Minnesota Sports Forum

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Camden wrote:This isn't worth starting a new thread or digging up an old one, but Alex Rodriguez is a much better face of the franchise as an owner than Glen Taylor ever could have been. A-Rod just made an appearance on The Jump and was very thoughtful and well-spoken without sounding scripted or dry. He showed an enthusiasm about the Timberwolves and the opportunity he and Marc Lore have in growing into majority owners. Recently, the two reiterated that they have no plans to move the team from Minnesota. When they were in the process of initially buying the franchise, I was very skeptical that perhaps these two investors would look to pick up and go to a hot location like Las Vegas or Seattle, but as of right now I believe that they don't want to go anywhere. I think they see huge opportunity for growth in the regional market and intend to build something worthwhile. I could be wrong, but that's my take on it as of now.

Wish I had seen that interview on The Jump. Nevertheless, I still share your view that this franchise has taken a big step up from Glen to the A-Rod/Lore combo as its ownership face. Further, I never thought they bought this team with the intent to move it - if for no other reason than the fact that moving the team would be a huge hill to climb given the League's compelling financial interest in expansion over relocations.

Is this the one you were taking about Cam?

https://youtu.be/Vlfj0Vf6toM

It wasn't that long ago that Golden state was a junk franchise. They have built a new stadium and have one of the most popular players in all of sports on their roster. Yes some teams have advantages but the reality is that if Lore and Arod believe in their ability to run and turnaround a franchise MN is a great place to do it. The Vikings haven't won a championship ever but they are clearly doing pretty well just being interesting and being above average. Was there a chance they moved the Wolves at some point? Sure but this is a very good sports market.

He hit all the right buttons with his answers in that interview. I think he hit on the #1 key to this season and that's health. If our key guys stay reasonably healthy and don't miss too many games, I think this team has a good shot at playing .500 ball. But what makes the Vegas line of 33 or 34 wins realistic is that they don't assume everyone stays healthy, and indeed, they are probably right.

Q12543 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Camden wrote:This isn't worth starting a new thread or digging up an old one, but Alex Rodriguez is a much better face of the franchise as an owner than Glen Taylor ever could have been. A-Rod just made an appearance on The Jump and was very thoughtful and well-spoken without sounding scripted or dry. He showed an enthusiasm about the Timberwolves and the opportunity he and Marc Lore have in growing into majority owners. Recently, the two reiterated that they have no plans to move the team from Minnesota. When they were in the process of initially buying the franchise, I was very skeptical that perhaps these two investors would look to pick up and go to a hot location like Las Vegas or Seattle, but as of right now I believe that they don't want to go anywhere. I think they see huge opportunity for growth in the regional market and intend to build something worthwhile. I could be wrong, but that's my take on it as of now.

Wish I had seen that interview on The Jump. Nevertheless, I still share your view that this franchise has taken a big step up from Glen to the A-Rod/Lore combo as its ownership face. Further, I never thought they bought this team with the intent to move it - if for no other reason than the fact that moving the team would be a huge hill to climb given the League's compelling financial interest in expansion over relocations.

Is this the one you were taking about Cam?

https://youtu.be/Vlfj0Vf6toM

It wasn't that long ago that Golden state was a junk franchise. They have built a new stadium and have one of the most popular players in all of sports on their roster. Yes some teams have advantages but the reality is that if Lore and Arod believe in their ability to run and turnaround a franchise MN is a great place to do it. The Vikings haven't won a championship ever but they are clearly doing pretty well just being interesting and being above average. Was there a chance they moved the Wolves at some point? Sure but this is a very good sports market.

He hit all the right buttons with his answers in that interview. I think he hit on the #1 key to this season and that's health. If our key guys stay reasonably healthy and don't miss too many games, I think this team has a good shot at playing .500 ball. But what makes the Vegas line of 33 or 34 wins realistic is that they don't assume everyone stays healthy, and indeed, they are probably right.

