Minnesota Sports Forum

To many casual fans' surprise, the 40-year old Udonis Haslem's name came up recently for being put into a recent Heat game and promptly getting into a scuffle with Dwight Howard. I'm sure many were shocked that he was still on an active NBA roster. Yet Miami has kept him around these last few years purely for his mentorship and showing others the Miami Heat way of doing things. They swear by him down there.

In other words, he personifies the Mentorship and Culture (M&C from here on out) concepts that we sometimes debate here in terms of their veracity.

I think guys like Ed Davis and Ricky Rubio were certainly brought to the Wolves partially for M&C reasons. The problem is that unlike Haslem, neither actually have a ring.

I believe that one of Rosas' priorities this offseason is to upgrade the M&C portion of the roster. Ed Davis will be an unrestricted free agent. My preference would be for us to replace him with someone that has similar credibility in the lockerroom AND has done battle as part of a title team at some point.

Thoughts on a) whether you think this makes any difference whatsoever, and b) if so, who would be a cheap-ish vet to target for our Chief M&C Officer role?

Q12543 wrote:To many casual fans' surprise, the 40-year old Udonis Haslem's name came up recently for being put into a recent Heat game and promptly getting into a scuffle with Dwight Howard. I'm sure many were shocked that he was still on an active NBA roster. Yet Miami has kept him around these last few years purely for his mentorship and showing others the Miami Heat way of doing things. They swear by him down there.

In other words, he personifies the Mentorship and Culture (M&C from here on out) concepts that we sometimes debate here in terms of their veracity.

I think guys like Ed Davis and Ricky Rubio were certainly brought to the Wolves partially for M&C reasons. The problem is that unlike Haslem, neither actually have a ring.

I believe that one of Rosas' priorities this offseason is to upgrade the M&C portion of the roster. Ed Davis will be an unrestricted free agent. My preference would be for us to replace him with someone that has similar credibility in the lockerroom AND has done battle as part of a title team at some point.

Thoughts on a) whether you think this makes any difference whatsoever, and b) if so, who would be a cheap-ish vet to target for our Chief M&C Officer role?

I'm on record (many, many times) that the Wolves just don't have a lot of guys with experience playing "winning basketball."
And I think a seasoned veteran could help set the tone in some ways teaching young guys what's most important. Heck, Towns still talks glowingly about Garnett in that role, if only briefly.

But a couple of caveats:

- Haslem has been with Miami since 2004. Spoelstra has been there for 15+ years. Riley is approaching 25 years. It's easier to push a culture... when a culture is actually established and proven to be successful.
- That guy has to have some ability to play, or else it's easier to tune him out.

I absolutely loathe them as people and players, but I do think somebody like the Morris Twins would have a place on the Wolves. By all accounts, there are reasons why both are in LA playing for each of the contenders there... I don't think they're the type to suddenly accept a losing culture. BUT... they came to mind as "types" of players that could possibly make a difference.

I remember Andrei Kirilenko being one of the most underrated signings for the Wolves back in the day. I would think that type of guy would be a huge benefit here.

bleedspeed177 wrote:I remember Andrei Kirilenko being one of the most underrated signings for the Wolves back in the day. I would think that type of guy would be a huge benefit here.

Well, Kirilenko was actually a really good player still. I'm talking about potentially finding someone that may not even be able to play that effectively anymore, but carries a big stick in the lockerroom and personifies all of the habits needed to create winning culture. Its basically an Ed Davis or Anthony Tolliver with a ring.

Q12543 wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:I remember Andrei Kirilenko being one of the most underrated signings for the Wolves back in the day. I would think that type of guy would be a huge benefit here.

Well, Kirilenko was actually a really good player still. I'm talking about potentially finding someone that may not even be able to play that effectively anymore, but carries a big stick in the lockerroom and personifies all of the habits needed to create winning culture. Its basically an Ed Davis or Anthony Tolliver with a ring.

I know this does not fit your champion criteria but I'm predicting JJ Reddick will be a wolf next year. He almost signed under flip. He mentioned Rosas presentation to him when he was a FA 2 years ago was the most impressive thing he has ever had. He is now a minimum player and I'm predicting he will be a wolf

Q12543 wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:I remember Andrei Kirilenko being one of the most underrated signings for the Wolves back in the day. I would think that type of guy would be a huge benefit here.

Well, Kirilenko was actually a really good player still. I'm talking about potentially finding someone that may not even be able to play that effectively anymore, but carries a big stick in the lockerroom and personifies all of the habits needed to create winning culture. Its basically an Ed Davis or Anthony Tolliver with a ring.

Jared Dudley.

Although I think he digs the LA area too much. He's DEFINITELY been angling for a 2nd career as an NBA talking head for years now.

What players do you think fit this criteria Q. Can't see Haslem, Ariza, Iggy playing here. Who else fits that culture signing

kekgeek1 wrote:What players do you think fit this criteria Q. Can't see Haslem, Ariza, Iggy playing here. Who else fits that culture signing

Not sure, that's why I threw it out there to see what kind of ideas people had. Danny Green is a UFA, but he still seems too damn good for us to be able to sign.

Dudley is not a bad idea although he really didn't contribute a ton to the Laker title. Why not Iggy? Miami has a $15M team option, are they really going to pick that up? He's kind of toast these days. He'd be an awesome mentor to McDaniels.

kekgeek1 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:I remember Andrei Kirilenko being one of the most underrated signings for the Wolves back in the day. I would think that type of guy would be a huge benefit here.

Well, Kirilenko was actually a really good player still. I'm talking about potentially finding someone that may not even be able to play that effectively anymore, but carries a big stick in the lockerroom and personifies all of the habits needed to create winning culture. Its basically an Ed Davis or Anthony Tolliver with a ring.

I know this does not fit your champion criteria but I'm predicting JJ Reddick will be a wolf next year. He almost signed under flip. He mentioned Rosas presentation to him when he was a FA 2 years ago was the most impressive thing he has ever had. He is now a minimum player and I'm predicting he will be a wolf

I question whether he's a minimum player... and I don't know if he plays for the minimum. I think those two things are connected. It's no secret that Redick has sucked this season. And... it MIGHT not be a coincidence that he's been unhappy this season.

He signed on with a supposedly surging young team -- and it failed. Meanwhile, he was upset he was so far removed from his kids in Brooklyn. Do we really think he's signing in another similar situation so far away from his kids again?

There's a price for those services. And it's not the minimum... he can make that much off the court with his kids in the next room. So if he takes the minimum, I think it's as a ring chaser in Brooklyn, Philly, NY... where he gets the family + championship shot.

Marc Gasol comes to mind