Arbitrators rule in favor of Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez over Glen Taylor as next majority owners of Timberwolves

[MrBigShot]

As they should. Glen Taylor basically had sellers regret.

[Domejandro]

This is just pure fiction, Taylor made sure than Timberwolves staff weren’t supposed to even communicate with Lore or ARod.

The reality is that it was a decision made by Tim Connelly because the Second-Apron is legitimately a disaster to be stuck in. Glen Taylor was not pushing for Karl-Anthony Towns to be traded, that is a comically ridiculous suggestion. Glen’s biggest flaw is keeping staff at a detriment to the team because he likes them personally.

The reality is you were blaming Lore and ARod for that trade when they couldn’t even communicate with the staff, now you want to shift the goal posts to blame anyone but Taylor.

I’m sorry, but if you thinking trading Karl-Anthony Towns is a Glen Taylor type of move, I genuinely don’t know what to tell you.

Funny thing is that I don’t “blame” anyone, it was a move that likely had to happen with the new CBA. I just think that pointing at Glen Taylor for that move is exceptionally ridiculous.

[HMFFL]

Anthony Edwards future is what intrigues me because I don't believe this group will maintain the roster necessary to win. They've already made mistakes since last season.

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[Effigy]

If it was influenced by any owner, it would have been Lore/Rodriguez. Glen Taylor trusts his staff to make decisions (for better and for mostly worse), there is zero world where he pushes for Karl-Anthony Towns to be traded.

Glen loved KAT as a person.

This is just pure fiction, Taylor made sure than Timberwolves staff weren’t supposed to even communicate with Lore or ARod.

The reality is that it was a decision made by Tim Connelly because the Second-Apron is legitimately a disaster to be stuck in. Glen Taylor was not pushing for Karl-Anthony Towns to be traded, that is a comically ridiculous suggestion. Glen’s biggest flaw is keeping staff at a detriment to the team because he likes them personally.

Connelly is an employee. He does what the owner tells him. When Lore and Aron were calling the shots they said screw the cap and traded for Gobert. When the team got good because Taylors stink started to get rubbed off of it, he immediately changed his mind and tried to cancel the sale and then slashed payroll. The best possible thing for TWolves fan is to dump him. He is in the running for the worst owner in all of sports, just going by on court results.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I'm not sold on Lore and Rodriguez. They have no ties to Minnesota. As a longtime Minnesota sports fan... we've been threatened with relocation before (Twins, Wolves). And we've actually seen it happen (Lakers, North Stars).

Taylor saved the franchise (along with David Stern) from moving to New Orleans in 1994. He wants to keep it in MN.

On another front... I know a guy who's in the arena business. His company has ties with many sports venues around the U.S. About 18 months ago, when Rodriguez and Lore were involved, he told me new stadium talks were already happening behind the scenes. Then, everything hit the fan with ownership, derailing any of that.

Personally, I think that's one of the reasons why the team went all in on Gobert and the luxury tax. You can't make stadium demands while putting a mediocre to dreadful product on the court. We'll enjoy a honeymoon period with the new owners. But Target Center is arguably the worst arena in the NBA. It's the 2nd oldest... without any of the charm of MSG (obviously).

A new stadium will be demanded. It's going to happen... just a matter of when. Buckle up.

The new owners would only be penalized $50 if they break the current Target Center lease. Obviously, that's a very small price to pay... even for guys with only $1B.




[Note: All that being said... Glen Taylor was not an embarrassment as an owner for his actions off the court. But he had a truly terrible track record. He was in charge of the crappiness for years... from the Joe Smith fiasco to this ownership fiasco. It was time...]

[Ballerhogger]

I am actually pretty concerned about this. Glen Taylor had an extraordinary talent for continually making bad hires, but he has always been hands off, willing to spend, and loves Minnesota.

Throughout this process, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez have repeatedly struggled to meet deadlines, have had to dilute their ownership stake to a significant degree, and already have plans to wage war with the public to fund a new arena.

Having a single owner with a majority stake was extremely lucky, and I’m pretty pessimistic about the team’s willingness to spend after the next couple of seasons.

So do you think they will move the team? If public stadium issue pops up again.

[Domejandro]

This is just pure fiction, Taylor made sure than Timberwolves staff weren’t supposed to even communicate with Lore or ARod.

