Game 50: Minnesota Timberwolves (15-34) vs Atlanta Hawks (13-38) - 8:00 PM ET

[Jedzz]

I'm to the point where I don't want to trade Dieng to get rid of his contract; I would just love to see him go to a good team. Loyal warrior that has put up with so much crap but never stopped being a class act. And he can still play.

I'm not sure about all that. Dieng sort of checked out for a few years. His mind was on his home outside this country a fair amount both the seasons before and just after he got his big payday and I did not see the same efforts out of him then that he started this league with, or even that he's shown now this year. He definitely has focused and given more this season and looked like a pro. He definitely has been a class act the whole time. But this is a guy who started as a rookie fairly quickly showing strings of games in double double land. It fell off hardcore for a while. Nobody seemed to care much until he got his contract, then it mattered.

I guess we see it differently. His minutes tanked for two years with Taj here, but I did not perceive a drop off in effort or change in attitude. He worked hard enough on his game to become an effective 3-pt shooter. Stepped up when Towns was suspended and again when Towns was injured. Didn't seem to complain when his minutes dropped again when KAT returned.

Excuse me but you are trying to rewrite history here. The "work" to become a better 3pt shooter is everyone's job, and it sure as heck didn't happen until just lately in his career. All your examples are from this season and that was my point. His drop off happened well before Taj was ever thought of as an option for this team. His minutes dropped off because he was playing half as hard as he has this season. If the team had another option, he would have been gone during those times. He didn't deserve the contract he got, but he had just elevated his effort a little the season before that. I'll repeat, a little. Even then, he was half as effective as he's been this season both offensively and defensively. He wouldn't block shots, he would never sprint, he never slammed, he rarely ever got off his heals offensively or defensively. He wasn't giving 75% of what he could have during that down turn time. Then, then he had a slight uptick because it was contract time and his minutes had dropped he started working a little. Got his contract and it fell right off again. Then, Then, Taj comes into the picture. Remember, Thibs didn't bring in all the Bulls until the second season. We never heard him complain and that's why he's a class act. But he hasn't been a 100% competitor here. Not even close. He was a major reason why Thibs the defensive coach was targeted for here. We had none. That was him too. Bigtime.

[Klomp]

Excuse me but you are trying to rewrite history here. The "work" to become a better 3pt shooter is everyone's job, and it sure as heck didn't happen until just lately in his career.

So I take it you hold it against Shaq for never becoming a better 3-point shooter? He never did his job, as you put it....

[Calinks]

This is basically what it means to be a wolves fan.

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[Jedzz]

Excuse me but you are trying to rewrite history here. The "work" to become a better 3pt shooter is everyone's job, and it sure as heck didn't happen until just lately in his career.

So I take it you hold it against Shaq for never becoming a better 3-point shooter? He never did his job, as you put it....

Sure I hold it against Shaq that he didnt' learn to hit a 3, or FTs for that matter. Doesn't mean he wasn't a king of the sport in other ways. Name all the ways Gorgui is a king of this sport to make up for the years we suffered watching him miss bunnies, halfas putbacks on his heels, jogging the court. Name all the playoff seasons he dragged his team into.

The real point you cut out that should have been in the quote was that this is about the years in between a good rookie start and this year. He was treating this season's acts as if his whole whole time here has been anywhere like this.

Nice comparison.

[_AIJ_]

I know the wolves do not have enough players but, Saunders is just clueless


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[Calinks]

Ryan Saunders fielding some tough questions these days. What a brutal first year this has turned out to be. He'll never forget this year lol.

[Calinks]

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[Neeva]

Got to hand it to them, Wolves are excellent at tanking. Trust the process!

[Jedzz]

I know the wolves do not have enough players but, Saunders is just clueless


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They have other players that might play better with substantial minutes. It would be really helpful if this team found out if anyone they have current access to could be part of the future. He won't give that to any of them. 13 mins, 10 mins, max time for players never in his plans. He's going to continue playing the same guys he's put all his time and prior thoughts into as the answer for this season. I shudder to think how anything is going to change much from now to end of season. I think this is kind of why Coaches are ushered out so often. Stubborn dudes.

Might as well write up Wiggins and Towns with Laymanitum Turftoeitus. Might as well Gleague both Culver and Okogie now. Mclaughlin is making them all look sad now. Time for Iowa team to take over. There is a couple more in Gleague now that could use a look too. Then you have Beasly and others coming in? Get the 15 win garbage out for a while. It's the only way they are going to find out if any are worth keeping. They can't find that out 10-13 minutes a game behind this set of loser starters. He could at minimum drop all the starters to bench minutes. Let all these others have a chance to prove if they can be leaders and competitors or not. What is the worst that can happen? Another string of 11-12 losses? Oh boy.

[Jedzz]

Got to hand it to them, Wolves are excellent at tanking. Trust the process!

I would rather they tank by playing everyone else besides these starters.

[Klomp]

They have other players that might play better with substantial minutes. It would be really helpful if this team found out if anyone they have current access to could be part of the future. He won't give that to any of them. 13 mins, 10 mins, max time for players never in his plans. He's going to continue playing the same guys he's put all his time and prior thoughts into as the answer for this season. I shudder to think how anything is going to change much from now to end of season. I think this is kind of why Coaches are ushered out so often. Stubborn dudes.

