Speculation about the Wolves new CEO via Parker Fox

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GopherWeatherGuy said:
Hell of a hire by Lore/Arod who continue to bring competence to the Wolves organization.
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100%. Big time upgrade in ownership. Meanwhile @jamiche will find a way to complain about them.

Nearly everything these two have done, from Connelly to hiring this guy, have signaled a massive upgrade in vision and execution. This isn't your Glen Taylor run franchise where we just hire local's and are content with Lynx titles. We have actual visionaries who have real expectations now.
 

I only have one concern and it has been my concern from the beginning. Will these guys keep the team in MN. That's it. ARod has a long history of not telling the truth.

I'll be thrilled to have my concern misplaced.

A long time ago everybody loved Norm Green and they thought he was a visionary. The fans chanted his name and the team went to the finals. When he didn't get his building the North Stars were gone.
 
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jamiche said:
I only have one concern and it has been my concern from the beginning. Will these guys keep the team in MN. That's it. ARod has a long history of not telling the truth.

I'll be thrilled to have my concern misplaced.

A long time ago everybody loved Norm Green and they thought he was a visionary. The fans chanted his name and the team went to the finals. When he didn't get his building the North Stars were gone.
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As it has been discussed over and over there's nowhere for them to go. Seattle/Las Vegas are not options, they'll get expansion teams. Neither is Mexico City which is laughable. Taxpayers are already getting tired of funding things in Nashville and they would likely get a MLB team first, or the Grizzlies could move there.

The Wolves aren't moving.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
As it has been discussed over and over there's nowhere for them to go. Seattle/Las Vegas are not options, they'll get expansion teams. Neither is Mexico City which is laughable. Taxpayers are already getting tired of funding things in Nashville and they would likely get a MLB team first, or the Grizzlies could move there.

The Wolves aren't moving.
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Certainly hope you are right.

There's an alternate scenario. There are a number of markets in the NBA where the team is literally the only big four franchise in town and most of those clubs are doing well. Utah, OKC, Portland, SA, Memphis, Sacramento and Charlotte. Of that group, Memphis and Charlotte are only doing ok. The rest are well supported. It only takes one market looking for a major sports franchise that has an arena or is willing to build one and offer the necessary incentives and the team is in play.
These guys got such a steal (good for them) that somebody from another market could offer them $5-7B and courtside seats forever and they would be in swallow hard mode.

The TC buyout is "only" $50M.

The point is that the state is going to have to offer some kind of public money to ensure that the team stays.
 

jamiche said:
Certainly hope you are right.

There's an alternate scenario. There are a number of markets in the NBA where the team is literally the only big four franchise in town and most of those clubs are doing well. Utah, OKC, Portland, SA, Memphis, Sacramento and Charlotte. Of that group, Memphis and Charlotte are only doing ok. The rest are well supported. It only takes one market looking for a major sports franchise that has an arena or is willing to build one and offer the necessary incentives and the team is in play.
These guys got such a steal (good for them) that somebody from another market could offer them $5-7B and courtside seats forever and they would be in swallow hard mode.

The TC buyout is "only" $50M.

The point is that the state is going to have to offer some kind of public money to ensure that the team stays.
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I could get behind that argument but what city in the US fits that description? I can think of 1, but there's already 3 NBA franchises in the state, and 2 within 1-2 hours of this city.

Minnesota is a great basketball state and the Wolves have no problem drawing fans when they are competitive because there's nothing else to do in the winter. There is no other city that makes sense to move them to.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I could get behind that argument but what city in the US fits that description? I can think of 1, but there's already 3 NBA franchises in the state, and 2 within 1-2 hours of this city.

Minnesota is a great basketball state and the Wolves have no problem drawing fans when they are competitive because there's nothing else to do in the winter. There is no other city that makes sense to move them to.
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It's wherever these guys can make the most money. If it happens to be here, great. If it's someplace else, that's fine too. There's no particular connection to the TC. Being in the 16th largest market doesn't mean much. All the one team towns are way below us in market size.

Austin, Raleigh/Durham, Louisville and Jacksonville are markets just as good as Salt Lake, Memphis, OKC, etc. etc. They just haven't had a rich guy dangle a team.

