Minnesota Sports Forum

Camden wrote:It's worth mentioning that the majority of teams that are successful in the playoffs are half-court oriented. Good teams take away transition points first. It could be a good thing for this team to slow it down and know how to win in offensive sets instead of the current hero ball nonsense or demanding that Rubio create everything or just out athlete-ing other teams. We have some difference-making athletes, but they need to not rely on just that to win games. Look at the Nuggets under Karl and the Clippers before Redick got there. Two teams that could get to the post-season by running and running, but didn't accomplish shit in the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Vogel-led Pacers, Thibs-led Bulls, Joerger-led Grizzlies have had success in the playoffs with their slower approach. We just happen to have more offensive talent than all of those teams did. I think we'll be fine.

Well, some teams in the playoffs have a lot of old dudes too. But if you look at Golden State and OKC, they are top 10 in pace.

SSOL doesn't work in this day and age and every team that wants to compete in the playoffs needs to be able to execute in the half court. But in our stage of maturation as a team, we have the young legs, athleticism, and skill to get easy buckets. Why not take advantage of it as opposed to trench warfare against beefier old dudes?

Q12543 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:

Brooklyn_Wolves wrote:Ricky Rubio recently spoke to ara.cat, a Barcelona based publication, stating that he spoke to Thibodeau. The rough google translation: "I am very glad that Tom Thibodeau, the new coach, knows basketball. I like a lot. Of the 30 minutes we speak, 25 were on defense. He knows that we are a team that likes to run," he said. "I want to bring the Wolves playoffs," he added.

Not sure what to make of that. We would hope that Thibs knows the Wolves are a team that likes to run. That doesn't mean he's going to encourage it...it goes against everything he has ever shown as a head coach, and he detests turnovers. Coaches can change to be sure, but based on his previous style and his consistent message since he's been hired, I don't think we should expect it. Ricky's words sound like wishful thinking to me (Please Coach Thibs...let us run!)

This gets back to the prior thread on Thibs where I lamented no one ever pinning him down on reconciling his emphasis on defensive rebounding/limiting TOs with leveraging the strength of your existing players (which for us right now is playing with a high pace). I guess time will tell.

Did you listen to Dan Berreiro when he had Thibs in studio?

No, did this issue come up?

Yes Dan basically asked all the questions you were wanting someone to ask if I remember correctly.

On Thibs letting Rubio do his thing and being worried about taking care of the ball. He certainly let Derrick Rose do his thing and turn over the ball plenty. Rose had more turnovers a higher turnover percentage than Rubio by what seems like a reasonably significant amount. Maybe this is just me but I don't really remember thinking of the Bulls roster when Thibs was coaching that it was really one built to get out and run. I could be wrong though.

Thibs let Rose play fast pace, but when Rose went down Thibs went slo-mo grind out basketball.

Q12543 wrote:

Camden wrote:It's worth mentioning that the majority of teams that are successful in the playoffs are half-court oriented. Good teams take away transition points first. It could be a good thing for this team to slow it down and know how to win in offensive sets instead of the current hero ball nonsense or demanding that Rubio create everything or just out athlete-ing other teams. We have some difference-making athletes, but they need to not rely on just that to win games. Look at the Nuggets under Karl and the Clippers before Redick got there. Two teams that could get to the post-season by running and running, but didn't accomplish shit in the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Vogel-led Pacers, Thibs-led Bulls, Joerger-led Grizzlies have had success in the playoffs with their slower approach. We just happen to have more offensive talent than all of those teams did. I think we'll be fine.

Well, some teams in the playoffs have a lot of old dudes too. But if you look at Golden State and OKC, they are top 10 in pace.

SSOL doesn't work in this day and age and every team that wants to compete in the playoffs needs to be able to execute in the half court. But in our stage of maturation as a team, we have the young legs, athleticism, and skill to get easy buckets. Why not take advantage of it as opposed to trench warfare against beefier old dudes?

Q, you and I are really aligned on this issue. I think it would be a bad thing if this group is made to play a methodical game.

