Minnesota Sports Forum

longstrangetrip wrote:Excellent post, lipoli, summarizing why Flip should be favoring AB over Thad in doling out PF minutes in this lost year...I agree completely. I may be more disappointed in AB's year than anybody, because I had such high expectations for him coming into the season. But I still see the terrific physical gifts he possesses, and see him lingering around the basket where he belongs more frequently lately. Let's see what this guy has. If AB is not the answer, Flip will know he needs to target a PF in free agency.

Bennett is averaging 17 minutes per game over 35 games. I think we have all seen plenty of AB and will likely continue to do so with our dearth of bigs, with our without Young. Any trade involving Young should be based solely on what assets we can get in return as opposed to how it impacts AB.

As you know, I'm not a big believer in the "more minutes automatically = more development" philosophy.

Q12543 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:Excellent post, lipoli, summarizing why Flip should be favoring AB over Thad in doling out PF minutes in this lost year...I agree completely. I may be more disappointed in AB's year than anybody, because I had such high expectations for him coming into the season. But I still see the terrific physical gifts he possesses, and see him lingering around the basket where he belongs more frequently lately. Let's see what this guy has. If AB is not the answer, Flip will know he needs to target a PF in free agency.

Bennett is averaging 17 minutes per game over 35 games. I think we have all seen plenty of AB and will likely continue to do so with our dearth of bigs, with our without Young. Any trade involving Young should be based solely on what assets we can get in return as opposed to how it impacts AB.

As you know, I'm not a big believer in the "more minutes automatically = more development" philosophy.

No minutes equals no development and less than 20 a game is not enough to develop a player either. When you have to double a player's minutes to get their Per 36 stats, they aren't playing enough for any numbers to carry significant weight. Some players need the time to get in a rhythm more than anything and that requires more dedication than his current level of playing time. I think the main argument is given how bad we are and the fact that Thad isn't playing that much better, why not roll out Bennett and see if he can be better with more leash than he's been given to date? We literally can't get worse because we haven't won a game in a month. Give him a shot before just banishing him to the bench because he's hasn't been good in limited action.

khans2k5 wrote:No minutes equals no development and less than 20 a game is not enough to develop a player either. When you have to double a player's minutes to get their Per 36 stats, they aren't playing enough for any numbers to carry significant weight. Some players need the time to get in a rhythm more than anything and that requires more dedication than his current level of playing time. I think the main argument is given how bad we are and the fact that Thad isn't playing that much better, why not roll out Bennett and see if he can be better with more leash than he's been given to date? We literally can't get worse because we haven't won a game in a month. Give him a shot before just banishing him to the bench because he's hasn't been good in limited action.

I agree with this. The only thing I wonder is if there is something we don't know. Example: If Bennett has an attitude problem or something - then that might explain why he's not getting run over Thad. On the surface, it doesn't make sense to have a former #1 overall not getting more minutes on a team this bad. But - I don't know what I don't know.

khans2k5 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:Excellent post, lipoli, summarizing why Flip should be favoring AB over Thad in doling out PF minutes in this lost year...I agree completely. I may be more disappointed in AB's year than anybody, because I had such high expectations for him coming into the season. But I still see the terrific physical gifts he possesses, and see him lingering around the basket where he belongs more frequently lately. Let's see what this guy has. If AB is not the answer, Flip will know he needs to target a PF in free agency.

Bennett is averaging 17 minutes per game over 35 games. I think we have all seen plenty of AB and will likely continue to do so with our dearth of bigs, with our without Young. Any trade involving Young should be based solely on what assets we can get in return as opposed to how it impacts AB.

As you know, I'm not a big believer in the "more minutes automatically = more development" philosophy.

No minutes equals no development and less than 20 a game is not enough to develop a player either. When you have to double a player's minutes to get their Per 36 stats, they aren't playing enough for any numbers to carry significant weight. Some players need the time to get in a rhythm more than anything and that requires more dedication than his current level of playing time. I think the main argument is given how bad we are and the fact that Thad isn't playing that much better, why not roll out Bennett and see if he can be better with more leash than he's been given to date? We literally can't get worse because we haven't won a game in a month. Give him a shot before just banishing him to the bench because he's hasn't been good in limited action.

Care to offer some evidence to back this up?

I can offer countless examples of players that eventually became very good players without playing 20+ minutes per game early in their career. And most of the ones that did, actually EARNED it!

khans2k5 wrote:

Camden wrote:"If the goal is to test and improve our young guys as part of a rebuilding effort, then playing Bennett more than Thad makes more sense."

