Mixed Feelings

[Monster]

I think I will be visiting Portland in the fall. Is this some sort of secret requirement nobody knows about that we need to visit Oregon? Lol

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I agree with you Q on both topics...not loving the Rubio deal, and liking Oregon. I'll be visiting friends in Bend later this summer (and surreptitiously cheering for Ricky next year).

I'm going to be in Bend the first week in August. Does it overlap your visit at all?

Nothing defined yet...I have had a mini-reunion with some of my business partners each of the past two Augusts. Love it out there! We're probably shooting for late August, but if it gets moved up it would be terrric to share an adult beverage and see who has less hair!

[Coolbreeze44]

I agree with you Q on both topics...not loving the Rubio deal, and liking Oregon. I'll be visiting friends in Bend later this summer (and surreptitiously cheering for Ricky next year).

I'm going to be in Bend the first week in August. Does it overlap your visit at all?

Nothing defined yet...I have had a mini-reunion with some of my business partners each of the past two Augusts. Love it out there! We're probably shooting for late August, but if it gets moved up it would be terrric to share an adult beverage and see who has less hair!

Unfortunately I'm going to win the less hair category - go with the fully shaved look.

I'm going to be building a vacation home in the area so I'll probably be over there a lot. Keep me posted on when you're going to be there. Maybe we can hit Drake park for that beverage.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I agree with you Q on both topics...not loving the Rubio deal, and liking Oregon. I'll be visiting friends in Bend later this summer (and surreptitiously cheering for Ricky next year).

I'm going to be in Bend the first week in August. Does it overlap your visit at all?

Nothing defined yet...I have had a mini-reunion with some of my business partners each of the past two Augusts. Love it out there! We're probably shooting for late August, but if it gets moved up it would be terrric to share an adult beverage and see who has less hair!

Unfortunately I'm going to win the less hair category - go with the fully shaved look.

I'm going to be building a vacation home in the area so I'll probably be over there a lot. Keep me posted on when you're going to be there. Maybe we can hit Drake park for that beverage.

It's a deal, Cool.

About 10 years ago (in married days) we were about to vacation in Aruba with another couple. The other guy and I made an odd bet...whoever showed up at the airport with the shortest haircut got free beverages from the other for the entire trip. He showed up with a "high and tight" Marine buzz, but I beat him with the completley shaved head. My wife liked it so much that she insisted I stay with it for a few years...I only went back to the "thinning" look post-divorce.

So yeah, you win this contest!

[AbeVigodaLive]

1. Welcome to the new NBA. Shorter contracts. Free agency drama openly encouraged. The days of teams growing up together are certainly not going to be the norm. As of now, fans seem to be eating it up. Personally... I don't dig it as much. Like Q... I get more emotionally invested in players and personalities I've learned to love/hate than gladiators here for the short-timer payday.

2. Anybody else notice that the Jazz are seemingly "all-in" on Rubio? They had him fly to San Diego to meet with Hayward in one last-ditch effort. I'm going to miss that guy... and even if he wasn't as good of a fit (possibly)... we have 6 years of history with the guy. And that emotional baggage means something to fans. Too bad the guy doesn't get to experience winning here. I'd prefer to root for him than Teague... regardless of basketball stuff taking place.

[Lipoli390]

1. Welcome to the new NBA. Shorter contracts. Free agency drama openly encouraged. The days of teams growing up together are certainly not going to be the norm. As of now, fans seem to be eating it up. Personally... I don't dig it as much. Like Q... I get more emotionally invested in players and personalities I've learned to love/hate than gladiators here for the short-timer payday.

2. Anybody else notice that the Jazz are seemingly "all-in" on Rubio? They had him fly to San Diego to meet with Hayward in one last-ditch effort. I'm going to miss that guy... and even if he wasn't as good of a fit (possibly)... we have 6 years of history with the guy. And that emotional baggage means something to fans. Too bad the guy doesn't get to experience winning here. I'd prefer to root for him than Teague... regardless of basketball stuff taking place.

