2013 Offseason Assessment of Flip
Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2013 2:13 am
Flip has one more major project for the summer -- Pekovic. A complete assessment of Flip's performance this summer can't be made until after the Pekovic situation is resolved one way or the other. But here's my preliminary assessment. I'm not going to give him a letter grade or a good/fair/poor rating. I'm just going to say this. He didn't screw up.
Draft -- I still believe we should have drafted McCollum at #9 and then drafted either Dieng or Gobert at #26. We still don't know whether Dieng would have been gone by #26, but Gobert would have filled our need for a long shot-blocking presence. Nevertheless. Shabazz has enough talent, combined with what seems to be a great work ethic, to be a solid NBA player in a year or two. And I still see Dieng as a very good talent who can eventually become a good two-way starting center in the NBA. So while I would have done things differently, I can't say that Flip screwed up the draft.
Brewer/AK47 -- Do I think Flip overpaid for Brewer and has been over-selling Brewer's corner 3 shooting? I think so. Would I rather have AK47 than Brewer? Yes. But I still see Brewer adding value and making the team better than it would be without him. And we'll never know for sure whether AK could have been re-signed for a reasonable amount that would have kept us safely under the luxury tax threshold with room to spare. So while I'm not thrilled with how things went down with Brewer and AK, I can't say that Flip messed up here.
Turiaf --- This is where I'll give Flip a lot of credit -- credit for identifying a perfect complementary veteran player who brings the sort of tough, team-oriented attitude we need and some skills we need --- namely shot-blocking and passing from the post.
Budinger and Martin -- Sorry guys, but a parrot could have done what Flip did signing these two guys, provided the parrot was trained to repeat the names Rick Adelman and Ricky Rubio. Let's not kid ourselves. These two guys signed here because of Ademan and Rubio. Heck, they both said as much. But at least Flip didn't screw things up by trying to be overly creative or cute about this. He identified two guys who had skills the team needs and he took full advantage of the edge we had with both of them -- Adelman and his system as well as Ricky Rubio.
Pekovic --- This is the final outstanding task for Flip. It will actually be hard to distinguish success from failure on this. If he doesn't sign him, it's probably because Pek is holding out for the sort of max or near max deal the Wolves can't afford knowing we'll have to eventually give a big contract to Ricky while Pek's deal is still going. On the other hand, we'll never know whether Flip did something to drive Pek away unnecessarily. But if the Pek situation ends up like the rest of Flip's accomplishments this summer, we'll be able to say as a general matter (at least before the season) that Flip did not screw up.
Draft -- I still believe we should have drafted McCollum at #9 and then drafted either Dieng or Gobert at #26. We still don't know whether Dieng would have been gone by #26, but Gobert would have filled our need for a long shot-blocking presence. Nevertheless. Shabazz has enough talent, combined with what seems to be a great work ethic, to be a solid NBA player in a year or two. And I still see Dieng as a very good talent who can eventually become a good two-way starting center in the NBA. So while I would have done things differently, I can't say that Flip screwed up the draft.
Brewer/AK47 -- Do I think Flip overpaid for Brewer and has been over-selling Brewer's corner 3 shooting? I think so. Would I rather have AK47 than Brewer? Yes. But I still see Brewer adding value and making the team better than it would be without him. And we'll never know for sure whether AK could have been re-signed for a reasonable amount that would have kept us safely under the luxury tax threshold with room to spare. So while I'm not thrilled with how things went down with Brewer and AK, I can't say that Flip messed up here.
Turiaf --- This is where I'll give Flip a lot of credit -- credit for identifying a perfect complementary veteran player who brings the sort of tough, team-oriented attitude we need and some skills we need --- namely shot-blocking and passing from the post.
Budinger and Martin -- Sorry guys, but a parrot could have done what Flip did signing these two guys, provided the parrot was trained to repeat the names Rick Adelman and Ricky Rubio. Let's not kid ourselves. These two guys signed here because of Ademan and Rubio. Heck, they both said as much. But at least Flip didn't screw things up by trying to be overly creative or cute about this. He identified two guys who had skills the team needs and he took full advantage of the edge we had with both of them -- Adelman and his system as well as Ricky Rubio.
Pekovic --- This is the final outstanding task for Flip. It will actually be hard to distinguish success from failure on this. If he doesn't sign him, it's probably because Pek is holding out for the sort of max or near max deal the Wolves can't afford knowing we'll have to eventually give a big contract to Ricky while Pek's deal is still going. On the other hand, we'll never know whether Flip did something to drive Pek away unnecessarily. But if the Pek situation ends up like the rest of Flip's accomplishments this summer, we'll be able to say as a general matter (at least before the season) that Flip did not screw up.