It Has Been a Crazy Day in the NBA

There was a flurry of NBA news this morning. Chris Paul was put in health and safety protocol. Kawhi is out with a possible Achilles injury. People were still talking about KD's epic game last night. Scott Brooks and Stan Van Gundy were relieved of their job as head coach. Also, LaMelo Ball won rookie of the year.

This has been a nutso day.

I know people are freaking out about CP3 being in health and safety protocols, but I do not think it is a really big deal. Did we all already forget that LeBron was about to be put in health and safety protocols? Did he miss any playoff games? Also, the Suns wrapped up their series last week, and the Jazz and Clippers are playing game five tonight. That series is going to go, at least, one more game, and then the East will have to finish their two series, and then the conference finals will start. I'd say, at most, Paul misses one game, if any at all. He will be fine.

The Kawhi injury is a bummer for all Clippers fans. They looked like they were putting it all together. They were playing very good defense. And Kawhi was really asserting himself as a force on both ends of the floor. He was starting to look like the Toronto version of Kawhi. With him out, who knows. No one seems to know how serious the injury may be. The Jazz are not playing great right now. The Clippers are deeper. I mean, they could still win this series, but they are going to get smoked by the Suns if Kawhi misses more time than people expect right now. I picked them to play the Nets in the finals, but I was not comfortable with that pick at the time, the Dallas series only furthered that discomfort and now Kawhi is out. Maybe the basketball gods really do dislike the Clippers.

KD was great last night. He did it all for the Nets, and they are down their other 2 star players. Harden did play, but he did not look comfortable. He looked slower than normal and could not shoot the ball. KD played every single second of that game. He was everywhere on defense. He grabbed 18 rebounds. He had 49 points, 31 in the second half. He was making incredible shots and he dished out 10 assists. That was an all time performance. KD does this all the time now. This is commonplace for him. He shows up big in the biggest moments. He was amazing to watch last night. Games like that are why I love the NBA.

LaMelo most likely deserved the rookie of the year, so his win was kind of expected. I thought after he got hurt that Anthony Edwards was going to run away with the award. He also got better, so I wouldn't have been surprised if he won it. But LaMelo played on a better team, he ran the offense and he was pretty awesome. It is very clear he is the most talented Ball brother.

Finally we have the two coaches being let go. The Scott Brooks thing was kind of expected. He has done a solid job of doing just enough in Washington of getting the most out of a not so loaded roster. He's gone to the playoffs a few times. He has put together some nice winning streaks. He got Russ to play an all around type game. Bradley Beal has flourished under him. But the Wizards never met their own personal high standards. They only made the east semis once. They were a team no one was really afraid of in the playoffs. They have not been very good for the past couple years, and Brooks' time there had come to an end. He did all he could, and it was not enough. He will still get interviews from other teams, but I think Brooks is exactly as good as he will ever be as a head coach. Any team that may hire him in the future will know exactly what they are getting from him. His team's will be okay, but never great.

As for Stan Van Gundy, that one surprised me. I read that some of the players on the team did not really like him, and he has not been great in his last two stops, but letting him go after one shortened season, that is cold. That franchise is doing everything they can to keep Zion, but this will be his third coach in his third season. That kind of inconsistency would leave me a little nervous if I were a player. The constant change is not good. There is no continuity. He will have to learn yet another game plan. So will all the other players. This is a problem. They should have given him at least one more season, just to see what happens. But teams just do not want to wait around anymore. They want instant gratification, and if it doesn't work right away, they just move on. That's a bummer.

Now we will just have to wait and see if the NBA throws anything else at us today. It has been crazy enough already, but hey, there is still 10 hours left in the day. It could get even wilder.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing. 

Ty Tells You How each NBA Team Can Win the Title: Heat, Timberwolves, and Wizards

Day 5 of my NBA countdown, and we will finally get our first playoff team. Finally, I'll get to write about one team that will be playing some meaningful basketball. Tomorrow is when I start with all good teams, but today, we finally get our first playoff spot. On with the countdown.

