[The Scare Crow RisesParticipant]

During the summer I heard people claim the Timberwolves were not only ready to make the jump into the playoffs, but that they’d be a tough out for one of the top 3 Teams in the Western Conference 

I always had my reservations about them being successful this year (still too young and inconsistent IMO) And It got me thinking about all the flack Philadelphia gets for "Tanking", why do the T wolves get a pass for flat out failing to improve every year, they’ll be going on a decade without having made the playoffs

The 76ers are 4-14 on the season WITHOUT their #1 overall pick Ben Simmons, Noel and Bayless due to injury, they’ve also had to restrict the minutes of two talented Big Guys, they’ve still got no intention of making the playoffs this year and our fans knew that going in

The Timberwolves are 5-13 on the season (a whooping 1 game better than the 76ers) whilst having all their young studs play 36 minutes plus, KAT is playing great (just dropped 45 on some fools) and Wiggins had a good start as well, now they are struggling to win games and are on course to miss the playoffs again and their fans have to swallow a tough pill after being sold on Coach Tibbs and the young talent I’m SOTA 

SO…What’s going on? Why the double standard? Is failure in one situation more acceptable because of X, Y or Z? Why does the situation in Pgilly get overblown by everyone but the ineptitude of the T wolves brass get overlooked every year???

I have been a staunch supporter of "the process" simply because the results are clearly to land several high draft picks and work from there, the Wolves haven’t had any structure/plan and have gotten extremely lucky in recent history (Love for Wiggins and winning KAT in the lotto) 

So are we all going to continue the trend of ignoring the situation in Minnesota, allowing them to slide for consistently missing the playoffs and until recently lacking a plan??? (I’ll assume hiring Tom Thibodaux was a step in right direction, but I also think he’s a playing a dangerous game with playing the young guys as much as he does, I’d hate to see him run them down before they hit their peak physical shape)

Thoughts???

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KingslayerParticipant]

There’s too much talent on the team not to have won more games so far. Interestingly, Minny is 15th in the league in point differential so far, yet their overall record is trash. So they’re not clutching out wins. Another compelling stat is that the worst 5 defensive ratings on the team belong to their starting 5 (in order from mediocre to worst): Dieng, Wiggins, Lavine, Rubio & Towns. 

That group is too long and athletic not to play much better defense, especially with Thibs teaching them. The most obvious answer is they play too many minutes, but there’s got to be more to it than that. 

One issue I have is they have no experienced veteran "winners" to help guide the young core, and prevent bad habits from setting in. Last year they had KG and Tayshaun Prince as veteran leaders, and now they have no vets who set the tone and demand more from the young star players. 

 

[wonzi_bellsParticipant]

 I think people pencil in Towns as this elite defensive piece far too often and he’s not anywhere near that level yet. Granted, he just passed his 100th game so I’m not really expecting him to be there already but he’s been below-average at the end, even last season. His positioning is lacking far too often and while his a great athlete, he’s not a quick-twitch one, which combined with everything else makes him a bad pick-and-roll defender. Also, he’s like 48.7% with his rim protection, which is just average. Both him and Dieng aren’t rim protectors yet, just shot-blockers as of now.

Combined with their defensive woes, every third quarter I’ve never seen a team so tense. All three of Towns, Wiggins and Lavine go into hero ball mode and just sling shots in one or two pass position early in the shot clock. And they’re usually long twos, which turn into long rebounds that ignite fast-breaks, which is a problem because the Wolves are the second-worst transition defense in the league. The Pelicans game showed some of the worst transition defense the Wolves played all season. 

But you look at their expected win-loss record and their net rating and you see a good team lurking in the shadows. They just don’t know how to win yet and it seems like they need a veteran to come in but I don’t know what means they’d go to acquire one. The point guard situation doesn’t seem too bad since even though the issue is glaring offensively, the team has a top 10 offense yet defensively, where Rubio has historically been good, though subpar this year and Dunn has shown competency there, the team is awful.

 I wish they could somehow get Kenneth Faried for Gorgui Dieng but now that Faried has translated his crazy energy into playing defense, I don’t know if Denver wants to move him, even though he’s not a tradition rim protector to pair with Jokic and Nurkic. But while Dieng looks the part and was touted as an elite defender coming out of college, he hasn’t translated that into league and he’s bout turn 27. It’s funny because we look at Faried as an established veteran at this point and Dieng is viewed as an up-and-coming player still but they’re only two months apart.

I think about the draft and wonder who’d they be interested in if they don’t buck the trend and miss the playoffs once again. Could they take a medically mystery in Giles, will Markennen work for Thibs, is Rabb basically want you have with Dieng, maybe Robert Williams will rise up to point where he’s a consideration, can Bridges play the four, is Annunoby as a small forward a wasted pick or will they go back-to-back with a point guard and write off Dunn.