In terms of nothing else to do in the winter, the wolves are at the very bottom in attendance over the last 30 years. We are one Anthony Edwards torn ACL away from an empty building again.

Yes, these guys are much better asset managers than Taylor. You can't get much worse. Ultimately, their allegiance is to a new arena and surrounding development, wherever it happens to be. Hopefully here.
 



jamiche said:
It's wherever these guys can make the most money. If it happens to be here, great. If it's someplace else, that's fine too. There's no particular connection to the TC. Being in the 16th largest market doesn't mean much. All the one team towns are way below us in market size.

Austin, Raleigh/Durham, Louisville and Jacksonville are markets just as good as Salt Lake, Memphis, OKC, etc. etc. They just haven't had a rich guy dangle a team.

In terms of nothing else to do in the winter, the wolves are at the very bottom in attendance over the last 30 years. We are one Anthony Edwards torn ACL away from an empty building again.

Yes, these guys are much better asset managers than Taylor. You can't get much worse. Ultimately, their allegiance is to a new arena and surrounding development, wherever it happens to be. Hopefully here.
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You just mentioned the struggles Charlotte is having so putting another team in Raleigh/Durham makes zero sense. Jacksonville has a NFL team which eliminates them by your criteria. Louisville is small and only 1:45 away from Indianapolis. Austin is far and away the biggest city without a pro team, and the city I was alluding to, but San Antonio is 1:30 away and Houston is 2:30 away. None of these cities really make any sense.

The Wolves have been near the bottom of attendance because they have been one of the worst professional sports franchises among all of the 4 major sports combined. That's why their attendance was bad and you know it. When they competitive, they have zero issues. Yet you were pining to keep Taylor over Lore/Arod for the last 3 years.

The Ant argument would apply to any team losing their star player. I'm a little surprised you would go that route since you said he would be past his prime after last season. So he's now on the backside of his career anyways and they'll need to find his replacement soon according to you :rolleyes:
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
You just mentioned the struggles Charlotte is having so putting another team in Raleigh/Durham makes zero sense. Jacksonville has a NFL team which eliminates them by your criteria. Louisville is small and only 1:45 away from Indianapolis. Austin is far and away the biggest city without a pro team, and the city I was alluding to, but San Antonio is 1:30 away and Houston is 2:30 away. None of these cities really make any sense.

The Wolves have been near the bottom of attendance because they have been one of the worst professional sports franchises among all of the 4 major sports combined. That's why their attendance was bad and you know it. When they competitive, they have zero issues. Yet you were pining to keep Taylor over Lore/Arod for the last 3 years.

The Ant argument would apply to any team losing their star player. I'm a little surprised you would go that route since you said he would be past his prime after last season. So he's now on the backside of his career anyways and they'll need to find his replacement soon according to you :rolleyes:
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It's like arguing with a thirteen year old.

Jacksonville does have an NFL team. My mistake.

Raleigh is 2:45 away from Charlotte (167 miles). The NBA Marketing Zone is 150 miles. Raleigh is an option.

If the NBA decides a market is attractive, it will wave the 150 mile Marketing Zone "restriction." Tampa could be an attractive destination, even though it's close to Orlando. Same with Jacksonville. (Yes, I know Tampa and Jacksonville have other teams.) Same with Austin. Louisville is a bigger market than Memphis and Salt Lake.

Lore/ARod will have many options beyond the aforementioned if they don't get a building.

You can keep pretending that I loved Taylor all you want, but the team was never in play when he owned them. I preferred the devil we knew. Now they are owned by two out of town guys who barely came up with the money on a fifty percent off deal. One of the owners has a lengthy history of being a distant cousin from the truth. As I said, of course they are running the team better than Taylor. A dead chimpanzee could do that--or a 13 year old. Let's see what this looks like three years from now when they are leveraging for a new arena.

I never said that Ant was on the downside of his career. I said they have played him too many minutes over the first five years of his career and he was going to start missing games due to injury. That's what happened to KAT.

