Minnesota Sports Forum

WildWolf2813 wrote:Watching Stephenson excel again at Indiana when we didn't see any of this here just bothers me. We can never find gems that can meaningfully contribute to this team. Before you know it, every guy in our rotation will be someone we had to spend a high pick on.

It's one of the most underrated cause of our long playoff drought - the inability to find diamonds in the rough or make lemonade out of others' lemons. It just NEVER happens with us.

60WinTim wrote:Note to self: don't go after Roberson in free agency!

Boy, talk about a pure defensive specialist. I've never seen hack-a-(name your player) with a wing. But it was a great strategic move by Houston.

Joe Johnson!!!! Gordon who? Johnson is Father Time.

thedoper wrote:Joe Johnson!!!! Gordon who? Johnson is Father Time.

he has been incredible once again this series

also jj reddick is pricing his way down a bit

BloopOracle wrote:also jj reddick is pricing his way down a bit

Lol. I was thinking the exact same thing, Boop! I love watching the way the Jazz play. It's like Memphis. Tough teams that share the ball.

lipoli390 wrote:

thedoper wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:Wiggins has plenty of length to be a top defender. Recall that he was reported to have grown an inch after his first year here. His athleticism and length are more than enough to make him a top defender. It's all about getting physically stronger AND his motor. I have no doubt he'll get a lot stronger and bulkier given his young age. It's the motor I worry about. But I'm not convinced yet that the motor isn't there.

Leonard has 40 lbs on Wiggins and an 8 cm wingspan. I just don't want him putting on that kind of weight personally, and his arms aren't going to grow 4cm a piece. He's not going to ever be able to body up guys the way Leonard does, regardless of his motor. His defensive abilities will always be built aroubd speed and positioning and not power.

You don't need Leonard's build to be a great wing defender. Quickness, athleticism, length, intelligence and desire/intensity tell the tale. There is no physical reason Wiggins can't become a great defender. It's up to him.

Yep. There wasn't anything very special about Bruce Bowen athletically. Otto Porter doesn't look much different to me physically than Wiggins. Again comparing Wiggins to a DPOY guy in Leonard that's a damn high bar. He doesn't have to get there to be a really good 2 way player. I'd be interested if Cool would give some insight on how he would coach a player to be a better defender. We hear and see plenty of guys working on their offensive games so that seems easier to grasp. What is it really that makes a guy become a lock down guy? It's a combination of things but it also doesn't just happen.

It's hindsight, but I sure wish Thibs had signed Joe Johnson last summer. Very reasonable contract -- only a 2-year deal at $11 million this season and $10.5 million next season. Also wish we had signed DeWayne Dedmon. That would have been a low-risk/high-reward FA signing. I'm not saying I thought of these things last summer. But the Wolves have a big highly paid staff of professionals, starting with Thibs and Layden and including many others. It's about time they made a savvy move or two instead of just the simple rote decisions that message board rubes like us come up with in our spare time. Seriously!

I found myself praising Thibs as PBO in another thread recently based on the fact that he and Layden didn't do anything stupid this past year. Think about that. As Wolves fans we've been conditioned over the years to expect mediocrity at best and live in fear of idiocy from our team's front offices. We'll see what we get from Thibs and Layden this summer. But Layden's only experience as head of basketball operations with the Knicks was a unmitigated disaster. And Thibs has never even served in an NBA front office much less as head of basketball operations. So we'll see. I'll hope for the best, but just to protect myself from disappointment I should probably expect the worst.

lipoli390 wrote:It's hindsight, but I sure wish Thibs had signed Joe Johnson last summer. Very reasonable contract -- only a 2-year deal at $11 million this season and $10.5 million next season. Also wish we had signed DeWayne Dedmon. That would have been a low-risk/high-reward FA signing. I'm not saying I thought of these things last summer. But the Wolves have a big highly paid staff of professionals, starting with Thibs and Layden and including many others. It's about time they made a savvy move or two instead of just the simple rote decisions that message board rubes like us come up with in our spare time. Seriously!

I found myself praising Thibs as PBO in another thread recently based on the fact that he and Layden didn't do anything stupid this past year. Think about that. As Wolves fans we've been conditioned over the years to expect mediocrity at best and live in fear of idiocy from our team's front offices. We'll see what we get from Thibs and Layden this summer. But Layden's only experience as head of basketball operations with the Knicks was a unmitigated disaster. And Thibs has never even served in an NBA front office much less as head of basketball operations. So we'll see. I'll hope for the best, but just to protect myself from disappointment I should probably expect the worst.

Joe Johnson would of made sense but not sure about dedmon would he be as productive when he is around young unproven players compared to the spurs?

thedoper wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:Wiggins has plenty of length to be a top defender. Recall that he was reported to have grown an inch after his first year here. His athleticism and length are more than enough to make him a top defender. It's all about getting physically stronger AND his motor. I have no doubt he'll get a lot stronger and bulkier given his young age. It's the motor I worry about. But I'm not convinced yet that the motor isn't there.

Leonard has 40 lbs on Wiggins and an 8 cm wingspan. I just don't want him putting on that kind of weight personally, and his arms aren't going to grow 4cm a piece. He's not going to ever be able to body up guys the way Leonard does, regardless of his motor. His defensive abilities will always be built aroubd speed and positioning and not power.

We aren't seriously at the point on this board that we are contemplating 4 cm. An inch and a half isn't that defining.