At number 18, I have the Miami Heat. Oh how the mighty have fallen. This team played in four straight finals, and were a few Dwayne Wade jumps shots form being in the East Finals last season. But, LeBron is gone, Wade is gone, and now, after some news I read today, they are going to let Chris Bosh go. I feel so bad for Chris Bosh. He has taken so much heat from the media, but the dude is a perennial all star, played big time minutes for the Heat when they had their "big three", grabbed huge rebounds and made some big time shots. He was such an underrated, great NBA player. Totally under appreciated as well. I hope his blood clot problems clears up so he can play again, but he needs to make sure he is fully healthy before he tries to play pro basketball again. So, that leaves this team in the hands of Hassan Whiteside, Justise Winslow and Goran Dragic. While those guys are good, I would not want them to be the core of my team. Dragic can be a wizard with the ball, but he plays a bit out of control at times and he is not a great jump shooter. He also seems to get weary of being on the same team for more than 3 years. Justise Winslow is a very good defender, but he does not shoot the ball like he did his one year in college. I think that he relied a bit too much on Wade being his mentor, so he didn't work on his jumper as much as he should have his rookie year. He is going to become an elite defender, but he needs to get some kind of offensive game going to be a starter in the NBA. Then we have Hassan Whiteside. This dude is a beast. He dunks on everyone. He blocks shots and rebounds at an elite level. He is a very good low post guy. But, he has terrible attitude problems and he can flip at the switch of a hat. He has a worse temper than Boogie Cousins, and that's saying something. I don't think I would have given him a max contract because I don't think that he is a franchise player. He's good, but he can be a headache. The rest of the roster shakes out like this, Udonis Haslem, who is way, way past his prime and frankly, I can't believe he is still in the league, Tyler Johnson, who they massively overpaid, and should probably be a good bench guy, but will start on this team, Wayne Ellington, who has been nothing but inconsistent his whole career, Josh McRoberts, who cares more about his look than his game, and has also had a decline in minutes every year that he has been in the NBA and Jason Richardson, who does some nice things, but I don't think he is ready to fill Wade's shoes. The Heat should be in rebuild mode. They can lure top free agents, so maybe they won't be so good this year, but they can get some top guys next year. I see them winning about 32 games this year.

So Ty, how will the Heat win the title? They could win the title if Whiteside stops being childish. Dragic scores at will and Winslow starts to hit the three like in college. That is not happening, but don't be dour Heat fans, they will be good again in a year or 2.

At number 17, I have my new favorite team, the Minnesota Timberwolves. I am still a little shocked by the Thibodeau hire, but hey, maybe he is the best fit for the job. I love their roster, but I think it is still a year away from being in the playoff picture in the hyper competitive Western Conference. Karl Anthony Towns is an incredible basketball payer. While he may not be as good as Anthony Davis yet, he is damn close. He is unstoppable in the post, he plays good defense, he is a good rebounder and a great teammate. Towns is on his way to super stardom. Andrew Wiggins is hyper athletic. He moves so seamlessly and effortlessly on the court. He is a joy to watch, and he is one of the best young defenders in the league. He needs to work on his jumper and focus a bit more, but man, he is super athletic. Zach Lavine is a better version of Aaron Gordon. Lavine has incredible leaping ability, but he has worked to make his jumper better and worked on his handles as well. He is doing what a pro should do. Ricky Rubio is a wizard dribbling and passing, but he is horrendous on offense. It may not matter, because the T'wolves drafted Kris Dunn, who is great, and they may trade Rubio so Dunn can take over the point guard duties. Kris Dunn was my second favorite player, behind Buddy Hield, in last year's draft. Dunn is going to be good. Shabazz Muhammed has surprisingly stayed out of trouble and stayed in shape, and is a great bench scorer for this team. The additions of Jordan Hill, Cole Aldrich and Brandon Rush, while it may not sound glamorous, will be huge for this team's depth. The NBA needs to watch out for the Timberwolves because they are coming and they look like a team that will be good for awhile. I don't think they are a playoff team yet, but they will win 42-44 games.

