Minnesota Sports Forum

monsterpile wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:I'm a little worried about Ryan going forward as our coach. He is 32, 6 years younger then any other head coach. Was an end of the bench college player and never played in the NBA. Who had never been the top assistant on his team.

Like it or not he is going to have the stigma that he got the job because of his last name.

I am just thinking league wide he is going to have trouble early getting players to want to come and play for him. It's going to be a uphill battle. I hope he succeeds.

I'm a little worried too which is why I didn't want this out come but...

I remember John Wall had good things to say about him as did Andre Miller. Rubio spoke well of him. Sure he got the job partly because his dad was Flip but I think around the league he is considered a guy that earned his place on the league. Head coach? Idk but who else were they going to give it to? Nobody has really earned in on the staff. I don't think he is ready but like Pat Riley told JVG after his first year as an assistant if you help players win games they will allow you to coach them. We have no idea.

Meanwhile if he is the head coach going forward it's not like there haven't been a variety of people making the case some players didn't want to come here because of Thibs. Most of that was whether or not they would actually get an opportunity because of his rotations but even giving Thibs the benefit of the doubt I'm sure there was some issues there. If Ryan doesn't get in the way an helps guys some players won't have a problem with coming to play for him. If he is the head coach after this season I think it's likely he actually earned it.

Ya and i'm not saying he hasn't earned his spot in this league but he is the youngest NBA head coach in 40 years (Dave cowins was a player coach that year).

I think a lot of NBA coaching is respect and we'll see if a 32 year old, pretty much none basketball player who has never been a top assistant gets the respect from his players and his other assistants who probably think this should of been their chance to break through not this "kid"

kekgeek1 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:I'm a little worried about Ryan going forward as our coach. He is 32, 6 years younger then any other head coach. Was an end of the bench college player and never played in the NBA. Who had never been the top assistant on his team.

Like it or not he is going to have the stigma that he got the job because of his last name.

I am just thinking league wide he is going to have trouble early getting players to want to come and play for him. It's going to be a uphill battle. I hope he succeeds.

I'm a little worried too which is why I didn't want this out come but...

I remember John Wall had good things to say about him as did Andre Miller. Rubio spoke well of him. Sure he got the job partly because his dad was Flip but I think around the league he is considered a guy that earned his place on the league. Head coach? Idk but who else were they going to give it to? Nobody has really earned in on the staff. I don't think he is ready but like Pat Riley told JVG after his first year as an assistant if you help players win games they will allow you to coach them. We have no idea.

Meanwhile if he is the head coach going forward it's not like there haven't been a variety of people making the case some players didn't want to come here because of Thibs. Most of that was whether or not they would actually get an opportunity because of his rotations but even giving Thibs the benefit of the doubt I'm sure there was some issues there. If Ryan doesn't get in the way an helps guys some players won't have a problem with coming to play for him. If he is the head coach after this season I think it's likely he actually earned it.

Ya and i'm not saying he hasn't earned his spot in this league but he is the youngest NBA head coach in 40 years (Dave cowins was a player coach that year).

I think a lot of NBA coaching is respect and we'll see if a 32 year old, pretty much none basketball player who has never been a top assistant gets the respect from his players and his other assistants who probably think this should of been their chance to break through not this "kid"

Well none of the other guys have been a top aasistant. Strangely they still have Larry Greer Andy's brother still as an assistant. Ed P. Is the old guy then you have Malik Allen who isn't exactly old either and has been coaching less time than Ryan and John Lucas another guy that's a coaches's son but has paid some dues even before he quit playing. I'd assume they hire or promote at least someone to be an assistant as well probably will be someone younger. Ryan worked a year for Tubby Smith for the Gophers then started working for the Wizards. He has been in the league for nearly 10 years. He might be young but he has plenty of experience in the league. I've never heard any reports of someone in the league say he doesn't deserve his place as a coach. Again head coach? We will see but who was worthy? I think most people could be self aware enough Ryan also makes sense. I mean if they promoted up some other guy that wasn't older that would look bad for Ryan. I think everyone wants things to go well because that means you win.

