FanPost

Civil Disobedience


As a fan base we have tried to have faith in our front office. We have given them so damn many windows of opportunity that they should be able to renovate the Target Center for free. We sit, listen to their plan, and we reluctantly accept it because we have no other options. We all want to see change in this organization, and as fans, I do not believe our demands are unreasonable.

"I ask for, not at once no government [Front Office], but at once a better government [Front Office]." -Henry David Thoreau

Coming into the season our expectations were low. Most people believed this was about a 25 win team. That is not acceptable as a final product. Wins and losses are easy for anybody to just look at the record and measure. I have attended multiple games this season and have left every game disappointed. It was easy to look for excuses, we are a young team, we don't have a player who can close out a game, etc. Those excuses still allow one to believe that the organization is moving in the right direction, just at a slower than expected pace. Those excuses don't really put the blame directly on anybody. It's time for people to be held accountable for what they are doing, or what the are not doing. All I ask of this team as a fan is to work to make the final product better by obtaining competent players, hiring competent coaches, and working hard.

The lack of obtaining more competent players is an especially sore spot right now being so close after trade deadline. We were promised a singular move to better the team. What did we receive? We were the middle man in a trade involving 5 quality starters; Gallo, Chandler, Felton, Chauncey, and Melo. We did not receive one of them. In fact, we even gave up a starter, a guy who sits at the end of the bench, and took on an albatross expiring contract. We still did not receive a quality starter. This may be oversimplifying the situation, but can you tell me that it is not true? Then the day of the trade deadline came. Many players moved, or were available. We still could not manage to move any of our assets for:

  • Aaron Brooks - He was moved for a back up PG and a middle 1st round pick.
  • Goran Dragic - He was moved for a disgruntled PG who was hated in Houston.
  • O.J. Mayo - He would have been moved for an average big and a middle 1st round pick.
  • Marcus Thorton - He was moved for an average big man and cash.
  • Kirk Hinrich - He was moved for a serviceable PG, a bench player, a guy who was recently a late first round pick, and a late 1st round pick.
  • Gerald Wallace - He was moved for a couple serviceable big men, two 1st round picks, and cash.
  • Hasheem Thabeet - He was moved for an aged SF, and a rookie PG.

Are any of those moves all that unreasonable for the Twolves to make to give its fans a better product, or at least some excitement? A professional sports franchise is there for the sole purpose of entertainment. If an owner does not want to spend money in order to do that, he should not be an owner. Sell the team to owners like the Wilf's, who have an open checkbook and are committed to doing their part, spending money, in order to help the organization.

Hiring competent coaching should be the 1st priority of an organization. If you want to be successful, you have to have a coach who players not only want to play for, but want to work hard to better themselves as a player, better their teammates as players, and better the team as a whole. A coach should be there in order to make a team better than the sum of its parts. Our coach has not shown the ability to have this effect on any player on our team. The only players I see who have a grimace of determination every night to do everything within their power to help the team achieve victory are Kevin Love, Anthony Tolliver, and Corey Brewer (Good luck in New York Corey!). If the players do not want to give their all, they will get beat by a team who has players that will put their bodies on the line diving out of bounds and wrestling for loose balls. This team does not have the talent to loaf and still win a game.


What makes this incompetence so painful is the sheer lack of effort. This can be placed on everybody from the top down. Sympathy can be shown to the players because they get a first hand look of what the organization is doing to help them, and it is obvious to them that the answer is nothing. They do not want to risk their health for an organization that will not take a risk for them. It is necessary to have an owner willing to pay for a GM, who in turn will go through the proper process of selecting a quality coach. The coach and GM will work together in order to evaluate players who can help improve the team. The owner must trust the coach and GM to risk his money on their decisions. The Wolves have problems all throughout this process, and there is not a semblance of effort to try and correct it. I wouldn't be writing this if I could see a team that is actively working to become better. Better is a broad term, I was not expecting playoffs this year. I was not expecting 30 wins. Is it unreasonable to ask for an organization to work to become a 20 win franchise?


So here as a fan, I am sitting, trying to think of what I can do to pass the time until our TWolves can play harder and better. It is sad to think that the draft is the only thing that this team has to make it better right now. The draft which all teams are given every year. It is not any work to acquire for the GM, coach, or owner. It is simply gifted to them.


Is there anything we can do to accelerate changes? Signs at games calling for firings? Boycotting games? Hand out paper bags for every fan to wear on their head at games? Can we get the players involved in some actions like Detroit just did in skipping practice? Something has to happen to make this team change and make an effort at winning games.

It is just a hopeless moment here as a Wolves fan.