[Krawczynski] Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore in serious talks to become the next owners of the Minnesota Timberwolves

[Domejandro]

No mention that it was Lore/ARod that cleaned out the front office and the nonsense that was going on and hired Connelly who had been a huge part of this turnaround.

To be fair, Glen hired Rosas, who made the tricky pick to take Ant and added Jaden, and hired Finch, which is a big part of the team’s turnaround.

And Glen was the guy that kicked Rosas out for his poor behavior. We don’t know if he would have paid to hire Tim Connelly or not without ARod and Lore. I give Connelly, ARod and Lore more credit for the Gobert trade.

————————-

Fans constantly scapegoat Glen Taylor for every bad thing on the organization, and never give him any credit for the good. Granted, he has made some bad hires that have led to many poor seasons, and that’s on him (yet strangely made a great hire for the Lynx?). But as I’ve reviewed the performance of owners for the last fifteen years, the three things I want are:

1. Loyalty to the city - won’t move the team
2. Doesn’t interfere excessively in day-to-day decisions
3. Willing to pay the lux when he has a winning team.

Many teams haven’t had an owner that doesn’t check all three boxes. Glen has been extremely loyal to keeping the team here, even when he wanted to sell for years. He doesn’t interfere as far as I can tell - in fact, most of us wish he would have been quicker to pull the plug on some other GM’s. And Taylor has paid the lux four times already, which is more than you’d expect considering how many non-winning seasons we’ve had. If he’s trying to keep the team, he’s doing so knowing he will face big lux taxes, and he has the money to pay them without loans.

It was Lore who kicked Rosas out. And no he doesn't get credit because he's kept the team here. I find it hard to believe there isn't any other rich guy who would keep the team here. Giving a billionaire credit for spending a tiny fraction of his net worth? Come on. Lastly, HE"S THE REASON THE WOLVES HAVE HAD SO MANY LOSING SEASONS!

It was not Marc Lore who kicked Gersson Rosas out, that was objectively Glen Taylor’s decision.

[Domejandro]

To me, this pretty clearly reads like Glen Taylor is rat **** them. That said, if I am being very blunt, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez have repeatedly failed to meet deadlines, and have been an absolute financial train wreck, throughout this process.

[shrink]

It was Lore who kicked Rosas out

According to the Star Tribune, “Taylor made the call to fire Rosas, sources close to the team said, in conjunction with new owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez”

https://www.startribune.com/gersson-rosas-timberwolves-fired-president-of-basketball-operations/600099754/

There were other issues between Rosas and the staff, but the breaking point being his affair fits Taylor’s old-fashioned MO. “As an organization, we remain committed to building a winning team that our fans and city can be proud of,” said Taylor. ARod has had his own sex scandals.

[jpatrick]

To be fair, Glen hired Rosas, who made the tricky pick to take Ant and added Jaden, and hired Finch, which is a big part of the team’s turnaround.

And Glen was the guy that kicked Rosas out for his poor behavior. We don’t know if he would have paid to hire Tim Connelly or not without ARod and Lore. I give Connelly, ARod and Lore more credit for the Gobert trade.

————————-

Fans constantly scapegoat Glen Taylor for every bad thing on the organization, and never give him any credit for the good. Granted, he has made some bad hires that have led to many poor seasons, and that’s on him (yet strangely made a great hire for the Lynx?). But as I’ve reviewed the performance of owners for the last fifteen years, the three things I want are:

1. Loyalty to the city - won’t move the team
2. Doesn’t interfere excessively in day-to-day decisions
3. Willing to pay the lux when he has a winning team.

Many teams haven’t had an owner that doesn’t check all three boxes. Glen has been extremely loyal to keeping the team here, even when he wanted to sell for years. He doesn’t interfere as far as I can tell - in fact, most of us wish he would have been quicker to pull the plug on some other GM’s. And Taylor has paid the lux four times already, which is more than you’d expect considering how many non-winning seasons we’ve had. If he’s trying to keep the team, he’s doing so knowing he will face big lux taxes, and he has the money to pay them without loans.

