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Post by The Country Club on Nov 28, 2018 12:52:09 GMT -6
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Post by XRaySpecs on Nov 28, 2018 13:08:54 GMT -6
Chemistry is important and it certainly seems like RoCo fits in.
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Post by drdeath on Nov 28, 2018 13:58:12 GMT -6
RoCo has it made it fun to watch Wolves games again. He has great chemistry with Target Center’s crowd, too!
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Post by boognish on Nov 28, 2018 16:37:10 GMT -6
It's amazing how one person like Butler can poison the whole environment. Removal of that one jerk seems to have made everyone exponentially happier.
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Post by wunderwolf on Nov 28, 2018 17:28:55 GMT -6
It's amazing how one person like Butler can poison the whole environment. Removal of that one jerk seems to have made everyone exponentially happier. Yep, but it's not just the off the court chemistry, it is the on the court chemistry as well as RoCo and Saric just fit in perfectly with our roster. Love them.
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Post by BIG BAD WOLF on Nov 29, 2018 7:40:23 GMT -6
It's amazing how one person like Butler can poison the whole environment. Removal of that one jerk seems to have made everyone exponentially happier. Yep, but it's not just the off the court chemistry, it is the on the court chemistry as well as RoCo and Saric just fit in perfectly with our roster. Love them. I was bummed when the JRich/Whiteside rumors didn't come to amount for much. But I think Thibs scored a plus in my book with this trade due to the chemistry fit with the team. At this point Thibs is earning his money at both ends of the bargain: he turned a (self inflicted) messy thing with Butler into a really good outcome, he drafted JOko who seems to be the real deal, and the team is winning by playing watchable basketball. Last night the team even managed to shut him up and make him sit! He has a long way to go to clean up the roster, but the guy showed he can hunker down in his blind and wait for the big buck to walk by rather than shoot at the first squirrel popping up in his range... Taylor will definitely let him finish this year and likely more than that. And if the team keeps performing like this, who can argue with it?
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jr
Junior Member
Posts: 298
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Post by jr on Nov 29, 2018 8:25:21 GMT -6
Yep, but it's not just the off the court chemistry, it is the on the court chemistry as well as RoCo and Saric just fit in perfectly with our roster. Love them. I was bummed when the JRich/Whiteside rumors didn't come to amount for much. But I think Thibs scored a plus in my book with this trade due to the chemistry fit with the team. At this point Thibs is earning his money at both ends of the bargain: he turned a (self inflicted) messy thing with Butler into a really good outcome, he drafted JOko who seems to be the real deal, and the team is winning by playing watchable basketball. Last night the team even managed to shut him up and make him sit! He has a long way to go to clean up the roster, but the guy showed he can hunker down in his blind and wait for the big buck to walk by rather than shoot at the first squirrel popping up in his range... Taylor will definitely let him finish this year and likely more than that. And if the team keeps performing like this, who can argue with it? I think this is a situation more akin to the "blind squirrel finding a nut"
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Post by Nick K on Nov 29, 2018 8:49:19 GMT -6
I was bummed when the JRich/Whiteside rumors didn't come to amount for much. But I think Thibs scored a plus in my book with this trade due to the chemistry fit with the team. At this point Thibs is earning his money at both ends of the bargain: he turned a (self inflicted) messy thing with Butler into a really good outcome, he drafted JOko who seems to be the real deal, and the team is winning by playing watchable basketball. Last night the team even managed to shut him up and make him sit! He has a long way to go to clean up the roster, but the guy showed he can hunker down in his blind and wait for the big buck to walk by rather than shoot at the first squirrel popping up in his range... Taylor will definitely let him finish this year and likely more than that. And if the team keeps performing like this, who can argue with it? I think this is a situation more akin to the "blind squirrel finding a nut" Yep. That's it! :)
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Post by tjstyles on Nov 29, 2018 9:02:26 GMT -6
