Robson's End of the Season Review... No More Flip-Flopping...

[AbeVigodaLive]

He's a better writer than me, so I'll let you read his takes... many of which I agree with...

https://www.minnpost.com/sports/2015/04/2014-15-edition-timberwolves-less-team-flash-mobs-ineptitude

[Carlos Danger]

I don't know. I realize a few of you are fans of this author, but I didn't read anything that hasn't been brought up or discussed ad nauseum on this board already. It is what it is. We were a bad team and some injuries to key players add additional question marks. But we have some exciting young talent and more coming via the draft. Half empty or half full. Everyone has their way of looking at things. Whatever makes you happy.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I don't know. I realize a few of you are fans of this author, but I didn't read anything that hasn't been brought up or discussed ad nauseum on this board already. It is what it is. We were a bad team and some injuries to key players add additional question marks. But we have some exciting young talent and more coming via the draft. Half empty or half full. Everyone has their way of looking at things. Whatever makes you happy.

That's kind of the point of the thread. He agrees with what some of us have been writing about... and aren't we all trying to justify our takes from time to time?

He just writes better while doing so.



[Note: I think his opening is what drew me in... even amid MANY teams trying to lose, the Wolves lost "best/worst." Considering that the Wolves are considered to have the most optimistic future by many/most around here and avoided the public disdain for tanking that those other teams faced... apparently, Saunders and Co. did a great job with it this season. I don't know if any 66-loss team has had such a promising future, actually. Amazingly.]

[Carlos Danger]

I don't know. I realize a few of you are fans of this author, but I didn't read anything that hasn't been brought up or discussed ad nauseum on this board already. It is what it is. We were a bad team and some injuries to key players add additional question marks. But we have some exciting young talent and more coming via the draft. Half empty or half full. Everyone has their way of looking at things. Whatever makes you happy.

That's kind of the point of the thread. He agrees with what some of us have been writing about... and aren't we all trying to justify our takes from time to time?

Right. Or you could have chosen Chicken Little as another good person to "justify your take". The sky is falling right? Where's my tin foil hat?

[AbeVigodaLive]

I don't know. I realize a few of you are fans of this author, but I didn't read anything that hasn't been brought up or discussed ad nauseum on this board already. It is what it is. We were a bad team and some injuries to key players add additional question marks. But we have some exciting young talent and more coming via the draft. Half empty or half full. Everyone has their way of looking at things. Whatever makes you happy.

That's kind of the point of the thread. He agrees with what some of us have been writing about... and aren't we all trying to justify our takes from time to time?

Right. Or you could have chosen Chicken Little as another good person to "justify your take". The sky is falling right? Where's my tin foil hat?

If Chicken Little followed the Wolves and gave careful, thoughtful analysis consistently on the Wolves for the past 10+ years... sure. I'll definitely think about his takes.

Do you have any links to his articles?

[mjs34]

IMO the biggest obstacle is Flip as coach. I watched some of the Cav/Celtics game and realized what a well coached team plays like. Boston has significantly less talent than the wolves and still have the young inexperienced label, but don't play that way. They look like a team that has played together for several seasons already, and while being beat by talent, still managed to play within their system.

The single take that really jumped out at me was the question about Rubio's ankle. Is this going to be a problem going forward?

[Lipoli390]

I like the way Robson writes, although his observations and insights aren't generally anything to write home about. I went to nearly every home game and with only a few exceptions I found the games far more fun than last season's. I went to each game this season after Ricky's injury expecting to lose but hoping to see a good effort and something special on occasion from our young guys. And as it turns out, I saw a lot of special moments from Wiggins and a good share of impressive moments from Dieng, Shabazz and LaVine. I also saw improvement from both Wiggins and LaVine over the course of the season.

The only complaints I have are Flip's antiquated approach to coaching and his unyielding faith in himself as head coach. I guess I should add his tendency to undervalue and squander first round picks - e.g., trades for Thad and Payne as well as selling the 27th pick in the 2013 draft. Otherwise, I saw what I needed to see to be optimistic about a rebuilding team - impressive young talented players with good work ethics showing demonstrable improvement. I also think Flip has shown a good eye for draft prospects, which bodes well for this summer's draft. I think Flip tanked respectably by simply taking advantage of circumstances outside his control - injuries to Pek, Ricky and Shabazz among others.

