Minnesota Sports Forum

Fairly good read. Sounds like he re-hired scout Zarko Durisic and plans to be very inclusive and willing to be flexible, while staying out of the way of Finch and the players, but also with an open door.

https://theathletic.com/2873325/2021/10/07/sachin-gupta-tries-to-steady-timberwolves-after-tumultuous-start-to-training-camp/?source=fbpcadsbc&ad_id=23848594198930092&fbclid=IwAR29oT09WPq9hXKXbsILjfNLF0_hzLbR1y2R15v_ckZSx7nR18OUwtH9wSs

Here's the thing that I can't comprehend about Zarko Durisic... He worked for Minnesota for years. What did he contribute to the organization to be thought so highly of? Is there even a singular scouting report that we could point to that has his fingerprints on it? I don't know.

Another article on Gupta from The Athletic (a bit older, but even better, and gives you a good idea of his background and the respect/intelligence he brings.

https://theathletic.com/1275020/2019/10/10/rodeos-trade-machines-and-pick-swaps-inside-sachin-guptas-road-to-minnesota/

""He's the kindest person ever," Johnson said. "He's got a great heart. And he's so freaking smart that when you're around him, you don't even know it."

Gupta's quiet nature and unwillingness to shout above the noise has been known to be confusing in his early days in an organization. In packed conference rooms before a draft or a trade deadline, he has been known to say very little while he gauges the rest of the room and listens to the views of others.

Will Weaver, a former assistant coach with the 76ers who now coaches in Australia, recalled a meeting with Hinkie, Gupta and scouting director Vince Rozman, that was discussing a major hire that needed to be made. One by one, each person in the room offered up his thoughts on the right path forward. Then Gupta chimed in.

"It was far and away the best idea," Weaver said. "So obviously the best idea. We all just sat there dumbfounded and Sam's like, 'You never get to go last again. We just wasted 45 minutes with our average ideas. You go first and we can move on to other stuff.'"

Hinkie has often said the majority of his best ideas were influenced by Gupta. "He was the driving force behind all the good ones," Hinkie told The Athletic. "He's so well respected, you wouldn't think of doing something without asking what he thinks."


Even though he was hired to build the Rockets analytics department, it wasn't long before he was pitching trade ideas, giving input on roster decisions and getting involved in all parts of basketball operations.

"After a while we would just say, 'OK, Sachin's gonna figure this out,'" Johnson said with a laugh."

Camden wrote:Here's the thing that I can't comprehend about Zarko Durisic... He worked for Minnesota for years. What did he contribute to the organization to be thought so highly of? Is there even a singular scouting report that we could point to that has his fingerprints on it? I don't know.

I was thinking the same thing, Cam. Like him or not, I think Rosas was making some tough decisions that were long overdue and necessary to turn this franchise around. The basketball organization has been run for a long time by a lot of nice guys who weren't very good. We'll see. Gupta is smart and appears to be highly respected around the League. So I'm not going hold bringing Zarko back against him. But if he's going to change this organization's losing culture, he'll have to make some tough decisions and that might mean letting some really nice guys go and replacing them with guys who are more effective.

Here's my favorite excerpt from the article on Gupta:

From a philosophy standpoint, Gupta said he will be nimble. Rosas, who had more of a traditional scouting background on his way to the top job, had a more defined system built on playing small and fast and shooting a lot of 3s and layups. He was so committed to that system that the Wolves ran it in the first year of his tenure even though they did not have the shooters to do it properly.

Gupta plans to be more flexible and play to the roster's strengths. He said with Finch as the head coach and the roster they have assembled, the Wolves will continue to focus on pace and space and emphasize defensive improvement as the keys to being competitive this season. But if they need to pivot, they will.

"I'm not dogmatic about anything," he said. "I want to find the best answers based the information in front of me. As variables change, as information changes, as rules change, I want to reassess those philosophies. They're not rigid. They're not written in stone."

Begin nimble and adapting decision-making to reflect changing variables and information. That's what good organizations do.

lipoli390 wrote:Here's my favorite excerpt from the article on Gupta:

From a philosophy standpoint, Gupta said he will be nimble. Rosas, who had more of a traditional scouting background on his way to the top job, had a more defined system built on playing small and fast and shooting a lot of 3s and layups. He was so committed to that system that the Wolves ran it in the first year of his tenure even though they did not have the shooters to do it properly.

