Revisionist history poll

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I'm with the group here who are feeling empty after this season, and am wondering if we might be feeling more optimistic had we lost that final Denver game and missed the playoffs. In that scenario, we would have missed the (fun?) of the playoffs, but we would have the 14th pick in the draft (Khyri Thomas) and a good chance that we would be looking at replacing Thibodeau (believe me guys...that was a likelihood). I know we discussed this in the final week of the season and I may have been the only one here hoping for the lottery, but a playoff blowout disaster may have changed perspectives. With hindsight, which option looks better today?

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I think any fan that was at that Denver play-in game or that game 3 home win against Houston would hopefully vote the same as I did, which is that it was worth it!

This franchise badly needed to get the playoff monkey off its back. Houston had the best record in the NBA and we took one game from them (which is better than what Portland did against New Orleans!).

I think KAT especially learned about the more physical nature of the playoffs and that he needs to use his size to take better advantage of teams that play a switching style defense.

At this very moment, I am less concerned about Thibs the coach (although there is plenty to criticize) and more about Thibs the GM. We have to make substantive improvements to the roster within a pretty constrained salary cap situation.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Playoffs by a mile.

1. For what Q said.
2. For what happened to KAT in Games 1 and 2. Better to get that out of the way in a series they couldn't win...
3. I don't think Thibs would be fired for a 46 - 36 season... but it would have put a lot more heat on him in 2019.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

My perspective might be different if I hadn't been busy for Game 3, Q. Instead I went to disastrous game 4, and then furthered the torture by watching Game 5 on TV, and watched 2 teams that seemed to be playing in two different eras. I'm happy for long-suffering fans who got to enjoy one playoff win, but I think Houston would have won that game too if they had cared...it was pretty clear to me in the games I watched that they could almost name the score. Now we are likely stuck with at least one more year with a non-motivating dinosaur as coach (although Glen didn't exactly give him a ringing endorsement on Hartman last week), no lottery pick, and little cap space to make meaningful changes to our roster. Give me option 2 all day.

[Lipoli390]

Playoffs by a mile.

1. For what Q said.
2. For what happened to KAT in Games 1 and 2. Better to get that out of the way in a series they couldn't win...
3. I don't think Thibs would be fired for a 46 - 36 season... but it would have put a lot more heat on him in 2019.

Based on the comments Glen has made lately, I agree with LST that there's a good chance Thibodeau would have been fired if we had lost that Denver game. But even though we won, I think there will be a lot of heat on Thibodeau in 2019. We've all seen Glen's comments that he was expecting a home-court seeding. I'm convinced that anything short of at least a 5th seed or advancing out of the first round next season will result in Glen replacing Thibodeau next Spring. If we're really struggling with little chance of a top 5 seed by the trade deadline next season, I can see Glen firing Thibs at that point.

[Monster]

One of the blowouts in option 1 was the Wolves blowing out the top team in the NBA as the 8th seed. Nobody wants to see that? Ok.

[Lipoli390]

One of the blowouts in option 1 was the Wolves blowing out the top team in the NBA as the 8th seed. Nobody wants to see that? Ok.

I had a blast at the Denver game and at game 3 for our one win against the Rockets. But as I reflect soberly right now, I'm still on the fence as to whether we would have been better off missing the playoffs. LST is taking the long view. And I agree with him that it's in the long-term best interest of this franchise to replace Thibodeau. Making the playoffs has postponed replacing him and I think that will be detrimental to the long-term best interest of the Wolves. Of course I could be wrong and hope I am.

I worry about Thibodeau as our head coach and, as Q suggested, there's reason to be concerned about now he performs this summer as our PBO. We have no cap room and only a portion of our MLE is usable because of our cap situation. The Dieng and Teague contracts are not realistically tradeable for decent value in my view. Most troubling of all for Thibodeau is that he's running out of former Bulls to sign. :)

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

One of the blowouts in option 1 was the Wolves blowing out the top team in the NBA as the 8th seed. Nobody wants to see that? Ok.

I had a blast at the Denver game and at game 3 for our one win against the Rockets. But as I reflect soberly right now, I'm still on the fence as to whether we would have been better off missing the playoffs. LST is taking the long view. And I agree with him that it's in the long-term best interest of this franchise to replace Thibodeau. Making the playoffs has postponed replacing him and I think that will be detrimental to the long-term best interest of the Wolves. Of course I could be wrong and hope I am.

I worry about Thibodeau as our head coach and, as Q suggested, there's reason to be concerned about now he performs this summer as our PBO. We have no cap room and only a portion of our MLE is usable because of our cap situation. The Dieng and Teague contracts are not realistically tradeable for decent value in my view. Most troubling of all for Thibodeau is that he's running out of former Bulls to sign. :)

Correct, I am taking the long view, Lip. I'm convinced that Khyri at 14 and a new younger coach improves this team at least 10 wins, and that trumps one playoff win in my estimation. Granted, I missed Game 3, but I suspect it would have been fun...but hollow. A friend of mine stopped by my seats at halftime of game 4 and guaranteed a victory. My girlfriend retorted that Harden was just going through the motions and would get serious in the second half and blow us out...alas, we were gone before the end of the 3rd quarter, and the joy of the first half was gone.

I hear the argument that the "playoff experience" is good for our young guys, but I don't know if that is any more than a cliché. I'm watching some young players without any playoff experience lighting it up this spring, and it seems to negate this narrative.

Now, if Glen fires Thibs anyway (and his language this past week can't make Thibs happy), I'll change my vote above.

[Monster]

A few months ago it seemed clear to most people the Pacers had the wrong GM and coach going forward. It looks like they may have the right guys for both positions. Meanwhile Sam Presti who legitimately has a good resume as a GM and Billy Donovan who seems to rarely get any criticism and supposedly won the offseason just got bounced by Utah in the first round. I'm interested in another season of seeing what the Thibs and Layden tandem can do.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I just read Zgoda's year end interview with Glen, and although this may be wishful thinking on my part, I can't find one positive comment from him about Thibs. On the other hand, he expresses negative opinions about our defense and use of bench. Hmmm...