The Suns announced Earl Watson as their new head coach

WV-Sun · Post #101 » by **WV-Sun** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 11:28 pm

*Sigh* its hard being a Suns fan. What a terrible decision. We are now officially a NBA dumpster fire.

Post #102 » by **lilfishi22** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 11:30 pm

MathiasPW wrote:
lilfishi22 wrote:It's an odd trend nowadays with HC now wanting official control of personnel and players. Historically they had very little say other than some consultation. Doc Rivers has that, SVG has that, Thibs wants that.

Pops started with that. So you see where they are coming from and why.

You're right. Totally missed Pops. I knew he was GM until he took the HC job, didn't know he's been Prez since '02

thamadkant · Post #103 » by **thamadkant** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 11:48 pm

Wolves nailing hail mary shots at the moment.

Wiggins, Towns, LaVine, Dieng, Muhammad... probably a top 5 pick....

Thibs...

Now Layden

K.G as mentor.

Culture is improving fast.

Post #104 » by **bwgood77** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 12:02 am

1UPZ wrote:Wolves nailing hail mary shots at the moment.

Wiggins, Towns, LaVine, Dieng, Muhammad... probably a top 5 pick....

Thibs...

Now Layden

K.G as mentor.

Culture is improving fast.

Yeah, I used to pull for them during the KG days....pulled for them HARD when our team wasn't too good in 04 when they probably should have won it all before Cassell missed the WCF...still could have probably beat the Lakers if Kareem Rush didn't hit like 8 3s in one game out of nowhere to steal it. I would have liked to have seen the Wolves go up against the Pistons in 04.

I had lived there in 02-03 but even before that KG was one of my favorite players due to his all around game and work ethic. But mostly, that he was such a good passer. People may not remember how good he was...he had five straight years at 5 assists or more, topping out at 6 a game one year. I mean he was at or above the Brandon Knight range, and Knight aspires to be a PG.

For some reason, I liked him a little less in Boston...probably because I usually pull for underdogs.

Of course I don't pull for them now, but I'd love to see a team like that knock out the Spurs or someone in the coming years provided we are not there to do it.

kennydorglas · Post #105 » by **kennydorglas** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 12:18 am

1UPZ wrote:Wolves nailing hail mary shots at the moment.

Wiggins, Towns, LaVine, Dieng, Muhammad... probably a top 5 pick....

Thibs...

Now Layden

K.G as mentor.

Culture is improving fast.

If Thibs can mold LaVine to be at least an useful defender... ohmy
Their team is pure non-sense.
I hope they dont get another high-profile prospect.

Post #106 » by **bwgood77** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 1:11 am

kennydorglas wrote:
1UPZ wrote:Wolves nailing hail mary shots at the moment.

Wiggins, Towns, LaVine, Dieng, Muhammad... probably a top 5 pick....

Thibs...

Now Layden

K.G as mentor.

Culture is improving fast.

If Thibs can mold LaVine to be at least an useful defender... ohmy
Their team is pure non-sense.
I hope they dont get another high-profile prospect.

Why do you hope they get another high profile prospect? Ready to

Post #107 » by **rsavaj** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 1:26 am

1UPZ wrote:Wolves nailing hail mary shots at the moment.

Wiggins, Towns, LaVine, Dieng, Muhammad... probably a top 5 pick....

Thibs...

Now Layden

K.G as mentor.

Culture is improving fast.

I'd say their only misstep there is Layden. Dude was atrocious in NY. Everything else looks like a home run.

Post #108 » by **lilfishi22** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 1:40 am

They will be fun to watch as they continue mature and play with more structure (Thibs). Right now they are kind of just running around like a headless chicken.

kennydorglas · Post #109 » by **kennydorglas** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 1:44 am

bwgood77 wrote:
kennydorglas wrote:
1UPZ wrote:Wolves nailing hail mary shots at the moment.

Wiggins, Towns, LaVine, Dieng, Muhammad... probably a top 5 pick....

Thibs...

Now Layden

K.G as mentor.

Culture is improving fast.

If Thibs can mold LaVine to be at least an useful defender... ohmy
Their team is pure non-sense.
I hope they dont get another high-profile prospect.

Why do you hope they get another high profile prospect? Ready to

lol i dont want it haha
their team is already stacked as it is.
if they add another great player we'll have to tank for 10 years

RaisingArizona · Post #110 » by **RaisingArizona** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 1:57 am

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ScottHoward42/status/722503379004461056[/tweet]

Post #111 » by **bwgood77** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 2:32 am

kennydorglas wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
kennydorglas wrote:
If Thibs can mold LaVine to be at least an useful defender... ohmy
Their team is pure non-sense.
I hope they dont get another high-profile prospect.

Why do you hope they get another high profile prospect? Ready to

lol i dont want it haha
their team is already stacked as it is.
if they add another great player we'll have to tank for 10 years

Oh, my bad.....still gotta learn how to read better.