So Ty, how will the Timberwolves win the title? The T'Wolves can win the title if Towns takes that next step to super stardom, Wiggins unleashes hell on the league, Dunn becomes an elite point guard and the bench helps out immensely. I love this team, but they are a year or two away from being a legitimate threat.

At number 16, aka my first playoff team, I have the Washington Wizards. They have fallen on hard times, but John Wall is too talented to let this team miss out on the playoffs again this year. And, as frustrating as it was to watch a Scotty Brooks coached team in OKC, he is definitely a step up from the disaster that was Randy Whitman. John Wall is awesome. He is one of the best point guards in the league. I love how fast, yet controlled he plays the game of basketball. He is great, and he is definitely one of my personal favorite players. Bradley Beal, on the other hand, has proven time and time again that he can't stay healthy. I do not understand the contract they gave him, and if I were John Wall, I'd be upset that the Wizards seem to value Beal more than him. When in there though, Beal is a great shooter. He doesn't play a whole lot of defense, but man can he score. Marcin Gortat is still there, but no more Nene. I think they will miss Nene's toughness, but Gortat is a better offensive player and a better fit to run the pick and roll with Wall. Otto Porter is in now or never mode. He looked really good two years ago, but last year was a bit of a step back. I think he is a good player, but he needs to show it. He can score and defend pretty well, but he needs to put it all together for a full season. This may be his last chance to do that with the Wizards. Kelly Oubre is still incredibly young and needs work, but he could be a very good bench player. They traded for Trey Burke, but he just hasn't been able to translate his college game to the pros. He is a bit too short, and bigger defenders completely shut him down. Markieff Morris is still there, and while being a good player, he is a total head case. They also signed Ian Mahinmi, but that was a pretty blah signing. This team is playoff good, especially in the East. They won 40 games last year, and I don't see how they don't up that to 44 or 45, especially if Wall stays healthy for most of the year. I like them to be the 8 seed in the East.

So Ty, how will the Wizards win the title? The Wizards can win the title if they have a miraculous run through the playoffs and beat everyone as the underdog. That won't happen because Brooks could not do that with a really good team in OKC. I love John Wall, but his team is destined to be a first round out for a long time in the playoffs if they keep giving guys like Bradley Beal max money.

That's it for today. Come back tomorrow for the next three teams.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He knows it is fall not by the leaves changing color, but by the reemergence of Colin Cowherd's inexplicable racism towards John Wall. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of generous donors. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Let's Count the Reasons Kevin Durant Needs to Stay in Oklahoma City

Look upon my Abacus Mr Durant

With game 7 of the western conference finals coming tonight, I want to talk about some stories I've read the past couple of days that, if the Thunder lose, Kevin Durant is going to sign somewhere else this offseason.

First of all, why would he sign this offseason when the cap is going to be astronomically high in 2 years? He will get much, much more money in 2 years. He'd be making the best decision to just sign a one year deal and wait to see how much he will get in 2 years, because he is going to get a whole lot of money.

Two, why do all the modern superstars feel the need to team up as opposed to competing with each other. People will say this all started when LeBron, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh teamed up, but it really started when Shaq signed with the Lakers. He couldn't get over the hump in Orlando, so he figured he could team up with a young Kobe and have a coach like Phil Jackson and it worked. He won multiple titles while with the Lakers. He also won another title after teaming up with Wade in Miami.

