CoolBreeze's 2 Things I Didn't Like Tonight Plus 1

[Coolbreeze44]

With the season at approximately the 1/3 mark, I thought it was time for a 2 + 1 to try and sum up what we've seen so far. So this isn't a reaction to the last game, it's more of a synopsis of the season to date. So here we go:

1) Okay first I'm going to start off with an I told you so. Some of the more vocal posters spearheaded the Pro Thibs for coach movement prior to his hiring. There were few, very few, guys willing to say hey, he's not the guy for this team. I'll give props to Lip and LST who also were willing to go against the tide at the time. But it was overwhelmingly pro Thibs. So you got your wish. How do you feel now? Let's summarize the problems that Thibs has a hand in:

- Last year was an absolute disaster. So much so that he had to break up the roster he was so high on.
- His calling card, defense, has been abysmal despite surrounding himself with some of "his guys"
- His offense is antiquated and doesn't take advantage of his talent. I know what he's thinking - I have 3 guys who can pretty much get a good shot any time they want it. So why don't I let them all take advantage of their one on one ability. We will always have a matchup advantage with these guys and they can impose their will - Maybe it's because I'm a big proponent of motion style offenses, but i can hardly stand to watch this crap. The players have to hate it. It's such a waste of this roster. He's actually done a good job of putting the team together. We lack shooters, but we have a lot of good players. A good coach would find a way to make it work. Who in their right mind has Andrew Wiggins spend most of the game standing in the corner watching the other 4 run pick and roll sets. I don't want to hear anything about the lack of assists for Wiggins. When he DOES touch the ball it's with the idea he's going work for the best shot possible. A total misuse of his abilities. If you're going to play nothing but ISO basketball, how about getting your best players the ball down on the block? All three of Wig, JB, and KAT can dominate catching the ball down low. But we hardly ever see it. KAT in particular has to wonder what the fuck is going on.
- LST is exactly right about the minutes distribution on this team. It's costing us games in the 4th quarter, and is hurting our players long term. like I said, we have good players. Let them play.
- The constant narrative all game from the coaches box is ridiculous. What NBA player wants to put up with that for longer than he has to?
- We never seem to have enough timeouts at the end of close games.
- Our pace of play is a joke. Even without Zach, this team still has some thoroughbreds. Take the shackles off.

Enough of this rant. I'll close with this: If I was Glen I would fire Thibs tonight. Cut our losses and salvage this rebuild with an innovative coach who can get the best out of our roster.

2) Some other things I haven't liked:

- I thought Andrew worked on his shot this summer? He gets into some good streaks every once in a while, but for the most part it's a clankfest. We need him to shoot better period, but i want to see more of him working inside.
- KAT still doesn't seem fully bought in. Still isn't ready to put winning above everything else. He should definitely get more touches, but he needs to be a teammate on both ends of the court before this team can take off.
- Butler shouldn't be calling anyone out for poor defense. He needs to stop his man before i can take too much of that.
- We've let too many winnable games get away already. You can't get those should-be wins back. You have to take advantage of them when they are in front of you.
- Ball movement is a pleasant surprise when it happens (see point #1)
- Shot selection is a huge problem. And it's not just a couple guys. Wig, KAT, Crawford, Bazz, and sometimes Teague.

Enough negativity

Plus 1

Here are some positives as i see it so far:

- We're 4 games over .500 and in 4th place at the time of this writing. That should be the goal, to stay in 4th. Don't see any reason except for Thibs that we can't finish there. I read some stuff about battling for 7th or 8th. That's complete nonsense with this roster.
- Taj Gibson has been great. The consummate pro and steadying influence. Never realized how good he was. Hopefully we don't have to play him as many minutes.
- Tyus is developing into the player i hoped he could become. He just knows how to play basketball. He's a winner and he's been so impressive, he might allow us to move Teague for a wing that can shoot. I'd have no problem with Tyus playing 30 minutes for us.
- When we DO move the ball on offense, we can score so easily. Too many weapons to cover. We make it much harder than we need to
- With a healthy Belly our bench is much better, just need to use it.
- Finally going to get to see what Patton can do.

