Wolves Hire Thibs

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Our improved defense will create more fastbreak opportunities and the personnel we have should allow for us to be dynamic there. Easier to score quickly when you're not taking the ball out from under the basket. So, even if Thibs wants us to slow things down, which I don't necessarily buy because his first two years in CHI they played fast with MVP Rose, we should still be able to make haste in the open court just because we have some athletes that other teams can't match up with.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Man, he says all the right things! With a significant improvement on defense, this team could be really, really good next year...

Interesting, he rattled off the key 5 things he thinks are most important to winning basketball:

1. Defense
2. Rebounding
3. Keeping turnovers down
4. Playing inside-Out
5. Sharing the basketball

Some meat and potatoes stuff right there. I have a feeling we'll slow down the pace a bit, which makes me a little sad. It's tough to be a great defensive rebounding team and keep TOs down when you look to run, because it involves leak-outs and some risky passes occasionally. But damn, another coach could look at our very same roster and view it as the second coming of SSOL. That would be fun as hell, but probably less effective in the long run.

Thibs also emphasized the importance of maximizing free throws, layups, and 3-pointers on offense. Me likey!

That was the formula in Chicago, q. As Robson pointed out in his article today, in the five years Thibs coached the Bulls they never finished out of the bottom 10 teams in pace of play (23rd, 28th, 27th, 29th, and 23rd)...so we know he gravitates toward a more careful offense. I'm not necessarily opposed to that approach, although it sure was fun to watch our young guys run the last month of the year, even if turnovers were higher. More concerning to me is that a Thibs' coached team has never ranked in the top half of the league in 3-point attempts.

Thibs is a smart guy though, so he may adjust his offensive style based on the athleticism of our young guys...I hope so. I have to admit I was a little sad too as I listened to Thibs' talking with Barreiro about his philosophy. Ultimately though, we all want this team to win, and Thibs won in Chicago with a slow-down offense without an emphasis on threes.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

We could debate about whether or not his Chicago rosters actually had the shooters necessary to be in the top half of the league in 3PA. I'm not so sure that they did. Even when Adelman was in Minnesota the Wolves were among the worst three-point shooting teams in the NBA, and I'm pretty certain that Adelman's offense included action with the end result being a three-point shot. Philosophy only goes so far. You gotta have the players to execute, and in this case, you need a handful of three-point shooters to be top half of the league in that category. I look at his Bulls teams and ask where are the shooters? That's on the front office.

With that said, the trade-off in Chicago was that his teams were hard to shoot threes against. I'm sure the numbers would back me on that. I know his teams were among the best in the league at stopping corner threes. Also, if you're not going to make a lot of threes, you damn sure better stop the opposition from making threes to keep the balance. Thibs has talked about that often. I doubt that will change.

[Coolbreeze44]

I think it would be a big mistake for this roster to play slow, certainly not in the bottom third of the league. We DO need to generate more offense from our D though, and that will be a welcome change. I hope an assistant is brought in who can help supercharge our fast break.

[60WinTim]

I think it would be a big mistake for this roster to play slow, certainly not in the bottom third of the league. We DO need to generate more offense from our D though, and that will be a welcome change. I hope an assistant is brought in who can help supercharge our fast break.

Maybe I am overly opTIMistic, but Thibs touts featuring strengths and hiding weaknesses, in addition to playing solid 5-man defense. If we have players who can run the break and shoot 3s, I would think Thibs would let them do so.

I might be in the minority, but I don't mind sacrificing something on offense if it turns into a better defensive team. I have always valued defense over offense. Maybe I am just old fashioned...

[60WinTim]

Wow, again! This has been one hell of a week for Zgoda. First his interview with Thibs, and now a decent interview with Glen...

http://www.startribune.com/q-a-with-glen-taylor-wolves-owner-acted-quickly-to-land-those-he-wanted/376810841/

[Lipoli390]

Massively undervaluing Horford's impact on both ends of the floor. Very few players have no obvious weakness. Horford is one of them. This shouldn't even be a tough decision if he wanted to come here.

Horford is a tremendous player. I remember watching his draft workout here at Target Center. I also recall hearing from someone in the organization at the time that Horford was the guy McHale really wanted in that draft. Conley was McHale's next choice. Alas, both were gone by the time the Wolves were on the clock. Just some history. But signing Horford would be great, although we have to be careful to preserve cap space for the big contracts Towns, Wiggins and possibly LaVine will eventually command. I know we have Bird rights to them, but exceeding the cap triggers certain transactional constraints. And I suspect Taylor won't want to exceed the luxury tax threshold. I know the cap's going up a lot, but so will the market price of young talented players like Towns.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Wow, again! This has been one hell of a week for Zgoda. First his interview with Thibs, and now a decent interview with Glen...

http://www.startribune.com/q-a-with-glen-taylor-wolves-owner-acted-quickly-to-land-those-he-wanted/376810841/

Geez, Taylor sounds unbelievably competent and confident here. What the hell!? He must have had some sort of awakening over the course of the season.

(And Tim, remember, Taylor owns the Tribune. Let's not give too much credit to Zgoda here, although I do think his questions were solid for a short-form interview).

[Carlos Danger]

Massively undervaluing Horford's impact on both ends of the floor. Very few players have no obvious weakness. Horford is one of them. This shouldn't even be a tough decision if he wanted to come here.

Horford is a tremendous player. I remember watching his draft workout here at Target Center. I also recall hearing from someone in the organization at the time that Horford was the guy McHale really wanted in that draft. Conley was McHale's next choice. Alas, both were gone by the time the Wolves were on the clock. Just some history. But signing Horford would be great, although we have to be careful to preserve cap space for the big contracts Towns, Wiggins and possibly LaVine will eventually command. I know we have Bird rights to them, but exceeding the cap triggers certain transactional constraints. And I suspect Taylor won't want to exceed the luxury tax threshold. I know the cap's going up a lot, but so will the market price of young talented players like Towns.

Horford is a nice player right now. But he's also going to be 30 next year and expensive. If we were a little further along, I'd be all for signing someone like him to put us over the top. But we're coming off 29 wins and still have a lot of things to figure out. I don't if it would be wise to pay big money to someone that's almost 10 years older than our core.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Massively undervaluing Horford's impact on both ends of the floor. Very few players have no obvious weakness. Horford is one of them. This shouldn't even be a tough decision if he wanted to come here.

Horford is a tremendous player. I remember watching his draft workout here at Target Center. I also recall hearing from someone in the organization at the time that Horford was the guy McHale really wanted in that draft. Conley was McHale's next choice. Alas, both were gone by the time the Wolves were on the clock. Just some history. But signing Horford would be great, although we have to be careful to preserve cap space for the big contracts Towns, Wiggins and possibly LaVine will eventually command. I know we have Bird rights to them, but exceeding the cap triggers certain transactional constraints. And I suspect Taylor won't want to exceed the luxury tax threshold. I know the cap's going up a lot, but so will the market price of young talented players like Towns.

Horford is a nice player right now. But he's also going to be 30 next year and expensive. If we were a little further along, I'd be all for signing someone like him to put us over the top. But we're coming off 29 wins and still have a lot of things to figure out. I don't if it would be wise to pay big money to someone that's almost 10 years older than our core.

You may be right Carlos, but I think there are some folks that think this team might be ready to take a fairly gigantic leap next year. Wiggins and LaVine are entering their 3rd season, Dieng and Bazz their 4th, and Rubio his 6th. And KAT Is already a top 3 or 4 Center. So with the right defensive focus and improvement, we could still be having game threads one year from now.