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The Positivity Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 1:58 am
by urinesane
We get it.

It's usually a bummer to be a Wolves fan, especially if you live and die with each win/loss. I for one am sick of having to not only deal with the negative results on the court, but also the negative/cynical sentiments of our fan base.

It's tough enough to be a fan of a struggling team/franchise, without also having swarms of negativity from the people that are supposed to get entertainment out of watching them piled on top.

So here is one single thread in a sea of many others, that is ONLY for positive posts about the Wolves.

If you need to escape the lows of the season, simply come in here and try to put things into perspective. At the end of the day, this really is just a basketball team we follow, so we may as well try to enjoy it.

I'll start off with some positivity, glass half-full, anti-negatron thoughts:

The blowouts don't really bother me that much, because it's not indicative of what this team actually is. Sure it's not entertaining, but let's face it, we aren't exactly "time is money" people if we have time to post on internet basketball forums.

In the past we would be happy just to be in a game long enough to have it be entertaining, let alone win games. Sure, we can certainly demand more out of our favorite team, but let's not forget where we came from. A couple years of flirting with being a good team with Love here have weirdly raised the expectations of this team, even without the actual results to justify them. Let's try to keep it in perspective.

Context is needed when talking about the recent blow outs, because without context our fan base tends to default to get a bit emo (the ones in Minnesota should really be supplementing Vitamin D in the winter).

1.) The Wolves didn't have their two best players on the court.

Ricky Rubio makes a huge difference to any team, let alone a team that is extremely young and inexperienced. They say Mo Williams has a calming effect on Ricky and others, but Ricky has an inspiring effect on his teammates. He actively gets them to enjoy what they are doing, he rewards them for doing it well, and he gets players out of their heads and into the flow of the game.

It really is an amazing thing to see and we are LUCKY that we signed him to an extension before all this, because as we are all seeing without him. Ricky Rubio is this franchise.

Thad Young is no slouch either. He may not have won us these last 3 games, almost certainly not, but he would have helped the team compete more. He adds structure to the roster and is able to produce without needing his number called a lot. Those types of guys are invaluable to a team full of youth that you need to develop.

Also, those two along with Wiggins are by far the best defenders on the team. Rubio/Thad especially in team defense ways.

2.) Road games for a young team are NEVER easy. Let's not let the solid start with Rubio detract from the fact that young teams always struggle to win on the road, regardless of their best players being out.

3.) Houston, New Orleans, and Dallas are all potential playoff teams. Houston and Dallas most likely are going to be in at least the top 5 in the West. These are not really games the Wolves should have won, even with Ricky/Thad.

4.) If anyone actually thought a team that replaced their best player on the team, with a 19 year old rookie that is out of position, and only started 2 games in college, was going to compete on the road against likely playoff teams in the West.

They need their heads examined.

2 - 7, whoop dee doo.

They could go 2 - 20 by the time Rubio is back.

I'll still be positive. You know why?

1.) Rubio will be back.

2.) Thad will be back.

3.) The young players can use this time to go through growing pains, so they are more ready when Rubio is back.

4.) I'd rather have steady improvement throughout the year than a better than expected start and a bottoming out the rest of the year (see the 76ers last year).

The team not being good or even competing right now, doesn't really matter. Context is important and if it's observed, this team and season aren't nearly as bleak as people seem to think..

Yeah, it's going to suck a bit right now, and we will have to watch a lot of bad basketball. It's inevitable though, that a young team without it's best players will struggle.

We just need to try and focus on the learning moments and signs of growth from players during this time. When Rubio and Thad are back, our expectations can rightfully go back to expecting competitive basketball night in and out.

Right now, it's not very realistic, so instead of dwelling in the futility of it, I say we just remain positive about the long term of this team. Otherwise, we may be too cynical to actually enjoy it when the better days come to fruition.

Also, I am excited to see Bazz get more run. He may only have one speed (FULL SPEED), and it doesn't always work well, but he always plays his hardest no matter the situation. He is a pure scorer that rarely relies on jump shots to score, I kinda like that.

Anywho, please no trolls or super sarcastic posts. There are plenty of threads for that here (and at other boards *cough*RUBECHAT*cough*), so let's try to keep this thread positive.

I think it will be nice to have a safe haven from the negativity of the season, even if it gets so bad that it's only in this thread.

Image

Re: The Positivity Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 5:05 pm
by Merc_Porto
This thread is dumb. :naaa:

Re: The Positivity Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 5:24 pm
by ...
mercgold3 wrote:This thread is dumb. :naaa:


Keep it positive or GTFO.

Re: The Positivity Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 5:30 pm
by Merc_Porto
... wrote:
mercgold3 wrote:This thread is dumb. :naaa:


Keep it positive or GTFO.


Calm down, was a **** joke

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1355378

Re: The Positivity Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 5:39 pm
by ...
mercgold3 wrote:
... wrote:
mercgold3 wrote:This thread is dumb. :naaa:


Keep it positive or GTFO.


Calm down, was a **** joke

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1355378



I don't think I can calm down.