I'm with you, Abe, in not digging the more mercenary NBA and in missing Ricky. Like you, I'd much rather root for Ricky than Teague and I still think keeping Ricky would have been the better move. Ricky apparently didn't fit Thibs system. Interesting that Utah's coach, Snyder, is comfortable going from a shooting PG in Hill to a pure pass PG in Rubio. The hallmark of a good head coach -- adaptability. Obviously I want Thibs to succeed because the succes of my team is tied to his own success as head coach and PBO. But my doubts about him as a head coach continue to linger. And his limitations as a head coach spill over into what he does as PBO. There's something to be said for checks and balances in any organization. Giving Thibs both the HC and PBO roles leaves the Wolves organization without adequate checks and balances in my view.

[WildWolf2813]

The disappointment is that we're going for broke just to make the playoffs when it seems like this team passed up opportunities to do this in order to "build it right." In a way it feels like Thibs threw in the towel in terms of winning a title and has lowered the bar to just being a playoff team and knows we'll take it because we've been out of the postseason for so long. However, we wasted 13 years for this?

[kekgeek]

The disappointment is that we're going for broke just to make the playoffs when it seems like this team passed up opportunities to do this in order to "build it right." In a way it feels like Thibs threw in the towel in terms of winning a title and has lowered the bar to just being a playoff team and knows we'll take it because we've been out of the postseason for so long. However, we wasted 13 years for this?

I could be mistaken but didn't you like the butler deal.

Any other move made didn't affect the future. Even though I like ricky we still added a 1st in the trade what is a future move and I don't love the Taj deal but it was a 2 year deal meaning in 2019-2020 the wolves could in theory have cap space again with towns (RFA), Butler, Belly, Tyus (RFA), Aldrich (Early Termination) and teague (player option) all could come off the books and we would have bird rights (not sure on the cap holds)

[Lipoli390]

The disappointment is that we're going for broke just to make the playoffs when it seems like this team passed up opportunities to do this in order to "build it right." In a way it feels like Thibs threw in the towel in terms of winning a title and has lowered the bar to just being a playoff team and knows we'll take it because we've been out of the postseason for so long. However, we wasted 13 years for this?

I have the same feeling, Wild. This just doesn't feel like an organization building a championship team. What Thibs is doing has an air of desperation or at least impatience to it. But who knows. Maybe this all comes together in the next two years and the Wolves become a top 3 team in the West - two sprained ankles (Curry & Durant) from the Western Conference title. :)

[Lipoli390]

Imagine how different things would be if Flip had drafted McCollum or, in the alternative, had drafted Giannis instead of Bazz and taken Rudy Gobert at #26 instead of selling the pick. Or. How about just taking Gobert instead of selling the pick. Coaches are fond of saying "it's the little things...". But the same goes for the front office. It's the little things like selling first round picks for cash or never drafting the diamond in the rough while other organizations (the good ones) hit on one every once in a while.

And so I sit here today wondering what would have happened if Thibs had drafted Hield instead of Dunn. And I wonder whether Thibs pushed to get the Bulls 2nd round pick (#38) as part of the Butler deal. Given that the Bulls simply sold that pick for cash, they obviously didn't put much value on it. So I have to believe that Thibs could have held out for it and gotten it even if we had to pony up $3 million to get it, which is a rounding error in the Wolves budget. Those are the little things. Pushing for that extra little value in a deal. I would have used that pick to take Jordan Bell. Time will tell whether that would have panned out. But that's not the point. It's about giving your franchise as many opportunities as possible.

I'm not proclaiming Thibs or Flip a failure. I'm simply pointing out the obvious. It's one thing to hit on the big things like taking Town with the #1 pick just as the Spurs took Duncan #1. But its a whole series of little things over time that distinguish mediocre franchises from the really good ones. Note that the Spurs went on to draft Parker with the 2nd to last pick in the 1st round and Manu with the last pick in the 2nd round. How about the Warriors drafting Klay Thompson in the teens and the Grizzlies taking Westbrook at #4 when no one thought he would go anywhere close to that high. In contrast, we sell our #26 pick for cash when we could have taken a flyer on a fluid athletic player with a 9'7" overhead reach who was very young and playing at a high level in Europe.