Minnesota Sports Forum

Q12543 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

Camden0916 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Camden wrote:

Brooklyn_Wolves wrote:Thibs is a checkers player compared to Pop. Kawhi will take Wiggins to school, Green can limit Zach. They will come in here, talk about how good our young talent is, then proceed to give us a lesson of real basketball. Spurs is the last team we could beat. Our chances vs Warriors are much greater. What in the last 3 games gave you so much hope. A miracle win over Hornets? I don't see much improvement. Going down to mediocre NYK team twice in a row was shocking.

You're not wrong for saying any of this. The Spurs are a different beast. They're led by arguably the best coach in NBA history. Do we have the talent to beat them in a regular season game in December at home? I'd argue yes, but it won't be easy. We've also seen Wiggins decide to show up when the individual matchup is worthy of his energy. I don't think LaVine will have any trouble scoring on Green, though. And Towns is more than likely going to get his. But can they play team-oriented basketball on both ends of the floor for 48 minutes? Can the bench continue this mini spurt of productivity? That will decide if we have a chance to win or if we're embarrassed on our own floor before the fourth quarter even starts.

Cam got it right. I wouldn't put money on the Wolves beating the Spurs, but playing at home the Wolves definitely have a chance. Brooklyn - I'm not sure when Green became a defensive stopper. By the way, if Thibs is a checkers caliber head coach compared to Pop then Glen Taylor really did screw up big time hiring him.

Lip, I can't change your mind on the Thibodeau topic, but I know you have a high level of respect for Popovich. Here's Popovich post-game after the Thibs-led Bulls routed the Spurs 104-81 on January 22, 2015 after they had lost six of their last eight games. Media speculation was that Thibs had lost the team. I'd post the quote from Pop, but I think you get more from it by watching the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il1a0I7npTg

It's understandable but Wolves fans have gotten so beaten up from the losing and lack of meeting expectations that they/we can't even enjoy a win like last night even though there were some things that didn't go their way late in that game as well. The Hornets made some crazy shots. The Wolves missed some easy looks. Heck that overtime theybstarted put hot and the Hornets came back and kept things interesting. The Wolves could have easily folded in OT and lost. They didn't. Do Inexpect them to beat the Spurs? No but that's fine if they don't there are other games. OMO it's a bonus if they beat a team like the Spurs, GS, Cavs or even the Clippers.

Well, normally it is a bonus when we beat these kinds of teams Monster, but right now if we have any hope of respectability this year, we actually need to win some of these games against tough competition. Piling up 14 losses in the first 20 games was a massive hole we dug. Beating Philly or some injury-riddled squad late in the season won't make up for it!

Well my guess is that we will get at least one. It seems like even the crappy Wolves teams pulled out at least one win against one of the top tier teams every year so this team with actual talent should be able to get a couple. They just need to start at least playing .500 ball and then go a on a win run. At this point I am just hoping for a fairly respectable finish of something near 40 wins. Anything more than that is great. I think it's possible they can do it but I was never a playoffs or bust this year guy anyway.

Interesting comments from Popovich on Thibs. No surprise. He always vigorously defends other head coaches. And perhaps he was right. Nevertheless, you're right that you can't change my mind on Thibs and neither can Pop. The only one who can change my current views of Thibs is Thibs himself based on what he's able to get out of this team going forward. I actually do believe we've seen some good signs the past few games. And as I mentioned in prior post, I can see things possibly turning around in the next 30 days. I don't like Thibs' style and I'm not impressed by the job he's done here so far. But the players just need to suck it up at this point and adapt. They need to become as tough and competitive as their head coach. That's what I've seen recently from KAT, Zach, Cole and Bazz. I want to see more of that from more of our guys.

lipoli390 wrote:Interesting comments from Popovich on Thibs. No surprise. He always vigorously defends other head coaches. And perhaps he was right. Nevertheless, you're right that you can't change my mind on Thibs and neither can Pop. The only one who can change my current views of Thibs is Thibs himself based on what he's able to get out of this team going forward. I actually do believe we've seen some good signs the past few games. And as I mentioned in prior post, I can see things possibly turning around in the next 30 days. I don't like Thibs' style and I'm not impressed by the job he's done here so far. But the players just need to suck it up at this point and adapt. They need to become as tough and competitive as their head coach. That's what I've seen recently from KAT, Zach, Cole and Bazz. I want to see more of that from more of our guys.

Lip I do think Thibs has some adjusting to do as well in how he utilizes players and all kinds of stuff. I think Thibs is obviously very process oriented but I've also gotten the felling he looks for innovation too. He isn't stuck in just what he was doing 5 years ago or whatever. When it comes to rotations and some general game planning it seems like a lot of coaches try and keep a lot of the things the same espcially early to try and give some consistency. You see a lot of teams starting a player farther down the bench to keep guys in their role. Our old pal Anthony Bennett got a start fresh back from the d-league for the Nets last Saturday night and actually did something. Lol

Anyway it's a results league and Sayijg Thibs has to win you over with results seems pretty fair.

lipoli390 wrote:
Cam got it right. I wouldn't put money on the Wolves beating the Spurs, but playing at home the Wolves definitely have a chance. Brooklyn - I'm not sure when Green became a defensive stopper. By the way, if Thibs is a checkers caliber head coach compared to Pop then Glen Taylor really did screw up big time hiring him.

I think that if there is anyone among two guards besides Tony Allen that can be called defensive stopper, it's Danny Green. You won't be ranked to top 5 in defensive RPM for 4 straight seasons in your position without
some real defensive skills. Danny Green has been also only guard in last four seasons that has had multiple seasons steals and blocks percentage 2,0 or higher in last four seasons. He has done that three times. I always remember how he swatted several times LeBron shot attempts during those two finals series San Antonio and Miami played against each other.