[Magic JordanParticipant]

 They definitely need a veteran that actually gets minutes and can lead by example on the floor and in practice, not just from the bench.

I have a solution.

Take the skeleton of Luol Deng.  He knows Thibs, meets all the criteria and Thibs can emulate the good ol days playing Deng 40+ mins each night.

Lakers don’t need him as their 19 year old rookie is already better than him in every aspect of the on court game.  I’d love for them to move on… yes all it took was 20 games for me to conclude this but I could have done it sooner.

Too bad that contract is as close to unmoveable as they come right now.

 

   

 

 

[theballerwayParticipant]

average coaching but the begining of a new regime(wrong choice imo). Lost a bunch of close ones . Many  poorer teams (sixers) so not bottom of barrel . Still time for them to turn it around unlike the sixers( limited talent atm) look at Portland struggling also. I think that fact that there is hope gives them a pass but that cant last for ever obviously .

[RUDEBOY_Participant]

 if every game ended at halftime the t wolves would have 1 of the best records in the league..lol..they rank amongst the top 3 in 1st & 2nd quarter scoring..but dead last in 3rd quarter scoring and amongst the bottom half in 4th quarter scoring…thats the thing when u have a young team,u never know what to expect..thats why at the start of the season some folks had them as a possible 7th or 8th seed..and others expected them to return to the lottery…..i think thats why thibs has been trying to bring in a vet to help gear those youngins in the right direction.

[HitsterParticipant]

The concern about Thibs playing his starting 5 too much has been raised a number of times and maybe he doesn’t have faith in his bench. Some coaches were notorious for running a tight roster but often this meant the bench guys played good minutes too, maybe every one played over 25mpg etc.

If Thibs doesn’t have confidence in his bench then it is natural he’ll stick with his top guys. Maybe the team does need a bit of time to pick up – the starting 5 has now been in place over a season. Dunn has been drafted to initially be used as 6th man too.

The veteran idea is a nice one but Thibs is a very experienced coach and has a decent team of assistants around him. But we have to see what sort of moves Thibs the executive will make. I don’t think he needs to panic and make a rash move and I’m sure that being at Boston and Bulls Thibs saw now their FO’s operated and made considered moves.

[MatosParticipant]

I’ve been thinking the same thing. But I factor in that they dont really have a great bench though. And their points can’t shoot a lick. In fact, they lack a consistent knock down shooter. Grabbing some veterans for their bench unit would help. Going out and getting Jose Calderon, maybe Bellineli, or some other vet shooters that can be had. Also maybe getting a Thabo Sefolosha would help their defensive presence. Right now there isn’t much consistency from the outside, and they need to get deeper to give their youngsters a break.

[jabbar_medvedenkoParticipant]

 I don’t think that The Process in itself was bad, I actually like the idea of bottoming out and selling some veterans for young prospects and picks if you see you can’t be competitive enough, and a team with a bunch of talented youngsters is way more exciting than a better team filled with veterans that have reached their collective ceiling. I think teams like Dallas or Miami should definitely go that route this year.

The thing with The Process was that they were selling their young, recently drafted prospects (McDaniels, Carter-Williams) for other picks. Even Mitch Kupchak himself said he had no idea what they were doing when they traded MCW, as he was a reigning ROTY and generally looked like a potential building block with the way he stuffed the stat sheet at both ends of the floot.

At one point they even had one of the better defenses in the league with MCW, McD and Noel playing together and Saric and Embiid waiting on the sidelines, only to trade everything for a better shot at Jahlil Okafor. I think nobody won those trades as the players had their playing time and freedom cut by the new teams for various reasons and Philly lost two promising developing prospects.

As for Wolves, I think the expectations were way too unrealistic for a team led by 3 21-year olds. I like the young core, and Thibs is a fine coach but you gotta do better in free agency than John Lucas and Brandon Rush. The Lakers at least got Deng, Lou Williams, Mozgov and Young. If they had two/three capable veterans, the story in Minny would’ve been way different.

[The Scare Crow RisesParticipant]

The overall feeling is

A) Minnesota is too talented to make excuses for

B) Too young to remain consistent for 48 minutes

C) Likely being lead astray by an Old School Coach running his guys into the dirt (could explain why they start off hot and fall apart in the 2nd half, Tired Legs???)

