Minnesota Sports Forum

Good signing. We need 3 or 4 bench guys to shine. If so I think we can crack the top 4 in the West. I can't watch Thibs grind these starters for another year.

BizarroJerry wrote:Good signing. We need 3 or 4 bench guys to shine. If so I think we can crack the top 4 in the West. I can't watch Thibs grind these starters for another year.

I agree. Here's the bench equation:

(Tolliver + Okogie + KBD + Rose + Nunnally) - (Belly + Crawford) +/- Thibs = ?

In other words, will the combo of Tolliver, our two rookies and Nunnally be better than the two guys who got meaningful minutes off the bench last season and will Thibs improve his integration of the bench into his rotation? Obviously, we can't expect all five of the newcomers (including Rose) to get meaningful minutes off the bench because that plus Gorgu would suggest a 10-man rotation, which would never happen under Thibs. But I would hope that at least 3 of those 5 would emerge as main cogs and major contributors in the rotation.

lipoli390 wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:Good signing. We need 3 or 4 bench guys to shine. If so I think we can crack the top 4 in the West. I can't watch Thibs grind these starters for another year.

I agree. Here's the bench equation:

(Tolliver + Okogie + KBD + Rose + Nunnally) - (Belly + Crawford) +/- Thibs = ?

In other words, will the combo of Tolliver, our two rookies and Nunnally be better than the two guys who got meaningful minutes off the bench last season and will Thibs improve his integration of the bench into his rotation? Obviously, we can't expect all five of the newcomers (including Rose) to get meaningful minutes off the bench because that plus Gorgu would suggest a 10-man rotation, which would never happen under Thibs. But I would hope that at least 3 of those 5 would emerge as main cogs and major contributors in the rotation.

Actually...Thibs did have a 10 man rotation last year to begin the season until he was forced to bench Bazz because he was so bad. So it's possible. Your initial question is dead on will the new guys be better than the guys that got minutes last year. It's honestly hard to see someone being as horrific to start the season as Bazz did and you know as a Bazz guy I kinda hate to say that.

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:Good signing. We need 3 or 4 bench guys to shine. If so I think we can crack the top 4 in the West. I can't watch Thibs grind these starters for another year.

I agree. Here's the bench equation:

(Tolliver + Okogie + KBD + Rose + Nunnally) - (Belly + Crawford) +/- Thibs = ?

In other words, will the combo of Tolliver, our two rookies and Nunnally be better than the two guys who got meaningful minutes off the bench last season and will Thibs improve his integration of the bench into his rotation? Obviously, we can't expect all five of the newcomers (including Rose) to get meaningful minutes off the bench because that plus Gorgu would suggest a 10-man rotation, which would never happen under Thibs. But I would hope that at least 3 of those 5 would emerge as main cogs and major contributors in the rotation.

Actually...Thibs did have a 10 man rotation last year to begin the season until he was forced to bench Bazz because he was so bad. So it's possible. Your initial question is dead on will the new guys be better than the guys that got minutes last year. It's honestly hard to see someone being as horrific to start the season as Bazz did and you know as a Bazz guy I kinda hate to say that.

Forced??? Thibs signs the players that he doesn't want to play. Bazz has always been terrible, but for some reason Thibs signed him and its Thibs fault for signing a guy he won't play. He signed Dieng to a huge deal and then doesn't play him much. Aldrich the same thing. I don't know if I dislike Thibs the Gm or Thibs the coach more.

lipoli390 wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:Good signing. We need 3 or 4 bench guys to shine. If so I think we can crack the top 4 in the West. I can't watch Thibs grind these starters for another year.

I agree. Here's the bench equation:

(Tolliver + Okogie + KBD + Rose + Nunnally) - (Belly + Crawford) +/- Thibs = ?

In other words, will the combo of Tolliver, our two rookies and Nunnally be better than the two guys who got meaningful minutes off the bench last season and will Thibs improve his integration of the bench into his rotation? Obviously, we can't expect all five of the newcomers (including Rose) to get meaningful minutes off the bench because that plus Gorgu would suggest a 10-man rotation, which would never happen under Thibs. But I would hope that at least 3 of those 5 would emerge as main cogs and major contributors in the rotation.

