Minnesota Sports Forum

60WinTim wrote:Well, here is one "difference" we can infer...

Kyle Ratke @Kyle_Ratke
Derrick Rose says team will likely play with a faster pace. That was something that was stressed this morning in the team's film session.

Is that Brad Ratke's brother?

BizarroJerry wrote:

60WinTim wrote:Well, here is one "difference" we can infer...

Kyle Ratke @Kyle_Ratke
Derrick Rose says team will likely play with a faster pace. That was something that was stressed this morning in the team's film session.

Is that Brad Ratke's brother?

The question ought to be "is that Brad Ratke's son?" And the answer is "I have no idea"...

60WinTim wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:

60WinTim wrote:Well, here is one "difference" we can infer...

Kyle Ratke @Kyle_Ratke
Derrick Rose says team will likely play with a faster pace. That was something that was stressed this morning in the team's film session.

Is that Brad Ratke's brother?

The question ought to be "is that Brad Ratke's son?" And the answer is "I have no idea"...

Well considering their last names aren't spelled the same I'd say the answer is none of the above. Lol

Thanks for posting the audio of things Monster. A few takeaways....

- Saunders sounded a bit nervous, but that could just be his speaking style. He definitely seems more serious and less of a schmoozer than Flip.

- Ryan used terms like "collaboration", "communication", and "relationships" quite a bit. I'm not sure those were words (or actions) that came as naturally to Thibs. You can already sense the contrast.....

- KAT mentioned how they were starting to modernize the way they played more lately and he feels that will be accelerated under Saunders.

- Not impressed with Layden. You can tell he is a short-timer.

I guess this worked out in a way a number of us mused about during the Butler fiasco, with Ryan as the interim coach and Layden as the interim GM. I just think the timing felt odd, but it's clear things had been under evaluation for a while.

I assume the rotations will be different. I hope to god Wiggins and Rose will stop with the 16-18 minute shifts they've been getting. I don't see how you can stay productive logging straight minutes for that long.

Q12543 wrote:Thanks for posting the audio of things Monster. A few takeaways....

- Saunders sounded a bit nervous, but that could just be his speaking style. He definitely seems more serious and less of a schmoozer than Flip.

- Ryan used terms like "collaboration", "communication", and "relationships" quite a bit. I'm not sure those were words (or actions) that came as naturally to Thibs. You can already sense the contrast.....

- KAT mentioned how they were starting to modernize the way they played more lately and he feels that will be accelerated under Saunders.

- Not impressed with Layden. You can tell he is a short-timer.

I guess this worked out in a way a number of us mused about during the Butler fiasco, with Ryan as the interim coach and Layden as the interim GM. I just think the timing felt odd, but it's clear things had been under evaluation for a while.

I'm curious to see the video especially of Layden. It's maddening he won't just answer questions but I also have some respect for him doing the moving forward thing. Thibs talked about collaborating (or whatever term he used) but I don't think he actually did it kinda like some of the things he claimed he was gonna do as a coach and then didn't do. Layden saying he is gonna be collaborative I believe he is actually gonna do that. Whether you want him as the guy leading the franchise is another story. I think he has a slim chance of sticking around but it would certainly be more surprising he stays than bringing in someone else. Again we really don't know what we have there with him other than he is weird and boring etc maybe even more so than Thibs! Lol

Q12543 wrote:Thanks for posting the audio of things Monster. A few takeaways....

- Saunders sounded a bit nervous, but that could just be his speaking style. He definitely seems more serious and less of a schmoozer than Flip.

- Ryan used terms like "collaboration", "communication", and "relationships" quite a bit. I'm not sure those were words (or actions) that came as naturally to Thibs. You can already sense the contrast.....

- KAT mentioned how they were starting to modernize the way they played more lately and he feels that will be accelerated under Saunders.

- Not impressed with Layden. You can tell he is a short-timer.

I guess this worked out in a way a number of us mused about during the Butler fiasco, with Ryan as the interim coach and Layden as the interim GM. I just think the timing felt odd, but it's clear things had been under evaluation for a while.

I agree that Ryan sounded nervous. As I initially listened to him I started to wonder how he can command the locker room or the bench. But as he continued to talk, he started to grow on me. He seems pretty smart and media savvy. He also seems to have a good sense of humor. Jon K said this morning that the players all really like and respect him. So maybe Ryan can become our Eric Spoelstra. But he's set up to fail simply based on the team's schedule. Thibodeau had the easiest part of the team's schedule. Saunders will have the tougher part of the schedule and will have to go a long stretch without a key core player, Covington.

