Minnesota Sports Forum

Kahns - Your post is a bit odd. I actually praised Flip as a coach based on his past performance, not the opposite as you suggest. I also indicated that I expect the unknowns to become positives.

Honestly your emotional defense of Flip seems unnecessary and misplaced in light of the overall content and tone of my initial post and subsequent posts. I'm not nitpicking when I express disagreement with some of his decisions. Am I nitpicking when I refer to his draft picks this summer as a home run? Am I nitpicking when I praise him for drafting Dieng? Am I nitpicking when I praise his coaching accuman?

I'll add, Kahns, that I referred to my opinion in this thread as a preliminary assessment. It's just to facilitate discussion, which you know is what we do on a message board.

I didn't engage in name calling or attack anyone's character including Flip's. I offered opinions and analysis that reflected both good and bad. My views on Flip's draft decisions hardly look like the views if someone looking for failure.

One move that hasn't been mentioned that has no clear answer because of things we don't know that went on last offseason and also his situation with the Nets last season but Flip let AK go and you could make an argument based on what he did or didn't do for the Nets last year it looks like a pretty astute move.

To me the bottom line is this. The Wolves didn't get worse last year after Flip took over they got better. He brought in 2 of the best wing players this team has seen in the last 5 years (I realize the bar is really low sans AK) and they really are not getting paid a ton of money in Brewer and Martin. He drafted someone worthwhile in any spot much less #21 in Dieng in what looks like a weak draft. He signed Turiaf who played well when healthy. I don't see anything yet that was super franchise damaging either but we will see since as it has been said its early. Is this team better off than when he took over? Except the Love situation which I can't see what he could do about that my answer is a solid yes. Hopefully the team improves because of his roster moves and coaching this year.

Honestly when I look back on what Flip did last year I have some hope for his basketball front office abilities. I'm not as down on the Bud and Martin deals as others are. I've ripped Flip for not bringing in a better PG than AJ Price but let's be honest Adelman never played him. Maybe he would have been decent. I don't want to sound like a reaching homer but its worth mentioning. Seeing the numbers JJ put up last season it wouldn't have been hard to be better than him.

The Elephant in the room is Love. Flip is stuck with that situation whatever it is. How that plays out could make or break how Flip is judged even if a lot of his other moves are pretty good. Trading a superstar...who is good at doing that? Um teams that traded a star player that came out well seemed more lucky than anything like Memphis getting Marc Gasol for Pau and Pistons getting Ben Wallace for Grant Hill. If anyone can convince Love to stay in Minny Flip has at least a half decent chance based on his basketball resume and his ties to the state.

I'll say this for Flip I like a lot of what he has been saying this offseason. I wasn't thrilled about his hiring last summer and wasn't excited about him naming himself coach before the Love thing happened and I wasn't overwhelmed by the other options. I know I get homeristic when guys are on my team but Flip has been saying and doing a lot of the right things IMO and I am actually excited about him working with the young players as coach.

lol I really don't get it. Lip even wanted to put some of the unknown list into the good category, but avoided the premature homerish judgement.

monsterpile wrote:One move that hasn't been mentioned that has no clear answer because of things we don't know that went on last offseason and also his situation with the Nets last season but Flip let AK go and you could make an argument based on what he did or didn't do for the Nets last year it looks like a pretty astute move.

To me the bottom line is this. The Wolves didn't get worse last year after Flip took over they got better. He brought in 2 of the best wing players this team has seen in the last 5 years (I realize the bar is really low sans AK) and they really are not getting paid a ton of money in Brewer and Martin. He drafted someone worthwhile in any spot much less #21 in Dieng in what looks like a weak draft. He signed Turiaf who played well when healthy. I don't see anything yet that was super franchise damaging either but we will see since as it has been said its early. Is this team better off than when he took over? Except the Love situation which I can't see what he could do about that my answer is a solid yes. Hopefully the team improves because of his roster moves and coaching this year.

Honestly when I look back on what Flip did last year I have some hope for his basketball front office abilities. I'm not as down on the Bud and Martin deals as others are. I've ripped Flip for not bringing in a better PG than AJ Price but let's be honest Adelman never played him. Maybe he would have been decent. I don't want to sound like a reaching homer but its worth mentioning. Seeing the numbers JJ put up last season it wouldn't have been hard to be better than him.