It was Lore who kicked Rosas out. And no he doesn't get credit because he's kept the team here. I find it hard to believe there isn't any other rich guy who would keep the team here. Giving a billionaire credit for spending a tiny fraction of his net worth? Come on. Lastly, HE"S THE REASON THE WOLVES HAVE HAD SO MANY LOSING SEASONS!

It was not Marc Lore who kicked Gersson Rosas out, that was objectively Glen Taylor’s decision.

This doesn’t really matter. But my recollection was that it was Lore who started interviewing all employees when they started the ownership transfer, and he discovered the Rosas mess. Now, was it Taylor’s final call, I’m sure, as he was the owner still. Would that have happened without Lore’s involvement, at least on that timeline, I highly doubt it.

[shrink]

This doesn’t really matter. But my recollection was that it was Lore who started interviewing all employees when they started the ownership transfer, and he discovered the Rosas mess. Now, was it Taylor’s final call, I’m sure, as he was the owner still. Would that have happened without Lore’s involvement, at least on that timeline, I highly doubt it.

Fair enough. I have to admit, I am not really all that interested in the drama inside the front office.

Now, if a buy out of Rosas somehow cost us cap space, I’m all over it!

[TheProdigy]

To me, this pretty clearly reads like Glen Taylor is rat **** them. That said, if I am being very blunt, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez have repeatedly failed to meet deadlines, and have been an absolute financial train wreck, throughout this process.

It's embarrassing for both sides.

[BlacJacMac]

The NBA had nothing to do with the original investor (Carlyle Group) backing out.

Did we ever hear why they backed out?

Didn't they recently buy the Baltimore Orioles and a Women's Soccer team? Maybe they didn't want to invest "too much" money in sports at one time?

Found this:

A deal involving private equity firm Carlyle that would have helped finance a purchase of the T'Wolves by Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore has now fallen through, though the NBA did not deny the firm's proposed investment. Carlyle initially "agreed to invest via a structured financing" at around a $2.3B valuation, but that deal "was contingent on approval by the NBA." The two sides "reached a stalemate in negotiations" around two weeks ago, with a source saying "something else in the firm's vast portfolio ran afoul of its institutional ownership rules

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/03/20/alex-rodriguez-marc-lore-minnesota-timberwolves-sale-funding-falls-through-carlyle-group

[guest81]

It was Lore who kicked Rosas out. And no he doesn't get credit because he's kept the team here. I find it hard to believe there isn't any other rich guy who would keep the team here. Giving a billionaire credit for spending a tiny fraction of his net worth? Come on. Lastly, HE"S THE REASON THE WOLVES HAVE HAD SO MANY LOSING SEASONS!

It was not Marc Lore who kicked Gersson Rosas out, that was objectively Glen Taylor’s decision.

This doesn’t really matter. But my recollection was that it was Lore who started interviewing all employees when they started the ownership transfer, and he discovered the Rosas mess. Now, was it Taylor’s final call, I’m sure, as he was the owner still. Would that have happened without Lore’s involvement, at least on that timeline, I highly doubt it.

Glen didn't even know who Gupta was

[BlacJacMac]

The pool of buyers capable of purchasing a car is orders of magnitude higher than the pool of buyers that can purchase a professional sports franchise.

True, but ARod and Lore aren’t doing Glen a favor to buy the franchise at a huge discount.

To me, this is about how you do business ethically. If buyers punked me around like that, I wouldn’t sell them the car.

I'll add that while driving the car, the buyers did nothing but take great care of the car and greatly improved its value and performance, while basically offering free rides in said car whenever I ask. So if we are looking at this ethically, I'm probably still working with them to get them the ownership.

Not how I would describe selling pieces of the car at a significant mark-up to make the payments - thus actually profiting on the purchase of the car before even owning it. All while the current owner sees none of that extra valuation in his pocket.

[Domejandro]

The answer to avoiding this situation is not repeatedly missing deadlines and then failing to make the biggest deadline after being granted an extension. This has the same vibes of the college student who repeatedly turns in assignments late, is given an extension on the final project, and then acts indignant when the professor finally pulls the plug on last chances.

