Where did it go south?

[Klomp]

Thought this was funny

[tweet]https://twitter.com/JimPeteHoops/status/583472671955951619[/tweet]

[breatnach]

I'd say the Marc Blount / Ricky Davis and Marko Jaric trades. They were both hail mary trades to salvage what was left after the WCF 2004 run. When you are desperate, you more often than not act on poor judgement. Whenever you trade picks for players, you are hoping the players will improve your team to a point where losing the pick doesn't hurt.

In retrospect, I think people underestimated the value Spree and Cassell had for our team. Of course it was KG's team and he rightfully won MVP, but he alone could not keep us in title contention.

Once we realised those trades didn't pan out, there was no other option than blowing it up and trading KG. The rebuild could have been done by 2011 (4 year rebuild), but poor drafting from 2009-2011 made us basically start from scratch.

[Steve_Holiday]

Getting more out of almost nothing is still getting almost nothing. What was the ceiling of any of adelman's rosters, given the constant love and Rubio and pek injuries (and the presence of Beasley and Darko)? I don't think Dwayne Casey is any better a coach than a half-asleep Rick.

Wasn't Sam Mitchell supposed to be the fiery ex coach of the year that was supposed to motivate the young wolves to new highs? Without nba-level players, I just don't think the coach matters all that much. Though there are some on this board who believe having jack sikma back would change everything for dieng and Payne. Who knows...

[Worm Guts]

I believe the 2009 draft was completely unforgivable. David khans disgusting, undeserved hubris set this franchise back much longer than his tenure. He could always argue his positions, but that didn't make them correct. Jonny Flynn over curry...my dear God. Ty Lawson for nothing...why not?

The 2009 draft was brutal, especially since the realistic best case scenario was so great.
2010 was pretty terrible too since we passed on Demarcus Cousins and traded away Al Jefferson so we could make room for Darko and Beasley.

[Klomp]

Getting more out of almost nothing is still getting almost nothing.

Yes, but they didn't even give him a chance to work with a better roster.

[Worm Guts]

Getting more out of almost nothing is still getting almost nothing.

Yes, but they didn't even give him a chance to work with a better roster.

Our roster only got worse after that.

[Foye]

5 years from now somebody will hopefully do a similar trade named "Where did it go north?"

The answer will be:

[zeemwolves]

i dont think you can label or pick out one thing that destroys a franchise for 11 years, it was a combination of things... a lot of bad picks in the draft (2009 :/) along with sometimes getting an unfair round pick despite having a worse record (we could've had kyrie for all we know although kyrie alone didnt get the cavs to the playoffs he's way better than getting D-will), getting in trouble with the NBA and some bad trades all together lead to where we are in the struggle

[ace625214]

If you're talking about the post-KG rebuild I'd say the Jaric/Cassell trade. For the current rebuild I would say, as someone did already, when Ricky hurt his knee. If that doesn't happen, they make the playoffs and possibly even make some noise. Love is happy, FAs are more likely to come, and the Wolves would be coming up on their 4th straight playoff berth. We had to miss out on all that, but I think in the long run the team ended up with a better foundation.

[Klomp]

I thought of this thread when I was reading the two-part oral history of KG's career. While it didn't go south at the time, you could say that one event drastically changed the course of the Timberwolves:

KG's mega contract.

Flip Saunders: We got double-whammied. KG's contract forced the lockout. And by that contract, the lockout forced the [max] contract. And so we lost Marbury, because basically Marbury thought he couldn't play with KG when he was making $20 million, and Steph was making $9 million, and Steph was taking shots at the end of the game. That was his quote.

Not only that, but we were stuck with that contract taking up such a large portion of the cap even while the new CBA had initiated new max salaries, but KG's deal was grandfathered in. That made it difficult for us to put pieces around him, and could even be looked at as why we tried the Joe Smith deal which hurt us further.

Why did Taylor offer KG the deal?

