Minnesota Sports Forum

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

Camden0916 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

Camden wrote:Prigioni and Vanterpool >>> Saunders

Glad we have all three in some capacity, but yeah, it's very likely that the "worst" of the three is the actual head coach.

It's not what you know, it's...

Im once again not the person who wanted to bring Saunders back, but Saunders had very good success in SL as well when he was the head coach. The Wolves took 2nd in his 1st year as SL head coach.

Cam you are showing your bias against Saunders saying that Prigoni is a better coach than Saunders. He has coached an 0-3 team in Europe before stepping down and then coached 1 season for the Nets. Sure he was a good very highly regarded professional player but he doesn't have a better coaching resume than Ryan. Vanterpool? Sure I won't argue that one.

Prigioni has twice the basketball resume as Saunders, which is exactly my point. He actually has legitimate experience playing professionally, which is more than Saunders can say. And let's not act like Saunders has this great coaching resume either. What has he done? I've heard the talk about how he somehow helped Beal and Wall in Washington, but really, how much credit do you give an assistant coach vs how much credit you give the actual player pertaining to his own individual improvement.

Again, I like Saunders as a person and as an assistant, but it will continue to rub me the wrong way with how he got this head coaching job -- and I think it's pretty clear that he's not even the best coach on the staff -- though, he might be the most liked and most personable with the players.

Personally I'm not sure playing NBA basketball adds that much to a resume. A lot of the top NBA coaches in the league played that level of basketball a bunch of them never did. I'm not saying that it isn't worthwhile but I don't see how it makes Pablo have a better resume than a guy that's been coaching basketball for over 10 years. It's cool if you disagree though.

Regardless we agree that Ryan is likable and easy to root for. He has an upcoming appearance on Zach Lowe's podcast and he was on Chris Mannix's podcast which was a fun listen. In that one he shared that years ago someone told him to not worry about the fact that he got into the NBA because his dad gave him a job. They said everyone that gets into the NBA gets a break it's what you do with it that counts. He had some other interesting stories and tidbits.

Regardless of whether Ryan is the best guy, we're all better off that we're not starting another year with Thibs. Count your blessings.

Yep 2nd winningest coach in wolves history and we got worse in every statistical category once Ryan took over. So excited.

(I understand why thibs had to go)

Then STFU

Coming in a little hot cool. I'll keep posting when I feel like it.

Hopefully Ryan can bring us winning basketball instead of losing with smiles on our face basketball

kekgeek1 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

Camden0916 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

Camden wrote:Prigioni and Vanterpool >>> Saunders

Glad we have all three in some capacity, but yeah, it's very likely that the "worst" of the three is the actual head coach.

It's not what you know, it's...

Im once again not the person who wanted to bring Saunders back, but Saunders had very good success in SL as well when he was the head coach. The Wolves took 2nd in his 1st year as SL head coach.

Cam you are showing your bias against Saunders saying that Prigoni is a better coach than Saunders. He has coached an 0-3 team in Europe before stepping down and then coached 1 season for the Nets. Sure he was a good very highly regarded professional player but he doesn't have a better coaching resume than Ryan. Vanterpool? Sure I won't argue that one.

Prigioni has twice the basketball resume as Saunders, which is exactly my point. He actually has legitimate experience playing professionally, which is more than Saunders can say. And let's not act like Saunders has this great coaching resume either. What has he done? I've heard the talk about how he somehow helped Beal and Wall in Washington, but really, how much credit do you give an assistant coach vs how much credit you give the actual player pertaining to his own individual improvement.

Again, I like Saunders as a person and as an assistant, but it will continue to rub me the wrong way with how he got this head coaching job -- and I think it's pretty clear that he's not even the best coach on the staff -- though, he might be the most liked and most personable with the players.

Personally I'm not sure playing NBA basketball adds that much to a resume. A lot of the top NBA coaches in the league played that level of basketball a bunch of them never did. I'm not saying that it isn't worthwhile but I don't see how it makes Pablo have a better resume than a guy that's been coaching basketball for over 10 years. It's cool if you disagree though.

