Cult of Accountability.

[Coolbreeze44]

It's just a mess. I was furious when the trade was made. It was time for Wiggins to go, but this was the wrong move at the right time. With DLO it's the big things like not being able to stay in front of your man and displaying poor leadership. But it's also the small things like constantly pointing during play. A) Nobody pays any attention to it. B) It distracts him from doing his own job.

FNG, I don't think you're off base by expecting better results with KAT in the lineup, but we're not going to be a .500 team regardless. And with the poor roster construction I really doubt KAT can stay healthy. I haven't looked at the percentages, but it seems our schedule has been relatively light so far. There is going to be more pain the rest of the way.

[Lipoli390]

All I can say is that I'm thankful for this pandemic. If not for the pandemic, I'd be paying a lot of money for this product we're seeing on the court and I'd actually be going to these games. The gas money alone would be too much and the aggravation of being there and witnessing the carnage in person would be unbearable.

Maybe someone on this board will win the $1 billion in the lottery and buy the team. Hope you guys are all buying lots of lottery tickets. Cool - I know you live out West, but would you commit to keeping the Wolves in Minnesota. :)

[thedoper]

Taylor has always let losers stick around longer than they deserved. This organization is treated like a greeting card company and not a competitive sports franchise. In the NBA, Great GMs replace good coaches for great ones even in the midst of winning (Nick Nurse for Dwane Casey, Steve Kerr for Marc Jackson). We wont even get rid of a horrible coach while we Witness basketball that cant even be called professional in any league. Ryan absolutely has to be the scapegoat right now, whether its fair or not based on circumstance. The level of effort and disorganization by these losers is too much night to night. Would Rosas? Can Rosas? Its really hard to pin accountability on anyone but Taylor. If he wanted a change in expectations, he could actually make them.

[Lipoli390]

Taylor has always let losers stick around longer than they deserved. This organization is treated like a greeting card company and not a competitive sports franchise. In the NBA, Great GMs replace good coaches for great ones even in the midst of winning (Nick Nurse for Dwane Casey, Steve Kerr for Marc Jackson). We wont even get rid of a horrible coach while we Witness basketball that cant even be called professional in any league. Ryan absolutely has to be the scapegoat right now, whether its fair or not based on circumstance. The level of effort and disorganization by these losers is too much night to night. Would Rosas? Can Rosas? Its really hard to pin accountability on anyone but Taylor. If he wanted a change in expectations, he could actually make them.

Well said, Doper. Obviously, accountability starts at the top with Taylor. But of course there has to be accountability at every level, starting but not ending with Glen.

Glen's role is to hire a top basketball executive who, in turn, is responsible for hiring a head coach and assembling a roster through draft picks, trades and free agency. The head coach is responsible for getting the most out of the roster that the top basketball executive gives him.

1. I think Ryan has clearly failed to get the most out of the roster he's been given. Rosas needs to hold him accountable for that. Along with others on this board, I thought hiring Ryan was a bad decision to begin with. That's now water over the dam. At this point, accountability means replacing him.

2. I also think it's clear that Rosas has failed to deliver anything close to an optimal roster with the assets and opportunities he's had since coming here. Again, I wasn't thrilled with the Rosas hire at the outset. I wasn't impressed by what I read about him and when I listened to his stream of platitudes and obsession with "style" and "system" at his first press conference, I knew it wouldn't end well. It amazes me that Glen couldn't tell from his interview what was obvious to me and others in Gersson's press conference. But alas, that's also water over the dam. At this point, Glen needs to hold him accountable and that means replacing him.

3. Glen is ultimately responsible for the mess we're in based on his decision to hire Rosas. He was similarly responsible for prior messes resulting from his decisions to hire Thibodeau and before that David Kahn. Thibs had never even worked in an NBA front office and was notorious for having terrible people skills, which are essential for any job heading up an organization. Even worse, Glen gave him the dual role of head coach and head of basketball operations, which has proven to be problematic. David Kahn is a guy who no other NBA franchise would have even considered for their top basketball executive position. But here's the problem. Unfortunately, we can't fire the owner. So we rely on the market to hold him accountable through reduced revenue and public pressure. As we've seen, the marketplace eventually causes Glen to replace his top basketball executive. That will happen again with Rosas. Unfortunately, unless and until Glen sells the team, Glen will be hiring the next top President of Basketball Operations. Groundhog Day all over again.

[Coolbreeze44]

All I can say is that I'm thankful for this pandemic. If not for the pandemic, I'd be paying a lot of money for this product we're seeing on the court and I'd actually be going to these games. The gas money alone would be too much and the aggravation of being there and witnessing the carnage in person would be unbearable.