All I've ever cared about throughout this saga is that the team stays. You've really struggled to understand that. A great NBA team is fantastic. Even Taylor's bad NBA teams were 100 times better than no NBA team.
 

jamiche said:
It's like arguing with a thirteen year old.

Jacksonville does have an NFL team. My mistake.

Raleigh is 2:45 away from Charlotte (167 miles). The NBA Marketing Zone is 150 miles. Raleigh is an option.

If the NBA decides a market is attractive, it will wave the 150 mile Marketing Zone "restriction." Tampa could be an attractive destination, even though it's close to Orlando. Same with Jacksonville. (Yes, I know Tampa and Jacksonville have other teams.) Same with Austin. Louisville is a bigger market than Memphis and Salt Lake.

Lore/ARod will have many options beyond the aforementioned if they don't get a building.

You can keep pretending that I loved Taylor all you want, but the team was never in play when he owned them. I preferred the devil we knew. Now they are owned by two out of town guys who barely came up with the money on a fifty percent off deal. One of the owners has a lengthy history of being a distant cousin from the truth. As I said, of course they are running the team better than Taylor. A dead chimpanzee could do that--or a 13 year old. Let's see what this looks like three years from now when they are leveraging for a new arena.

I never said that Ant was on the downside of his career. I said they have played him too many minutes over the first five years of his career and he was going to start missing games due to injury. That's what happened to KAT.

All I've ever cared about throughout this saga is that the team stays. You've really struggled to understand that. A great NBA team is fantastic. Even Taylor's bad NBA teams were 100 times better than no NBA team.
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I don’t consider it as big a risk as you, but it certainly is a risk.

Considering GWG’s inability to think is not a limit on the NBA’s…. New Orleans is the 61st largest statistical market in the United states - there are definitely other cities.

On the bright side, Minneapolis has a lot of wealth and that does bode well.
 

jamiche said:
It's like arguing with a thirteen year old.

Jacksonville does have an NFL team. My mistake.

Raleigh is 2:45 away from Charlotte (167 miles). The NBA Marketing Zone is 150 miles. Raleigh is an option.

If the NBA decides a market is attractive, it will wave the 150 mile Marketing Zone "restriction." Tampa could be an attractive destination, even though it's close to Orlando. Same with Jacksonville. (Yes, I know Tampa and Jacksonville have other teams.) Same with Austin. Louisville is a bigger market than Memphis and Salt Lake.

Lore/ARod will have many options beyond the aforementioned if they don't get a building.

You can keep pretending that I loved Taylor all you want, but the team was never in play when he owned them. I preferred the devil we knew. Now they are owned by two out of town guys who barely came up with the money on a fifty percent off deal. One of the owners has a lengthy history of being a distant cousin from the truth. As I said, of course they are running the team better than Taylor. A dead chimpanzee could do that--or a 13 year old. Let's see what this looks like three years from now when they are leveraging for a new arena.

I never said that Ant was on the downside of his career. I said they have played him too many minutes over the first five years of his career and he was going to start missing games due to injury. That's what happened to KAT.

All I've ever cared about throughout this saga is that the team stays. You've really struggled to understand that. A great NBA team is fantastic. Even Taylor's bad NBA teams were 100 times better than no NBA team.
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You're right, arguing with you is like arguing with a dumb 13 year old. You bounce all around, move the goal posts, and are always proven wrong.

You made a ton of posts about how Taylor was keeping the team and Lore/Arod would never become the owners, because you wanted Taylor to stay the owner over Lore/Arod.

You repeatedly said trading KAT was stupid because the window to win was last year, and that after last year Ant would be on the downside of his career because of injuries. That's also ridiculous and you failed to account for how the aprons work in the NBA.

The only place the team is possibly moving to is the suburbs of the Twin Cities. The other choices you listed are ridiculous, outside of Austin, which was never brought up by you until I alluded to that city. But that market is already oversaturated with NBA teams.
 



atsgopher said:
I don’t consider it as big a risk as you, but it certainly is a risk.

Considering GWG’s inability to think is not a limit on the NBA’s…. New Orleans is the 61st largest statistical market in the United states - there are definitely other cities.

