Minnesota Sports Forum

I listened to most of today's Funkadelic on the way back from a soggy golf game. It was good entertainment, as usual, but also contained the usual frustration with Flip being so elusive. Barreiro did a good job of asking the questions we all want to hear. I can't blame Flip for being clever enough to evade them.

I missed the first 5 minutes, but they were at the end of a Thibs discussion when I tuned in. If anyone heard this part, please fill us in. At the end of the 45 minutes, Dan returned to the Thibs discussion, but didn't get much out of him. Flip did say that he would be willing to step aside if the right guy was available. While I didn't really believe him when he said this, he had more credibility when he said ultimately he would be judged by the players and coach he brings in, not by his coaching wins and losses. I thought that was very true and perceptive of him, and opened the door a little for a coaching change.

Most of the rest of the time was spent on the draft. Dan asked Flip if he knows who he would pick first if the draft were today, and Flip said he did...but that it can change day to day. Interestingly, while Flip wouldn't divulge on the air who his pick was, Dan later said Flip told him offline. Bumper to Bumper listeners should be able to figure out who it is by listening closely the next couple days.

I think it's Towns, although there was a moment where I was convinced it was Okafor. Dan talked about current thinking that the post center is outdated, and Flip got very defensive about Okafor. Flip said that post play is not considered as important today because there isn't a post player like Okafor in the NBA. Despite his defense of Okafor in that moment, there were three other moments when I thought Flip was leaning toward Towns:
1) Flip said that Calipari told him that Towns was his best 3-point shooter, but that Cal asked him to play inside. Flip sounded very excited when he talked about his discussion with Cal...who wouldn't be intrigued by a plus defender 7-footer who is also a deadly 3-point shooter.
2) Dan told Flip that someone on his staff had told him that Okafor would be his choice, and Flip laughed in such a way that made me think he was mocking Dan.
3) He referenced an article predicting the 20 top NBA players in 2020. I didn't fully comprehend what he said here, but it sounded like he said something like we could have 2 of the top 13 players in the league...at least I know he mentioned 13. This was significant to me because Towns is #13 on this list, and Okafor is #18 (wiggins is #2)

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2377569-nba-2020-predicting-the-leagues-top-20-stars-in-2020


Flip did say that much evaluation was still to come. He will both work out and interview the Big 3, and said the interviews would be important. He said he wants to know that his pick really wants to be here, like Wiggins does. He and his staff are also going to spend a lot of time working out potential picks at 31 and 35...they will bring in 23 to 30 players.

That's everything I can remember. Anyone else listen?

I listened LST but missed the same parts you did unfortunately. Flip isn't dumb, we as fans don't have to worry about that. He gets it. He knows how to evaluate talent, and how much work is involved in doing so. I'm impressed with the thoroughness he and his staff are using for the process. Here are my takeaways:

1) For our number one pick it is a 3 horse race, and it's the three guys you would expect.
2) He knows how valuable #31 and #36 are and I think he's going to do everything he possibly can to maximize their value, including keeping the picks.
3) He wants to pick a guy at #1 that will complement his young players (Wiggy, Zach, Shabazz, and Dieng), not someone who will negatively affect the style and development of those guys.
4) He wants someone who wants to be part of what we have building, but it wouldn't preclude him from taking someone who would prefer to go somewhere else.

Dan tried to get Flip to say whether he was interested in Tyus, but he wouldn't take the bait. But Flip did say he will be looking at a lot of players in this draft. He estimates they will try to bring in a total of 23-30 guys for workouts. So he figures they will have a real good handle on the attitudes and coachability of a large segment of the field. He also said that he will not put much stock in an hour and a half workout. He's more interested in just learning what the guy is like and whether he would be a good fit here.

I wonder if Flip wants to build the team, then get a coach. That being said it would be very tempting to want to coach this team once built up.

Flip has had some good success in his recent drafts, so I will trust him. It's going to be a tough decision.

I came away thinking it is a two man race between towns and Russell.

The way he said a lot of it is weighed against who will negatively impact current Young players makes me believe Okafor is out. Wiggins and shabazz can live in the post. Okafor negates that. We don't have good 3 pt shooting, so that negates Okafor to a point.

He spoke highly of both Russell and towns, but seemed to spend the most time talking about towns.

I heard way too much about how Flip's in love with Okafor for me to rule him out even the slightest.

1. Making the case for why the Wolves would be wise to hire Thibs.
2. A voice outside the country club, but still has a history with the organization.
3. Defensive presence, which the Wolves desperately need.
4. Glen Taylor's not doing his job as an owner by letting Flip stay in control of both roles.
5. Believes Flip's had a good start to building the team (picks, trades), but team would benefit form him being just the role he was hired to do, POBO.

That was basically the talk about Thibs at the beginning of the segment.

Aprreciate the post LST, and the thread. I missed the whole thing.

If you have time this was a very good listen. It's on demand but if you don't have time to I'll add what I gathered from listening to it tonight.

Flip basically said he thinks Thins is looking for a ready made team not something like the Wolves right now. flip said we are one year away from a lot of guys maybe wanting the job because coaches feel you may only get a 2 year window. Flip mentioned Thibs sent a bunch of roses to his fathers funeral so they are close and he said they also reached out to Chicago to talk to Thibs last summer which was interesting. A lot of what Flip said made me think he is really serious about finding another coach and he isn't here to coach long term. I also got the impression if Thibs was interested he would be pretty interested too but he didn't divulge if he reached out to Thibs but really it's only been hours since he got fired so yeah.

Dan asked about the whole new era of NBA and Flip had a pretty good answer I thought because he said most teams really don't have a low post guy for example like Okafor so they are playing to their players skills. I think thats a pretty legit point. Like someone else said when he talked about who he wanted he talked about fit with other players that just doesn't quite fit with Okafor but I don't think Flip gave anything away but he did say the big 3 which is a surprise to nobody.

I thought Dan did a nice job of asking tough questions and he and Flip had a good back and forth thing going. It seemed like Flip was in better spirits than I have heard for a while although I haven't listened to much of his spots other than some snippets here and there. Flip is a fun guy and very smart and really does have a clue what he is talking about.

One other thing I though was interesting was when he talked about workouts was he said we are looking at guys from #22-#40 which I assume he meant draft pick slots. He said later they will be bringing in 21-34 more prospects or something like that for workouts including the top guys. He said he did a blind poll every week one who people had as their top guy every week it's not unanimous now and it didn't sound like it has been. That's probably a good sign you want different viewpoints.

There was some other tidbits probably but like I said this was a good listen. About the only thing he didn't talk about in this far ranging talk was current wolves players.

Thanks to Long and the rest of you for your reports on today's Funkadelic. I wasn't able to listen so I really appreciate the reports and insights.

Flip is really banking on guys wanting the job in a year when it is absolute nonense.

If the team improves, he's not leaving. If the team improves by 10, that's still 26-56. Who's gonna be lining up for that job? It's bordering on insulting.