Tom Thibodeau...let's discusss

[TheFuture]

Here is a coaching tip I have learned over the years: it's much easier to be tough early on and soften up over the course of the season than it is to be soft early on and realize you needed to be tougher later in the season.

Agree 100%. Thibs is still putting his mark on this team and evaluating them in actual meaningful play. I'm not privy to how he is in practice, so I think it'd be a reach to assume what we see in games is how these players view him. Sam Mitchell seemed to lose players by not being the involved teacher that Thibs is showing to be. Young pups need strict direction and consequences when they falter and praise when they meet demands. Older ones need reminders and praise to reaffirm what they already know. In my opinion, if this team crumbles under and bucks a proven commodity like Thibs then it is a testament to the players, not the coach.

[BloopOracle]

"3) I read the article in the paper about thibs last week, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. This is a guy with little or no life outside of watching video in his apartment or office over and over (with an occasional break once in awhile to go to an afternoon movie, by himself)...I couldn't help but feel an enormous sadness for the guy. He seems like an amiable guy in many ways, but what kind of life is that? And then being a Wolves fan and wanting us to win more, I wondered how our fun-loving young guys would relate to a guy with that life style, or lack thereof. I suspect they probably joke about him privately."

I've never understood this line of thinking, in a world where there are millions of people depressed, or becoming old and bitter, having a lack of direction, or just those who are extremely bored and don't enjoy a lot of things they used to anymore, why on earth would you feel sad for someone who has something that they are so passionate about that they are almost obsessed with it their entire lives? I bet there are a lot of people who would kill to feel the way Thibs feels about basketball towards anything.

[Coolbreeze44]

In my opinion we are 0-2 because our supposed best player has had 2 sub-par games. He hasn't looked anything like the guy we saw at the end of last season.

[TheFuture]

In my opinion we are 0-2 because our supposed best player has had 2 sub-par games. He hasn't looked anything like the guy we saw at the end of last season.

Yeah, somewhat errant passes. Way too much hanging out at the perimeter (may have a coaching bone to pick there). He has a giant X on his back now and it seems he's trying to force things rather than playing within himself. I Have to remind myself that he has been guarded by Gasol and Cousins. Both very skilled, full grown men who don't give an inch inside.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Hmm... This wreaks of the "Wiggins is a Bust" thread.

I LOVE that is this was exactly what I was thinking when I finished the OP and moved on to your post

Bloop, I actually wasn't opposed to the "Wig is a Bust" thread, even though I thought (and think) he is far from a bust...in fact, likely a future superstar. But what we do here in this forum is analyze performance and comment on it, and project what might happen, and I find all opinions welcome. I agreed with the majority, though, that it was premature to be making final conclusions about a 20 year old kid in his first year. Opinions though were fine based on what we had seen.

Thibs is a different topic though. He's an almost 60 year old man with a coaching history that we know of, and it seems like a suitable topic to discuss whether he is the perfect fit for this team or not. It was a lively topic at the time Glen was considering him and after he was hired, and if anything, it should even be a livelier topic now that we have training camp, preseason, and 2 losses to see how he jives with this roster.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

"3) I read the article in the paper about thibs last week, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. This is a guy with little or no life outside of watching video in his apartment or office over and over (with an occasional break once in awhile to go to an afternoon movie, by himself)...I couldn't help but feel an enormous sadness for the guy. He seems like an amiable guy in many ways, but what kind of life is that? And then being a Wolves fan and wanting us to win more, I wondered how our fun-loving young guys would relate to a guy with that life style, or lack thereof. I suspect they probably joke about him privately."

I've never understood this line of thinking, in a world where there are millions of people depressed, or becoming old and bitter, having a lack of direction, or just those who are extremely bored and don't enjoy a lot of things they used to anymore, why on earth would you feel sad for someone who has something that they are so passionate about that they are almost obsessed with it their entire lives? I bet there are a lot of people who would kill to feel the way Thibs feels about basketball towards anything.

That's a fair way of looking at it. But to me a life with such a narrow focus and never having had a romantic relationship sounds depressingly empty to me. Maybe because we all share a passion for basketball, his life seems a little more interesting. But what if it was stamp collecting, and he devoted all his waking hours to that rather than basketball ..wouldn't that seem a little depressing? The fact that it's basketball doesn't change the equation for me. That's just my opinion though, and it's not my position to judge...he does seem like a happy guy.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

In my opinion we are 0-2 because our supposed best player has had 2 sub-par games. He hasn't looked anything like the guy we saw at the end of last season.

Yeah, somewhat errant passes. Way too much hanging out at the perimeter (may have a coaching bone to pick there). He has a giant X on his back now and it seems he's trying to force things rather than playing within himself. I Have to remind myself that he has been guarded by Gasol and Cousins. Both very skilled, full grown men who don't give an inch inside.

Yeah, Towns has been a big disappointment, and that has been a huge factor in our 0-2 start. It's especially disappointing because he had such a terrific preseason. I'm not worried though...he's a stud.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Kevin Ollie or whatever his name is would have this team at 2-0, amiright?

He's a strong family man!

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Kevin Ollie or whatever his name is would have this team at 2-0, amiright?

He's a strong family man!

Ha, maybe! Who knows, maybe he would have been outcoached too and presided over a collapse. I don't know that Glen is still calling him a strong family man since his wife filed for divorce!


still my first choice though

[WildWolf2813]

I'm not ready to make a link between Belly's poor play and Wig's clutch time failures in the first two games and Thibs' critical nature, but I am going to put it out there as a potential concern.

Outside of small stretches last season Belly played poorly, and unless my memory really sucks I don't recall Wiggins having ice in his veins in final shot situations in his first two seasons. Thibs frowns cannot be blamed for changing these players into exactly what they already were, but if we were a quarter way through the season it would be fair to question why he hasn't helped them develop.

I don't disagree about Belly, although I actually thought Wig did seem to be fairly strong late in games last year. But by the way, although I think Sam was better at encouraging his players than Thibs (although not as competent as Thibs in x's and o's), I don't think he excelled in this area either...and especially wasn't helpful in developing Belly.

My comment on Wiggins wasn't about late 4th quarter performance, but like last night, final shot to tie/win a game performance. He's always seemed hesitant in that situation, but like last night he's very capable of being the player to key a late game comeback. He simply hasn't looked confident to me when taking the final shot.

what makes it worse is that the team keeps force feeding him into being the guy to take those shots when it might not be best suited for him. Towns might be better there. LaVine might be better there (and should have taken the shot last night), but it's as if we're trying to turn Wiggins into Kobe late in games when it might be detrimental to him and everyone else.