Yep, but it's not just the off the court chemistry, it is the on the court chemistry as well as RoCo and Saric just fit in perfectly with our roster. Love them. I was bummed when the JRich/Whiteside rumors didn't come to amount for much. But I think Thibs scored a plus in my book with this trade due to the chemistry fit with the team. At this point Thibs is earning his money at both ends of the bargain: he turned a (self inflicted) messy thing with Butler into a really good outcome, he drafted JOko who seems to be the real deal, and the team is winning by playing watchable basketball. Last night the team even managed to shut him up and make him sit! He has a long way to go to clean up the roster, but the guy showed he can hunker down in his blind and wait for the big buck to walk by rather than shoot at the first squirrel popping up in his range... Taylor will definitely let him finish this year and likely more than that. And if the team keeps performing like this, who can argue with it? <iframe width="34.180000000000064" height="6.759999999999991" style="position: absolute; width: 34.180000000000064px; height: 6.759999999999991px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none;left: 15px; top: -5px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_31991579" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="34.180000000000064" height="6.759999999999991" style="position: absolute; width: 34.18px; height: 6.76px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 1621px; top: -5px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_98232819" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="34.180000000000064" height="6.759999999999991" style="position: absolute; width: 34.18px; height: 6.76px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 15px; top: 275px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_4057474" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="34.180000000000064" height="6.759999999999991" style="position: absolute; width: 34.18px; height: 6.76px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 1621px; top: 275px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_71171883" scrolling="no"></iframe> I really want to know how much Thibs had to do with the trade. Before the trade, Taylor told Thibs to focus on coaching and to get out of the front office. We also heard reports (not sure if they were legit or rumors) that Philly's owner/FO contacted Taylor directly to at least get the ball rolling on this trade, if not to finalize it as well. If Taylor had a bigger role in the deal, there is a potential for Thibs to have this success actually cause him to get let go. If he pushed back originally saying that we need Butler to win and that this return was not enough, then Taylor went over his head and made the deal and we have success, then there's more incentive for Taylor to stop letting Thibs call the shots. But, that is all dependent on how much of a role Thibs had in the deal.
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Post by Bonecrusher on Nov 29, 2018 10:21:50 GMT -6
I was bummed when the JRich/Whiteside rumors didn't come to amount for much. But I think Thibs scored a plus in my book with this trade due to the chemistry fit with the team. At this point Thibs is earning his money at both ends of the bargain: he turned a (self inflicted) messy thing with Butler into a really good outcome, he drafted JOko who seems to be the real deal, and the team is winning by playing watchable basketball. Last night the team even managed to shut him up and make him sit! He has a long way to go to clean up the roster, but the guy showed he can hunker down in his blind and wait for the big buck to walk by rather than shoot at the first squirrel popping up in his range... Taylor will definitely let him finish this year and likely more than that. And if the team keeps performing like this, who can argue with it? I think this is a situation more akin to the "blind squirrel finding a nut" Plus this likely keeps Thibs employed for the season and I don't think he had anything to do with the trade. It was all Glen.
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Post by levine on Dec 4, 2018 14:43:35 GMT -6
Britt has a terrific article today: During one of the very first games Covington played with the team, he noticed that Gorgui Dieng was frustrated from missing an open shot and also getting a relatively quick hook. Dieng, the longest-tenured Timberwolf on the roster, is also one of the team’s most intelligent and proud players. He possesses an outsized belief in his abilities and is loath to imagine his salary being an albatross on the Wolves future — both of which cause him to exert tremendous pressure on himself.
Together on the sideline during a break in the action, Covington began recounting all the little hustle plays and subtle gamesmanship Dieng had deployed during his last stint. Noting that the Wolves had launched a comeback shortly after that, RoCo stressed to Gorgui, “You are the one who started this, who got us going.”
Having heard this from a Wolves staffer on the sidelines who watched it happen, I asked Covington about it after the Wolves thumped the Spurs on Wednesday night. “Part of my character is I talk to guys in a way that — I know how the game is going, how to read when emotions are flying, and I pick the right moments. I never want to rub people the wrong way.”
So was the conversation with Dieng planned, or instinctual? “Instinctual,” he replied, adding that “being a defensive-minded guy,” he noticed that Dieng had taken a smart foul on transition defense, and other things about his overall activity. “You reward the big man with that praise and it is just going to make it better for him.”
