Minnesota Sports Forum

Nice win against a team ahead of us in the standings. I'm not ready to join the "tank club" yet despite the difficult road ahead of us, and last night's double digit win is one of the reasons why. The Clippers had just beaten one of the best teams in the East by 11 on their court, and we were playing without either of our starting wings or backup PG (some cynics might say we're better off without Wig, but as Kek pointed out, we were 0-4 in the 4 other games he has missed). Hard to categorize this as anything other than a good win.

So often we would ask for changes from Thibs, but seldom did we get them...he was obviously quite set in his ways. But right or wrong (and only time will tell) Ryan clearly seems more accepting of creativity and change. Several of us asked for Saric to start recently, and Ryan complied last night...good to see both PFs flourished in their new roles with 33 points (on 18 shots) and 11 rebounds. I think we would take that on any night. Josh proved again that he is most effective when he is taking fewer shots...until RoCo returns, I want him taking 6 or fewer per night.

I see some calls here for the Wolves to only play guys who are part of the future, but I'm not on board with that. As long as Deng and Teague (a combined +50 last night) and Rose are playing so well, Ryan needs to keep giving them significant minutes...he owes that to the long-suffering fans.

Getting back two of our rotation guys was huge last night...keeps down the Bayless/Okogie minutes. But our defense is still going to suffer until we get our two best defenders back...RoCo and Tyus. I still think we can easily pick up 4 games if we are healthy after the All-Star break. But by "healthy" I mean truly healthy...many of us noticed that RoCo's defense wasn't as lock-down when he returned from his last injury. Hopefully the long time off this time, including the all-star break will allow him to be as effective after his return as he was right after the trade.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:
- I don't want the Wolves to tank. Enough with that crap... I think the long-term damage to intentionally losing games is worse than dropping to the #12 pick instead of the #10 pick.

Even if they tank to a higher pick this team is more likely to pick a player that will be average at best, while a later pick will become an All-Star. They can't win for losing, and they can't win... Go Wolves!

longstrangetrip wrote:
I see some calls here for the Wolves to only play guys who are part of the future, but I'm not on board with that. As long as Deng and Teague (a combined +50 last night) and Rose are playing so well, Ryan needs to keep giving them significant minutes...he owes that to the long-suffering fans.

There is some irony in the idea that they owe it to long suffering fans to win a few meaningless games that would likely only extend their suffering. Trust the Process!

I kid, a little, maybe, or not at all, I don't know anymore.

longstrangetrip wrote:Nice win against a team ahead of us in the standings. I'm not ready to join the "tank club" yet despite the difficult road ahead of us, and last night's double digit win is one of the reasons why. The Clippers had just beaten one of the best teams in the East by 11 on their court, and we were playing without either of our starting wings or backup PG (some cynics might say we're better off without Wig, but as Kek pointed out, we were 0-4 in the 4 other games he has missed). Hard to categorize this as anything other than a good win.

So often we would ask for changes from Thibs, but seldom did we get them...he was obviously quite set in his ways. But right or wrong (and only time will tell) Ryan clearly seems more accepting of creativity and change. Several of us asked for Saric to start recently, and Ryan complied last night...good to see both PFs flourished in their new roles with 33 points (on 18 shots) and 11 rebounds. I think we would take that on any night. Josh proved again that he is most effective when he is taking fewer shots...until RoCo returns, I want him taking 6 or fewer per night.

I see some calls here for the Wolves to only play guys who are part of the future, but I'm not on board with that. As long as Deng and Teague (a combined +50 last night) and Rose are playing so well, Ryan needs to keep giving them significant minutes...he owes that to the long-suffering fans.

Getting back two of our rotation guys was huge last night...keeps down the Bayless/Okogie minutes. But our defense is still going to suffer until we get our two best defenders back...RoCo and Tyus. I still think we can easily pick up 4 games if we are healthy after the All-Star break. But by "healthy" I mean truly healthy...many of us noticed that RoCo's defense wasn't as lock-down when he returned from his last injury. Hopefully the long time off this time, including the all-star break will allow him to be as effective after his return as he was right after the trade.

I agree with most of this. I have appreciated that Ryan is not afraid to mix it up. I will be curious to see how that goes over when we have everyone healthy (assuming that ever happens) because I do think NBA players like knowing their defined roles but Thibs was so extreme of never trying anything new it was probably my least favorite part about Thibs.

I also agree try and win as many games as possible. Create the winning culture and they need to evaluate Saunders. So far I think Saunders have been meh, not terrible not good. I like his demeanor, he has had some good side out of bounds plays drawn up. Some things I haven't liked, is that we have lost games I don't think we should have (that will happen). Offense looks very similar, I have hated that 0 plays have been drawn up for KAT late in games.

But in the end find ways to win.

It is extremely difficult to go from where the Wolves are now to a serious contender. Not impossible, I've watched the Bucks do it this year. But teams in our position tend to stay there unless you do something fairly drastic. This whole thing depends on getting a competent front office in place. Let's be honest, Thibs blew this rebuild and it didn't take him very long to do it. We need to finally find a GM who has a plan and the stones to execute the plan the right way. If it were me, I'd focus on keeping KAT happy while doing everything possible to create cap space. KAT can be part of another rebuild, but it's really our last chance with him. Andrew's contract is a problem, but the key is we don't make another mistake on a contract while were building. Making the playoffs should be the last thing on our agenda. We simply aren't good enough to do anything if and when we get there. I'm not really in to tanking either, but the fact is the only guys on our team we should / need to keep are KAT, Wig, Roco, Saric, Tyus. Everyone else is free to leave when their deal is up and should be hurried out the door if possible. Yes, that includes Okogie.