The reality is that it was a decision made by Tim Connelly because the Second-Apron is legitimately a disaster to be stuck in. Glen Taylor was not pushing for Karl-Anthony Towns to be traded, that is a comically ridiculous suggestion. Glen’s biggest flaw is keeping staff at a detriment to the team because he likes them personally.

Connelly is an employee. He does what the owner tells him. When Lore and Aron were calling the shots they said screw the cap and traded for Gobert. When the team got good because Taylors stink started to get rubbed off of it, he immediately changed his mind and tried to cancel the sale and then slashed payroll. The best possible thing for TWolves fan is to dump him. He is in the running for the worst owner in all of sports, just going by on court results.

Objectively wrong, Glen Taylor has always been willing to spend. Glen is a hands-off owner, he trusts the judgement of his front offices. Generally this goes horribly because of his track record of poor hires, but he’s never been an overbearing owner.

Your timeline is also completely off. Minnesota traded for Rudy Gobert prior to the new CBA agreement. They were willing to go into the Luxury-Tax, but the new Second Apron penalties put Minnesota in a position where it was not sustainable long-term. Tim Connelly had to make a difficult decision, and went the route of trading Karl-Anthony Towns (which was understandable and expected).

If Glen was penny pinching, there is absolutely no world where he would have allowed Keita Bates-Diop to be cut when he was owed $2.8MM, nor would he have accept P.J. Dozier to be given a $1MM guarantee (they actually waited until after Christmas to waive him, which costed the Timberwolves a tiny bit extra). If he was penny pinching, Keita would have been sent out with a second; that move alone costed Minnesota almost ten million dollars!

[Domejandro]

I am actually pretty concerned about this. Glen Taylor had an extraordinary talent for continually making bad hires, but he has always been hands off, willing to spend, and loves Minnesota.

Throughout this process, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez have repeatedly struggled to meet deadlines, have had to dilute their ownership stake to a significant degree, and already have plans to wage war with the public to fund a new arena.

Having a single owner with a majority stake was extremely lucky, and I’m pretty pessimistic about the team’s willingness to spend after the next couple of seasons.

So do you think they will move the team? If public stadium issue pops up again.

I think that they will get their stadium.

[SkyBill40]

I'm always surprised how uninformed people are.

Sure, dude. As if there is a shortage of stuff that's been going around signifying precisely that since they came onto the scene. If there's anyone uninformed here, it's YOU.

If you want to be ignorant, that's your prerogative. But don't act as though you're some inside source on precisely what's going on and casting stones from your glass house. Be a shame if one came flying back, no?

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39915638/alex-rodriguez-marc-lore-planned-timberwolves-roster-payroll-cuts-concerning-glen-taylor

Yeah, that's from early last year but I doubt the plan has changed too much. I guess we'll see.

You know every team has several budget sheets, right?

We're not talking about every team. We're talking about THIS team and what's been put out there in the media. Are you not the least bit concerned this could go very badly and very quickly?

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[Rubio9Guy]

Sure, dude. As if there is a shortage of stuff that's been going around signifying precisely that since they came onto the scene. If there's anyone uninformed here, it's YOU.

If you want to be ignorant, that's your prerogative. But don't act as though you're some inside source on precisely what's going on and casting stones from your glass house. Be a shame if one came flying back, no?

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39915638/alex-rodriguez-marc-lore-planned-timberwolves-roster-payroll-cuts-concerning-glen-taylor

Yeah, that's from early last year but I doubt the plan has changed too much. I guess we'll see.

You know every team has several budget sheets, right?

We're not talking about every team. We're talking about THIS team and what's been put out there in the media. Are you not the least bit concerned this could go very badly and very quickly?

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We're talking about the Minnesota Timberwolves. It's been bad for most of their existence, largely driven by Glen Taylor.

[ConSarnit]

I see some Wolves fans have Stockholm syndrome. Taylor is one of the worst owners in the history of sports and yet we have MIN fans siding with him in here. Incredible.

[Onlytimewilltel]

I see some Wolves fans have Stockholm syndrome. Taylor is one of the worst owners in the history of sports and yet we have MIN fans siding with him in here. Incredible.

100%

[doogie_hauser]

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[Basti]

I see some Wolves fans have Stockholm syndrome. Taylor is one of the worst owners in the history of sports and yet we have MIN fans siding with him in here. Incredible.