I love their young core, absolutely love them BUT they’ll need just as much to put it all together as the 76ers, and to a lesser degree the Lakers (who I feel will come back down to earth in the 2nd half, especially after dealing with some tough injuries)

Look how long it for Utah and Milwaukee to gel, and both teams are still facing growing pains in their respective conferences…

I do see a league dominated by unlikely teams in Minnesota and Philadelphia, but the next 2 seasons will still be brutal on their fan bases especially if we’re expecting unreasonable results (like Philadelphia winning picks 1 and 5 and Minnesota making the playoffs this year)

I always preached patience, TRUST THE PROCESS 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[he_gets_bucketsParticipant]

 ESPN posted a great article the other day showing that the Timberwolves are the best first half team in all the NBA by a considerable margin, its just that their third quarters are bad- historically bad. If the season ended today this years Twolves wpuld have the worst point per 100 differential in the third of all time by a whole 12 points. They are a good team, they need to start closing games out better, and thats means consistently attacking the hoop throughout the whole game not taking the third off and turning into watch Andrew Wiggins and Lavine jack up jumpers the whole third. Its no coincidence that KATs shot totals go way down in their third quarters- they need to stick with him in the second halves to maintain their early success in games.

[Hype Machine]

Lol…trying to take Minnesota down with you is such a cheap move. But exactly the type of move thats become synonomous with Philly fans.

Your team has forever corrupted the framework that sport has been built upon for thousands of years. The art of trying to fairly win an athletic contest.

Its worse than all the doping and match-fixing, and far worse than anything Tonya Harding did.

 

 

 

 

[The Scare Crow RisesParticipant]

You however, should just learn to shut the hell up…

Any time I see a post from you, I want to leave the site…

Again, I’d love to start a petition to have you removed, but it seems like you’ve found an audience for your mindless ramblings (in other words you’ve helped to destroy this sites credibility as an informative forum)

ARAN, MikeyV, TLI32, anybody with Mod powers, please Drain the Swamp and flush this guy’s account down the toilet for the sake of the Site as a whole…Dude absolutely brings nothing to the table…

I brought up factual evidence, and you try to chime in with some BS Philadelphia Smear Post, guess what, the 76ers have multiple Championship Teams, several Hall of Fame players and All Time Greats, the only success Minnesota has ever had came and went with KG damn near a Decade ago…

I wasn’t trying "drag" Minnesota down with us, they’ve done that themselves hence their 5-13 record (again 1 game better than the scourge of all sports the Philadelphia 76ers, who just made the playoffs 4 short years ago) 

Again when you’re ready to get destroyed by me on youtube/snapchat/instagram I’m ready, just put up the 1000 dollars I’m willing to put up to make it happen (Ill even donate it to the Dingo rescue Foundation)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hype Machine]

Lol…..so let me get this straight.

So you’re snitching to the Mods to ban me from a basketball forum. And then you want to add me as a friend on snapchat so we can chat about basketball?

I’m getting mixed messages here….

Nonetheless, I’m not spending my own money on a basketball debating contest…but if you’d like to raise some money to get the Hype Machine out of anonymity then I’m all for it, provided proceeds go to a charity of my choice.

Besides, word is getting out about the Hype Machines Anti-Philly crusade. So why don’t you rally a few more people that would love to shut me up and see if we can raise a little more money.

There’s at least 300-400 fans at each Philly game. Perhaps they can throw their spare coins in the “lets take down Hype” campaign. All proceeds go towards fighting obesity in Philly.

If you raise a suitable amount, I promise I’ll go easy on the 76ers regardless of whether I win, lose or draw your debate.

But 1k isn’t going to cut it. Make some inquiries to see if we can push that figure up a bit, and we may be talking business.

[Jr. ROXASParticipant]

Man don’t mind that dude Hype. He’s just tries to sound cool with his posts but comes off as really lame.

[Magic JordanParticipant]

 Lol… did you just say that 76ers have multiple championship teams?? Dude that was over 30 years ago!! lol.

Scarecrow is still cruising around town trying to pick up chicks in a lettermans jacket.

 

[holefillers1Participant]

Bring in some new shooters from back east. Get a couple vets to lead this young core. Very young team with a good defensive coach and three guys in KAT, Wiggens and Lavine who are natural scorers. I think that once the wins start coming you will see the T Wolves mature into a more consistent team.  The OKC core of Durant, Westbrook, Harden accompanied with Ibaka was able to get a taste of the playoffs at an early stage. Granted three of them are MVP candidates every year. Maybe we are holding this team to a standard that most cannot meet. 

 

 

[DolanCareParticipant]

The reason Minnesota isn’t getting roasted for their 5-13 record, is because they’ve looked good. Their offense is one of the best in the league and all of their young guys are showing improvements…. the problem is they can’t close out games, which is understandable considering they are all under 25. 

It was a mistake to not get a veteran on this team. The addition of a Matt Barnes, Zach Randolph, Tyson Chandler, or as mentioned earlier, Luol Deng would be invaluable for this Twolves squad. Invaluable. 

It’s not too late either: if they could get a veteran on a decent contract at the trade deadline they should do it. Especially if they’re out of the playoff hunt. Personally, I’m a fan of moving Rubio if it means getting a quality veteran with leadership intangibles. 