Theoretically I don't know how the bench could be worse. They were last in the NBA in minutes but also had the biggest differential in pts per game -14.4. That was 3 pts worst than the pelicans who came in at 29th in the NBA.

I think getting rid of Crawford in huge. All the advance statistics make him one if not the worst player in the NBA last year. In any lineup without Crawford last year the wolves were around 13th best defensive team in the nba per 100 possessions. With any lineup with Crawford in it the comes were dead last in defense by a whole 10 pts per 100 possessions than the 29th ranked team the suns. Crawford leaving should be huge to the wolves.

KG4Ever wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:Good signing. We need 3 or 4 bench guys to shine. If so I think we can crack the top 4 in the West. I can't watch Thibs grind these starters for another year.

I agree. Here's the bench equation:

(Tolliver + Okogie + KBD + Rose + Nunnally) - (Belly + Crawford) +/- Thibs = ?

In other words, will the combo of Tolliver, our two rookies and Nunnally be better than the two guys who got meaningful minutes off the bench last season and will Thibs improve his integration of the bench into his rotation? Obviously, we can't expect all five of the newcomers (including Rose) to get meaningful minutes off the bench because that plus Gorgu would suggest a 10-man rotation, which would never happen under Thibs. But I would hope that at least 3 of those 5 would emerge as main cogs and major contributors in the rotation.

Actually...Thibs did have a 10 man rotation last year to begin the season until he was forced to bench Bazz because he was so bad. So it's possible. Your initial question is dead on will the new guys be better than the guys that got minutes last year. It's honestly hard to see someone being as horrific to start the season as Bazz did and you know as a Bazz guy I kinda hate to say that.

Forced??? Thibs signs the players that he doesn't want to play. Bazz has always been terrible, but for some reason Thibs signed him and its Thibs fault for signing a guy he won't play. He signed Dieng to a huge deal and then doesn't play him much. Aldrich the same thing. I don't know if I dislike Thibs the Gm or Thibs the coach more.

I don't think that is true. At the time Bazz was worth the risk being a young guy on a min deal. The problem with Bazz is you need to revolve an offense around him to be successful and he hasn't talent enough to do that.

Not defending the gorgui contract but he still got minutes but he had his worst year as a pro. That could be because of a lot of factors. He just got paid, lost his 2 man game of lavine or a change of role in the offense.

With Cole he is a true center and the players in front of him never got hurt.

kekgeek1 wrote:

KG4Ever wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:Good signing. We need 3 or 4 bench guys to shine. If so I think we can crack the top 4 in the West. I can't watch Thibs grind these starters for another year.

I agree. Here's the bench equation:

(Tolliver + Okogie + KBD + Rose + Nunnally) - (Belly + Crawford) +/- Thibs = ?

In other words, will the combo of Tolliver, our two rookies and Nunnally be better than the two guys who got meaningful minutes off the bench last season and will Thibs improve his integration of the bench into his rotation? Obviously, we can't expect all five of the newcomers (including Rose) to get meaningful minutes off the bench because that plus Gorgu would suggest a 10-man rotation, which would never happen under Thibs. But I would hope that at least 3 of those 5 would emerge as main cogs and major contributors in the rotation.

Actually...Thibs did have a 10 man rotation last year to begin the season until he was forced to bench Bazz because he was so bad. So it's possible. Your initial question is dead on will the new guys be better than the guys that got minutes last year. It's honestly hard to see someone being as horrific to start the season as Bazz did and you know as a Bazz guy I kinda hate to say that.

Forced??? Thibs signs the players that he doesn't want to play. Bazz has always been terrible, but for some reason Thibs signed him and its Thibs fault for signing a guy he won't play. He signed Dieng to a huge deal and then doesn't play him much. Aldrich the same thing. I don't know if I dislike Thibs the Gm or Thibs the coach more.

I don't think that is true. At the time Bazz was worth the risk being a young guy on a min deal. The problem with Bazz is you need to revolve an offense around him to be successful and he hasn't talent enough to do that.

