Around the league thread

[Lipoli390]

The NBA's Most Improved Player for the 2020-21 season and a legitimate Eastern Conference All-Star candidate just had another huge game. Julius Randle lit up the Atlanta Hawks for 44 points (14-22 FG, 7-13 3P, 9-12 FT), nine rebounds, and five assists en route to their 14th win. The Knicks are just one game under .500 and currently own the sixth seed in the East while being just 0.5 games back of the Pacers for the fourth seed. That's truly a remarkable storyline for the season and I'm rooting for them. I never thought I would say that about the Knicks.

I don't know how that is possible, I heard for years they have the worst coach of all time.

Love him or hate him, Thibs finds ways to win games

Thibs didn't win many games his first season here. He won the next season with Jimmy Butler. Don't get me wrong, he's a solid head coach, but I wouldn't get too carried away. If Thibs the PBO had traded Wiggins instead of LaVine and, drafted Murray instead of Dunn and Collins instead of Patton, he would probably still be the Wolves head coach. The Knicks have some talent in Randle, Robinson, Barrett, Quickly and now Rose. But I have to admit that Thibs seems to be getting the most out of the guys he has and that's the mark of a good head coach.

Some of it is we are taking a victory lap. I understand why Thibs was fired, he is a control freak asshole. I will always at least appreciate Thibs in the sense that he always tried to win, not a lot of this tanking BS the Wolves are used to. We heard even after a 48 win season people wanted thibs fired. I just liked winning.

I also think some of it is we went from Thibs (I understand why he was fired) to Ryan Saunders. It was the same old county club BS. It's ok though because Ryan is a good guy (it gets old). I'm just sick of losing. Just don't get why the Wolves had to go from Thibs to Ryan instead of line Thibs to Atkinson.

You put your finger on it, kek. There's no question that Thibs is a better head coach than Ryan Saunders. But that shouldn't have been the choice. Thibs to Atkinson would have been a great move. But alas, this is the Timberwolves.

[Coolbreeze44]

The NBA's Most Improved Player for the 2020-21 season and a legitimate Eastern Conference All-Star candidate just had another huge game. Julius Randle lit up the Atlanta Hawks for 44 points (14-22 FG, 7-13 3P, 9-12 FT), nine rebounds, and five assists en route to their 14th win. The Knicks are just one game under .500 and currently own the sixth seed in the East while being just 0.5 games back of the Pacers for the fourth seed. That's truly a remarkable storyline for the season and I'm rooting for them. I never thought I would say that about the Knicks.

I don't know how that is possible. I heard for years they have the worst coach of all time.

Love him or hate him, Thibs finds ways to win games.

Bingo. There's a reason the guy has won 58.4-percent of the 627 games he's coached. His style works. His preparation works. His adjustments work. It can be ugly. It can be difficult to watch at times. He can rub some people the wrong way. But the guy wins. Period.

Thibs doesn't win in the playoffs, so let's not quite put a period on that statement. He's won less than 43% of his playoff games, and only 40% of series. He's never been to a final, and only to the conference finals once. By the time his teams get to the postseason, they are beaten down by his methods and style. He played a significant role in Both Rose and Noah leaving their primes in their early to mid 20's. Luol Deng was basically through at the age of 30, playing a ridiculous number of minutes throughout his 20's. And all they have to show for it are a bunch of surgeries and one conference final appearance.

[Hicks123 [enjin:6700838]]

The whole "Thib's excessive minutes" thing seems like a complete myth that has somehow become "fact" on this board. I was curious about minutes based on the fact that we always hear that Thib's killed these players through minutes. I quickly scanned other stars minutes throughout career, and guys like Rose, Noah, Deng, etc are not even at the top of the list of minutes played. Guys like Durant, Lebron, Harden and even Curry played as many or more mpg as these guys. Go back and guys like Jordan, Malone, Bird, etc played nearly 40 mpg throughout much of their career. And it was a heck of a lot more physical.

Did Rose play a lot? Meh, seems about right for a player his caliber. Lebron has AVERAGED 38.3 mpg over his entire career. Rose's highest year was 37.4.

All that said, it seems extremely fabricated that Thib's was cause of these players demise. There were boatloads of players that played a heck of a lot more minutes and had great playoff success.

[AbeVigodaLive]

The NBA's Most Improved Player for the 2020-21 season and a legitimate Eastern Conference All-Star candidate just had another huge game. Julius Randle lit up the Atlanta Hawks for 44 points (14-22 FG, 7-13 3P, 9-12 FT), nine rebounds, and five assists en route to their 14th win. The Knicks are just one game under .500 and currently own the sixth seed in the East while being just 0.5 games back of the Pacers for the fourth seed. That's truly a remarkable storyline for the season and I'm rooting for them. I never thought I would say that about the Knicks.

I don't know how that is possible. I heard for years they have the worst coach of all time.

Love him or hate him, Thibs finds ways to win games.

Bingo. There's a reason the guy has won 58.4-percent of the 627 games he's coached. His style works. His preparation works. His adjustments work. It can be ugly. It can be difficult to watch at times. He can rub some people the wrong way. But the guy wins. Period.

