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Zach Lavine should be watching tapes of pre acl Lou Williams, if he could find a way to get the line he could make up for his poor slection and become a really efficient player.
The Minnesota Timberwolves Thread: Timberwolves, Anthony Bennett part ways
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by jpzx,
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jpzx
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I've revised my feelings on LaVine's readiness and transition to the pro game. Turnovers and defensive issues still, but he does things at will sometimes. The game seems so obviously comfortable to him, and he just turned 20. Shooting efficiency as of late 
I'm encouraged about several things.
I'm encouraged about several things.
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I really hope he gets a consistent jumper I believe he will get to the line a lot.
Hope AB is around next season.
Hope AB is around next season.
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Personally I hope Anthony Bennett is actually gone....he can't play, and he's on a #1 pick contract. Any minutes "developing" him in the future and beyond will be better served for Adrian Payne and our possible lottery big.
Wiggins about to play the full 82 games this year....on this team that is seriously impressive. He's played far too many minutes but the positive is we know how well statistically his season ended up being.
Wiggins about to play the full 82 games this year....on this team that is seriously impressive. He's played far too many minutes but the positive is we know how well statistically his season ended up being.
jpzx
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Ready to move on from Bennett because of the money. If he was on LaVine's rookie deal, I'd be fine with keeping him around as the last active player off the bench - obviously not ready for this, injury or not. Feel like he gained the weight back, which is not surprising for how long he sat. Weight for him won't ever filter into his play in a positive way. He plays like he's a stretch PF no matter the lbs.
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We're on the same page about AB, I just can't shake the feeling that we trade him and he begins to flourish on another squad...
Meh but then again Payne looking decent and with a lotto big coming guess it's not a big deal..
Kmart has to go tho
Meh but then again Payne looking decent and with a lotto big coming guess it's not a big deal..
Kmart has to go tho
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Your Minnesota Timberwolves!
Sid Hartman:
Jerry Zgoda:
Sid Hartman:
Jerry Zgoda:
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I hope all those extra mintutes were worth it flip becuae he's playing for Canada this summer in two tournaments.
jpzx
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Biggest infraction so far: Trading first-round picks.
On Adriean Payne:
A 23-year-old big who -- at maybe his lowest value we'll see throughout his career -- was worth trading for. Seriously, would that trade with the Hawks still have been on the table in this upcoming summer with a bit more of a sample size to see what Payne was... YES. The Hawks have completely wrapped things up right now in the East, and are giving Muscala and other bench players/reserves their time to shine down the stretch. That could've been Payne's time for actually receiving minutes with the Hawks, and had we waited until the summer and seen that/what he was and how he fares against NBA talent before actually trading for him when he had, what, two games of NBA experience -- off of Tom Izzo's advice.
The only way that will ever make sense to me is if it was a precursor to Izzo and Flip negotiating about Izzo taking over as head coach in 2015-16 and beginning to get the guys he likes in-house before actually accepting the position once Michigan State's season ended (looks like a very, very remote possibility right now, obviously).
Regardless: It was a stupid gamble and throwaway notion of your assets, and Izzo ending up as the Timberwolves head coach is the only point-of-view I can see as a feasible reason to trade for Payne at the time they did so (if Izzo wanted his guys and Flip went out and got one to show his commitment to working with Izzo and bringing him to the pro game).
My biggest problem with trading for Payne: FLIP! YOU GOT GORGUI DIENG AT NO. 21 in 2013, one of the "weaker drafts" people said (at the time)! There's a chance (need more examples, but we work with what we have) that he can actually spot quality big men into the 20s, which VERY few general managers can claim. So why is he giving up that asset for a big man who was in the D-League, and a big man who was being given up on by his team six months into the season, and a big man who was older than Wes Johnson when he entered the league?
Not to mention, Zach LaVine and Shabazz Muhammad both appear to have heartbeats, and NBA careers.
On Thaddeus Young:
The trade last summer made sense to me at the time, but that comes with the enormous disclaimer that I should've been aware of -- which is that I hadn't kept up with him much in Philadelphia due to exposure, and was going off of the fact that he was a 26-year-old PF coming off of the best season of his career. Of course, it's Philadelphia, so putting stock into that was absolutely stupid. Oh well.
