<div align="center"><div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"I need to be in the game come winning time." he said, "I thrive in those situations" Cassell's minutes have gone from 35 a game last season to 27.8 this season, fourth on the team. In seven games he has played less than 30 minutes. "Playing 22, 23 minutes a night, thats not a comfortable situation for me," he said, " I havent done that in so long. Its definitely a situation I am not familiar with."</div> </div> Full Article (may have to sign up) ---------------- Well its no shock Sammy finally stepped up and said something. Iam suprised it took so long. Flip Saunders imo is forgetting who & what got him 58 wins last season. He has clearly put serious restrictions on Sam Cassell's game this year. And took away all of his aggressiveness. Teams are letting their point guards attack Cassell on their end of the court but Flip isnt letting Cassell go back at them on the other end. And I dont think that is a benefit to Cassell's style or the twolves. And Cassell sitting so long in the fourth quarters have been striaght stupidity to be honest. Cassell has been one of the best 4th quarter players in this league his entire career. Cassell use to be in the 4th quarter situations even in his early championship years playing behind Kenny Smith. So for Flip Suanders to have Cassell on the bench for long 6:00 minute period and sometimes almost the entire 4th quarters, is doing the Wolves a dis-service. I like KG but Cassell's crunch time experince still makes in the best "crunch-time" player on the Wolves roster. Flip Suanders needs to stop trying to create, a new or pre-Spree/Sam way of winning, with this whole balance system, he is trying to run with Wally S., Sprewell, Sam Cassell, Troy Hudson all having just about equal roles. It doesnt work consistently. The Wolves need to play the style that allowed them to step into the relm as a Western Conference elite until then the Wolves are going to stay at this up & down level.
It was inevitable that with Wally and Hudson back in the lineup, Sam's minutes would go down. He can't expect to get 35-40 minutes a night any more. But when he's on the court, he should have the freedom to look for his shot and run pick-and-rolls all day long with KG. Particularly in the 4th quarter.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting durvasa:</div><div class="quote_post">It was inevitable that with Wally and Hudson back in the lineup, Sam's minutes would go down. He can't expect to get 35-40 minutes a night any more. But when he's on the court, he should have the freedom to look for his shot and run pick-and-rolls all day long with KG. Particularly in the 4th quarter.</div> Yeah, I dont think he is complaining as much about his minutes as he is with his role. He doesnt have the freedom tobe aggressive that he had last season. And as far as minutes goes their should be know reason imo that Cassell isnt on the floor as much as possible in the 4th quarter. I dont think he is complaining about splitting time with Hudson. But Cassell is and has always been a 4th quarter specialist, Flip has to give him the minutes & room to do his thing in the crunch. And the Wolves may lose some games here & there like last season. But they will be a better team overall because of it.
I totally agree with him. Apart from KG getting his, the system is far to spread out and isn't allowing Cassell (or Spree for that matter) to perform to the ability that was displayed last season. Cassell needs the ball in his hands to be effective, especially in the crunch.. i just feel as if having Wally n Hud back is kind of a burden.. i know it sounds bad but i think its TOO balanced, if that makes sense. Flip is trying to involve all players which is a fair thing i guess, however it is taking away from the people who took them so deep last season, primarily Cassel. Im happy to see Sam speak up, i expected it soon enough. The question i pose is "how do we resolve this?". Do we limit roles, trade someone?.. I think we need 2 find a way quickly to get back to last years antics, before we lose any more early games.. Wolves should easily be top 3 in the league this season.
I thinl cassell proved his point last night at golden state, he was every were in the game, and was there to pull out the win in the crunch... without him out there in the fourth last night, i think we would of lost it...
Regardless of the reasons why, Cassel let you guys down last year. Besides, remember how great Troy has been in the playoffs? I think that Flip was going the right thing, give Troy minutes to help him get back in his grove. Then you essentially have two starting pgs. When you play teams with undersized sgs, you can play them together and tear team's apart. Besides, I believe that this will cause tension between Troy and Cassel (I noticed that Troy only played 12 minutes last night). Can't be good for chemistry come playoff time, even though it gets wins now.
