The game has passed Tom Thibs, Stan Van Gundy, JVG... This isn't the 90s where you slow the game down, make the game ugly for your opponent, and ride on your one or two best players to grind the season and then the playoffs. You need to score a bunch of points and be a balanced team, and these fossils are too one dimensional. Just go away. At least JVG is good on camera. No one wants to listen to Stan and Thibs lol. I am sure their family loves them though.
How dare you talk down on 90s basketball. Dont you know Clutchfans loves 90s basketball. Don’t you know that 90s basketball was the manliest and greatest era ever, and that style of play should still be around. Screw 3 pointers. Give me Knicks/heat where scoring 80 was an accomplishment. I want to see guys dribble for 20 seconds before jacking up a long 2.
I love late 90's basketball! NO skillz. Genetric lottery winners that can only dunk, but can't shoot. Final scores = 80 points against 70 points. I mean, that was the best era of NBA. Late 90's basketball and holding the ball for 20 seconds make Melo and Westbrook like Magic Johnson and pass first! Let's bring back 90's basketball where it was so good that NBA went on a strike. So goood.....stupid nostigalic ...kids don't know crap! 80's was the best where only 5 teams made the NBA finals. Total Domination by 5 teams. Rockets Celtics Lakers Sixers Forgot the other team...Detroit? 89's? Birds vs Magic...EA Sports...IF it's in the GAME IT'S IN DA GAME...if Only I had invest in EA....instead of spending that $$$ on ESCORT SERVICES...my herpes ain't going away
Agree, except for the JVG part. We don't know what he'd do. He's on record saying he would need to completely revamp his approach to offense if he ever coached again. But that stuff he says about resting players.... he's against it. Probably not smart. But JVG seems open minded.
I would believe that Thibs would be stubborn and not trade away Butler. I also 100% believe Butler will leave. The 5th year on his deal likely means nothing to him in terms of getting him to stay. So yes, Thibs will cut off his nose to spite his face.
Can't see Towns leaving his first long term contract offer unless he somehow demands a trade elsewhere. They've got the talent to compete but Thibs needs to adjust his game plans. His teams are known for their defensive tenacity but the team that wins are the ones that score more points..
Unless the T-Wolves owner is a complete moron, the decision on Butler won't be Thibs' alone. If fact, Thibs won't be the coach beyond this season. EDIT: Oh yeah, we are talking about Glen Taylor. Thibs will probably get an extension.
I think Butler is definitely leaving, but I did get surprised by PG staying in OKC so I guess anything can happen if I’m a Wolves fan, I’m honestly not even that excited about building around Towns...I have no love for bigs who play no D, and his showing in the playoffs against us was just miserable...I do have to keep in mind that it was his 1st ever playoff series, but damn, that was just pathetic...he made no impact whatsoever
Wolves should see the writing on the wall and try to trade Butler for the best package. And then HOPE to dump Wiggins next summer to some team that loses out on signing a big FA. Build around Towns. Get rid of Thibs and find a new era coach.
This is such a bad idea. The Wolves went from a 30-35 win team with Towns, LaVine, Wiggins and Rubio, to a team that would have won more than 50 games had Butler not suffered a freak knee injury colliding with Nene (and not faced the Rockets in round one). Trading for Jimmy Butler and adding competent veterans like Teague and Gibson are why the Wolves made such a massive improvement and were a playoff participant for the first time in 20 years. If anything, they need to do whatever it takes to make Jimmy Butler happy and willing to stay. If that means trading Towns and Wiggins for talented players that Butler likes and respects, do it. Butler transformed that team and the culture. Your suggestion would revert them right back into the same Timberwolves they’ve always been.
If everything was equal, I would build with what they have now. But the writing is on the wall. That is why I suggested the "pivot." I would build the Wolves around Towns. Butler is gone. Wiggins is one of the worst max contracts out there. Thibs was brought in to instill defense into this team. How is their defense? Towns and Thibs are not meshing. They need a coach to MESH with Towns. Just like MDA meshed with Harden. Given the age difference and the ceiling, I would build around Towns vs build around Butler. The current path has Butler "leaving for nothing" and Towns under performing under Thibs. My suggestion pivots the team to something with up ward mobility. A step back....to take two steps forward.
Tatum is Kawhi 2.0 no way Boston give him up he's the only one with superstar potential on that team.
It was a bad match up for Wolves, they matched up better against GSW. But post season and regular season are 2 different animals so who knows.
Karl-Anthony Towns reminds me ALOT of Dirk, a generational offensive force whose defensive prowess ranges from "liability" to "non-existent". But like Dirk, he's so damn good regardless that you make sure you put a defensive ace at C next to him to cover his weaknesses. He is not the problem. The Wolves were boned the moment they brought in Thibs to be GM. Whose first move was letting a low-usage defensive pest like Rubio go in favor of signing an aging chucker in Jeff Teague. The Jimmy Butler trade wasn't the best idea at the time, and looks worse in hindsight, having your second best player be nearly a decade older than your best gives you a really short window of contention. It only looks worse after Markkanenn balling out his rookie year (1st team). Taj Gibson was a nice signing and the type you need when building around Towns, but such moves were overshadowed by the aforementioned Teague signing, and the supplementing of another defense-oriented, low usage guard in Tyus Jones with a washed up D-Rose. I know hindsight is 20/20, but Wiggins along with LaVine, as neither of those two showed much improvement, should have been dumped to Chicago for Butler if you still make the trade, keeping Marknannen for small-ball sets and to back up Towns. If the Wolves should have followed an example for how to build around KAT, they should have copied the Mavs, instead they let Thibs barge in and bring in half of the 2011-12 bulls for a reunion.
If I ran the Wolves, I’d sit down with Butler and make it clear to him that we will do whatever is necessary to get him to stay, even if it means dealing Towns and/or Wiggins. Butler is the guy to build around, not Towns or Wiggins, regardless of the age difference between the three. Jimmy won in Chicago as the best player on a team, and he did the same in Minnesota. Karl Anthony Towns isn’t leading the Wolves anywhere, except to the lottery again. He’s another version of Kevin Love, a big that has a beautiful offensive game and puts up great numbers, but cannot be the best player on your team if you have championship aspirations. He’s not in James Harden’s class when it comes to making his teammates better.