Glen Taylor: I thought some of the big markets would be after [Garnett]. ... And my thoughts were, the franchise had been down, down, down. This is the first time the fans in Minnesota could see some hope. So I went out there and made an investment that probably, money-wise, business-wise, was not a good one. But it had to do more with, that I lived here, I was a Minnesotan, and I wanted this for our team.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2421 ... ed-the-nba

[breatnach]

I thought of this thread when I was reading the two-part oral history of KG's career. While it didn't go south at the time, you could say that one event drastically changed the course of the Timberwolves:

KG's mega contract.

Flip Saunders: We got double-whammied. KG's contract forced the lockout. And by that contract, the lockout forced the [max] contract. And so we lost Marbury, because basically Marbury thought he couldn't play with KG when he was making $20 million, and Steph was making $9 million, and Steph was taking shots at the end of the game. That was his quote.

Not only that, but we were stuck with that contract taking up such a large portion of the cap even while the new CBA had initiated new max salaries, but KG's deal was grandfathered in. That made it difficult for us to put pieces around him, and could even be looked at as why we tried the Joe Smith deal which hurt us further.

Why did Taylor offer KG the deal?

Glen Taylor: I thought some of the big markets would be after [Garnett]. ... And my thoughts were, the franchise had been down, down, down. This is the first time the fans in Minnesota could see some hope. So I went out there and made an investment that probably, money-wise, business-wise, was not a good one. But it had to do more with, that I lived here, I was a Minnesotan, and I wanted this for our team.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2421 ... ed-the-nba

If the definition of "going south" includes having the reigning MVP and going to the conference finals, let's do that again!

[Otis]

There have been several boneheaded moves which all helped lead to the next bone headed move.

Letting Googs walk for nothing. Remember the Lakers offered us a fairly decent deal just before he walked. Campbell and Van Exel.

Marbury leaves after KG Megadeal. Not sure this was avoidable.

Joe Smith deal. This lead to loads of crazy reaches and signings looking for diamond in the rough.

Let Big Shot go cause we wouldn't promise starting spot because Brandon was coming back. Then Brandon goes down, again.

Not locking up Cassell and Spree earlier. These guys were freaking cancers in 2005 trying to get their deals. Should have signed them to extensions earlier and we could have repeated 2004 maybe. if Sam stayed healthy. Big If.

After that we were chasing our tail and KG's contract was an anchor.

All Kahn drafts were disasters! he set us back years just like the Joe Smith deal.

Until the savior of MN basketball decided he was homesick and left South Beach to return to Akron! He wanted Love and they traded us our future to go with only 2 years of solid draft picks from Flip.

Thank God for LeBron and Flip. This boat is heading north now!

[C.lupus]

I'm in the "you can't pin it on one single event" camp. I do think McHale's inability (through apathy or whatever) to put a good team around KG (except for those two seasons) was the main thing. The writing was on the wall after the 2005 season. Hiring Kahn was the knockout blow.

[Klomp]

If the definition of "going south" includes having the reigning MVP and going to the conference finals, let's do that again!

I clearly stated it didn't go south at that time.

[Merc_Porto]

I hope in 5 years im not saying this.

Where did it go south?

The day we draft Okafor over Towns.

[Klomp]

I hope in 5 years im not saying this.

Where did it go south?

The day we draft Okafor over Towns.

You think we're going south of 16 wins if we draft Okafor?

[mcd6184]

I hope in 5 years im not saying this.

Where did it go south?

The day we draft Okafor over Towns.

Or

The day we drafted Towns over Okafor.


We all have our favorite right now, but lets be honest here, in 5 years either/niether or both could be looked at as the right pick...lets just hope we get it right (or "right enough" since we have Wiggins already) whoever it is.

[Merc_Porto]

You think we're going south of 16 wins if we draft Okafor?

I think we may be missing the opportunity to build a championship team.

[Swish4]

This franchise's major flaw has been the scouting department or the complete lack of one. So rarely have we drafted a good player in mid to late first or second rounds that became anything. I'll admit we've done a bit better in that regard in the last 3 years, but before that? Yeah we took Pek, but everyone in the league knew he'd be the first pick in the 2nd round that year. Even our lottery picking has been bad overall.

[packforfreedom]

I hope in 5 years im not saying this.

Where did it go south?

The day we draft Okafor over Towns.

didn't it already go south, when Flip Saunders was hired?