I agree Q. It gets old to bring up the injury stuff but the Wolves really have had some tough luck when it comes to injuries. 2 years ago they got off to a good start and Layman was playing well and he got hurt and didn't return forever. Obviously that wasn't THE thing that sunk the season but it was the beginning of the end. Teague was hurt (and didn't play well) and Wiggins and Towns missed games and after being acquired Russell was hurt and missed some games. I think we know that guys didn't play as many games as they could have if games had mattered but still it was a tough year in that regard. Last season missing Towns Russell and Beasley for significant time was tough. They also had guys like Rubio, Juancho and J-Mac that weren't really ready to go from the beginning. To have the decent success of playing somewhere close to .500 they don't have to have everyone playing 82 games but they can't have multiple worthwhile players miss large chunks of games. I think we can hope for Towns to play over 70 games in an 82 game season and that will likely be a pretty huge lift over the last couple years. It would also help if they got some competent contributions from a player that wasn't expected to do so if/when there are injuries. McDaniels, McLaughlin and Reid have done that to some extent. We're they guys that saved the season with their play? No but if the contributions they were making were plugging 1 hole for a while then I think the team would have been fine. Instead they were all playing significant roles at times. Maybe Bolmaro surprises with some worthwhile play this year but hopefully he doesn't end up starting games. That's likely a sign of a few guys not being available and that will be bad news.

monsterpile wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Camden wrote:This isn't worth starting a new thread or digging up an old one, but Alex Rodriguez is a much better face of the franchise as an owner than Glen Taylor ever could have been. A-Rod just made an appearance on The Jump and was very thoughtful and well-spoken without sounding scripted or dry. He showed an enthusiasm about the Timberwolves and the opportunity he and Marc Lore have in growing into majority owners. Recently, the two reiterated that they have no plans to move the team from Minnesota. When they were in the process of initially buying the franchise, I was very skeptical that perhaps these two investors would look to pick up and go to a hot location like Las Vegas or Seattle, but as of right now I believe that they don't want to go anywhere. I think they see huge opportunity for growth in the regional market and intend to build something worthwhile. I could be wrong, but that's my take on it as of now.

Wish I had seen that interview on The Jump. Nevertheless, I still share your view that this franchise has taken a big step up from Glen to the A-Rod/Lore combo as its ownership face. Further, I never thought they bought this team with the intent to move it - if for no other reason than the fact that moving the team would be a huge hill to climb given the League's compelling financial interest in expansion over relocations.

Is this the one you were taking about Cam?

https://youtu.be/Vlfj0Vf6toM

It wasn't that long ago that Golden state was a junk franchise. They have built a new stadium and have one of the most popular players in all of sports on their roster. Yes some teams have advantages but the reality is that if Lore and Arod believe in their ability to run and turnaround a franchise MN is a great place to do it. The Vikings haven't won a championship ever but they are clearly doing pretty well just being interesting and being above average. Was there a chance they moved the Wolves at some point? Sure but this is a very good sports market.

He hit all the right buttons with his answers in that interview. I think he hit on the #1 key to this season and that's health. If our key guys stay reasonably healthy and don't miss too many games, I think this team has a good shot at playing .500 ball. But what makes the Vegas line of 33 or 34 wins realistic is that they don't assume everyone stays healthy, and indeed, they are probably right.

I agree Q. It gets old to bring up the injury stuff but the Wolves really have had some tough luck when it comes to injuries. 2 years ago they got off to a good start and Layman was playing well and he got hurt and didn't return forever. Obviously that wasn't THE thing that sunk the season but it was the beginning of the end. Teague was hurt (and didn't play well) and Wiggins and Towns missed games and after being acquired Russell was hurt and missed some games. I think we know that guys didn't play as many games as they could have if games had mattered but still it was a tough year in that regard. Last season missing Towns Russell and Beasley for significant time was tough. They also had guys like Rubio, Juancho and J-Mac that weren't really ready to go from the beginning. To have the decent success of playing somewhere close to .500 they don't have to have everyone playing 82 games but they can't have multiple worthwhile players miss large chunks of games. I think we can hope for Towns to play over 70 games in an 82 game season and that will likely be a pretty huge lift over the last couple years. It would also help if they got some competent contributions from a player that wasn't expected to do so if/when there are injuries. McDaniels, McLaughlin and Reid have done that to some extent. We're they guys that saved the season with their play? No but if the contributions they were making were plugging 1 hole for a while then I think the team would have been fine. Instead they were all playing significant roles at times. Maybe Bolmaro surprises with some worthwhile play this year but hopefully he doesn't end up starting games. That's likely a sign of a few guys not being available and that will be bad news.

