Do ANYONE still think that it is Flip's fault that AK isn't back?

[markkbu [enjin:6588958]]

There has been alot of Flip bashing about the not keeping AK. It looks like all that bashing wasn't very justified. Most recent reports suggest that AK is making slightly over 3 million next year. That is a 7 million pay cut.

For those that were bashing Flip over AK leaving, what do you think that Flip should have done differently.

[KGdaBom [enjin:6632523]]

We will never know for sure but if Flip had shown him more respect we might have been able to get him at the same price as Brewer and instead of Brewer. .

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

We will never know for sure but if Flip had shown him more respect we might have been able to get him at the same price as Brewer and instead of Brewer. .

Has anyone ever thought about this? Maybe Flip preferred Brewer over AK. AK can't run on fastbreaks like Brewer can and he's no where near as athletic. On a team that needs some more athletes, Brewer's a good addition and maybe to Flip, he's a better fit than AK.

[AGrayWolfFan [enjin:6594993]]

Maybe Mr. Prokhorov promised AK he could borrow his 315 foot yacht Palladium in the offseason? I'll miss AK, but not at the price he wanted to come back to the t-wolves at. It could just boil down to AK feels this is his best shot at a ring and is comfortable with Mr. Prokhorov as he has played for him before.

Then again there is this article:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--nets--deal-with-andrei-kirilenko-raises-suspicions-from-nba-rivals-180604173.html

On a side note, my daughter is ecstatic that Corey B. is back.

[foye2smith [enjin:6593248]]

AK47 may not be able to leak out in transition better than Brewer but he's more apt to start a break with a steal, block, or rebound than Brewer and I'd trust him more to actually run the break if he got the ball.

You want to talk about who's worth what fine, but to pick Brewer over AK47 in a vacuum is stupid. Kirilenko can do everything Brewer can do and in most cases better.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

AK47 may not be able to leak out in transition better than Brewer but he's more apt to start a break with a steal, block, or rebound than Brewer and I'd trust him more to actually run the break if he got the ball.

You want to talk about who's worth what fine, but to pick Brewer over AK47 in a vacuum is stupid. Kirilenko can do everything Brewer can do and in most cases better.

foye, you failed to comprehend the part where I said "maybe to Flip". And to be real nitpicky, Brewer and AK's steals per game were practically the same. Brewer scored 12.1 PPG to AK's 12.4 in 8 less minutes. Also shot the 3 ball better than AK. Then there's the case that Brewer was more durable than AK last year as Corey played in all 82 games whereas AK played in 64.

Look, I loved what AK brought to the team last year. He was a great vet for the guys to learn from and his basketball IQ is top notch. In his head he wanted to go to what he thinks was a guaranteed title contender and that's proven by the talks with the Spurs and his eventual signing with Brooklyn. Flip got a good player in Brewer and everyone needs to move on from AK. AK opting out got us the proven SG in K-Mart and helped in acquiring Brewer. We're in a better state now as a team.

[MinnesotaJock [enjin:6589402]]

We will never know for sure but if Flip had shown him more respect we might have been able to get him at the same price as Brewer and instead of Brewer. .

I really don't like when people bring points of discussion that have no way in being proven. How do you know Flip didn't show him enough respect? Flip specifically said that they wanted to bring AK back but he decided to go in a different direction. Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but that's all we can go by. Also, if you take a look at Flip's Twitter account last season, he gushed and raved about AK on a number of occasions so I believe him when he says they did want him back. In the end, I believe we wanted AK back but I don't think it was because of anything we did wrong.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Um, AK walked away from 10 million dollars from this team. At his age, that was more than generous. Flip didn't have to offer him anything and he shouldn't have even spoken to him, much less offer him the MLE. Welcome back Brew!

[Coolbreeze44]

Um, AK walked away from 10 million dollars from this team. At his age, that was more than generous. Flip didn't have to offer him anything and he shouldn't have even spoken to him, much less offer him the MLE. Welcome back Brew!

This. Once AK opted out and decided to explore the open market Flip can't be blamed for letting him go. AK could have gone to the Wolves and said I still want to play here, but want to negotiate a longer term deal. Instead he opted out and tried to cut a better deal. It didn't work out for AK in the end financially and that is nobody's fault but his own.

I'm okay with it. We were able to get Martin and Brew partly because AK left. And Brewer is younger and does a lot of the same things AK could do. I'm not one bit upset over this, in fact I'm psyched about what Flip has done since the draft day disaster. And in the rear view mirror that doesn't even look so bad at ths point.

[Coolbreeze44]

Jeez, I'm almost sounding like Tim :)