Thibs doesn't win in the playoffs, so let's not quite put a period on that statement. He's won less than 43% of his playoff games, and only 40% of series. He's never been to a final, and only to the conference finals once. By the time his teams get to the postseason, they are beaten down by his methods and style. He played a significant role in Both Rose and Noah leaving their primes in their early to mid 20's. Luol Deng was basically through at the age of 30, playing a ridiculous number of minutes throughout his 20's. And all they have to show for it are a bunch of surgeries and one conference final appearance.

As Timberwolves fans... should we really be ripping a guy for only winning 43% of his playoff games? Or 40% of his playoff series?

- The Wolves have won only 39% of its regular season games.
- The Wolves have won only 35% of its playoff games.
- The Wolves have won 18% of its playoff series.

All of the above are the worst marks in NBA history.

[MikkeMan]

Also if Thibs is ripped about not winning championship or even getting to the finals with Chicago team, we should rip all other eastern conference teams that did not have Lebron in their team about the same since no other eastern conference coach were in finals without Lebron either during those years.

[MikkeMan]

Clippers beat almost full strength Miami team last night without Kawhi, PG, Batum and Beverley.

Maybe Lue is better coach than I thought.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Clippers beat almost full strength Miami team last night without Kawhi, PG, Batum and Beverley.

Maybe Lue is better coach than I thought.

To be fair, what's left of that Clippers team is still a lot better than what a lot of teams have been putting out there.

Lou Williams
M. Morris
Ibaka
R. Jackson
Kennard
Zubac

That's six veterans with legit experience as NBA starters.

[Coolbreeze44]

The whole "Thib's excessive minutes" thing seems like a complete myth that has somehow become "fact" on this board. I was curious about minutes based on the fact that we always hear that Thib's killed these players through minutes. I quickly scanned other stars minutes throughout career, and guys like Rose, Noah, Deng, etc are not even at the top of the list of minutes played. Guys like Durant, Lebron, Harden and even Curry played as many or more mpg as these guys. Go back and guys like Jordan, Malone, Bird, etc played nearly 40 mpg throughout much of their career. And it was a heck of a lot more physical.

Did Rose play a lot? Meh, seems about right for a player his caliber. Lebron has AVERAGED 38.3 mpg over his entire career. Rose's highest year was 37.4.

All that said, it seems extremely fabricated that Thib's was cause of these players demise. There were boatloads of players that played a heck of a lot more minutes and had great playoff success.

Deng who wasn't a top 10 player led the league in minutes for two consecutive seasons. But don't let facts get in your way. And of course you take an outlier and physical freak like Lebron to help make your argument. And another example you use, Durant, has also broken down in recent years. No, there is not boatloads of guys who played more minutes than the Bulls core. The point is Thibs has always stressed his main guys, and it hasn't resulted in as much success as it should have. I'll give Thibs credit for one thing, he always makes a splash when he starts his coaching tenure with a team. But after winning 62 games his first year with the Bulls, they never approached that number again under him. With the Wolves he acquired Butler and won 47, and then was under .500 the next season at the time of his firing.

For some reason this eternally beaten horse keeps being brought up on this forum. We're not talking about Red Auerbach or Pat Riley here. He's a decent NBA coach who came and went. Let it go.

[AbeVigodaLive]

The whole "Thib's excessive minutes" thing seems like a complete myth that has somehow become "fact" on this board. I was curious about minutes based on the fact that we always hear that Thib's killed these players through minutes. I quickly scanned other stars minutes throughout career, and guys like Rose, Noah, Deng, etc are not even at the top of the list of minutes played. Guys like Durant, Lebron, Harden and even Curry played as many or more mpg as these guys. Go back and guys like Jordan, Malone, Bird, etc played nearly 40 mpg throughout much of their career. And it was a heck of a lot more physical.

Did Rose play a lot? Meh, seems about right for a player his caliber. Lebron has AVERAGED 38.3 mpg over his entire career. Rose's highest year was 37.4.

All that said, it seems extremely fabricated that Thib's was cause of these players demise. There were boatloads of players that played a heck of a lot more minutes and had great playoff success.

Deng who wasn't a top 10 player led the league in minutes for two consecutive seasons. But don't let facts get in your way. And of course you take an outlier and physical freak like Lebron to help make your argument. And another example you use, Durant, has also broken down in recent years. No, there is not boatloads of guys who played more minutes than the Bulls core. The point is Thibs has always stressed his main guys, and it hasn't resulted in as much success as it should have. I'll give Thibs credit for one thing, he always makes a splash when he starts his coaching tenure with a team. But after winning 62 games his first year with the Bulls, they never approached that number again under him. With the Wolves he acquired Butler and won 47, and then was under .500 the next season at the time of his firing.

For some reason this eternally beaten horse keeps being brought up on this forum. We're not talking about Red Auerbach or Pat Riley here. He's a decent NBA coach who came and went. Let it go.

To be fair, he also mentioned Curry and Harden.

I don't think Thibodeau is a great coach. And he was a very unfun ogre. But in Timbewolves lore... well... that's some shallow water there, making him one of the most decorated coaches this organization has had (both while coach here and elsewhere). So when we read more posts about how he "ruined the Wolves" or was "terrible" or whatever... sometimes it needs to refuted with some pragmatic common sense.*



* I'm not saying you wrote those things... only that it's been a steady stream of similar comments from others here.

[Lipoli390]

Another terrific night for Zach LaVine with 37 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals in a winning effort.