Not defending the gorgui contract but he still got minutes but he had his worst year as a pro. That could be because of a lot of factors. He just got paid, lost his 2 man game of lavine or a change of role in the offense.

With Cole he is a true center and the players in front of him never got hurt.

kekgeek1 wrote:

KG4Ever wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:Good signing. We need 3 or 4 bench guys to shine. If so I think we can crack the top 4 in the West. I can't watch Thibs grind these starters for another year.

I agree. Here's the bench equation:

(Tolliver + Okogie + KBD + Rose + Nunnally) - (Belly + Crawford) +/- Thibs = ?

In other words, will the combo of Tolliver, our two rookies and Nunnally be better than the two guys who got meaningful minutes off the bench last season and will Thibs improve his integration of the bench into his rotation? Obviously, we can't expect all five of the newcomers (including Rose) to get meaningful minutes off the bench because that plus Gorgu would suggest a 10-man rotation, which would never happen under Thibs. But I would hope that at least 3 of those 5 would emerge as main cogs and major contributors in the rotation.

Actually...Thibs did have a 10 man rotation last year to begin the season until he was forced to bench Bazz because he was so bad. So it's possible. Your initial question is dead on will the new guys be better than the guys that got minutes last year. It's honestly hard to see someone being as horrific to start the season as Bazz did and you know as a Bazz guy I kinda hate to say that.

Forced??? Thibs signs the players that he doesn't want to play. Bazz has always been terrible, but for some reason Thibs signed him and its Thibs fault for signing a guy he won't play. He signed Dieng to a huge deal and then doesn't play him much. Aldrich the same thing. I don't know if I dislike Thibs the Gm or Thibs the coach more.

I don't think that is true. At the time Bazz was worth the risk being a young guy on a min deal. The problem with Bazz is you need to revolve an offense around him to be successful and he hasn't talent enough to do that.

Not defending the gorgui contract but he still got minutes but he had his worst year as a pro. That could be because of a lot of factors. He just got paid, lost his 2 man game of lavine or a change of role in the offense.

With Cole he is a true center and the players in front of him never got hurt.

You are out of your mind if you thought the Bazz signing was good. Bazz has always sucked and always will.

KG4Ever wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

KG4Ever wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:Good signing. We need 3 or 4 bench guys to shine. If so I think we can crack the top 4 in the West. I can't watch Thibs grind these starters for another year.

I agree. Here's the bench equation:

(Tolliver + Okogie + KBD + Rose + Nunnally) - (Belly + Crawford) +/- Thibs = ?

In other words, will the combo of Tolliver, our two rookies and Nunnally be better than the two guys who got meaningful minutes off the bench last season and will Thibs improve his integration of the bench into his rotation? Obviously, we can't expect all five of the newcomers (including Rose) to get meaningful minutes off the bench because that plus Gorgu would suggest a 10-man rotation, which would never happen under Thibs. But I would hope that at least 3 of those 5 would emerge as main cogs and major contributors in the rotation.

Actually...Thibs did have a 10 man rotation last year to begin the season until he was forced to bench Bazz because he was so bad. So it's possible. Your initial question is dead on will the new guys be better than the guys that got minutes last year. It's honestly hard to see someone being as horrific to start the season as Bazz did and you know as a Bazz guy I kinda hate to say that.

Forced??? Thibs signs the players that he doesn't want to play. Bazz has always been terrible, but for some reason Thibs signed him and its Thibs fault for signing a guy he won't play. He signed Dieng to a huge deal and then doesn't play him much. Aldrich the same thing. I don't know if I dislike Thibs the Gm or Thibs the coach more.

I don't think that is true. At the time Bazz was worth the risk being a young guy on a min deal. The problem with Bazz is you need to revolve an offense around him to be successful and he hasn't talent enough to do that.

Not defending the gorgui contract but he still got minutes but he had his worst year as a pro. That could be because of a lot of factors. He just got paid, lost his 2 man game of lavine or a change of role in the offense.

With Cole he is a true center and the players in front of him never got hurt.

kekgeek1 wrote:

KG4Ever wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:Good signing. We need 3 or 4 bench guys to shine. If so I think we can crack the top 4 in the West. I can't watch Thibs grind these starters for another year.