Regardless we agree that Ryan is likable and easy to root for. He has an upcoming appearance on Zach Lowe's podcast and he was on Chris Mannix's podcast which was a fun listen. In that one he shared that years ago someone told him to not worry about the fact that he got into the NBA because his dad gave him a job. They said everyone that gets into the NBA gets a break it's what you do with it that counts. He had some other interesting stories and tidbits.

Regardless of whether Ryan is the best guy, we're all better off that we're not starting another year with Thibs. Count your blessings.

Yep 2nd winningest coach in wolves history and we got worse in every statistical category once Ryan took over. So excited.

(I understand why thibs had to go)

Then STFU

Coming in a little hot cool. I'll keep posting when I feel like it.

Hopefully Ryan can bring us winning basketball instead of losing with smiles on our face basketball

Enjoy 99% of your posts, you gotta let the Thibs thing go though.

It is a weird phenomenon when fans of a team would rather lose with a "feel good" sensation rather than win with some baggage along the way. I mean, is the objective of the game to win or to give fans the warm and fuzzies?

Camden0916 wrote:It is a weird phenomenon when fans of a team would rather lose with a "feel good" sensation rather than win with some baggage along the way. I mean, is the objective of the game to win or to give fans the warm and fuzzies?

I call it Rubio syndrome.

Camden0916 wrote:It is a weird phenomenon when fans of a team would rather lose with a "feel good" sensation rather than win with some baggage along the way. I mean, is the objective of the game to win or to give fans the warm and fuzzies?

Ryan has to win just 81 more games to pass Thibs for 2nd all time. Are we gonna throw a party when/if that happens or something? :) That's not a knock on Thibs as much as an indictment of the whole organization. And to be honest I don't think most people that disliked Thins as much as they did hated him because he was grumpy or whatever it was for other basketball reasons. I didn't agree with all the basketball reasons and the grumpiness or whatever you want to call it certainly didn't help him whether it was fans or media or people in his own organization. You can be too nice and for Thins he isolated himself too much. Any approach can fail. Your skepticism about Ryan Saunders does have plenty of merit. Some find some positive vibes about it. I'm all in on hoping it works but I'm certainly not absolutely sure it will. It seemed pretty clear to me a guy that gave Thins a ton of the benefit of the doubt that a few months ago it wasn't going to work with Thibs I think that's hard to argue with.

monsterpile wrote:

Camden0916 wrote:It is a weird phenomenon when fans of a team would rather lose with a "feel good" sensation rather than win with some baggage along the way. I mean, is the objective of the game to win or to give fans the warm and fuzzies?

Ryan has to win just 81 more games to pass Thibs for 2nd all time. Are we gonna throw a party when/if that happens or something? :) That's not a knock on Thibs as much as an indictment of the whole organization. And to be honest I don't think most people that disliked Thins as much as they did hated him because he was grumpy or whatever it was for other basketball reasons. I didn't agree with all the basketball reasons and the grumpiness or whatever you want to call it certainly didn't help him whether it was fans or media or people in his own organization. You can be too nice and for Thins he isolated himself too much. Any approach can fail. Your skepticism about Ryan Saunders does have plenty of merit. Some find some positive vibes about it. I'm all in on hoping it works but I'm certainly not absolutely sure it will. It seemed pretty clear to me a guy that gave Thins a ton of the benefit of the doubt that a few months ago it wasn't going to work with Thibs I think that's hard to argue with.

To your point about hoping it works, I think we're all in on hoping the collective coaching group of Saunders, Vanterpool, and Prigioni rights the ship. I think all of us are rooting for them to develop players and instruct/guide this team to wins and hopefully relevancy. Wins are what matters most, though. Or, at least wins *should* matter the most.

