Ryan Saunders Fired!

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Cam, I told you Ryan wouldn't be the coach next year.

Good call, Cool. I had zero faith that Glen Taylor would allow his golden child to get fired. This is one of those times where I'm ecstatic to be wrong.

[kekgeek]

I don't like Ryan at all but holy shit Rosas is a fucking snake. Talking to another coach while you already have an active head coach

[mrhockey89]

It was bound to happen at some point. Taylor must have finally given him the OK. Now they'll give Vanderpool a long look I imagine.

Well...we ARE in the Twitter age.

[Lipoli390]

Rosas gave us no time to be relieved that Ryan was finally let go. Instead, he immediately hired an old buddy from Houston. We have a top assistant named David Vanterpool who has interviewed recently for head coach positions and who is widely regarded as an up-and-coming coach destined to be a head coach soon. What does Rosas do? He hires a guy who has never been mentioned by anyone anywhere as an up-and-comer or a head coach candidate.

Rosas wanted DLO and was bound and determined to get him regardless of the price or the fact that no other team in the NBA was knocking on the Warrior's front office door to pursue him.

Rosas wanted Juancho and was determined to sign him regardless of the price or the fact that no other team was reportedly interested in him, at least not to the tun of $7M a year or two years.

Rosas wanted Ricky and was determined to get him, even at $17M per year as a backup to the max-salary PG Rosas had just traded for.

Clearly Rosas has wanted Chris Finch and was determined to bring him here as soon as Ryan faltered after hiring Ryan in the first place to appease the owner.

Do you see a pattern here?? Hmm.

If Rosas was disappointed in Ryan, it wasn't just the losses. I'm certain he was upset that Ryan wasn't giving Juancho enough playing time. Overall, I'm sure that in the mind of Gersson Rosas, Ryan just wasn't effectively implementing the system that Gersson was determined to import here from Houston. Remember when Rosas said when he first came here that he didn't intend to establish the Wolves as the Rockets North. Well, at the time it struck me that was exactly what he intended to do or he wouldn't have said it. Now he has his buddy and lackey from Houston, Chris Finch, to make his dream a reality and establish the Wolves as the next iteration of his beloved Rockets. Once again, he pursued someone who no one else was pursuing and gave him a multi-year deal when no other team was even offering him a one-year deal to be their head coach.

I think it's safe to say now that Rosas is truly the worst front office executive this franchise has ever had. Congratulations, David Kahn, you are no longer #1.

[WildWolf2813]

Rosas gave us no time to be relieved that Ryan was finally let go. Instead, he immediately hired an old buddy from Houston. We have a top assistant named David Vanterpool who has interviewed recently for head coach positions and who is widely regarded as an up-and-coming coach destined to be a head coach soon. What does Rosas do? He hires a guy who has never been mentioned by anyone anywhere as an up-and-comer or a head coach candidate.

Rosas wanted DLO and was bound and determined to get him regardless of the price or the fact that no other team in the NBA was knocking on the Warrior's front office door to pursue him.

Rosas wanted Juancho and was determined to sign him regardless of the price or the fact that no other team was reportedly interested in him, at least not to the tun of $7M a year or two years.

Rosas wanted Ricky and was determined to get him, even at $17M per year as a backup to the max-salary PG Rosas had just traded for.

Clearly Rosas has wanted Chris Finch and was determined to bring him here as soon as Ryan faltered after hiring Ryan in the first place to appease the owner.

Do you see a pattern here?? Hmm.

If Rosas was disappointed in Ryan, it wasn't just the losses. I'm certain he was upset that Ryan wasn't giving Juancho enough playing time. Overall, I'm sure that in the mind of Gersson Rosas, Ryan just wasn't effectively implementing the system that Gersson was determined to import here from Houston. Remember when Rosas said when he first came here that he didn't intend to establish the Wolves as the Rockets North. Well, at the time it struck me that was exactly what he intended to do or he wouldn't have said it. Now he has his buddy and lackey from Houston, Chris Finch, to make his dream a reality and establish the Wolves as the next iteration of his beloved Rockets. Once again, he pursued someone who no one else was pursuing and gave him a multi-year deal when no other team was even offering him a one-year deal to be their head coach.