So, Dwayne Wade and Shaq have both been parts of these "super teams". But, the whole idea of teaming up with other great players became popular when LeBron joined forces with Bosh and Wade. I absolutely hated this. LeBron, for as great as he is, knew he couldn't win with the role players he had his first go around with the Cavs, so he chickened out and helped form a super team. He made 4 finals and won 2 of them, but it was a total cop out. I grew up watching basketball in the late 80's and early to mid 90's, and it would have been sacrilege if guys like Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan teamed up. Or if Bird and Magic joined forces. Or if Dominique Wilkins and Isaiah Thomas decided to play together. Imagine the brutal trash talk that would have come from other players. The fact that these guys didn't join forces and were rivals made the NBA that much more competitive. Bird and Magic had some of the best battles on a court ever, dating back to college. Barkley, for as great as he was, could never beat Jordan, but he didn't take the cowards way out and join his team, he signed elsewhere and tried his best to beat him, to no avail. Dominique had the unfortunate luck of playing for Atlanta, but he made that team super competitive and he had many historic showdowns against Jordan, Bird and Isaiah Thomas.

These guys didn't chase titles, they wanted to earn them. Now, it's all about forming super teams, and it is watering down the game. Going into every season, there are only three or four teams that have a legitimate shot at winning a title. That was not the case in the 90's. A lot of teams had viable title aspirations. Hell, even my Seattle Super Sonics made it to finals led by Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton. Yeah, they lost to the Bulls, but Payton and Kemp didn't decide the next season to join Jordan and the Bulls, they wanted to beat him. A rivalry was born. But, that is not the case in today's NBA and Kevin Durant is the latest player that is considering forming a super team.

If the Thunder lose tonight, which I think they will, I've read that Durant will leave and sign with either the Wizards or the Lakers. It would be hilarious if he signs with the Lakers because they are a long way away from competing for anything at all. The Lakers also have no point guard and Durant is currently playing with one of the best point guards, Russell Westbrook, in the league. Then there is the Wizards. Yeah, they have John Wall, but Westbrook is much better than John Wall, and he would be playing for Scotty Brooks again. This too would be a dumb move. I've heard the Celtics, that's a pipe dream, the Warriors, no way they blow up this historically good team and the Spurs, they don't need Durant, as possible suitors as well. He won't join any of those teams.

The only one that seems likely is the Wizards. This is like LeBron with the whole homecoming thing, but Durant doesn't have the clout and the Wizards front office is too stingy to let him form a super team, a la LeBron getting Kevin Love and ridding the Cavs roster of anyone he didn't like. Durant just doesn't have that power. He will be forced to play alongside John Wall, who I like, but he also will be playing with Bradley Beal, Marcin Gortat and Markieff Morris. I'd much rather play with Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and Steven Adams if I had the choice.

To the people saying that he doesn't like playing with Westbrook and that Westbrook is the reason they get beat, shut up with that nonsense. Russell Westbrook is incredibly frustrating to watch, but he has played incredible in these playoffs. Durant, not Westbrook, lost that game Saturday night. He shot them out of any chance to close that game out. So, for Durant to leave and blame it on the front office and Westbrook would be a cowards way out.

I love Durant, he is my favorite player in the NBA, but this whole nonsense of leaving the Thunder to form another super team is a joke and cowardly. Stay in OKC and help build something special. The Thunder have been excellent these playoffs, and if they stick together, they could be a dominate team for years to come. Just give it, at least, one more season in OKC with Westbrook, Ibaka, Adams and everyone else on that roster. Durant, you will not regret it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He does not take a vacation when a game 7 is on. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Rockets and Kings are Coachless and Uncoachable

If this was on fire, it would represent the Rockets and Kings

As it happens every NBA season around this time, coaches are being fired and hired. It always goes on during the playoffs and, more often than not, it's usually smaller named coaches taking jobs. Guys like Kenny Atkinson taking the Nets job or Earl Watson taking the Suns job. See, not that big of names. Sure, Thibodeau took the Timberwolves job and, to a much lesser extent, Scott Brooks took the Wizards job, but that's about as splashy as it gets this time of year. And yeah, Luke Walton took the Lakers job, which is a potential disaster worse than taking the Knicks job, but most teams wait until after the playoffs, or during the finals to really get into their head coaching search.

