Northern Expedition: Sixers @ Raptors Game 5

[AirP.]

So there's middle ground, which of course seems to be anathema to some: Play him 30 minutes (give or take) and have a physical backup (a guy like Baynes). Let him play the way Duncan did the last seven or eight years of his career. If we don't overplay him, he can have a long and successful career. But if we treat him like Thibodeau treated his stars, he won't have a long career.

I'm a big supporter of Thibodeau. People look at in game minutes only and completely ignore the minutes' that players train outside of team practices and also the actual team practices practicing(which Thibodeau skips more practice days now, actually plans them out in the preseason) not to mention the intesity of the training. Not to mention the players under Thibs seem to want to go back and play for him once they've been elsewhere. Thibs would be incredible for this group of players, he turned Noah into an MVP candidate, got Gasol back into the all-star game after people thought he was nearly done. The idea that Thibs wanted Simmons for Butler tells me he had a plan of how to utilize Simmons already.

[hookshot199]

So there's middle ground, which of course seems to be anathema to some: Play him 30 minutes (give or take) and have a physical backup (a guy like Baynes). Let him play the way Duncan did the last seven or eight years of his career. If we don't overplay him, he can have a long and successful career. But if we treat him like Thibodeau treated his stars, he won't have a long career.

I'm a big supporter of Thibodeau. People look at in game minutes only and completely ignore the minutes' that players train outside of team practices and also the actual team practices practicing(which Thibodeau skips more practice days now, actually plans them out in the preseason) not to mention the intesity of the training. Not to mention the players under Thibs seem to want to go back and play for him once they've been elsewhere. Thibs would be incredible for this group of players, he turned Noah into an MVP candidate, got Gasol back into the all-star game after people thought he was nearly done. The idea that Thibs wanted Simmons for Butler tells me he had a plan of how to utilize Simmons already.

As you know, one must always be wary of media reports and attributions - and non-attributions, as is generally the case with basketball reporting. That said, there were multiple reports that Thibodeau did not/would not follow the Bulls medical staff's minute restriction guidelines for several key players including Noah for sure. And he really screwed up the Wolves organization by his re-signing Wiggins for too much money (he was no miracle worker) and trade for Butler, pre-Roco/Dario.

I am not a supporter of Thibs. And wanting a former number one "can't miss" pick for a disgruntled and insubordinate 29-year-old doesn't suggest that he had a plan.

[AirP.]

As you know, one must always be wary of media reports and attributions - and non-attributions, as is generally the case with basketball reporting. That said, there were multiple reports that Thibodeau did not/would not follow the Bulls medical staff's minute restriction guidelines for several key players including Noah for sure. And he really screwed up the Wolves organization by his re-signing Wiggins for too much money (he was no miracle worker) and trade for Butler, pre-Roco/Dario.

I am not a supporter of Thibs. And wanting a former number one "can't miss" pick for a disgruntled and insubordinate 29-year-old doesn't suggest that he had a plan.

Oh no, you don't know, the reason why the Timberwolves have been bad is because of their owner not letting the FO(whoever is in charge) do what they feel they need to do.

On the Wiggins issue.
1. Thibodeau tried to trade Wiggins(and Dunn) for Butler but the owner(G.Taylor) stepped in and took him off the table early on in the negotiations, the same owner who went to the media(not Thibs or the GM) to tell Wiggins he had a max contract for him to sign, all he wanted from him is a sit down before signing it. That Butler trade, Thibs was allowed to move a hurt Z.LaVine but Chicago wanted and got to swap picks to make it happen. So without the owner's interference, Minnesota would have drafted Markannen(which Thibs said was their target). So Minnesota could have had Markannan and LaVine instead of Wiggins and Patton.
https://clutchpoints.com/timberwolves-news-tom-thibodeau-glen-taylor-different-andrew-wiggins-trade-piece/
2. If you watched how Wiggins was(wasn't) used by Thibodeau after Butler was acquired, that's not the actions of a coach who wanted to retain Wiggins or even worse, retain him on a max contract. He knew like a lot of people knew, Butler and Wiggins' games weren't a good fit, Butler's a playmaker and Wiggins is a high volume, low-efficiency player who lacks effort on the court.
3. If Wiggins doesn't want to give effort while on the court, there's not much you can do as a coach other then bench him, but benching him with a max contract probably isn't going to go too well, especially if Thibs had thoughts of trying to move Wiggins down the road.

On Noah, at anytime Noah could have said he's not playing, Thibs allowed the players to decide and at any time they can ask to come out of the game. I understand this can be debatable though.

For Minnesota's sake, I hope G.Taylor quits stopping his FO, who has way better basketball minds than his own, from doing their job. Glenn Taylor is the constant for the last 15 years of Minnesota being bad, Thibs had that franchise 3rd in the West before Butler went down and gave them their ownly playoff birth for the last 15 years.

This is way off topic, if you want to continue to talk about it you can PM me.