Gupta plans to be more flexible and play to the roster's strengths. He said with Finch as the head coach and the roster they have assembled, the Wolves will continue to focus on pace and space and emphasize defensive improvement as the keys to being competitive this season. But if they need to pivot, they will.

"I'm not dogmatic about anything," he said. "I want to find the best answers based the information in front of me. As variables change, as information changes, as rules change, I want to reassess those philosophies. They're not rigid. They're not written in stone."

Begin nimble and adapting decision-making to reflect changing variables and information. That's what good organizations do.

Good stuff. It did feel like Rosas sort of forced a system down Ryan's throat that didn't fit the players much at all at the time. Listening and humility - two of the most valuable qualities in people that ultimately end up being the best long-term managers and leaders. It seems like Gupta is the real deal.

Q12543 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:Here's my favorite excerpt from the article on Gupta:

From a philosophy standpoint, Gupta said he will be nimble. Rosas, who had more of a traditional scouting background on his way to the top job, had a more defined system built on playing small and fast and shooting a lot of 3s and layups. He was so committed to that system that the Wolves ran it in the first year of his tenure even though they did not have the shooters to do it properly.

Gupta plans to be more flexible and play to the roster's strengths. He said with Finch as the head coach and the roster they have assembled, the Wolves will continue to focus on pace and space and emphasize defensive improvement as the keys to being competitive this season. But if they need to pivot, they will.

"I'm not dogmatic about anything," he said. "I want to find the best answers based the information in front of me. As variables change, as information changes, as rules change, I want to reassess those philosophies. They're not rigid. They're not written in stone."

Begin nimble and adapting decision-making to reflect changing variables and information. That's what good organizations do.

Good stuff. It did feel like Rosas sort of forced a system down Ryan's throat that didn't fit the players much at all at the time. Listening and humility - two of the most valuable qualities in people that ultimately end up being the best long-term managers and leaders. It seems like Gupta is the real deal.

I don't think Rosas forced that system down Ryan's throat. I suspect that Ryan was all in on that flawed system. In fact, I think Ryan's total buy-in on that system sealed Gersson's decision to hire Ryan. I've always maintained that Taylor wanted Rosas to hire Ryan but didn't require him to. Glen has always given his PBOs free rein to do what they want. He allowed Thibs to trade away his favorite player, Ricky. He allowed/signed off on the illegal Joe Smith deal. Now that we know Rosas was a control freak, it's even easier to see why he'd want to hire Ryan Saunders - an inexperienced young guy philosophically aligned with him and not in a position to push back. In other words, Ryan was the perfect vehicle for Rosas to project his influence into the locker room and onto the court. I'm sure Rosas knew at the time that Finch was clearly the better head coach. But I suspect that Gersson couldn't resist the control opportunity that Ryan presented and the bonus benefit of making the owner happy.

But getting back to the main point, I agree that Gupta seems like the real deal. I'm glad he didn't leave and I really hope we keep him.

lipoli390 wrote:

Camden wrote:Here's the thing that I can't comprehend about Zarko Durisic... He worked for Minnesota for years. What did he contribute to the organization to be thought so highly of? Is there even a singular scouting report that we could point to that has his fingerprints on it? I don't know.

I was thinking the same thing, Cam. Like him or not, I think Rosas was making some tough decisions that were long overdue and necessary to turn this franchise around. The basketball organization has been run for a long time by a lot of nice guys who weren't very good. We'll see. Gupta is smart and appears to be highly respected around the League. So I'm not going hold bringing Zarko back against him. But if he's going to change this organization's losing culture, he'll have to make some tough decisions and that might mean letting some really nice guys go and replacing them with guys who are more effective.

On the other hand if he was around this long through multiple GMs...why did Rosas let him go? We really have very little information to go on here. Wee there times he told a the front office to offer a contract to a guy or draft a player and nobody listened? Like I said in a previous thread I believe that a significant part of international scouting is about relationships. Yes you want guys that can spot talent but if Darko was great at connecting with people all over the world and getting good insight and intel that's valuable. Again why was he let go? Was there a good reason? Did Rosas let him go for a stupid reason? Who did he replace him with? To me there isn't enough to go off of to make a judgement either against Rosas or for Gupta with this situation.

lipoli390 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:Here's my favorite excerpt from the article on Gupta:

From a philosophy standpoint, Gupta said he will be nimble. Rosas, who had more of a traditional scouting background on his way to the top job, had a more defined system built on playing small and fast and shooting a lot of 3s and layups. He was so committed to that system that the Wolves ran it in the first year of his tenure even though they did not have the shooters to do it properly.