TeamTragic · Post #112 » by **TeamTragic** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 3:09 am

bwgood77 wrote:
saintEscaton wrote:
GoranTragic wrote:Looks like a done deal with the Wolves. Thibodeau gets complete control of the team and they even get the current assistant general manager from San Antonio.

Apparently Wiggins/Towns is what makes the opening attractive #YOUTH

Pshht I'd take our kids over theirs any day of the week. OVERRATED

I think most everyone here understands there was no "Apparently" about it. I don't see many people around here saying

"Hmph...apparently people think Minnesota has a brighter future than us. What must they be thinking?"

How many people are you figuring, saint, are here liking our young core better than Minnesota's? I must be missing a few threads or something.

My point was that elite coaches currently prefer Wiggins/KAT over Booker/Warren/Len/Goodwin. Does that change if we get the #1? Definitely

saintEscaton · Post #113 » by **saintEscaton** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 3:10 am

GoranTragic wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
saintEscaton wrote:
Pshht I'd take our kids over theirs any day of the week. OVERRATED

I think most everyone here understands there was no "Apparently" about it. I don't see many people around here saying

"Hmph...apparently people think Minnesota has a brighter future than us. What must they be thinking?"

How many people are you figuring, saint, are here liking our young core better than Minnesota's? I must be missing a few threads or something.

My point was that elite coaches currently prefer Wiggins/KAT over Booker/Warren/Len/Goodwin. Does that change if we get the #1? Definitely

Still wouldn't IMO

TeamTragic · Post #114 » by **TeamTragic** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 3:13 am

Wizards going for Brooks (trying to get Durant). Knicks going for Blatt (better choice than that clown Rambis). Thoughts?

carey · Post #115 » by **carey** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 3:45 am

GoranTragic wrote:Wizards going for Brooks (trying to get Durant). Knicks going for Blatt (better choice than that clown Rambis). Thoughts?

My thoughts are Durant is not going to Washington so that's a bad hire if that is what the Wizards are trying to accomplish. Blatt will be eaten alive in New York. He's a better coach than Rambis, but I think he should consider going back to Euroleague.

gaspar · Post #116 » by **gaspar** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 6:00 am

ginobiliflops wrote:
Spoiler:
[tweet]https://twitter.com/ScottHoward42/status/722503379004461056[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MikeLisboa/status/722504069726613504[/tweet]

Damkac · Post #117 » by **Damkac** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 8:24 am

saintEscaton wrote:
GoranTragic wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
I think most everyone here understands there was no "Apparently" about it. I don't see many people around here saying

"Hmph...apparently people think Minnesota has a brighter future than us. What must they be thinking?"

How many people are you figuring, saint, are here liking our young core better than Minnesota's? I must be missing a few threads or something.

My point was that elite coaches currently prefer Wiggins/KAT over Booker/Warren/Len/Goodwin. Does that change if we get the #1? Definitely

Still wouldn't IMO

KAT is what makes the difference. It's crazy how similar his rookie stats are to Duncan's. Their PER is almost the same (Tim 22.6, KAT 22.5). Town's advantage is his shooting.
http://bkref.com/tiny/oVLym

If you take out KAT their young core is still very promising but I'm not sure if better than the Suns core.
Wiggins is worse rebounder (per36) than Warren and don't seems to be better defender. He has much worse 2pt% and 3pt%. And rebounding, defense and 3pt shooting are TJ's weaknesses. Guess what is Wiggins advantage? He shoots MUCH more free throws of course!
Warren is older but that shows Wiggins is not some kind of franchise player.
http://bkref.com/tiny/dD9Oc

LaVine (rookie season) had more assists and rebounds than Booker, but a bit worse shooting and I guess he wasn't main offensive threat on his team for part of the season.
http://bkref.com/tiny/Ty7dC

Dieng is better than Len right now but looking at age difference it's not fair comparison. Similar with Shabazz and Archie.

Wiggins/LaVine/Dieng/Shabazz or Warren/Booker/Len/Archie? It's pretty close imo. I guess most people would pick Wolves core but that's more because hype than actual talent.

But Wolves also has Towns who looks like fall of famer in his rookie year and he put them miles ahead of Suns.

TeamTragic · Post #118 » by **TeamTragic** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 8:41 am

Damkac wrote:
saintEscaton wrote:
GoranTragic wrote:
My point was that elite coaches currently prefer Wiggins/KAT over Booker/Warren/Len/Goodwin. Does that change if we get the #1? Definitely

Still wouldn't IMO

KAT is what makes the difference. It's crazy how similar his rookie stats are to Duncan's. Their PER is almost the same (Tim 22.6, KAT 22.5). Town's advantage is his shooting.
http://bkref.com/tiny/oVLym

If you take out KAT their young core is still very promising but I'm not sure if better than the Suns core.
Wiggins is worse rebounder (per36) than Warren and don't seems to be better defender. He has much worse 2pt% and 3pt%. And rebounding, defense and 3pt shooting are TJ's weaknesses. Guess what is Wiggins advantage? He shoots MUCH more free throws of course!
Warren is older but that shows Wiggins is not some kind of franchise player.
http://bkref.com/tiny/dD9Oc

LaVine (rookie season) had more assists and rebounds than Booker, but a bit worse shooting and I guess he wasn't main offensive threat on his team for part of the season.
http://bkref.com/tiny/Ty7dC

Dieng is better than Len right now but looking at age difference it's not fair comparison. Similar with Shabazz and Archie.

