Minnesota Sports Forum

Very good post, khans...you make an excellent argument about how the absence of three starters has forced Wiggins to develop at a quicker pace, and he has answered the challenge. That's a good thing. Now, it will be interesting to see how Drew reacts once big scorers like Martin and Pek return to the lineup. Hopefully he will keep his aggressiveness and thrive with a true PG getting him the ball.

Earlier in this thread, q made a good point about posters, me included, saying it's a good thing to keep losing because it will ensure a top pick. I agree that's a lousy attitude, and I'm not proud to admit I fall into it sometimes. It's a defense mechanism. I like watching this team because I enjoy watching our young guys develop, but the losing really gets to me. I think I use the prospect of a better pick as a way of softening the blow of another loss, and another lost season. I wish I didn't have to do that, but I need to find positives where I can, and I'm not finding any positives in our W-L record. I want to get to the point where winning the game is of upmost importance, but we're just not there now. Frankly, if I had to choose between a 15-game losing streak or stealing a couple games to go 2-13, I probably take the 15 losses. Any win we get now playing our second team for most of the game against the other team's starters is probably going to be only because our opponent overlooked us, not because we really won the game. I'll take the draft position over a couple meaningless wins.

Everything will change for me, though, when Rubio and Martin come back. I'll be cheering for the Wolves to win every game, even if it knocks us down in the lottery, because I believe that the core we have right now can be competitive...and even go deep in the playoffs as this young core develops.

Love the optimism here. If we get a blue chip big in this draft we our set. The only real downside to this season to me has been the growing reality that our long term contracts may have been given to guys (Rubio and Pek) who can't ever stay on the court. This could harm our flexibility moving forward. Either way there is a lot to look forward to. If we win the lottery we could be looking at a San Antonio style coup to put us in real contention. To say there are no superstars in this draft is a bit shortsighted when there are so many bigs coming out. Much harder to read their trajectory, but I will be excited to run with any of them at this point.

You are smoking something illegal if you think Flip is trading our 1st round pick. That top 5 (hopefully top 3) pick is Flip's lone positive/reward for a season filled with one devastating injury after another.

wow.. so much going on in this thread. I really don't get the hate on flip or the doom & gloom in general. Nice posts Misty, LST, TheSP, Phenom and Khans. I agree with a lot of what you guys said, but I'll add some thoughts.

1) Rubio has played 4.5 of 36 games, Pek & Martin each 9 of 36 games. The added playing time for the young guys definitely helps to a certain extent. Bazz & Wiggins starting together is one of the best things to happen this year. At a certain point though I think it can start hurting them (Lavine's case maybe), but either way they all gained valuable experience. With that said I do wish Rubio hadn't missed nearly as many games though b/c he is the 1 guy who consistently makes those around him better and I think the young guys would be a little better off overall (Lavine for sure). Plus we need him out there getting better and meshing with these young guys.

2) We can't on one hand blame Flip for bringing in the wrong vets and then on the other pull the "free agents don't come here unless overpaid" card. He has made solid picks thus far and has tried filling the roster with solid vets. Besides it's not like he can just snap his fingers and convince a guy to sign here. He had to work with the cards he was dealt. I don't think he's made any outright terrible moves even if they don't always work out the best. This off season is going to be very key for him.

3) It doesn't really matter which avenue Flip takes. Whether it be draft, trade or FA as long as he brings in the best PF candidate he can get that is in the early half of their career, who contributes and fits well with the other starters. We could add a SF too if Bazz's best role is as the 6th man (could be dangerous), but PF is by far the biggest need. We have some legit talent on this team, and just need a bit more as well as gaining some flexibility. Thad & Bud need to go. That's 14-15 mill right there.

4) This team is not in rebuild mode. Lets stop that notion right now. Rebuild mode would be tearing things down to the foundation and unloading all the vets this team had. That isn't what happened. They decided to build around & add parts to Rubio, Pek, Martin, etc and I'd say they've done a solid job so far. Swap out Thad & Bud with the right pieces and this team is a solid playoff team. We need size & strength at PF with a couple specialist/role player types who can play solid D & hit open shots. Another vet backup PG would probably be a good thing too for next year.