Two such teams currently searching for a coach that I want to talk about today are the Rockets and the Kings. Let's tackle the Rockets first. This team is an absolute dumpster fire. This team has absolutely no chemistry. James Harden is becoming a world class prima donna. Dwight Howard needs to leave that team as fast as possible, and, he's not really that good anymore. The other starters, guys like Terrence Ross, Corey Brewer, Patrick Beverly and Donatas Montejunas need to try their best and get out of there because Harden is no fun to play basketball with. Also, Daryl Morey needs to be let go. He put this team together through analytics nonsense and they are a complete mess because of him. Morey was the one that figured pairing Howard and Harden was a good idea. This was the guy, and I totally agreed with him at the time, that thought bringing in Ty Lawson was a good idea. This is the guy who trades away picks and young players with the "win now" attitude and it has not worked out. Sure, they miraculously made the Western Finals last year, after the Clippers epic collapse, but they got outworked, outplayed and outclassed by the Warriors. And the true James Harden showed up. The guy that shrinks the bigger the moment gets. The Rockets are a total mess. Even their interim coach, JB Bickerstaff said he'd rather be an assistant than the head coach of this team. Bickerstaff has been with this team for a long time, got his chance to be the head coach after they fired Kevin McHale 11 games into the season, and he looked and acted like he hated every single second of it. I would too if I were him. The coach of the Rockets is basically just a figure head that has to deal with players that aren't as good as they may think. Nowhere is it truer than the NBA where the coach, for all intents and purposes, doesn't matter. The only coaches that demand the respect and attention of their players are Gregg Poppovich and Steve Kerr, other than that, none of you guys really matter. If I were a coach at any level, be it high school, college or the pros, I would not touch that Rockets job with a ten foot pole. They are going to lose a lot of players, mainly Dwight Howard, and the new coach will have to deal with all the nonsense that comes with James Harden. Harden is uncoachable and that team is going to get blown up. The Rockets will be a rebuilding project, and an established coach will not touch that job. The Rockets may have to dip into the college ranks and we all saw how well that worked out for Fred Hoiberg and Billy Donovan. Sure, Donovan won 55 games, but he has Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant at his disposal and his "coaching" didn't really play any part in their success. And Hoiberg, the Bulls, with all the talent in the world, didn't even make the playoffs in the East. So, good luck to whichever low end NBA assistant or college coach that takes that Rockets job, it's going to be tough.

Then, there is the Kings vacant head coaching job. They have reached out to some big name guys. Guys like Kevin McHale, Mark Jackson and Stan Van Gundy, but they all seem to be turning the job down, and they all seem to turn it down for one reason. That one reason is Boogie Cousins. First of all, I love Boogie Cousins the player. I think he is a wonderfully skilled big man. He can play in the low post and run the floor with equal success. He is definitely a once in a lifetime good to great low post player, but he clearly has a very bad attitude problem and he is un coachable. Not one single coach that he has had in the NBA seems to last longer than one and a half season. Hell, if he had stayed at Kentucky more than one year, I bet he and Calipari would have ended up having problems. Calipari may be the one guy that can coach him, but he isn't leaving Kentucky for a NBA rebuilding job, so those rumors need to stop. I love love love Boogie Cousins, but I totally understand why all these coaches are turning down the job. I mean, George Karl, who made it work with strong personalities like Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton, couldn't reach Cousins. From the start, Cousins did not like Karl. Before they even met, he was down on Karl for some past accusations. It was a broken marriage from the jump. There have been other head coaches, but the only one that seemed to work, Mike Malone, was inexplicably fired after one season and 11 games into his second season. Malone was making it work, but Cousins went down with an injury and the Kings lost a couple of games in a row. That was enough, according to the front office, to fire him. It was a joke that Malone got fired so quickly when it seemed he was turning that team around. But, that's another problem with this franchise. The front office thinks that the team is better than it actually is. Vivek, the new owner, is an idiot. He is the one pulling the trigger so quick on coaches. He is the one that keeps drafting players that play the same position over and over again. One year he takes Ben McLemore, the next year he takes Nick Stauskas. One year he drafts Boogie Cousins. A couple of years later, he takes Willie Cauley-Stein. Vivek also said, on live national television, he wanted his team to play five on four so they could get quick fast break points because that's what his fifth grade daughters team did, and they were good. He compared an NBA team to a fifth grade basketball team. That's insane. No coach worth their mustard should touch this job with a ten foot pole as well. The Kings are a mess akin with the Rockets. The only selling point in the Kings favor is the fact that they will get a decent draft pick, but who really cares, that's just more rebuilding.