Wiggins/LaVine/Dieng/Shabazz or Warren/Booker/Len/Archie? It's pretty close imo. I guess most people would pick Wolves core but that's more because hype than actual talent.

But Wolves also has Towns who looks like fall of famer in his rookie year and he put them miles ahead of Suns.

Wiggins has underwhelmed. Everyone else on that team has excelled. Booker/Warren have been great while Len has been average and Goodwin has been garbage. Even without KAT they are better. If you add Ingram/Simmons to the SUNS then we are near even.

Simmons plus our #13 (if someone really talented drops down far enough) then we are definitely ahead. Then add in Watson and we drop down (vs. Thibodeau). Finally Sarver and we are a polished dumpster fire.

Saberestar · Post #119 » by **Saberestar** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 10:16 am

Earl Watson says he's going to look to add some experienced coaches to his staff.

Watson says he's studying all the coaches in the playoffs. He added that he steals a ton of plays from Gregg Popovich.

On sitting players - "I'm not big on resting guys." Adds that it's important to keep a rhythm especially for a young team.

https://mobile.twitter.com/SiriusXMNBA/status/722888272507052033

Post #120 » by **bwgood77** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 12:16 pm

Damkac wrote:
saintEscaton wrote:
GoranTragic wrote:
My point was that elite coaches currently prefer Wiggins/KAT over Booker/Warren/Len/Goodwin. Does that change if we get the #1? Definitely

Still wouldn't IMO

KAT is what makes the difference. It's crazy how similar his rookie stats are to Duncan's. Their PER is almost the same (Tim 22.6, KAT 22.5). Town's advantage is his shooting.
http://bkref.com/tiny/oVLym

If you take out KAT their young core is still very promising but I'm not sure if better than the Suns core.
Wiggins is worse rebounder (per36) than Warren and don't seems to be better defender. He has much worse 2pt% and 3pt%. And rebounding, defense and 3pt shooting are TJ's weaknesses. Guess what is Wiggins advantage? He shoots MUCH more free throws of course!
Warren is older but that shows Wiggins is not some kind of franchise player.
http://bkref.com/tiny/dD9Oc

LaVine (rookie season) had more assists and rebounds than Booker, but a bit worse shooting and I guess he wasn't main offensive threat on his team for part of the season.
http://bkref.com/tiny/Ty7dC

Dieng is better than Len right now but looking at age difference it's not fair comparison. Similar with Shabazz and Archie.

Wiggins/LaVine/Dieng/Shabazz or Warren/Booker/Len/Archie? It's pretty close imo. I guess most people would pick Wolves core but that's more because hype than actual talent.

But Wolves also has Towns who looks like fall of famer in his rookie year and he put them miles ahead of Suns.

Nice breakdown. I knew Towns was the huge difference maker. Few big men ever have been as good as he was as a rookie, and his work ethic is through the roof.

Earlier when first reading the post I decided to compare Booker vs Wiggins, but it makes more sense to compare Warren with him, and that is MUCH closer. Though I was comparing rookie seasons in which Wiggins started every game and played a ton of minutes...Booker still obviously the better shooter.

Dieng is also huge in the difference maker department...so good at so many things...assists, blocks, boards, etc. Len occasionally can have big assist and scoring nights, but he can also crap his pants, and that happened a lot down the stretch...I hope it's because of the pairing with Len.

Yes, subtracting Towns and it's close. If Simmons comes and lives up to the hype or Ingram is the next Durant, then it gets closer, but I agree, they probably come out ahead unless those guys are LeBron/Durant types...and they'd have to be close to those types of players, because Towns is that good. With Thibs they will be likely be scary tough quickly.

The Wolves biggest problem will probably be shooting, but they can probably address that if they get Hield or Murray. God help us if they move up and get top two, but even adding either of the former could help their shooting big time, and if they got Bender his boom/bust scenario isn't as big of deal with them, if he busts, because they are already somewhat set, but if he lived up to what people think his ceiling is that would be scary too.

Best case is they move down, but that only happens if someone else jumps from below them, which would probably hurt our chances of jumping. Best case scenario is that someone below Minny (from east) jumps top two and we jump top two, moving 1,2,3 each down two spots, and Minny down one spot.

Are you happy with this hiring?