Camden wrote:Flip was building a family, sure, but Flip also fucked up several times and that hindered what could have been done with that nucleus he was growing.
- Acquiring Anthony Bennett as a significant piece in the Kevin Love trade. The whole "Minnesota receives two No. 1 overall picks for their star" headline must have been on replay in his head. That aspect of the trade was a failure. Bennett is the worst top overall pick in NBA history and he wasn't suitable for an NBA bench even when we acquired him. At the time, I pushed for the Wolves to demand getting back Tristan Thompson or Dion Waiters in addition to the No. 1 overall pick and future first [that was dealt for Thaddeus Young]. That did not happen.
- Trading Thaddeus Young for less than 10 games of a late 30's Kevin Garnett. Young received his fair share of criticism on this board, but the consensus should be that he could have garnered a lot more than what Flip settled for. He let old feelings and emotions get in the way of his role as PBO. He should have dealt Young to a contender or fringe playoff team looking for a bit of a push for assets in the form of future draft pick(s) or a young player that could grow with the new core. Young's value went from a top-10 protected first round pick to a 37-year old with Father Time working against him and the reason why is Flip. He could have signed KG the following summer. Just a brutal waste of an asset.
- Unnecessarily trading a future first-round pick for the bum that is Adreian Payne. This continues to be one of the most head-scratching trades that I can remember. We didn't need Payne, the timing (mid-season) was weird, and his price tag was never what Flip gave up for him. Payne wasn't even in the Hawks rotation, for crying out loud. Atlanta bent Flip over and gave it to him viciously on that one, sad to say.
There are others but I feel like I'm including too much negativity surrounding a loved personality in Minnesota sports. Flip did well to rightfully select Towns and managed a tough situation with Love in the best way he probably could have, but he missed a lot of opportunities himself and made plenty of poor decisions along the way.
I agree with all your points, Cam. I really liked Flip and liked the spirit he brought to the organization, but he made a number of serious misjudgments in his PBO role. I'll add to your list the trade that ended up in Bazz rather that McCollum as well as the sale of our first round pick, which could and should have been used to draft Rudy Gobert. But Flip was the sort of head coach players would like to play for and he understood how to build a culture that would build chemistry among players and between players and management.
There are too many bad judgments by Flip and Thibodeau even if evaluated modestly against what some of us on this message board would have done at the time without resorting to hindsight. And those poor judgments are ultimately reflected in the team's performance. I also think hiring Thibodeau was a bad ownership decision. But of course we don't get to go back and re-do what's been done.
I've done more than my share of looking back, so I'm ready to just look forward. That's why I like your Buddy Hield trade idea. Even though I'm not sure I'd do that deal, I like the idea of looking ahead at what we can do going forward to improve the team over the long term. I'd seek to trade Butler, our 2019 2nd round pick from Miami, and Gorgui to the Celtics for Hayward, Jaylen Brown and the Kings' 2019 first round pick they got from the Sixers last summer. Pehaps the Celtics would do that as part of ensuring that Kyrie Irving stays after this next season. Otherwise, I'd seek to trade Butler to the Sixers for Covington, Fultz or Saric and a future first round pick.
