I know it is way too early but I have this terrible feeling that this is the worst Timberwolves team ever. It makes the Laettner-Rider teams from mid-90's look respectable. Heck, it even makes the Tony Campbell-Pooh Richardson teams look better. I don't know why but I easily became a David Kahn believer, but now I realize all what he did is a big garage sale and sold average players (Foye, Telfair) for nickels. Look at this: He moved Telfair (a nice backup PG. Pretty much at the same level as sessions) and a fan favorite (Mad dog) for Q-rich. Then he moved Q-Rich (who is much better than any SG we have right now) for Mark Blount and some leftovers. He traded Ty Lawson (a great player to be in my opinion)for a future draft pick, and absolutley wasted the 2nd round picks. He did a terrible job by picking both Rubio and Flynn and then not trading one of them (If he had combined Rubio and the 18th pick wouldn't Sacramento agree to give us Evans?). I don't think Kahn is stupid. I think he's a liar. He thinks he should tank a season or two to get very high lottery picks and clear the entire roster. The problem is that you cannot sell tickets when admitting something like that. So he tells the media and the fans stupid stories like Flynn and Rubio can make a great backcourt when playing together.
Another big problem is coach Rambis. Here in the Euroleague a coash (especially a rookie coach) shape his strategy according to the players he has, especially his stars. Rambis is ignoring the fact that his best player is Big Al, a half court, undersized center who can do magic around the paint. Instead he decides to install a "run and gun" system alongside the triangle offense. The only problem is that for these systems you need to have players who can actually shoot from mid-range at least. Aside of Gomes and Pavlovic he has no shooters on this team and Pavlovic is way too streaky. By combining the current players with this strategy you get a team that is beaten by 20 points on a night to night basis like we have right now. Yay!!
Oh and one last thing. Everybody says that Big Al is not 100% YET. Who knows if he ever gonna be? Most guys never return to the same level after such injury. Plus, this diet he's doing (with the sadwitches or whatever) can actually hurt his game. He needs his mass, every guy who ever played basketball at any level knows these chubby guys who get their way to the rim by pushing and pounding. Jefferson is using the same strategy. This is why they call him "Big" I guess. "Lean Al" is just not the same player.
Too bad, but this is probably the worst Twolves team ever.

twolf3234 wrote:


Great post. Totally agree
Howl

I disagree. The team personnel-wise is not the worst ever. Heck, we missed our two best players in the last game! It's the triangle that makes us look stinky. Our players are not good in the triangle. Remember how we went on a run with the same crappy team when McHale took over from Wittman? Wittman was too play-heavy and wanted to control everything. McFail just went in and said "Play the game!" Pacino-style.

That's what Rambis needs to do. Cut into the lane Jonny. Catch and shoot Sasha. Hustle Hollins. Feed Al and Love and get into position at the three line folks. Pass out of doubles Kevin. etc. etc.

SIMPLE stuff. We have classic post players. We have a classic fast&smallish PG. We have classic "can't shoot" C's. Why not play classic ball?

Instead, he installs a system that does not UTILIZE THE PLAYERS ADVANTAGES. And those are too few to risk that!

Agreed. It's the classic Inflexible Rookie Coach Mistake. "I've Got a SYSTEM", happens in the NFL as well. Whereas experienced coaches adapt to their personnel. It's all well and good to plea for patience and the old adage "we didn't expect to win this year" (I swear Glen Taylor has a patent on that phase and collects royalties every time someone says it) What is it going to do to the young players (Flynn, Ellington, Hollins, Love) to be setting records for margins of defeat?

Kahn deserves more time before you judge his body of work. Do you not remember Mchale? How easy to forget how terrible and lazy he was at his job.

As bad as the trade was w/ the Clippers giving away Bassy & Rhino for nothing, the trade w/ the Hornets was almost equally as good. We actually got a team to take Songaila's $5 million next year for an expiring contract.

Great post, Howl!

Oh, and the Wolves are the worst in the league in point per game differential. We are currently an ASTONISHING -14 points per game.

Think about that...

On average, we lose every game by 14 points. That is insane.

College Wolf wrote:


Wow.

TRIANGLE SUCKS


You could not pick a worse offense to run. My top reasons (some stated already by others):

-Too complex for a young team
-Not just one, but TWO point guards who are dribble-penetration guys
-No shooters
-Jefferson is not a passer and plays better in the low post than high

I agree that Rambis is beating a dead horse with this system. When you run triangle with a team that has NONE of the required strengths, you lose by 14 a night. I'm hoping, per Khan's letter, that if the losing continues, they move to a classic style pick and role motion offense. I can only hope they do, because this shit is terrible, and it's because the coach is too stubborn.

The triangle is getting ripped handily these days. I feel like this team is getting better shots and having better offensive possessions than it was the last 2 years. There isn't any system than can makeup for the huge talent differential we have.

The Triangle Offense itself isn't the entire problem.

The problem is that they determined the system AFTER they had our roster. It was a huge FAIL to wait so long to get a coach when he was going to be this strict about running his system. You need to have a system in place and then go out and get players that will fit into the system.

That's the problem here.


Oh, and most of our players suck. That doesn't help either.

College Wolf wrote:



I dont understand why it is so important for Rambis to play the triangle???
We dont have the players for that.

Flash wrote:


That's kinda the point I made lol.

You know your bad when you lose to the second worst team by ten.

College Wolf wrote:



I know

twolf3234 wrote:


I always think back to my days in Boston being a pre-KG C's fan. When Ainge took over, he gutted that roster and kept only Pierce, trading players for cap space and picks, drafting wisely, and trading thos assets for better players. Problem was, even KG didn't want to go to Boston until Ray Allen convnced him to. And who's our Pierce?

My point is that Ainge saw a team that had Pierce & Antione and role players that somehow made it to the ECF and said, you know what? This team sucks, and blew it up. When done right, you end up with, at the very least, tradable, expiring deals to couple with draft picks and/or young quality players in hopes of acquiring more talent.