Minnesota Sports Forum

The report from Wolfson said they wanted a pick swap + second round picks + cash. Clearly that is not just throwing a second at them and making a deal. He's not worth giving up a lottery pick in this draft. Second round picks, sure, but the report is they asked for a pick swap which would have dropped us back 9 spots and taken us from good role player territory to trying to find someone who will be worth a second contract in this league. That is a huge difference and not worth a coach for a team who needs more than an upgrade on the bench to be successful. I find it hard to believe they did a complete 180 from letting him interview with another team to stating he's their guy. There's no way that owner cleaned house and thought his next move was to try to move up 9 spots in the draft to get rid of a coach that he "wants". You don't even let him interview with us if you actually want him. How does that make any sense because that is what you guys are saying when you are saying we got duped? You guys are acting like we are just dragging our feet through this offseason when only 2 coaches have been hired with multiple vacancies (still 4 to go and could be more). I just don't buy that the owner wants him as their coach if they were willing to dump him to only move up to 13 (not even a top ten pick) with cash and a second. They don't want to pay him to not coach for them and he doesn't want to give them the satisfaction of not having to pay him after only giving him 1 year to begin with. He's not getting fired, but trading him to us is their way out of not having to pay him to not coach their team. Their stating they want him to keep the trade value up. It has nothing to do with boosting his value only to fire him. Guaranteed if they get another coach to commit to them that they want, they would call us back and say they'll take the second and cash to take him off their hands.

khans, No one would agree to the swap picks that was being reported. That for me is basically memphis telling us and others that they have change their minds and keeping dave so dont bother.

There is absolutely no reason for joerger to go along with this as well, But he has commit to memphis already as per reports.

What upsets me is that i believe memphis was willing to let dave go thus granting us the interview but had cold feet and come to their senses that they are making a mistake and quickly move to retain their coach when it would be easy for them to do anyway.

The mistake we made is we took too long for this. And if you follow reports, were even hesistant or unwilling to give memphis any compensation including 2nd rounders thinking we have any advantage over memphis. Had we offer the 2nd rounder after he was made available we might have a coach now but we didnt. Flip failed to realize we are in a weak position to play hardball and got burned for it. Now, lets prepare to see who we sold our 2nd round picks to this coming draft.

Stein posted this article this morning: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10981653/memphis-grizzlies-turn-jeff-van-gundy-coach-head-front-office?ex_cid=espnapi_public. Again, I just find it hard to believe they did a complete 180 in the last 24 hours. How does an owner fire everyone but the coach, allow the coach to interview with a second team and in less than 24 hours (from when the article was posted) change his whole thought process than was being reported by a guy like Stein who has a pretty good pulse on the league? I think he is just keeping him until they can get someone better to commit and that way if someone doesn't commit, at least they have a coach who won 50 games.

Whats in it for joerger then? He will basically be a lame duck coach. He might as well asked to be released, no need for him to commit publicly to the grizz when he is just a lame duck coach waiting if the team get someone better than him.

They are keeping him. We blew the chance to get him. The reports that we were unwilling to give any compensation to the grizzlies probably make them think and made them realize that they are letting go of a 50 win coach (best player and all star missing 20+games). not to mention someone who coach the team to 7 games vs a healthy okc. Is young and respected in the locker room, was their defense coordinator when they first started emerging as a very good defensive team. They probably realize that and change their mind and come to their sense at the 11th hour and decide to keep him and avoid a mistake just as it looks that he is about to join us. No need for them to waste time chasing jeff van gundy or thibs when its unlikely to happen.

Flip and company misread the whole situation. Failed to take advantage of an opening and think they have any power or say in this when we are in a position of weakness all along as everything depends on whether memphis agree. Statements like unwilling to offer any compensations and could get him for nothing shows that flip tried to be too smart when he really isnt and misread the situation and power(he had zero in this case).

Pretty odd turn of events. A friend of mine knows Joerger's agent and told me that Joerger really decided he wants to remain with the Griz after interviewing with Flip and Glen. That's all I heard. Not sure what more if anything to read into this. I think Glen really wants Sam Mitchell. I think Flip really wanted Joerger and was pushing to hire him. I I suspect that if Joerger really wanted to come to the Wolves the Griz would not be insisting on compensation they should know the Wolves won't give. So I'm assuming that something in the interview process chilled Joerger's enthusiasm for the Wolves' job. Probably the interview with Glen.

I really hope we don't end up with Mitchell!!!

lipoli390 wrote:I really hope we don't end up with Mitchell!!!

This. Sam Mitchell screams mediocrity. Flip might as well coach the team before he hires Mitchell. I'm dead ass serious about that too.

I'd much rather roll the dice on Chip Engelland from San Antonio than let Mitchell coach here too. How many Spurs coaching assistants are we going to watch make a positive impact in the league before we scoop one? At the very least, he'll help the team with their shots and establish a detailed attack. It's worth looking into.

lipoli390 wrote:Pretty odd turn of events. A friend of mine knows Joerger's agent and told me that Joerger really decided he wants to remain with the Griz after interviewing with Flip and Glen. That's all I heard. Not sure what more if anything to read into this. I think Glen really wants Sam Mitchell. I think Flip really wanted Joerger and was pushing to hire him. I I suspect that if Joerger really wanted to come to the Wolves the Griz would not be insisting on compensation they should know the Wolves won't give. So I'm assuming that something in the interview process chilled Joerger's enthusiasm for the Wolves' job. Probably the interview with Glen.

If thats the case then we really are doomed with glen at the top.

If its true that Joerger was turned off from his "dream job" by his experience with Glen, then I feel sick and extremely disappointed in the organization. DJ was as close to a homerun as there was from a fan support standpoint. Its odd though that the reports coming after their meetings had positive reviews. I hope Dave and his agent are just saying the right things to everyone about wanting to stay until the powers that be can resolve their issues. Please basketball gods let that be.

Lip you said you didn't know what to read into what you heard (thanks for posting that info) and I think that's about all you can really say. It could be as simple as reralizing there is a good chance Love may leave for nothing and knowing that Memphis has a much better roster even if Randolph doesn't resign than the Wolves have. It could have been also that Memphis wised up and realized maybe they better hold onto him after all and they showed him some love. Who knows ts all speculation right now and very confusing and fairly odd situation.

I get the feeling Flip is looking at a wide net of coaching options and he isn't in a hurry and that's a good thing. If we end up with Sam Mitchell I won't be thrilled but I won't be jumping off the ledge either. The Wolves are in a tough spot with the Love situation. If Love leaves or even if they trade him its not a good spot to want to come into as a coach. Another thing to consider is with teams hiring and firig like crazy you could wait till another opening to get a better opportunity. Who knows maybe we don't hire a coach till after the draft when a coach likes the guys we got in the draft and was one of the guys they really thought was worthwhile. Of course not terrifically likely but hey lots of crazy stuff has happened this offseason and the Finals aren't even being played yet.