I think it's safe to say now that Rosas is truly the worst front office executive this franchise has ever had. Congratulations, David Kahn, you are no longer #1.

If the players don't listen to or apply what Vanterpool is telling them now, what would change with him as head coach (and if for whatever reason they did, that's an indictment on the players for basically ignoring the rest of the staff)?

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I don't like Ryan at all but holy shit Rosas is a fucking snake. Talking to another coach while you already have an active head coach

Yeah, it's shady, but Saunders was never Rosas' guy. I'm sure Rosas resented Saunders to some extent because he was somewhat forced to hire him when it's clear he didn't want to. He interviewed Finch back in 2019. They obviously have history. It probably took a couple phone calls to get Finch back in the mix here.

[cpg29]

This is nothing new. Just business. Companies do that all the time if an exec isn't working out.

But the question is why make that move. Why not just hand the keys to your lead assistant and see what he can do for the rest of the year and then open up the search in the off-season if you don't like what you see

[mrhockey89]

Lip, going to disagree with you on this one. Either Rosas is going to be given full reigns as GM or he is not. It seems more and more like Ryan was pushed on him and Finch was his guy all along. If that's true, then picking Vanderpool simply because he's been on the bench is a poor reason. It's Rosas' job on the line to make the right pick. I remember when Thib was picked to be head coach. There were concerns with him overplaying the young guys but most were excited because he was a legitimate big name head coach, probably the biggest the Wolves have had (perhaps above Flip). Ultimately though he brought some good things, our defense wasn't what it was supposed to be with him, and ended up still not being the right fit.

Even if Vanderpool is a great head coach, if he's not 100% on the same page as our GM while Finch is, he (Finch) may still be the better choice for the Wolves.

In the end, we'll find out in in the next 2-3 years not if Vanderpool would have been the right guy, but whether Finch was.

[Lipoli390]

Lip, going to disagree with you on this one. Either Rosas is going to be given full reigns as GM or he is not. It seems more and more like Ryan was pushed on him and Finch was his guy all along. If that's true, then picking Vanderpool simply because he's been on the bench is a poor reason. It's Rosas' job on the line to make the right pick. I remember when Thib was picked to be head coach. There were concerns with him overplaying the young guys but most were excited because he was a legitimate big name head coach, probably the biggest the Wolves have had (perhaps above Flip). Ultimately though he brought some good things, our defense wasn't what it was supposed to be with him, and ended up still not being the right fit.

Even if Vanderpool is a great head coach, if he's not 100% on the same page as our GM while Finch is, he (Finch) may still be the better choice for the Wolves.

In the end, we'll find out in in the next 2-3 years not if Vanderpool would have been the right guy, but whether Finch was.

Fair point, Hockey. Now that I've had a few minutes to reflect and cool down, I agree with your assessment. This had to be Gersson's call and there's no objective basis for me to conclude that Vanterpool was a better head coaching candidate than Finch. As it turns out, I was wrong about Finch not being considered for other head coaching positions. Apparently, the Pacers considered him as possibly another team or two.

[mrhockey89]

Lip, going to disagree with you on this one. Either Rosas is going to be given full reigns as GM or he is not. It seems more and more like Ryan was pushed on him and Finch was his guy all along. If that's true, then picking Vanderpool simply because he's been on the bench is a poor reason. It's Rosas' job on the line to make the right pick. I remember when Thib was picked to be head coach. There were concerns with him overplaying the young guys but most were excited because he was a legitimate big name head coach, probably the biggest the Wolves have had (perhaps above Flip). Ultimately though he brought some good things, our defense wasn't what it was supposed to be with him, and ended up still not being the right fit.

Even if Vanderpool is a great head coach, if he's not 100% on the same page as our GM while Finch is, he (Finch) may still be the better choice for the Wolves.

In the end, we'll find out in in the next 2-3 years not if Vanderpool would have been the right guy, but whether Finch was.

Fair point, Hockey. Now that I've had a few minutes to reflect and cool down, I agree with your assessment. This had to be Gersson's call and there's no objective basis for me to conclude that Vanterpool was a better head coaching candidate than Finch. As it turns out, I was wrong about Finch not being considered for other head coaching positions. Apparently, the Pacers considered him as possibly another team or two.

The good news is, no matter which coach he picks we're probably screwed :)