When is Glen Taylor Going to Fix the Situation?

[jamiche]

As one of probably 38 people who watched the wolves on TV last night I had the distinct pleasure of watching two dismal teams who individually and collectively didn't appear to care play at a 60% effort in front of maybe 1500 people in Charlotte. The larger issue is that, outside of three or four hot franchises, the NBA is in big trouble and the huge salaries are going to disappear as sponsorships, TV money and attendance dissipates. Franchise values are going to fall for the first time in history. But I digress...

The real point of this post is to ask what and when Glen will do something to fix his shrinking franchise on the prairie. (If I were one of his investors I would be absolutely livid over how the asset has been mismanaged.) The biggest problem, of course, is Taylor himself. He is ultimately responsible for everything. Assuming that he does not sell, it seems that the people who should be invited to leave, in order of priority are McHale, Wittman and Jefferson. McHale, in start over mode, assembled a small, slow and very unathletic roster with at least three people playing out of position at any given time.. He has royally screwed up his fourth or fifth chance with this team. How many more chances does he get? The players have completely tuned Wittman out and he is becoming the Henry Paulson of the NBA with a new approach to solving the problems every other day. Finally, Jefferson is the biggest cancer on the team that has several other cancers. I know that people love his nifty three or four low post moves, but he hurts the team in every other way. He doesn't pass out of the double team, kills ball flow and consistently allows the player he is guarding to have a big game. What good is 20-10 when the opponent gets 25-12? Last night Emma Okafur, a fourth tier NBA center, completely dominated Jefferson. The wolves should trade him while there are still a few teams seduced by the one thing he does well.

Outside of the Detroit Lions, the wolves may be the most poorly run franchise in professional sports.

[tikited]

Wittman has decided to fix the problem himself by playing the one and only "Brian Cardinal" in crunch time. Great move by the mastermind.




p.s. Okur is far from a 4th tier center---he's not really a center to begin with, but I would put him in the top ten for big-men. The dude can play. He's easily better than Jefferson overall.

[jamiche]

Wittman has decided to fix the problem himself by playing the one and only "Brian Cardinal" in crunch time. Great move by the mastermind.

All things considered, I didn't think it was a bad move. Nobody else was doing anything. At least Cardinal hustles.




p.s. Okur is far from a 4th tier center---he's not really a center to begin with, but I would put him in the top ten for big-men. The dude can play. He's easily better than Jefferson overall.

If Okafur is so good, why does his team win 25-30 games a year? He will have a long career but he'll never dominate against a good team and anybody who plays defense.

[Ogee Oglethorpe]

Your points and this pathetic team/ownership group bring up another very good point....

Why don't the likes of Reusse, et al, absolutely bash the living hell out of Taylor and McHale more than they do? Reusse loves to bash all things University of MN but surprisingly leaves Taylor, among others, unscathed.

This is frustrating. Taylor and Co. are essentially getting a free pass in the MSP media while Reusse writes articles bashing the Gophers' nonconference basketball schedule.

Kind of makes you wonder... Not that it could have anything to do with money or anything...

[Schlic Daddy]

Assuming that he does not sell, it seems that the people who should be invited to leave, in order of priority are McHale, Wittman and Jefferson.

Are you out of your mind? That man has had ONE bad game all season--last night. Sure, he's not a great defender, but how many superstars in the NBA are? Jefferson is averaging a double-double (ranks 14th in scoring and 5th in rebounding) and his defense and passing out of double teams (the things you always criticize him for) have improved this season (assists and blocks are both up this year). Big Al's efficiency rating is 10th in the league, behind Chris Paul, LeBron, Dwight Howard, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Devin Harris, Amare Stoudemire and Dirk Nowitzki. He's ahead of Kobe, Tim Duncan and just about every other big name player out there.

It's amazing that you wait until he has a bad game (16 games into the season) and say we need to trade him.

Jam, I will never understand your hatred for the man. He's been a model citizen, as far as I can tell, and has been the one bright spot on this team in the past season and a half.

The order of people that need to go: 1. McHale, 2. Wittman, 3. McCants...20. Jefferson

[tikited]

If Okafur is so good, why does his team win 25-30 games a year? He will have a long career but he'll never dominate against a good team and anybody who plays defense.

One player does not make a team. If he had any help up front, Char. would be pretty good---much like the Wolves. They have no center, no real point guard, and no real defenders outside of Okafur. Besides blocking a few shots now and then, the rest of the team plays no defense at all. I would say they are very similar to the Wolves----BUT--- they do have Wallace, who is better than 95% of our players.

I would love to have Okafur and Jefferson. Okafur would take a lot of pressure off of JJ on defense and could mop up on the offensive boards. Sadly, we will trade for Morrison instead of Okur or Wallace.

