Domejandro wrote:HeartBreakKid wrote:Domejandro wrote:Man, I miss Flip Saunders so much, he turned this franchise around; it is tragic that he cannot watch Karl Anthony-Towns in flesh.
I don't mean to speak ill of the dead, but how did Flip Saunders turn the Timberwolves around? They've been consistently bad for an incredibly long time, and last year they were the worst team in the league, and this year they're still one of the worst teams in the league.
I will preface all of this by saying that Milt Newton deserves credit as well, but given that Flip Saunders brought him in, I am going to broadly give Flip credit.
The Minnesota Timberwolves were offered Klay Thompson, David Lee, and Harrison Barnes for Kevin Love, Kevin Martin, and the thirteenth overall pick; Flip Saunders declined and we ended up with Andrew Wiggins. I will try to pull up a source on this, but I will ask for a leap of faith in the mean time, as I am 100% positive that Minnesota said "no", even though the narrative seems to have gone in the other direction.
Flip Saunders also extended Ricky Rubio before he entered free-agency which likely saved us a ton of money.
Flip traded Trey Burke for Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng. Of course, one could argue he missed out on Giannis Antetokoumpo, but the point still stands.
Flip Saunders took a gamble on Zach LaVine with the thirteenth overall pick.
Flip Saunders drafted Bojan Dublivic with the fifty-ninth overall pick (time will tell if this is a good move).
Flip Saunders tanked at the end of last season to secure the best odds for the first overall pick (though I would concede that this could be viewed in a less positive light, haha).
Flip Saunders brought Kevin Garnett back.
Milt Newton brought Nemanja Bjelica over on a deal worth less that twelve million dollars over three years.
The two bad things Flip did was give Nikola Pekovic that awful contract, and make the dreadful Adreian Payne trade. Flip managed to turn a team doomed to fighting to make the playoffs (at best), into what is widely considered the best young core of players in the league within two years. Yes, a lot of dominoes fell in Flips favour, but without him Minnesota would have likely botched the Kevin Love situation and would be completely screwed.
One of the bigger things I loved about Flip (though this is slightly off-topic) was how likable he was. Almost everyone liked Flip; he kept his cards close to his chest, but he friendly with most people.
Hey, like I said, I think Flip was a good GM - but you guys aren't there yet or even close to being there yet, you guys are like 2 year from being 2 years from being there yet.
You made the jump from bottom feeder to the next tier, which is not that telling of a hurdle. There is a LOT that has to be seen to even know if the Timberwolves have the potential of being a great team - this is why I think saying Flip Saunders turned the T-Wovles around is bizarre. The T-Wolves were going to be an awful team when Love made it clear he was leaving, the biggest reason why the Timberwolves acquired their two biggest assets has more to do with Love leaving (which wasn't really a Saunders decision) more than anything.
The Timberwolves were not "stuck" or locked into something that couldn't be reversed for the fact that Love was leaving regardless. The Timberwolves.
In regards to the bold, the Timberwolves are not like the current Nets where they were totally stuck or frozen. Kevin Love leaving means that the T-Wolves were going to go through a rebuilding phase, they were not going to be in treadmill territory or fighting for a playoff spot because of that. It is very fortunate that the #1 pick in Wiggins was on the trading block, that isn't something you can realistically say was within Saunders power - the Timberwolves just happened to be the team that had a leaving star FA when James came back to Cleveland.
Again, I don't want to make this an argument on whether Saunders is a good GM or not. As I said before, I think he is a good GM and I agree with most of the moves he made. I am debating that the Timberwolves are "turned around" already, that is insanely premature and there was no GM wizardry needed to acquire the two biggest reasons why people think the Timberwolves have the best young core in the NBA (and honestly, they do not, but people like to associate #1 draft pick with being the best, the Jazz/Bucks/Celtics have better young cores off the top of my head by significant margins).
I remember that team. The whitest team in the NBA in a long time. 