And that's Cool's Two Things I Didn't Like +1

[Lipoli390]

With the season at approximately the 1/3 mark, I thought it was time for a 2 + 1 to try and sum up what we've seen so far. So this isn't a reaction to the last game, it's more of a synopsis of the season to date. So here we go:

1) Okay first I'm going to start off with an I told you so. Some of the more vocal posters spearheaded the Pro Thibs for coach movement prior to his hiring. There were few, very few, guys willing to say hey, he's not the guy for this team. I'll give props to Lip and LST who also were willing to go against the tide at the time. But it was overwhelmingly pro Thibs. So you got your wish. How do you feel now? Let's summarize the problems that Thibs has a hand in:

- Last year was an absolute disaster. So much so that he had to break up the roster he was so high on.
- His calling card, defense, has been abysmal despite surrounding himself with some of "his guys"
- His offense is antiquated and doesn't take advantage of his talent. I know what he's thinking - I have 3 guys who can pretty much get a good shot any time they want it. So why don't I let them all take advantage of their one on one ability. We will always have a matchup advantage with these guys and they can impose their will - Maybe it's because I'm a big proponent of motion style offenses, but i can hardly stand to watch this crap. The players have to hate it. It's such a waste of this roster. He's actually done a good job of putting the team together. We lack shooters, but we have a lot of good players. A good coach would find a way to make it work. Who in their right mind has Andrew Wiggins spend most of the game standing in the corner watching the other 4 run pick and roll sets. I don't want to hear anything about the lack of assists for Wiggins. When he DOES touch the ball it's with the idea he's going work for the best shot possible. A total misuse of his abilities. If you're going to play nothing but ISO basketball, how about getting your best players the ball down on the block? All three of Wig, JB, and KAT can dominate catching the ball down low. But we hardly ever see it. KAT in particular has to wonder what the fuck is going on.
- LST is exactly right about the minutes distribution on this team. It's costing us games in the 4th quarter, and is hurting our players long term. like I said, we have good players. Let them play.
- The constant narrative all game from the coaches box is ridiculous. What NBA player wants to put up with that for longer than he has to?
- We never seem to have enough timeouts at the end of close games.
- Our pace of play is a joke. Even without Zach, this team still has some thoroughbreds. Take the shackles off.

Enough of this rant. I'll close with this: If I was Glen I would fire Thibs tonight. Cut our losses and salvage this rebuild with an innovative coach who can get the best out of our roster.

2) Some other things I haven't liked:

- I thought Andrew worked on his shot this summer? He gets into some good streaks every once in a while, but for the most part it's a clankfest. We need him to shoot better period, but i want to see more of him working inside.
- KAT still doesn't seem fully bought in. Still isn't ready to put winning above everything else. He should definitely get more touches, but he needs to be a teammate on both ends of the court before this team can take off.
- Butler shouldn't be calling anyone out for poor defense. He needs to stop his man before i can take too much of that.
- We've let too many winnable games get away already. You can't get those should-be wins back. You have to take advantage of them when they are in front of you.
- Ball movement is a pleasant surprise when it happens (see point #1)
- Shot selection is a huge problem. And it's not just a couple guys. Wig, KAT, Crawford, Bazz, and sometimes Teague.

Enough negativity

Plus 1

Here are some positives as i see it so far:

- We're 4 games over .500 and in 4th place at the time of this writing. That should be the goal, to stay in 4th. Don't see any reason except for Thibs that we can't finish there. I read some stuff about battling for 7th or 8th. That's complete nonsense with this roster.
- Taj Gibson has been great. The consummate pro and steadying influence. Never realized how good he was. Hopefully we don't have to play him as many minutes.
- Tyus is developing into the player i hoped he could become. He just knows how to play basketball. He's a winner and he's been so impressive, he might allow us to move Teague for a wing that can shoot. I'd have no problem with Tyus playing 30 minutes for us.
- When we DO move the ball on offense, we can score so easily. Too many weapons to cover. We make it much harder than we need to
- With a healthy Belly our bench is much better, just need to use it.
- Finally going to get to see what Patton can do.

