Wolves offseason thread

[Lipoli390]

One of my favorite developments involving Jimmy is how close him and Tyus have grown to be. They are legitimately friends off the court. Those of you that are avid social media followers already know what I mean.

Cam -- Actually, I didn't know that. I like it and I hope it translates into more minutes for Tyus next season.

They are constantly going back and forth on social media -- specifically on Instagram. Very funny, friendly jabs at each other. Things you'd say to your friend when you're just messing with them and both parties are aware of what's going on. I remember one post-game interview Jimmy Butler had last season and it was after a game against Phoenix where Tyus Jones played a great game. I ended up tweeting about it and I found the quotes I had posted. I'll share them here.

Jimmy Butler: "It's always good to get a win. Tyus was huge. Tyus was the Most Outstanding Player in the tournament a couple years back. He played like it tonight."

Tyus Jones: "Who'd I play for?"

Jimmy Butler: "Who'd you play for? I forgot; you weren't that damn important."
__________

Reporter: "How does the personality of the team change when Tyus is on the court as a PG?"

Jimmy Butler: "I mean, nobody really likes him, so... He gets on our nerves and he's like calling out plays and just 'cause we don't wanna hear his voice we do what he tells us to do."
__________

Reporter: "Jimmy, is this kind of the Taj [Gibson] that you've known forever -- just what he brings on a nightly basis?"

Jimmy Butler: "Yeah, Tyus was huge... *laughter* Tyus is a really good player, man. He does his job to the best of his ability. He guards, he makes everybody's job easier."

Ha, great stuff, Cam! They both seem like terrific guys, so I'm not surprised they are buddies. I was stuck in a long line with Tyus and his girl friend last Sunday waiting for a breakfast table at Maggie's in Wayzata and he was quite conversational. I asked him about his thoughts about the draft, and he was very enthusiastic...said they needed wings, and these guys really filled the bill. I asked him if he thought they and the possibility of signing Rose might take minutes away from him, and I was surprised at the frankness of his answer: "I'm not worried about that...they're all wings, and I'm a PG." I told him that for what it's worth, he was my starting PG, and I got the big smile. Then I told him he had to make 38% of his threes this season and he said "Nope, 40 is my goal". I liked that. Finally, I tried to get him going on Thibs, but he wouldn't take the bait. Smart. He said "me and Thibs are fine". Didn't fit my narrative at all :). Not very revealing but nice conversation with a nice young man.

Yes, great stuff, Cam. Thanks for sharing.

Also, great stuff from you, LST. What a great opportunity you had. Well done taking advantage of it and thanks for relaying your converstion to the rest of us. I'm with you in viewing Tyus as a starting-caliber PG and I would love to free up Teague's $19 million per year in each of the next two years to improve our team in other ways. But if Thibodeau can overcome his own stubborn nature and actually follow through on his stated intent to use Tyus more, then that helps.

[kekgeek]

Wolves have officially waived Aldrich

[Papalrep]

Trade KAT? No. Play him where he is at his best. He is a 4.

How do we get Andre Drummond? He is a 5, kat can play the NBA position he should be playing

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Trade KAT? No. Play him where he is at his best. He is a 4.

How do we get Andre Drummond? He is a 5, kat can play the NBA position he should be playing

KAT at the 4 doesn't solve much defensively. He'd still get thrown into PnR defense frequently and he is a bad PnR defender getting caught in no mans land far too often. You also take away his biggest offensive advantage which is dragging 5's out to the perimeter offensively.

[Papalrep]

Good points. I tend to think Kat atcthe 4 would be Tim Duncan

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Good info on Tyus! He has had the type of linear improvement trajectory for the Wolves we simply aren't used to seeing from our draft picks over the years:

Season - PER/WS48/Net Rating
Rookie - 11.2/.027/-10.0
2nd year - 13.8/.096/+2.5 (led team among rotation players)
3rd year - 14.1/.117/+6.1 (2nd only to Butler among rotation players)

I think the one thing holding him back is his ability to create offense for himself. That is still a problem and it's why Thibs paired Tyus up with Crawford off the bench. He may use Rose in the same way, as a backup 2 that can be another ball handler in half court sets.

[rapsuperstar31]

Interesting that the projected cap for 20-21 is looking at being 116 million which would put the luxury tax for that year at around 140 million. I just don't see it happening but if we were able to dump Dieng and get under the salary cap to resign Butler this Summer for a max it would go a long way to keeping the team somewhat in check financially going forward.

[Lipoli390]

I just finished listening to the Thibodeau/Layden free agent press conference.

First of all, I can't stand listening to Layden and I particularly can't stand how submissive he is around Thibodeau, constantly referring to him as coach. For pete's sake, call him Tom!! Are you that intimidated by Thibodeau?!

As usual, Thibodeau went on and on about Butler. He said he's in constant contact with him and stressed the importance of communication with Butler. He had no similar comments about KAT. Then when asked if he thought it would take as long to extend KAT as it took to extend Wiggins, Thibodeau responded that he had "no idea." So much for communicating. KAT is the key to this franchise as a 23-year old highly durable allstar who can be locked up for 6 years on a rookie max deal. I love Butler, but he's a non-durable 29 year old who can leave as a free agent after this season and who will cost a lot more than KAT to re-sign. I think Thibodeau should definitely stay in close contact with Jimmy and I'm fine with him repeatedly praising him. But his communication with KAT should be equally robust if not better and his overly obvious public Butler-bias has to stop.

One thing I found interesting was Thibodeau identifying what he considers the four key factors that go into free agents deciding what team to choose. Thibs said those factors were (1) the city, (2) winning, (3) money, and (4) teammates. Notoriously absent was any mention of the head coach, coaching staff, playing time or style of play. In other words, he avoided any factors for which the head coach could be held accountable, except perhaps winning, but that's also on the players.

