Submit your questions
by Stop-n-Pop on Mar 19, 2010 7:27 AM CDT
34 comments
Schedule permitting, next week we will have a few minutes to ask Wolves team president Chris Wright a few questions about the business side of the franchise.
I thought it would be a good time to put up an open thread to get your input on what we should ask him.
What say you?
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CBA
Can you get his thoughts on the potential lockout and what ownerships/players can do to avoid the lockout altogether?
Questions
Do the Wolves expect to have a 2010-11 payroll that reaches the salary cap?
Are they happy with the march season ticket offer? How many seats have they sold?
Can he do something about the historically bad lottery luck? Please?
by Eric in Madison on Mar 19, 2010 7:51 AM CDT reply actions
Sponsorship
I’d like to know why NBA teams do not sell their names to sponsors like soccer teams do. Salzburg Red Bull, etc. Seems like a good way to increase revenue. How about Charlotte Nike now that Jordan owns the team.
by Mac of the MIAC on Mar 19, 2010 9:14 AM CDT reply actions
Because it's tacky and tasteless
Some WNBA team agreed to put LifeLock on the front of their jerseys last year and there was even uproar about that. If NBA teams start doing that, I’ll find a new sport to watch…
SO much more tacky and tasteless than "Target Center"?
I’ll roll my eyes when this happens, but it seems like it’s going to. Been to any NBA games this year? Does “good taste” leap out as a description of the entertainment options available during the game?
When someone pays for “naming rights” to a hospital, then I will be offended.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
Are we really so far away from
“Proctor & Gamble Hospital”?
I don’t like any of it. But unless we choose differently as consumers this is what we get.
I actually searched for hospitals at one point.
It apparently hasn’t been done. I sort’ve expected to find one in a third world country somewhere.
Personally, if I was able to choose between evils, I’d pick some sort of jersey endorsement (in addition to that for Adidas, which is already there) over the intrusion of sponsorship into every dang graphic and moment within a game. Some lifer of an announcer (I think Marv Albert?), when asked what had changed most dramatically over the years, said he couldn’t believe how many things had separate endorsements. We’re always hearing about the Budweiser this, or the Midas that, on the radio and on TV. Who the heck convinces these sponsors that fans will love them for putting their names on “steal of the game”?
A jersey emblem just shows up on camera; it doesn’t actively interfere with my seeing the action, you know?
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
Too instable and would cheapen league history
I don’t think sponsorships would be nearly stable enough. Stadium names change somewhat often, and those are much cheaper than the rights to a team name would be.
“Last year we were the Minnesota Spam. Due to declining revenues due to a lack of interest in mystery meat, the naming rights were purchased by Best Buy. So this year we are the Minnesota Geek Squad. But with declining record sales, for next year we are negotiating with Target to become the Bulls Eyes.”
Also, league records and history would be so goofy. Can you imagine seeing the list of teams a guy like Barkley played for and wondering WTF?
83-84: K-Cars
84-85: Zubaz
85-86: Commodore Vic 20s
"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." -- Yogi Berra
by Wile E Coyote on Mar 19, 2010 12:32 PM CDT up reply actions
Hey hey hey
it would have been the “85-86 Commodore 64s”
p.s. The Commodore 64s – not a bad team name, this may undercut your argument.
I could see them
putting “lead” sponsors on the jerseys like soccer teams do. And those usually change year-to-year. I believe Man Utd was sponsored by AIG at one point.
You're right,
we’ll never see anything stupid like a sports franchise named after a bad Emilio Estevez movie, for example.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
Questions - though not sure which ones are in his 'realm'
- Is Kahn assembling a new staff this summer? Sounded like that was not possible when he was hired.
- Have they considered a 1-to-1 relationship with a NBDL team like several other teams have (e.g. Spurs/Toros)? Would allow them to better dictate style, who plays, etc.
- Most objective observers would give the Wolves extremely poor grades for their drafting across the last 10 years. Is there any sense of accountability and programs to improve the results?
- During free agent visits to various teams, prospective players mention things like practice facilities, weight rooms, locker rooms, etc. Have the Wolves upgraded their facilities so they can be appealing to FAs this summer?
- How is the team planning to define success next year? From a fan perspective, if next year is not about trying to win games and put the most competitive rotation on the floor, I will not watch. I cannot stand another year of abstract player evaluation, zero accountability for wins, and a general tank-a-thon to yet another draft.
"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." -- Yogi Berra
Excellent questions
Particularly that last one. Let’s get that answered.
by Eric in Madison on Mar 19, 2010 9:19 AM CDT up reply actions
#1 and #2 here are great questions
only he can’t answer #1 yet, sadly.
I’d really like to ask a general question about the D-League. For the sake of goodness, Kahn has roots in that league. For the Wolves to be indifferent seems odd. Ask a question about the D-league in CBA negotiations, for example.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
I'm not sure it's THAT important to have a 1-1 DLeague affiliate
For one, we only share the Skyforce with one other team (the Heat) who basically never send players to the DLeague to begin with. Plus, a 1-1 affiliation would mean either forcing the Heat to find a new team (which I’m not sure we can legally do), or starting a new team ourselves, which we don’t have the money to do.
The D-league is a competitive advantage, waiting to be seized by someone.
Look at baseball history, and what happened when St. Louis developed the first true farm system. This is an edge, waiting to be gotten. It could be comparable to the edge Dallas and San Antonio had in international scouting for a while. Given Kahn’s background, I think it’s only natural for the Wolves to try to get out in front of it. For goodness’ sake, we’re talking about being a big player development franchise, right?
Other teams are starting to move in the direction of thinking this way. Phoenix and Memphis have both sent rookies down for seasoning this year. It’s inching that way.
