Wolves vs the tanking Grizz GDT

[Crazysauce]

Were the grizzlies tanking or the wolves. Get this. We lost to a tanking team while in the thick of a playoff race. How can you not hate this god damn team

[Monster]

Were the grizzlies tanking or the wolves. Get this. We lost to a tanking team while in the thick of a playoff race. How can you not hate this god damn team

I can confirm Nuggets fans are feeling the same frustration when they lost to the Grizzlies a little over a week ago.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Forgot about the game I guess it wasn't a bad thing. I said they were going to lose one of these "supposed to win" games. It's a little early for that to happen but I'm not that shocked it happens.

Ok I didn't watch the game (and I usually don't like to make much out of a game I didn't watch) but I'm gonna rip Thibs here. The bench guys that some never play brought that game back agains the Sixers and he sticks with them in a game that was shockingly within reach (even if it was garbage time situation) and then a couple nights later plays some 2 guys over 40mpg. That's ridiculous. Meanwhile Memphis played 11 players and won while the Wolves played 8 guys. Play MGH.

Yep, I have not ripped Thibs much this year. But Teague and Taj have both complained about their minutes being to high. Then Thibs plays 3 starters 44 minutes. When the wolves score 11 points and make 3 FGs in the fourth. It was real sad.

If the wolves get the 8th seed or miss the playoffs, right or wrong Thibs is on the hot seat. Players are starting to complain a little bit and that is the vets. And we are in cap hell with him being the GM.

I'm with Jon K on this one he says he doesn't have as much problem with the starters playing big minutes (ok maybe not 43 mpg) but it just doesn't give the bench guys a chance to get a chance to play. Look at the Clippers. They are playing guys from all over the place and somehow they stayed above .500. It does feel like Thibs with his stick to his rotation type style doesn't give some guys a legit shot of helping the team. It's either play a ton of minutes or get 10-15 minutes. That's a legit criticism of him even if you think some of those guys suck a guy like Dieng isn't as bad as he has looked this year. One thought I had was maybe Thibs wants player to speak up for others to get them shots but after Teague said something and the bench did some good things...nope. It looked like Teague was rolling for a lot of this game but...idk. I know I have an optimistic view of guys and I like seeing development and more players playing but...it's frustrating.

There will have to be a collossal failure the rest of the season for Thibs to be on the hot seat. Why? One reason is look around the league there isn't some awesome coach available. You aren't bringing in some hotshot assistant to coach this group. There isn't a great crop of guys to go out and get and starting over again probably wouldn't be the way to go. Maybe it ends up being the wrong move but I want to give Thibs another year to see if he can do his thing and keep building.

We have Butler, KAT and Wiggins. We don't need a stud of a coach. We just need someone who isn't stuck in 2008. Look at what Nate McMillan has done in Indiana. That's a guy who nobody would have thought was near the top tier in coaching who, given the right team and situation, is a coach of the year candidate. Even a retread might be able to take this team to another level that Thibs won't.

[Wolvesfan21]

Monster- I have said this before that the few amount of minutes some bench guys get can hurt them while hurting the starters maintain a high level of effort. For instance on many nights a bench player may get one shot, they get no chance to get into the game.

When given more time the bench players are motivated to show what they can do! Guys like Cole and MGH can actually play decent defense. Which is where the Wolves are PATHETIC.

Keep playing Taj 40 some minutes, it's insanity. Thibs is a fucking idiot sometimes.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

While Thibs has irritated me some this season with some of his questionable decisions, I'm still in favor of seeing how this team develops over the next couple of years. I'm kind of from the mentality that at worst, a head coach or president of operations -- in this case, one is the same -- deserves roughly three seasons to turn a franchise around, or at least show legitimate signs that it's heading that way. Thibs is starting to get the wheels going with a winning season, but I admit that it's been very ugly and in a way that I did not anticipate -- high scoring rather than great defense.

If you were to fire him right now, though, who would you hire to replace him? I have several names that I'd feel good about, but I don't feel like any of them are a slam dunk.

[Lipoli390]

While Thibs has irritated me some this season with some of his questionable decisions, I'm still in favor of seeing how this team develops over the next couple of years. I'm kind of from the mentality that at worst, a head coach or president of operations -- in this case, one is the same -- deserves roughly three seasons to turn a franchise around, or at least show legitimate signs that it's heading that way. Thibs is starting to get the wheels going with a winning season, but I admit that it's been very ugly and in a way that I did not anticipate -- high scoring rather than great defense.

If you were to fire him right now, though, who would you hire to replace him? I have several names that I'd feel good about, but I don't feel like any of them are a slam dunk.

Your thinking makes sense, Cam. So I won't argue too strenuously. But after coming to terms with Thibs and being more receptive to his coaching as the season progressed, I'm back to where I started in wanting to pull the plug on him after this season unless we make a late-season charge and finish in the top 6. I might feel differently if Thibs had inherited a baron team at the very beginning of its rebuild. But he was handed a lot of young talent and draft picks and tons of cap room. He was given complete authority over the front office and the bench with carte blanch to make any move he wanted. So I don't see him as someone who merits 3 years to turn around a franchise. He came here because, in his words, the Wolves had the best young roster in the NBA. He's made us older and, thanks to Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson, we're much better than last season under Thibs. But we're not even close to where we should be and we're saddled with inflated contracts (Teague and Dieng in particular) that give us little if any room to get significantly better. Well, maybe Derrick Rose will stick around next season. :)

I've always said, there are worse head coaches and probably worse GMs than Thibs. But I'm tired of settling for mediocre and in two full seasons as both PBO and head coach, Thibs has provided absolutely no basis for concluding that he's anything more than mediocre.