Not one sane Wolves fan will disagree with the notion that Glen Taylor has been a bad owner overall. But we can still acknowledge some grey area in a world where people always seem to see things black and white, no?

For all the bad things that have happened during his time as an owner, and there have been quite a few, he was always willing to spend money when the team had a chance to be good. Nor did he ever threaten to move the team out of state. It doesn't really make any of the mistakes better but when looking at the whole picture it accounts for something. Kinda like giving 3 out 10 points rather than 1 out of 10.

[brutalitops]

The reality is that it was a decision made by Tim Connelly because the Second-Apron is legitimately a disaster to be stuck in. Glen Taylor was not pushing for Karl-Anthony Towns to be traded, that is a comically ridiculous suggestion. Glen’s biggest flaw is keeping staff at a detriment to the team because he likes them personally.

Connelly is an employee. He does what the owner tells him. When Lore and Aron were calling the shots they said screw the cap and traded for Gobert. When the team got good because Taylors stink started to get rubbed off of it, he immediately changed his mind and tried to cancel the sale and then slashed payroll. The best possible thing for TWolves fan is to dump him. He is in the running for the worst owner in all of sports, just going by on court results.

Objectively wrong, Glen Taylor has always been willing to spend. Glen is a hands-off owner, he trusts the judgement of his front offices. Generally this goes horribly because of his track record of poor hires, but he’s never been an overbearing owner.

Your timeline is also completely off. Minnesota traded for Rudy Gobert prior to the new CBA agreement. They were willing to go into the Luxury-Tax, but the new Second Apron penalties put Minnesota in a position where it was not sustainable long-term. Tim Connelly had to make a difficult decision, and went the route of trading Karl-Anthony Towns (which was understandable and expected).

If Glen was penny pinching, there is absolutely no world where he would have allowed Keita Bates-Diop to be cut when he was owed $2.8MM, nor would he have accept P.J. Dozier to be given a $1MM guarantee (they actually waited until after Christmas to waive him, which costed the Timberwolves a tiny bit extra). If he was penny pinching, Keita would have been sent out with a second; that move alone costed Minnesota almost ten million dollars!

Ask Kevin Love if he thinks Taylor is willing to spend.

[Childs]

This is how the galaxy felt when Palpatine dies on Return of the Jedi

Watch on YouTube

Wolves fans reaction

[Childs]

I see some Wolves fans have Stockholm syndrome. Taylor is one of the worst owners in the history of sports and yet we have MIN fans siding with him in here. Incredible.

Some people like having gonorrhea or syphillis.

[flranger]

The bigger thing to me is this means the sale goes through at the original 1.5B price.

ARod/Lore could flip it tomorrow for 2x. Forbes has current value of Twolves/Lynx at 3.1B.

[ChiTownHero1992]

I see two major things happening from this:

1) KG mending terms with MIN and new ownership and being retired

2) The team being "retooled" / blow up to build around Ant in a much easier and financially healthy fashion

[ConSarnit]

I see some Wolves fans have Stockholm syndrome. Taylor is one of the worst owners in the history of sports and yet we have MIN fans siding with him in here. Incredible.

Not one sane Wolves fan will disagree with the notion that Glen Taylor has been a bad owner overall. But we can still acknowledge some grey area in a world where people always seem to see things black and white, no?

For all the bad things that have happened during his time as an owner, and there have been quite a few, he was always willing to spend money when the team had a chance to be good. Nor did he ever threaten to move the team out of state. It doesn't really make any of the mistakes better but when looking at the whole picture it accounts for something. Kinda like giving 3 out 10 points rather than 1 out of 10.

I’m not going to give a guy credit for being willing to spend when his own actions are responsible for not even being in position to spend. MIN ranks 20th leaguewide in historical total tax payments. Average that out per year and Taylor has been willing to spend an average of just over $1m per year extra on tax payments. He’s a regular Joe Lacob! And now, coincidentally at the very moment he’s about to lose the team MIN is in line for a major tax payment.

“Gotta give credit to my boss, when we have a good year he hands out bonuses”

“How many good years have you had in the past 30 years?”

“About 4”

Being willing to spend money doesn’t mean anything when you are consistently shooting yourself in the foot because you are a terrible owner. Taylor being willing to spend is theoretical at this point.