[HitsterParticipant]

 Andrew Wiggins has been on fire recently and is hopefully starting to mature into the true NBA superstar that we all hoped he would become. But I’ve noticed that both him, KAT and LaVine have been playing some heavy minutes, I hope Thibs isn’t going back to his old Chicago habits.

[The Scare Crow RisesParticipant]

 Remember how dominant Rose looked coming into the NBA? 

How about Deng’s durability post Thibodaux? He became a shell of himself very quickly…

Joakim Noah played himself into early retirement too, he probably lost 3 to 5 years of his NBA career remember how long Big Guys used to hang around, Noah won’t be one of them largely because of Tibbs rotations)

Coach Thibodaux is a great "Win Now and forget about the future Coach" with all those young studs I’d hate for him to be in charge of my franchises greatest asset…

I Would have tried to lure Mark Jackson or Jeff Van Gundy out of the broadcast booth, just to jump start Kris Dunn’s development 

 

 

 

[markfitz14Participant]

He just plays the starters and won’t give them a break. Jordan Hill and Brandon Rush haven’t even played a game yet. That is just nonsense. There is no reason to play these young guys so much. They are a couple years away from competeing. They need these veterans for a presence and to learn a little from.  

[BlueLacesParticipant]

 Rush has played this season. He just hasn’t played the last few games because he’s dealing with turf toe. And Hill is the sixth big man on the roster. It’s hard to find minutes when he’s behind KAT, Gorgui, Belly, Cole and Adrien Payne. There’s only so many minutes to go around. It’s not like KAT, Wiggins and Lavine are playing 42 mpg. If you actually watch the Wolves play, I think Thibs rotations are pretty good. He does a good job of mixing bench players with the starters. They’re just horrible at executing in the third quarter and that’s why they are a sub .500 team instead of having a winning record. 

[Andv1 WaitingParticipant]

Thibodeau can’t take the full blame for the bulls half lies with what the Bulls Management gave him to use which wasn”t that much…

Because if you look at it:

Thibs only had Deng for2 and 1/2 -3 seasons(2010-2011,2011-2012 and part of 2014 season before traded)Deng had about 5-6 seasons in him by the time Thibs even got to coach him. Which means he can’t take full blame there.

Joakim Noah- He was injury prone before Thibs even got there also-Had shoulder surgery/injury 2009-2010 season. But Noah did work for his under Thibs

Derrick rose was a freak accident and his playing style at the time didn’t really help with durablity.So that kind of was outside of Thibs control.

Don’t get me wrong Thibs did work them hard but look at this way:

 Thibs got a player that no one intially liked and was just an energy player(Noah) to Be Defensive player of the year and in the MVP race.

Helped take a special player and make him the leagues youngest MVP in D-rose.

Helped a low first rounder turn into the leagues MIP player in Jimmy B

This is without mentioning the retread players that were brought in every year and then had good seasons under thibs(except Taj G who was a solid pick up for them).

As for the second go around Thibs: Has Towns both Zach playing 35 mins and Wiggins playing 36 minutes

Which for your stars is not that bad compare that to this: 33-34 mins for Curry,35 mins for K.D, 35 for Klay and 34 for Draymond and these players are all older and have more miles in their legs than the  young wolves..

As for Luring Jackson and Van Gundy why would you do that they had no notable success under there watch? No USA experience, No MVPs,No ROY,No defensive player of the years,No MIP nothing under there watch and No Rings(Thibs has one with boston)…Compare that to Thibs who has all but the ROY and a 6th man under his watch so if we are talking player Development Thibs will get Dunn and the T-wolves there he will just make Dunn earn it like he normally does.
 

 

 

 

  

 

 

[SeattleSuperChronicsParticipant]

 They are logging heavy minutes and it’s not translating to wins so far. 

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

Wiggins is currently averaging 36.2 mpg which is right on par with his career average so far and seems to be well within the range that a 21 year old in peak physical condition with no injury history should be playing. For comparison, lebron averaged 42.5 mpg his third season in the league. The Wolves honestly need him on the floor as much as possible to compete.

I know there is this idea that thibs runs his players into the ground (and some of it is indeed warranted) but the truth is that a lot of the injuries to players in Chicago were just bad luck. You can’t convince me that Rose’s knee injuries were a direct result of thibs. 

I think we have kind of overemphasized managing in game mins in recent years. For older players or guys with injury concerns I clearly see the logic, but there is no reason why someone like Wiggins shouldn’t be able to go 35-40 mins a night at this stage of his career. To me, recovery in between games is much more important than limiting the number of mins. Ideally you don’t want to overextend your guys but it is clearly necessary sometimes. Not every coach has the luxury of having the type of depth that San Antonio did in 2014.

 

 

[Jr. ROXASParticipant]

Yep, this is everything I wanted to say. 

[Jr. ROXASParticipant]

I agree with Dazzling Dunks. When did the basketball world start to have this notion that logging about 3 mins more per game will affect you greatly health wise? Really, when did this thing start??

Because I don’t remember us critisizing coaches in the past then when they played players like Iverson, Kobe or VC heavy minutes.

