Minnesota Sports Forum

It's old school. Basically looking someone in the eye man to man and laying out some expectations. Do I think it really influences anything one way or another? No. But it's Glen's money and if he feels like he needs to do this before parting with that kind of coin, more power to him. He certainly didn't imply that it is some sort of negotiating tactic. I'd probably want to do the same thing if I were him.

Q12543 wrote:It's old school. Basically looking someone in the eye man to man and laying out some expectations. Do I think it really influences anything one way or another? No. But it's Glen's money and if he feels like he needs to do this before parting with that kind of coin, more power to him. He certainly didn't imply that it is some sort of negotiating tactic. I'd probably want to do the same thing if I were him.

I'll say this Glen might be the most personable (good and bad) of all the Wolves top people that make decisions. It seems clear that he likes to have personal relationships with players and people that work for the organization.

I don't think it will matter a ton either way but having your owner telling you his expectations isn't a bad thing. I personally like clear expecitations of what I am supposed to do or if I don't get that at least basic freedom to whatever I think makes sense to get something done. Glen laying down expectations could have some positive effect especially if Wiggins thinks Glen has by clue of what he is talking about.

It doesn't hurt to have your owner come man to man to your negotions and tell you how he values you and hopes for even better things. Even if Wiggins is the most confident dude or whatever that probably still means something.

I'm not saying it's a bad move by Taylor or anything.

I just find it comical because any of us could script Wiggins' side of the conversation pretty easily.

"Yes sir. I will." ... becomes pretty easy to say when you're staring at $150+M guaranteed.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:I'm not saying it's a bad move by Taylor or anything.

I just find it comical because any of us could script Wiggins' side of the conversation pretty easily.

"Yes sir. I will." ... becomes pretty easy to say when you're staring at $150+M guaranteed.

That's boring although you probably got it about right.

I like to imagine (comically) Wiggins bringing a detailed exhaustive Powerpoint presentation to Glen. Wiggins will take out his pointer put on some smart looking glasses and will explain how based on past examples of players improving their overall games and video's of his workouts and various real printed charts make his case. Afterwards he will just sign the contract that has been on the table the whole time after a handshake with Glen and maybe a couple awkward hugs with Thibs and some of the other Wolves folks and someone will take a pic with their cell phone.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:I'm not saying it's a bad move by Taylor or anything.

I just find it comical because any of us could script Wiggins' side of the conversation pretty easily.

"Yes sir. I will." ... becomes pretty easy to say when you're staring at $150+M guaranteed.

I had the same reaction. Or maybe Andrew will say, "no, I'm good enough and I don't see any reason to improve." :). Honestly, it's pretty silly. Glen pays a lot of money to guys like Thibs, Layden and other basketball front office staff to tell him whether how good a player like Wiggins will be, how hard he works, how competitive he is and how much he's likely to improve. But this is Glen.

I find it funny that this is even news! So the owner just wants to chat with a dude prior to paying him $150MM to play basketball....seems pretty reasonable, and actually something that probably happens more often than not if I had to guess.

We have ALL questioned Andrews value over the past season. If I was Glen, I would absolutely make sure I felt 100% confident in the deal I am about to make. It seems real easy for everyone on this board to spend someone else's money. If it was my money....and I was staring at paying a very good, but not great player $150MM, I may want to talk to the young man to ensure we both understand what is expected.

Hicks123 wrote:I find it funny that this is even news! So the owner just wants to chat with a dude prior to paying him $150MM to play basketball....seems pretty reasonable, and actually something that probably happens more often than not if I had to guess.

We have ALL questioned Andrews value over the past season. If I was Glen, I would absolutely make sure I felt 100% confident in the deal I am about to make. It seems real easy for everyone on this board to spend someone else's money. If it was my money....and I was staring at paying a very good, but not great player $150MM, I may want to talk to the young man to ensure we both understand what is expected.

Private conversations between NBA players and owners happen every day. The only way we'd ever know about them is if somebody makes it news.

In this case, I assume it's Glen Taylor?

"Hey, don't blame me if this goes awry. I made him promise me! Blame Wiggins for not fulfilling the deal, but you can't blame me."

I don't think it's old school for Taylor to go and give a newspaper interview about it. It would be old school for him to do this in private and stay classy. But Taylor can't help any chance to make it all about him.

Q12543 wrote:It's old school. Basically looking someone in the eye man to man and laying out some expectations. Do I think it really influences anything one way or another? No. But it's Glen's money and if he feels like he needs to do this before parting with that kind of coin, more power to him. He certainly didn't imply that it is some sort of negotiating tactic. I'd probably want to do the same thing if I were him.

If it doesn't make a difference, there's not point to doing it. To then make it public adds another layer of silliness to it. Glen's greeting card business grew into a great success. But he's been a very unsuccessful owner, setting an NBA record for consecutive years without a playoff experience. His lack of success includes a number of singularly ridiculous moves like hiring David Khan, and before that, signing off on the illegal offer to Joe Smith. The list goes on. I like Glen Taylor the person based on the little I know about him. I appreciate that he hasn't been unduly stingy with his pocketbook. But he's made a number of very poor executive decisions as owner of the Wolves. I think he made a good decision bringing Flip back and I'm hoping his last decisions to hire Thibs and Layden turn out to be great ones. This "look Wiggins in the eye" think is just silly.

It's easy to say it's silly of him to do this when it's not our money! I'm just saying I think he has every right to have this discussion with Wiggins if it makes him comfortable with handing the kid $150M. I don't blame him.