And that's Cool's Two Things I Didn't Like +1

Cool - You made my day. First of all, great to have you posting again. Second, thanks for laying it all out there. I agree with you completely -- all your points. I love your idea of getting Wiggins the ball more often down low. That would play to his strengths -- length, athleticism, body control around the rim while minimizing his dribbling. He's fine with 2 or 3 dribbles. You and I never would have hired Thibs as we made clear at the time. Like you, I'd fire him tonight if I were in Glen's shoes. Again, great to have you back!

[TAFKASP]

Things I don't like:
Thibs.
Our so called young star duo.

Thing I do like:
Pizza with pineapple.

[Lipoli390]

Things I don't like:
Thibs.
Our so called young star duo.

Thing I do like:
Pizza with pineapple.

Pizza with pineapple is almost as bad as Thibs!

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Cool, terrific analysis of the season to date...I agree with every point in there. And especially the plus 1...despite the negative impact I believe our out-of-step coach has had on the team, you can't deny the talent he and Flip have assembled, and we are in 4th place on pace to win 47 games. And with a string of 9 winnable games ahead of us, we could be even more solidly in 4th place by the time we ring in the new year.

The only thing I would add to the things I don't like would be the lack of depth at wing. If Thibs has decided Muhammad can't play (and I'm not saying for sure he is wrong), he needs to use his available roster spot to bring in a wing he trusts to give 16-18 minutes. There are suitable guys available. Playing an 8-man roster with only 3 wings is not a sustainable strategy.

Oh, and I like pineapple and I like pizza, but they should NEVER be linked together.

[Monster]

I am making my stance clear that I am pro pineapple on pizza. I like adding cream cheese to the equation. I am also an official memeber of the Pizza Party.

[Monster]

What's kinda funny is it feels like a lot of people feel much more positive about Thibs as the GM than Thibs as a coach. I know some of that is how people aren't happy with him as a coach but other than overpaying Dieng last year (looked good at the time) and this year holding out for Bazz who has been so bad now he doesn't play there has been plenty of good there.

So guys what coach are you hiring if you fire Thibs?

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I'm still firmly entrenched on the pro-Thibs side of the debate. That shouldn't be any surprise considering how much I advocated for him two years ago. I honestly believe this season's early "struggles" -- and I use quotations there because we're actually on a 47-win pace and are 4th in the Western Conference before entering a soft spot in the schedule -- are more about new parts and pieces taking time to fully gel than it is about the head coach being a negative. Three-fifths of the starting lineup didn't play here last year. That is a significant detail that we can't just dismiss. You can see examples of miscommunication almost every game thus far. I believe time will heal a good amount of that.

Lastly, our defense actually has improved significantly since the start of the season. Minnesota had the 13th-best DRtg in November at 104.6. Is that where we want to be? Not exactly, but it's a good sign moving forward and much better than what our season DRtg indicates.

[TAFKASP]

Things I don't like:
Thibs.
Our so called young star duo.

Thing I do like:
Pizza with pineapple.

Pizza with pineapple is almost as bad as Thibs!

I know ya'll have been wondering what SP stands for, sausage and pineapple? I'm not telling.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Consider me anti-Thibs and anti-pineapple on pizza (warm fruit is disgusting in general). I will admit though I've had a lot longer leash on Thibs than most just because he's here and with him being POBO it's not as simple as just fire the coach. If it did happen though I would definitely be on the David Fizdale bandwagon. The whole story isn't out between him and Gasol, but the guy got a lot out of the talent he had and has a lot of respect around the league.