Gupta plans to be more flexible and play to the roster's strengths. He said with Finch as the head coach and the roster they have assembled, the Wolves will continue to focus on pace and space and emphasize defensive improvement as the keys to being competitive this season. But if they need to pivot, they will.

"I'm not dogmatic about anything," he said. "I want to find the best answers based the information in front of me. As variables change, as information changes, as rules change, I want to reassess those philosophies. They're not rigid. They're not written in stone."

Begin nimble and adapting decision-making to reflect changing variables and information. That's what good organizations do.

Good stuff. It did feel like Rosas sort of forced a system down Ryan's throat that didn't fit the players much at all at the time. Listening and humility - two of the most valuable qualities in people that ultimately end up being the best long-term managers and leaders. It seems like Gupta is the real deal.

I don't think Rosas forced that system down Ryan's throat. I suspect that Ryan was all in on that flawed system. In fact, I think Ryan's total buy-in on that system sealed Gersson's decision to hire Ryan. I've always maintained that Taylor wanted Rosas to hire Ryan but didn't require him to. Glen has always given his PBOs free rein to do what they want. He allowed Thibs to trade away his favorite player, Ricky. He allowed/signed off on the illegal Joe Smith deal. Now that we know Rosas was a control freak, it's even easier to see why he'd want to hire Ryan Saunders - an inexperienced young guy philosophically aligned with him and not in a position to push back. In other words, Ryan was the perfect vehicle for Rosas to project his influence into the locker room and onto the court. I'm sure Rosas knew at the time that Finch was clearly the better head coach. But I suspect that Gersson couldn't resist the control opportunity that Ryan presented and the bonus benefit of making the owner happy.

But getting back to the main point, I agree that Gupta seems like the real deal. I'm glad he didn't leave and I really hope we keep him.

I think Lip you are dead on with the characterization of a significant part of why Rosas hired Ryan. I also think that many people seem to have in their minds that Ryan was part of taking the job...it probably was to some small extent or at least was a calculated move on Rosas part to land the job in the first place. Like you I still think if Rosas had really wanted to hire someone else I think he could have. I think based on who he interviewed he never really did.

Like you this was the best part of the article. Gupta is an outside the box thinker and I think while Finch is a guy that buys into the analytics he also seems like a basketball guy.

This article isn't the first time we have read this from Jon K but tonight when I read this again about Rosas being everywhere it struck me how it may have seemed he was overbearing. Flip was involved in everything too but he also had the personality to match it and obviously had a ton of built in connections. It also seemed that when he took over the whole organization he was willing to collaborate...well except relinquishing the coaching duties. I did always believe that at some point he may have done that but sadly we will never know.

One thing I would like to see is the Wolves add possible a former player to the front office. They have a lot of other aspects represented but nobody that was a former player. That's not something that has to be present but I think it only makes sense. I don't have anyone specific in mind but there have to be some worthwhile options available. I also get that an addition like that may not happen till after this season.

Q12543 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:Here's my favorite excerpt from the article on Gupta:

From a philosophy standpoint, Gupta said he will be nimble. Rosas, who had more of a traditional scouting background on his way to the top job, had a more defined system built on playing small and fast and shooting a lot of 3s and layups. He was so committed to that system that the Wolves ran it in the first year of his tenure even though they did not have the shooters to do it properly.

Gupta plans to be more flexible and play to the roster's strengths. He said with Finch as the head coach and the roster they have assembled, the Wolves will continue to focus on pace and space and emphasize defensive improvement as the keys to being competitive this season. But if they need to pivot, they will.

"I'm not dogmatic about anything," he said. "I want to find the best answers based the information in front of me. As variables change, as information changes, as rules change, I want to reassess those philosophies. They're not rigid. They're not written in stone."

Begin nimble and adapting decision-making to reflect changing variables and information. That's what good organizations do.

Good stuff. It did feel like Rosas sort of forced a system down Ryan's throat that didn't fit the players much at all at the time. Listening and humility - two of the most valuable qualities in people that ultimately end up being the best long-term managers and leaders. It seems like Gupta is the real deal.

Amen to that for everyone, especially leaders.

There's some encouraging evidence in this article, but I want to see it play out over time. I get the sense that people are often quick with anecdotal praise of colleagues for various reasons. I know I've done it and then later found out the person wasn't so great after all. Hopefully, the evidence in the article isn't going to turn out like that!