Kudos to Flip Thread

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Yes, abe and monster, it does feel different this time. I can't speak for you guys, but I know why it feels different for me. Three reasons, two which I think most of you will agree with, and one that might be meaningful to only a handful of us.

1) Genuine excitement about the players coming in: Flip and Kahn have drafted/acquired a lot of players over the past 6-7 years, but when was the last time you were truly excited about what was coming in...without significant reservation? For me, it was 5 years ago when Rubio was drafted, but even that excitement was offset by the Jonny Flynn absurd pick. I had no problem with Brewer/Martin/Turiaf last year and Bud before that, but none of them had significant upside. Many of us liked the Muhammad/Dieng draft, but at the same time wondered if Flip had made the right choices. Derrick Williams was the consensus #2 pick, but most Wolves' fans had concerns about him from day 1. Same with Wes...being drafted in the spot he was drafted was not controversial and was actually in line with many of the boards, but very few fans really loved the pick. Even Kevin Love, who turned out to be the best offensive player in Wolves' history, was not universally accepted at first, and there were many who wanted to keep Mayo.

But there seems to be almost universal acclaim for the four players that the Wolves introduced yesterday. Sure, we are educated basketball fans, so we can argue about Wiggins' handle, or Young's rebounding, or Bennett's throwaway rookie year, or the lack of real game-time data for LaVine. But there are also so many compelling reasons to be truly excited about these guys for all the reasons that I'm not going to repeat now. I was excited when Kahn pulled a rabbit out if his hat and landed Rubio, but not as excited as I am about this year's quartet.

2) Renewed confidence in management. All the posts over the past years ripping Kahn, Adelman and Rambis...and most of them warranted! Flip didn't exactly ride into the PBO and coaching roles on a white horse...there were a lot of questions about whether he was the right guy for either job. But his adept handling of the Love situation has almost all of us looking at Flip in a new light. Maybe we have been disappointed in management and coaching decisions so many times that we are now overly excited when we actually see something that was handled right...I don't know. But I'm willing to go with the flow at least for now, and conclude that we may actually have some intelligent leadership in the front office.

And now the more controversial one:

3) Addition by subtraction because character counts. Getting 2 former #1's and a starting PF shouldn't and didn't come cheap...we gave up a guy who produced 26, 12.5 and 4.4 last year, and those numbers aren't easy to replace. It's not as easy to quantify, though, the negative impact on a franchise of having an independent star player who didn't really have good relationships with his teammates (his best friend in the organization was the equipment manager, for chrissakes), but I don't think we can overlook the impact poor team chemistry and poor leadership has had on this franchise's lack of success. Thad Young is not going to bring nearly the numbers Love did, but he is the kind of guy who provides the intangible things that can make a talented team better. And although Wiggins, Bennett and LaVine may not be polished in front of a camera, they all seem to be good guys who will be willing to work hard to make this team better. I'm much more negative than most about the total impact Love has had on the Timberwolves, but I'm looking forward to that moment this season where we have a consensus on this board: that despite losing 26 and 12, we are decidedly better off...and the Wolves are much easier to cheer for and be excited about.

But that's just me...