Minnesota Sports Forum

Jon K took the role of facilitator since Souhan is on vacation and had Britt Robson on for about 50 minutes of total geeked out Wolves banter. Robson is the ultimate Wolves geek, in that he can go pretty deep in nearly all facets of the team.

While there was nothing earth shattering, here are the highlights for those that don't want to sit through the 50 minutes:

- Both were very leery about trading for Kyrie Irving, despite the outside consensus that the Wolves should be willing to do almost anything (including move Wiggins) to get Irving. I'm with Britt and Jon K on this issue and it increasingly looks less likely to happen at this point.

- They felt Glen's demand to meet Wiggins face to face and commit to improve is absolutely the right thing to do.....BUT, they felt it was the wrong thing for him to say this publicly.

- The usual Wiggins hand-wringing occurred. Neither denied that the Wolves have no choice but to pay him, but both acknowledged the motor/effort issues we have cited here ad nauseum. Britt made the observation that we are basically paying Wiggins max money to take a reduced role, which is quite a paradox.

- Britt's a huge Gorgui fan (sorry SJM)....he compared him to Rubio, basically saying that when Gorgui is on the court, good things seem to happen, regardless of what his box score might look like.

- Britt thinks Thibs is going to grind Butler, Wiggins, and KAT for 38+ minutes per night based on our lack of depth. He cited the trend of teams like Golden State, San Antonio, and Boston resting their players more throughout the game and season and how that seems to be pretty successful, yet Thibs doesn't seem to have changed his ways in this regard.

- Britt acknowledged that Taj Gibson was an overpay, but felt Thibs needed another guy (in addition to Butler) to help translate his defensive concepts on the floor. He then went on to cite the Sam Mitchell-coached team that started KG and Prince and how along with KAT, Wiggins, and Rubio, that unit was basically a top 5 NBA defense (which is absolutely true - a 92.6 Defensive Rating!!!). So his point was KAT and Wiggins were part of an elite defensive unit at one time, why not again? He is hoping Butler and Taj can have a similar impact.

- They didn't really touch much on Jeff Teague or Jamal Crawford. Britt said he preferred Rubio over Teague, but he also said that Teague is more of Thibs' kind of point guard and that was that.

I then listened to a bit of Doogie's podcast with Sam Mitchell. After listening to Mitchell for about three minutes, I couldn't stand it anymore and turned it off. I can't quite put my finger on what bugs me about Mitchell, but for some reason I always get the sense he is always defending/justifying himself even when it isn't overt.

They touched on the trends of coaches being and now not being POBO guys. Britt said something about how he isn't always a fan of just following trends because a trend is someone breaking out and doing something else. He said Butler isn't here if Thibs doesn't have the duel role and they both agreed he is the best player to be here since KG so acquiring him is a pretty big deal.

Q I get where you are coming from with Sam. Like Wolfson says about him you just put in a quarter and Sam just goes. I do think beyond all the stuff you said there is some good basketball stuff and I think Sam is a good coach in his own right. NBA head coach for a good team? No that's not a good thing for him.

One thing that Mitchell talked about was how having multiple players that can handle the ball in pick and role is a big advantage. He said now the Wolves have at least 3 guys in Butler Wiggins and Teague and he said that makes your offense really good and difficult to defend. He of course started out talking about Rubio wiggins and Lavine in those roles. No matter how you slice it the combo of Butler and Teague are a pretty big upgrade from Lavine and Rubio. The way Sam explained all this he didn't say it and he wasn't trying to make the point but after his breakdown you could have thought he was actually making the case for Teague as a better player in those roles. One thing Teague is going to be able to do a lot is attack players that are switched onto him. He is too quick and a pretty good ball handler. There is a highlight of him in and OKC game where he made Roberson look like he wasn't even there while basically going uncontested for a layup.

The narrative about Thibs grinding players is valid and yet I do think to some extent it's overstated. A lot of the top players for years have played big minutes because...they are good and they want to play. Among basketball folks that seemed to know stuff they were as concerned about his grinding guys in practices in addition to playing heavy minutes. The reports out of MN are that Thibs has eased up there quite a bit and I think that's a good thing. Let's say he rides these guys heavy minutes. One thing I can see with this much more vet roster with multiple players able to take over at any point is that it may be easier on guys to some small extent because one guy won't have to carry the offensive load every minute they are out there. If the defense steps up because guys actually know what they are doing the effort will be there but that makes playing D easier. I also think if Thibs utilizes guys in ways where they are not out there for massive stretches at a time that will help things also. It's also possible that having more vets will make it a bit easier to sprinkle in some bench guys and not have things fall off the earth on one side of the ball or another.

Thanks for breaking this down Q. Saved me the 50 minutes.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Thanks for breaking this down Q. Saved me the 50 minutes.

Q did break it down well. It won't save as much time but I listen to most of these podcasts at 1.5x speed.

Yes, thanks for the summary Q.

Regarding Glen's demand for a face-to-face with Wiggins, I'd say it's dumb to do it publicly but also just plain silly to do it privately. So I disagree with Jon and Brit on this. Is Wiggins going to say he's not committed to improving? Of course not. Is Wiggins going to work or play harder because, before getting his max contract, he told Glen he was committed to improving? Of course not. If his competitive drive, professional pride, and pressure from his peers around the League, including his own teammates like Jimmy Butler aren't enough to motivate Wiggins, then it's ridiculous to think that a 20-minute meeting with Glen Taylor will make any difference. This face-to-face meeting has no value and it's nonsense to think it will. But it does have a potential downside to the extent it alienates Wiggins if he considers Glen's public demand disrespectful and embarrassing. I'm actually not concerned that it will have a significant downside. It will simply be a meaningless exercise that will apparently make Glen feel better about giving Andrew the max contract that Glen knows he's going to give him.

Lip...

I think it's a PR move from Taylor. Puts the onus on Wiggins...

"He never fulfilled that $150M deal because he didn't keep his end of the deal..."

Speaking of Glen, one of the great moments of the podcast was an ever-so-brief imitation of Glen by Jon K. It was spot on and hilarious. I'm surprised he hasn't done it more often.

Q12543 wrote:Speaking of Glen, one of the great moments of the podcast was an ever-so-brief imitation of Glen by Jon K. It was spot on and hilarious. I'm surprised he hasn't done it more often.

Imitation can lead to mockery... and considering his main gig (for now) remains as a reporter who needs access to these people...?