On the bright side, Minneapolis has a lot of wealth and that does bode well.
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My inability to think about what? It's not just about population size. There are no other NBA cities near New Orleans, Memphis, or Salt Lake City.

They are not going to pull a NBA team out of the 15th largest market with no other NBA teams nearby, to move them to a much smaller market with a NBA team already within a 1-2 hr drive.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
My inability to think about what? It's not just about population size. There are no other NBA cities near New Orleans, Memphis, or Salt Lake City.

They are not going to pull a NBA team out of the 15th largest market with no other NBA teams nearby, to move them to a much smaller market with a NBA team already within a 1-2 hr drive.
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Seattle was the 13th or 14th largest market when the Sonics left. Vancouver moved to a market about half it's size. The NBA doesn't make it easy to move but if the money is right the league will say yes because the owners love to have the threat in their back pockets. That's how it works in pro sports.

The team could end up anywhere, including here. The point is that once Taylor sold to out of market owners who are relatively under capitalized with an old building and a weak lease, it put the team in play.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
You're right, arguing with you is like arguing with a dumb 13 year old. You bounce all around, move the goal posts, and are always proven wrong.

You made a ton of posts about how Taylor was keeping the team and Lore/Arod would never become the owners, because you wanted Taylor to stay the owner over Lore/Arod.

You repeatedly said trading KAT was stupid because the window to win was last year, and that after last year Ant would be on the downside of his career because of injuries. That's also ridiculous and you failed to account for how the aprons work in the NBA.

The only place the team is possibly moving to is the suburbs of the Twin Cities. The other choices you listed are ridiculous, outside of Austin, which was never brought up by you until I alluded to that city. But that market is already oversaturated with NBA teams.
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I hope your boy crush on these guys works out.

As for all of your representations of my positions, you are blinded by your anger. I'll try my best to start agreeing with everything you say starting now.

Rob Dillingham is 6'4" and 195lbs.
 

jamiche said:
Seattle was the 13th or 14th largest market when the Sonics left. Vancouver moved to a market about half it's size. The NBA doesn't make it easy to move but if the money is right the league will say yes because the owners love to have the threat in their back pockets. That's how it works in pro sports.

The team could end up anywhere, including here. The point is that once Taylor sold to out of market owners who are relatively under capitalized with an old building and a weak lease, it put the team in play.
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Between Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland that's 3 NBA teams over a span of ~300 miles.

So again, those teams moved from areas where they had other teams in the area, to cities where they only franchise in town AND not near any other NBA cities. You have failed to provide any examples of cities that fit both of these requirements that are realistic options for the Wolves.
 

jamiche said:
I hope your boy crush on these guys works out.

As for all of your representations of my positions, you are blinded by your anger. I'll try my best to start agreeing with everything you say starting now.

Rob Dillingham is 6'4" and 195lbs.
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What crush is that? I cared about is getting rid of one of the worst owners in all of professional sports and replacing him with competent owners, which is what happened.

What am I angry about? You just never admit your own ignorance despite constant examples of it, which is the worst type of person.

I also never said Rob Dillingham is 6'4" 195 so congrats on making things up again.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
What crush is that? I cared about is getting rid of one of the worst owners in all of professional sports and replacing him with competent owners, which is what happened.

What am I angry about? You just never admit your own ignorance despite constant examples of it, which is the worst type of person.

I also never said Rob Dillingham is 6'4" 195 so congrats on making things up again.
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You so obviously love those guys and love that the franchise is in play. You hated that Taylor kept the team in this market for 30 years. Hated it.

You posted a photo of Rob next to Ant and claimed they were practically the same size.

I'm stating your positions for you. This is kind of fun.
 

jamiche said:
You so obviously love those guys and love that the franchise is in play. You hated that Taylor kept the team in this market for 30 years. Hated it.

You posted a photo of Rob next to Ant and claimed they were practically the same size.

I'm stating your positions for you. This is kind of fun.
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The franchise isn't in play. You just make that up because you hate Lore/Arod. Over those 30 years under Taylor they were one of the worst franchises in all of pro sports. It took competent leadership thanks to Lore/Arod to get them to back to back WC finals the last 2 years, their best 2 year run ever. I will happily enjoy competent leadership and the team staying here.

