Evaluating Gersson Rosas
Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2020 10:23 am
Obviously, it's too early to render any final verdict on the tenure of Gersson Rosas as the Wolves PBO. But with the February trade deadline just behind us, I thought now is a good time for us to offer some reasonably well-informed interim thoughts on his tenure so far. He's had two opportunities to shape this team. His first opportunity was last summer when he had to form a new coaching staff and handle the draft, free agency and trade opportunities. The second opportunity was mid-season up to the February trade deadline. Here's my take so far.
1. Last Summer
Coaching Staff: I wasn't thrilled with Gersson's decision to hire Ryan Saunders as head coach. A number of us thought he would be in over his head and after watching him for more than half a season, I'd say that's been the case. But I also understand Rosas was under a lot of pressure to hire Ryan. Some of that pressure might have come from the owner, but I suspect most of the pressure came from fans and from Towns. It's accepted practice in the NBA today for front office executives to bend to the will of their cornerstone players. Given how vocal KAT apparently was about hiring Ryan, I have a hard time faulting Gersson for hiring him. Moreover, Ryan should get a lot of credit for assembling a high quality coaching staff around Ryan, especially Vanterpool and Pablo. Those two strike me as smart, charismatic and highly respected young coaches. By naming Ryan head coach at the outset and not giving him a particularly big contract, Rosas set himself up well to replace Ryan in the event things didn't go well. Given how the season has gone, I doubt KAT or the fan base would be as vocal for keeping Ryan as they were for hiring him in the first place. Overall Grade: B
Draft: This is where I think Gersson messed up. It was pretty clear that he traded up for Garland. When the Cavs surprised him by taking Garland, Gersson apparently declined offers to trade back down in the draft fo for additional assets and took Culver instead. Jarrett Culver has some talent and appears to be great guy with a terrific attitude and work ethic. But his shot was broken when we drafted him and it remains broken now more than half into this season. Given Gersson's vision of this team relying heavily on threes in a space and pace offense, drafting Culver made little sense. I think it was poor judgment to give up an asset to trade up in the draft for a player, Darius Garland, without knowing he would be available. And I think Gersson showed poor judgment again when he refused to trade back down and took Culver. Having said all that, the jury's still out on Culver. He has the makings of a terrific defender. He seems to have a high basketball IQ. He's crafty with the ball and also quicker and more athletic than I thought. Maybe he can fix his shot. If so, he could be very good. I think the Nowell pick in the 2nd round was excellent. He came to the Wolves as a 50% FG shooter and 40% 3-point shooter in college. He's a terrific athlete and very good ballhandler. He's be an elite performer to date in the G-League. Overall Grade: C
Free Agency and Trades: I give Gersson high marks here. He signed a group of promising young talent in Martin, McLaughlin, Naz, Vonleh, Bell and Layman. He ended up keeping the four who looked most promising this season and used the other two as trade assets last week. And importantly, he didn't make any bad deals last summer even as he pursued DLO. Overall Grade: B+
2. Mid-Season Trade Period
There is room to disagree on the quality of the transactions Gersson executed last week. I won't discuss them at length since I've done that in other threads. But I'll just say here that I'm impressed. I don't know if KAT and DLO can be the core duo around which this team can contend for a championship. But they are both immensely talented offensive players. Importantly, both of them do more than just score. Towns is a great rebounder and DLO is an excellent playmaker. DLO fills a position of need and provides ballhandling and playmaking, as well as 3-point shooting that this team desperately needed. He's a borderline all-star and is only 23 years old. Beasley is a very good three-point shooter who can do some other things as well. He's hungry and still only 24 years old. H-Gomez and the Kentucky guy have some talent as well. Gersson executed some bold moves that definitely improve the team and that have terrific long term potential. He set out to build around KAT with other young talent and that's what he's done. More than anything, he's given this downtrodden organization and fan base some hope and excitement. Overall Grade: A-
1. Last Summer
Coaching Staff: I wasn't thrilled with Gersson's decision to hire Ryan Saunders as head coach. A number of us thought he would be in over his head and after watching him for more than half a season, I'd say that's been the case. But I also understand Rosas was under a lot of pressure to hire Ryan. Some of that pressure might have come from the owner, but I suspect most of the pressure came from fans and from Towns. It's accepted practice in the NBA today for front office executives to bend to the will of their cornerstone players. Given how vocal KAT apparently was about hiring Ryan, I have a hard time faulting Gersson for hiring him. Moreover, Ryan should get a lot of credit for assembling a high quality coaching staff around Ryan, especially Vanterpool and Pablo. Those two strike me as smart, charismatic and highly respected young coaches. By naming Ryan head coach at the outset and not giving him a particularly big contract, Rosas set himself up well to replace Ryan in the event things didn't go well. Given how the season has gone, I doubt KAT or the fan base would be as vocal for keeping Ryan as they were for hiring him in the first place. Overall Grade: B
Draft: This is where I think Gersson messed up. It was pretty clear that he traded up for Garland. When the Cavs surprised him by taking Garland, Gersson apparently declined offers to trade back down in the draft fo for additional assets and took Culver instead. Jarrett Culver has some talent and appears to be great guy with a terrific attitude and work ethic. But his shot was broken when we drafted him and it remains broken now more than half into this season. Given Gersson's vision of this team relying heavily on threes in a space and pace offense, drafting Culver made little sense. I think it was poor judgment to give up an asset to trade up in the draft for a player, Darius Garland, without knowing he would be available. And I think Gersson showed poor judgment again when he refused to trade back down and took Culver. Having said all that, the jury's still out on Culver. He has the makings of a terrific defender. He seems to have a high basketball IQ. He's crafty with the ball and also quicker and more athletic than I thought. Maybe he can fix his shot. If so, he could be very good. I think the Nowell pick in the 2nd round was excellent. He came to the Wolves as a 50% FG shooter and 40% 3-point shooter in college. He's a terrific athlete and very good ballhandler. He's be an elite performer to date in the G-League. Overall Grade: C
Free Agency and Trades: I give Gersson high marks here. He signed a group of promising young talent in Martin, McLaughlin, Naz, Vonleh, Bell and Layman. He ended up keeping the four who looked most promising this season and used the other two as trade assets last week. And importantly, he didn't make any bad deals last summer even as he pursued DLO. Overall Grade: B+
2. Mid-Season Trade Period
There is room to disagree on the quality of the transactions Gersson executed last week. I won't discuss them at length since I've done that in other threads. But I'll just say here that I'm impressed. I don't know if KAT and DLO can be the core duo around which this team can contend for a championship. But they are both immensely talented offensive players. Importantly, both of them do more than just score. Towns is a great rebounder and DLO is an excellent playmaker. DLO fills a position of need and provides ballhandling and playmaking, as well as 3-point shooting that this team desperately needed. He's a borderline all-star and is only 23 years old. Beasley is a very good three-point shooter who can do some other things as well. He's hungry and still only 24 years old. H-Gomez and the Kentucky guy have some talent as well. Gersson executed some bold moves that definitely improve the team and that have terrific long term potential. He set out to build around KAT with other young talent and that's what he's done. More than anything, he's given this downtrodden organization and fan base some hope and excitement. Overall Grade: A-
