2020-2021 Minnesota Timberwolves In-Season Thread

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From the Parkinglot said:
All they had to do was let Wiggins test the free agency market and the franchise would be in a way better place.
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Hindsight is always right, but at the time? Just looked it up.

"Andrew Wiggins made $5,510,640 during his rookie season with the Timberwolves. He averaged 16.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists and won the Rookie of the Year Award.

In his second season, Wiggins put up 20.7 points and 3.6 rebounds. He earned $5,758,680 and was well on his way to signing a lucrative rookie-scale extension.

During the 2016-17 campaign, Andrew Wiggins displayed All-Star potential. He averaged a career-high 23.6 points per game while shooting 45.2 percent from the field. The Toronto native was making only $6,006,600 but that was going to change soon..."

Then he signed the contract. The amount he signed for? Yeah, that seemed way out of line. Though could you imagine the outcry if they just let him walk, without getting something for him after that season? Particularly with their record of not signing any decent Free Agents?

Doubt that would have worked.

clutchpoints.com

Andrew Wiggins' NBA Contracts

Andrew Wiggins was the No. 1 overall pick of the 2014 draft. Since entering the league, he’s made $77,822,123 through NBA contracts and that dollar amount is only going to rise moving forward, per Spotrac. The Cleveland Cavaliers drafted Wiggins with the first pick. The athletic swingman signed...
clutchpoints.com clutchpoints.com
.
 

From the Parkinglot said:
9 point game and KAT can’t stop yapping at an official for a foul that was a foul. Gets a technical and it’s now a 21 point game. That’s some great leadership from you max franchise player right there. If Saunders had any stones at all he would sit KAT to start the next game to teach him to shut up on the court and play.
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Pretty insane.

Though KAT needn't worry. Tomorrow they'll be plenty of "fans" blaming Rubio and Edwards for the loss. ;)
 

Iceland12 said:
Hindsight is always right, but at the time? Just looked it up.

"Andrew Wiggins made $5,510,640 during his rookie season with the Timberwolves. He averaged 16.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists and won the Rookie of the Year Award.

In his second season, Wiggins put up 20.7 points and 3.6 rebounds. He earned $5,758,680 and was well on his way to signing a lucrative rookie-scale extension.

During the 2016-17 campaign, Andrew Wiggins displayed All-Star potential. He averaged a career-high 23.6 points per game while shooting 45.2 percent from the field. The Toronto native was making only $6,006,600 but that was going to change soon..."

Then he signed the contract. The amount he signed for? Yeah, that seemed way out of line. Though could you imagine the outcry if they just let him walk, without getting something for him after that season? Particularly with their record of not signing any decent Free Agents?

Doubt that would have worked.

clutchpoints.com

Andrew Wiggins' NBA Contracts

Andrew Wiggins was the No. 1 overall pick of the 2014 draft. Since entering the league, he’s made $77,822,123 through NBA contracts and that dollar amount is only going to rise moving forward, per Spotrac. The Cleveland Cavaliers drafted Wiggins with the first pick. The athletic swingman signed...
clutchpoints.com clutchpoints.com
.
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Not sure there would have been outcry as the few fans that did show up to target center were booing him. Pint made though they probably could not have let him walk.
I don’t blame his failure on him also when the Timberwolves as an organization have been mismanaged and never provided enough balance for young players.
 

Iceland12 said:
Pretty insane.

Though KAT needn't worry. Tomorrow they'll be plenty of "fans" blaming Rubio and Edwards for the loss. ;)
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And then of course Layman comes in and the gap is closed. They have a chance to win this game so it will be interesting to see how Saunders handles this.
 

Iceland12 said:
Pretty insane.

Though KAT needn't worry. Tomorrow they'll be plenty of "fans" blaming Rubio and Edwards for the loss. ;)
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Wolves have cut the deficit to 4 with 4.51 left.

Wolves just took the lead 95-94 with 2.32 left

And KAT is driving the comeback!
 
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Wolves lose 103-99. Rubio makes a FT to make it 101-99 at the 17 second mark. He misses the 2nd while, according to the announcer and Saunders, KAT is hooked and pulled away from the rebound.

Randle gets the call instead. He makes the 2 FT for the final score.

'Cuz Timberwolves..
 
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We shall see. The Timberwolves have made a living of doing the right thing and it winds up being the wrong thing.
 







After another terrible ending....something good happened. Finch is a good get!
 

Yep, wonder when those negotiations started? From the Strib story;

The Wolves will replace Saunders with Toronto assistant coach Chris Finch, a league source told the Star Tribune. Finch will not be an interim coach; he is expected to get a multi-year contract.

The 51-year-old Finch is known as a strong tactical offensive coach. He has also been an assistant with New Orleans, Houston and Denver.

A Division III All-America player at Franklin and Marshall (Pa.) College, Finch played briefly overseas before coaching in Great Britain and Belgium. He was head coach of Great Britain's 2012 Olympic team..
 


Damian Lillard
@Dame_Lillard
·
10h

"How the hell do you not hire David Vanterpool and he’s right there on the bench... and has been in front office SUCCESSFULLY and on the front of a bench of a winning team SUCCESSFULLY (7 years) ... and also has played a major role in the development of a dominant backcourt smdh!"

Easy. Rosas knew Finch and being the Associate Coach on the Wolves.

If Vanterpool was partially responsible for those winning records in Portland when he was an Assistant Coach? Then as the Associate Head Coach of the Wolves he's partially responsible for their record here the last two seasons.

Good luck to all of them.
 
