What follows is what I hope will be a somewhat frequent exercise and more or less a new idea to bring forth to the table: The TWB Pulse. Within the series of posts that will perhaps follow later in the year, assuming laziness and apathy doesn’t prevent me from copying and pasting what will follow at a greater rate then drumming up my own material, will be a collection of forum post quotes from our ever entertaining forums. The idea here is get a general sense of how Wolves fans are feeling on a certain subject, or the team in general. . This would have been a fantastic exercise to begin at the start of the season when optimism couldn’t be higher, but alas there were fun and important things to write about rather than our current, terribly utilized roster lead by the NBA coaching equivalent to George W. Bush.
PS – Forum posts will be quoted anonymously. I know, I know. But, I see it as lumping everyone into a group and assessing the overall mood as opposed to highlighting individual post quality. This will then allow me to secretly construct 75% of the article as my own posts. Just kidding. Onward:
On Timberwolves Head Coach Darrell Rhombus
-We bitch and moan incessantly about Rhombus. Anyone not on the Fire Rhombus band wagon is either the always excellent 9Deuce/any other poster here who perhaps wants to wait until the end of the year, stubborn, or a bit of a ratard.
-I guess I’m a little stubborn and a little retarded. I’m waiting to see how he does at the beginning of next year first to join the Fire Rambis bandwagon.
– (If I were Rhombus) I would use Webster as a 3 point shooter and not expect him to put the ball on the floor as his only means of scoring. Rambis started doing this in the Orlando game I want to say…maybe a hair before, but to make my point more self serving….Webster’s last 5 games – 3.8 ppg, 5 total 3’s attempted. Previous 10 games – 11.3 ppg and averaging 4 3pt attempts per game.
– Really though, if I were Rhombus/coach, the most important thing is locking down a rotation and pecking order. Until that happens, everything else is up for debate to people like us on the internet and message boards. You can’t have a cohesive team until this happens. No one knows their frickin role out there. How can they develop, get comfortable, and learn? It’s a disaster right now.
– The ludicrous way that Rambis has cut away from Beasley to end games, I could believe that Rambis is being a dick about being told that he needs to work Love into the end game situations by his boss.
– If I were Rhombus I’d get hair plugs.
– Rambis is showing a steady hand, but the corollary to that is that he is resistant to change- except when it comes to minutes, apparently. I think he’s done a great job with Darko and Brewer, in managing their minutes and allowing them to grow and contribute- however, Wes getting bounced around and Flynn continuing to get big minutes is baffling to me. I have to assume that Flynn’s playing time is a command from Kahn in order to try to bump his value.
-I’m a big fan of the ol’ “let’s play everyone on the roster in the first quarter so that the opponents can’t keep track of who is on the court” move.
– I’m completely baffled as to why Flynn, Webster, Wes, and Ellington don’t get better. They have such a defined role in such a defined rotation. The situation couldn’t be better for them…
– I’m really surprised by our crap defense considering we had 12 fresh bodies running in and out of the game for 48 minutes. It’s cool that we’re ahead of the curve with this new substitution pattern. When the rest of the league figures out that playing everyone on your roster at least 5 minutes and at completely sporadic times confuses the opposition, Rambis is sure to get the next head coaching job in Miami
– We have seen 5 rookies come through here since Rambis started. None have gotten better and some have gotten worse. Same for the team itself for that matter, it gets WORSE as the season goes on.
-I realize there are talent eval issues with drafting to consider, but it is equally, if not more, a player development issue. For example, Flynn. I know he is not an all-star here, but for him to be playing so HORRIBLY as opposed to last year cannot be the hip. There is something more to these things.
– Rambis is by no means a psychologist so how does he think that some revolutionary way of dealing with players will miraculously work? Why not use what works and what has worked for 100 years? I don’t know any player in the league that would thrive in the situations he puts Flynn, Bassy, Webster, Brewer (until recently), Wes, Tolliver, Pek, or Ellington in. Brewer and to a lesser extent, Ellington, seems to understand and get a feel for his role. I have no clue what Webster is supposed to do when he gets in for a 4 minute spurt only to be replaced by Wes for three minutes and then Brewer for 7. And no FYCKING duh Beasley and Love don’t make players around them better, they have no clue how to play with anyone!
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– Rambis….I know man, it’s brutal. That’s what I have been saying for weeks in posts that are probably a bit too long to keep anyone’s attention., much like this one is about to be. When you take a big step back and think about how each player is used vs. what their strength/need actually is, it is a downright travesty. In fact, I’ll break it down since I am in full-out procrastination mode at work today:
Real Brewer – Tenacious defender, rarely shoots, offense primarily through easy offense in intelligent sets, putbacks, open 3’s or transition buckets… like Love, sort of. So, plenty of logical opportunities actually.