Poppovich, who was the whole instigator of this "rest" phenomenon in the NBA, kept the minutes of guys like Parker and Ginobili at the late 20s and early 30s their whole career. He did not "overwork" them, as we say.

But even with that, they are still 2 very injury-prone players. Parker has not aged gracefully at all, even when his minutes were kept intact his whole career.

Guys like Pierce, Ray Allen or even Nowitzki meanwhile, who at the start of their careers logged heavy minutes, have aged gracefully. In a time where playing players heavy minutes was not crticized, they flourished.

My point is that, I don’t think there is much of a correlation between playing a player 36 mins rather than 33 mins to him becoming injury prone later in his career. Let Thibs play the stars 35 mins + per game. We didn’t have a problem with it then, (with guys like Jordan, Iverson, etc..) why bother with it now?

 

 

[BiggysmallsParticipant]

 Minutes aren’t what worry me with Wiggins, it’s his usage. He’s had to do an awful lot on the offensive end early in the year and it’s hurt his defense. He’s been fabulous offensively but he’s had to work for so many of his points that I tend to think the usage will wear him out more than raw minutes. 

[Magic JordanParticipant]

 Everybody thought the Lakers were crazy for not even approaching Thibs in the off season.  

It’s because they saw what most casual observers see.  He has no self control.  You can try to blame it on chance or whatever, but there is no denying that he runs his players into the ground.  He is not someone you want coaching a young team, or to be honest any team.  I have said it for years that he is better served as the lead assistant in sort of a defensive coordinator role.

Contrast that to the properly hired, early leading candidate for COY Luke Walton who is taking the gang approach of playing no player more than 30 minutes.  Keeps ALL of his guys fresh, both young and old and gets everybody a little involved.

Couple that with the resesitation of Nick Young and Lou Williams and it makes it painfully obvious.

Even with their preseason "best player" looking absolutely worthless (Luol Deng) and their presumed by many "draft busts" the Lakers are the best young team in the NBA.  In what was supposed to be another top 3 lottery selection that Philly fans have been salivating over for the past decade, the Lakers look poised to make the playoffs as a 7th or 8th seed and leave Philly, Minnesota and the Nuggets scratching their head trying to figure out what is happening.

 

 

 

 

 

[The Scare Crow RisesParticipant]

 I don’t know if I’d go out on a limb and call them a Playoff Lock, at least not yet…

I think they have a lot going on and have one of the best young coaches in the NBA, they have a great young core and some salty vets in Deng and Lou Williams, no one doubts they have the talent to fight for a playoff spot barring ANY injuries, I’m not sure they can afford an injury to Randle/Russell or Clarkson, I’d even throw Lou Williams into that mix as well…They’re not incredibly deep at PF and C and I think they can be beaten by the Better Western Conference teams once they adjust to what Walton and the Lakers are doing…

As the biggest Philadelphia 76er fan on the site, I love watching and rooting for LA(especially this year, with them looking fun while winning games)

Where they land in the Draft is of no Importance to the die hard 76er faithful because we’ll add it to the war chest of Draft Picks we have going forward, the best the Lakers could do is make the playoffs as a 7th or 8th seed and hand over the 15th-18th pick in a deep draft (several teams would love to trade for Okafor and this pick when the time comes, and we’ll love to offload this pick and Okafor in the right scenario (Bradley Beal?)

The worst the Lakers do is JUST miss the playoffs and hand over their lottery pick in the 11-14 range, depending on injuries and fatigue of course…Either way the 76ers win, and have another asset to add to the collection of assets we’ve amassed already (We really should be cashing in on the Picks and Okafor this summer, I’m convinced Beal could be had for Jahlil, the Lakers pick in 2017 and Unprotected 1st round picks from Philadelphia in 18′ and ’20…Wall gets and Big Guy to run with and some talent via the draft 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HitsterParticipant]

I’d be more concerned about younger guys playing more minutes than guys on their 2nd/3rd contracts as getting a lot of miles on the clock earlier can shorten a career and a superstar on over $20 million a year can reasonably be expected to play a lot of minutes.

Middling teams like the T-Wolves will likely play key players longer as stronger teams can have games won and put the bench out late on or might let games go when they are trailing by over 10 and look at the bigger picture. A team like Minny may feel more need to chase games.

As regards stats Minny have 3 players in top 20 of MPG this season as of yesterday – LaVine, KAT and Wiggins. They are the only team with 3 players in top 20, I’ll accept that Rubio has been out so LaVine will have needed to play more and this could have effected the workload of KAT and Wiggins indirectly. It will be interesting to watch this trend as the season goes on.

[Mike guytonParticipant]

My scouting report all around player good shooter ball handling needs to improve willing passer good defender very intense player you can hear him through out the whole game very active bad footwork needs to be more light on his feet good rebounder needs to work on his conditioning is not the most athletic guy good finisher either gets foul or scores not very quick or elusive more of a straight line driver has a good mid range shot iq of the game is decent needs work but shows persistency to get better is he focused enough to improve?

 

[vulture711Participant]

 Nice stroke, little turnarounds, in the post, great bounce, decent D – a real building block with Towns

[Author]

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