Minnesota Sports Forum

I have been racking my brain to think of why Thibs basically signed no one he intended on playing this year. My suspicion is the conversation went like this:

Thibs: Mr. Taylor I think we have a good young roster but we are going to need a real veteran presence to round out this team.

Taylor: Will I have to pay luxury tax in the future?

Thibs: Maybe

Taylor: no way ever

Thibs: If we are serious about winning we need it.


Taylor: Prove it.

Thibs: ok I will roll out the exact same roster as last year and play all of these kids 40 minutes a night.

And here we are. Yes the kids didn't make the quantum leap we all hoped for under a strong system coach.

Bottom line we don't have depth. Utah made the leap with a few key vets. We're in the exact same position. Exciting and frustrating all at the same time. We need a top level vet to somehow see how close we are and sign up for this circus.

thedoper wrote:I have been racking my brain to think of why Thibs basically signed no one he intended on playing this year. My suspicion is the conversation went like this:

Thibs: Mr. Taylor I think we have a good young roster but we are going to need a real veteran presence to round out this team.

Taylor: Will I have to pay luxury tax in the future?

Thibs: Maybe

Taylor: no way ever

Thibs: If we are serious about winning we need it.


Taylor: Prove it.

Thibs: ok I will roll out the exact same roster as last year and play all of these kids 40 minutes a night.

And here we are. Yes the kids didn't make the quantum leap we all hoped for under a strong system coach.

Bottom line we don't have depth. Utah made the leap with a few key vets. We're in the exact same position. Exciting and frustrating all at the same time. We need a top level vet to somehow see how close we are and sign up for this circus.

It worries me that we won't touch the lux tax. I trust LST on that one and I think it is dumb. Until next year, one day we will be a top 16 team in the nba.

The rub is this:

1. what vet is gonna wanna come to a situation that won't offer them opportunity? Thibs hates using the bench and loves to burn out the starters so unless you're starting, you're a glorified assistant coach like Andre Miller was (and he didn't have much good to say about his experience here)

2. can this team identify it? Clearly they did a crap job with the guys they drafted and signed this summer and this is their last chance to overpay players before Wiggins gets a max deal he doesn't deserve. Knowing Layden's history, I'm not holding my breath.

kekgeek1 wrote:

thedoper wrote:I have been racking my brain to think of why Thibs basically signed no one he intended on playing this year. My suspicion is the conversation went like this:

Thibs: Mr. Taylor I think we have a good young roster but we are going to need a real veteran presence to round out this team.

Taylor: Will I have to pay luxury tax in the future?

Thibs: Maybe

Taylor: no way ever

Thibs: If we are serious about winning we need it.


Taylor: Prove it.

Thibs: ok I will roll out the exact same roster as last year and play all of these kids 40 minutes a night.

And here we are. Yes the kids didn't make the quantum leap we all hoped for under a strong system coach.

Bottom line we don't have depth. Utah made the leap with a few key vets. We're in the exact same position. Exciting and frustrating all at the same time. We need a top level vet to somehow see how close we are and sign up for this circus.

It worries me that we won't touch the lux tax. I trust LST on that one and I think it is dumb. Until next year, one day we will be a top 16 team in the nba.

I agree completely. We are not good enough and we have cap room now. We need to be agressive in Free agency. I have been sick of Taylor for a while. The league is going crazy and if Taylor is setting a firm no on the luxury tax he is dooming us to the early KG era all over again.

WildWolf2813 wrote:The rub is this:

1. what vet is gonna wanna come to a situation that won't offer them opportunity? Thibs hates using the bench and loves to burn out the starters so unless you're starting, you're a glorified assistant coach like Andre Miller was (and he didn't have much good to say about his experience here)

2. can this team identify it? Clearly they did a crap job with the guys they drafted and signed this summer and this is their last chance to overpay players before Wiggins gets a max deal he doesn't deserve. Knowing Layden's history, I'm not holding my breath.

Solid post and I get the skepticism. This offseason is huge.

thedoper wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

thedoper wrote:I have been racking my brain to think of why Thibs basically signed no one he intended on playing this year. My suspicion is the conversation went like this:

Thibs: Mr. Taylor I think we have a good young roster but we are going to need a real veteran presence to round out this team.

Taylor: Will I have to pay luxury tax in the future?

Thibs: Maybe

Taylor: no way ever

Thibs: If we are serious about winning we need it.


Taylor: Prove it.

Thibs: ok I will roll out the exact same roster as last year and play all of these kids 40 minutes a night.

And here we are. Yes the kids didn't make the quantum leap we all hoped for under a strong system coach.