So, to help the growth/development of Wiggins/Dieng/Muhammad/LaVine, let's throw in a worse player around them and hope that works. That's logical. Young players NEED vets around them on the floor. It doesn't matter what your opinion on Thad, or Mo, is anymore. Their presence has been good for the young guys and there's no reason to disturb that by putting a clueless Bennett on the floor with them.

What on earth has Thad done to benefit the young players? He doesn't play hard. He gambles on defense instead of playing with fundamentals. He doesn't rebound. He does nothing in terms of help defense. The only real argument for him is his 2.5 APG's and empty scoring stats off of iso's and poor jumpers and that just isn't a good enough reason to say he is a benefit to the young guys. There is no way his play on the court has made his teammates better to the point where it is more worth it to postpone AB's development further by giving him limited minutes. I don't care how bad Bennett is, Thad is not playing that much better and he is not making his teammates better to the point where he
Well put. Thad really is not benefiting the young guys.

PorkChop wrote:The fact that Thad is even being compared to a second year player that hasnt figured it out yet is a real testament to Youngs ineptitude.
Is there tangible evidence that Thaddeus has been a viable veteran presence?

needs to be on the floor for the development of others.

Great point.

Q12543 wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:Excellent post, lipoli, summarizing why Flip should be favoring AB over Thad in doling out PF minutes in this lost year...I agree completely. I may be more disappointed in AB's year than anybody, because I had such high expectations for him coming into the season. But I still see the terrific physical gifts he possesses, and see him lingering around the basket where he belongs more frequently lately. Let's see what this guy has. If AB is not the answer, Flip will know he needs to target a PF in free agency.

Bennett is averaging 17 minutes per game over 35 games. I think we have all seen plenty of AB and will likely continue to do so with our dearth of bigs, with our without Young. Any trade involving Young should be based solely on what assets we can get in return as opposed to how it impacts AB.

As you know, I'm not a big believer in the "more minutes automatically = more development" philosophy.

No minutes equals no development and less than 20 a game is not enough to develop a player either. When you have to double a player's minutes to get their Per 36 stats, they aren't playing enough for any numbers to carry significant weight. Some players need the time to get in a rhythm more than anything and that requires more dedication than his current level of playing time. I think the main argument is given how bad we are and the fact that Thad isn't playing that much better, why not roll out Bennett and see if he can be better with more leash than he's been given to date? We literally can't get worse because we haven't won a game in a month. Give him a shot before just banishing him to the bench because he's hasn't been good in limited action.

Care to offer some evidence to back this up?

I can offer countless examples of players that eventually became very good players without playing 20+ minutes per game early in their career. And most of the ones that did, actually EARNED it!

A lot of players have developed playing under 20 minutes per game...during the offseason. I for one don't care to wait for another offseason not knowing what he can do with real minutes. Nobody plays 20 MPG's and gets so much better with that little playing time that they take a starter's minutes in the same season. Please name someone who was a sub 20 MPG at the beginning of a year who earned rotation level minutes on a good team and not a team looking to get more information of what they have for personnel going into the offseason. You'll find most of the development comes during the offseason, but they have further to go if they don't have enough game experience. What is a legitimate argument to not do it because we haven't won a game in a month and Thad is not being a good veteran leader for this Rubio-less squad? We've seen what Thad does with starters minutes and it is far from anything special. We haven't really seen it from Bennett and he is from a physical standpoint a better matchup in the starting lineup. How is Thad starting benefitting this organization moving forward? He's blocking a potential development opportunity while contributing nothing towards winning or leadership.

Q12543 wrote:
Bennett is averaging 17 minutes per game over 35 games. I think we have all seen plenty of AB and will likely continue to do so with our dearth of bigs, with our without Young. Any trade involving Young should be based solely on what assets we can get in return as opposed to how it impacts AB.

As you know, I'm not a big believer in the "more minutes automatically = more development" philosophy.

Nothing is automatic, but better and more consistent minutes MIGHT help his development. I just hope that when Pek, Martin & Rubio are back that he get some run with them. That might help him more than anything.

I hate that some of you are still using that Bennett's a former No. 1 overall pick as a reason why he has potential. It means absolutely nothing.

Hmm... Young/Daniels for Fields/James Johnson might get a deal done.

Camden0916 wrote:I hate that some of you are still using that Bennett's a former No. 1 overall pick as a reason why he has potential. It means absolutely nothing.

And we hate how you continue to trash Bennett at every turn while still sticking with Thad when Thad has played like complete and utter garbage this year. Regardless of being a number 1 pick or not, you don't throw someone in the dumpster with less than 2 years under their belt. Too many players get better in years 3, 4 and 5 to be that stupid. He's 21, not 23-24-25.