Wolves coach fed up with 'me-first' attitude

[Dewey]

Just don't have the team energy that's necessary for winning, plus:

Jefferson ... black hole at times and putting up some unnecessary attempts versus seeing the floor. He does hit cutters though. Defense is still weak too often.

Miller ... doing pretty well in my opinion - passing, scoring, rebounding, and acceptable defense.

Foye ... has not attacked the basket and actually shown some defensive lapses. Needs the edge.

McCants ... doesn't create opportunity for anyone else and continues to break on defense.

Gomes ... unmotivated? Continues to play at about 2/3 speed - same as last year. It's getting tiring.

Telfair ... appears more business than in the past, but overall impact is limited by slow first step.

Brewer ... has to finish better, but is not a selfish player in any sense.

Love ... is not a problem and actually having a positive impact regardless some physical mis-matches.

Smith ... has to understand he impacts the game, physically. Finishes well overall.

Carney ... has not caught my attention, defensively, and that's his only ticket to minutes.

Maddog ... He's THE "gamer" outta anyone and that summs up alot. He has passion for winning.

Ollie ... should get more pt as Foye plays more SG, but not sure if that's a good sign.

Bottom-line: We lack team intensity much more than ability. Wittman sees it and too many players don't. We need to find 7-8 players who are willing to get after it every night. That's what this is all about - SIMPLE.

[Devilzsidewalk]

Just having Al Jefferson be a complete player would make us a really good team. Last game against the Blazers he showed great defense; for a half anyways; but it got canceled out by getting only 5 rebounds, and we lost that game on the glass. Was loving the defensive play though. He just needs to bring it all together. So close though, just looking for that complete game effort. If he can do that, the Wolves have a top 10 player minimum and we can win games behind him. If Al can play defense, Love rebound, and let Miller loose offensively, we'll be a good team. Then we won't have put so much pressure on Foye and McCants and all these guys.

But Al's defense is the most important thing, our best half of the season so far was the 1st half against Portland and it's no coincidence that his defense was great that half.

[shrink]

If Al can play defense, Love rebound, and let Miller loose offensively, we'll be a good team. Then we won't have put so much pressure on Foye and McCants and all these guys.

I agree, and I'd like to see more composure at the end of games, but its improving.

I also agree that Al needs to do a better job passing out of the post, but I have to admit, we'd been spoiled for the previous ten years, and I try not to make comparisons. However, Al's young (born in 1985) and a hard worker, and I think this will continue to improve. He is well past being Zach Randolph.

[mandurugo]

If Al can play defense, Love rebound, and let Miller loose offensively, we'll be a good team. Then we won't have put so much pressure on Foye and McCants and all these guys.

I agree, and I'd like to see more composure at the end of games, but its improving.

I also agree that Al needs to do a better job passing out of the post, but I have to admit, we'd been spoiled for the previous ten years, and I try not to make comparisons. However, Al's young (born in 1985) and a hard worker, and I think this will continue to improve. He is well past being Zach Randolph.

I realize it is a rather odious comparison, but what makes you think he is well past Zach? He played defense for half of one game? I think he has a lot of work to do if he wants to avoid the comparison, it still seems an entirely reasonable one to me. Perhaps fairer to say he is an improved Zaxh Randolph, or not the team cancer Zach is often described as... but with similar tendencies.

[Klomp]

Anyone else think he was talking about McCants?

[kingly222]

It was obvious that Foye/McCants froze Al out tonight. This team has way to many selfish players. By no means should Al take every shot, but the offense should be run through him.

[D1SGRUNTL3D]

Fire Twitman

[FeedReed]

i hope he's talkin about mccants cuz that dude is a disgrace to basketball. he defines "me-first". i can't believe he gets all the clutch minutes, wow.

[revprodeji]

What is the quote...

"Words without action are unimportant"--I think that is it.

[deeney0]

I bet the Wolves players are fed up with RSW's "can't coach" attitude, too.

[shrink]

I bet the Wolves players are fed up with RSW's "can't coach" attitude, too.

If that's true, that's what's going to get him fired.

We've had better coaches with better records get fired befire, so getting fired isn't all about the record. I think in both Flip and Casey's situation, they were fired because the team stopped listening to them, and buying into their systems. Now, I don't particularly blame them, or blame management. Flip couldn't get Cassell or Spree to listen after they went back on their word and tried to renegotiate contracts in the season. Casey was trying to get guys like Blount and Ricky Davis to commit to defense. I place the problems squarely on the shoulders of the players own professionalism in both cases. However, in the NBA, if the coach can't get the multi-million dollar players to listen, its the coach that gets axed. McHale and Taylor were doing nothing new, and if they are to be blamed, it is for gambling on adding talent without giving any up by trying to add talented but dysfunctional players.

That brings us to Wittman. I think our players are young, and malcontents like Cassell or Ricky Davis would have stopped listening to Wittman a long time ago. I also think it was fair for McHale/Taylor to give Wittman time last year, ignore losses and let him focus on development. In fact, I think Taylor said that Wittman would have been able to coach the team to more wins in late game situations if McHale/Taylor hadn't demanded they play the youth and get them experience in crunch time. I don't know if that's true or not, but at some point, even young professional basketball players are going to bail on a bad coach. When that happens, if McHale and Taylor hold true to form, that will be what gets Randy Wittman fired.