He won't give that to any of them? Didn't McLaughlin play 31 minutes? Didn't Martin play 22 minutes? Didn't Reid play more than Dieng?

[Jedzz]

Ryan Saunders fielding some tough questions these days. What a brutal first year this has turned out to be. He'll never forget this year lol.

Well, if there are a few people still out there that didn't believe his players already had quit on him and this system months ago, they should believe it now after they have started shipping out their locker room.

I had high hopes he could be really flexible as a coach this season after what I saw him doing with the injured roster he had to finish out last season. I thought he might be different than our previous stubborn coaches. He's not.

[Jedzz]

They have other players that might play better with substantial minutes. It would be really helpful if this team found out if anyone they have current access to could be part of the future. He won't give that to any of them. 13 mins, 10 mins, max time for players never in his plans. He's going to continue playing the same guys he's put all his time and prior thoughts into as the answer for this season. I shudder to think how anything is going to change much from now to end of season. I think this is kind of why Coaches are ushered out so often. Stubborn dudes.

He won't give that to any of them? Didn't McLaughlin play 31 minutes? Didn't Martin play 22 minutes? Didn't Reid play more than Dieng?

Martin and McLaughlin have been playing all season.

Reid gets 13 minutes.
Nowell gets 10 minutes.

Nothing changes. 15 wins and it could be 500 losses and this guy won't change what he is doing.

Josh Okogie 37 minutes? Are we still banging our heads against this mess? Are they still working the sales counter with this decision up to thursday night I suppose. Is he going to change people's minds about him with one game?

Culver, 30 mins. 7 pts. Same 7 pts had had at 24 mins, 25 mins, 28 mins, and finished the game with. Same single Board he had at 24 mins. Same 3 assists at 24mins. Why do you keep playing them for yet another 6 minutes? He's already proved he's playing terrible today.

Towns and Wiggins with maybe some of their highest minutes this season outside overtime games. WHY?

Let's find out what Reid can do with 35 mins. Maybe, just maybe you could find out something amazing and maybe even in this one game they could have turned him into a trade piece someone really wanted with the first game you allowed it. Because you have been otherwise hiding him. Maybe you find out he's a guy you have to get on the court more next season.

Imagine Wiggins with 10 mins. What does Andrew Wiggins ever give you if his minutes are restricted to 10 every game? That's what this coach is doing right now to Nowell's chances to prove something. He will never warm up shooting from 10 mins. He will never get in the flow of a game offensively. Yet in the lousy 10 mins he gives Nowell he does do things.

Martin and McLaughlin have had pretty good chances to show what they can do this season. I honestly have no idea why they are different for Ryan.

Just move the team. I'm getting tired of talking to some of the excusing people following them as well. If no one holds him accountable it won't change.

[WolfAddict]

Garbage... Just complete and utter garbage.

I wish they'd just come out and say we're tanking... Would save me the pain of watching these "players"

[Jedzz]

What really pisses me off about Ryan not giving guys like Reid and Nowell more minutes right now, this game, is because they are already bringing in new players from the trades and that is going to mess up their chance even more for extended minutes. He couldn't give them this one game even.

Reid has been up with the main team for a while now existing on these garbage minutes if he plays at all.

Nowell has been pulled up sent down pulled up sent down uncounted times over the past few months, maybe every other day it seems over the last few weeks. Never playing a wink. Today he gives him ten lousy minutes in another beat down by the lousy Hawks no less.

What do I hear from other people that follow this team here? Calinks after like 4 minutes of play - "Nowell can't do anything". That's the only peep about him. A couple high five moments from Reid I read. But no one else says or cares that they only get 10 and 13 minutes and they really sat through another game of Okogie, Culver, WIggins, Towns at 30mins+ all, now for the 35th loss already.

If Nowell can't do anything, how did he have more Boards than Culver with only 10 mins?
If Nowell can't do anything, how did he have more points than 7yr Vet Crabbe who had 13 mins?
If Nowell can't do anything, how did he have more assists than Okogie, Towns, Martin, and 1 less than 30 minute Culver - the supposed future annointed PG for this team if you asked everyone in November.

It drives me nuts following this team and then reading some of this junk.

How do you get players to start playing harder when they don't seem to care like they should? You take their playing rights away and hand it to someone else for a while. If you've tried the nice tactics, that's what is left. That's as hard as it is to figure out. Outside of Dieng and maybe in one single season to Rubio, no starters or high usage players ever have to deal with that tactic here. It's a free ride to hell every season.

[Slim Tubby]

Here we are again. I’m hoping for losses before the ASG to improve our Lottery odds. I know that makes me a “bad” fan but that is the curse that they gave me.


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[shangrila]

Figures.

[Loyal[]Wolf]

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[Calinks]

I think it's stupid to make roster moves to please KAT. KAT should be happy with a good team, I don't think Rosas is chasing Russell just because KAT wants him, he's chasin Russell because he feels like he needs him to take this team in the right direction.

[shangrila]

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I don't care.

Robert Covington couldn't get him to play any **** defence and neither will Russell. So regardless of whether we get his bum chums on the team we're still going to be hitched to a sieve who gives as much as he gets. Unless he fixes that, and that might require more insight than he's capable of, it won't matter who's on the team. We'll still suck.