If you look at the more recent seasons where we were mediocre to OK (versus one of the worst teams in the league), one of the common themes is that we had no rookies among our top 7 or 8 guys in total minutes:

'13-14 - 40 wins - rookie Gorgui Dieng with the 8th most minutes played
'17-18 - 47 wins - no rookies among the top rotational players
'18-19 - 36 wins - no rookies among the top rotational players

So I think it's a good sign that while this team overall is still quite young, we are definitely in a position where our existing rookies are 11th, 12th or beyond on the depth chart. If we stay healthy, the likes of Bolmaro should only see minutes in garbage time.

Philadelphia withheld the $8-million or so that Ben Simmons was owed today. I have to imagine Klutch Sports and/or Simmons will have some sort of response. This could get even uglier.

Camden0916 wrote:Philadelphia withheld the $8-million or so that Ben Simmons was owed today. I have to imagine Klutch Sports and/or Simmons will have some sort of response. This could get even uglier.

Who's making popcorn?

Camden wrote:Philadelphia withheld the $8-million or so that Ben Simmons was owed today. I have to imagine Klutch Sports and/or Simmons will have some sort of response. This could get even uglier.

Here we go. Well, so much for trying to patch things up and win Ben over. :) The Sixers' charade is over. I can't see Simmons returning to the Sixers. I don't see Simmons returning to the Sixers because of the financial pressure the organization has decided to put on him. If anything, it will probably harden the Simmons/Klutch Sports position. And even if the Sixers manage to strong-arm Simmons into returning to the team, what in the world would make them believe that will enhance his trade value? Either way, Simmons is estranged from the Sixers organization and the organization has to trade him - the sooner the better for sake of the Sixers' season. Morey and the Sixers' organization look more incompetent every day.

lipoli390 wrote:

Camden wrote:Philadelphia withheld the $8-million or so that Ben Simmons was owed today. I have to imagine Klutch Sports and/or Simmons will have some sort of response. This could get even uglier.

Here we go. Well, so much for trying to patch things up and win Ben over. :) The Sixers' charade is over. I can't see Simmons returning to the Sixers. I don't see Simmons returning to the Sixers because of the financial pressure the organization has decided to put on him. If anything, it will probably harden the Simmons/Klutch Sports position. And even if the Sixers manage to strong-arm Simmons into returning to the team, what in the world would make them believe that will enhance his trade value? Either way, Simmons is estranged from the Sixers organization and the organization has to trade him - the sooner the better for sake of the Sixers' season. Morey and the Sixers' organization look more incompetent every day.

So I will say I want Simmons on the wolves so I'm happy this is happening in Philly but as a whole NBA thing I don't know how this situation is going to effect the NBA going forward. I mean Simmons has 4 years on a max contract to go. What happens if a player like Luka, zion or Ant do this right after there extension.

I don't like Philly and they sort of created this situation but I do hate the the players have this much power

kekgeek1 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Camden wrote:Philadelphia withheld the $8-million or so that Ben Simmons was owed today. I have to imagine Klutch Sports and/or Simmons will have some sort of response. This could get even uglier.

Here we go. Well, so much for trying to patch things up and win Ben over. :) The Sixers' charade is over. I can't see Simmons returning to the Sixers. I don't see Simmons returning to the Sixers because of the financial pressure the organization has decided to put on him. If anything, it will probably harden the Simmons/Klutch Sports position. And even if the Sixers manage to strong-arm Simmons into returning to the team, what in the world would make them believe that will enhance his trade value? Either way, Simmons is estranged from the Sixers organization and the organization has to trade him - the sooner the better for sake of the Sixers' season. Morey and the Sixers' organization look more incompetent every day.

So I will say I want Simmons on the wolves so I'm happy this is happening in Philly but as a whole NBA thing I don't know how this situation is going to effect the NBA going forward. I mean Simmons has 4 years on a max contract to go. What happens if a player like Luka, zion or Ant do this right after there extension.

I don't like Philly and they sort of created this situation but I do hate the the players have this much power

I get your concern, kek. But I'm not too concerned. Simmons isn't the first all-star player to pressure his team for a trade. What's different is Ben's steadfast decision to not show up or play. But I think that's a one-off based on an unusual set of circumstances. It's rare to see a head coach and players publicly scapegoat a player the way Doc Rivers, Joel Embiid and Danny Green did when Philly was eliminated from the playoffs. And that came on the heels of Simmons apparently being dealt for Harden a year earlier. There have also been reports that Simmons and Embiid weren't getting along for several years. So it strikes me as a perfect storm -- and an unusual storm -- that we will rarely if ever see repeated again.