Brooklyn_Wolves wrote:Thibs let Rose play fast pace, but when Rose went down Thibs went slo-mo grind out basketball.

I think Rose wanted to play fast pace, but Thibs offense was slo-mo even in Rose's healthy years. Case in point...Rose only missed one game in 2010-11 and averaged 37.4 MPG, but Thibs' offense still only ranked 23rd in pace of play. As I said before, maybe he will surprise us and change his coaching style to a pace more like the Wolves used toward the end of last season. But until he shows us he can be flexible about pace and turnovers, the best guess is that he is going to demand a careful, slower-paced offense like he did all 5 years with the Bulls.

Is it pre-season yet? What's taking so long?

:furious:

longstrangetrip wrote:

Brooklyn_Wolves wrote:Thibs let Rose play fast pace, but when Rose went down Thibs went slo-mo grind out basketball.

I think Rose wanted to play fast pace, but Thibs offense was slo-mo even in Rose's healthy years. Case in point...Rose only missed one game in 2010-11 and averaged 37.4 MPG, but Thibs' offense still only ranked 23rd in pace of play. As I said before, maybe he will surprise us and change his coaching style to a pace more like the Wolves used toward the end of last season. But until he shows us he can be flexible about pace and turnovers, the best guess is that he is going to demand a careful, slower-paced offense like he did all 5 years with the Bulls.

....and don't forget that's how Musselman clawed and scratched his way to 22 and 29 wins in Minnesota's first two seasons, with an impressionable young Thibs in his first NBA assistant coaching gig!

I had some thoughts on Thibs today out of this thread.

The bottom line really about Thibs between him being a long term fit here and him being just a good coach is whether or not he is truly an innovator. Billichek Pop and Rick Carlise innovate and yet have their way about them. Is Thibs not willing to change his ways like those guys not just with X's and O's but style and other aspects of the franchise? Or are the other concerns about him ring true and he is more of a Larry Brown type that is a terrific coach (not saying Thibs is a HOFER like Brown) that ends up wearing our his welcome every few years and moves on? I think only time will tell. He is saying some of the right things now but we will have to see next season.

On him wearing well I think he has some good relationships and connections built up here with various media in the area. That's not absolutely key to him being successful but it sure helps a lot.

Think about this with Thibs. He was an assistant for what like almost 20 years and then he finally got a HC gig. Sam talked about how he tried really hard to prove himself when he was in Toronto and tried to do too much. I would think there was some of that with Thibs trying to prove himself in some way. His last season he had to know he was also coaching for his job. He took a year off went around to other teams chilled out watched from a perspective he hasn't had in over 25 years. Now he basically has nobody looking over his shoulder. He can do his thing. He knows if he does his basics process it's going to be successful because of his success in Chicago and his success as an assistant. I guess what I am saying is there is some real reason for optimism that we are getting the type of coach we all want with Thibs. Some will stay skeptical and have plenty of reason to do so. I'm falling on the spectrum of feeling very good about it right now.

Also Derrick Rose might have wanted to Run but he isn't a maestro PG and he didn't have magical athletic dudes. Instead he had guys like Carlos Boozer who was a fantastic player to have in half court settings other than Rose it feels more like Chicago was built more like a classic eastern conference beat you up team which Thibs had plenty of experience coaching those types. When I listened to his in Studio time with Dan B. (Q you should listen to it at least these subjects were brought up) I felt like there was some hope Thibs was t just going to revert back to that type of stuff and avoiding utilizing the ability to get some easy baskets by getting out and running. Like I said we will see but Rubio's skill set allows you to do those types of things and the Wolves have guys up and down the roster that would be good getting out and getting points in transition.

TheSP wrote:Is it pre-season yet? What's taking so long?

:furious:

I may have to break down and buy the season pass next year. But I don't wanna buy cable. But I don't wanna watch on my laptop either. Hmmmm....find a bar with league pass and just sip on a tall bud light for 2 hours??