Dlo out vs Thunder part 2
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Coolbreeze44
- Posts: 13192
- Joined: Mon Jul 08, 2013 12:00 am
Re: Dlo out vs Thunder part 2
What's up with Monster? I wouldn't blame anyone for taking a break from the Wolves, but we need the big dump and cat aficionado sharing his thoughts. Same for LST, Lloyd Braun, and some others to re-engage.
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AbeVigodaLive
- Posts: 10272
- Joined: Thu Jul 11, 2013 12:00 am
Re: Dlo out vs Thunder part 2
thedoper wrote:I think I reviewed that at some point. I think we've only finished above Vegas' projected win totals like 3 or 4 times and one was the inaugural season. Betting on the Wolves to lose has made someone money if they did it consistently.
Yeah. I recently posted about the wolves finishing below their Expected Win/Loss total in 12 out of 13 seasons or something. (Met it once)
Haven't exceeded it since Garnett played.
Re: Dlo out vs Thunder part 2
Cool - Interesting thoughts on Rubio. He definitely looked he was going to be a special player until that fateful game against the Laker when he tore his ACL in a knee-to-knee collision with Kobe. I was at that game. The arena was packed and filled with playoff-level energy. The Wolves were surging in the standings at the time and were being talked about by national media as the best up-and-coming team in the league. Rubio's trajectory, along with the Wolves, changed in an instant and has never recovered. Ricky jjust seemed to lose a zest for the game and perhaps a certain level of confidence that made him special.
The fact that Ricky was never the same after that injury is something I've always attributed to the injury - perhaps part physical, but probably more psychological. But you might be right about Adelman having something to do with that as well. Hard to know. Whatever it was, it was so unfortunate for both Ricky and the Wolves.
Three moments stand out for me from the Wolves games I've attended over the years. All three are etched in my mind as if they happened yesterday.
1. The first one was when Marbury, in his 2nd NBA season, went to center court, dropped to his knees and kissed the Wolves logo just after the Wolves beat MJ's bulls for the first time. It was a moment of incredible promise as you could see KG and Marbury gelling together into what was likely to become an exciting core of a championship contender for many years. Of course, that expectation came crashing down when Marbury was moved to the Nets 18 games into his third season after telling the Wolves he wanted out. A sad end to a promising story.
2. The second moment was KG jumping onto the scorers table and pumping his fist in celebration with a raucous, packed Target Center crowd after the Wolves beat the Warriors to win game 7 of the Western Conference semi-finals. That moment didn't signal the sort of long-term success in the offing when Marbury and KG teamed to beat MJ's bulls in 1997, but it was a breakthrough moment for a team that probably would have won the NBA championship that season if Cassell hadn't hurt himself doing his "I have big balls" celebration dance along the bench. Of course, the tenuous KG/Spree/Sam trio disintegrated the following season almost as quickly as it had formed a year earlier. Another sad end to what would have been a great story, even if only for a couple years.
3. The third was that moment when Ricky's knee collided with Kobe's. When I saw that Ricky couldn't put any weight on his leg after that collision, I knew it was the end of a promising season. What I didn't know is that it could be the closing chapter in what looked like another unfolding Wolves success story. And the end to what I thought would be a dynamic career for Ricky.
So here we are again, on the threshold of squandering the promise that started when this franchise drafted KAT with the first pick in the 2015 NBA draft, combining him with two other promising NBA talents, Wiggins and LaVine. Wiggins and LaVine are gone with no Jimmy Butler in their wake. Meanwhile, Collins, Jamal Murray, Tyler Herro, and Julius Randle among others are playing elsewhere, our 2021 draft picks are gone, and Ricky is back as a pale shell of his former self. And so it goes for an NBA franchise that, even when it finds the right track, can't stay there long enough to reach its desired destination.
The fact that Ricky was never the same after that injury is something I've always attributed to the injury - perhaps part physical, but probably more psychological. But you might be right about Adelman having something to do with that as well. Hard to know. Whatever it was, it was so unfortunate for both Ricky and the Wolves.
Three moments stand out for me from the Wolves games I've attended over the years. All three are etched in my mind as if they happened yesterday.
1. The first one was when Marbury, in his 2nd NBA season, went to center court, dropped to his knees and kissed the Wolves logo just after the Wolves beat MJ's bulls for the first time. It was a moment of incredible promise as you could see KG and Marbury gelling together into what was likely to become an exciting core of a championship contender for many years. Of course, that expectation came crashing down when Marbury was moved to the Nets 18 games into his third season after telling the Wolves he wanted out. A sad end to a promising story.
2. The second moment was KG jumping onto the scorers table and pumping his fist in celebration with a raucous, packed Target Center crowd after the Wolves beat the Warriors to win game 7 of the Western Conference semi-finals. That moment didn't signal the sort of long-term success in the offing when Marbury and KG teamed to beat MJ's bulls in 1997, but it was a breakthrough moment for a team that probably would have won the NBA championship that season if Cassell hadn't hurt himself doing his "I have big balls" celebration dance along the bench. Of course, the tenuous KG/Spree/Sam trio disintegrated the following season almost as quickly as it had formed a year earlier. Another sad end to what would have been a great story, even if only for a couple years.
3. The third was that moment when Ricky's knee collided with Kobe's. When I saw that Ricky couldn't put any weight on his leg after that collision, I knew it was the end of a promising season. What I didn't know is that it could be the closing chapter in what looked like another unfolding Wolves success story. And the end to what I thought would be a dynamic career for Ricky.
So here we are again, on the threshold of squandering the promise that started when this franchise drafted KAT with the first pick in the 2015 NBA draft, combining him with two other promising NBA talents, Wiggins and LaVine. Wiggins and LaVine are gone with no Jimmy Butler in their wake. Meanwhile, Collins, Jamal Murray, Tyler Herro, and Julius Randle among others are playing elsewhere, our 2021 draft picks are gone, and Ricky is back as a pale shell of his former self. And so it goes for an NBA franchise that, even when it finds the right track, can't stay there long enough to reach its desired destination.