The timing seems weird to me. Everyone on this Board knows I'm not a fan of Thibs and that's an understatement. But having failed to fire him at the beginning of the season in the midst of the Butler fiasco, I would have kept him for the remainder of the season and started fresh next season with a new front office and new head coach. Nevertheless, I've been ready to move on from Thibodeau for a long time, so let's see lies ahead.

I'll definitely be pulling for Saunders but there's nothing in his background to suggest he brings anything special to the job. He doesn't have Brad Stevens' reputation as a basketball genius. Brad Stevens was 37 when he became the Celtics head coach, but more importantly, Stevens had 6 years as a highly respected head coach of a division 1 college team. The 32-year old Saunders has nothing comparable in his background. But this is Glen Taylor. So of course he's thinking Saunders and Hoiberg since both are members of his inner circle of trusted basketball jock friends. In that case, he should just bring back McHale who did actually have success as an NBA head coach.

Yes, I'm happy Thibs is gone. But as I mentioned in a prior post a few weeks ago, whether firing Thibs turns out to be a plus depends on who is ultimately hired to replace him.

Why not fire thibs before the magic game? It would have given saunders a head start with a couple of winnable games? Now he gets the thunder as his first test.

Something must have happened not basketball related for an abrupt firing.

lipoli390 wrote:The timing seems weird to me. Everyone on this Board knows I'm not a fan of Thibs and that's an understatement. But having failed to fire him at the beginning of the season in the midst of the Butler fiasco, I would have kept him for the remainder of the season and started fresh next season with a new front office and new head coach. Nevertheless, I've been ready to move on from Thibodeau for a long time, so let's see lies ahead.

I'll definitely be pulling for Saunders but there's nothing in his background to suggest he brings anything special to the job. He doesn't have Brad Stevens' reputation as a basketball genius. Brad Stevens was 37 when he became the Celtics head coach, but more importantly, Stevens had 6 years as a highly respected head coach of a division 1 college team. The 32-year old Saunders has nothing comparable in his background. But this is Glen Taylor. So of course he's thinking Saunders and Hoiberg since both are members of his inner circle of trusted basketball jock friends. In that case, he should just bring back McHale who did actually have success as an NBA head coach.

Yes, I'm happy Thibs is gone. But as I mentioned in a prior post a few weeks ago, whether firing Thibs turns out to be a plus depends on who is ultimately hired to replace him.

I get the skepticism for sure. If the hire is Hoiberg I'm going to be disappointed. Ultimately I think they're giving up on this season. They're not going to get anyone worthwhile at this juncture so I think they're just giving Saunders a shot with very little risk involved. All reports are that he gets along with the players and works hard, maybe that translates. I'm just happy to have the last source of the negative vibe of the team out.

crazy-canuck wrote:Why not fire thibs before the magic game? It would have given saunders a head start with a couple of winnable games? Now he gets the thunder as his first test.

Something must have happened not basketball related for an abrupt firing.

I agree that there must be a backstory here -- some event that precipitate this move at this odd moment. Was it several players approaching Glen and saying, enough is enough? Or did Thibodeau have a tirade behind the scenes that served as the last straw. We all recall the reports of Thibodeau's heated argument with Layden last year in which Thibodeau purportedly through a chair through the goal window. I've heard from people inside the organization that the report was true, that things were thrown but that the glass office window wasn't shattered. A friend of mine who works for an IT firm did contract work for the Wolves and he recently told me that Thibodeau launched into a profanity-laced tirade against his colleague regarding a computor problem he was experiencing. So who knows. Maybe another recent tirade at Layden, a minority owner or perhaps Glen was the straw that broke camel's back.

I just have no confidence in Glen to make the right decision. The timing seems indicative of a clueless owner. Poor Ryan has some though games coming up, starting with the Thunder in OKC.

Spoels
Walton
And now Saunders

I think these 3 are the only ones in the league that became a head coach for the first time in the nba.

So it isnt exactly unprecedented. A young spoelstra would be nice.

This franchise is a terrible joke that keeps repeating itself. Glen needs to go.

Camden0916 wrote:This franchise is a terrible joke that keeps repeating itself. Glen needs to go.

This.

I don't think Ryan's the guy who will bench Wigs or others for popping long 2s. But I do think he'll be a refreshing change from the barking ogre.