Minnesota Sports Forum

longstrangetrip wrote:Thibs was at the fair yesterday and Zgoda provided details of the session in a column this morning. Almost all was positive, but I guess you have to expect that...let's hope reality is as good as what Thibs was saying.


He dismissed reports of team discord, and said there was nothing to it. He said this was the best place for Butler, and "it's up to us to show him the reasons why". I hope that's true. He also said that none of the comments attributed to Butler had come from him, but rather from sources close to him. He said his experience with Butler was if he had something to say, he would say it directly. I hope he is right about this, but there is a lot of evidence to say he is wrong. It would be so simple for Butler to say the discord rumors were a lot of BS...the face that he hasn't tells most of us that there is something there.

The most positive comments Thibs had were in regard to Patton. He said he was coming along well, and that he should be ready by the start of training camp. That's the first time I've heard him say that, so it was quite encouraging. He also said he was excited about Patton's "huge upside". Good to hear...if Patton can contribute at center this year, that will be a big boost to this team.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:Thibs was at the fair yesterday and Zgoda provided details of the session in a column this morning. Almost all was positive, but I guess you have to expect that...let's hope reality is as good as what Thibs was saying.


He dismissed reports of team discord, and said there was nothing to it. He said this was the best place for Butler, and "it's up to us to show him the reasons why". I hope that's true. He also said that none of the comments attributed to Butler had come from him, but rather from sources close to him. He said his experience with Butler was if he had something to say, he would say it directly. I hope he is right about this, but there is a lot of evidence to say he is wrong. It would be so simple for Butler to say the discord rumors were a lot of BS...the face that he hasn't tells most of us that there is something there.

The most positive comments Thibs had were in regard to Patton. He said he was coming along well, and that he should be ready by the start of training camp. That's the first time I've heard him say that, so it was quite encouraging. He also said he was excited about Patton's "huge upside". Good to hear...if Patton can contribute at center this year, that will be a big boost to this team.

Well okay then, no excuses this year. We should easily make the playoffs and have a good chance of getting out of the first round. I mean if everything is that hunky dory.

As far as my current take, you can read my feelings in Lip's post.

khans2k5 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:Thibs was at the fair yesterday and Zgoda provided details of the session in a column this morning. Almost all was positive, but I guess you have to expect that...let's hope reality is as good as what Thibs was saying.


He dismissed reports of team discord, and said there was nothing to it. He said this was the best place for Butler, and "it's up to us to show him the reasons why". I hope that's true. He also said that none of the comments attributed to Butler had come from him, but rather from sources close to him. He said his experience with Butler was if he had something to say, he would say it directly. I hope he is right about this, but there is a lot of evidence to say he is wrong. It would be so simple for Butler to say the discord rumors were a lot of BS...the face that he hasn't tells most of us that there is something there.

The most positive comments Thibs had were in regard to Patton. He said he was coming along well, and that he should be ready by the start of training camp. That's the first time I've heard him say that, so it was quite encouraging. He also said he was excited about Patton's "huge upside". Good to hear...if Patton can contribute at center this year, that will be a big boost to this team.

Well okay then, no excuses this year. We should easily make the playoffs and have a good chance of getting out of the first round. I mean if everything is that hunky dory.

As far as my current take, you can read my feelings in Lip's post.

I mean this team should easily make the playoffs this year and have a good chance of getting out of the first round. This is it. Thibs will get fired if we don't make it out of the first round because he has a team that should be able to accomplish that feat. There literally aren't any excuses left for this year.

Camden wrote:I would have signed LeBron James, but that's just me.

Camden0916 wrote:I see two options. Continue the "all-in" approach that has already been started by hiring Tom Thibodeau, trading young players and assets for Jimmy Butler, signing Jeff Teague and Taj Gibson, OR go half rebuild by firing Thibs, hiring someone more devoted to player development and incremental success (Tony Bennett, Brent Barry, Jay Wright, and Ryan Saunders would be my candidates), dealing veterans Taj Gibson and Jeff Teague to playoff contending teams in need of a starting caliber plugin in hopes of getting back expirings and a first-round pick or two, and trading Jimmy Butler for a top-eight pick in this year's draft, a future pick, and a useful role player or two -- Cleveland would potentially be the perfect trade partner for this as they showed real interest in Butler last summer and could offer Brooklyn's first-round pick in 2018, Cleveland's first-round pick in 2020, Larry Nance Jr., and Jordan Clarkson.

If you choose the former, as I'm sure most Wolves fans would, then you can't be afraid to spend money this off-season or be afraid to trade Andrew Wiggins. We must get better in a plethora of areas.

If you choose the latter, you're potentially a lottery team once again or fighting for the eighth-seed at very best for the next couple of seasons, but you might have salvaged your long-term window. You also probably lose a significant portion of credibility around the league as well as within your own fan base.