IF Glen had picked me...

This is rough and some of the stuff might be wrong, but I've done a lot of research and believe that this is how my team should look come Friday morning.

Trade Miller for Camby, gain 2 million dollars in the process. Go with a rotation of Jefferson, Camby and Love at 4 and 5.
Trade Foye (3.5 Mil and qualifying next year) Gomes (3.8 Mil expiring) and Madsen (2.8 Mil expiring) and 18th to Washington. Washington Gives us The 5th pick and (maybe) Andre Blatche. With the 5th pick we select (1)Tyreke Evans or (2) James Harden.
Take the 6th pick and trade it to the Knicks for their 8th pick and Wilson Chandler. We Basically give them their choice of PGs, which is what they want and gives us a reliable SF in return. At 8 we make a choice about Stephen Curry, Jonny Flynn, Brandon Jennings and Jrue Holiday). Most likely Two will be gone. My guess is Knicks take Stephen Curry and maybe The Warriors go with Jennings. That is fine with me, I kind of want Flynn as my PG with Evans at 2. Feel free to add the 28th or either of the 2nd rounders if the other teams won’t quite bite yet. NY may need a 2nd rounder in return for Wilson.

Maybe package other 2nd rounder and 28th to move up to the early 20s for one more prospect. Austin Daye is my #1 target and will most likely be around, but Eric Maynor, Sam Young, James Johnson, a sliding Earl Clark or Gerald Henderson or possibly another Euro Stasher to go along with Pekovic for future reserves.
Do Not Pick up team option on Sheldon Williams. Do pick up Rodney Carney’s option.
A shade under 60 mil is the cap this year. As is the Wolves clock in at 50 mil, the Wiz at 75 mil and NY a shade under 70 mil. Dallas (at 22) is at 69 mil, New Orleans (21)is at 72 mil, Utah (at 20) is at 72 mil, Philly at 17 and already a stretch is 2 mil under.

Depth Chart looks like this by game 42
PG- Flynn (or other rookie)- Bassy
SG- Evans (or Harden)- Carney
SF- Wilson- Brewer
PF- Big Al- Senior Amor
C- Camby- Blatche

Bench- Brian Cardinal, Craig Smith, Bobby Brown and Austin Daye (fingers crossed).
That makes 14 and cost a bit over 46 million. We shaved 4 million and became way more competitive. The following year Camby and his 7.6 and Cardinal and his 6.7 mil come off the books, that is good trade bait.

Blatche has 2 more years at around 3 mil each, Chandler has 2 more at 2 and 3 mil. Love has got 3 going to 6 mil. Brewer has 2 going to 5 mil, but the last year is a team option. Bassy has one more at 2.7 And carney at 3.6 after the signing. Big Al and Love are currently the only people on the roster going into 2013

Down Goes the Season

That collective gasp you may have heard came from the folks down at 600 First Avenue. In one fell swoop, the season has come to a screeching halt. In one play, people may have lost jobs. With one bad turn of the knee, there is no more, "Man, this team is playing some great basketball lately." In one crash to the floor, Al Jefferson's season is done.

The Wolves' superstar power forward (not Center) went down for the year with a Torn ACL. This ends Big Al's best season so far in the NBA and may have just doomed us to another couple months of turning the channel whenever you see the grainy channel 45 broadcast.(I hear they have amazing cameramen though) The Wolves had started to prove people wrong who thought that this team was destined to be the worst team in the NBA yet again but starting January 10-2 and becoming competitive in every game while also playing some exciting basketball. They were doing it the right way. Letting the young players, that they had put so much faith in, actually play large quantities of semi-meaningful minutes. Even though they had lost 6 of 7 prior to the injury, the future seemed a little brighter for many Wolves' fans around Minnesota.
With the injury though, the team will struggle to win any games at all, while getting obliterated most nights. People who disagree might say, how much difference can one player make?? Umm.. a lot! When you have one great player and a bunch of mediocre, at best, players around him, you can't afford for that player to go down. When you run your entire offense through this player, the whole team takes a major hit. So get ready fans of the Black, White, Green, with a lil Bright Green, and some other colors(?), in looking at the schedule, it's tough to find more than 4-5 wins the rest of the year.

There is a silver lining, however, to this basketball catastrophe. The younger Wolves will get ample run to see what we actually have on this team for next year and subsequent years. Kevin Love will assume a starter's role and hopefully start to develop some offensive skills to complement his obvious defensive and rebound prowess. Randy Foye will get his chance to prove to all us doubters(and with good reason) that he is better, or on the same level as Brandon Roy. (On a side note, OH My God I still can't believe they did that!) Rodney Carney will get some more extended minutes to see if these flashes of brilliance can continue. On top of all that though, the best reason to lose all those games and be that crappy for the rest of the season... To get a top three pick, if not (gasp!) #1 overall.





