Minnesota Sports Forum

thedoper wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:We need to let Thibs go this weekend. But who is going to coach this year? I don't think Ryan Saunders is ready. Let's come up with a list of candidates and then we can discuss. Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, Darvin Ham, Sam Cassell are some names that come to mind. Who else you got?

If Wiggins and Towns endorse Ryan Saunders I think he might be ready. Jon K said he's a workaholic with the prep and film. It's really hard to know when a young assistant is ready. I'm sure there would be a hell of a lot of skepticism though. I do think the key is getting someone Wiggins and Towns would have mutual respect for. No one in the national media is going respect any moves the Wolves do either way.

I'm glad Cool brought this up. Its something i have been thinking about a lot the past few hours.

I'd feel bad got Ryan Taking over this situation. its almost like Sam Mitchell taking over a couple years ago in a different way. Personally if you were leaning towards Ryan as the next guy keep Thibs and let him coach this team for a few weeks and if it fails gloriously Fire Thibs and give Ryan the keys with even lower expectations and even better chance of looking like a genius in comparison.

Ok lets get to some other canidates...There are accomplished coaches but all have real flaws. Mark Jackson??? yikes. SVG and JVG are Thibs guys. That doesn't seem like a good move. Fank Vogel? Feels like a retread now he didn't do anything in Oralndo. Blatt? I really hesitate with a first time head coach for similar reason i stated about Ryan Saunders. Its just a tough spot to be in.

Also who are you getting to be the GM? Nobody is dying to keep Scott Layden around.

monsterpile wrote:

thedoper wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:We need to let Thibs go this weekend. But who is going to coach this year? I don't think Ryan Saunders is ready. Let's come up with a list of candidates and then we can discuss. Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, Darvin Ham, Sam Cassell are some names that come to mind. Who else you got?

If Wiggins and Towns endorse Ryan Saunders I think he might be ready. Jon K said he's a workaholic with the prep and film. It's really hard to know when a young assistant is ready. I'm sure there would be a hell of a lot of skepticism though. I do think the key is getting someone Wiggins and Towns would have mutual respect for. No one in the national media is going respect any moves the Wolves do either way.

I'm glad Cool brought this up. Its something i have been thinking about a lot the past few hours.

I'd feel bad got Ryan Taking over this situation. its almost like Sam Mitchell taking over a couple years ago in a different way. Personally if you were leaning towards Ryan as the next guy keep Thibs and let him coach this team for a few weeks and if it fails gloriously Fire Thibs and give Ryan the keys with even lower expectations and even better chance of looking like a genius in comparison.

Ok lets get to some other canidates...There are accomplished coaches but all have real flaws. Mark Jackson??? yikes. SVG and JVG are Thibs guys. That doesn't seem like a good move. Fank Vogel? Feels like a retread now he didn't do anything in Oralndo. Blatt? I really hesitate with a first time head coach for similar reason i stated about Ryan Saunders. Its just a tough spot to be in.

Also who are you getting to be the GM? Nobody is dying to keep Scott Layden around.

Monster --

I agree it would be a tough situation for Ryan. But I think expectations would be pretty low with Butler's departure. If the players really like him, then I'm thinking he'd be the best choice at this point. I wouldn't want to rush into bringing in a new head coach from outside the organization. It's going to take more time to sift through the alternatives before making the sort of financial commitment it would take to bring in someone really good from the outside.

I also agree that each of the listed alternatives has serious flaws. For me, JVG would be the best choice in a vacuum, but he's very close to Thibs and would never accept the job. SVG is a Thibs clone and would be another poor fit for this team. He also falls into the retread category with Vogel. Blatt would be a bad choice. I'd be looking at Spurs assistants and college head coaches. But I don't have anyone in mind at this point.

I know this isn't necessarily a barometer to judge the next head coach, but have you heard Ryan give the halftime interview?? I gringe every time he does because he can barely spit out a coherent sentence. Seems very very nervous, I doubt he's ready for a head coaching position in my opinion. Would be another typical Glen move.

Duke13 wrote:I know this isn't necessarily a barometer to judge the next head coach, but have you heard Ryan give the halftime interview?? I gringe every time he does because he can barely spit out a coherent sentence. Seems very very nervous, I doubt he's ready for a head coaching position in my opinion. Would be another typical Glen move.

