Minnesota Sports Forum

lipoli390 wrote:Thibs is not entertaining. I get that. I wanted the Wolves to hire JVG. He would have been a lot of fun in interview. But I'm not sure what Q expects Thibs to say. I'll take clarity and consistency any day in a coach or any other kind of manager. It's refreshing to hear Thibs emphasize 3-point shooting. That's something we haven't heard from either of our previous two head coaches. And it's refreshing not to hear our head coach complain about personnel inadequacies or say weird things that make no sense. I don't expect any head coach to diagram plays in training camp interview or publicly discuss his detailed strategy. However, I'll note that Thibs did actually get specific when talking about the things Belly can do.

Thibs' track record speaks for itself. He's incredibly well respected among other top coaches like Pop and coach K who was raving about him after the Olympics. That's a context I can't ignore when hearing him talk. Yes, I wish Thibs were more entertaining, but he's not a surly prick like our last coach in interviews. And I hear a clear consistent message, which I didn't hear from Sam or even from Flip. Yes, Thibs may not get into complexities in training camp interviews, but he projects competence and doesn't spew nonsense. That's more than enough for me at this juncture.

Lip, It's just my visceral reaction to the way he gives interviews. They are flat out boring and repetitive. I also find it funny that the one guy he gushed about (and I use that term generously since he rarely shows any emotion when talking about his players) is Bjelly. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to hear he plans on featuring him in the 2nd unit, as we all know that Bjelly is capable of being a unique player. But of all the talented and gifted players on the roster, he singles out that one?

I am fully capable of compartmentalizing my dislike of his interview style from my perspective of him as a coach. I have no doubt he will make us a better team. There are many great coaches who give crap interviews!

Yeah, that's where I am, Q...compartmentalizing Thib's coaching ability and his interview style. This guy can toss out meaningless platitudes with the best of them! I learned quickly that I'm not going to learn anything from interviews with either him or Leydon, and I change the radio station when either comes on as a guest...complete waste of time, since I already know what they are going to say. What a change from the old Funkadelic days which were must-listen radio...humorous and edifying at the same time.

But while he was entertaining, Flip just didn't win enough...give me wins over an entertaining coach any day. Some coaches can do both. Popovich consistently wins, and also consistently provides entertainment. Mike Zimmer obviously hates talking to the media, but he also is incapable of hiding what he is thinking or feeling at the moment, so I enjoy listening to him. Given the choice of wins versus entertainment, I'll take wins every time...just don't make me listen to another Thibs or Leydon interview!

Plenty of coaches and GMs (and politicians) say the same stuff over and over again. Flip said a lot of the same principles over and over again too he just shared a lot of other random stuff, joking around needling people about this and that etc so he was fun to listen to. Yeah just saying these things over and over again...it's boring seems fake and rehearsed and sometimes it is but I get how you have to decide on a clear message and go with that. I think if you end up turning the dial when Thibs comes on at some point you are going to be missing out on some things that are enlightens and...even -gasp- entertaining. If Pop can become entertaining in his way I think Thibs could get there.

Monster- you make a good point about teams (or companies) benefitting from a consistent message. But I would argue that what most of us do in our day jobs is considerably more complicated than an NBA basketball player, and the complexity of the message is much higher. Thibs continues to drone on about playing better defense, improving our rebounding, not turning over the basketball...blah, blah blah. If our players don't already understand that these are important things they need to focus on, we have much bigger problems than the level of interest of Thibs' interviews. It would be the equivalent of a business manager saying our goals are to work harder and make more money. His track record tells us that this guy is a very good basketball coach, so we know he is saying things to his players that are much more informative and deeper than the pablum he doles out to the press. And that's fine...I'm not advocating for him to share any trade secrets (like Flip would occasionally do). But at the same time some of us can choose not to listen to him after we learn we get nothing out of his interviews.

Are you guys looking for an English teacher or a basketball coach?

BizarroJerry wrote:Are you guys looking for an English teacher or a basketball coach?

Far and away, a basketball coach...I don't think anyone would answer that question any differently. I think what some of us are saying is that it would be a little more fun though if his interviews occasionally had at least a modicum of entertainment value. But given the choice of more wins or more entertaining interviews, that choice isn't even close...give me the wins! Would prefer both, but that's just not part of Thibs' package.

longstrangetrip wrote:Monster- you make a good point about teams (or companies) benefitting from a consistent message. But I would argue that what most of us do in our day jobs is considerably more complicated than an NBA basketball player, and the complexity of the message is much higher. Thibs continues to drone on about playing better defense, improving our rebounding, not turning over the basketball...blah, blah blah. If our players don't already understand that these are important things they need to focus on, we have much bigger problems than the level of interest of Thibs' interviews. It would be the equivalent of a business manager saying our goals are to work harder and make more money. His track record tells us that this guy is a very good basketball coach, so we know he is saying things to his players that are much more informative and deeper than the pablum he doles out to the press. And that's fine...I'm not advocating for him to share any trade secrets (like Flip would occasionally do). But at the same time some of us can choose not to listen to him after we learn we get nothing out of his interviews.

"It would be the equivalent of a business manager saying our goals are to work harder and make more money."

No that's much more vague than what Thibs is saying and Thibs is always talking about how it's various details that matter. I'm not exactly sure what people want him to do in these short spots. Give insane detail of what Wiggins is supposed to do when he defends Paul George or the process he needs to go through on a certain play? Is he supposed to have a joke of the day prepared so he is entertaining? And then he actually takes time to give some tidbit about Belly and Q gets basically upset about it. ;) It's day 3 of training camp what exactly is he supposed to share at this point that's remotely significant? What exactly do you guys want? I honestly don't get it. I suppose that's ok. :)

I can't speak for others, monster, but I know what I would like. First and foremost and to BizarroJerry's point, I want more wins...I think we all have that goal. But second (and this is a distant second), I wish Thibs were a little more interesting to listen to. I know he is a very good basketball mind, but I never learn anything when he is interviewed. Everything is canned and programmed (as Q has pointed out), and it almost sounds like he could be talking about any team...not specifically the Wolves. In contrast, Flip would delve into personal anecdotes about the players that would make them come alive a little more, or discuss strategy in more depth. I'm not asking him to lose his competitive advantage before a game by laying out his total strategy, but there's a lot of distance between that and "we need to focus on defense, rebounding, shooting and protecting the ball". Come on Thibs...find some middle ground! Give us more observations about how he views his players. Mike Zimmer is a relatively closed-up guy too, but I always learn something in his press conferences or interviews. Sometimes his views about players can be a little harsh, but I think he uses that as a motivational tool...and we fans get to know more about the players in the process.

I think Thibs is what he is, and I'm just going to have to get used to his (and Leydon's) private style. I think there are others here who are also either amused or a little annoyed (I'm a little of both) by the communication skills of the new regime. It's not a big deal, but just an observation some of us are making.

Maybe we should let Thibs speak for himself in his latest media chat after practice. :) I thought there was some good stuff in there.

https://m.soundcloud.com/wolves-radio/tom-thibodeau-saturday-practice?in=wolves-radio/sets/training-camp-day-4

Training camp day 4 update. Thibs gives away a little more info. You can glean the starting lineup and the bench lineup. Two-a-days are done. High praise for Gorgui. And more.

https://soundcloud.com/wolves-radio/tom-thibodeau-saturday-practice

[Edit: Oops! I see monster already posted this... ]