NBA Trade Rumors: Minnesota Timberwolves say making trades to keep fans happy doesn’t make sense
By Josh Hill
The Minnesota Timberwolves are suffering through another devastatingly average season that will likely see them miss the postseason yet again. Kevin Love hasn’t played in a postseason game in his entire career and it’s something that has him wanting to leave Minnesota immediately. Another thing that has aggravated Love recently is the The Timberwolves fear of massive change, something reflected in their transactions over the past few years.
Flip Saunders, the man in charge of making sure the team is winning and Kevin Love is happy, doesn’t think the team needs to make trades to get better. Despite having a roster that at times looks like its hardly trying, Saunders cited mathematics in a recent Pioneer Press interview as proof that trading just to keep fans happy is a dumb idea.
"“When you look, I think a lot of time teams make trades to satisfy fans, to make them look like they are really trying to do something to make their team better. And I think sometimes teams make trades to make it look to their owners like they are working.”"
Saunders says the Timberwolves did a study that proved only 14 percent of losing teams who made a trade at the deadline the past tens years ended up making the playoffs.
Wolves fans won’t be happy to hear this, and Saunders may have math and science to back up his claim but he’s losing the fans and likely Kevin Love in the process. That’s an equation Saunders apparently hasn’t figured out a way to solve.