Minnesota Sports Forum

Chicago is likely going to let him go. Do you think we have a shot at him, or will this thread be bombarded with flip's massive ego posts?

We would be making a mistake IMO

I would go after him. I think he would consider the Wolves with Wiggins and potentially another top pick. There is some firepower here. Pels might be more attractive though. Hope Flip makes an attempt.

I'm gonna pass on him. Great regular season coach, but a .451 playoff winning percentage with 1 conference finals appearance in the East in the 5 years he's coached there with multiple All-Stars on his team every year doesn't cut it for me. I don't think that is a coincidence. His teams just look battered and beaten every year they reach the playoffs. He is the Mike D'Antoni of defense. His faults on the offensive end of the court are too big to overcome. He's a 1 way coach and we need a 2 way coach if we ever want to be more than a playoff team who comes up short like an alarm going off every year come playoff time.

I'll take just sniffing the playoffs, so yes I would go after him.

TXviking wrote:I'll take just sniffing the playoffs, so yes I would go after him.

I don't blame you for feeling that way, but I really believe that attitude is part of the problem with this franchise. The entire Adelman era was wasted because we were just trying to sniff the playoffs. We have to think bigger than that.

khans2k5 wrote:I'm gonna pass on him. Great regular season coach, but a .451 playoff winning percentage with 1 conference finals appearance in the East in the 5 years he's coached there with multiple All-Stars on his team every year doesn't cut it for me. I don't think that is a coincidence. His teams just look battered and beaten every year they reach the playoffs. He is the Mike D'Antoni of defense. His faults on the offensive end of the court are too big to overcome. He's a 1 way coach and we need a 2 way coach if we ever want to be more than a playoff team who comes up short like an alarm going off every year come playoff time.

For someone that likes to argue context in other arguments, you didn't do a swell job of taking into account their MVP-caliber player is as fragile (physically and mentally) as we've seen a player be since... I really can't recall. They lost in the first round to the Sixers one year as a one-seed for crying out loud. Injuries change/misrepresent things. You know this.

I also find it odd that you've argued in the past that we need to be slow and methodical on offense while being great on defense, but aren't a fan of Thibs. That's his style. The offense gets stagnant at times, but I'd also place some of that on Rose being a ballhog (my observation).

Camden0916 wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:I'm gonna pass on him. Great regular season coach, but a .451 playoff winning percentage with 1 conference finals appearance in the East in the 5 years he's coached there with multiple All-Stars on his team every year doesn't cut it for me. I don't think that is a coincidence. His teams just look battered and beaten every year they reach the playoffs. He is the Mike D'Antoni of defense. His faults on the offensive end of the court are too big to overcome. He's a 1 way coach and we need a 2 way coach if we ever want to be more than a playoff team who comes up short like an alarm going off every year come playoff time.

For someone that likes to argue context in other arguments, you didn't do a swell job of taking into account their MVP-caliber player is as fragile (physically and mentally) as we've seen a player be since... I really can't recall. They lost in the first round to the Sixers one year as a one-seed for crying out loud. Injuries change/misrepresent things. You know this.

I also find it odd that you've argued in the past that we need to be slow and methodical on offense while being great on defense, but aren't a fan of Thibs. That's his style. The offense gets stagnant at times, but I'd also place some of that on Rose being a ballhog (my observation).

Noah is an all-star. Deng was an all-star. Butler has become an all-star. Pau is an all-star. Thibs has consistently had other all-stars outside of Rose. Also the offense was built entirely on Rose and whether he was good or not which is not ok to do in the NBA. He gets a pass for the first year Rose went down, but after that you know he is damaged goods so you have to build around that and make sure you develop a system that works without Rose which he never accomplished. The Bulls offense goes from stagnant to non-existent in the playoffs every year so I don't think Thibs is a good fit here. He never has a backup plan to his D Rose hero ball offense and they lose every year because they just bring nothing to the table offensively. I still believe in efficiency on offense and his teams get crushed in the playoffs because they are terribly inefficient and that kills you with the slower pace they play. He is a great defensive coach but just brings nothing to the table on offense.

When you have injury problems every single year going into the playoffs, does that not raise questions about how you play your guys all year leading up to the playoffs? Guys like Pop have made the adjustment so they are mostly healthy come playoff time, but Thibs just doesn't seem to care. He goes 100% all the time with no regard for the physical consequences which even the greatest coaches in the league have figured out for several years now with their best players. The Bulls quit against the Cavs. Anytime that happens under a coach's reign I will never be a supporter of that coach. It means we might get 5 years out of him before he wears out his welcome here and we are looking for a new coach around the time Wiggins could leave which is not ideal.

In a heartbeat.

I don't think he even looks in the Wolves direction. But for a franchise that is coming off 66 losses... and has had one coach last more than 3 years (the rest got fired or replaced because of ineptitude)... I don't see how this can be debated.

Chicago never won a title. To be fair, they were never good enough to win a title. Despite losing its MVP PG... they were still a playoff team every year. Tonight was the first time I saw that team really shit the bed.

Was it simply a culmination of everything that's happened over the past 5 years there? Were all the rumors finally taking a toll? Why sabotage a season like that?

60 - 22
50 - 16
45 - 37
48 - 34
50 - 32

1 ECF
2 2nd rounds
2 1st rounds

That would make him the most successful coach in Timberwolves history. Easily. And he did a lot of that without Derrick Rose, making changes on the fly at times. Bringing guys like Nate Robinson with him into the 2nd round.

It's a pipe dream anyway. Saunders isn't going anywhere.

khans2k5 wrote:I'm gonna pass on him. Great regular season coach, but a .451 playoff winning percentage with 1 conference finals appearance in the East in the 5 years he's coached there with multiple All-Stars on his team every year doesn't cut it for me. I don't think that is a coincidence. His teams just look battered and beaten every year they reach the playoffs. He is the Mike D'Antoni of defense. His faults on the offensive end of the court are too big to overcome. He's a 1 way coach and we need a 2 way coach if we ever want to be more than a playoff team who comes up short like an alarm going off every year come playoff time.

To be fair Thibbs teams in playoffs have had Deng as team's best player twice (11-12,12-13, would have been also in 13-14 if not traded) and Noah once (13-14). Only twice he has had some offensive power in playoffs to work with (10-11 and 14-15) and both times his team lost to LeBron's team that has not lost single playoff series to eastern conference team for five consecutive years. Coaches with better playoff winning percentage Eric Spoelstra and Mike Brown couldn't even lead their respective teams to playoffs with Deng as 3rd and 2nd best player of their teams.

I think playoff winning percentage depends so much about situation that it is quite useless for deciding whether some couch is good or not. For example most of eastern conference couches that got majority of their playoff games during 90s have losing record because their teams lost to several times to Chicago bulls.

For example current active coaches with winning record in playoffs. Byron Scott 33-24, Mike Brown 47-36, Randy Wittman 12-8 and active coaches with losing record in playoffs Rick Carlisle 57-58, Lionel Hollins 20-21 and Thibodeau 23-28. I'm pretty sure almost no one thinks that despite their better playoff coaching record Scott, Brown or Wittman would be better coaches than Carlisle, Hollins or Thibodeau.