Minnesota Sports Forum

is captured well in this article. http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/21061976/nba-tom-thibodeau-overwork-karl-anthony-towns-minnesota-timberwolves

Thibs has a terrific reputation as an NBA coach, but as the writer says, finished below the Vegas win total last year for the 4th consecutive season...i.e. underachieved. He has a rotation philosophy that is markedly different than every other coach in the league, and when your coach is an outlier, you need to ask this question: Is he smarter than every other coach in the league, or is he wrong? I'm not smart enough to know the answer for sure, but the evidence seems to suggest he is wrong. A pattern of devastating injuries over the years (including one when he still had his star on the court with the game well in hand), and last year, losses in 22 games in which he at one point had a double digit lead. The Wolves were the 6th best team in the league in first halves, and the 27th best in second halves...good god, what does that tell you?

Thibs has done a terrific job of creating a roster that has both stars and depth, as well as guys that appear to have ouotstanding character. He deserves a lot of credit for some of that (not for KAT and Wig, of course). But can he coach this team to its potential, or will he continue to underachieve as he has for 4 consecutive seasons? Thibs is the key to this season. He seems to have a brilliant basketball mind, but he is flexible enough to adjust to this new NBA and give up some of his antiquated coaching methodologies that clearly failed last season? There is some evidence that he is waking up to the new NBA. He recognizes that his team finished near the bottom of the league in 3-point attempts, and has frequently mentioned that as an area that needs to change...I'm a Thibs detractor, but I'm fairly confident he will succeed in this goal. Whether he can make the other adjustments necessary to compete in this faster-paced new NBA is more questionable. We will get our first clue in San Antonio tonight.

The thing is he really has no excuse to overplay anyone. I have said this before, but I will say it again: Four of our starters were #1 or #2 offensive options on their respective teams last year. KAT and Wig were #1 and #2 for the Wolves; Butler was #1 for the Bulls; and Teague was #2 for the Pacers.

He should be able to stagger the rotation such that one or two of those guys are always on the floor, yet still not have to play over 36 MPG. This will also ensure every guy gets to be "the man" for some stretch of play, whereas when they are all on the floor together it's tough to get everyone shots.

This is not a team like OKC or Portland from last year, where they were literally dependent on one, may be two guys at most to create all of the offense.

Q12543 wrote:The thing is he really has no excuse to overplay anyone. I have said this before, but I will say it again: Four of our starters were #1 or #2 offensive options on their respective teams last year. KAT and Wig were #1 and #2 for the Wolves; Butler was #1 for the Bulls; and Teague was #2 for the Pacers.

He should be able to stagger the rotation such that one or two of those guys are always on the floor, yet still not have to play over 36 MPG. This will also ensure every guy gets to be "the man" for some stretch of play, whereas when they are all on the floor together it's tough to get everyone shots.

This is not a team like OKC or Portland from last year, where they were literally dependent on one, may be two guys at most to create all of the offense.

That would be an ideal rotation IMO. If Thibs does that and we don't have any injury disasters, this could be a very good season.

he has no excuse now, last year he did though with our trash bench