Minnesota Sports Forum

Remember just a few years ago when we had the best young talent in the league?

BizarroJerry wrote:Remember just a few years ago when we had the best young talent in the league?

Better than Milwaukee.
Better than Denver.
Better than the Clippers.

Definitely!

BizarroJerry wrote:Remember just a few years ago when we had the best young talent in the league?

Well, there's a decent argument that we did considering Towns is in a league of his own, but the other young pieces around him were greatly overrated by fans and the rest of the league. Wiggins, Dunn, Jones, Dieng, and Muhammad are okay-to-replacement level, at best. Then there's LaVine who had already shown and proven an elite skill in the league -- perimeter shooting -- and he was shipped away.

To recap, we had one generational talent, a budding offensive star, a disappointing No. 1 overall pick, and a handful of "meh" guys who had yet to show just how "meh" or "ugh" they really were.

I don't get how you can say he was decent as POBO?!? Your argument seems that Tibs ended the playoff drought, which lead to a 1st round exit. That argument hold little weight to me, when Tibs took over the team, we had cap space, high draft picks and a young star, context matters!!

Any GM in the league could of made the Butler deal with the assets Tibs had. Trading for a disgruntled star isn't hard if you're willing to part with young players and draft picks. The signing of Deing and Wig were absolutely horrendous. Teague and Taj was neutral signings at best. Taj will go from a 14 mil player (over paid) to prolly making 3-5 on his next contract, same with Teague.

Do I need to go over Tibs' drafts, they were also a disaster. Take emotions out of it Cam.

I don't have a problem with Gibson's contract. At least not anymore. I had more reservations initially, but Gibson was brought in to help the Wolves get to the playoffs. Done. He's been solid.

I also wasn't a fan of the Derrick Rose signing. Either of them. I was wrong on both counts.

That being said, the Wiggins deal (while easily justifiable) is a trainwreck. The Dieng deal is awful even in hindsight of the other huge deals other teams signed that summer. And the Teague deal is a mixed bag with Teague playing his worst ball in nearly a decade. Remember, the Wolves also got a 1st rd pick out of that swap of PGs (and Josh Okogie is gonna be a star!!!).

Every GM makes good/bad moves. They're ultimately judged by the types of seismic moves that change the direction of a franchise for years. And Teague nor Gibson nor Rose nor Dieng will have that kind of lasting impact. In the end, Thibs resigning Andrew Wiggins to a max deal will have the most long-lasting crippling impact on this franchise. And it's not close.



[Note: And at the time, most people at least reluctantly agreed with it even if they didn't think Wiggins was worth it.]

I agree Taj is a useful player, but not a starting caliber player on a top 10 team, and not an ideal fit to play next to Kat if you really want to maximize his talents. On a good team he's a back up center. So Tibs used 30 million on Taj and Dieng, terrible roster construction.

I'll sum it up in 1 sentence. Tibs used considerable resources (cap space, player trades and draft picks) to construct this roster for minimal returns. Now we have cap issues, no young assets, with no realistic way to improve. He fucked us, sorry that was two sentences.

Duke13 wrote:I agree Taj is a useful player, but not a starting caliber player on a top 10 team, and not an ideal fit to play next to Kat if you really want to maximize his talents. On a good team he's a back up center. So Tibs used 30 million on Taj and Dieng, terrible roster construction.

The Wolves have been a Top 10 team exactly 4x in 30 years.

The Wolves were the 24th best team the season prior to Gibson joining the squad. Baby steps.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Duke13 wrote:I agree Taj is a useful player, but not a starting caliber player on a top 10 team, and not an ideal fit to play next to Kat if you really want to maximize his talents. On a good team he's a back up center. So Tibs used 30 million on Taj and Dieng, terrible roster construction.

The Wolves have been a Top 10 team exactly 4x in 30 years.

The Wolves were the 24th best team the season prior to Gibson joining the squad. Baby steps.

It's fairly easy to make a case against Thibs job as a GM even if you give him credit for signing Gibson who was and is a good player for the Wolves while here.

Meanwhile...it looks to me like Thibs was right about Rubio after all. You can see articles and various stuff on Twitter about him not being good enough plus look at this stats. That doesn't mean Rubio sucks but he wasn't the answer here and Thibs traded him for a 1st round pick and cap space! Teague hasn't been a good signing but moving Rubio for a draft pick and being able to select another guy was actually a good move. Meanwhile the Jazz after spending two first round picks to bring in PGs probably don't have their guy AND they are still a pretty good team. Ugh

Saying Thibs as a GM was decent...that's not exactly high praise. Eh whatevs. Actually decent would be pretty good for this franchise who hasn't seen much of that from the front office in its 30 years. Hopefully we get better this next go around.

Back to the Clippers. For the Athletic subscribers an article on Zubac.

https://theathletic.com/865595/2019/03/14/ivica-zubacs-rim-protection-has-transformed-the-clippers-defense/