I quickly.... QUICKLY... discovered he doesn't play defense, he takes too many outside two-point field goals (and three-point field goals that he's not even good at) and that he was being misused as a SF in several spots, etc.
And then they deal Young's expiring deal for Kevin Garnett, who hasn't played in a millennium.
Overall:
The Andrew Wiggins summer gives him slack in my evaluations, but why do general managers even have the luxury of 'slack'? Stop canceling out the good you've done by exchanging two first-round picks for Young/Garnett and Bosley Payne.
On Adriean Payne:
A 23-year-old big who -- at maybe his lowest value we'll see throughout his career -- was worth trading for. Seriously, would that trade with the Hawks still have been on the table in this upcoming summer with a bit more of a sample size to see what Payne was... YES. The Hawks have completely wrapped things up right now in the East, and are giving Muscala and other bench players/reserves their time to shine down the stretch. That could've been Payne's time for actually receiving minutes with the Hawks, and had we waited until the summer and seen that/what he was and how he fares against NBA talent before actually trading for him when he had, what, two games of NBA experience -- off of Tom Izzo's advice.
The only way that will ever make sense to me is if it was a precursor to Izzo and Flip negotiating about Izzo taking over as head coach in 2015-16 and beginning to get the guys he likes in-house before actually accepting the position once Michigan State's season ended (looks like a very, very remote possibility right now, obviously).
Regardless: It was a stupid gamble and throwaway notion of your assets, and Izzo ending up as the Timberwolves head coach is the only point-of-view I can see as a feasible reason to trade for Payne at the time they did so (if Izzo wanted his guys and Flip went out and got one to show his commitment to working with Izzo and bringing him to the pro game).
My biggest problem with trading for Payne: FLIP! YOU GOT GORGUI DIENG AT NO. 21 in 2013, one of the "weaker drafts" people said (at the time)! There's a chance (need more examples, but we work with what we have) that he can actually spot quality big men into the 20s, which VERY few general managers can claim. So why is he giving up that asset for a big man who was in the D-League, and a big man who was being given up on by his team six months into the season, and a big man who was older than Wes Johnson when he entered the league?
Not to mention, Zach LaVine and Shabazz Muhammad both appear to have heartbeats, and NBA careers.
On Thaddeus Young:
The trade last summer made sense to me at the time, but that comes with the enormous disclaimer that I should've been aware of -- which is that I hadn't kept up with him much in Philadelphia due to exposure, and was going off of the fact that he was a 26-year-old PF coming off of the best season of his career. Of course, it's Philadelphia, so putting stock into that was absolutely stupid. Oh well.
I quickly.... QUICKLY... discovered he doesn't play defense, he takes too many outside two-point field goals (and three-point field goals that he's not even good at) and that he was being misused as a SF in several spots, etc.
And then they deal Young's expiring deal for Kevin Garnett, who hasn't played in a millennium.
Overall:
The Andrew Wiggins summer gives him slack in my evaluations, but why do general managers even have the luxury of 'slack'? Stop canceling out the good you've done by exchanging two first-round picks for Young/Garnett and Bosley Payne.
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If we get another big then Pek is gone ASAP?
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jpzx
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You know it's in full-fledged "wrap-it-up" mode when they lose by that many points (and get thoroughly outplayed) to an Orlando team that's also throwing out suspect starters once in a while (since they are very much in the race for No. 5 odds come lottery day)... at the Target Center. 
I wonder what Flip Saunders actually says to them to get them to buy-in to his plan of strategic tanking.
I'm going to go search right now, but I believe the whole thing in regard to Kevin Garnett being in Minnesota for two years was prompted by a quote from Saunders immediately after the Feb. 19 trade that simply read, "We hope to sign him for two years."
I believe so at least, because I remember I said to everybody at the time that that was a complete attempt to spin the media back on his side after there was some backlash post-trade before KG's debut vs. Washington. Not that signing him for another year would've have made the trade any better in my opinion (short-term triumph! Yeah!) but he was at least using that "we hope to sign him" as a defense for the criticism at the time.
I wonder what Flip Saunders actually says to them to get them to buy-in to his plan of strategic tanking.
I'm going to go search right now, but I believe the whole thing in regard to Kevin Garnett being in Minnesota for two years was prompted by a quote from Saunders immediately after the Feb. 19 trade that simply read, "We hope to sign him for two years."
