Damn Flip called Love out on KFAN

[Lipoli390]

As I indicated in my earlier posts, I wish Flip hadn't called Love out publicly the way he did. If I were in Flip's position I wouldn't have done that. On the other hand, Flip may have been sending an important message to the rest of the team that, as head coach, he's got their back. I agree that Love has reason to be frustrated with the organization, but in my view, he should not have spread through the media his desire to leave the team after next season and he needs to step up and take more responsibility on his shoulders in the statements he makes both publicly and in the lockerroom. Nevertheless, in the end, neither Flip's recent comments nor Love's leaks to the media will be significant.

The bottom line is this: First, Love is a great player and this team would be better off with him than without him unless we are able to get a return for him that I don't think we'll be able to get realistically. Second, Flip has proven himself to be an excellent head coach and hasn't yet had a full opportunity to make his mark as the team's basketball ops President in the wake of the mess that Kahn created.

So I've decided to pause for a moment and take a deep breath. As a result, I've had what I consider a moment of clarity and in that moment here's what I see down the road:

1. I see the Wolves keeping Love this next season and I see Love having another great season as he plays for himself in a contract year and for the team.

2. I see Ricky Rubio, at a minimum, finishing shots at the rim the entire season the way he did consistently after the all-star break last season and improving his perimeter shooting at least a little.

3. I see the Wolves drafting a player at #13 who will improve the team - Stauskus, Harris, other.

4. I see Dieng, at a minimum, performing the entire season at the level or better than the level he performed at the end of last season when he started to get significant playing time.

5. I see Shabazz, with his tremendous work ethic, toughness and scoring ability, becoming an impact player off the bench for the Wolves as a scorer and rebounder at the SF position.

6. I see the Wolves adding a talented veteran with the MLE

7. I see the entire team improving as a unit based solely on the coaching upgrade from a detached Adelman to a fully engaged Flip Saunders who has a track record of winning and getting the most out of his teams as a head coach. Better shot selection, fewer turnovers, better rotations, better defense -- these are all things we should expect to see based on Flip's track record. Think about the fact that Flip took the Wolves to the cusp of the NBA finals with only one star, KG, and some good but nothing close to great players in Sam, Spree and Wally. The guy can flat out coach with the best of them and, unlike Adelman last season, Flip still has a burning passion for the game and a work ethic second to none.

As most of you know, I'm not the resident optimist on this message board and I haven't been a Flip booster. So I don't think my vision is the product of a delusional homer bias. And I swear I'm not under the influence of any mood-altering drugs. I just took control of my emotions and looked closely at both the players we have and Flip's coaching record. And I think the things I see happening are very realistic and, if anything, understate the positive prospects for this team next season.

So we can complain about Love's complaining and question what Flip says or does (Lord knows I do), but when you take a step back and look at the big picture, I see a lot of reason for optimism. Just food for thought.

[mrhockey89]

Lip, I think there's a decent chance you're right in them keeping Love...and if we do, then we definitely use the MLE to bolster the depth in such a critical year, perhaps even involve a trade. And I tend to agree with Flip's comments that we should have been playing more zone defense due to less athleticism and less agility than many of our opponents, especially when you consider that plays to Rubio's strengths as well in terms of getting steals in passing lanes.

The real question then comes..Let's say we do keep Love and the record improves to a point that the Wolves make the playoffs next year...does Love leave? CAN Love possibly leave? Love's been saying all along he wants to get to the playoffs and get a chance, and build a winner...well he'll have that if we do, and couple that with the fact we could pay him more than anyone else, I think that would really put pressure on Love and clarify the reason he really would be leaving...or staying.

[Lipoli390]

Hockey -- I agree that making the playoffs would at least make Love's decision difficult. If we were to make it out of the first round or even go 6 or 7 games into the first round, that would make it very difficult for Love to leave. Importantly, as a free agent, Love's options will be limited since only a limited number of teams will have the cap space to sign him and only a subset of those teams will have a brighter prospect of winning than the Wolves. And Love would leave $20 million on the table by signing with another team. He could still leave and the Wolves would end up getting nothing in return. But I've come around to thinking that the risk would be worth it unless we get a really, really good return for Love in a trade this summer. Also, we could always trade Love at the Feb. trade deadline if the team is struggling.

So I see us keeping Love and taking one more shot with him under Flip with an improved Rubio, a healthy Budinger, a contributing Shabazz and couple new contributing players via the draft and free agency. I could roll with that scenario.

[thedoper]

I am with your vision for keeping Love for next season, it is what I have been rooting for all along. Most of these proposed deals disgust me frankly. As for your #6, do we have a shot a Pau in free agency? Even though we have a lot of front court players I think that his veteran influence would be great, and if we were to look at a Love trade at the deadline we probably wouldn't loose a ton of ground if Pau can be a healthy contributor. That way we could focus moving Love on a ton of wing players to compliment our low post talent.

[Lipoli390]

Doper -- I think Pau would be a great acquisition for the Wolves with or without Love. But I don't see us getting him for the approx $5 million MLE. So we'd have to do some sort of sign and trade with the Lakers.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

Pau can't play PF at this point in his career. You want to give him minutes over pek/deing?