I agree. Here's the bench equation:

(Tolliver + Okogie + KBD + Rose + Nunnally) - (Belly + Crawford) +/- Thibs = ?

In other words, will the combo of Tolliver, our two rookies and Nunnally be better than the two guys who got meaningful minutes off the bench last season and will Thibs improve his integration of the bench into his rotation? Obviously, we can't expect all five of the newcomers (including Rose) to get meaningful minutes off the bench because that plus Gorgu would suggest a 10-man rotation, which would never happen under Thibs. But I would hope that at least 3 of those 5 would emerge as main cogs and major contributors in the rotation.

Actually...Thibs did have a 10 man rotation last year to begin the season until he was forced to bench Bazz because he was so bad. So it's possible. Your initial question is dead on will the new guys be better than the guys that got minutes last year. It's honestly hard to see someone being as horrific to start the season as Bazz did and you know as a Bazz guy I kinda hate to say that.

Forced??? Thibs signs the players that he doesn't want to play. Bazz has always been terrible, but for some reason Thibs signed him and its Thibs fault for signing a guy he won't play. He signed Dieng to a huge deal and then doesn't play him much. Aldrich the same thing. I don't know if I dislike Thibs the Gm or Thibs the coach more.

I don't think that is true. At the time Bazz was worth the risk being a young guy on a min deal. The problem with Bazz is you need to revolve an offense around him to be successful and he hasn't talent enough to do that.

Not defending the gorgui contract but he still got minutes but he had his worst year as a pro. That could be because of a lot of factors. He just got paid, lost his 2 man game of lavine or a change of role in the offense.

With Cole he is a true center and the players in front of him never got hurt.

You are out of your mind if you thought the Bazz signing was good. Bazz has always sucked and always will.

The people that thought Bazz sucked turned out to be right. Still the previous season after struggling some early he had one of his more efficient seasons of his career...under Thibs. Last year he was so bad he wasn't even doing the things that he usually brings scoring the ball. The previous season under Thibs as a starter Dieng had the best advanced stats of his career. It's still a bit of a mystery why those guys struggled so badly last year relatively speaking. Dieng has a significant role change. Bazz idk. So you have 2 guys that were supposed to be keys on the bench that didn't play well. The point was that Thibs was playing 10 players and actually kept playing Bazz probably longer than some thought he should before basically shutting that down. There is evidence of Thibs playing a 10 man rotation that's the point. Let's see if Thibs the GM added some players that are more worthwhile and he might actually play them.

Well the 3 guys with the biggest changes last year struggled the most.

Wiggins went from a guy with the ball in his hands to a guy expected to stay in the corner and spot up. He struggled mightily to adjust to jimmy and teague and his new role. However, he did look like he was adjusting towards the end of the year.

Dieng went from a starter to a bench guy with inconsistent minutes due to the taj signing. Imo, he missed zach and never seemed to be on the same page with anyone on the second unit. And he got worse as the season went on.

Bazz was a part time starter and an instant offense guy off the bench. He envisioned himself in that role (as did thibs), but crawford was signed. So no he was trying to score while playing with a guy who liked to call his own number.

Thibs lack of foresight was as much a reason for their demise as the players themselves. Remember thibs was fully committed to these 3 and then immediately brought in their replacements.

crazy-canuck wrote:Well the 3 guys with the biggest changes last year struggled the most.

Wiggins went from a guy with the ball in his hands to a guy expected to stay in the corner and spot up. He struggled mightily to adjust to jimmy and teague and his new role. However, he did look like he was adjusting towards the end of the year.

Dieng went from a starter to a bench guy with inconsistent minutes due to the taj signing. Imo, he missed zach and never seemed to be on the same page with anyone on the second unit. And he got worse as the season went on.

Bazz was a part time starter and an instant offense guy off the bench. He envisioned himself in that role (as did thibs), but crawford was signed. So no he was trying to score while playing with a guy who liked to call his own number.

Thibs lack of foresight was as much a reason for their demise as the players themselves. Remember thibs was fully committed to these 3 and then immediately brought in their replacements.

Exactly! The disconnect between Thibodeau the PBO and Thibodeau the head coach is odd.