meanwhile I've said multiple times the Rockets are a path the Wolves can look to for hope. It wasn't long again it was Harden an elite offensive talent and things weren't going well and the rest of their roster was just some other guys. It turns out Capela was a very good player and they kept making moves to build up their roster to to be somewhere another elite talent in CP3 wanted to join up...oh yeah that D'antoni hire was terrific. I'm not saying Rosas is the guy I want because like you said I don't know a ton about him but the Rockets have done some work to develop their roster that gets forgotten. Personally if Rosas is super aggressive like Morey (Morey says he makes tons of calls and goes after the best players he can get) I don't think that's the guy the Wolves are looking for. He may not be that type of guy I really don't know.
I'll add that Sarver is a worse owner than Glen too. Dude has a quick trigger and cheap as hell. The bar isn't very high tho obviously. It's a sad competition. If you were picking between these owners to be on your team you would be playing rock paper scissors to see who had to take any of them and then when the game started you might forget to tell them it was even happening so they wouldn't show up. Lol Glen at least seems like a guy that isn't a jerk unlike the other two.
Something to think about when considering the top executives in the NBA. How many of them were guys that were obviously going to be good? I'm sure everyone in Denver was like "Damn we got Tim Connelly Dell Demps right hand man this guy is awesome!!!" The guy he replaced Ujiri who thought when he took over an NBA franchise he would be a guy that would be in high demand? Morey? Lawrence Frank is the top executive for a clippers team giving the Warriors all they can handle. Not every top executive comes from the Spurs Celtics (Morey did work for the Celtics) or Warriors or whatever top organization. At one point most top executives were some guy most people didn't know much of anything about. Will we pick the right guy? Maybe not (nobody feels too confident) but I think 3 out of 4 of the current interviewees could actually be good hires. I'll admit I'm becoming less and less interested in Billups.
I know it's blowing off steam and wishing but Mike Zarren? Lol if the premise is Glen Taylor is a joke why the hell do you think he would ever come here no matter how much money that was offered? Ainge is 60 Zarren might just wait to take over the Celtics if he doesn't get a good spot. BTW did you know Ainge played parts of 3 seasons for the Blue Jays in the majors? I didn't. Anywho Jon K reported Zarren isn't leaving the Celtics I less it's the perfect situation. He said this isn't it. He really didn't elaborate and he doesn't have to. Lol
