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Re: SURPRISE! Not Really — Ryan Saunders
Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 10:25 pm
by Coolbreeze44
crazy-canuck wrote:According to Jon K:
Will be a significant overhaul of the rest of the coaching staff. No names yet. They will be going after Coordinator types. Defensive for sure, maybe Offensive but Ryan definitely more of an Offensive mind. Will also look for strong Player Development guys since Thibs era did not do much work there.
Off. coordinator? Finch?
Def coordinator? Bdzelik
Developmental coach?
How about effort coach?
Re: SURPRISE! Not Really — Ryan Saunders
Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 10:52 pm
by KG4Ever
CoolBreeze44 wrote:crazy-canuck wrote:According to Jon K:
Will be a significant overhaul of the rest of the coaching staff. No names yet. They will be going after Coordinator types. Defensive for sure, maybe Offensive but Ryan definitely more of an Offensive mind. Will also look for strong Player Development guys since Thibs era did not do much work there.
Off. coordinator? Finch?
Def coordinator? Bdzelik
Developmental coach?
How about effort coach?
Can we get KG for effort coach.
Re: SURPRISE! Not Really — Ryan Saunders
Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 11:53 pm
by Lipoli390
Camden wrote:Lip, I appreciate your positive/optimistic reasoning on Ryan Saunders, but I can't honestly agree with any of your numbered points, especially the Brad Stevens comparison which I think is a pretty big reach considering the success Stevens had on a major level prior to his time in Boston.
I think it's entirely possible that you're falling victim to the likability of Ryan as well as the emotional aspect considering he's Flip's son and it seems Flip was good to you in the assumed limited time you had with him.
I guess the hope here is that the extremely rare outcome happens. What I mean by that is that there are very few successful head coaches that come to mind that did NOT have at least one of these in their resume:
a.) NBA playing career.
b.) NCAA/Euro head coaching experience.
c.) Experience as a lead assistant/associate head coach in the NBA.
Saunders' most ideal and best case scenario is becoming Eric Spoelstra, and there's no way to know for sure if Spoelstra is the coach that he grew to be if it wasn't for Pat Riley and Stan Van Gundy's mentoring as well as having LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh on his roster.
Just so we're all clear, Minnesota doesn't have any of the above around Saunders. Nothing even close. But we do have Glen Taylor. And Andrew Wiggins. Oof.
Cam - Those are all fair critiques of my post. Honestly, I'm not happy with the decision to hire Ryan. I just noted some of what I'd consider positive aspects of the decision - perhaps for my own sanity. :) But I don't believe for a minute that Ryan Saunders was the best head coaching candidate available and willing to come here. And that's the part that bothers me. Maybe this was Rosas accommodating KAT. Or maybe it was something else. Maybe it was Rosas wanting to take a season to evaluate the team before settling on a head coach other than Ryan. Whatever the thinking, this hiring decision is on Rosas. It's not a great start for him, but I still don't feel nearly as upset as I was when the Wolves hired Thibodeau.
Right now, Rosas has to focus on revamping the front office with a new GM, new assistant GMs and an overhaul of the team's scouting staff so the organization can start making good player personnel decisions, starting with this year's draft. At the same time, the organization needs to surround Ryan with a group of experienced top-flight assistant coaches.
Re: SURPRISE! Not Really — Ryan Saunders
Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 1:50 pm
by thedoper
Saunders Presser.
https://www.foxsports.com/north/story/minnesota-timberwolves-ryan-saunders-permanent-head-coach-full-press-conference-052119
Re: SURPRISE! Not Really — Ryan Saunders
Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 4:12 pm
by thedoper
I liked that Towns and Wiggins were at the press conference together. There's no doubt that the players want Ryan to succeed.
Re: SURPRISE! Not Really — Ryan Saunders
Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 11:36 pm
by 60WinTim
And the assistant coach turnover begins...
Dave McMenamin @mcten
The Minnesota Timberwolves turned over Ryan Saunders' coaching staff on Tuesday night, league sources told ESPN. They parted ways with Ed Pinckney, Larry Greer, Jerry Sichting, John Lucas Jr. and Dice Yoshimoto. They retained Malik Allen.
And Dane Moore made this comment:
Dane Moore @DaneMooreNBA
Malik Allen was the coach who Karl-Anthony Towns worked with on an individual basis last season.
Re: SURPRISE! Not Really — Ryan Saunders
Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 12:37 am
by crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]
Never really paid attention before, but is this really the first time the wolves have ever worked out together in the summer? In Minnesota? Together?
https://twitter.com/JeffWaldFox9/status/1130931649812713472
Re: SURPRISE! Not Really — Ryan Saunders
Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 12:59 am
by Camden [enjin:6601484]
crazy-canuck wrote:Never really paid attention before, but is this really the first time the wolves have ever worked out together in the summer? In Minnesota? Together?
https://twitter.com/JeffWaldFox9/status/1130931649812713472
Weird. I guess we should be happy they're trying to grow up?
I'm not sure how much this will help anything when the roster still needs serious work.
Re: SURPRISE! Not Really — Ryan Saunders
Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 6:22 am
by Monster
60WinTim wrote:And the assistant coach turnover begins...
Dave McMenamin @mcten
The Minnesota Timberwolves turned over Ryan Saunders' coaching staff on Tuesday night, league sources told ESPN. They parted ways with Ed Pinckney, Larry Greer, Jerry Sichting, John Lucas Jr. and Dice Yoshimoto. They retained Malik Allen.
And Dane Moore made this comment:
Dane Moore @DaneMooreNBA
Malik Allen was the coach who Karl-Anthony Towns worked with on an individual basis last season.
To me the most surprising move there might be John Lucas III. His dad has been a developmental guy for the Rockets for a few years now. I'm far from upset about it and the fact that Jerry Sichting isn't coming back should likely be encouraging for people worrying about the country club thing. If I was going to keep one guy it probably would have been Malik Allen.
Re: SURPRISE! Not Really — Ryan Saunders
Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 7:46 am
by Lipoli390
60WinTim wrote:And the assistant coach turnover begins...
Dave McMenamin @mcten
The Minnesota Timberwolves turned over Ryan Saunders' coaching staff on Tuesday night, league sources told ESPN. They parted ways with Ed Pinckney, Larry Greer, Jerry Sichting, John Lucas Jr. and Dice Yoshimoto. They retained Malik Allen.
And Dane Moore made this comment:
Dane Moore @DaneMooreNBA
Malik Allen was the coach who Karl-Anthony Towns worked with on an individual basis last season.
Definitely good news. Now let's see who replaces the departing assistants. An impressive group that includes some well-respected, experienced and successful assistants along with perhaps another young up-and-comer is what I'd like to see.