Career stats for Okafur:
Year Team GMs MPG FG% FT%RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
04-05 CHA 73 35.6 44.7 60.9 10.9 0.9 0.8 1.7 15.1
05-06 CHA 26 33.6 41.5 65.6 10.0 1.2 0.8 1.9 13.2
06-07 CHA 67 34.8 53.2 59.3 11.3 1.2 0.8 2.6 14.4
07-08 CHA 82 33.1 53.4 57.0 10.7 0.8 0.8 1.7 13.8
08-09 CHA 17 33.5 56.1 58.2 10.8 0.3 0.5 1.8 10.9
CAREER 265 34.3 49.4 59.6 10.8 0.9 0.8 1.9 14.1

[UpnorthGo4]

Ogee Quote: "Your points and this pathetic team/ownership group bring up another very good point....

Why don't the likes of Reusse, et al, absolutely bash the living hell out of Taylor and McHale more than they do? Reusse loves to bash all things University of MN but surprisingly leaves Taylor, among others, unscathed.

This is frustrating. Taylor and Co. are essentially getting a free pass in the MSP media while Reusse writes articles bashing the Gophers' nonconference basketball schedule.

Kind of makes you wonder... Not that it could have anything to do with money or anything..."


Ogee, you are simply not paying attention if you don't think that the Twin Cities sports media is bashing the Wolves at every opportunity. Everytime Barreiro goes after McHale (which is everytime he opens his mouth), I want to go take a shower. I can't think of anyone in the sports media who doesn't take advantage of every opportunity available to them to criticize Taylor and McHale. Brewster is still in his honeymoon period compared to what is happening to Tayor and McHale.

Have you every watched McHale at a Wolves game? He doesn't spend one extra second more than he has to sitting in his seat. I don't think he wants to go out in public anymore because of all the abuse he has to take. For that reason I have become McHale's biggest fan. He has the same competitiveness as the Wolves Vice President (he has never been their General Manager) as he did when he was an NBA Hall of Famer. He is NEVER going to quit on the Wolves until they become a winner. McHale has enough money to hunt and fish the rest of his life without working another day. But unlike so many sports people, he is not a quitter. He is going to keep working at it until he succeeds (or Taylor fires him).

For those of you who think it is so easy to put together a winning NBA franchise, I offer you Jerry West as an example. Jerry was one of my favorite basketball players ever. When he was with the Lakers, he was considered one of the best GM's in the game. After he went to Memphis he failed miserably and they ran him out of town. Another example is Danny Ainge. Before the big trade for KG he was considered the worst GM in the NBA (worse than McHale). The margin in the NBA between winning and losing, success and failure, is incredibly small.

Kevin McHale is a Gopher Hall of Famer. He was voted one of the top 50 players of all time. He has been a great representative of the U. I, unlike so many Gopher fans, am not going to treat him like he is the devil incarnate just because he has not been successful with the Wolves.

[Frink]

upnorth,

West did not fail miserably in Memphis. He was NBA executive of the year in 2004 and took a terrible, terrible franchise and made them a playoff team. He struggled at the very end but it's completely inaccurate to say he failed miserably.

Like you I have defended McHale from some of the more extreme attacks leveled against him, particularly the claim that drafting KG was the only good move he made and the even more ridiculous claim that the franchise tanked once McHale took over. The fact is that McHale made a number of good moves early on (hiring Flip, ditching Laetner and Rider, trading Marshall for Googs, etc) and turned a putrid team into a perennial playoff team.

That said his recent mistakes have been too big to ignore. I don't have to hate the guy (and I don't) to say he needs to go.

[jamiche]

Are you out of your mind? That man has had ONE bad game all season--last night. Sure, he's not a great defender, but how many superstars in the NBA are? Jefferson is averaging a double-double (ranks 14th in scoring and 5th in rebounding) and his defense and passing out of double teams (the things you always criticize him for) have improved this season (assists and blocks are both up this year). Big Al's efficiency rating is 10th in the league, behind Chris Paul, LeBron, Dwight Howard, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Devin Harris, Amare Stoudemire and Dirk Nowitzki. He's ahead of Kobe, Tim Duncan and just about every other big name player out there.

It's amazing that you wait until he has a bad game (16 games into the season) and say we need to trade him.

Jam, I will never understand your hatred for the man. He's been a model citizen, as far as I can tell, and has been the one bright spot on this team in the past season and a half.

The order of people that need to go: 1. McHale, 2. Wittman, 3. McCants...20. Jefferson

I've been very consistent on my position on Jefferson. He does one thing very well and absolutely nothing else to help the team. My comments about him had nothing to do with last night. Everybody has bad games. This is his fourth or fifth year in the league and every year his teams win 20-25 games. Efficiency ratios don't measure passing, defense, hustle, team play, etc. He is the best player on the team but that's like being the lead violinist in the Titanic orchestra.