Bottom line we don't have depth. Utah made the leap with a few key vets. We're in the exact same position. Exciting and frustrating all at the same time. We need a top level vet to somehow see how close we are and sign up for this circus.

It worries me that we won't touch the lux tax. I trust LST on that one and I think it is dumb. Until next year, one day we will be a top 16 team in the nba.

I agree completely. We are not good enough and we have cap room now. We need to be agressive in Free agency. I have been sick of Taylor for a while. The league is going crazy and if Taylor is setting a firm no on the luxury tax he is dooming us to the early KG era all over again.

I could be wrong here but I am going to say to be fair to taylor (can't believe that came out of my mouth), taylor would be fine with going a little into the tax but the minority owners want nothing to do with it. I believe that is what LST was saying (correct me if I'm wrong LST, I don't want to misrepresent you)

I don't think Thibs signed anyone really imoortant because a lot of money was being thrown around and he didn't really know what he had. You have 3 young wings you want to see play a lot (Zach, Wiggins, Bazz). You have 3 bigs you want to play a lot (Towns, Dieng, Belly). You have 3 PG's (one of which you just drafted). So you sign guys like Rush and Aldrich who can fill in if needed, but aren't good enough to demand minutes allowing you to play the main 8 a lot and see what you have. Now that we know Bazz likely won't be back imo unless he gives us a good deal and Dieng really needs to be pushed to the bench I think we'll see a more active offseason.

khans2k5 wrote:I don't think Thibs signed anyone really imoortant because a lot of money was being thrown around and he didn't really know what he had. You have 3 young wings you want to see play a lot (Zach, Wiggins, Bazz). You have 3 bigs you want to play a lot (Towns, Dieng, Belly). You have 3 PG's (one of which you just drafted). So you sign guys like Rush and Aldrich who can fill in if needed, but aren't good enough to demand minutes allowing you to play the main 8 a lot and see what you have. Now that we know Bazz likely won't be back imo unless he gives us a good deal and Dieng really needs to be pushed to the bench I think we'll see a more active offseason.

Maybe it is my blind hommerism but I honestly believe cole Aldrich can still play a role in this team when he is surrounded by better players but he is surrounded by terrible players so his flaws really show.

kekgeek1 wrote:

thedoper wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

thedoper wrote:I have been racking my brain to think of why Thibs basically signed no one he intended on playing this year. My suspicion is the conversation went like this:

Thibs: Mr. Taylor I think we have a good young roster but we are going to need a real veteran presence to round out this team.

Taylor: Will I have to pay luxury tax in the future?

Thibs: Maybe

Taylor: no way ever

Thibs: If we are serious about winning we need it.


Taylor: Prove it.

Thibs: ok I will roll out the exact same roster as last year and play all of these kids 40 minutes a night.

And here we are. Yes the kids didn't make the quantum leap we all hoped for under a strong system coach.

Bottom line we don't have depth. Utah made the leap with a few key vets. We're in the exact same position. Exciting and frustrating all at the same time. We need a top level vet to somehow see how close we are and sign up for this circus.

It worries me that we won't touch the lux tax. I trust LST on that one and I think it is dumb. Until next year, one day we will be a top 16 team in the nba.

I agree completely. We are not good enough and we have cap room now. We need to be agressive in Free agency. I have been sick of Taylor for a while. The league is going crazy and if Taylor is setting a firm no on the luxury tax he is dooming us to the early KG era all over again.

I could be wrong here but I am going to say to be fair to taylor (can't believe that came out of my mouth), taylor would be fine with going a little into the tax but the minority owners want nothing to do with it. I believe that is what LST was saying (correct me if I'm wrong LST, I don't want to misrepresent you)

If that's true it makes me even more angry. A convienent cop out, if you minority owners can't handle the economics of pursuing a winning product why the fuck do you sell them the shares? Even this shitty franchise has quadrupled in value in Taylor's tenure despite complete incompentency from the top down. Everyone makes out even better with a winner, I hope this gets solved and the team ponies up the dough. There's no other way as far as I see it.

khans2k5 wrote:I don't think Thibs signed anyone really imoortant because a lot of money was being thrown around and he didn't really know what he had. You have 3 young wings you want to see play a lot (Zach, Wiggins, Bazz). You have 3 bigs you want to play a lot (Towns, Dieng, Belly). You have 3 PG's (one of which you just drafted). So you sign guys like Rush and Aldrich who can fill in if needed, but aren't good enough to demand minutes allowing you to play the main 8 a lot and see what you have. Now that we know Bazz likely won't be back imo unless he gives us a good deal and Dieng really needs to be pushed to the bench I think we'll see a more active offseason.

I've thought about the pure evaluation angle too. Now we know, we're not that good again. Mission accomplished.