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Post by levine on Sept 14, 2018 9:17:45 GMT -6
There is a lot of really good stuff here. Some excerpts: Matt Moore, Senior NBA Writer for The Action Network: There’s this theory in social psychology called terror management. Effectively, whenever someone’s aware of their own mortality, they express their core values more strongly. That’s what we’re seeing with Tom Thibodeau. In two seasons under Thibs, the Wolves have ranked 26th and 22nd respectively in defensive rating. There is talk of internal discord within the front office and locker room, and Karl-Anthony Towns still hasn’t signed his extension. I talked about a lot of this stuff with Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic this summer and none of it sounded good. So with that much internal strife and the team’s wildly disappointing slide last season, there’s a lot of tension in the building. Thibs is turning to his security blanket: Past success. The 2010-11 Bulls were the most successful team of Thibs’ career, and like a lot of coaches in that position, he’s opted to cling to that security blanket — even if that era was seven to eight years ago. It’s hard to see how he doesn’t realize this is a bad idea. That Derrick Rose, despite a good playoff series against the Rockets, is a shell of himself. That Deng can barely play. That Joakim Noah, should he join the crew, also can’t get on the floor. This is a roster built around guys who just aren’t the players they used to be. For all the talk of wanting to bring in leadership and change the locker-room dynamic, you’re also bringing in a crew of guys who will remember their past success in the current context rather than as an anachronism. ----------------- We’ll get to the jokes later, but, there is only one explanation here for me, and it’s Thibs’ attempt to squash any locker room trust issues. The Andrew Wiggins vs. Towns vs. Jimmy Butler vs. Thibodeau vs. Old Bulls regime of players Royal Rumble is the worst-kept secret in the league right now. Thibs is bringing in guys he has been in the trenches with, and what appears to be the only guys he wants to be in the trenches with moving forward. Like, what is going to happen after either this fails or all these old dudes retire? Thibodeau going to The Big 3 with them, too? ----------------- What does this mean for Towns’ extension? MM: It continues to be weird that this isn’t done. The money is clear; the Wolves are never going to let him just walk as a free agent. So if Towns is hesitating, it seems that there’s some uncertainty on his part to give the Wolves the leverage of him on a five-year deal if trade talks were to develop. ----------------- What do you think this locker room is going to be like? MM: It will smell of money and Bengay, and will operate with a very clear dichotomy of the young dudes and the old guys. Like Chicago in 2016-17 and other teams before it, creating this kind of separation between the old guys and the young dudes rarely works well. It increases division and entrenchment. Not great. www.actionnetwork.com/nba/minnesota-timberwolves-luol-deng-signing-tom-thibodeau-rob-perez-matt-moore
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Post by Bob Oppenheimer on Sept 14, 2018 9:26:55 GMT -6
the towns stuff is starting to get a little scary.
also doesnt seem like thibs is taking a great approach to bring along our young guys. it appears he is looking for backup to force his direction rather than looking to work with the young guys to get them where they need to be.
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Post by BIG BAD WOLF on Sept 14, 2018 9:33:34 GMT -6
Maybe Thibs is just bringing all these old guys in for practice. Imagine a scrimmage "old vs. young". Nobody wants to lose this game. They would play their souls out, which is what Thibs probably wants anyway... if the young guys get to where the old guys were in 2011, this experiment will be well worth it in his eyes.
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Post by levine on Sept 14, 2018 10:00:39 GMT -6
Maybe Thibs is just bringing all these old guys in for practice. Imagine a scrimmage "old vs. young". Nobody wants to lose this game. They would play their souls out, which is what Thibs probably wants anyway... if the young guys get to where the old guys were in 2011, this experiment will be well worth it in his eyes. Funny stuff!
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Post by stretcharmstrong on Sept 14, 2018 13:36:05 GMT -6
I have no confidence in Thibs or Taylor at this point. It is going to take an owner change to get this team on track. And I think the only way that will happen is if Taylor is no longer around.
Sigh
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Post by levine on Sept 14, 2018 13:37:39 GMT -6
I have no confidence in Thibs or Taylor at this point. It is going to take an owner change to get this team on track. And I think the only way that will happen is if Taylor is no longer around. Sigh Agreed 100%.
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Post by kingsxman on Sept 15, 2018 18:40:46 GMT -6
I have no confidence in Thibs or Taylor at this point. It is going to take an owner change to get this team on track. And I think the only way that will happen is if Taylor is no longer around. Sigh I'll bite. I have no confidence in Thibs, but I still say you cant blame Taylor for this Thibs thing going bad. Taylor did what everyone wanted and made what most thought was a great choice, and did it without a lot of F**ing around. Its just dumb Twolves luck that Thibs is turning out the way he is. We had this luck before Taylor. I think Taylor is at a point in his life where he wants to win and is willing to do what it takes to get there. I think he'll make the right choice when it comes to Thibs.
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Post by Nick K on Sept 15, 2018 20:41:45 GMT -6
the towns stuff is starting to get a little scary. also doesnt seem like thibs is taking a great approach to bring along our young guys. it appears he is looking for backup to force his direction rather than looking to work with the young guys to get them where they need to be.
In retrospect, considering Flip's rebuilding of the young Wolves, Glen Taylor and his high powered search firm picked the absolute worst fit of all in Thibs for what we had.
Hopefully this will be his last year.
Scary is an understatement.
Fortunately we have a lot of talent and still should have a very good team.