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

As I indicated in my earlier posts, I wish Flip hadn't called Love out publicly the way he did. If I were in Flip's position I wouldn't have done that. On the other hand, Flip may have been sending an important message to the rest of the team that, as head coach, he's got their back. I agree that Love has reason to be frustrated with the organization, but in my view, he should not have spread through the media his desire to leave the team after next season and he needs to step up and take more responsibility on his shoulders in the statements he makes both publicly and in the lockerroom.

At this point, how can you even tell whats media BS and something actually coming out of Love's camp? One week its reported that he 100% wants to go to the Lakers. The next week is that he wants to go to the celtics based on his visit. The next week it's reported that he prefers GS. Honestly at this point, there's nothing Love can do that won't be spun negatively to wolves fans. Even if he came out and says he loves Minnesota (which he already has BTW), people will just say "well he's just saying that he actually wants out".

Lip I can't believe anyone would think Love will be with the wolves going foward. Flip and Glen aren't the type of people who won't give into the massive media pressure to trade Love, and their comments have only supported this point

[thedoper]

Pau can't play PF at this point in his career. You want to give him minutes over pek/deing?

2nd unit center, insurance if Love gets injured. And yes in many situations I would give him minutes over Pek/Dieng depending on matchups. Plus championship experience, especially playing next to prima donnas, friends with Rubio. So many reasons to eye him. Maybe by some miracle he would want to spend a couple of years with Rubio at the MLE.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

As I indicated in my earlier posts, I wish Flip hadn't called Love out publicly the way he did. If I were in Flip's position I wouldn't have done that. On the other hand, Flip may have been sending an important message to the rest of the team that, as head coach, he's got their back. I agree that Love has reason to be frustrated with the organization, but in my view, he should not have spread through the media his desire to leave the team after next season and he needs to step up and take more responsibility on his shoulders in the statements he makes both publicly and in the lockerroom. Nevertheless, in the end, neither Flip's recent comments nor Love's leaks to the media will be significant.

The bottom line is this: First, Love is a great player and this team would be better off with him than without him unless we are able to get a return for him that I don't think we'll be able to get realistically. Second, Flip has proven himself to be an excellent head coach and hasn't yet had a full opportunity to make his mark as the team's basketball ops President in the wake of the mess that Kahn created.

So I've decided to pause for a moment and take a deep breath. As a result, I've had what I consider a moment of clarity and in that moment here's what I see down the road:

1. I see the Wolves keeping Love this next season and I see Love having another great season as he plays for himself in a contract year and for the team.

2. I see Ricky Rubio, at a minimum, finishing shots at the rim the entire season the way he did consistently after the all-star break last season and improving his perimeter shooting at least a little.

3. I see the Wolves drafting a player at #13 who will improve the team - Stauskus, Harris, other.

4. I see Dieng, at a minimum, performing the entire season at the level or better than the level he performed at the end of last season when he started to get significant playing time.

5. I see Shabazz, with his tremendous work ethic, toughness and scoring ability, becoming an impact player off the bench for the Wolves as a scorer and rebounder at the SF position.

6. I see the Wolves adding a talented veteran with the MLE

7. I see the entire team improving as a unit based solely on the coaching upgrade from a detached Adelman to a fully engaged Flip Saunders who has a track record of winning and getting the most out of his teams as a head coach. Better shot selection, fewer turnovers, better rotations, better defense -- these are all things we should expect to see based on Flip's track record. Think about the fact that Flip took the Wolves to the cusp of the NBA finals with only one star, KG, and some good but nothing close to great players in Sam, Spree and Wally. The guy can flat out coach with the best of them and, unlike Adelman last season, Flip still has a burning passion for the game and a work ethic second to none.

As most of you know, I'm not the resident optimist on this message board and I haven't been a Flip booster. So I don't think my vision is the product of a delusional homer bias. And I swear I'm not under the influence of any mood-altering drugs. I just took control of my emotions and looked closely at both the players we have and Flip's coaching record. And I think the things I see happening are very realistic and, if anything, understate the positive prospects for this team next season.

So we can complain about Love's complaining and question what Flip says or does (Lord knows I do), but when you take a step back and look at the big picture, I see a lot of reason for optimism. Just food for thought.

Lipoli, thanks for an excellent summary of some things that are likely to happen next year, all of which are very positive. I think your post is well thought-out, and I agree with most of it. I would add two more things which could happen and would lead to more wins:

1)We have too much of our payroll tied up in Pekovic, especially when Deing and Turiaf should be able to handle the center position. I would like to see Flip pursue dealing Pek for a starting 2 guard, allowing Martin to provide much needed scoring off the bench.

2) Back-up point guard was a big problem for the Wolves last year. I don't see Barea in your summary, and I'm hoping that Shved gets a lot of PG minutes in Vegas and demonstrates that he is able to take the job away from JJ. I think this would greatly improve the second unit.

[WildWolf2813]

Pau can't play PF at this point in his career. You want to give him minutes over pek/deing?

2nd unit center, insurance if Love gets injured. And yes in many situations I would give him minutes over Pek/Dieng depending on matchups. Plus championship experience, especially playing next to prima donnas, friends with Rubio. So many reasons to eye him. Maybe by some miracle he would want to spend a couple of years with Rubio at the MLE.

He'd rather play alongside his brother (couldn't blame him either if he did that)