Minnesota Sports Forum

Insightful comments, monster. Thanks! I do find myself looking forward to the offseason and not dreading it. Even if we don't get Ibaka or Milsap. I guess many of us feel that way because this board has been pretty darn active!

Monster -- We seem to be on the same page regarding Thibs. I think you raised all the right questions for assessing Thibs and Layden this summer. The one thing he could do that could really make me get more optimistic about him would be hiring a new assistant coach who is known as an offensive guru to run the offense.

lipoli390 wrote:Monster -- We seem to be on the same page regarding Thibs. I think you raised all the right questions for assessing Thibs and Layden this summer. The one thing he could do that could really make me get more optimistic about him would be hiring a new assistant coach who is known as an offensive guru to run the offense.

The thing though is the Wolves were 10th in offensive efficiency. Every Wolves fan will agree there needs to be more ball movement though but how much of that is coaching and how much of that is the roster. D'Antoni should get credit for what he did this year in Houston but that roster is insane. That's the extreme case though but it's still worth considering. Like I mentioned in another post on this board these young offensive guys are trying to figure it out and it took a bit to get things worked so Rubio was doing his thing. It's no secret this team lacks 3 point shooting and with Lavine missing 30+ games that really hurt and then they lost a guy in Belly who both is a shooter and a guy that moves the ball and even creates at times. All I am saying is you have to consider the deficiencies of the roster along with inexperienced guys that tend to need the ball when you look at how they performed as a unit sharing the ball. It took Jordan and Kobe a while to figure these things out it makes sense that these kids would take more than a couple of seasons to get it especially when they are playing for a different coach every year. Lil David Adelman got a lot of love for his work with the Wolves offense down the stretch last year. Orlando was a poor offense this year. Did they not let him do his thing? Is he actually not a good offensive coach? Did that team just suck? Obviously there are other more established offensive minds to consider but...I think you get my point here. Who knew Kerr was going to have this kind of success?

A while ago in a post you mentioned GS was a team that did all the right things getting a coach and culture. Yeah who would have thought Mark Jackson was going to be a guy that helped that franchise move towards being a perennial contender? :) There is no way you can't give him and his staff some credit for that team's success. Then as you mentioned they made the right move and brought in Kerr and a new coaching staff to take them to the next level. Jackson certainly instilled some of their culture there though.

It's hard to remember sometimes that Thibs is still doing the rebuilding coaching job and then will be the guy hopefully coaching the contender. Those jobs are difficult. We will see if he is up to it. I think there are some troubling signs but I also think his willingness to play young guys and show remarkable patience in general with the roster is encouraging. For me I am more intruiged than discouraged.

We've been incredibly fortunate as far as injuries have gone the last couple years, think we'd be pushing our luck on that front if Blake was the target.
Can go wrong with either Milsap or Ibaka. I agree that Serge fills a greater need as a rim protector . Prolly a lil cheaper too.

PorkChop wrote:We've been incredibly fortunate as far as injuries have gone the last couple years, think we'd be pushing our luck on that front if Blake was the target.
Can go wrong with either Milsap or Ibaka. I agree that Serge fills a greater need as a rim protector . Prolly a lil cheaper too.

I wouldn't say so. Outside of Towns and Wiggins we have had several impactful injuries this year alone. Ricky's elbow injury hit at what turned out to be a crucial time this year. Zach missed almost half the season. Belly went down as we were making a final charge to the playoffs. Injuries to stars isn't the only thing that matters and most of the stars in the league this year didn't get injured just like Towns and Wiggins. Keep in mind during Wiggins and Zach's rookie year we could barely field a team as well playing guys like Justin Hamilton significant minutes. I would say we've made our way to the middle of the pack since the injury riddled Love, Pek and Ricky days.

khans2k5 wrote:

PorkChop wrote:We've been incredibly fortunate as far as injuries have gone the last couple years, think we'd be pushing our luck on that front if Blake was the target.
Can go wrong with either Milsap or Ibaka. I agree that Serge fills a greater need as a rim protector . Prolly a lil cheaper too.

I wouldn't say so. Outside of Towns and Wiggins we have had several impactful injuries this year alone. Ricky's elbow injury hit at what turned out to be a crucial time this year. Zach missed almost half the season. Belly went down as we were making a final charge to the playoffs. Injuries to stars isn't the only thing that matters and most of the stars in the league this year didn't get injured just like Towns and Wiggins. Keep in mind during Wiggins and Zach's rookie year we could barely field a team as well playing guys like Justin Hamilton significant minutes. I would say we've made our way to the middle of the pack since the injury riddled Love, Pek and Ricky days.

Wiggins, Dieng and KAT played 82 games.
Rubio played 75 games. Muhammad played 78 games. Kris Dunn played 78 games. Even Bjelcia played 65 games. The ONLY long-term injury was Lavine and he still played more than 1/2 the season.

The Wolves lost 51 games. Only a 2-game improvement from last season.

Meanwhile... George Hill played only 2 more games (49) than LaVine. Derrick Favors played only 3 more games (50). Alec Burks played 42 games. Rodney Hood played 59 games. Shelvin Mack played 55 games. Even Gordan Hayward missed more games than 6 Wolves players in the regular rotation.

The Jazz won 51 games anyway... which was an 11-game improvement from last season.


[Note: The Wolves were mostly fortunate (relatively speaking) with injuries this season.]

Abe, you overlooked Pek. He was about 15% of our salary cap for the year.

sjm34 wrote:Abe, you overlooked Pek. He was about 15% of our salary cap for the year.

I didn't overlook him. He's played 43 games over 3 seasons. The Wolves knew going into the season he wasn't going to play.

Unless you actually believe that his money on the books prevented the Wolves from seeking other options.

The Wolves were 28th in salary with a lot of room. Heck, I think they were just above the minimum...

I don't know if Thibs would have signed someone else, but if Pek had been healthy he would certainly have been a big help in the middle. Last April they said they were expecting him to be available for this season, but that may have been a cover up to save some extra dollars.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

sjm34 wrote:Abe, you overlooked Pek. He was about 15% of our salary cap for the year.

I didn't overlook him. He's played 43 games over 3 seasons. The Wolves knew going into the season he wasn't going to play.

Unless you actually believe that his money on the books prevented the Wolves from seeking other options.

The Wolves were 28th in salary with a lot of room. Heck, I think they were just above the minimum...

Actually they didn't even reach the minimum/floor.

I do think it would be fair to at least consider the fact that he took up a roster spot the whole season even for a 15th guy they probably could have used for some stretches when Lavine and Belly were injured.