 

 

 

[Magic JordanParticipant]

 Rubio for Luol Deng?  I believe there would need to be other fluff to make it work… or not I haven’t checked the T Wolves cap situation.

I’d take Rubio for Deng in a heartbeat.  Slide D Russ to his more natural defensive position of guarding the 2.  

Of course it may cramp the Lakers spacing on offense a bit but the benefits Russell would see on both ends of the floor would be worth it IMO.

 

 

[negguaryParticipant]

after reading this whole thread, I still haven’t actually heard one person truly answer the original question as to why we give the timerwolves a pass for being horrible year after year and longer than the sixers but give them a pass. In fact I have read more excuses made for them about them being the first half team etc. etc. well that would matter if we only played two quarters. I don’t hear people saying that when the sixers actually play competitive ball and lose by close margins. It just again confirms my original conclusion that for the most part people are jealous or hate the process that we took realizing it will get us the best talent, and cost us the least amount while their team is paying tremendous amounts to lose without the opportunity to get an influx of talent. This post here is a reflection of the double standard. LOL even more so there will be some real intelligent guy whose response will be “but at least there trying to win, you guys are trying to lose” LOL HAHAHA I have that for three years LOL, so now because you’re actually trying to win and still horrible makes losing excusable??!!! I put up with this biased point of view of the sixers for too long!

[Magic JordanParticipant]

 You answered your own question genius.  People hate Philly because of "The Process".  Do you really not understand that?  I think people have been pretty damn clear about why they don’t like Philly.  

It’s one thing for you Philly fans to be okay with perpetual losing.  But don’t expect everybody else to respect the method when Philly fans are the only ones who don’t realize the results they seek, may or may not come and are not solely dependent on drafting and accumulating assets.  This isn’t 2k.

 

[negguaryParticipant]

BUt really?? Getting tough via blogging LOL HAHAHA??? We’re talking basketball on draft.net and could be millions of miles away and will never cross paths in real life and you to choose to get smart LOL! Right? cool! your over emotional response to something that wasn’t directed at you personally clearly confirms that you are one of the people who are hating because yet again you did not address the original post about why minni gets a pass!! Please see above! Clown!! LOL!!

internet thugs we all need hugs 🙁 🙁 🙁 LOL HAHAHAHAHAHA

#trusttheprocess

[binetParticipant]

 They clearly do not deserve a pass. They have 2 of the last 3 number 1 overall, both of which are not rookies and viewed as successful picks in above average draft classes and they still manage to have a record that projects them to agains compete for number one this year. 

They changed coach for a proven guy and still it does not work (Thibbs maybe is not the man but there are surely other issues).

I know Dunn has been disappointing (very bad) and they have excuses but a change has to be made.

I think that every player on this team that is not KAT, Wiggins or LaVine has no trade value right now (a lot because they are suspect to be responsible for the results) so I don’t know how they are supposed to change that that flow.

I think Thibbs has to try new things (put KAT back at C, try LaVine at PG, try LaVine off-the-bench…) .

 

 

 

[markfitz14Participant]

They signed Jordan Hill and B. Rush but don’t even play them 15 minutes. That is just nonsense! Thibs Hello???

 

[BiggysmallsParticipant]

 I haven’t seen anybody giving them a "pass" for their poor start. Most people just understand that they are crazy young while also acknowledging that a lot of their losses have been annoying. It can be both. The team can still be really good, but some of these losses are highlighting the issues that the team still has.

They are inconsistent in game. At their best, they look even better than optimistic people thought they’d look. But at their worst, they look like a team that should be tanking for another top 3 pick. The problem is that those peaks and valleys occur within an individual game too often. 

I think the logical answer to why other than that they are young is that they don’t have veterans who’ve been in winning situations that can provide a tangible impact. Cole Aldrich gives them almost nothing. Brandon Rush gives them essentially nothing. Jordan Hill isn’t good. Those guys aren’t the veteran type players they need. 

They don’t need to blow it up or make a big trade. They just need some solid veteran guys who can help stem some of those valleys. I would’ve loved for them to somehow acquire Taj Gibson and Mike Dunleavy from Chicago last offseason or a guy like Jared Dudley. 

The bench has been an atrocity. Dunn is struggling mightily…he’s playing extremely tentative. Bazz is terrible, Bjelicia is feast or famine offensively and awful on defense. Their bench is a train wreck. It’s been that way as long as I can remember and for the life of me I can’t figure out why it’s so hard to upgrade. 

They’ve got two more offseasons where they can really go out and spend on outside help before they resign their own guys and lock themselves into this core. So hopefully they find a way to do that. 

 

 

 

 

[D7H7NParticipant]

 need a veteran point guard who can shoot

[Author]

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