Rambis Brewer – Doubles down low leaving man open on perimeter, takes risks on D, shoots mostly off-balance, well-defended and low percentage jump-shots off the dribble from mid range with little screen support
Real Webster – Scores off cuts from midrange, penetrates only to draw contact when a logical seam exists, but mostly a 3 point marksman hitting 2-3 3’s a game. Average defender
Rambis Webster- Penetrates 80% of the time and occasionally draws contact, horrible shot selection due to limited opportunities for quality shots, only shooting 3s lately when Wolves are down late and need a 3 to stay in it.
Real Flynn- P and R PG, energetic defender, vocal leader, penetrating guard and good outside shooter. Team leader.
Rambis Flynn-,If he doesn’t turn it over on the first pass of the possession, he drifts to the corner or gets beat one on one by the opposing teams’ 3rd string PGs on the other end. He also seems whiny and doesn’t get seem to get along with the coach. Bottom line amidst the quasi-rant though: horrible system for Flynn. Horrible coach for Flynn. He IS better than what we see every night. Team scapegoat.
Real Ellington – 3 point specialist
Rambis Ellington – Desperation, long 2 point shots off the slow dribble move that just happen to be falling lately. Getting better at scoring on cuts and penetration, but overall not an ideal role.
Real Pekovic – Intimidating non-rebounding bruiser with a low post touch rivaling Jefferson. Pek’s only real strength is to score down low off the bench and should be fed the ball in the post every 2 or 3 possessions. When in, he has few other discernible strengths other than ability to body up and get called for fouls by silently breaking wind.
Rambis Pekovic – 1 or 2 low post scoring opportunities per game. Absolutely no development on his understanding of NBA rules.
Real Johnson – Athletic scorer who benefits from intelligent screens giving him the space to operate and shoot mid range off the dribble. 3 point shooter. Transition scorer/dunker. Energetic defender
Rambis’ Johnson (ewww!!) – Spot up 3 point jump shooter with questionable shot selection. One-dribble shooter with no screen or set to get him open. Terrible team defender, worst on the team yet people still say he is a good defender (wtf?). No transition game. Has lost most of his confidence and motor and is now out of the rotation (ed note: this post was made last week)
Real Tolliver – Energy guy with mid range game and below average post game. Limited statistical production. Intangibles guy, great teammate.
Rambis Tolliver – Energy guy who shoots too many threes and is fed the ball way too much in the post for opportunities that rarely convert. Good teammate and energy guy.
Real Hayward – Rookie getting experience in the D-League and tearing it up at that
Rambis Hayward – Rookie not getting experience in D-League, but instead playing 2 minutes every 3-5 games and jacking up as many 3’s as possible to raise his scoring average above 2 ppg and maybe break 25% shooting
I’m ok with the rest I suppose. So yeah, we’ve got a problem here. Any more Rambis defenders out there?
On our Players
– He (Webster) was supposed to be a big part of our team. We traded Gomes and a mid first round pick for him. He could be a super sixth man, or at worst a 7th-8th man that plays 20+ minutes per game. I have no idea what’s going on.
-Love and Beasley are talents, but to be honest they look like they need a leader to focus their ability towards a team goal, otherwise they devolve into dealing with losing by trying to put together great individual games without necessarily playing within the team concept.
-I’d like to hear more about Rambis wishing Love was on the bench. Love has been more assertive with creating his own offense in the last few games. I’m not sure if you can lay all that at Rambis’s feet, but his role as a go to player seems to be expanding.
-Ridnour is a solid player but he lacks that glue-guy mentality and leadership that a guy like Nash or Kidd has (Rondo, Paul, D.Williams, Wall, etc.).
-How did Love not manage to get a single rebound in the 1st half? I bet he was happy that they got blown out so he could keep his double double streak alive by grabbing a bunch of rebounds in garbage time.
– Jonny better be traded soon or just shipped to D-league. Khan’s like a business man. In this case Jonny Flynn’s a sunk cost, take the cost and live with it, stop trying to make it better.
– Also, Flynn did have another good 5 or so minutes…of course it was surrounded by about 15 minutes of complete garbage. D-league him or trade him already!
– Cannot overemphasize how positively Brewer’s energy affects this team. Darko is transformed when Brewer’s hustling. Corey’s positive body language and hustle picked everyone up tonight. Big contribution from Ellington.
-So sick of Rhombus using Webster as a dribble penetration guard. Amongst the most glaring poor/wrong uses of a player currently on the team. Might as well mail in his season at this point, for he will put up >5 ppg for the rest of the year if he isn’t used as a long range sniper – his best role by a country mile.
