FNG wrote:I don't disagree with you guys about what Rosas wants. But we're kidding ourselves if we assign too much importance to that. This is Glen's franchise, and good or bad (mostly bad it seems) his fingerprints are going to be on every decision the Wolves make. To understand this, you only have to ask yourself this...was Ryan Saunders Rosas's first choice to coach? Of course not! We all know he wanted Finch all along, and could only get Glen to pull the trigger after a year of losing big. Three things we have to know about Glen: 1) He loves basketball and thinks he is quite knowledgeable, 2) he loves this franchise and despises losing and 3) he is a very hands-on manager in every enterprise he is involved in. POBO's are interchangeable in Glen's eyes, as demonstrated by having had 11 of them in our short history! Glen's POBO is there to bring him ideas which he may approve of, but also to act out on ideas that Glen brings him. So knowing this about Glen, why would he allow Rosas more rope if the KAT/DLO duo doesn't significantly improve this team?
Look, I don't know Massey either, and I'm not sure what Kek means about him having the blue checkmark...maybe that means he has a good reputation and is connected. But I'm guessing he's tuned into the NBA and Glen's reputation enough to know Glen is not patient with losing. Anyone who changes GMs and coaches (14 in the team's history!) as often as many change their toothbrush is not going to sit idly by if he thinks his max players are not the guys to turn this franchise around. So maybe Massey is connected enough to have heard Glen is talking to other owners about moving KAT and DLO (I suspect this is the case), or maybe he is just guessing based on Glen's hair trigger when it comes to moving out of what he surmises to be a losing situation. He also knows it's not likely Glen is going to go into the luxury tax by bringing in another big contract to supplement his two max guys if he doesn't think they are clicking. DLO and KAT may play together another 22 games this season assuming DLO comes back Monday against the Kings (with me ecstatic to be back in the arena in section 136!). If they don't win at least 11 of those, history (and maybe Massey) tells me that Glen will be looking to make a move involving DLO and/or KAT. My hope is that they do win those 11+ games and prove the DLO naysayers here (like me) wrong, but my guess is that we are seeing DLO's last weeks in a Timberwolves uniform.
FNG - Glen is NOT heavily involved in player personnel decisions. He makes terrible PBO hiring decisions and then he let's the PBOs he hires do their thing, often for far too long, before replacing them. He allowed Thibodeau to trade his favorite player, Rubio, and significantly change the roster even though Glen was very close to Flip, the guy who built the roster that Thibs changed. He then let Thibodeau keep his head in the sand while Butler acted out. Glen finally interceded late in that debacle, but only to task Layman with the job of finding a Butler trade. More recently, Taylor let Rosas completely remake the roster he inherited from Thibs and Flip. If you go back in history, you'll recall Glen allowing David Kahn to do anything he wanted, including signing Darko and Brandon Roy. Before that, you'll recall Taylor allowing McHale to give KG the biggest contract in American professional sports history, trade Marbury, let Billups go, draft Ebi and enter into an illegal deal with Joe Smith. In every instance, those were things Glen's PBO and GM wanted to do. He let them do those things without much if any question. I've known people high up in the organization in years past who have described Glen as largely hands-off on player personnel decisions. Even in the case of Ryan Saunders, I suspect that Glen encouraged Rosas to hire Ryan but didn't require it. That was more a case of Rosas sucking up to his new boss AND attempting to please his franchise player, KAT, who was strongly supporting Ryan at the time.
Bottom line is that Glen is not going to demand, orchestrate or even recommend that Rosas trade KAT, DLO or anyone else. He might tell Rosas to trade a player who creates a big PR issue for the team, which is perfectly appropriate for an owner. However, note that Beasley's still here even after his troubling conduct last summer. That tells you something about Glen's level of deference to his PBO. If the Wolves trade KAT, it won't be at the direction of Glen Taylor; it will be at the discretion of the PBO. If Rosas seeks to trade KAT, I can see Glen interceding and saying no. And that would be perfectly appropriate at this stage. If I were Glen and Rosas told me he was going to shop KAT, I'd respond with something like the following:
"Sorry, Gersson, I can't let you do that. When I hired you, you told me you had a plan to build this team into a contender around KAT. Since then, you've entirely remade the roster around KAT to the point where Okogie is the only remaining holdover from your predecessor. I've allowed you to make all the picks and trades you wanted to make, including trading up for a player you didn't get, picking a player who can't shoot and entering into deals that collectively gave up a our two 2021 picks while also pushing us over the luxury tax threshold. Yet, here we are headed for our second consecutive bottom three finish in the League. If we've hit the point where we need to part with KAT, you won't be the one doing the deal that makes it happen. Have a good day."