Maybe someone on this board will win the $1 billion in the lottery and buy the team. Hope you guys are all buying lots of lottery tickets. Cool - I know you live out West, but would you commit to keeping the Wolves in Minnesota. :)

It's funny but I had the same thought last night. Win the lottery and rescue the Wolves from Glen. I'd change everything right down to the uniforms and team colors. Flush the whole thing, and in this era of cancel culture try to erase the history.

[AbeVigodaLive]

All I can say is that I'm thankful for this pandemic. If not for the pandemic, I'd be paying a lot of money for this product we're seeing on the court and I'd actually be going to these games. The gas money alone would be too much and the aggravation of being there and witnessing the carnage in person would be unbearable.

Maybe someone on this board will win the $1 billion in the lottery and buy the team. Hope you guys are all buying lots of lottery tickets. Cool - I know you live out West, but would you commit to keeping the Wolves in Minnesota. :)

It's funny but I had the same thought last night. Win the lottery and rescue the Wolves from Glen. I'd change everything right down to the uniforms and team colors. Flush the whole thing, and in this era of cancel culture try to erase the history.

I'm honored and humbled... but also very deserving. Thank you for offering me the GM position.

I accept.

[thedoper]

https://www.twincities.com/2021/01/23/charley-walters-glen-taylor-keeping-ryan-saunders-as-wolves-coach-for-now/

Taylor somehow knows that they wont fire Saunders without talking to Rosas about it. Worst owner in the NBA. Constant propping up inept nice guys. The old fart never passes up a chance for an interview to sound like an idiot.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Didn't know where to put this... so I'm going back to this one because Accountability remains the theme:

https://imgur.com/YANwJkp

Yes. We all see Edwards on this play. One guy screams right past him for the easy dunk. And if we look closely, we see the trailer who was about to be wide open for a dunk go past him, too.

But if we look even closer, that trailing player started off only slightly ahead of KAT under the Wolves hoop. We do not see Towns enter the picture... with about 10 - 15 feet of distance growing between them despite one guy being the trailer jogging by design and the other guy... well... you get the idea.

I remember this play. Eventually, I stopped watching, but not until much later, shortly after the Wolves were jumping all over without any sense of purpose defensively and OKC nailed its 18th three pointer. But I've read that Edwards was ultimately benched? That's a good thing. But I think it's also good for young players to learn from the veterans on the team... and the best players on the team.

This play encapsulates the Timberwolves experience in recent years.



[Note: You also see three Wolves players move toward the ball handler for some reason, which opened up a ton of space elsewhere. Just terrible defense by multiple people... just various levels of ineptitude, embarrassment.]

[FNG]

I remember that moment distinctly, Abe, and I didn't turn it off because we were still up 10-5 and on our way to a blowout win...yeah right. I didn't notice KAT on that play live, but I was acutely aware of Ant...I might even recall Jim Pete pointing out his laziness. Shameful...this wasn't even 5 minutes into a game in which Ant hadn't done anything yet, so he wasn't tired. Absolutely no excuse. Yes, someone pointed out the Finch yanked Ant after this, but I don't know if it was immediately. If it wasn't, it should have been. Maybe I'm smoking crack, but I have a sense that Finch is going to demand accountability more than Saunders and Thibs did...we've already seen examples of it, but not enough still in my opinion. Ant needs to develop consistent work habits and so do KAT and DLO for this team to be at all successful. Kenny Atkinson famously benched DLO a few times in the 4th quarter of his All-Star year when he didn't like his defensive effort. It's one thing to bench a 19-year-old rookie for not hustling or poor shot selection, but it will be interesting to see how Finch reacts to DLO when he takes plays off defensively. Will he be more Atkinson, or more Ryan? We have to hope it's the former.

That clip is outrageously embarrassing. I argued hard with friends that Ant was the correct pick at #1, but if he has more moments like this one, I'll have to admit I was terribly wrong.

[FNG]

I'm just catching up to Dane Moore's twitter feed, but it's exactly on point with Abe's comments about accountability. He points out that Finch (in Kenny Atkinson and Popovich fashion) kept Ant's ass on the bench for the last 6 minutes of the game last night. Ant got to watch 5 guys (all with less talent than him other than KAT) show that hustle trumps talent sometimes...the 16 point deficit at the time Ant left the court would have been whittled down to 1 if KAT had drained an open three in the closing minutes as the Wolves made a terrific run with Edwards out.

Ant had a dreadful game, but he is a likable kid who seems to want to learn. He indicated his displeasure after the game when asked about being benched, and that can mean one of two things...entitlement or understanding. If it's the former, I don't hold out much hope for him. But somehow I think it's the latter, and he will learn from it.

Regardless, good on Finch. We need more of this.