Minnesota Sports Forum

I have tickets for several games the rest of the season, so I'm very interested in how things will be different under Ryan. The only thing we know for sure is that the fans won't be booing the head coach during pre-game introductions and that's a good thing...I was getting bored with that.

Other changes are anyone's guess. Thibs was an outlier and a dinosaur in many ways, so I expect significant changes. Here are some I expect:

1)Attendance and energy in the arena will be increased
2)Bench minutes will increase, and 40 minute games from starters will be rare
3) 3-point attempts will increase.
4) Rose will move to 6th man and SG, and Jones will start if Teague is hurt.

I will be in favor of all these moves. Here are some other things I would like to see, but are not nearly as likely.

1)Tyus starting at PG with Teague backing him up
2) A shorter leash for players doing things that Ryan doesn't like. For instance, I would like to see Ryan replace Wig occasionally with Josh if he lacks energy or reverts back to his contested jumper game.
3) I would like to see more situational lineups. I'm actually in favor of Thibs' 9-man rotations that leave Josh and Tolliver out of the rotation on a typical night. But I want Ryan to use these guys in certain situations when Josh's energy or Tolliver's 3-point shooting are needed.


What else do you guys think will be different, and what would you like to see?

We have no idea what he will be like. He has never been a head coach, top assistant or legit play at college or NBA level. He is youngest head coach in the last 40 years.

He has only coached under coaches who love long 2s.

You are making a lot of assumptions for a complete unknown. He could be exactly like thibs philosophy wise. We just don't know. He will be calmer though

I can't see how Taylor enjoyed Thibs standing in front of him bellowing all the time. 10 mil is pocket change for Taylor and he doesn't have much time left to spend it. So one change I am confident in is Ryan spending a lot more time in his chair, with a much more mellow demeanor.

I hate to break it to you LST, Okogie needs to be a key contributor this year and next for this team to be successful, especially in the coming years. We don't have the resources to go sign rotation quality wings, Okogie needs to be given the freedom to play and make mistakes, that's how most players improve With RoCo out, he's gonna need to play, even with him healthy he should be in the rotation.

I wish RoCo was healthy because I'd love to see if Ryan would show the flexibly to play Kat at center and play him with more spacing around him, Saric, RoCo and Tolliver at the 4. Tibs never did this, he had Belly but failed to utilize him insisting to play Gorgui next to Kat.

kekgeek1 wrote:We have no idea what he will be like. He has never been a head coach, top assistant or legit play at college or NBA level. He is youngest head coach in the last 40 years.

He has only coached under coaches who love long 2s.

You are making a lot of assumptions for a complete unknown. He could be exactly like thibs philosophy wise. We just don't know. He will be calmer though

I don't disagree that we don't know how this will end up, kek, and neither does Glen. This is a safe move that gives Ryan 42 games to show whether he is an NBA coach or not. If he is, he will be popular here, and if he's not, it will be easy for Glen to replace him. This is a safe move by Glen.

There are assumptions here, but I'm interested in what we think will happen, and what we want to happen. Ryan's first move will be to hire 2 assistant coaches to replace himself and Greer. I have no idea which direction he will go here, but it will be interesting. Anyone he hires immediately becomes a future head coach candidate.

Hopefully we'll see less players play 18 minute stints. The players are visibly gassed towards the end of those shifts.

I remember reading that Ryan performed analytics for Flip in Washington, but Flip didn't put much stock in them. So at the very least, I would expect a more modern offense (more 3's). My bigger concern is defensively, and I hope Ryan has someone he can lean on for that side of the ball.

I think the timing is impeccable if for no other reason than Ryan takes over a team that 90% of the league expects to finish in the lottery. If Ryan can lead this team to the PO's he will get instant credibility. If not, we move on to a new coach in the off season. I do think there are real concerns with who Ryan can get to fill out his staff. I am hoping we don't see guys like Sidney Lowe filling out the bench.

Duke13 wrote:I hate to break it to you LST, Okogie needs to be a key contributor this year and next for this team to be successful, especially in the coming years. We don't have the resources to go sign rotation quality wings, Okogie needs to be given the freedom to play and make mistakes, that's how most players improve With RoCo out, he's gonna need to play, even with him healthy he should be in the rotation.

I wish RoCo was healthy because I'd love to see if Ryan would show the flexibly to play Kat at center and play him with more spacing around him, Saric, RoCo and Tolliver at the 4. Tibs never did this, he had Belly but failed to utilize him insisting to play Gorgui next to Kat.

You may be right about Josh, Duke, but I also have my concerns. I really want him to succeed because he seems to provide at least one jaw-dropping moment each time he plays, but he is so bad on the offensive end. Maybe Josh can coach him up better than Thibs did, and get Josh to focus on what he really does well while he develops his offensive game in practice. I agree that we need a productive Okogie to get to the next level.

longstrangetrip wrote:

Duke13 wrote:I hate to break it to you LST, Okogie needs to be a key contributor this year and next for this team to be successful, especially in the coming years. We don't have the resources to go sign rotation quality wings, Okogie needs to be given the freedom to play and make mistakes, that's how most players improve With RoCo out, he's gonna need to play, even with him healthy he should be in the rotation.

I wish RoCo was healthy because I'd love to see if Ryan would show the flexibly to play Kat at center and play him with more spacing around him, Saric, RoCo and Tolliver at the 4. Tibs never did this, he had Belly but failed to utilize him insisting to play Gorgui next to Kat.

You may be right about Josh, Duke, but I also have my concerns. I really want him to succeed because he seems to provide at least one jaw-dropping moment each time he plays, but he is so bad on the offensive end. Maybe Josh can coach him up better than Thibs did, and get Josh to focus on what he really does well while he develops his offensive game in practice. I agree that we need a productive Okogie to get to the next level.

I don't see Okogie as the disaster you suggest he is on the offensive end. He misses too many shots, but he otherwise does a lot of good things on that end. He's a good passer who generally makes good decisions with the ball. He doesn't turn the ball over too much. He gets to the line at a pretty good rate and generally hits his free throws. He has a nice 3-pointer when he gets his feet set. I know he has a long way to go offensively, but that's precisely why Duke is right. The only way Okogie will get better is to play. I actually think giving Okogie more minutes on a consistent basis will enhance the Wolves' chances of making the playoffs this season. But even if not, we need to look beyond this season and Okogie has to be a big part of this team's long-term plans.

I hope it's accountability. If Wiggins is having a bad game, don't feel obligated to feed him minutes because of his deal.