What I'm getting at is that it never really felt like all Wolves fans were behind Thibodeau even if they disagreed with the hire. Even in the face of one of the most successful seasons of the past twenty years -- yuck, this franchise is bad -- the fans still seemed to bitch and complain about the "barking ogre" or whatever was the news with Thibs. This while ignoring the facts in front of them -- that the Wolves were the third seed in an ultra-competitive Western Conference prior to their star wing getting injured (and eventually "settling" for a playoff berth). Thibs' personality made it so that he could never provide the warm and fuzzies that Saunders can, but even when he had the team winning, fans just didn't seem to value it.

That's what I find fascinating and ridiculous all in one.

Camden wrote:It is a weird phenomenon when fans of a team would rather lose with a "feel good" sensation rather than win with some baggage along the way. I mean, is the objective of the game to win or to give fans the warm and fuzzies?

I agree with this, but I do think Thibs almost killed any joy that KAT and Wiggins had for the game. Jimmy was really affecting KAT on the court, which ultimately wasn't going to work for the Wolves plans win or lose. No team should feel good losing, but if a team feels bad when they're good to ok it's a problem.

thedoper wrote:

Camden wrote:It is a weird phenomenon when fans of a team would rather lose with a "feel good" sensation rather than win with some baggage along the way. I mean, is the objective of the game to win or to give fans the warm and fuzzies?

I agree with this, but I do think Thibs almost killed any joy that KAT and Wiggins had for the game. Jimmy was really affecting KAT on the court, which ultimately wasn't going to work for the Wolves plans win or lose. No team should feel good losing, but if a team feels bad when they're good to ok it's a problem.

Yeah, I don't see anything I'd disagree with in your reply. It's just the fans perspective of losing happily vs. winning unhappily that irks me.

Wolves start out poorly take a timeout and insert Canyon Barry and get back in it.

Camden0916 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

Camden0916 wrote:It is a weird phenomenon when fans of a team would rather lose with a "feel good" sensation rather than win with some baggage along the way. I mean, is the objective of the game to win or to give fans the warm and fuzzies?

Ryan has to win just 81 more games to pass Thibs for 2nd all time. Are we gonna throw a party when/if that happens or something? :) That's not a knock on Thibs as much as an indictment of the whole organization. And to be honest I don't think most people that disliked Thins as much as they did hated him because he was grumpy or whatever it was for other basketball reasons. I didn't agree with all the basketball reasons and the grumpiness or whatever you want to call it certainly didn't help him whether it was fans or media or people in his own organization. You can be too nice and for Thins he isolated himself too much. Any approach can fail. Your skepticism about Ryan Saunders does have plenty of merit. Some find some positive vibes about it. I'm all in on hoping it works but I'm certainly not absolutely sure it will. It seemed pretty clear to me a guy that gave Thins a ton of the benefit of the doubt that a few months ago it wasn't going to work with Thibs I think that's hard to argue with.

To your point about hoping it works, I think we're all in on hoping the collective coaching group of Saunders, Vanterpool, and Prigioni rights the ship. I think all of us are rooting for them to develop players and instruct/guide this team to wins and hopefully relevancy. Wins are what matters most, though. Or, at least wins *should* matter the most.

What I'm getting at is that it never really felt like all Wolves fans were behind Thibodeau even if they disagreed with the hire. Even in the face of one of the most successful seasons of the past twenty years -- yuck, this franchise is bad -- the fans still seemed to bitch and complain about the "barking ogre" or whatever was the news with Thibs. This while ignoring the facts in front of them -- that the Wolves were the third seed in an ultra-competitive Western Conference prior to their star wing getting injured (and eventually "settling" for a playoff berth). Thibs' personality made it so that he could never provide the warm and fuzzies that Saunders can, but even when he had the team winning, fans just didn't seem to value it.

That's what I find fascinating and ridiculous all in one.

I find it fascinating how you think Tibs playoff run was some big accomplishment. He had a capped out roster with 2 top 15 players, Should be expected. I love measuring expectations against 25 years of feeble basketball. It wasn't just the local fan based who hated Tibs, most national NBA people didn't think too highly him and his run here. And to say we were the 3 seed half way through the season as you measuring stick. We got blown out in the first round. None competitive.