As Petersen inferred, it is probably not a coincidence then that the confidently decisive Dieng of yore has reemerged in recent games. His second quarter stint during a 19-4 Wolves run against the Spurs Wednesday was arguably his peak performance as a pro. The entire second unit — four subs and Covington — has reveled in sublime, selfless hoops, almost gleefully attacking opposing offenses with their crisp rotations and heightened awareness. After the game, Covington described it as “playing freely, moving well, bringing a different energy. It is a relief for a lot of guys who can just go out there and play free.”
Bingo. Perhaps Covington’s greatest achievement has been guiding this formerly beleaguered team into that emotional sweet spot where mutual responsibilities to systems and schemes are enlivened rather than betrayed by the joyful instincts of response and recovery. Nobody has benefited more from this than the face of the franchise, Karl-Anthony Towns.theathletic.com/684418/2018/12/01/covingtons-instant-impact-on-the-wolves-has-been-almost-too-good-to-be-true/
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Post by Nick K on Dec 5, 2018 0:39:32 GMT -6
I'm wondering who the real coach is of the Wolves is. Could it be Rob Covington?
From John K at The Athletic:
"Clint Capela dunked all over the Timberwolves in the last spring’s playoff series. And in the first half of his return to Target Center on Monday night, he was doing it again, beating the Wolves down the floor and bending the rim to push the Houston Rockets out to a big lead.
That’s when Robert Covington said enough is enough. That’s when it became clear that these Timberwolves might really be what they have been saying they are over the last 11 games: different.
“Capela was having too good of a game,” Covington said. “We had to shut that down.”
Covington knew what was coming. A voracious film watcher, he had the added benefit of playing for the Rockets as a rookie in 2013-14 and getting to know Capela during training camp in 2014 before he was waived. Covington also played in Philadelphia while Mike D’Antoni was an assistant coach, so he had a good grasp of the system principles that set up the play that was unfolding right in front of his eyes.
Once Dieng took two steps off of Capela and squared his body to meet Paul’s penetration, the point guard slipped a bounce pass to a wide-open Capela under the basket.
“I knew I could get it,” Covington said. “He didn’t have any idea where I was.”
In all of his games against Minnesota, Capela had no reason to expect a pterodactyl to swoop in from out of nowhere to challenge his dunk. He had met precious little resistance in his life against the previously toothless Timberwolves. But Covington and Dario Saric have given this group some serious fangs since coming over from Philly.
In that brief moment, Covington thought back to this training camp days with Capela, and of course to the times the Sixers had faced the Rockets over the last few years, and remembered how the big center likes to spring toward the rim quickly. The key, Covington said, was jumping early to elevate over him before those long arms are fully raised. If you jump too late, you have no chance.
“He’s first-team All-Defense for a reason,” said Karl-Anthony Towns, who had 24 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block. “There’s things that a lot of people in this league can’t do from a physical standpoint or just an IQ standpoint. He has that itch for the ball, especially on the defensive end.”
Suddenly, the entire Timberwolves team is scratching it. One of the worst defensive teams in the league for more than a decade, the Wolves have galvanized around Covington and Saric like they haven’t since Kevin Garnett’s prime."
"Several players pointed to the atmosphere in the locker room at halftime as the turning point. They had just been torched in that second quarter and Towns said they were screaming at each other to hold one another accountable and shore up mistakes. They had identified the issues before coach Tom Thibodeau had entered the room and came out of the break foaming at the mouth."
“We just got so much love for each other,” Towns said. “We just kept trying to tell each other that we’re going to grind ourselves back into this game. Just coming back to the huddle telling each other, ‘Don’t let anyone score. If they’re going to make a bucket, make them do something that’s tremendously hard.'” ---------------------------------------
There you have it. Who needs Thibs? The players don't listen to him but they do listen to each other. Rob Covington is the coach on the floor and the players listen.
Look at the excellent coaching Saric and Cov received in Philly and brought here. It looks like our coach rates low on the teaching scale but we found that out his first year here. I am so sick of Thibs.
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jr
Junior Member
Posts: 298
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Post by jr on Dec 5, 2018 8:03:31 GMT -6
I listened to the post game interviews and there was one statement and much innuendo that the players wanted to have their plan ironed out before Thibs came into the locker room. That says that they knew Thibs would have a different plan, or none at all except "play harder". There could be a whole lot of story behind that. Would this be the first team that coached themselves?
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