Re: The Positivity Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 5:41 pm
by C.lupus
I gotta admit I'm struggling a bit on the positivity front these days but I'll say this: at least Flip is in charge and not Adelman. RA would be playing Hummel 48 minutes at center while Gorgui sits on the bench*. The youngsters will get their minutes this year. Whether that turns out to be a good thing for their development remains to be seen I guess.









*slight exaggeration (but only slight)

Re: The Positivity Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 5:42 pm
by C.lupus
... wrote:

I don't think I can calm down.

^saw someone eating a sandwich and got rattled.

Re: The Positivity Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 7:03 pm
by Calinks
We can pretty much only go up from here. This is as bad as it will get this year.

Re: The Positivity Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 7:44 pm
by Note30
It's not like things can get any worse right?

Re: The Positivity Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 7:56 pm
by urinesane
It could totally be worse guys.

Look at the roster from 2 seasons ago:

Rubio
Barea
Conroy

Budinger
Cunningham
Amundson
Gelebale
Hayward
Howard
Johnson
Kirilenko
Malcolm Lee
Love
Pekovic
Ridnour
Roy
Shved
Stiemsma
Williams

That team was expected to compete for the playoffs! Not sure any of the highlighted guys would make a roster spot this year, even with our youth.

I like our roster now, just need Rubio and Thad back at 100% and this team will compete again.

Also Bazz should hopefully get some time to work his way into the regular rotation during this down period. He could be a really nice scoring punch for this team, and will always bring rebounding and hustle on both ends.

Re: The Positivity Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 8:22 pm
by ...
Over the next three games or so it will be time for the pups to get all grows up and all grows up.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEGiVaXpj94[/youtube]

Re: The Positivity Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 8:33 pm
by Calinks
Shabazz and Dieng should get plenty of opportunists to make some noise and make that push to be in the rookie/Soph game this year.

Re: The Positivity Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 8:41 pm
by urinesane
Obligatory Wolves themed music video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdCZATqd86I[/youtube]

Re: The Positivity Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 10:21 pm
by The J Rocka
People just like to vent. It's like a therapy session for some. After losing for over 10 years that would make anyone beyond frustrated.

At least Kahn isn't here. We still need to do some cleaning but it's looking better.

Re: The Positivity Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 10:52 pm
by urinesane
The J Rocka wrote:People just like to vent. It's like a therapy session for some. After losing for over 10 years that would make anyone beyond frustrated.

At least Kahn isn't here. We still need to do some cleaning but it's looking better.


Of course people like to vent. It's perfectly natural to want to vent about something that frustrates you, especially if it does not meet your expectations.

It would be nice to have something that is the opposite of that. We are lucky enough to have lives where we can follow a pro basketball team and cheer for them to work together to put a ball through a metal ring.

We could have been born in different times or places and be stuck fighting wars, or struggling just to survive.

No matter what happens with this team, it could always be worse.

The Timberwolves could lose every game, but life would still be beautiful.

It's a process guys. Instead of painfully dragging our way towards progress, and dragging the baggage of past failures along with. Why not just enjoy the process for what it is?

It's a struggle to grow and improve.

Not sure where you guys have been the last 10 years or so, but I've seen plenty of blowouts. Yeah, you can try and put some blowouts above others based on numbers, but really, blowouts are blowouts. It's 1 loss, the same way a dunk, no matter how thunderous or powerful, is worth 2 points.

It may get brutal for a while here, especially without Pek/Thad/Rubio, but I'll be watching for individual player development. If the scores get too out of hand, I'll watch them like a summer league game and see how players conduct themselves and respond to adversity.

Re: The Positivity Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 11:48 pm
by GopherIt!
"Springtime for Flipster and Minny"

Minny was having trouble
What a sad, sad story
Needed a new leader to restore
Its former glory
Where, oh, where was he?
Where could that man be?
We looked around and then we found
The man for you and me
Where, oh, where was he?
Where could that man be?
We looked around and then we found
The man for you and me!

And now it's...
Springtime for Flipster and Minny
Minnesota is happy and gay!
We're playing at a faster pace
Look out, here comes the canine race
Springtime for Flipster and Minny
Rubio's ankle will be fine once more!
Springtime for Flipster and Minny
Watch out, Western Conference
We're developing our core!
Springtime for Flipster and Minny

Look, it's springtime
Winter for Portland and Oklahoma
Springtime for Flipster and Minny

Re: The Positivity Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 12:03 am
by The J Rocka
urinesane wrote:We could have been born in different times or places and be stuck fighting wars, or struggling just to survive.

Well, if you put it that way lol...

Re: The Positivity Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 12:11 am
by Devilzsidewalk
I can be positive or I can be sober, but not both. Take your pick.

Re: The Positivity Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 12:13 am
by Klomp
Flip might only have two vets he can play ahead of the young guys tonight.

Re: The Positivity Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 12:44 am
by southern wolf
I can't view the forums online to see all the negative posts and am stuck using the app. I guess that's a positive.

Anyone else having problems?