Layden is pathetic. He was a terrible head of basketball operations in New York and he's been singularly unimpressive at every press conference. I'd like to know his degree of involvement selecting Justin Patton.

Tyus, Gorgui and Tolliver

lipoli390 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Thanks for posting the audio of things Monster. A few takeaways....

- Saunders sounded a bit nervous, but that could just be his speaking style. He definitely seems more serious and less of a schmoozer than Flip.

- Ryan used terms like "collaboration", "communication", and "relationships" quite a bit. I'm not sure those were words (or actions) that came as naturally to Thibs. You can already sense the contrast.....

- KAT mentioned how they were starting to modernize the way they played more lately and he feels that will be accelerated under Saunders.

- Not impressed with Layden. You can tell he is a short-timer.

I guess this worked out in a way a number of us mused about during the Butler fiasco, with Ryan as the interim coach and Layden as the interim GM. I just think the timing felt odd, but it's clear things had been under evaluation for a while.

I agree that Ryan sounded nervous. As I initially listened to him I started to wonder how he can command the locker room or the bench. But as he continued to talk, he started to grow on me. He seems pretty smart and media savvy. He also seems to have a good sense of humor. Jon K said this morning that the players all really like and respect him. So maybe Ryan can become our Eric Spoelstra. But he's set up to fail simply based on the team's schedule. Thibodeau had the easiest part of the team's schedule. Saunders will have the tougher part of the schedule and will have to go a long stretch without a key core player, Covington.

Layden is pathetic. He was a terrible head of basketball operations in New York and he's been singularly unimpressive at every press conference. I'd like to know his degree of involvement selecting Justin Patton.

Ryan's initial interview is better than any interview of Thibs that I can remember. I won't missed the rehearsed, carefully guarded answers and the tiresome platitudes that repeatedly came out of Thib's mouth.

lipoli390 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Thanks for posting the audio of things Monster. A few takeaways....

- Saunders sounded a bit nervous, but that could just be his speaking style. He definitely seems more serious and less of a schmoozer than Flip.

- Ryan used terms like "collaboration", "communication", and "relationships" quite a bit. I'm not sure those were words (or actions) that came as naturally to Thibs. You can already sense the contrast.....

- KAT mentioned how they were starting to modernize the way they played more lately and he feels that will be accelerated under Saunders.

- Not impressed with Layden. You can tell he is a short-timer.

I guess this worked out in a way a number of us mused about during the Butler fiasco, with Ryan as the interim coach and Layden as the interim GM. I just think the timing felt odd, but it's clear things had been under evaluation for a while.

I agree that Ryan sounded nervous. As I initially listened to him I started to wonder how he can command the locker room or the bench. But as he continued to talk, he started to grow on me. He seems pretty smart and media savvy. He also seems to have a good sense of humor. Jon K said this morning that the players all really like and respect him. So maybe Ryan can become our Eric Spoelstra. But he's set up to fail simply based on the team's schedule. Thibodeau had the easiest part of the team's schedule. Saunders will have the tougher part of the schedule and will have to go a long stretch without a key core player, Covington.

Layden is pathetic. He was a terrible head of basketball operations in New York and he's been singularly unimpressive at every press conference. I'd like to know his degree of involvement selecting Justin Patton.

It seems to me the Wolves have played a pretty difficult schedule based on the numbers so I'm not sure how Thibs got the easy part of the schedule. I typically don't put a whole lot of stock in those numbers (who knows if the team you are playing has guys out or starts playing for the future or whatever) but the numbers say the Wolves have played a more difficult schedule than like 2/3 of the league.

Wolves have played 9th most difficult schedule so far, which sounds pretty tough compared what the remaining could look like until you realize that all teams that have had even tougher schedule are Western conference teams as well. Most of them are also just those teams that are competing with Wolves about last playoff spot. So Utah, Portland, Houston, Clippers, San Antonio, Sacramento and Memphis will most probably have easier remaining schedule. And only Oklahoma has had much easier schedule so far.

Still when I checked Wolves remaining games before all star break it seemed that there was quite few games that I would categorize to definite losses. Also there was just few games that I considered definite wins as well. So it will be pretty interesting to see how they will do during that stretch.