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Post by boognish on Sept 21, 2018 20:12:33 GMT -6
the towns stuff is starting to get a little scary. also doesnt seem like thibs is taking a great approach to bring along our young guys. it appears he is looking for backup to force his direction rather than looking to work with the young guys to get them where they need to be. I don't know if I'm going to be able to sleep well until KAT signs his extension. Everyone says it is a done deal, but I'm terrified that he'd rather leave millions on the table than play for a punk like Thibs. I just hope that Glen is proactive and fires Thibs before it comes to that, even though it means eating a bunch of money for Thibs's contract.
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Post by boognish on Sept 21, 2018 20:16:14 GMT -6
I have no confidence in Thibs or Taylor at this point. It is going to take an owner change to get this team on track. And I think the only way that will happen is if Taylor is no longer around. Sigh I'll bite. I have no confidence in Thibs, but I still say you cant blame Taylor for this Thibs thing going bad. Taylor did what everyone wanted and made what most thought was a great choice, and did it without a lot of F**ing around. Its just dumb Twolves luck that Thibs is turning out the way he is. We had this luck before Taylor. I think Taylor is at a point in his life where he wants to win and is willing to do what it takes to get there. I think he'll make the right choice when it comes to Thibs. I totally agree. All the "experts" praised Taylor for finally moving past the "family" model of ownership and letting some talent company pick the best guy for the job. Now that it went south, folks want to call Glen an idiot but that's revisionist history. Hell, I thought Thibs was going to be a great coach for this team. Plus, it's just stupid to call for the owner to leave. He owns the team...he isn't going anywhere. Wake up. All you can do is hope that he makes good decisions.
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Post by RAHchills on Sept 22, 2018 0:26:03 GMT -6
I'll bite. I have no confidence in Thibs, but I still say you cant blame Taylor for this Thibs thing going bad. Taylor did what everyone wanted and made what most thought was a great choice, and did it without a lot of F**ing around. Its just dumb Twolves luck that Thibs is turning out the way he is. We had this luck before Taylor. I think Taylor is at a point in his life where he wants to win and is willing to do what it takes to get there. I think he'll make the right choice when it comes to Thibs. I totally agree. All the "experts" praised Taylor for finally moving past the "family" model of ownership and letting some talent company pick the best guy for the job. Now that it went south, folks want to call Glen an idiot but that's revisionist history. Hell, I thought Thibs was going to be a great coach for this team. Plus, it's just stupid to call for the owner to leave. He owns the team...he isn't going anywhere. Wake up. All you can do is hope that he makes good decisions. Another take is that a Taylor made his bed and now has to sleep in it. There were reports that Tom and Taylor were talking the February before Sam was fired for no reason. Hiring an outside agency to “recommend” Tom after the fact was all window dressing that covered his @ss if something like this were to happen. And it seems to have worked. Even die hard Wolves fans are absconding Taylor from this travesty... But I know he’s accountable. It didn’t take a psychic to foresee Tom trading away the promising future that Flip had started to put together. Can’t say that I saw it playing out exactly this way with KAT vs Jimmy in the end, but I did know that Tom would do his best to ruin the team’s future in order to push his short-sighted vision forward. He was never the right fit for this team. I hated the move then and was outspoken about it on the old boards. I couldn’t get excited about Minnesota basketball for the last two years, despite being a fan since 89, and have hated Tom for taking my favorite team from me. My only solace now is picturing Tom holed up in his office/home in the Wolves practice facility, like Warden Norton at the end of the movie Shawshank Redemption... realizing that his entire little world is crumbling around him and that he is powerless to do anything about it. That’s a level of spite I didn’t know I had in me... Go Wolves!!
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Post by wunderwolf on Sept 22, 2018 6:49:59 GMT -6
I totally agree. All the "experts" praised Taylor for finally moving past the "family" model of ownership and letting some talent company pick the best guy for the job. Now that it went south, folks want to call Glen an idiot but that's revisionist history. Hell, I thought Thibs was going to be a great coach for this team. Plus, it's just stupid to call for the owner to leave. He owns the team...he isn't going anywhere. Wake up. All you can do is hope that he makes good decisions. My only solace now is picturing Tom holed up in his office/home in the Wolves practice facility, like Warden Norton at the end of the movie Shawshank Redemption... realizing that his entire little world is crumbling around him and that he is powerless to do anything about it. That’s a level of spite I didn’t know I had in me... Go Wolves!! Gold.. Pure Gold
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Post by The Country Club on Sept 22, 2018 14:34:30 GMT -6
the towns stuff is starting to get a little scary. also doesnt seem like thibs is taking a great approach to bring along our young guys. it appears he is looking for backup to force his direction rather than looking to work with the young guys to get them where they need to be.
In retrospect, considering Flip's rebuilding of the young Wolves, Glen Taylor and his high powered search firm picked the absolute worst fit of all in Thibs for what we had.
Hopefully this will be his last year.
Scary is an understatement.
Fortunately we have a lot of talent and still should have a very good team.
If Korn Ferry really thought Thibs was the best choice it's a bit of a black eye for those guys. I still tend to think Korn was used to validate who Taylor wanted all along.
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Post by wunderwolf on Sept 25, 2018 10:16:42 GMT -6
I totally agree. All the "experts" praised Taylor for finally moving past the "family" model of ownership and letting some talent company pick the best guy for the job. Now that it went south, folks want to call Glen an idiot but that's revisionist history. Hell, I thought Thibs was going to be a great coach for this team. Plus, it's just stupid to call for the owner to leave. He owns the team...he isn't going anywhere. Wake up. All you can do is hope that he makes good decisions. My only solace now is picturing Tom holed up in his office/home in the Wolves practice facility, like Warden Norton at the end of the movie Shawshank Redemption... realizing that his entire little world is crumbling around him and that he is powerless to do anything about it.
That’s a level of spite I didn’t know I had in me... Go Wolves!
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