Optimistic Thread...NO NEGATIVE COMMENTS ALLOWED!!!!!

[kekgeek]

Can someone post the two ESPN insider articles that are related to the Wolves on here

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I like the fact Flip emphasized defense in his press conference. That will be very important if this team has any plans of over-achieving.

[maelstrom11 [enjin:6599701]]

It's interesting that Flip stressed that KG did not want to leave MN whereas Love did. Give it a year or two and KG will be back in a coaches roll helping Flip. Flip loves him and it might be a nice move to get KG on our side helping the bigs. At a minimum he'd show the young guys a thing or two about loyalty intensity and team.

[Phenom]

Another positive for over-achieving is the amount of players that should be highly motivated we will have. If Ricky does not get an extension, he will be playing for his next contract. Thad will likely want to have a great year in order to securely opt out and get paid. Wiggins has a huge chip on his shoulder for obvious reasons. AB should have a huge chip as well as he tries to prove everyone wrong. We will need to bank on these in order to be the Phoenix Suns of this season. If LaVine can play well, having him nipping at Martin's heels will be a big boost as well.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Thanks for posting the video of Ricky scoring his 51 at age 15, mikkeman. I watched portions of it, and was impressed by his ability to blow by his man at will with either hand. We actually saw a lot of that last year, but also saw Ricky struggle with finishing once he got to the rim. I think another year of experience and the additional muscle he has apparently packed on this year will help him with his finishing, and lead to more layups and even "and ones". Even if Ricky hasn't improved his mid-range jumper, he can average 18 PPG relying on open 3-pointers, layups and free throws. He can also potentially be the go-to guy at crunch time that we haven't had for so many years. I would much prefer a layup or free throw when we're down one point to a Kevin Love or Martin 3-point attempt.

[60WinTim]

Yes, I will post on this thread. You used improper casing - it should be OpTIMistic... :) (I hope that's not too negative!)

But back to opTIMism, I have loads of it! I am a big Love fan, but I hold the firm belief the Wolves have a net gain of talent amongst our rotation compared to last year with Love. Add in the change at head coach and I do not see the Wolves taking a step backwards next season.

[Monster]

3 reasons for optimism in Rubio's scoring.

1. Ability to hit stand still 3 pointers. Yeah its not super exciting but 3 point shooting is an even bigger part of the game than even 5 years ago. Some other poor shooting PGs didn't have this in their game.

2. Ability to draw fouls. Ricky draws fouls very well for a guy that basically isn't a threat to score. He draws a lot of fouls on the perimeter and did that in the Olympics against the best the USA team threw at him.

3. He hits his FTs at a solid rate for a guard and has always done so. This is good since he draws fouls and shows he does actually have the ability to shoot.

All these things were apparent when he came into the league and haven't changed much. The reason to be excited is having him be turned loose to create and lead more like his rookie year when we were an exciting young team. Flip is going to do that and has experience with PGs. Rubio is going to be even more fun to watch this year.

Someone mentioned Hoiberg. I've said he stays in Ames but if the young players on this team show some signs this year I'll admit he may be very tempted by this group. It would be young enough for him to mold and would be an uptempo team which he likes. I bet that if Flip opened up a coaching search right now the interest would be very high. What I said about Hoiberg would be true about a lot of coaches young and beyond. Of course Flip may end up coaching this team for another 10 years who knows. We will see how things work out but I am very happy with Flip coaching this team in the near future.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Waiting for OpTIMus Prime to weigh in so I could agree with his assertion we won't have much of a drop off next season. 60 wins? No. I originally said 35, but I'll predict 40. Why? Because everybody on this board loves this trade!! I've never seen that before. Flip might have one more move concerning Bud or Barea, but why play with fire?

This team as is stands now has a nice mix of vets and youngsters. Ok, more youngsters than vets. This just feels right, a couple Canadiens coming to MN! Plus Thad-has anyone ever been let down by a guy named Thad?

We'll have 10 guys playing good minutes next year, ala the Spurs. Pek will have a hard time keeping up with the speed of this team, but he'll have a great season.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

EVERYTHING Flip has said today (On Barreiro's show and with Jerry Z at the fair) has been opTIMistic (see, I'm coachable, Tim :) ). Here are some of the tidbits:

1) Shabazz is in a multi-week brutal boot camp run by a guy who trains special ops personnel. Flip expects him to come to camp 15 pounds lighter than last year and to be in the best shape of his life. I think Shabazz sees all the young talent coming in, knows that Flip will probably give him one chance, and wants to prove himself right out of the box. You have to admire this guy's heart.

2) The Wolves will be hiring a shooting coach a la San Antonio. Rubio, Bud and others have been working diligently with a shooting coach here in LA (if I can find out where, I'll go out and scout!).

3) Flip is confident they can limit Pek's recurring injuries. He has been working on flexibility (not just strength) and also been fitted with new shoes that should help. In addition, his minutes will be limited to give Gorgui more court time.

4) He didn't say it, but it sounds like he expects GR3 to make the team...reading between the lines, that forbodes a JJ move.

Anybody hear anything else?

[Volans19]

I'll just leave this here

[youtube]uR2fmZRJD3g[/youtube]