Wolves at Hawks GDT

[Wolvesfan21]

What the hell did I just watch?

[thedoper]

2 quarters with under 20 pts in the 2nd half. Unbelievable unless you are the Timberwolves. 3rd straight stinker for KAT. Its not anyone's fault but his.

[thedoper]

Also here comes 1-3. Denver is going to hand us our lunch.

[Lipoli390]

I made the mistake of watching tonight’s game. I should have waited for the result and deleted the recording. I’m not going to spend much time writing up my thoughts on the game. I’ll just say this. What we saw tonight was an epic collapse of a very mentally weak team. That’s all it was. It wasn’t Rudy’s bad hands. In fact, I think Rudy was our best player tonight. It wasn’t the Rudy-KAT combo. Tonight’s result simply reflected the mental and emotional makeup of this team.

As I’ve noted before, this team has two problems that led me to project 44 wins in spite of its collection of individual talent that should win more. One problem is that we have a poor mix of players. I haven’t changed my view on that, although I don’t think it was the blend of talent that led to tonight’s epic collapse. The other problem is this team’s lack of mental toughness and that problem was in full view tonight. I predicted to my wife that we’d lose the game when Anderson missed that layup at the end of the first half. That miss was simply a lack of concentration - a lack of will or intensity. When I saw his teammates laughing and enjoying that miss, it further confirmed my view of this team’s weak constitution. I regret referring to Slo Mo as the team’s glue guy and leader. His failure to control his own dribble on a breakaway was yet another example of an inexcusable lack of concentration and mental discipline. KAT missing close-range shots, Edwards turning the ball over repeatedly, the team’s “defense” getting sliced and diced by the Hawks in the second half — all those things were symptoms of the same underlying mental weakness that characterizes this roster.

So yes. Unless the roster changes, this is indeed a 44-win team (maybe less) destined for the playin tournament. That’s obviously unacceptable when you consider the team’s payroll. We’re all hoping and actually banking on Ant becoming our MJ, Kobe or Dwayne Wade. Tonight was a reminder that he might turn out to be a Carmelo Anthony or Dwight Howard type. If that’s who he is, then he’s not the guy to build around. It’s still too early to judge him in that regard. But I didn’t like what we saw from him in spite of his 29 points. And I don’t like that he was smiling as we were getting our ass kicked in the 4th quarter. If I had to make a decision on our roster tonight, which would of course be idiotic, the only guys I’d keep would be Rudy, Jaden, Naz and NAW. But that’s my anger talking. It’s a long season and Ant is still barely 22 years old. But there are some ominous signs with this team after three regular season games so far this year.

[Coolbreeze44]

Culture and leadership, leadership and culture. They are still a house of cards vulnerable to the slightest adversity. I'm not going to point out any scapegoats, this is a team thing. They don't have anything to fall back on when things get tough, and without that backbone they collapse. Their identity is softness in spite of an abundance of talent. You saw the talent in the first half, you saw the jellyfish in the 2nd. In the absence of a natural leader, Finch as to tighten things up and exert more control than he has shown to date. If he can't, you have to bring in more of a control freak. At one end of the spectrum you have Sam Mitchell, at the other Thibs. We may need a coach closer to Thibs in terms of forcing an identity.

[Lipoli390]

Culture and leadership, leadership and culture. They are still a house of cards vulnerable to the slightest adversity. I'm not going to point out any scapegoats, this is a team thing. They don't have anything to fall back on when things get tough, and without that backbone they collapse. Their identity is softness in spite of an abundance of talent. You saw the talent in the first half, you saw the jellyfish in the 2nd. In the absence of a natural leader, Finch as to tighten things up and exert more control than he has shown to date. If he can't, you have to bring in more of a control freak. At one end of the spectrum you have Sam Mitchell, at the other Thibs. We may need a coach closer to Thibs in terms of forcing an identity.

We’re seeing this precisely the same way, Cool. You nailed in with far fewer words than my post. I think the problem is the roster, not the coach. As they say, you can’t get blood from a turnip. You won’t get toughness from a soft, mentally weak roster. Having said that, I’d swap Finch for Thibs in a heartbeat right now just to see if maybe there’s at least little blood in this Wolves turnip.

[Coolbreeze44]

Culture and leadership, leadership and culture. They are still a house of cards vulnerable to the slightest adversity. I'm not going to point out any scapegoats, this is a team thing. They don't have anything to fall back on when things get tough, and without that backbone they collapse. Their identity is softness in spite of an abundance of talent. You saw the talent in the first half, you saw the jellyfish in the 2nd. In the absence of a natural leader, Finch as to tighten things up and exert more control than he has shown to date. If he can't, you have to bring in more of a control freak. At one end of the spectrum you have Sam Mitchell, at the other Thibs. We may need a coach closer to Thibs in terms of forcing an identity.

We’re seeing this precisely the same way, Cool. You nailed in with far fewer words than my post. I think the problem is the roster, not the coach. As they say, you can’t get blood from a turnip. You won’t get toughness from a soft, mentally weak roster. Having said that, I’d swap Finch for Thibs in a heartbeat right now just to see if maybe there’s at least little blood in this Wolves turnip.

Yeah, we're on the same page. I'd like to see a hybrid of Thibs, Finch and Spoelstra. Control, creativity, and preparation. But regardless we are missing a mature, guiding force in the organization. That force can be the coach, a player or group of players, or someone in the front office. We're still searching for it.

[KG4Ever]

I don't want to overreact to a game, but this hurts. The Toronto game was supposed to be the wake up call. Now, this. This team is weak-minded and it reflects poorly on Finch, KAT and even Ant, the team's leaders. If the team doesn't come out fighting and start playing the way they are capable of, then changes would be welcome. We can't redo the roster in a major way unless we really want to trade for Harden, who I don't think helps our situation. I would have hired Nick Nurse who is a proven winner if he would have been interested in the job, but I think TC is all in on Finch for now. Finch is probably safe for the season as long as the Wolves are in contention for the playoffs, but if Wolves don't make the playoffs or lose in the first round, Finch is as good as gone and there will be a roster shake up.

[WildWolf2813]

I think it's inevitable that so much will change after the season is over, good or bad. I just have no belief that it will change for the better.

Bigger picture: Connelly ignoring PG when the PG crop is painfully weak moving forward is not a good idea.

[KG4Ever]

Hell NO to Thibs! I don't want to experience that hell again. Wolves could have gone after better coaches like Nurse, Quin Snyder and Udoka. I'd even taken Becky Hammon before Thibs.