As far as the 1:1 relationship goes, what it gives you is the authority to hire and fire personnel, which means you can choose a coach, tell that coach to play certain players certain ways to develop their skills, and all that kind of thing. As things now stand in the D-league, sending down a Bracey Wright doesn’t develop, for example, his point guard skills; he’s got more talent, and the coach down there is going to use him as a scorer. That doesn’t develop players, not in the way you need to do it.
Your objections (Miami never sending people down, not being able to afford it) are statements about the limitations of the status quo. I would prefer that the Wolves not react to the status quo, but rather move aggressively to get edges where they can.
The money you pump into a D-league franchise is going to measure up how, next to overpaying one shaky shooting forward for one extra year of his rookie deal? If you develop one young player and he turns into a Ben Wallace (to choose an example of someone who wasn’t even drafted but made out okay), won’t that money have been a good investment? It’d be an investment that more than pays for itself, I think, in both talent and money. One player every five years would still justify it, given NBA salaries.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
There are certainly advantages to this, and you touched on the main ones
but I would also like to add the extra fan following from wherever your DLeague team is located. I’d be much much much more likely to follow a DLeague team located in Nebraska, Iowa, or S/N Dakota if it was solely our team (I dont’ support a DLeague team in MN). So think of the extra fans we could get from those states without a team (I know we already have/had a decent following from there, but this would boost it by quite a bit) from going from DLeague to the pros. More fans = More money!
I’d also have to think it would be cheaper than most people would think to start that. Get a bidding war between those four states going to see who wants to house our team the most. They can make us a crappy stadium or we could take over a college stadium at certain times. The personnel cost would be moderately cheap because of the nature of undrafted and second round pick salaries. Then my irrational desire for guys like David Lighty or Malcolm Lee would have more justification if we could park them in a DLeague more easily. We would also have more space to take more than 2 rookies a year if we knew we could put all our second rounders into our farm team.
There have to be CBA changes to make it really happen, however
The roster limitations are there right now, still, so Portland or whoever can’t sign a bunch of their Euros and develop them in the minors. It’ll be interesting to see what the new bargaining sessions do with the D-league.
Nice point about the fan base. Right now Memphis is attached to Bismarck, ND, and the Wolves have the Skyforce thing. Either of those are natural extensions of the Minnesota market. I know Bismarck’s paper covers the Wolves more closely than the rest of the league, but if they were affiliated? It’d build that fan base. And people there do travel here, on buses to go to plays for example.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
Makes sense
I guess I just feel that, in the overall scope of things, a 1-1 Dleague affiliation should be pretty low on the priority list
Does he think that
it would be a good idea to structure the NBA more like European leagues by having a shorter regular season, but more participation internationally and internal in-season cup competitions?
This is a “it will never happen” question, but it seems to me giving more teams something to play for (like the Copa del Rey in Spain or English soccer’s FA cup), and participation in competitions like Euroleague would be good for the league as a whole.
by Eric in Madison on Mar 19, 2010 9:33 AM CDT reply actions
i'm a champion of a lot of aspects of the European leagues
Relegation, for one.
It’s nonsense at this point for the Wolves, Nets, Warriors, etc, to be playing in the same league as the Lakers, Cavs, Magic, and Nuggets. It does nobody any good to see a Lakers-Nets game on a Tuesday night. The fans don’t care, and the players wish they didn’t have to be there.
Relegation to a “B” league gives bad teams incentive to improve, so they can get back into the “A” league. It largely eliminates tanking. It allows horrible teams to have a “winning” season, because they’re playing against their peers.
Also an “it will never happen” scenario, but one I think would improve things dramatically.
by losDelFuego on Mar 19, 2010 10:32 AM CDT up reply actions
I love the idea of relegation too
but I didn’t even mention it because among the things that would never happen, this would REALLY never happen.
The owners would never go for something that cost them the prestige and money of being in the top league after they paid for their franchise.
by Eric in Madison on Mar 19, 2010 10:45 AM CDT up reply actions
Best idea I've heard in a long time
BetterLaettner
by BetterLaettnerThanRider on Mar 19, 2010 1:06 PM CDT up reply actions
Also could add on something along the lines of why aren’t they pushing Al, Love, Flynn, and Brewer more in non-gametime commercials to get the product in the open like the Twins. Timberwolves need more glass cleaner commercials that are made for year-round viewing.
by Casperkid23 on Mar 19, 2010 11:27 AM CDT up reply actions
Seeing as it's the business side of things...
How many out of the last 5 years has this club lost money? What do the gain/loss prospects look like going forward, assuming the team stayed around 20-35 wins and no superstar is here? Any way we could hear last years total loss?
The draft
How different would the draft have been had you been hired in time to have Rambis and his system in place prior to the draft?
He’ll say ‘not at all different’, and he certainly won’t mention any player by name, but maybe something interesting happens.
Hey, got the right spot this time. Yay.
Also, I third Coyote’s “How does the team define success next year question.”
'It's just noise coming out of an ugly scientist.' Michael Scott
Are we...
Going to try to wins games next year? Or are you going to put out another roster filled with sub-par players?
If this team could win 30-35 games...
next year I would be tickled… I get the feeling we’re going to be awful quiet in free agency this year… and its unlikely that we get enough in a trade that improves us this much… Hopefully we land extremely good players in the draft.
Two questions
Will the lottery results affect what moves he makes with current players this summer. In other words, is he trying to accumulate talent and assets, and will he start trying to put together a cohesive roster.
Is Glen Taylor concerned about CBA changes affecting their ability to bring in Rubio, or will he use his position to ensure the NBA can continue to bring over the best Euros.
**Television broadcast quality**
Why, when 45 has its HD signal to work with, did I get a dramatically better image from the girls’ High School championship last night at the Target Center than I get from any Wolves game on the same channel?!?
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
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