Getting back to Layden. What exactly does he do? There just doesn't seem to be much going on above his neck and between his shoulders. As much as I criticize Thibodeau, I'm thankful he rather than Layden is in charge of the Wolves basketball operations.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I just finished listening to the Thibodeau/Layden free agent press conference.

First of all, I can't stand listening to Layden and I particularly can't stand how submissive he is around Thibodeau, constantly referring to him as coach. For pete's sake, call him Tom!! Are you that intimidated by Thibodeau?!

As usual, Thibodeau went on and on about Butler. He said he's in constant contact with him and stressed the importance of communication with Butler. He had no similar comments about KAT. Then when asked if he thought it would take as long to extend KAT as it took to extend Wiggins, Thibodeau responded that he had "no idea." So much for communicating. KAT is the key to this franchise as a 23-year old highly durable allstar who can be locked up for 6 years on a rookie max deal. I love Butler, but he's a non-durable 29 year old who can leave as a free agent after this season and who will cost a lot more than KAT to re-sign. I think Thibodeau should definitely stay in close contact with Jimmy and I'm fine with him repeatedly praising him. But his communication with KAT should be equally robust if not better and his overly obvious public Butler-bias has to stop.

One thing I found interesting was Thibodeau identifying what he considers the four key factors that go into free agents deciding what team to choose. Thibs said those factors were (1) the city, (2) winning, (3) money, and (4) teammates. Notoriously absent was any mention of the head coach, coaching staff, playing time or style of play. In other words, he avoided any factors for which the head coach could be held accountable, except perhaps winning, but that's also on the players.

Getting back to Layden. What exactly does he do? There just doesn't seem to be much going on above his neck and between his shoulders. As much as I criticize Thibodeau, I'm thankful he rather than Layden is in charge of the Wolves basketball operations.

Paul George's decision to return to OkC is yet another example of how out of touch Thibs is. He lists "the city" and "winning" as the 2 most important factors for a free agent, and OkC meets neither of these criteria...it's probably the worst NBA city, and they are destined to finish somewhere in the middle of the West playoff teams at best. Nope, as Thorpe states in his podcast, the city has absolutely nothing to do with a free agents' decision, but the way an organization and coaching staff treats its players is a vital factor...and OkC ranks very high in this area, just as the Wolves rank near or at the bottom. Thibs' list is strategic and self-serving on his part...when we end up with only Rose and a couple desperate D-leaguers in free agency, the Thibs bobos will buy into the mantra that the weather and city kept the good guys away. But Thorpe hears what the players are saying, and knows the real reason almost all free agents want to avoid this franchise.
OkC is sadly a much more desirable destination than Minneapolis right now, and will continue to be until Taylor makes the right move in mid-season.

[kekgeek]

I just finished listening to the Thibodeau/Layden free agent press conference.

First of all, I can't stand listening to Layden and I particularly can't stand how submissive he is around Thibodeau, constantly referring to him as coach. For pete's sake, call him Tom!! Are you that intimidated by Thibodeau?!

As usual, Thibodeau went on and on about Butler. He said he's in constant contact with him and stressed the importance of communication with Butler. He had no similar comments about KAT. Then when asked if he thought it would take as long to extend KAT as it took to extend Wiggins, Thibodeau responded that he had "no idea." So much for communicating. KAT is the key to this franchise as a 23-year old highly durable allstar who can be locked up for 6 years on a rookie max deal. I love Butler, but he's a non-durable 29 year old who can leave as a free agent after this season and who will cost a lot more than KAT to re-sign. I think Thibodeau should definitely stay in close contact with Jimmy and I'm fine with him repeatedly praising him. But his communication with KAT should be equally robust if not better and his overly obvious public Butler-bias has to stop.

One thing I found interesting was Thibodeau identifying what he considers the four key factors that go into free agents deciding what team to choose. Thibs said those factors were (1) the city, (2) winning, (3) money, and (4) teammates. Notoriously absent was any mention of the head coach, coaching staff, playing time or style of play. In other words, he avoided any factors for which the head coach could be held accountable, except perhaps winning, but that's also on the players.

Getting back to Layden. What exactly does he do? There just doesn't seem to be much going on above his neck and between his shoulders. As much as I criticize Thibodeau, I'm thankful he rather than Layden is in charge of the Wolves basketball operations.

Paul George's decision to return to OkC is yet another example of how out of touch Thibs is. He lists "the city" and "winning" as the 2 most important factors for a free agent, and OkC meets neither of these criteria...it's probably the worst NBA city, and they are destined to finish somewhere in the middle of the West playoff teams at best. Nope, as Thorpe states in his podcast, the city has absolutely nothing to do with a free agents' decision, but the way an organization and coaching staff treats its players is a vital factor...and OkC ranks very high in this area, just as the Wolves rank near or at the bottom. Thibs' list is strategic and self-serving on his part...when we end up with only Rose and a couple desperate D-leaguers in free agency, the Thibs bobos will buy into the mantra that the weather and city kept the good guys away. But Thorpe hears what the players are saying, and knows the real reason almost all free agents want to avoid this franchise.
OkC is sadly a much more desirable destination than Minneapolis right now, and will continue to be until Taylor makes the right move in mid-season.

You found the one player that fits your narrative.

What about the MVP Durant leaving that same thunder team for warriors. LBJ and the lakers. Boogie and the lakers. LBJ left for Miami.

With that said in the wolves franchise thibs yes thibs has signed arguably the best 2 free agent signings in wolves history in Teague and Taj