I believe so at least, because I remember I said to everybody at the time that that was a complete attempt to spin the media back on his side after there was some backlash post-trade before KG's debut vs. Washington. Not that signing him for another year would've have made the trade any better in my opinion (short-term triumph! Yeah!) but he was at least using that "we hope to sign him" as a defense for the criticism at the time.
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jpzx
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Excerpt from JON KRAWCZYNSKI of the Associated Press' Feb. 19 article:
Krawczynski is very tight with Flip Saunders if you've paid attention to his reports over time, and I'm sure Saunders used him as an outlet to leak that... something that can easily fall apart but wouldn't until a later date when nobody would have their pitchforks (in today's media landscape, specifically in sports media, every puzzle piece to a story from the past -- even if it clears up what exactly happened -- barely gets noticed because there is just a mass supply of news and everything moves too fast to even take notice/care).
Krawczynski is very tight with Flip Saunders if you've paid attention to his reports over time, and I'm sure Saunders used him as an outlet to leak that... something that can easily fall apart but wouldn't until a later date when nobody would have their pitchforks (in today's media landscape, specifically in sports media, every puzzle piece to a story from the past -- even if it clears up what exactly happened -- barely gets noticed because there is just a mass supply of news and everything moves too fast to even take notice/care).
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^I thought we already knew this? At least, I've heard it brought up a few times. Been assuming hed'd be around another season or two since.
jpzx
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No what I'm meaning to say is that Flip Saunders uses AP Jon Kraw as an outlet to steer the media.
So the trade happens, Flip watches the public absorb/process, followed by sharp criticism and says, 'Hey Jon, we're going to TRY to sign him for two years' because (we don't want people to think we dealt a first-round pick for Thaddeus Young which six months later turned into Kevin Garnett who will really only play a few games for us before wrapping it up).
People reported it like there was an understanding between Flip/KG that he would play another year. That wasn't the case. Thus, I think the 24/7 media landscape in ways such as this, help GMs along with hurting them. There's so much more to track than in the past when it was really only a few newspapers coming to the doors and the radio heads that yelled at you on your way to work that brought you your sports news. Since Twitter, that's changed, and I feel Saunders tries to delay certain things coming out because once something's old then most feel less inclined to get galvanized behind an issue with "pitchforks"
Hopefully that makes sense
So the trade happens, Flip watches the public absorb/process, followed by sharp criticism and says, 'Hey Jon, we're going to TRY to sign him for two years' because (we don't want people to think we dealt a first-round pick for Thaddeus Young which six months later turned into Kevin Garnett who will really only play a few games for us before wrapping it up).
People reported it like there was an understanding between Flip/KG that he would play another year. That wasn't the case. Thus, I think the 24/7 media landscape in ways such as this, help GMs along with hurting them. There's so much more to track than in the past when it was really only a few newspapers coming to the doors and the radio heads that yelled at you on your way to work that brought you your sports news. Since Twitter, that's changed, and I feel Saunders tries to delay certain things coming out because once something's old then most feel less inclined to get galvanized behind an issue with "pitchforks"
Hopefully that makes sense
jpzx
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For the record, Saunders said Kevin Garnett will be on the road trip that's upcoming in the story about Ricky Rubio missing the rest of the season ( ). Of course, that doesn't mean Garnett will be playing just yet, in fact, it's combined with a quote that apparently Saunders is finally admitting he might be out for the whole season?
). Of course, that doesn't mean Garnett will be playing just yet, in fact, it's combined with a quote that apparently Saunders is finally admitting he might be out for the whole season?
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Flip Saunders will eventually write the book on how to play the media - he is zen master number 1 and has been for over a decade. I have seen nothing like it in 30+ years of watching sports....but lucky for him he has been in a market where this can happen. If Flip coached his career in NY or other spots he'd be unheard of and in the D-League.
jpzx
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@jweirREP: Team source tells me Arinze Onuaku being signed by T-Wolves, Jorge Gutierrez being signed by Bucks. Great for them, bad timing for Charge.
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:x
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It's a Twilight Zone episode I swear to god
jpzx
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So we are stuck with flip and If he decides to step down he will pick somebody with his coaching philosophies 
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I hear Randy Wittman may be available next season.
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Might as well keep flip if that's the case
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Totally joking, so you know.
