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The recent discussion on KG got me to thinking. - which players have divided our fanbase the most?

I remember Ricky Rubio had people that loved him, and people that hated him.

Maybe that chasm is even wider for Rudy Gobert right now (who almost made the Trade Board’s “Best Contracts” and “Worst Contracts” simultaneously!

Towns and DLo might deserve consideration. Who else?


BTW, Coaches and GM’s would be a whole different level.

Kevin Love deserves a mention

shrink wrote:The recent discussion on KG got me to thinking. - which players have divided our fanbase the most?

I remember Ricky Rubio had people that loved him, and people that hated him.

Maybe that chasm is even wider for Rudy Gobert right now (who almost made the Trade Board’s “Best Contracts” and “Worst Contracts” simultaneously!

Towns and DLo might deserve consideration. Who else?


BTW, Coaches and GM’s would be a whole different level.

In the last 17 years, it's anyone at PF or who was a team leader simply because "they're not Kevin Garnett"

This includes Al Jefferson, Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio, Andrew Wiggins, Derrick Williams, Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert, D'Angelo Russell, etc.

Anthony Edwards is the first player who the majority of the fan base seems to have accepted right away and lived up to his expectations placed on him by the fan base.

Fans of any team tend to overly critical and overly value their own teams players. At one point Clippers fans started a petition to "Force Paul George to Play Overseas". Did Derrick Williams really divide people? It's not like he is Colin Kaepernick.

Ant is terrible, I can't believe he missed the 3pt shot that could had tied game 5

TimberKat wrote:Fans of any team tend to overly critical and overly value their own teams players. At one point Clippers fans started a petition to "Force Paul George to Play Overseas". Did Derrick Williams really divide people? It's not like he is Colin Kaepernick.

Ant is terrible, I can't believe he missed the 3pt shot that could had tied game 5

The only division I remember around Derrick Williams was whether or not to draft him at #2 (though I think I wanted to trade down for Biyombo which wouldn't have been that much better). It was pretty clear he wasn't going to work out after his 2nd year.

urinesane wrote:The only division I remember around Derrick Williams was whether or not to draft him at #2 (though I think I wanted to trade down for Biyombo which wouldn't have been that much better). It was pretty clear he wasn't going to work out after his 2nd year.

The same can be said for Wes Johnson. On Rube Chat, I was adamant the Wolves should draft Cousins, yet, some saw Johnson as a Pippen type.

The Wiseman-Ant-LaMelo draft debate was pretty evenly divided.

On all my years of being here since 2006, the discussions after the Rudy trade have made this board unreadable at times and I used to love coming on the Wolves board here to open my mind up to different perspectives but this **** is toxic lol, so Rudy has gotta be up there.

Ricky is up there as well..a lot of people saw his value despite the shooting woes and a lot of people couldn't see a way we could win with him on this team.

Baseline81 wrote:

urinesane wrote:The only division I remember around Derrick Williams was whether or not to draft him at #2 (though I think I wanted to trade down for Biyombo which wouldn't have been that much better). It was pretty clear he wasn't going to work out after his 2nd year.

The same can be said for Wes Johnson. On Rube Chat, I was adamant the Wolves should draft Cousins, yet, some saw Johnson as a Pippen type.

I was also firmly in the Cousins camp. Seemed like such an easy pick.

Baseline81 wrote:

urinesane wrote:The only division I remember around Derrick Williams was whether or not to draft him at #2 (though I think I wanted to trade down for Biyombo which wouldn't have been that much better). It was pretty clear he wasn't going to work out after his 2nd year.

The same can be said for Wes Johnson. On Rube Chat, I was adamant the Wolves should draft Cousins, yet, some saw Johnson as a Pippen type.

I think most people believed Cousins was a better talent but a total headcase. And they were right.
Both were bad picks.

fattymcgee wrote:I think most people believed Cousins was a better talent but a total headcase. And they were right.
Both were bad picks.

Cousins may have been a nut job, however, he was able to play high-level basketball. It was a rarity if Johnson ever showed up.

Baseline81 wrote:

fattymcgee wrote:I think most people believed Cousins was a better talent but a total headcase. And they were right.
Both were bad picks.

Cousins may have been a nut job, however, he was able to play high-level basketball. It was a rarity if Johnson ever showed up.

Cousins is definitely a better basketball talent. I just don't know how you could add him to a team with Love, Darko, Beasley and Randolph with Rambis coaching and Kahn as GM. What a zoo that would have been? I don't think Rubio wanted to join that team. Forget about Wolves, how many cages do we need for the lions and tigers?

TimberKat wrote:Cousins is definitely a better basketball talent. I just don't know how you could add him to a team with Love, Darko, Beasley and Randolph with Rambis coaching and Kahn as GM. What a zoo that would have been? I don't think Rubio wanted to join that team. Forget about Wolves, how many cages do we need for the lions and tigers?

Not really going to rehash my entire argument back then, but it basically boiled down to BPA.

Baseline81 wrote:

TimberKat wrote:Cousins is definitely a better basketball talent. I just don't know how you could add him to a team with Love, Darko, Beasley and Randolph with Rambis coaching and Kahn as GM. What a zoo that would have been? I don't think Rubio wanted to join that team. Forget about Wolves, how many cages do we need for the lions and tigers?

Not really going to rehash my entire argument back then, but it basically boiled down to BPA.

Not to let it divide the fan base again, I do see your point regarding BPA. I think we could had made a reality show that rival the Kardashians: When the game is over, the Wolves come out to play.

Wiggins was pretty divisive because there were those which kept wanting to believe and those that had seen enough.

Corey Brewer comes to mind. Loved his hustle and heart, but hated when he shot, pass, or dribbled.

Shabazz Muhammad, Rashad McCants, and Anthony Randolph were lesser player that had a contingent of believers and haters.

Rubio is a good answer. I feel like in general the people who watched the games were pro-Rubio and people that didn't watch the games hated Rubio. Obviously there's some selection bias there; if you didn't like watching Rubio you weren't watching the Timberwolves. But then DLo was the exact opposite: people watching the games were anti-DLo and people that don't actually watch thought he was a star. But then there were always a bunch of timberwolves fans that enjoy being contrarians even though i don't think they honestly feel the way they argue.

TBH i don't think we get divided all that often, contrarians aside. Even with Wiggins it's not like there were people in the "Wiggins is awesome" camp. There were people with various degrees of hope but i don't even think it was really hope. It was more like 'well, Wiggins putting it together is our only chance to be good so let's hope'. Little did they know that bottoming out and winning the lottery was the true path forward.