Minnesota Sports Forum

AbeVigodaLive wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2026 10:34 am - There's no way Randle can come back. He'd be booed at home games. I'm trying to draw a parallel with other Minnesota sports teams, but I'm drawing a blank. Would he be the bigger pariah in Minnesota sports history?

- I'm torn on Gobert. I'm less optimistic about Beringer than others. I think he's still a year away from being a year away. (Hey, better than 2 years away from 2 years!) But what do the other Timberwolves thing about Gobert? We all know this is Edwards' team. And he usually says positive things about his teammates. But his actions can say different things. I don't think he ever made a concerted effort to feed Gobert. And I don't know just how much he values the hidden positives in the big man's game. I can see Edwards rolling his eyes at Gobert the hooper, like so many others around the league.

So if Edwards is tired of the Gobert experience, I expect the big man to be moved. Maybe the Wolves can manipulate scout footage to mix in Denver highlights with Spurs clips. Also... if Holmgren/Hartenstein keep playing like they did in Game 1... more teams might chalk it up to "Wemby is too good" vs. "Rudy aint it."

- I see no reason to get rid of Finch. He's the best coach in Timberwolves history... and I don't see how that can be argued at this point. Just a couple weeks ago, he was the coach of a team who upset the Nuggets (and Jokic) without its best player and most of the backcourt.

He gets at least one more year. For those who want him gone... don't worry. It's the NBA. He'll wear out his welcome soon enough. It happens to almost all coaches. But we're not close to that yet.

- I see the value in moving Divencenzo's contract, but it's not like a huge amount either. If it can be added to the Randle trade to up the ante a bit... ok.

Meanwhile, Divincenzo's next contract took a huge hit. He'll now be in his 30s coming off a devastating year-long injury. He'll still have suitors, but he's no longer getting a significant raise from this very good contract. If the Wolves stick with him, show their support for him... could they even get first dibs on him on a more team-friendly deal starting in '27?

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2026 10:43 am

AbeVigodaLive wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2026 10:34 am - There's no way Randle can come back. He'd be booed at home games. I'm trying to draw a parallel with other Minnesota sports teams, but I'm drawing a blank. Would he be the bigger pariah in Minnesota sports history?

- I'm torn on Gobert. I'm less optimistic about Beringer than others. I think he's still a year away from being a year away. (Hey, better than 2 years away from 2 years!) But what do the other Timberwolves thing about Gobert? We all know this is Edwards' team. And he usually says positive things about his teammates. But his actions can say different things. I don't think he ever made a concerted effort to feed Gobert. And I don't know just how much he values the hidden positives in the big man's game. I can see Edwards rolling his eyes at Gobert the hooper, like so many others around the league.

So if Edwards is tired of the Gobert experience, I expect the big man to be moved. Maybe the Wolves can manipulate scout footage to mix in Denver highlights with Spurs clips. Also... if Holmgren/Hartenstein keep playing like they did in Game 1... more teams might chalk it up to "Wemby is too good" vs. "Rudy aint it."

- I see no reason to get rid of Finch. He's the best coach in Timberwolves history... and I don't see how that can be argued at this point. Just a couple weeks ago, he was the coach of a team who upset the Nuggets (and Jokic) without its best player and most of the backcourt.

He gets at least one more year. For those who want him gone... don't worry. It's the NBA. He'll wear out his welcome soon enough. It happens to almost all coaches. But we're not close to that yet.

- I see the value in moving Divencenzo's contract, but it's not like a huge amount either. If it can be added to the Randle trade to up the ante a bit... ok.

Meanwhile, Divincenzo's next contract took a huge hit. He'll now be in his 30s coming off a devastating year-long injury. He'll still have suitors, but he's no longer getting a significant raise from this very good contract. If the Wolves stick with him, show their support for him... could they even get first dibs on him on a more team-friendly deal starting in '27?

I think Ant just doesn't trust Rudy's hands. In the regular season against half the league, he should pass it more to Rudy. Against San Antonio it wouldn't have made any sense, Rudy would have fumbled it or gotten blocked almost every time. We have seen Ant has that trust in Joan to catch the ball. I've seen Ant bullet passes to Joan, make difficult bounce passes, and throw it to him in the post when Ant was doubled, and than Joan after catching it immediately fired a beautiful assist to Donte for an open three. Ant and Joan worked out together this past summer in Minneapolis and built that chemistry. I don't think Rudy has ever stayed in Minnesota for any amount of time in the summer to really work on that and figure it out. Once the season starts they really don't practice too much, so I'm not sure how much that gets worked on in practice.

I wonder if they try to extend Donte right now, they can extend him at any time.

BeenLurkin wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2026 6:03 pm But seriously folks…it’s a chicken or the egg thing with Finch and Julius imo. Julius is gone no matter what with what the exit interview process has shown…if Finch fights it then he is gone too.
Hopefully he can see the writing on the wall and wants to stay because he is the best coach we have ever had, and gave the spurs a few good punches…and the Spurs and OKC look like a match of Titans so unless either of them wanna give us their coach I guess I’d like to hang onto Finch at least to see how he starts molding the next roster iteration. Cause coaches matter more than players…

BeenLurkin wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2026 8:34 pm Out of curiosity if we take a look at the season as pre and post trade deadline how would we see Finch? Were we calling for his job before Julius seemingly single handily tanked the vibes and the season when he got butt hurt after the trade rumors/allstar snub?

It seems super obvious that Julius is the bad apple. Finch seemingly did everything in his power to keep the apple from spoiling.

I agree Finch should fall on a sword IF Julius is removed and the trajectory of the vibes and product on court doesn’t start trending up. But a standard of championship or bust leaves no room for error In an imperfect world.

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2026 8:42 pm

BeenLurkin wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2026 8:34 pm Out of curiosity if we take a look at the season as pre and post trade deadline how would we see Finch? Were we calling for his job before Julius seemingly single handily tanked the vibes and the season when he got butt hurt after the trade rumors/allstar snub?

It seems super obvious that Julius is the bad apple. Finch seemingly did everything in his power to keep the apple from spoiling.

I agree Finch should fall on a sword IF Julius is removed and the trajectory of the vibes and product on court doesn’t start trending up. But a standard of championship or bust leaves no room for error In an imperfect world.

This is pretty reasonable imo.
Only thing I'll is that whoever is responsible for making Randle the "most important player on the team" (Finches words) has got some splaining to do.

That team structure doomed the team from the start it would seem.

BeenLurkin wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2026 8:46 pm

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2026 8:42 pm

BeenLurkin wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2026 8:34 pm Out of curiosity if we take a look at the season as pre and post trade deadline how would we see Finch? Were we calling for his job before Julius seemingly single handily tanked the vibes and the season when he got butt hurt after the trade rumors/allstar snub?

It seems super obvious that Julius is the bad apple. Finch seemingly did everything in his power to keep the apple from spoiling.

I agree Finch should fall on a sword IF Julius is removed and the trajectory of the vibes and product on court doesn’t start trending up. But a standard of championship or bust leaves no room for error In an imperfect world.

This is pretty reasonable imo.
Only thing I'll is that whoever is responsible for making Randle the "most important player on the team" (Finches words) has got some splaining to do.

That team structure doomed the team from the start it would seem.

I took the whole “most important person on the team” quote to be a combo of ego manipulation to get Julius to feel welcome and truth because honestly Julius was/is the most important person if he is the number two…if he had kept the pace of the first half of the season till now we are talking about a 3rd seed and maybe a team that coulda snuck past the spurs or OKc but maybe not both? Julius was having a fucking all nba season!?!? He was extremely important.