Camden wrote:I fully expect this team to be doing everything they can to compete and win basketball games if for no other reason than to make the first-round pick used in the D'Angelo Russell trade less valuable. This team will not be tanking in the second half of the season as we've seen in the past. I'm not confident in a whole lot with this franchise, but I'm pretty sure of that.
That's right. There is absolutely no reason for the Wolves to emphasize anything other than winning this season. As you noted, the Wolves get absolutely no reward for losing. They have no second round pick and it's highly unlikely they'll get their first round pick since it's only top 3 protected. Unless Rosas and Saunders are completely insane, the entire front office and coaching staff will undoubtedly be fully and solely committed to winning as many games as possible. How many games they end up winning is hard to predict because there are so many unknowns. This is the season where giving the head coaching position to Ryan Saunders will catch up with the franchise.
Yeah unless Ryan and his staff actually don't suck at coaching. I do feel some legit confidence in the assistants they have and Ryan is going to utilize them. Im still on record saying I think sticking with Ryan was a big gamble. I do think there is reason to think he and this staff won't hold the team back at least which sounds like a low bat but I can think of former Wolves coaches that likely did hold the team back. This roster is of guys they brought in. There is only so many excuses now for everyone. Let's see what they can make of it.
I want everyone to notice how the feeling among fans is much closer to "I don't think Ryan Saunders will hold the team back" and not "I believe Ryan Saunders will get the most out of this team" or "I'm confident in Ryan Saunders' ability to maximize the talent on this roster." Even the most supportive Saunders fanatic wouldn't possibly come to that conclusion. He has done absolutely nothing worthy of that confidence. It's almost like Saunders is still auditioning for the job while already being hired for it, which is completely backwards. Again, if his last name was Williams or anything other than Saunders, would he have EVER taken over as head coach? Nope. Not in a million years.
So, why is he still in that position? It's unbelievable how inept this franchise is.
Camden wrote:I want everyone to notice how the feeling among fans is much closer to "I don't think Ryan Saunders will hold the team back" and not "I believe Ryan Saunders will get the most out of this team" or "I'm confident in Ryan Saunders' ability to maximize the talent on this roster." Even the most supportive Saunders fanatic wouldn't possibly come to that conclusion. He has done absolutely nothing worthy of that confidence. It's almost like Saunders is still auditioning for the job while already being hired for it, which is completely backwards. Again, if his last name was Williams or anything other than Saunders, would he have EVER taken over as head coach? Nope. Not in a million years.
So, why is he still in that position? It's unbelievable how inept this franchise is.
I'll be very disappointed if the Wolves don't make it into the play-in games (seeds 7-10). I think that is a big indictment on Russel and Towns if they can't make it to those games. The goal is to win a title sometime with Towns and Russell as some type of core pieces. If they can't lead the Wolves to the play-in games I can't see them ever leading to the Wolves to anything more in the future.
Teams I think are for sure better then the Wolves in the West:
Laker
Clippers
Nuggets
Teams that I think are in but who knows:
Blazers (I do think they are overrated, they just barely made the playoffs last year and they just added Cov who will be a good add but I don't want to lock them in)
Jazz (Just always consistently there)
X factors:
Rockets (Harden tanked his last season with Mchale, he doesn't want to be there and they are starting a PG that hasn't played in 2 years and a C who was unplayable in the finals and missed all of last year. If Harden goes all out I think they make it easily but Harden is a weird duck and I can see him tanking the season).
Mavs (I think they will make it but Porzingis is going to miss significant time. I love Luka and he is the next star of the league but the rest of there roster is meh. If Luka misses any time I think they are in trouble being there is 10 less games this year)
Suns (Was the 8 games in the bubble a fluke, also Paul is getting up there in age, I think they have the potential for sure but we'll see. Remember lot of rumors of the suns blowing it up before a small sample size of 8 games changed there possible path)
Grizzlies (Talented young team just think the overachieved last year but I believe in Morant.)