You made an excellent point that firing Thibs doesn't help if we don't hire someone better and I don't have any ideas on that right now. But if I were Glen Taylor, I'd be focused intensely now on finding PBO and head coach candidates who would be better for this team in this modern post-2015 era of NBA basketball. I say that while still mindful that your position is a reasonable one. I just can't stand watching this team's players slow walk the ball and stand around in an iso offensive system listening for their head coach to tell them what to do. I can't stand it anymore.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

David Blatt is the guy I wanted before thibs and they guy i would target again if thibs was ever let go.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

If we finish in the 7-8 spot or God forbid we miss playoffs I think that'd be back to back seasons of under performing given the talent on the team. The other damning thing is where is the improvement on the court outside of Wiggins defense with Jimmy out? All these other teams are surging to close the year and we're going out with a whimper. He gets a pass for the first few months with all the new pieces on the team, but where's the improvement from there? Dieng, Tyus, Belly, Towns. What are they better at now than at the beginning of the year that is significant like Wiggins D? Where is the team improvement on the defensive side of the ball? I still don't see a team with an identity on the court. Just a bunch of talent that is so good it can still win a lot of games. That's why Thibs needs to go. 1 year is fine. 2 years in a row of both under performing and a lack of improvement is a trend in the wrong direction and when your own vets start to criticize you that means they aren't fully bought in to what you are selling. See the warning signs now and move on before you have to fire him at the deadline next year for the same thing and throw everything up in the air during our most important summer when Jimmy is a FA.

[Wolvesfan21]

Were the grizzlies tanking or the wolves. Get this. We lost to a tanking team while in the thick of a playoff race. How can you not hate this god damn team

Maybe the Wolves are tanking? Tanking to fire Thibs? I haven't seen such bad defense in a long time these last two games. Let's see how they play the next few, it just might be possible the players want Thibs gone.

[Monster]

Forgot about the game I guess it wasn't a bad thing. I said they were going to lose one of these "supposed to win" games. It's a little early for that to happen but I'm not that shocked it happens.

Ok I didn't watch the game (and I usually don't like to make much out of a game I didn't watch) but I'm gonna rip Thibs here. The bench guys that some never play brought that game back agains the Sixers and he sticks with them in a game that was shockingly within reach (even if it was garbage time situation) and then a couple nights later plays some 2 guys over 40mpg. That's ridiculous. Meanwhile Memphis played 11 players and won while the Wolves played 8 guys. Play MGH.

Yep, I have not ripped Thibs much this year. But Teague and Taj have both complained about their minutes being to high. Then Thibs plays 3 starters 44 minutes. When the wolves score 11 points and make 3 FGs in the fourth. It was real sad.

If the wolves get the 8th seed or miss the playoffs, right or wrong Thibs is on the hot seat. Players are starting to complain a little bit and that is the vets. And we are in cap hell with him being the GM.

I'm with Jon K on this one he says he doesn't have as much problem with the starters playing big minutes (ok maybe not 43 mpg) but it just doesn't give the bench guys a chance to get a chance to play. Look at the Clippers. They are playing guys from all over the place and somehow they stayed above .500. It does feel like Thibs with his stick to his rotation type style doesn't give some guys a legit shot of helping the team. It's either play a ton of minutes or get 10-15 minutes. That's a legit criticism of him even if you think some of those guys suck a guy like Dieng isn't as bad as he has looked this year. One thought I had was maybe Thibs wants player to speak up for others to get them shots but after Teague said something and the bench did some good things...nope. It looked like Teague was rolling for a lot of this game but...idk. I know I have an optimistic view of guys and I like seeing development and more players playing but...it's frustrating.

There will have to be a collossal failure the rest of the season for Thibs to be on the hot seat. Why? One reason is look around the league there isn't some awesome coach available. You aren't bringing in some hotshot assistant to coach this group. There isn't a great crop of guys to go out and get and starting over again probably wouldn't be the way to go. Maybe it ends up being the wrong move but I want to give Thibs another year to see if he can do his thing and keep building.

We have Butler, KAT and Wiggins. We don't need a stud of a coach. We just need someone who isn't stuck in 2008. Look at what Nate McMillan has done in Indiana. That's a guy who nobody would have thought was near the top tier in coaching who, given the right team and situation, is a coach of the year candidate. Even a retread might be able to take this team to another level that Thibs won't.

12 month's ago NOBODY thought Nate Mcmillian was the answer and the same thought when he was hired. He still might not be the answer but he has done a heck of a job this year no doubt and the GM who got torched for what he got for Paul George put together a nice roster in the offseason. Thibs likely isn't going anywhere but I'm still up for seeing what he can do with this roster for another year.