It was a video and nowhere in that post did I say he was 6'4" 195 so stop lying.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
The franchise isn't in play. You just make that up because you hate Lore/Arod. Over those 30 years under Taylor they were one of the worst franchises in all of pro sports. It took competent leadership thanks to Lore/Arod to get them to back to back WC finals the last 2 years, their best 2 year run ever. I will happily enjoy competent leadership and the team staying here.

It was a video and nowhere in that post did I say he was 6'4" 195 so stop lying.
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You said he was the same size as Ant.

You obviously think Lore/ARod drafted Ant, Naz and McDaniels. You think they made a great hire in Chris Finch.

You think Lore/ARod will never, ever move the franchise because they told you they love it here and ARod hugs Ant after every big win. Also, no NBA owner has ever moved an NBA team.

You are a fan boy of Lore/ARod. I think that's great. If they move the team, they'll need a friend.
 

jamiche said:
You said he was the same size as Ant.

You obviously think Lore/ARod drafted Ant, Naz and McDaniels. You think they made a great hire in Chris Finch.

You think Lore/ARod will never, ever move the franchise because they told you they love it here and ARod hugs Ant after every big win. Also, no NBA owner has ever moved an NBA team.

You are a fan boy of Lore/ARod. I think that's great. If they move the team, they'll need a friend.
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I did not say any of these things. You are a liar.

Thank you for continuing to prove it.
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
My inability to think about what? It's not just about population size. There are no other NBA cities near New Orleans, Memphis, or Salt Lake City.

They are not going to pull a NBA team out of the 15th largest market with no other NBA teams nearby, to move them to a much smaller market with a NBA team already within a 1-2 hr drive.
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The think stmnt wasn’t meant as deragtory. It was literal, just taken from your statement. Can’t think of any other. Excuse my flippant use, just post deleted multiple times….

The NBA has done the exact same scenario. literally was the 15th largest. Multiple times. I think the risk is small.

The NHL has done it too under Gary Bettman; which is relevant because they got him from the NBA.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Between Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland that's 3 NBA teams over a span of ~300 miles.

So again, those teams moved from areas where they had other teams in the area, to cities where they only franchise in town AND not near any other NBA cities. You have failed to provide any examples of cities that fit both of these requirements that are realistic options for the Wolves.
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Ah, see you f-ed up here. Seattle is the same driving time to Portland, as OKC is to Dallas. They are 3 hr drives.
 

atsgopher said:
Ah, see you f-ed up here. Seattle is the same driving time to Portland, as OKC is to Dallas. They are 3 hr drives.
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I said that in relation to there being 3 teams in that area at one point, which isn't the case of Dallas to OKC. Dallas is still about 40 miles farther from OKC than Seattle is to Portland.
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
I said that in relation to there being 3 teams in that area at one point, which isn't the case of Dallas to OKC. Dallas is still about 40 miles farther from OKC than Seattle is to Portland.
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No, you didn’t, stop digging.

Seattle moved after Vancouver was already gone. Btw Vancouver is also also 3 hrs from Seattle; But of course was harder to do, since one needed to travel accross international boundries.

Do you know what is 3 hours drive from Dallas? If you said Houston, you’d be correct. If you said OKC, you’d be correct….

And now you equivocate with 40 miles. Christ man, drive it….. you won’t care about that 40 miles when it takes you 3 hours to do both.

Now continuing, how long does it take to drive from houston to San Antonio - survey says - 2 hours, 53 mins. That’s kind of like 3 hours. Now how about to Dallas, from San Antonio? About 4 hours.

Just amend your argument instead of pretending you didn’t make It. It’s stupid, immature behavior, and beneath your intelligence. It doesn’t have to be exact. Make it probabilistic Like @jamiche was doing. He’s worried, because he loves the Wolves. Notice his love was just as stron, despite them being the big 4’s worst all time franchise by winning percentage during that time frame. That is real love.

There is a risk. There is precedent. There is more precedent if ya look. You can say the NBA won’t, but they did.

Its a low risk right now. And I agree with your general position. That does not mean there is no risk.
 



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