Minnesota Sports Forum

Twenty eight seasons of Wolves basketball and we've seen a lot of guys come through that were expected to be the future. I'm supposed to be working, so probably won't do some digging into old rosters until later. But I thought it might be fun to see if we can compile a list of names of players and/or coaches that we gave up on too soon. I'm not sure this will be a long list - but I could be wrong. Let's see what people come up with....what players/coaches just needed more time to develop that didn't get that opportunity here?

Off the top of my head, I'll offer up coach Dwane Casey. He took over after Saunders was fired and was only given a 1.5 year shot to prove himself. But since then he resurfaced in Toronto where he's done pretty well. He probably would have been better than:Wittman or Rambis who came after him had we given him more time. Anyway - just thought I'd test some brains/memories to see if there are a ton of regrets or not.

I'm going to ignore guys we should have drafted or that we drafted & traded. Too much sadness.

Two off the top of my head are Kosta Koufos and Sean Kilpatrick. Not world beaters but decent bench guys I wish we still had.

Big Shot Chauncey Billips

BloopOracle wrote:Big Shot Chauncey Billips

Good call! TB was already brittle at the time and Billips was KG's bud.

Anthony Bennett... Wait, nope.

Scary short list for me... at least for guys who made the roster at one point or not. I can't remember all the Whiteside/Kilpatrick types who were cut before they made the team.

- Bobby Jackson
- Thad Young (what???)
- Rasho Nesterovich (maybe?)
- Sam Cassell (one year only though)
- Luc Longley (maybe?)

Not counting the vets the team gave away for almost nothing in goodwill gestures (see C. Brewer).
Not counting guys like Donyell Marshall who were worth trading (Googs).
Not counting trades where guys never played here and were drafted for others (see B. Roy).
Not counting guys who chose to go elsewhere (Billups)
Not counting guys who forced their way out (Marbury)

Yikes.

I know we're not supposed to count guys we drafted and traded but Ray Allen has to be #1 no? If we kept Ray Allen would KG have ever left. I feel like those two guys would have been our core for their entire careers.

thedoper wrote:I know we're not supposed to count guys we drafted and traded but Ray Allen has to be #1 no? If we kept Ray Allen would KG have ever left. I feel like those two guys would have been our core for their entire careers.

Yeah, the list of guys we missed on in the draft is an entirely different thread.

Beno Udrich. He probably was the best PG on the roster (not saying much) and we just waived him.

Christian Laettner - Made an all-star game after leaving.