Minnesota Sports Forum

WildWolf2813 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

mrhockey89 wrote:So I'm a bit on the tank bandwagon to jump a couple teams, but I think it's a bit over the top to suggest it's the difference between changing our team's future or not.

All this team needs to do is to make the right decisions in the draft, and THAT is what can turn this team around.

Just think...the year we took Shabazz and Dieng, we could have instead taken the Greek Freak and Rudy Gobert instead.... Let's think about how different things look if this team had Giannis, Towns, and Gobert as their cornerstones, rather than being stuck with the DIeng contract and the remnants of what was Shabazz.

You are 100% right. There is a stat of the top 4 teams this year. Warriors, Nuggets, Raptors, Bucks. Only 4 players of the 20 starters were drafted in the Top 10 (Curry, Durant, Lopez, Murray).

We just need to find the right pieces and draft better

I agree we need to make the right draft decisions. But it helps to be in a position to make the right decisions. We were in a position to draft CJ McCollum in 2013. That was key to getting two picks in return. One of the two picks was barely high enough to take Giannis, but the Wolves made a bad decision taking Bazz instead. If the pick we used on Bazz had been two picks lower we would not have even had a chance at drafting Giannis. A few more wins in 2015 and we wouldn't have KAT but instead would probably have Okafor.

It's pretty simple. The higher the pick, the more selections you have to choose from when exercising what you hope is good judgment. It's not one or the other. The higher the pick, the more options you have. But then, of course, you also need to exercise good judgment when choosing among your options.

But my soft-tank mantra these past 4 weeks isn't solely about lottery position. My main point has actually been that the Wolves should allocate playing time primarily to the young players, that is, those most likely to be here long term with KAT. My assumption is that we'd lose more games as a result the rest of this season. But my main rationale for playing the young guys to the exclusion of Rose, Teague, Bayless, Tolliver and Gibson is the need to take every opportunity to develop and evaluate the players most likely to be part of the longer-term horizon of this team built around KAT. And as Cam indicated, we should have traded one or all of those vets at the trade deadline for more assets - either draft picks (even if only 2nd round) and possibly younger players with upside. If the Wolves would have taken the path I suggested weeks ago and we ended up winning even more games, I'd be fine with that because we'd be winning with players who can be viewed realistically as significant parts of the Wolves long-term horizon with KAT.

lipoli390 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

mrhockey89 wrote:So I'm a bit on the tank bandwagon to jump a couple teams, but I think it's a bit over the top to suggest it's the difference between changing our team's future or not.

All this team needs to do is to make the right decisions in the draft, and THAT is what can turn this team around.

Just think...the year we took Shabazz and Dieng, we could have instead taken the Greek Freak and Rudy Gobert instead.... Let's think about how different things look if this team had Giannis, Towns, and Gobert as their cornerstones, rather than being stuck with the DIeng contract and the remnants of what was Shabazz.

You are 100% right. There is a stat of the top 4 teams this year. Warriors, Nuggets, Raptors, Bucks. Only 4 players of the 20 starters were drafted in the Top 10 (Curry, Durant, Lopez, Murray).

We just need to find the right pieces and draft better

I agree we need to make the right draft decisions. But it helps to be in a position to make the right decisions. We were in a position to draft CJ McCollum in 2013. That was key to getting two picks in return. One of the two picks was barely high enough to take Giannis, but the Wolves made a bad decision taking Bazz instead. If the pick we used on Bazz had been two picks lower we would not have even had a chance at drafting Giannis. A few more wins in 2015 and we wouldn't have KAT but instead would probably have Okafor.

It's pretty simple. The higher the pick, the more selections you have to choose from when exercising what you hope is good judgment. It's not one or the other. The higher the pick, the more options you have. But then, of course, you also need to exercise good judgment when choosing among your options.

But my soft-tank mantra these past 4 weeks isn't solely about lottery position. My main point has actually been that the Wolves should allocate playing time primarily to the young players, that is, those most likely to be here long term with KAT. My assumption is that we'd lose more games as a result the rest of this season. But my main rationale for playing the young guys to the exclusion of Rose, Teague, Bayless, Tolliver and Gibson is the need to take every opportunity to develop and evaluate the players most likely to be part of the longer-term horizon of this team built around KAT. And as Cam indicated, we should have traded one or all of those vets at the trade deadline for more assets - either draft picks (even if only 2nd round) and possibly younger players with upside. If the Wolves would have taken the path I suggested weeks ago and we ended up winning even more games, I'd be fine with that because we'd be winning with players who can be viewed realistically as significant parts of the Wolves long-term horizon with KAT.

Sure you'll have more options Lip, but this team can screw it up no matter where they pick. This team will have a new GM, maybe even a new coach. Whether they pick at 9, 11, 13, 45, even after the draft is over, they have to get good players. They don't stop making good players after the 9th pick. Given where this team is, they need to really attack the UDFA market hard and find a rotational player.

monsterpile wrote:I hadn't realized Memphis had actually been playing some decent basketball but I didn't think we had a chance to pass them in the loss column going into this game so...not a terrible win in terms of tanking. We won mostly because of guys that figure to be on the roster beyond this season. Tolliver played well. Like it was mentioned before I'm not sure why Cam didn't play more. KBD looks like a legit player. He is so long and it shows up multiple times in a game. There was one closeput he had he didn't even really hustle out there and was a stride away from the basket when he started but he ended up with a hand in the face of the guy shooting in the corner. I don't know what he will ultiatwlt become but it feels like we at least got a guy that can be a rostation player in this league which helps.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:I dig Lipoli.

But I hate that a season ticket holder is so willing to accept a team tanking its final 25 games of a season (after tanking the first 13 games) of the season just to move up 2 or 3 spots in the mid lottery.

If the people shelling out money to see the product don't give a shit about winning... why would anybody else. I know I've blamed Glen Taylor for the level of malaise about winning in this organization. Maybe I'm wrong.

Maybe it's the hardcore fans.

This is NOT the type of tanking a good franchise does. To still be doing this sort of tanking with the full endorsement of the team's most ardent fans 12 years in is a fucking embarrassment to all of us.