Warriors (Why should I believe in the Warriors. Curry coming off an injury. He is damn special but still will need to carry a lot of the load. Draymond coming off his worst year since his rookie year. They are relying on Wiggins that is all I really need to say and Wiseman is still just a rookie. They might still make it but it will be because Curry is just that good. Im really down on the Thompson-less Warriors)
Pelicans (Lost Holiday what is a big hit for this year. All based on the improvements of Zion.)
Think the Wolves are just better then
Kings
Spurs
Thunder
We'll see what happens but if the Wolves don't make the play-in games I am ready to clear house with Kat .
Camden wrote:I want everyone to notice how the feeling among fans is much closer to "I don't think Ryan Saunders will hold the team back" and not "I believe Ryan Saunders will get the most out of this team" or "I'm confident in Ryan Saunders' ability to maximize the talent on this roster." Even the most supportive Saunders fanatic wouldn't possibly come to that conclusion. He has done absolutely nothing worthy of that confidence. It's almost like Saunders is still auditioning for the job while already being hired for it, which is completely backwards. Again, if his last name was Williams or anything other than Saunders, would he have EVER taken over as head coach? Nope. Not in a million years.
So, why is he still in that position? It's unbelievable how inept this franchise is.
Hiring Thibs as coach and GM was a much more catastrophic move for the Franchise. I'm Ok with Ryan for now as top head coaches aren't exactly beating down the door to coach for this franchise and Ryan is taking the right approach (emphasizing 3s, showing flexibility in lineup changes) and has a collegial manner and good assistant coaches are happy to work with him. And his calm demeanor is a breath of fresh air over the barking lunatic. And a big bonus is that KAT likes Ryan.
Camden wrote:I want everyone to notice how the feeling among fans is much closer to "I don't think Ryan Saunders will hold the team back" and not "I believe Ryan Saunders will get the most out of this team" or "I'm confident in Ryan Saunders' ability to maximize the talent on this roster." Even the most supportive Saunders fanatic wouldn't possibly come to that conclusion. He has done absolutely nothing worthy of that confidence. It's almost like Saunders is still auditioning for the job while already being hired for it, which is completely backwards. Again, if his last name was Williams or anything other than Saunders, would he have EVER taken over as head coach? Nope. Not in a million years.
So, why is he still in that position? It's unbelievable how inept this franchise is.
Hiring Thibs as coach and GM was a much more catastrophic move for the Franchise. I'm Ok with Ryan for now as top head coaches aren't exactly beating down the door to coach for this franchise and Ryan is taking the right approach (emphasizing 3s, showing flexibility in lineup changes) and has a collegial manner and good assistant coaches are happy to work with him. And his calm demeanor is a breath of fresh air over the barking lunatic. And a big bonus is that KAT likes Ryan.
The barking lunatic record: 97-107, .475 win % (2nd best in wolves history)
Breath of Fresh airs record: 36-70, .340 win % (7th best in wolves history out of 13 HC)
Ryan will have to go 48-24 this year to match Thibs win % in the same 2 and a half years as the head coach.
Once again you can say Thibs was not the right guy and he wasn't the right fit but I think you should come up with stronger arguments then saying Ryan needs time when Ryan's Wolves team will have to be special this year to even match what Thibs on court production was in similar time.
KEK, so what???? Thibs had Butler and Ryan didn't. Butler is worth a lot of wins and Thibs was going for broke. Ryan didn't have KAT for most of the season and gave guys like JMAC, Culver and Reid playing time. And my criticism of Thibs actually is more for his front office moves.
I guess today will be the first full team practice, according to Dan Moore.
I have to say I have been less than impressed with the Wolves media relations the past week. You would think they would put more effort into promoting this new-look team and generating some enthusiasm. Maybe it will come with start of full team practices, but they have not had a good start...
60WinTim wrote:I guess today will be the first full team practice, according to Dan Moore.
I have to say I have been less than impressed with the Wolves media relations the past week. You would think they would put more effort into promoting this new-look team and generating some enthusiasm. Maybe it will come with start of full team practices, but they have not had a good start...
Remember 'Dunks after Dark'? in Mankato years ago? We really needed that this year with the new team.