– Jonny Flynn 4 LVP. He is atrocious. 1 for 5 with 2 points, 1 assist, and 1 turnover. Can we just leave him in Portland or something? Don’t let him get on the plane home? What team would EVER take him for anything at this point? He has zero trade value. Saying he sucks is an understatement.
– FREE TELFAIR! WHAT THE F**K!?!?
– Might I add – when we lose Brewer in free agency for nothing I see him blossoming into a very valuable role player for a quality team. Losing him is going to hurt worse than we think. Oh, well. At least we picked up Koufos’ option, so we have him locked up and can’t lose him for nothing. Phew.
-.I highly highly worry about Rubio on a Rhombus-run team, though. If Darrell Rhombus has destroyed the confidence of so many of our guys, I can’t imagine a potential relationship with a 20 year old Spanish kid who could struggle right away as being a good one.
-If the lockout happens this becomes difficult (signing Rubio). If we miss all of 2011-2012, then suddenly the rookie scale no longer applies to Ricky for the 2012-2013 season, which would be a devastating occurrence. We still hold his rights but suddenly he could very well demand x-amount of money and we would have to sign and trade for cents on the dollar. But, again, the world is ending on 12/21/12, so who cares?
On Trades
-I would much rather be the GM and I would trade everyone not named Darko, Beasley, Bassy, Webster, or Tolliver.
– I’d trade our entire team and all our other assets for him (Griffin) except Rubio, Darko, and Pekovic. Sad thing is the Clippers wouldn’t even do that deal. They probably wouldn’t even take our whole team for him if given the chance
– I’d say some of us can be pretty ridiculous with trade proposals, to be honest. As if tossing on that extra mid-range first round pick in addition to Flynn in a trade proposal would make Darryl Morey say: “Ah, yes that tips the scales in your favor, I’ll give you Aaron Brooks!”
– Wes Johnson, the 4th pick in the 2010 NBA Draft received a DNP-CD last night. David Kahn everyone! Burning through assets like cotton candy. Just wait until the trade deadline when he does jack squat. I can’t wait to read some of the rants here and elsewhere. I think I’ll start writing my front page post now.
– First off, I think the Wolves balk at a Love for Smith deal more than the Hawks do. I’ve seen rumors about it online (aka probably not legit), but it sounded like people/fans were in favor of Smith for Love. Love and Horford would work pretty well together too.
– No, it’s how much you value Love AND our $10-$12 million in cap space combined. That’s why the trade idea is so ridiculous. If Love and Smith made the same in $$, then we’d have a conversation and I could respect where everyone is coming from. It has nothing to do with adding Josh the player, but it’s what we are giving up.
– He’s (A Randolph) a perfect low-risk, high-reward guy. He’s not playing, but is crazy athletic and has tons of potential. I wouldn’t give up much of value for him. They are talking Randolph to Houston for a first round pick, so I’d gladly give up a first round pick for him if that’s all it took. It could be a huge steal.
– I love Josh Smith, but a Love straight up trade for him…the Wolves would be ripping themselves off.)
-(On Love for Josh Smith) I’ve gone over the reasons why this trade would be good for us like a month ago in a different thread when I proposed this exact trade. I don’t really feel like doing it again. It all depends on how much you value Love. I don’t particularly like guys that play no defense. I don’t particularly value players who give up halfway through an offensive or defensive possession to go find a good spot to rebound the ball. Beasley doesn’t play D either, but he has a skill that is extremely valuable in the NBA in that he can create his own offense. t’s pretty hypocritical of you that you can use the argument that Josh Smith is the 3rd option on a run of the mill playoff team but then you dismiss my argument that Love is the 2nd option on one of the worst teams in the league.
On the Team
-I have so little faith in the wolves to ever put anything together that I think the only legit worse team is the Nyets who have sucked for quite some time.
– Bright side?? you guys see a bright side? We suck, you can’t say, oh this team is like this, this team has this record so we could beat them. The reality is we can’t beat anyone no matter what their record is. We are the 2nd worst team in the NBA, we are more likely to get beaten. We have no play maker, go to guy, closer, defender..we suck
– The wolves look like they were constructed by someone who’s brain is fried from doing too much meth.
-I’m usually pretty hopeful and optimistic but this year has taken it’s toll on me and I don’t hope for this or hope for that any more. I’m just taking it as it is and we suck is what it is right now. Even if we draft this player or trade for this player or rubio comes over, I’m not going to put too much hope in anything until I actually see the team getting better and is winning games. But, I still love watching the wolves and basketball so I will still try to watch as much games as I could.
-Huge games by Love and Beasley, yet we lose again. It’s getting depressing
Expect us to win?
Just another game Wolves fans
More losses to come
That last Haiku sums it up.
Well, I just got a reading on the pulse, and it’s currently clocking in at 0 Beats Per Second.
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