College Wolf wrote:
Yea that's true. OKC has no problem with paying 3 big contracts. If that was the case, they would have traded both Harden and Ibaka. They couldn't keep all 4 players because of the new salary cap rules. That's the only reason they traded Harden.

Wow. Good conversation going on here...

Ricky v. Porter... Ricky has never complained about coaching to my knowledge including when he was sitting in Spain behind an obviously less talented but more experienced player. So don't even go there. Porter is missing some neurons for sure. I half expect him during a given interview to say something like...

"Coach, can you comment on the Bobcats' comeback?"

"Sure. We stopped moving the ball and then... Waffles? Sure, I love em."

"Coach... nobody said anything about waffles."

"Can we stop and pick up Laettner? He's key to my gameplan tonight."

"Coach, Laettner's been out of the league more than a decade."

"Right. That man can sure blow a mean saxophone."

"..."

In fact, I am sure they use the TV delay to filter those conversations out so we don't go all Flint Tropix on this team.

............................................


Love vs. Lopez. Here's the thing. Besides Love, there's not one other tradable player of sufficient value that I want to see gone other than Barea. Mobile big plus perimeter defender. Show me Ibaka, Josh Smith (extended), someone like that plus Avery Bradley or Iman Shumpert. Then I am sold. Otherwise WW's plan to see if old Love returns works.

There is a lot to be said for DFS's take on coaching strategies. Just as some players don't go to their strengths, the same is true of coaches. Here's a theory, TP... go 1-4 flat and run picks at RR, Luke, and Barea for 20 seconds.

I was watching NBA Countdown the other day and Bill Simmons was saying how much he really wants this trade to happen.

Of course, he also took the opportunity to rip on the Wolves, but at this point they deserve it.

roundhouse wrote:
Here's the thing though that just gets me every time. This team healthy is easily competing IN the playoffs. Not just for a spot, but we are holding our own for sure as a 5-8 seed. So, in this case it is kinda/sorta difficult to fully blame Kahn at this moment in time for what has transpired. And the uncertainly with Adelman is just icing on the cake for all of it.

The only thing I can really blame Kahn for is wasting $8 million on Roy and Stiemsma when Mayo, Courtney Lee, etc. could have been had for some range of $4-8 million per year. Sacrificing not being able to get Greg would have been well worth playing the safe route at the wing, a position haunting the Wolves for, well, were going on about 10 years now. Heck, even if it took $6.5 million-ish to lure Mayo on a multi-year deal, methinks Stiemsma would have just signed for whatever was left over at $1.5-$2.5 million anyways.

That's why I am hesitant to trade Love at this moment considering the context. It is one thing if this was all going down with a healthy roster.

Overall it just sucks giant sack. Pek comes back in a few days, so he will help immensely in dramatically raising his price in free agency squeezing out a few wins coming up. And at least Shved will probably make the rookie game. Maybe he can pull some strings and get a few sessions with whomever the training staff team is down at All-Star weekend.

wolfenstein wrote:
As much as I love Josh Smith on paper, he is becoming a giant cancer, and is hated more by his fans than Love here in Minny. I'd think twice about trading Love for him. Smoove is going after max dollars. You want to talk about primadonnas, well Smoove makes Love look like Mother Theresa. Plus, he is a touch redundant next to AK47 (who, I suppose you could trade as well or play together for a super defensive lineup).

What this team needs is dependable offense. We have too many hot/cold role players and guys who score incidentally. The only way this team ever competes in the playoffs is with someone like that and Love is about the closest thing the Wolves have and ever will have to that.

Regardless, there are a lot of good options right now, but I'm not sure trading Love is what is going to solve the teams' problems, nor is it even the main problem. Marooning the training staff on the isle of tortuga may solve problems, though.

WallyWorld wrote:
But here's the thing for me, this team ISN'T healthy and now we are once again one of the worst teams in the league. I'm sick of excuses, and that's exactly what it is. Instead of doing something about it, they've sat on their hands and are saying "wait for next season". I've been promised to wait for next season for so long, there is no longer any point in following the current season.

And yes, this team had great opportunity to get OJ Mayo, Courtney Lee, or Jamal Crawford in the offseason, but they were too "flawed" of players for this pristine wolves supersquad. That's not the only thing Kahn has screwed up. He's wasted so many top 5 draft picks, stupid trades, stupid free agent signings/non-signings, it makes me long for the days when McFail was in charge. We've been put in a situation where injuries can completely derail a season because Kahn has squandered so high draft picks. This team should be stacked top to bottom with young talent right now.

It also doesn't help that our "best" player torpedoes our season by punching a wall or fridge or whatever the hell it was. That's so selfish. I could live with the off court stuff if he wasn't a completely worthless on the defensive end of the court. Oh wait, he never even gets back on defense because he's too busy arguing with the refs. I think it's time for a new best player, someone who plays with heart and leads by example.

roundhouse wrote:
Don't get me wrong. Re: Kahn I just meant this summer. I have long maintained that he is immeasurably worse than McHale and I stand by it.

Great post otherwise. Hard to disagree with it from a fan's perspective.

As for Love, we can just agree to disagree that trading him right now is the best answer.

roundhouse wrote:
C'mon that's too harsh. It was stupid from him for sure, but you sound like he did it on purpose.

Instead by always going against Love you could also say something about the other guys. Almost everyone sucks. Pek is the only player showing anything this season. Shved had a good start but then maybe the other guys infected him. Ricky is one of the worst players in the NBA since he came back. Is this all also Love's fault?

I respect your knowlege of the NBA, which is better then mine, but you are clearly just hating on Love for everything. And CW is also a big Love "lover". I don't get it and never will I think.

Flash wrote:
You are being way too harsh on the rest of our team. We hardly have any guys that suck. Shved is a rookie and he hit the rookie wall which happens to 99% of rookies. He was playing 38-40 mpg and the season wore him down, tha'ts not his fault. Ricky is coming back from a torn ACL, which used to be career-ending injury. He has looked a lot better in the past few games. That's certainly a completely different situation than a self-inflicted broken hand because Love is actually dumb enough to punch a wall. Everyone knows that punching a wall = broken hand, it's an age old drunken college kid right of passage. How dumb can he be? Keep in mind that this is a guy that has already had a broken hand in the past as well, so he should be extra careful to not break his hands yet here we are.

Saying Pek is the only guy who has shown anything this season is flat out wrong. Shved, HAM, and the perennially underrated Ridnour have all been pleasant surprises. AK47 has been excellent. Barea has been Barea. Love has been BY FAR the biggest disappointment, even when he was playing, he was playing like absolute shit. Other disappointments for me include Roy, Steimsma, Lee (always injured), and D-WIll (still don't think he looks very good). Besides those 5 guys listed, I"m quite happy with the rest of the squad.

roundhouse wrote:
YES! Preach on RH, good stuff.

Flash wrote:
Wait... what??? I don't really like K-Lav at all, most everyone here knows that! Although, I definitely do give him props when he plays well (which hasn't been this year, unfortunately for us.)

College Wolf wrote:

Ohhhhh SHIT. 'Bout to get real in here. "Love Lover" College Wolf 'bout to flash Flash a knuckle sandwiiich.

CW: "Imaboutta Kevin Love my hand on Flash's face."

wolfenstein wrote:

Ricky just goes HAM and begs for Pau Gasol.

I don't know how to interpret this. How would I react if Kevin Love said it?