Hate thibs the coach if you want

[Porckchop]

But where would this team be without Butler,Gibson, and to a lesser extent Teague this year.
Criticize all you want but the reality is this teams record is where it is in large part to the offseason moves. With the idea that previously drafted players would take the next step. Is it on Thibs that players not drafted by him can't improve while vets like Taj have really exceeded?

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

But where would this team be without Butler,Gibson, and to a lesser extent Teague this year.
Criticize all you want but the reality is this teams record is where it is in large part to the offseason moves. With the idea that previously drafted players would take the next step. Is it on Thibs that players not drafted by him can't improve while vets like Taj have really exceeded?

I don't know if your question is rhetorical or not, pork, but the answer is yes...the lack of improvement of this team is definitlely on Thibs. The evidence is mounting, and there's just no other way to explain why outstanding college players have regressed so much under his "coaching". And as much as I love Gibson, the primary way he has "exceeded" this year is in minutes played...on a per 36 points, his stats like points and blocks are down this year under Thibs from his career averages.

Any one of us on this board could have coached the Wolves to a victory last night. It took a special effort to create yet another Thibs Second Half Disaster. But he showed once again that he can turn a double digit lead into a 4th quarter loss like no other coach in the history of the game. Last night the Suns played their woeful bench 140 minutes, and as a result everyone on the team was fresh when the game was on the line. Thibs is turn used his bench which includes at least 6 first round picks and several lottery picks only 53 minutes! And his exhausted starters responded just like we would have expected...by giving up a lead to a team MUCH worse than them. It's beyond ridiculous at this point how he is destroying this team. I'm fed up with this joke of a coach.

[Lipoli390]

But where would this team be without Butler,Gibson, and to a lesser extent Teague this year.
Criticize all you want but the reality is this teams record is where it is in large part to the offseason moves. With the idea that previously drafted players would take the next step. Is it on Thibs that players not drafted by him can't improve while vets like Taj have really exceeded?

I don't know if your question is rhetorical or not, pork, but the answer is yes...the lack of improvement of this team is definitlely on Thibs. The evidence is mounting, and there's just no other way to explain why outstanding college players have regressed so much under his "coaching". And as much as I love Gibson, the primary way he has "exceeded" this year is in minutes played...on a per 36 points, his stats like points and blocks are down this year under Thibs from his career averages.

Any one of us on this board could have coached the Wolves to a victory last night. It took a special effort to create yet another Thibs Second Half Disaster. But he showed once again that he can turn a double digit lead into a 4th quarter loss like no other coach in the history of the game. Last night the Suns played their woeful bench 140 minutes, and as a result everyone on the team was fresh when the game was on the line. Thibs is turn used his bench which includes at least 6 first round picks and several lottery picks only 53 minutes! And his exhausted starters responded just like we would have expected...by giving up a lead to a team MUCH worse than them. It's beyond ridiculous at this point how he is destroying this team. I'm fed up with this joke of a coach.

I'm glad you responded, LST. I didn't think it was worth responding to. I'll add that the players some like to point to as an excuse for Thibs are the players Thibs wanted. Thibs is head coach AND PBO. So he's accountable for both the personnel we have and the way they play. I happen to believe he's been a better PBO than head coach, but that's mainly because he's been such a horrifically bad head coach.

This is Thibs' roster. These are his players and, for the second season in a row, they are woefully underachieving. Why is this Thibs's roster? First of all, he came here because, in his words, the Wolves had "the best young roster in the NBA." He then had the chance to make changes/additions to that roster his first summer here. He then had this past summer with loads of cap space and carte blanch from the owner to make further changes to that roster. So here's where we're at. After getting to know Wiggins up close coaching him for a full year, Thibs signed him to a 5-year max extension with no reported effort to trade him. He signed Gorgui to a lucrative extension right away the beginning of last season and then referred to him at the end of the season as the Wolves most improved player. The bench that Thibs hardly plays is the bench HE assembled as PBO. It was Thibs who put his most improved player, Gorgui on the bench in favor of Gibson starting. The result is that Gibson has played well, but no better on a per minute basis than before he came here and in the meantime he's playing far too many minutes for a 32-year old. Meanwhile, Gorgui has struggled in his new unfamiliar role coming off the bench. Further, it was Thibs who signed Crawford, Aldrich, MGH and Aaron Brooks while re-signing Bazz.

If you polled every GM in the NBA, I'm certain the vast majority would say the Wolves, at only 4 games over .500, have underachieved given the Wolves roster and the schedule to date. A number of smart basketball people, including a former Division 1 player, sit near me at Target Center and they're all uniformly disgusted by the way Thibs runs the offense and fails to use our bench. The only team surpassing the Wolves as underachievers so far this season is OKC.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Unfortunately, the Wolves have been blowing 4th quarter leads long before Thibs came around. It comes down to late game execution and the constant has been our two young players failing to get the job done on either end. It's a make or miss league and far too often those guys come up short.

[Lipoli390]

Unfortunately, the Wolves have been blowing 4th quarter leads long before Thibs came around. It comes down to late game execution and the constant has been our two young players failing to get the job done on either end. It's a make or miss league and far too often those guys come up short.

KAT can get it done if the head coach would run plays for him. Running plays exclusively for Butler down the stretch last night given Buter's back issue was nuts. KAT was executing - hitting his threes, and making good decisions as evidenced by his 4 assists. Beyond and including last night's game, failing to use the bench leaves our starters with tired legs, which hurts our ability to get the job. Repeatedly running the office through Wiggins at the end of quarters and down the stretch last season and even to a significant degree this season makes no sense and that's on Thibs. It's up to the head coach to get the most out of the players he has and I think Thibs is failing miserably in that regard. To the extent responsibility falls on the players, then Thibs is accountable as our PBO for that roster.

It was Thibs, not me, who proclaimed the Wolves as having the best young roster in the NBA when he first came here. Since then it was Thibs who brought in Butler, Taj, Teague, Crawford, Brooks and Aldrich. It was Thibs who signed Gorgui to a lucrative extension and Wiggins to a max extension. It was Thibs who re-signed Bazz. The buck stops at the top of any organization. Ultimately, the buck stops with Taylor. But right now, the buck has to stop with Thibs as both head coach and PBO. He has to be held accountable for the roster and the way that roster is used.

[thedoper]

If Thibs is the problem then the problem seems to be our best record in years and relevancy. I'm happy with those problems instead of whether Ricky can get us to 500 this year.

[Big O [enjin:13874644]]

If Thibs is the problem then the problem seems to be our best record in years and relevancy. I'm happy with those problems instead of whether Ricky can get us to 500 this year.

By the end of the year we won't be .500 the way things are trending and with the tougher schedule coming up.

[Wolvesfan21]

Good News is Wiggins can't get any worse, same with KAT's defense. Bad News is losing to the worst teams in the league, well those losses will hurt when you have to start playing Houston, GSW, Cleveland and Boston.

Also playing the starters huge minutes will break them down quicker, higher risks for injury, not developing the bench, not getting bench players time to develop any rhythm and blow more 4th quarter leads when the starters are dead tired.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

It's crazy how we're being held back because we only have one competent wing. Seriously, trading Gorgui Dieng for Kent Bazemore or DeMarre Carroll would do wonders for this team. Or we could pay the price and send a first-round pick for Marco Belinelli who once again continues to be lethal as a spot-up shooter and among the league's best pull-up shooters from 3P. There are options. We need to pursue those options.

[KiwiMatt]

I think Thibs has done a great job as POBO putting this roster together. But I fear his stubbornness when it comes to coaching might short circuit this franchises potential.