Minnesota Sports Forum

monsterpile wrote:It's still early but there are some interesting numbers if you look at NBA.com. For example when Teague is on the floor the Wolves play at a 101.0 pace (2nd only to Crawford). When he is off the floor it drops down to 97.34. You can look up some advanced stats so far and he is having a pretty solid season as a positive player for this team. The guy really bringing this team down is Bazz and it's worth mentioning Dieng's offensive rating is pretty rough. Belly for MVP... lol

Monster -- I don't doubt the stats when it comes to evaluating Teague over the course of the season to date. But last night, he was truly dragging the team down on both ends. A good coach has to be flexible enough to adjust game to game, half to half and quarter to quarter. But again, I'm not sure I can blame Teague for an offensive system that, if not for Thibs' Wolves, can only be seen through time travel into the NBA's past. As for Dieng's struggles so far this season, it just have something to do with Thibs' decision to change his role from starter to bench player in favor of starting a guy name Taj Gibson who has been primarily a bench player his whole career. As for Bazz, well he's apparently the best our head coach could do in his PBO role to fill the backup SF slot on this team.

WildWolf2813 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Lol, the "Barking Ogre"...love that. The close-ups of Thibs during the broadcast are just hilarious...he is always looking angry, frustrated, or bewildered.

The squad is playing some better defense though of late, which is encouraging.

I absolutely do see a limit to where Thibs can take this team. Assuming he actually can mold this team into a much better defensive unit, he should eventually pass the torch to a younger, more cerebral coach that has a more sophisticated understanding of human behavior and embraces the modern NBA. Thibs seems slow to catch on.....

I'm harsher than you are. The game passed him by. We're just in denial of it because then it means even the obvious move to hire him turned out to burn us.

I've tried really hard to cut Thibs some slack early this season. But I'm done. You're right, WildWolf, denial has been rampant among many Wolves fans when it comes to Thibs. I started to succumb early this season in spite of my early dismay and disappointment when we first hired him. But I'm done denying. He needs to go. I say that now and I'll say it even if we reach my 45-win projection.

Doc Rivers was asked earlier today why he thinks the Knicks are playing so well this season. He responded that they're playing with a free spirit, energy and joy they didn't have last season. As was the case last season, the Wolves team is joyless -- an obvious reflection of their head coach. Just watching Thibs and I know I wouldn't want to be around him much less work for him. Call him the barking orgre or barking penquine, but the bottom line is that there's simply no place in today's fast-paced NBA game for a head coach who directs players from the bench on essentially every possession. And there really is something called chemistry as welll as positive energy, spirit or ... call it what you want. Great teams have on-court chemistry and they play with passion and joy. Thibs doesn't generate any of those things and if there's any joy in the locker room or gym to start, he sucks it right out.