Don't forget about one thing regarding Troy and his playoff performance, he played against one of the worst PG defenders: Derek Fisher. Troy is okay, but he is not a starting PG for a championship contender, Cassell is the man. He didn't let us down, he was seriously injured and health is imho more important than any championship.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post">Regardless of the reasons why, Cassel let you guys down last year. Besides, remember how great Troy has been in the playoffs? I think that Flip was going the right thing, give Troy minutes to help him get back in his grove. Then you essentially have two starting pgs. When you play teams with undersized sgs, you can play them together and tear team's apart. Besides, I believe that this will cause tension between Troy and Cassel (I noticed that Troy only played 12 minutes last night). Can't be good for chemistry come playoff time, even though it gets wins now.</div> Cassell is 20 times more proven in the playoffs then Troy Hudson. The fact of the matter is Cassell is the best 4th quarter point guard in the nba point blank and has been for awhile. And if the Wolves are going to be serious contenders, its going to be Cassell who leads them there at the point position just like last season. And I think Conanor hit it right on the head, every point guard that has played the Lakers weak pick & roll defense against point guards over the past several years have become vastly overratted as far as being playoff performers. Mike Bibby in 2002, Troy Hudson in 2003, Tony Parker in 2004 all got lifted way above their true status playing a weak Lakers defense. Those performances had alot more to do with the fact Shaq never came out to help in pick &roll situations giving those guys a bunch of open looks, practice or shoot around jumpers is what I like to call them.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Henacy:</div><div class="quote_post">Cassell is 20 times more proven in the playoffs then Troy Hudson.</div> My point was that your team will be much more deadly with both of them playing at full potential come playoff time, which isn't really debatable. I remember you and I were talking about Cassell's mediocre production in a another thread. You would think that knowing you are going to play limited minutes would allow you to go all out during those 30mpg. Putting up amazing stats, instead he has been a disappointment (and fantasy hell). I think that his complaints are partially an excuse for the fact that he's not playing up to par.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post">My point was that your team will be much more deadly with both of them playing at full potential come playoff time, which isn't really debatable. I remember you and I were talking about Cassell's mediocre production in a another thread. You would think that knowing you are going to play limited minutes would allow you to go all out during those 30mpg. Putting up amazing stats, instead he has been a disappointment (and fantasy hell). I think that his complaints are partially an excuse for the fact that he's not playing up to par.</div> I never said that Cassell's 14 & 5 this year wasnt medicore production, by his standards. But I think Sammy's complaints are extremely legit, have never been a 1st half player thru your 1st 11 seasons. Its hard to all of a sudden change your style. Cassell hasnt played with a high minute backup point guard, since Sherman Douglas was backing him up in New Jersey 7 years ago. So over the years, playing with the Bucks with guys like Kevin Ollie, Lindsay Hunter(who played a good amount of backup minutes but also played some two guard) Skip etc. playing backup, Cassell has had the comfort of getting into the game slowly & at his pace without forcing things. And without the risk of coming out of the game. If Cassell came out every game & launched up 10 or so shots in the 1st quarter as a means of getting himself into the game quicker, everyone would complain about him forcing it. Cassell struggled last season with the same exact thing when Hudson was healthy. And he went thru a short stretch where his minutes got cut due to Hudson's return. And then once Hudson got injuried again his production picked right back up where it left off during the 1st half. So his complaints have some legitmacy. And if Cassell was just looking to make some unfounded excuse for his poor play, why wouldnt he have made these excuses earlier after losses. He just was pointing out whats clear the Wolves are a different team, when he is their and involved in the flow of the game. And that he would like a chance to get more into the flow of the game. The facts are there..... The Wolves are 5-1, when Cassell plays 30(+) minutes. The Wolves are 7-0, When Cassell scores 16( or more) points. The Wolves are 9-1, when Cassell gets double digit shot attempts, but... The Wolves are 0-4, when Cassell gets less then 10 shot attempts. When Cassell is on the floor & involved with the offense the Wolves dont lose.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Henacy:</div><div class="quote_post">But I think Sammy's complaints are extremely legit, have never been a 1st half player thru your 1st 11 seasons. Its hard to all of a sudden change your style. [/B].</div> I agree with you, and I hate to play devil's advocate but I have to bring up the point of Gary Payton. The situations are very similar. The Wolves stacked their team much like the Lakers did. GP changed his style and got to the finals. I'm not so much against Cassells comments. I just think it's scary that he hasnt shown any willingness to sacrifice for the team. His comments may be legit, but does he really think that Flip would try to hurt the team? Sometimes coaches do things for a reaon, actually, almost always,
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post">I agree with you, and I hate to play devil's advocate but I have to bring up the point of Gary Payton. The situations are very similar. The Wolves stacked their team much like the Lakers did. GP changed his style and got to the finals. I'm not so much against Cassells comments. I just think it's scary that he hasnt shown any willingness to sacrifice for the team. His comments may be legit, but does he really think that Flip would try to hurt the team? Sometimes coaches do things for a reaon, actually, almost always,</div> Good you bring up Gary Payton, because they are an awfully alot alike in their offensive play. And it took alot out of Payton to make that change instyle of play, that he made. And honestly, that back fired on the Lakers in certain ways, because the Lakers would have been alot stronger team, if Payton was allowed to be himself from the start of the season. If the Lakers would have involved him in the offense more from the start of the year, then he would have been comfortable with LA's system. And know way would guys like Tony Parker & Billups get the best of him on a continuos basis, the way that did in the playoffs. And Gary Payton didnt take his role limitations without his fare share of complaints either. I remember him clearly ranting on espn after Mike Bibby hit some big shots in the 4th quarter of a regular season game in LA. And complianed that Phil Jackson didnt give him the green light to go back at him. And he complained several other times with his role in Phil Jackson's offense, including during that matchup against Parker in the Playoffs. So its not like he took such a drastic change in his role without him being disgruntled. BTW, GP had Shaq, Kobe, & Malone. I would say that is a pretty good reason to accept a limited role because it clearly allows the Lakers to be a better team. Cassell taking such limited role doesnt benefit the Wolves, for One reason, they dont have that type of talent in their top 4 guys. And 2) The point guard pick & roll is the staple of the Wolves offense, so when Cassell isnt inloved attracting attention, that means that Wally S. or Spree, or Hoiberg etc arent getting the same good looks as if Cassell & KG were playing effectively in the Pick & roll attracting opponents defenses. And I dont think he is trying to say Flip is hurting the team on purpose. He is just saying that the style Flip wants to play may not be the best fit for this team. And there is really no need to try to over change what made them successful last season, maybe fine tune it a bit to get Hudson & Wally involved a bit. But not at the risk of taking him & Spree out of the system.