Nevertheless, we'll continue to see elite players try to force their way out of losing situations. I don't like it, but it's a reality. I doubt we'll ever again see a player try to force his way out of team that just finished with the best record in its conference. And I doubt we'll ever again see a player completely check out and refuse to play. Even Jimmy Butler showed up to play. So much of this comes back to Morey. Simmons quietly asked for a trade early on. Morey should have checked his ego at the door before engaging in trade talks with other teams. Instead, it would appear that he arrogantly rejected packages like:

- VanVleet + Anuoby + a future 1st
- Haliburton + Barnes + a future 1st
- Brogdon + something else
- Beasley + a lot of lightly-protect 1sts and another player or two

Who knows what else Morey turned down. The moral of the story is that what's happening with Simmons wouldn't be happening absent the extraordinary recklessness and incompetence of the Sixers' organization - from players to coaches to the C-suite.

lipoli390 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Camden wrote:Philadelphia withheld the $8-million or so that Ben Simmons was owed today. I have to imagine Klutch Sports and/or Simmons will have some sort of response. This could get even uglier.

Here we go. Well, so much for trying to patch things up and win Ben over. :) The Sixers' charade is over. I can't see Simmons returning to the Sixers. I don't see Simmons returning to the Sixers because of the financial pressure the organization has decided to put on him. If anything, it will probably harden the Simmons/Klutch Sports position. And even if the Sixers manage to strong-arm Simmons into returning to the team, what in the world would make them believe that will enhance his trade value? Either way, Simmons is estranged from the Sixers organization and the organization has to trade him - the sooner the better for sake of the Sixers' season. Morey and the Sixers' organization look more incompetent every day.

So I will say I want Simmons on the wolves so I'm happy this is happening in Philly but as a whole NBA thing I don't know how this situation is going to effect the NBA going forward. I mean Simmons has 4 years on a max contract to go. What happens if a player like Luka, zion or Ant do this right after there extension.

I don't like Philly and they sort of created this situation but I do hate the the players have this much power

I get your concern, kek. But I'm not too concerned. Simmons isn't the first all-star player to pressure his team for a trade. What's different is Ben's steadfast decision to not show up or play. But I think that's a one-off based on an unusual set of circumstances. It's rare to see a head coach and players publicly scapegoat a player the way Doc Rivers, Joel Embiid and Danny Green did when Philly was eliminated from the playoffs. And that came on the heels of Simmons apparently being dealt for Harden a year earlier. There have also been reports that Simmons and Embiid weren't getting along for several years. So it strikes me as a perfect storm -- and an unusual storm -- that we will rarely if ever see repeated again.

Nevertheless, we'll continue to see elite players try to force their way out of losing situations. I don't like it, but it's a reality. I doubt we'll ever again see a player try to force his way out of team that just finished with the best record in its conference. And I doubt we'll ever again see a player completely check out and refuse to play. Even Jimmy Butler showed up to play. So much of this comes back to Morey. Simmons quietly asked for a trade early on. Morey should have checked his ego at the door before engaging in trade talks with other teams. Instead, it would appear that he arrogantly rejected packages like:

- VanVleet + Anuoby + a future 1st
- Haliburton + Barnes + a future 1st
- Brogdon + something else
- Beasley + a lot of lightly-protect 1sts and another player or two

Who knows what else Morey turned down. The moral of the story is that what's happening with Simmons wouldn't be happening absent the extraordinary recklessness and incompetence of the Sixers' organization - from players to coaches to the C-suite.

I also like the idea kekgeek put forward that someone is digging in against the star player like this but like Lip said I don't think it will matter but it's an interesting thing to observe from afar.

My issue with the reported packages Morey turned down is that what if he had engaged with them instead of turning them down quickly. What if he had said that offer is something we might be able to build on but I owe it to the Sixers franchise to continue to pursue a couple other options (whatever he can say without getting into trouble) but everyone would know he means Lilliard and Beal. It feels like a couple of those deals would have been pretty nice if he could have added some more value maybe getting teams to bid against each other. Now? Idk it feels like their May be less options and what if teams decide...we want Simmons but not that bad. It seems like there was a good window to deal him and now it won't be as good of a return. Someone is still going to give up something worthwhile but I think the packages could have been better a few weeks ago. I guess eventually we will see how this plays out.

Personally I think a Simmons for Kyrie Irving trade would make perfect sense for both teams.