Get a competent front office, consistently make good draft picks, clear cap space as quick as possible, and avoid mistakes on long term contracts. If we can do that, we can be a contender in 3-4 years.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:It is extremely difficult to go from where the Wolves are now to a serious contender. Not impossible, I've watched the Bucks do it this year. But teams in our position tend to stay there unless you do something fairly drastic. This whole thing depends on getting a competent front office in place. Let's be honest, Thibs blew this rebuild and it didn't take him very long to do it. We need to finally find a GM who has a plan and the stones to execute the plan the right way. If it were me, I'd focus on keeping KAT happy while doing everything possible to create cap space. KAT can be part of another rebuild, but it's really our last chance with him. Andrew's contract is a problem, but the key is we don't make another mistake on a contract while were building. Making the playoffs should be the last thing on our agenda. We simply aren't good enough to do anything if and when we get there. I'm not really in to tanking either, but the fact is the only guys on our team we should / need to keep are KAT, Wig, Roco, Saric, Tyus. Everyone else is free to leave when their deal is up and should be hurried out the door if possible. Yes, that includes Okogie.

Get a competent front office, consistently make good draft picks, clear cap space as quick as possible, and avoid mistakes on long term contracts. If we can do that, we can be a contender in 3-4 years.

If Davis wasn't happy being a 2nd round playoff team how is KAT going to be happy with more losing? The turnaround has to be drastic and focused on improving to the point of immediately being a playoff team or KAT's going to get a wandering eye and be gone too. The key to me is going to be someone who is willing to take good risk but isn't panicked. There's very few GMs out there that might fit that bill and I don't expect Taylor to hire one.

Camden0916 wrote:

thedoper wrote:Dario responded well after getting those early fouls. He's going to be nice next to Towns long term if he can hit those 3s.

It's well known here that I'm a Saric guy. I love his game and definitely agree that he's a nice fit next Towns long-term.

Saric has made 39.2% of his threes in 42 games as a member of this franchise. He's getting up 3.5 attempts per game in just over 23 minutes nightly. The volume is good. The efficiency is good. His history -- 39.3% 3P in 78 games during 2017-18 season -- suggests he's good.

And yet... throughout the season I have continued to see posts from various people here that say "if he can make threes" or "if he can space the floor."

Hello, wake up, everybody. Saric can knock shots down from outside. He's good at it. It's a strength. It's not a matter of "if." It is legitimately part of his skill set.

Yep agree Cam. Just don't understand why it's taken so long to start Saric. Taj is ok, but he's no a great fit next to KAT and is better served solidifying the 2nd unit.

KiwiMatt wrote:

Camden0916 wrote:

thedoper wrote:Dario responded well after getting those early fouls. He's going to be nice next to Towns long term if he can hit those 3s.

It's well known here that I'm a Saric guy. I love his game and definitely agree that he's a nice fit next Towns long-term.

Saric has made 39.2% of his threes in 42 games as a member of this franchise. He's getting up 3.5 attempts per game in just over 23 minutes nightly. The volume is good. The efficiency is good. His history -- 39.3% 3P in 78 games during 2017-18 season -- suggests he's good.

And yet... throughout the season I have continued to see posts from various people here that say "if he can make threes" or "if he can space the floor."

Hello, wake up, everybody. Saric can knock shots down from outside. He's good at it. It's a strength. It's not a matter of "if." It is legitimately part of his skill set.

Yep agree Cam. Just don't understand why it's taken so long to start Saric. Taj is ok, but he's no a great fit next to KAT and is better served solidifying the 2nd unit.

This was always going to rely on his guys, no shock there. I think Ryan being a very young coach wanted to tread lightly with the vets, especially a good leader type in Taj. Further Ryan is coaching for his future, much like Thibs was, so relying on seasoned vets isn't a shock.

TheSP wrote:Commercial break:

Did you know the person who invented the knock knock joke won a no bell prize?

This is pretty good. Lol

TheSP wrote:

KiwiMatt wrote:

Camden0916 wrote:

thedoper wrote:Dario responded well after getting those early fouls. He's going to be nice next to Towns long term if he can hit those 3s.

It's well known here that I'm a Saric guy. I love his game and definitely agree that he's a nice fit next Towns long-term.

Saric has made 39.2% of his threes in 42 games as a member of this franchise. He's getting up 3.5 attempts per game in just over 23 minutes nightly. The volume is good. The efficiency is good. His history -- 39.3% 3P in 78 games during 2017-18 season -- suggests he's good.

And yet... throughout the season I have continued to see posts from various people here that say "if he can make threes" or "if he can space the floor."

Hello, wake up, everybody. Saric can knock shots down from outside. He's good at it. It's a strength. It's not a matter of "if." It is legitimately part of his skill set.

Yep agree Cam. Just don't understand why it's taken so long to start Saric. Taj is ok, but he's no a great fit next to KAT and is better served solidifying the 2nd unit.

This was always going to rely on his guys, no shock there. I think Ryan being a very young coach wanted to tread lightly with the vets, especially a good leader type in Taj. Further Ryan is coaching for his future, much like Thibs was, so relying on seasoned vets isn't a shock.

The thing was until a few games ago the Wolves were still in the playoff race and Taj was playing some absolutely terrific basketball and Saric was struggling. Then what 5 or 6 games ago Saric started playing better then really came on and Taj had some less than effective games and the Wolves were put ofnthe playoffs. I can see what Ryan didn't make the charge a couple weeks ago. I think he could have made the change a game or 2 earlier (He could have changed 10 games ago or whatever too I would have been fine with it) but I can see why he didn't make the change. I makes sense now regardless of how due or overdue it is. Really glad it happened. He played himself into the spot too even if it was just a few games.