These two jobs are not good jobs. I don't think anyone with any sense is wiling to take either one of these jobs because these jobs are a stomping ground. There is no success to be had at either spot. Yes, the Rockets have James Harden, but he plays no defense, he is a ball hog, he holds the ball for 20 of the 24 second shot clock and he is a prima donna. The Rockets won't have much else going into next season. And yeah, the Kings have Boogie and Rondo, but what coach in their right mind really wants to deal with those two headaches. As I said, I love Cousins, but I would not want to deal with Rondo at all. He is past his prime and he may be a crazy person and he is too big a headache.

While other teams will fill their vacancies with relative ease, I think the Rockets and the Kings will have a long, tiring and troubling time trying to fill their head coaching jobs. Both teams are dumpster fires and no coach with a good head on their shoulders will give those jobs a second chance. Those jobs will be filled by lower level assistants, college coaches, or more likely, a crazy person.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He coaches pre K basketball and is ready to be called up by the Kings or Rockets. He fully expects to be fired in less than a year, like any other big time NBA coach would be. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Tom Thibodeau Took the Wrong Head Coaching Job

The sign Tom Thibodeau should have heeded in Minneapolis 

The Minnesota Timberwolves announced earlier today that they are finalizing a deal to hire Tom Thibodeau as the coach and the president of basketball operations. Now, I think Thibodeau is a good, possibly even a great head coach, but I don't like him taking over this team and I don't like that they made him the president. Sure, it seems nice on paper, and I'm sure Timberwolves fans will be jumping for joy, but he puts players to work. He grinds every last ounce he can get out of his players, but with a roster this young, I don't know how that will work.

Thibodeau achieved pretty good success with the Bulls, even taking them to a conference finals once, but those teams, by that time of year, were spent. Thibs worked them, maybe, a bit too hard. These guys are pro athletes and they should be used to a heavy workload, but Thibs can push a bit too far. Derrick Rose was great when the Bulls hired Thibs. He won an MVP one year, but his body has completely broken down on him. I'm not saying that it's all Thibodeau's fault, but if he let him rest a bit more and gave him a few off days, maybe he wouldn't be as frail as he is now. Joakim Noah was a beast defensively and on the boards during Thibodeau's first year. He was even being mentioned as a possible MVP candidate himself, but his body has worn down too. He barely played last year or this year. Jimmy Butler is a star in the making, but Thibs never let him run the show, and he too has started to get injured. All of this simply cannot be a coincidence. Yes, the Bulls letting him go was one of the dumber decisions last offseason, I mean look at how bad they played this year, but Thibodeau seems like a coach that will wear out his welcome in three or four years. The Bulls also had a roster of veterans when Thibodeau came in. They knew what it took to be NBA players. They knew the dedication and work it took when he was hired.

This Minnesota team is very talented, but they are also very, very young. Rick Rubio is considered the veteran and he is in his mid twenties. The players on this team, guys like Andrew Wiggins, Karl Anthony-Towns and Zach Lavine, among others, look like they may have what it takes to succeed, but I worry about the amount of pressure that Thibodeau will put on them. Don't get it twisted, I don't want these players to be treated with kid gloves, but they also shouldn't be treated like freshman on a JV or varsity team in high school. Coaches make so much less than players in the pros, so if Thibodeau comes in and punishes some of these young guys, they can walk after their contract is up. That would be a disaster for Minnesota. I really, really like this Timberwolves team. As I already said, they are loaded with young talent. Wiggins looks to be a perennial all star. Towns can be the next Anthony Davis. Lavine can sky out of the gym and Rubio is very crafty with the ball. But, what if Thibodeau rears his ugly head and over works these guys? That would be dreadful.