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Saunders needed to go, and I have no opinion on Finch. But it feels like the Wolves, as usual, kind of butchered this. It couldn't have waited until the All-star break in a couple weeks or at least the next home stand? They had to do it in the middle of a road trip? I can't imagine the Twins doing something like that.
 

howeda7 said:
Saunders needed to go, and I have no opinion on Finch. But it feels like the Wolves, as usual, kind of butchered this. It couldn't have waited until the All-star break in a couple weeks or at least the next home stand? They had to do it in the middle of a road trip? I can't imagine the Twins doing something like that.
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Not gonna comment on the Twins past history with personnel.

Saunders needed to go" He certainly did. Except maybe for Towns. No reason to let it fester any longer than it already has.

Beasley and Russell stated publicly that they were unhappy with Saunders rotations. Took Rubio a little longer but he finally said that not knowing who he was gonna be on the court with didn't help him as a PG either. Bet it was tougher for him to say after how terribly he's played.

The rotations got a little more predictable. Then Rubio played very well in 3 of the next 4 games. Not that anybody noticed. ;)

Guessing that Rosas had been working on Taylor for awhile. The losses kept mounting and with Towns back and Beaslely and Russell, 2 guys on big contracts going public, it was gonna happen. Glad they didn't let it go on any longer.
 

The real question is when did Rosas start negotiating with Finch?

If he was negotiating a contract with coach #2 while Coach #1 was still actively coaching, I think that's bush league. Fire the guy and let the assistant coaches run the show for at least one game before announcing the new coach.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
The real question is when did Rosas start negotiating with Finch?

If he was negotiating a contract with coach #2 while Coach #1 was still actively coaching, I think that's bush league. Fire the guy and let the assistant coaches run the show for at least one game before announcing the new coach.
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Exactly. I doubt he negotiated it the 45 minutes between the announcement of the firing and the hiring.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
The real question is when did Rosas start negotiating with Finch?

If he was negotiating a contract with coach #2 while Coach #1 was still actively coaching, I think that's bush league. Fire the guy and let the assistant coaches run the show for at least one game before announcing the new coach.
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Hard to say though...maybe he was getting calls about other jobs too? Sometimes you have to move quick.
 

tmvander said:
Hard to say though...maybe he was getting calls about other jobs too? Sometimes you have to move quick.
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How often has a team named a permanent replacement from another organization during the season?
 

howeda7 said:
How often has a team named a permanent replacement from another organization during the season?
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No I agree it isn't often...just trying to think in how or why it happened so fast and that's all I can come up with.
 

If you know that Saunders is not the answer, and the coach you wanted to hire earlier is available, why would you wait?

The only reason this didn't happen before the season was because Taylor didn't allow it. Taylor finally gave the green light to fire Saunders, and Rosas didn't waste any time. I'm not sure why that's a bad thing?
 

short ornery norwegian said:
The real question is when did Rosas start negotiating with Finch?

If he was negotiating a contract with coach #2 while Coach #1 was still actively coaching, I think that's bush league. Fire the guy and let the assistant coaches run the show for at least one game before announcing the new coach.
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So the one game difference has set you off?

You think that teams never or seldom start talking to coaches or representatives before they fire the present coach?

That's pretty doubtful.
 
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howeda7 said:
How often has a team named a permanent replacement from another organization during the season?
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In the NBA it hasn't happened since 2009.

You think they should have let the season play out as it was being played. Okay. That's a position. Not sure that "dead man walking" is any less bush league though.
 

Listened to Barrerio this afternoon. To him? Thibs was one of the greatest coaches in NBA History! Why he got the Bulls to the finals! Not, NBA finals and in the East but still! There was no reason that Wolves fans are holding him in such contempt. Why he brought in a bunch of good players and got them to the playoffs! Nothing that Thibodeau did with the Wolves should be held against him.

Saunders? Dan B knew him pretty well and he's a great guy! He didn't deserve any of this either. The firing was more dastardly then the attack on Pearl Harbor or the assignation of Abe Lincoln! Rosas and Taylor should be ashamed of themselves. He actually said that "Flip deserved to get, I mean Ryan, deserved to get the job!" If they wanted to fire him, and they shouldn't have, they should have done it Friday. Before putting Ryan thru the torture of "flying to New York!"

There was more, but turned it off until Jon Krawczynski came on. Jonny K. started disagreeing with all the hysterics coming from Dan. Particularly the sainthood Dan wanted to bestow on Thibs. Barreiro to his credit, did back off when Krawczynski pointed out where he may have overstated the case.

He did agree that Ryan was never dealing with a complete roster. That said you can't neglect the record and how often Saunders made questionable decisions in the 4th Quarter. They both agreed that Russell has been terrible on Defense and the PG play overall has been terrible.

Haven't listened to Barrerio in awhile. Would listen to him and over 2-3 days he'd passionately be on all sides of an issue! The "that's my opinion disagree with me!" talk jock style doesn't appeal to me.

This time he was shoulder deep in B.S. when he talked about Thib, but he sounded genuinely outraged that guy as good as Ryan was fired. Honestly, not as much as how the firing took place, but that it took place at all.

Ah, they presently have the worst record in the league at 7-24. That comes after a season where they were 19-45. When they missed the expanded playoffs by 11 full games.

Not sold on Rosas at all. That said Taylor hired him to run the show. He's probably wanted to get his man in as Head Coach since he was hired.

Neither the team of Saunders himself gave Rosas or Taylor any reason to not to do what they did last night..

(Edit: Finch says he was "disappointed" he didn't get the job when he first interviewed. Said he was "shocked and excited" when he got the call yesterday. Guessing that meant he was interviewed when Taylor decided to give Ryan the job)
 
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