I don't care if he is a saint or a jerk. His presence doesn't make the wolves a better team.

[Goph4phan]

I'll preface by saying this: I've watched every Wolves game this season, minus about 3 games. My girlfriend (http://cm1.dotspotter.com/media/0/54/5/006361019.0.0.0x0.432x654.jpeg) loves them, I love basketball (and her), so naturally, I watch too.

I was very upset when Flip was fired, however, a change needed to happen and in this business world friends doesn't mean anything. McHale saved his own behind by getting rid of Flip.

In reality, Glen Taylor just needs to take a step back and assess the decisions that have been made in recent years (trades, esp. drafts) and clean house from there. The Love trade is still growing on me, however, getting OJ Mayo would have gave us a reason to move McCants out the door and provided a 2 guard who's game translates very well to the NBA. I don't even want to go into Brandon Roy ... Mario Chalmers ... etc...

Jammer- as far as saying that there are too many cancers on this team, I guess I'm just not totally following you there. I completely agree that Al needs A LOT of work in the post but to say that he's a cancer? I think that's a little far fetched.

[jamiche]

I agree that the word cancer is used too often as a metaphor for sports teams. Not that I would substitute Jason Collins for Al, but Al's all around game hurts the team. Fans get caught up in his offensive stats without an understanding of how his deficits are at the core of the team's problems. The team would be much better off if Al were a 15-8 guy who moved the ball and worked hard on defense. He doesn't, and the team suffers. He is far from the only problem on this dysfunctional team. However, a change in his approach to the game would have a much bigger impact than any other player.

[Goph4phan]

... and worked hard on defense. He doesn't, and the team suffers. He is far from the only problem on this dysfunctional team. However, a change in his approach to the game would have a much bigger impact than any other player.


Can't fight you on that. I can count several times last night that I remember him not rotating down on a play for help defense. Maybe it's because he doesn't want to get into foul trouble, maybe it's because he's just plain lazy, IDK. If I had to pick, I'd go with the latter. He sure doesn't have that "guard the basket" fire that Mutombo or even KG had.

You're right though. This team would be better off rising from a pile of ashes than building on the pieces that they have.

I know that it's neither here, nor there, but: I just don't like "cancer" being used for players who aren't named Allen Iverson or Steph Marbury or Stephen Jackson, etc.

[jamiche]

I could be wrong, but I get the impression that he doesn't help out because he is disgusted. He's in full "I'm the only guy out here who knows what I'm doing" mode without understanding how much that damages the team.

[tikited]

I could be wrong, but I get the impression that he doesn't help out because he is disgusted. He's in full "I'm the only guy out here who knows what I'm doing" mode without understanding how much that damages the team.

Here Here! I think the same thing. I love his offense, but he is a total joke of defense. His body language might just mean he is frustrated, but I think it has a lot to do with his displeasue with his teammates. He needs to be a leader no mater how much he might not want to be--it's his team.

[husker70]

Disfunctional Ownership, Incompetent GM, and a coach with no chance.
See Detroit Lions, Pittsburg Pirates, and yes Minnesota Timberwolves. Glen not only cannot, but will not make a change. Fire Mchale? Who would want his job. Better to keep him. If you wonder why McHale is still there, Dave Lee does Gopher playbyplay, or why the Lions are 4 losses from perfection the answer is......... Its just the way someone wants it. Why anyone supports this kind of disfunction is beyond me. Its insane. Unless you enjoy someone else screwing up, or take pleasure in a professional team not competing. That's right up my alley, Go Detroit, laydown. We are talking about perfection.

[GophersInIowa]

I went to the Wolves-Nuggets game last weekend. It was the first wolves game I've been to in about 10 years. I remembered very quickly why I don't care too much for the NBA anymore.

A friend of mine and I were lucky enough to get very good seats valued at over $200/each for very cheap. It started out as a good game and was exciting to see Billups and Anthony for Denver, and guys like Love and Foye for the Wolves. Foye actually played pretty well early on in that game. Then Rashad McCants entered the game. I remember being ticked off when we drafted him as I knew he just wasn't that good (I lived out in North Carolina at the time, so I watched a lot of his games at UNC). The guy comes in, shoots an airball, committs a stupid turnover, and then is taken out of the game after about a minute or two. When he is substituted, he slowly walks to the bench; it was so slow that everyone on the court had to wait for him to get of the court. Obviously he was mad because he was getting taken out. I would be so happy if I don't see him in a wolves uniform ever again. People can make fun of guys like Brian Cardinal (I hated that guy at Purdue) but at least his attitude isn't like McCants.

Kevin McHale was a great basketball player, but that doesn't make him a great GM. He has to go.

[gopherjay]

Great Gopher and Celtic. Great, sucks as a GM.