Minnesota Sports Forum

Dane Moore: Naz Reid on Pat Bev: "He brings an intensity. Effort is big for him. He's contagious in a good way. He talks. He's in every spot he needs to be. With him doing that, he's able to tell the next guy what to do because he's doing what he's supposed to do... I love Pat already." 2 days ago - via Twitter DaneMooreNBA

Staying healthy is the only issue with Beverley. Otherwise, he's a true two-way defensive stalwart on the court. More importantly, he's a culture changer. He brings the sort of toughness or feistiness that this team has sorely lacked. He's the perfect addition to a team with young developing players like Edwards, McDaniels, Reid and Bolmaro. And I can see him impacting KAT and DLO as well.

From the short practice videos I've seen Edwards and Beverly are already two peas in a pod, and I can see them being hyper competitive as to who defends the hardest. He was a great final acquisition by the adulterer who shall not be named

It will be interesting. I feel like the last guy that truly changed the culture here was Cassell.

bleedspeed177 wrote:It will be interesting. I feel like the last guy that truly changed the culture here was Cassell.

You might be right. Butler, Gibson, and Thibs tried their best, but failed. PBev has his work cut out for him. We'll see if DLO, Ant, and KAT are tuning into his barking after the first 20 or 30 games, especially if he's doing it in street clothes from the bench while injured.

Q12543 wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:It will be interesting. I feel like the last guy that truly changed the culture here was Cassell.

You might be right. Butler, Gibson, and Thibs tried their best, but failed. PBev has his work cut out for him. We'll see if DLO, Ant, and KAT are tuning into his barking after the first 20 or 30 games, especially if he's doing it in street clothes from the bench while injured.

I think if someone actually changes the culture it will be Finch but having Beverly here and they have familiarity with each other it will certainly help.

monsterpile wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:It will be interesting. I feel like the last guy that truly changed the culture here was Cassell.

You might be right. Butler, Gibson, and Thibs tried their best, but failed. PBev has his work cut out for him. We'll see if DLO, Ant, and KAT are tuning into his barking after the first 20 or 30 games, especially if he's doing it in street clothes from the bench while injured.

I think if someone actually changes the culture it will be Finch but having Beverly here and they have familiarity with each other it will certainly help.

I think a coach can only do so much. What was this team's record with Sam Mitchell when KG played 20 minutes a night vs not?

bleedspeed177 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:It will be interesting. I feel like the last guy that truly changed the culture here was Cassell.

You might be right. Butler, Gibson, and Thibs tried their best, but failed. PBev has his work cut out for him. We'll see if DLO, Ant, and KAT are tuning into his barking after the first 20 or 30 games, especially if he's doing it in street clothes from the bench while injured.

I think if someone actually changes the culture it will be Finch but having Beverly here and they have familiarity with each other it will certainly help.

I think a coach can only do so much. What was this team's record with Sam Mitchell when KG played 20 minutes a night vs not?

So what made the Knicks turnaround last year? Atlanta Hawks?

monsterpile wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:It will be interesting. I feel like the last guy that truly changed the culture here was Cassell.

You might be right. Butler, Gibson, and Thibs tried their best, but failed. PBev has his work cut out for him. We'll see if DLO, Ant, and KAT are tuning into his barking after the first 20 or 30 games, especially if he's doing it in street clothes from the bench while injured.

I think if someone actually changes the culture it will be Finch but having Beverly here and they have familiarity with each other it will certainly help.

I think a coach can only do so much. What was this team's record with Sam Mitchell when KG played 20 minutes a night vs not?

So what made the Knicks turnaround last year? Atlanta Hawks?

The Knicks turned around because you had a coach and players that appeared to be completely on the same page when it comes to playing defense. Atlanta brought on board Clint Capela, who is one of the best centers in the NBA in my opinion and just an awesome fit with the other pieces on that squad.

