Milt Newton is new wolves gm. Bobby jackson back as assistan coach. Kevin love down to 240lbs..

[worldK]

Some twolves news:

Newton is the new gm. It seems flip is getting his guys in. Milton work with him in their washington stint and is now our gm. Dont know much about milton but apparently he was in charge of scouting. Looking at washington, I would say that Milton has done a below average job. He was part of some terrible moves(vesley, trading away the 5th pick in a deep 09 class).

Bobby jackson is back with the wolves, filling up the assistant coaching job vacated by bill bayno. Personally, I wanted elson turner to reunite with adelman and replace porter as the lead assistant. Since porter is a flip guy, i see how that cant happen. jackson is interesting, there are a lot of former players that has done well as coach lately and it would be interesting to see jackson develop his coaching chops under the coach he played his best basketball for in adelman.

Also kevin love is apparently down to 240 pounds and flip says he looks very good. Hopefully we get the love of 2 years ago back.

[Lipoli390]

Flip is confirming my worst fears about him. He is surrounding himself with guys he knows who have no track record of significant success. He should have filled the GM spot with someone from a successful organization who was associated with a track record of high quality player personnel decisions. And he should have hired Elston Turner to replace Bayno. Turner is the real deal -- widely considered to be head coaching material.

Both Newton and Bobby Jackson are good guys with NBA experience. But both are relative light-weights compared to other potential candidates. Flip has hired a GM he knows and who won't challenge him or threaten his front office authority. Flip has brought in an assistant coach he knows will not be considered a potential head coach when Adelman retires. Why? Because Flip fully intends to make himself the head coach when Adelman retires -- probably after this season. He'll then continue running the front office through his yes-man Newton.

This team will go as far as Love, Pek and Rubio can take Them. Flip should thank McHale and Kahn for those three. But if this team falters, Love will leave and the rebuilding will begin again. In charge of that rebuilding process will be the guys who traded away the 5th pick in a loaded draft for Mike Miller and Randy Foye, drafted Vesely, signed Okafor, traded for Nene, etc. Not a pretty picture. So let's hope Love, Rubio and Pek really gel. And let's hope that either Shved or Williams (if not both) takes a huge step forward towards playing up to their potential. Let's also hope Martin can stay healthy and play significantly more that the 63 games he's averaged over his career. Maybe Dieng will develop faster than expected and be a defensive, rim-protecting force off the bench. If we're really lucky, someone will offer us something - anything - of value to take Shabazz off our hands so we don't have to watch that slow-footed knucklehead add himself to the long list of failed Wolves draft picks.

The Wolves should make the playoffs this season if our core three stay healthy. Whether we can get a 5th or 6th seed and possibly make some noise in the playoffs will depend on Martin's health, the extent to which Ricky's shooting has improved and the development of Williams and Shved. Brewer will be who he's always been -- an injection of frenetic energy off the bench who brings nothing reliable on the offensive end. And if we end up watching Corey introduced as our starting SF opening night, we should be concerned.

Here's hoping for the best. That includes hoping we don't have to entrust a rebuilding process to Flip and his buddies Newton and Babcock.

[WildWolf2813]

so I take it you're not a fan of this hire Lip?

[mjs34]

Lip, you could have condensed your post (not that I ever do!) by simply saying "Country Club".

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

It really wouldn't matter what the team or Flip does. Who they sign or who they drafted. Some of you will bitch about anything and everything.

[slimcalhoun27 [enjin:6640095]]

Im not too concerned with the hires. I am pleased to see Bobby J come in tho. I believe his career and wisdom on both the offensive and defensive end will help significantly with Rubio, and our young wings. StatBookStuffer was his nickname from Dick Vitale back in the Gopher years. Also, I am impressed with Flip, he has done a ton this Summer. I am not sure what else we should expect from him, its his first 4 month on the job and the entire energy level of this team, depth chart, balance of the Roster, key players signed and happy, new Coaching staff and GM, plus he was creative with the cap. Lip, I am kind of disappointed with you in your take with Flip so far this Summer....its still the Summer man.

[Crazysauce]

I still worry about Flip as a GM as well. Love Bobby Jackson, but like Lip had stated, not to happy on hiring of another failed GM. Where is Billy Haywood to take over when you need him?

[Lipoli390]

It really wouldn't matter what the team or Flip does. Who they sign or who they drafted. Some of you will bitch about anything and everything.

Camden -- If you've read my posts over the years or even over just the last few months you'd know that I don't bitch about everything. I've had doubts about Flip from the beginning and he's done things to confirm many of those doubts. On the other hand, I've praised Flip for how he handled the Pek negotiations and the way he's worked to build a relationship with Kevin Love. I'm also content with the Martin signing. Some can't bear any sober assessment of the Wolves or Flip. That's fine. But I'll continue to call it as I see it -- which is sometimes negative but more often positive.

Slim -- You make some good points and I'll be one of the first to praise Flip for things that turn out positive as the season progresses. But I see some troubling signs in Flip's decision-making this summer and I've identified number of them in my posts the last free months.. Fortunately, as you noted, so far it's only 4 months. The book on Flip's tenure here is a long way from finished.

[Lipoli390]

Lip, you could have condensed your post (not that I ever do!) by simply saying "Country Club".

Good point, SJ. :). Brevity is not one of my strengths.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I generally agree with slimcalhoun's take...I'm not too concerned with this news, and in fact find it mostly positive. Frankly, as I read world's headline, the part about Love weighing in at 240 seemed to be the most significant.

As for the chumminess of the other two moves, what executive doesn't want to hire someone that they have history with? To actually have gone into battle with someone provides invaluable information about them, much more than can be garnered from just interviewing someone or listening to another person's recommendation.. During my 30 years in the business world, I had to fill open positions numerous times, and my first move always was to look for someone that I had worked with previously and could trust. Call it country club if you want, but I think it's merely human nature.

I admit that I know almost nothing about Milt Newton...good or bad. But the fact that he survived several years working for Ernie Grunfeld tells me that he must be resilient, because it can't be pleasant working for him. But I do know a lot about Grunfeld, and any attempts to try to pin the infamous trade of the 5th pick for Foye/Miller on Flip or Newton I believe are misguided. Ernie Grunfeld is the consummate alpha dog and has never operated in a consensus fashion. Any Wizard moves during Grunfeld's stint as PBO are his and his alone. Perhaps Flip and Newton were given the chance to provide some input, but Ernie is always going to do what Ernie wants. So it's difficult for me to have an opinion on the Newton hire. Hopefully his front office experience will compensate for Flip's greenness.

I'm more upbeat about adding Bobby Jackson to the organization. He is in my top three of all-time favorite Gophers, and hopefully some of what he consistently displayed on the court will rub off on our younger developing players.