[BlacJacMac]

Interesting. A NY Post story from last year intimates that ARod might not have been able to come up with enough cash to become an owner. So is it possible that the snag with the NBA wasn't Lore-Rod not being able to raise enough money, but ARod not having enough skin in the game?

Nevertheless, it’s not clear A-Rod can cash in on the price he’s locked in. That’s partly because NBA rules won’t permit him to become an owner unless he personally can foot the bill for 15% of the total purchase price — nearly $200 million when factoring in the team’s debt — without the help of co-investors.

https://nypost.com/2022/08/29/a-rods-1-5b-deal-to-buy-t-wolves-at-risk-and-some-blame-j-lo-breakup/

[Klomp]

WHAT A HEADACHE!

I know people have repeatedly accused me of being a mouthpiece for the organization, but this is such a mess that unfortunately comes on the heels of one of the five best regular seasons in franchise history. Nothing comes easy as a Timberwolves fan.

I'm still processing everything to figure out where I stand. It might just be blind faith, but my initial reaction is actually to side with Lore and Rodriguez. Taylor wanted to get out of the business when it was at its worst, but now that it's going good he's not willing to let go.

This might get messy. I just hope that it doesn't result in the franchise moving, whether Taylor sells to the highest bidder regardless of anything or if Lore and Rodriguez win potential litigation and relocate simply to spite Taylor in all of this.

[BlacJacMac]

WHAT A HEADACHE!

I know people have repeatedly accused me of being a mouthpiece for the organization, but this is such a mess that unfortunately comes on the heels of one of the five best regular seasons in franchise history. Nothing comes easy as a Timberwolves fan.

I'm still processing everything to figure out where I stand. It might just be blind faith, but my initial reaction is actually to side with Lore and Rodriguez. Taylor wanted to get out of the business when it was at its worst, but now that it's going good he's not willing to let go.

This might get messy. I just hope that it doesn't result in the franchise moving, whether Taylor sells to the highest bidder regardless of anything or if Lore and Rodriguez win potential litigation and relocate simply to spite Taylor in all of this.

My guess is there is plenty of blame to go around.

I think Glen initially agreed to sell with good intentions, but got greedy as the franchise value rose and looked for an out.

But I also think Lore and ARod got greedy by trying to sell pieces that Glen still owned at a significant mark-up and kept missing deadlines for it.

[Klomp]

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[Klomp]

This is a guy who you could say is in Lore's "camp", has been on Dane Moore's podcast various times throughout the process.

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[KGdaBom]

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Man, I despise Taylor, although it comes off as incompetence from Lore and ARod. Taylor must’ve had seller’s remorse and now he will sell the team for a billion more to who knows what group…

Lore and ARod screwed up. Nothing more than that. They defaulted on buying the Wolves for 1 Billion less than Market value.

[KGdaBom]

When this whole thing started I remember Taylor said one of the reasons he chose to sell to Lore and ARod was because of their commitment to keeping the team in Minnesota. Fast forward to today, Lore and ARod miss the final payment by mere days. Now the team is no longer for sale and Taylor maintains his majority ownership with extra cash in his pocket. What a crook.

Taylor did absolutely nothing wrong. Lore and A Rod screwed up. No more and no less.

[KGdaBom]

I don't know who is a better owner for Wolves but I am sure Taylor is not a good owner. It is too bad that I am just a couple billions short, otherwise, I definitely would buy the team.

The Wolves were literally the worst team in sports by win percentage under Taylor. You got someone with an ounce of knowing what he's doing, and it's like a a whole new world. F Glen Taylor

Lore and A Rod SCREWED up. F them if you want to F anybody.

[Dewey]

If they can leverage a few more million out of the new buyers, so be it… It’s their own fault for not laying out the funds upfront and getting the deal closed. There is not one critic out there who wouldn’t do the same thing if it filled the pockets with more cash. If it has that more value, it will not be any issue acquiring the necessary funds to put this deal to rest.

[KGdaBom]

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Probably true and that is a bad scenario.