Not terrible on an interim basis. I see him as a place-holder, not as a long-term selection. How about Kevin McHale? I'm serious. He can coach. But would he want to come back here and coach?

lipoli390 wrote:

Duke13 wrote:I know this isn't necessarily a barometer to judge the next head coach, but have you heard Ryan give the halftime interview?? I gringe every time he does because he can barely spit out a coherent sentence. Seems very very nervous, I doubt he's ready for a head coaching position in my opinion. Would be another typical Glen move.

Not terrible on an interim basis. I see him as a place-holder, not as a long-term selection. How about Kevin McHale? I'm serious. He can coach. But would he want to come back here and coach?

That's not a bad suggestion. He would be good with KAT and I think his approach would work well with Wig too.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Duke13 wrote:I know this isn't necessarily a barometer to judge the next head coach, but have you heard Ryan give the halftime interview?? I gringe every time he does because he can barely spit out a coherent sentence. Seems very very nervous, I doubt he's ready for a head coaching position in my opinion. Would be another typical Glen move.

Not terrible on an interim basis. I see him as a place-holder, not as a long-term selection. How about Kevin McHale? I'm serious. He can coach. But would he want to come back here and coach?

That's not a bad suggestion. He would be good with KAT and I think his approach would work well with Wig too.

McHale has personality and the ability to relate to players -- characteristics that are critical to being successful as a head coach in today's NBA. I agree that McHale would be great for KAT.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:We need to let Thibs go this weekend. But who is going to coach this year? I don't think Ryan Saunders is ready. Let's come up with a list of candidates and then we can discuss. Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, Darvin Ham, Sam Cassell are some names that come to mind. Who else you got?

Honestly, I like Ryan Saunders because we give him an interim tag and essentially a trial run. I know the players like Ryan and so I'd expect them to play hard for him. If he's not the right fit, we have the full offseason next year to find the right guy.

Duke13 wrote:I know this isn't necessarily a barometer to judge the next head coach, but have you heard Ryan give the halftime interview?? I gringe every time he does because he can barely spit out a coherent sentence. Seems very very nervous, I doubt he's ready for a head coaching position in my opinion. Would be another typical Glen move.

The players can relate to him much more than the gruff Thibs and besides he took our summer league team to the finals.

KG4Ever wrote:

Duke13 wrote:I know this isn't necessarily a barometer to judge the next head coach, but have you heard Ryan give the halftime interview?? I gringe every time he does because he can barely spit out a coherent sentence. Seems very very nervous, I doubt he's ready for a head coaching position in my opinion. Would be another typical Glen move.

The players can relate to him much more than the gruff Thibs and besides he took our summer league team to the finals.

Ryan isn't a spotlight guy. However innthe lastvyear or so he does seem more comfortable doing stuff in front of the camera etc. I'm not sure he is ready though. One human element is that he lost his dad and best friend 3 years ago. Is he really ready to do a tough job to begin with being an NBA head coach while also taking over a dumpster fire type situation? It's pretty tough. I think he might be good (I've also been impressed with his work in SL) I just don't know if now is the time.

lipoli390 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Duke13 wrote:I know this isn't necessarily a barometer to judge the next head coach, but have you heard Ryan give the halftime interview?? I gringe every time he does because he can barely spit out a coherent sentence. Seems very very nervous, I doubt he's ready for a head coaching position in my opinion. Would be another typical Glen move.

Not terrible on an interim basis. I see him as a place-holder, not as a long-term selection. How about Kevin McHale? I'm serious. He can coach. But would he want to come back here and coach?

That's not a bad suggestion. He would be good with KAT and I think his approach would work well with Wig too.

McHale has personality and the ability to relate to players -- characteristics that are critical to being successful as a head coach in today's NBA. I agree that McHale would be great for KAT.

Hey let's just go one step farther...let McHale do it all!!! Lol jk

It's weird...like really kinda weird that of the options mentioned...McHale actually does sound good. The one troubling thing about him other than just him coming back is things haven't been good between him and Harden. I'm not a fan of Harden in some ways (always believed in his talent) but that beef between them seems troublesome. I was telling my friend that's a Bucks fan last season when they fired Kid McHale might actually be a good fit for the Bucks. He wasn't in on that but also there wasn't a lot of options back then...which sounds familiar. Sigh.