The Elephant in the room is Love. Flip is stuck with that situation whatever it is. How that plays out could make or break how Flip is judged even if a lot of his other moves are pretty good. Trading a superstar...who is good at doing that? Um teams that traded a star player that came out well seemed more lucky than anything like Memphis getting Marc Gasol for Pau and Pistons getting Ben Wallace for Grant Hill. If anyone can convince Love to stay in Minny Flip has at least a half decent chance based on his basketball resume and his ties to the state.

I'll say this for Flip I like a lot of what he has been saying this offseason. I wasn't thrilled about his hiring last summer and wasn't excited about him naming himself coach before the Love thing happened and I wasn't overwhelmed by the other options. I know I get homeristic when guys are on my team but Flip has been saying and doing a lot of the right things IMO and I am actually excited about him working with the young players as coach.

Not sure I'd give Flip credit for AK opting out stupidly and ending up where he did. That kind of fell into his lap. And no AJ Price would not of been a better option. There is a reason AJ Price is where he's at. He isn't good

alexftbl8181 wrote:Not sure I'd give Flip credit for AK opting out stupidly and ending up where he did. That kind of fell into his lap. And no AJ Price would not of been a better option. There is a reason AJ Price is where he's at. He isn't good

I thought it was pretty well understood he would have resigned for a multi-year deal which Flip wasn't offering. While Flip had no control over if AK would opt-out he certainly made the 100% right decision once AK did!

If those are your thoughts of him, then why are you using words like competence when you speak of him? If you think he's a good coach and has made as many good moves as bad, that is already a competent GM. Why is this off-season going to determine if he is competent or not when he has already shown to be so? Maybe it's just you being a devil's advocate when you use terms like competent to generate discussion, but that's a strong word to use if you are already on board with a decent chunk of what he has done. I guess it was really just the one word that set the whole tone as to how I read your post because it is a strong word when describing someone's ability to do their job. There's a big difference between good, competent and bad.

Monster - You make some good points.

I think the AK47 situation highlighted one of Flip's strengths. He doesn't make what we would call truly boneheaded moves. He doesn't succumb to pressure to make rash decisions that could cripple the franchise over the long haul. In other words, he's no David Kahn and for that we can be thankful.

If only a Flip had been here in his current job in 2009. I don't know whether he would have done the deal for the 5th pick. But I can say with absolute certainty that he would not have taken Flynn at #6.

Kahns - Thanks. Now I understand what got to you. I wasn't using that term in a negative sense. But I see your point. What I really meant was this summer would give us a much better sense of how good Flip is at this point as head of basketball operations. And I believe this summer is a huge test for Flip.

But I will give Flip some slack considering the bad hand Kahn dealt him. Not Flip's fault that Love feels dissed and has a 3-year out from his contract. Honestly I'm not hostile towards Flip at all. Am I a bit skeptical? Yes, but that's only because Flip has no track record as a top NBA exec and limited front office experience. But I don't blame Flip for that. It was Glen's decision to hire him and I don't blame Flip for wanting the job or taking it when offered.

Flip is learning on the job in a difficult situation. I get that. And Flip knows that too. In fact, I can say with complete confidence that Flip agrees with a number of my criticisms. He was trying to give Adelman everything he needed as head coach to maximize our chances of success last season. I think Flip would do things a bit differently in similar circumstances down the road.

I can tell you that Flip is a great guy who knows a ton about the game. He's well respected around the League and he works his tail off. And he still has a boyish enthusiasm for the game.

So I'm definitely pulling for Flip as I continue to pull for the wolves. As I've mentioned a number of times, I'm thrilled with our draft picks this summer. But I'm not going to look at the situation through rose-colored glasses or refrain from expressing doubts or criticisms I deem warranted from my perspective. Otherwise, why do we even have a message board?

ILove needs to get laid. Very critical. We have a bitter unhappy brother here crying out for love and support.

PS kMarts contract sucks we are stuck with him and Pek