To Robson and others who seem so distraught over the overall play of the Wolves as a team this season, I'll refer back to the 2007-08 and 2008-09 Thunder. That team won 20 games in 2007-08 with Rookie of the year Kevin Durant. They won only 23 games the following season with both Durant and Westbrook. But guess what. The Thunder won 50 games the next season and were considered a title contender every season since until this one. Yes, even Durant in his second season with the super talented Westbrook at his side couldn't get the Thunder more than 23 wins.

So I guess there is hope in the face of ineptitude. And unless you think Scottie Brooks is a future hall-of-fame coach, Flip might be good enough to take this team from bottom feeder to contender. If he can't, I think Flip will eventually put his ego aside and hire someone who can. In the end, it's about talent. And there is no question that the Wolves have accumulated a very nice core of young talent in a short time. Of course this organization could screw it up as they have in the past. But right now, the focus should be on the future and the balance of the evidence suggests good reason for optimism. Robson's article was a good read, but not very enlightening.

[Carlos Danger]

But right now, the focus should be on the future and the balance of the evidence suggests good reason for optimism. Robson's article was a good read, but not very enlightening.

Yep. Thumbs up on good post.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I'm far less optimistic after 66 losses... even though that's probably the minority view on this board. It's a very optimistic board in general. And that's usually a great thing to have around Wolves basketball.

Wiggins COULD be a great player. But I'm not playing the odds that he ever becomes as good as Kevin Durant, who has won an MVP and is one of the best scorers in NBA history who rounded out his game nicely to become a top 3 player for multiple seasons.

Zach Lavine looked terrible early... then showed promising signs and posted some decent stats mostly as the team lost 12 straight games, with few of them even being close. The odds of him becoming a perennial All NBA player are too long for me to consider the Thunder model to be a legit goal instead of a pipe dream.

Muhammad can score. But is he a starter on a good team? Is Dieng? Martin? Is even Rubio?

Like Robson, I find it remarkable that even with Wiggins and LaVine and the resurgence of Budinger, the Wolves were still worse than the Langston Galloway-led Knicks. I know, I know... losing is good! We've heard that before. Remember, the Wolves are 2 - 63 closing out "tanking" seasons in recent years. Nobody does it better.

And it's why this draft is important. IF they land a transcendent player in the draft, I see a nucleus building.

I think we all see an improvement next season as Wiggins SHOULD take a mini-leap. And Rubio returns. And Martin. And hopefully Pekovic. And we can see if the late-season promise of LaVine playing out the string translates in more meaningful games and moments. Of course, 66 losses should never happen again.

Dammit... am I actually writing myself into optimism here? Close, but not quite.
The Wolves were the worst team in basketball. The playoffs are still a distant dream. It COULD happen IF Wiggins becomes that superstar type player. Or, IF LaVine becomes the steal of the draft. Or, IF the team lands a star in the lottery. IF Saunders ushers in a more modern approach to coaching or hands off the reigns to a new, promising coach.

But none of those things have happened yet. And not one of them is a sure thing. So the Wolves remain a 16 - 66 team with a chance of being good in a few years. While it's better than the Rambis-led 65+ loss campaigns because there's actual hope this time... it's far from enough to think this season has been much more than a bad season. Contrary to Lip, I didn't enjoy this season.

Hope is great. Wins are infinitely better. I'm ready for the latter. Hopefully, next season gets us 2x as many of them. Then, the seeds of optimism can grow some more.


[note: i don't know why robson is getting the ho-hum for speaking the truth by the way. is only optimism "enlightening?"]

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I appreciate your contributions to this forum, abe, and fully admit that those who generally lean more to the pessimistic view have been far closer to being correct than the optimists like yours truly. It's a character defect on my part...I have a hard time following a team as passionately as I do without keeping the rose-colored glasses on. But I'm grateful to the pessimists for balancing my view from time to time.

One bit of pessimism that I don't agree with: the Knicks were not better than the Wolves last year, even with all the injuries we suffered. We proved we were better by beating them both times we played. This is one time that we should be grateful that we play in the far stronger division. We finished with one less win (and more ping pong balls) than the Knicks not because they or the Sixers are a better team than us, but only because we played a much tougher schedule. Playing in the West will make it more difficult for us to get to the playoffs next year, but let's be grateful in the moment because playing in the West gives us a better chance at getting Towns.