GopherLady
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2008
- Messages
- 9,465
- Reaction score
- 1,121
- Points
- 113
Interesting...
Speculation about the Wolves new CEO via Parker Fox
- Thread starter GopherLady
- Start date
GopherWeatherGuy
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2013
- Messages
- 17,060
- Reaction score
- 16,882
- Points
- 113
Hell of a hire by Lore/Arod who continue to bring competence to the Wolves organization.
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.
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.
Last edited:
GopherWeatherGuy
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2013
- Messages
- 17,060
- Reaction score
- 16,882
- Points
- 113
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.
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.
GopherWeatherGuy
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2013
- Messages
- 17,060
- Reaction score
- 16,882
- Points
- 113
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.
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.
GopherWeatherGuy
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2013
- Messages
- 17,060
- Reaction score
- 16,882
- Points
- 113
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
It's like arguing with a thirteen year old.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
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.