In today's NBA, guys leave when they don't like their current situation or they get a coach fired. That's what happened to Thibodeau when Chicago let him go. That's what happened to David Blatt when the Cavs fired him. That's what happened to Scott Brooks in OKC. It happens all the time now. Chicago grew tired of a very stressful workload. LeBron didn't want Blatt to be the coach anymore. Scott Brooks couldn't utilize two of the five best players in the NBA properly. Coaches today get let go for miniscule details.

Another question, why would Thibodeau want this particular job? He clearly had choices. He was the hottest commodity in the coaching market by far. He could have went anywhere with a vacant head coaching job that he wanted. Hell, I bet some teams with a head coach would have fired their current coach and taken him. I'm looking at you Memphis. But, he has chosen the Timberwolves. That is puzzling to me. Thibodeau seems like the type that wants to win right away. That's how it was when he took the Chicago job and that's how it was when he was an assistant on Doc Rivers staff in Boston. Those teams where built to compete and win right away. This Timberwolves team though, they seem content to be mediocre for the next couple of years and then try to make a free agency splash. I don't think that will work for Thibodeau's demeanor. Like I said, I love watching this team, but they are not ready to compete for anything, especially in the West, for at least two years. How is that going to make Thibodeau feel? What is he going to be thinking when he is in year three of his five year deal and the Timberwolves are at home during the playoffs for the 13 or 14th straight year? He seems like the kind of guy where something like that would drive him insane. It just doesn't make sense to me at all.

I feel like there were two better options for Thibodeau to take over as head coach. I already mentioned one, and that's Memphis. They are staggering right now. Yes, they have lost a ton of players to injury and yes, they look absolutely dreadful in the playoffs right now, but their roster, when fully healthy, is pretty good. They also have the look and feel of a Thibs team. I know they have a coach, Dave Joeger, but they are looking for any reason to get rid of him. Had they had a shot at Thibodeau, I bet they would have taken it. The roster is good, as I said above, too. They have Mike Conley Jr, who is a free agent, but hiring Thibodeau would keep him in Memphis I bet, and he is a good, gritty point guard. They have Marc Gasol, who is a younger, better version of his brother, whom Thibodeau coached for one year in Chicago. They have some decent vets that play gritty defense and get good shots at the wing. Guys like Matt Barnes and Tony Allen, who Thibodeau coached while at Boston. The Memphis roster just seems like a Thibodeau roster and I think, had they tried, they could have hired him.

The one team with a head coaching vacancy that would be perfect for Thibodeau is the Washington Wizards. This is clearly a veteran laden team in need of a defensive minded coach. Two years ago they were on their way to a conference finals until John Wall broke his hand. This year, they forgot how to play defense and where terribly coached and stunk it up. Tom Thibodeau could have done wonders with the Wizards. They have all the pieces, they just need a good, hard nosed coach. That's Tom Thibodeau. He could have done for John Wall what he did for Derrick Rose. He could have turned Bradley Beal into a poor man's Jimmy Butler. His bigs, Marcin Gortat and Nene, I feel like they would thrive with a coach like him. Otto Porter Jr is already better than Mike Dunleavy Jr. And, all these guys are multi year vets. They wouldn't mind being whipped into shape by a tougher coach. The Wizards made the most sense to me of any team. But, he has apparently chosen a reclamation project in the West. I think it will be very tough sledding for him, and I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't last his entire reported contract.

I know a lot of basketball people will disagree with me, but I think, both Thibodeau and the Timberwolves, have made a not so good decision. Hopefully they prove me wrong because I like Thibodeau and I love this Timberwolves team, but I don't think that will happen.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is thinking all about coaches while the useless first round of the NBA playoffs commence. That is the type of guy he is. It is your destiny to follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.