The problem with the Wolves for this past decade is that rarely do we have players that are willing to be coached up on defense. Try as Thibs did, he couldn't muster the same intensity he got from his Bulls and Knicks teams. May be we're at a tipping point now. May be DLO and KAT are sick of being panned for their poor defense. May be PBev, Prince, Okogie, Vando, and McDaniels "flood the system" with enough competent defenders that it overcomes the poor effort and decision making by our stars. May be Edwards can't help but be solid on defense because he's one of the most physically imposing and athletic wings in the league. May be things finally change. May be.

Q12543 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:It will be interesting. I feel like the last guy that truly changed the culture here was Cassell.

You might be right. Butler, Gibson, and Thibs tried their best, but failed. PBev has his work cut out for him. We'll see if DLO, Ant, and KAT are tuning into his barking after the first 20 or 30 games, especially if he's doing it in street clothes from the bench while injured.

I think if someone actually changes the culture it will be Finch but having Beverly here and they have familiarity with each other it will certainly help.

I think a coach can only do so much. What was this team's record with Sam Mitchell when KG played 20 minutes a night vs not?

So what made the Knicks turnaround last year? Atlanta Hawks?

The Knicks turned around because you had a coach and players that appeared to be completely on the same page when it comes to playing defense. Atlanta brought on board Clint Capela, who is one of the best centers in the NBA in my opinion and just an awesome fit with the other pieces on that squad.

The problem with the Wolves for this past decade is that rarely do we have players that are willing to be coached up on defense. Try as Thibs did, he couldn't muster the same intensity he got from his Bulls and Knicks teams. May be we're at a tipping point now. May be DLO and KAT are sick of being panned for their poor defense. May be PBev, Prince, Okogie, Vando, and McDaniels "flood the system" with enough competent defenders that it overcomes the poor effort and decision making by our stars. May be Edwards can't help but be solid on defense because he's one of the most physically imposing and athletic wings in the league. May be things finally change. May be.

Do another coach wouldn't have done what Thibs did then correct?

Atlanta had the same roster and we're struggling and they fired Lloyd Pierce and ended up in the conference finals. Coaching had nothing to do with that?

Q12543 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:It will be interesting. I feel like the last guy that truly changed the culture here was Cassell.

You might be right. Butler, Gibson, and Thibs tried their best, but failed. PBev has his work cut out for him. We'll see if DLO, Ant, and KAT are tuning into his barking after the first 20 or 30 games, especially if he's doing it in street clothes from the bench while injured.

I think if someone actually changes the culture it will be Finch but having Beverly here and they have familiarity with each other it will certainly help.

I think a coach can only do so much. What was this team's record with Sam Mitchell when KG played 20 minutes a night vs not?

So what made the Knicks turnaround last year? Atlanta Hawks?

The Knicks turned around because you had a coach and players that appeared to be completely on the same page when it comes to playing defense. Atlanta brought on board Clint Capela, who is one of the best centers in the NBA in my opinion and just an awesome fit with the other pieces on that squad.

The problem with the Wolves for this past decade is that rarely do we have players that are willing to be coached up on defense. Try as Thibs did, he couldn't muster the same intensity he got from his Bulls and Knicks teams. May be we're at a tipping point now. May be DLO and KAT are sick of being panned for their poor defense. May be PBev, Prince, Okogie, Vando, and McDaniels "flood the system" with enough competent defenders that it overcomes the poor effort and decision making by our stars. May be Edwards can't help but be solid on defense because he's one of the most physically imposing and athletic wings in the league. May be things finally change. May be.

It's obviously a combination of coach and players, but I think coaching matters a lot. Hard to say how much.

It's worth noting that Thibs the PBO didn't help Thibs the head coach much swapping Ricky for Teague and signing Jamal Crawford. :) Maybe he had an inflated sense of what he could do as head coach. When it comes to players, some of it is a willingness to be coached up on defense, but a lot of it is simply defensive talent. It helped in Chicago to have Noah, Deng and Gibson -- three defensive stalwarts. They were going to be great defenders under any head coach. The same goes for Embiid and Thybulle in Philadelphia.