Minnesota Sports Forum

But our "magic number" is right around 1...

The Wolves need to win out, Memphis needs to not win again, and Dallas needs to lose every game except for their game against Memphis. Then the Wolves are in!

The last nail in our coffin is waiting for the hammer to strike. The Mavs play at the Clippers tonight. Could that be the final nail? Or do we live to see another day?

[Edit: We could also have Phoenix lose out, and Dallas' lone win coming against Phoenix... ]

Thanks Tim.

There are A LOT of scenarios that could happen to get the Wolves in the playoffs.

We have a chance boys. We have a chance!

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Thanks Tim.

There are A LOT of scenarios that could happen to get the Wolves in the playoffs.

We have a chance boys. We have a chance!

Like waiting 'til next year! ;-)

Flip was interviewed in last nights pregame show. He cited the two biggest reasons the Wolves struggled this year: poor defense and inability to win close games. He went on to say how HIS teams in the past were good defensive teams, and how he prided himself on his teams' ability to win close games.

There are so many subtle (or not so subtle!) indications that Flip will be our next head coach. For better or worse?

60WinTim wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Thanks Tim.

There are A LOT of scenarios that could happen to get the Wolves in the playoffs.

We have a chance boys. We have a chance!

Like waiting 'til next year! ;-)

Flip was interviewed in last nights pregame show. He cited the two biggest reasons the Wolves struggled this year: poor defense and inability to win close games. He went on to say how HIS teams in the past were good defensive teams, and how he prided himself on his teams' ability to win close games.

There are so many subtle (or not so subtle!) indications that Flip will be our next head coach. For better or worse?

As one of the guys who claimed Saunders would be the next coach the day he was hired to run things... none of this surprises me.

I'm convinced it was the plan all along. Why wouldn't he take that opportunity and run with it. One of the greatest frustrations as a coach has to be dealing with others in the organization who disagree with you having a say in how you coach. Remove that part of the equation...

Saunders is in a position to be in rare company as THE guy for an organization.


[Note: The real question is whether it will work. I don't know. I think Saunders was a good coach, not a great coach. Detroit was always close, just not quite good enough after that perfect storm in '04. Washington was a disaster. The Wizards team he coached was not the Wizards team he signed on to coach. He remains the best coach in Wolves history... whatever that means. I do hope the jump shooting days that plagued those teams in the playoffs are behind us though.]

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

60WinTim wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Thanks Tim.

There are A LOT of scenarios that could happen to get the Wolves in the playoffs.

We have a chance boys. We have a chance!

Like waiting 'til next year! ;-)

Flip was interviewed in last nights pregame show. He cited the two biggest reasons the Wolves struggled this year: poor defense and inability to win close games. He went on to say how HIS teams in the past were good defensive teams, and how he prided himself on his teams' ability to win close games.

There are so many subtle (or not so subtle!) indications that Flip will be our next head coach. For better or worse?

As one of the guys who claimed Saunders would be the next coach the day he was hired to run things... none of this surprises me.

I'm convinced it was the plan all along. Why wouldn't he take that opportunity and run with it. One of the greatest frustrations as a coach has to be dealing with others in the organization who disagree with you having a say in how you coach. Remove that part of the equation...

Saunders is in a position to be in rare company as THE guy for an organization.


[Note: The real question is whether it will work. I don't know. I think Saunders was a good coach, not a great coach. Detroit was always close, just not quite good enough after that perfect storm in '04. Washington was a disaster. The Wizards team he coached was not the Wizards team he signed on to coach. He remains the best coach in Wolves history... whatever that means. I do hope the jump shooting days that plagued those teams in the playoffs are behind us though.]

has there ever been a person in the history of sports who could say they were the coach, the GM, AND the owner of a team? You would think there would be some kind of rule against it.

As wary as I am about agreeing with Jerry Zgoda, I still think we will be seeing The Mayor on our bench next season. That said, I would not have a big problem with Saunders. I don't know if anyone else had the Clippers feed on when we played them, but Michael Smith talked about playing for Saunders, and said he was by far the best coach of all that he played for...good to know.

Who is the better basketball guy...the guy who was smart enough to turn the 9th pick into Muhammad and Dieng, or the guy that was too dumb to play them? Flip's not my first choice, but he would be a huge improvement over Adelman.

Alex, I agree with you that it would be odd to have the same guy as coach and PBO, but it doesn't concern me that much. In fact, it would be preferable to the dysfunction we has this year with the disconnect between Saunders and Adelman. And I think you are overemphasizing the relevance of his ownership interest. He has a vey small percentage, along with several other minority owners, and Taylor could fire him at any time.

The interesting thing about Hoiberg is that Flip would have a tremendous amount of input into to what Hoiberg does. Kind of a mentor thing...

Why would Hoiberg leave a place (home) where he is guaranteed tens of millions of dollars and king-like status... especially so soon?

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Why would Hoiberg leave a place (home) where he is guaranteed tens of millions of dollars and king-like status... especially so soon?

You been to Ames before?

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Why would Hoiberg leave a place (home) where he is guaranteed tens of millions of dollars and king-like status... especially so soon?

All seriousness aside, I don't get the thought that Fred won't want to leave Iowa State. Here are all the reasons:

1) He makes $1.5 million at ISU, and Adelman is paid almost 3 times that. Tough to turn down an extra 2-3 million a year.

2) In terns of job security, Glen Taylor doesn't exactly have a quick trigger in firing people, no matter how poorly they perform (see Adelman, Rick)

3) Fred's a family guy, and would love to spend summers with his four kids. As a college coach, he needs to spend most of the summer recruiting

4) Most people aspire to the highest job they can find in their profession...that's the NBA

5) There has to be a reason Fred negotiated such a small buyout in his contract for going to the pros

6) Ames is boring. Fred has lived in Minneapolis and knows how much more interesting a community it is.