The hottest chick in school that everyone is trying to bang this year is Blake Griffin. Ok, not literally but you get the point. ( Maybe literally. Hell, its Oklahoma, so who knows) The best player in college basketball by far is also the best NBA prospect coming into this year's draft. He's currently averaging 22.3 Points per game and 14 rebounds a game this season, and by first hand account, when you're watching him play it seems like a lot more than that. This guy's got the NBA ready body while also having the hops to get over bigger players that he will encounter in the NBA, even though he won't have too much to overcome as he still stands 6'10". The problem with Griffin though is actually two-fold. Being too short to play Center and too tall and big to play Small Forward, he would be stuck at Power Forward. This isn't a problem for most teams but the Wolves, as already mentioned, have an Elite Power Forward already in Jefferson. I suppose you could play them both but then we are back to the same interior defensive problems that have plagued this team for years. The second problem is that Griffin will almost undoubtedly go #1 overall and it's an unspoken rule that the Timberwolves will never get the #1 pick. David Stern will make sure that Griffin finds his way to Washington, making them really, really good or to Oklahoma City; both because it's the whole Travis Kieffer "Hometown Hero" story and also to apologize for having to move the team from Seattle a month before season.

Good thought, but not worth much time. As Sean Connery said, "Losers always whine about doing their best, while winners go home and fuck the prom queen." I'll let you guess which category do you think the Wolves fall into more often then not...


A more likely scenario is getting a top 3 pick and having a shot at the likes of Rickey Rubio, Hasheem Thabeet, or James Harden. Rubio, is an 18 year point guard who looks more like the 12 year old kid next door to you that your overly aggressive son beats up after school then a franchise point guard. But don't let the face fool you. Rubio wowed scouts and viewers in the 2008 Olympic games as the starting point guard for the Spanish team that featured Pau Gasol and Rudy Fernandez. He is drawing comparisons to Pistol Pete Maravich, but that could be solely based on the fact that the look almost identical and happen to play the same position. Either way, this lad looks like he could be the real deal out on the court. He lacks speed, size, and quickness but makes up for that with high basketball IQ, instincts, and hard work. Wow, sounds like every description I've ever heard of any white-skined player, ever. Cool

Thabeet is a 7'3" center from UCONN who could fill an extreme need for the interior-soft Timberwolves. Thabeet is extremely raw on the offensive end but plays like a seasoned vet on the defensive end by intimidating shooters and swatting away more shots then John Daly. Thabeet is averaging 13 points per game and 10 rebounds, while also blocking 4.1 shots a game. He is also the main reason that Connecticut fields the nations top defense, allowing under 40% opponent field goal %. That means that he affects almost every shot taken by his mere presence in the lane. This would be a nice consolation prize for missing out on Griffin. It would be like missing out on the prom queen only to end up convincing both of her almost-as-hot friends to double up on ya at the end of the night. Ok, I promise, no more sexual innuendos.

The last player of interest is James Harden, a 6'5" shooting guard from Arizona State. Again, this would fill a major need for the Wolves, providing an potentially explosive shooting guard to compliment Big Al underneath. Harden is a one man team this year for the Sun Devils, averaging 21.3 points per game. He can shoot the deep ball but can also blow by you the next second. This would be like missing out on the prom queen, getting slapped by her two hot friends for suggesting a double up, and finally settling on the town bicycle that can, literally, score from anywhere. Now I'm really done.

Either way, the Wolves will have some flexibility this year with multiple first round selections. This is probably a moot point, however, as they will do something to mess that up. Just one word of advice, LOSE...!! You have had to opportunity to do so in the past, only to try and impress people by winning a couple of meaningless games that no one cared about anyways. This year is different. You need to swallow your pride and go out there and stink the place up EVERY single night to guarantee yourself a top 3 pick. At least its harder to piss those draft picks down your leg.

What to do with the 3rd pick as the draft approaches

When we first found out that the Wolves were drafting 3rd I said that we should select Brook Lopez. I said this because a big man is our biggest need. The problem is that almost everything is our biggest need. At this point there are 4 players I'd keep on this team Al Jefferson, Randy Foye, Sebastian Telfair and Ryan Gomes. Lots of Wolves fans will argue that only the first two names on that list should stay and will most likely call me crazy for including Bassy. Gomes is a better version of Craig Smith... both are undersized 4's, but Gomes does everything at a better clip and would make a very solid bench player if this team ever manages to field a playoff caliber starting five. I think Bassy will prove himself to be an important part of this team if they choose to resign him. He could very well be our starting point guard because I don't see Foye as the floor general.

Foye is a huge question mark. He is the reason why I've decided that the Wolves should draft O.J. Mayo. Everyone agrees that O.J. Mayo has superstar potential, Lopez' name has never been associated with the word superstar. In fact, Lopez scored last in two drills during the pre-draft workout that included 80 players.I know I compared Mayo to J.R. Rider a little over a month ago, but things have changed. The Wolves have enough ties to Mayo (Hoiberg 's college coach was Tim Flloyd) to get a real idea about the type of character he has. This kid had been touted as one of the next Jordans. His coverage in high school and even earlier is on par with Kobe and LeBron and he still managed to be a team player and someone who elevated his teammates game during his year in college.

The argument can be made that he did his own recruiting and told Flloyd that he would be playing for the Trojans, but if you know that you'll be in the NBA soon enough its a smart move to position yourself in a highly visible place and automatically be able to sign endorsement deals. A smart move made by a smart kid. His 29 on the A.C.T.s put him in the 95th percentile of all test takers. People will talk about the sports agent controversy, I know I did at first, but even if he knew what was going on, and he seems to have done a fair job of distancing himself from that situation, college players deserve more than they are given. I know that a free education is a big deal, but they rake in so much money for those universities and the actual cost for the university to cover one room, three meals and a couple chairs in a couple of classrooms per day per athlete is very minimal.

The Reason I was asking Bez about what he thought about Rashad McCant's trade value is that useing some combination of McCants or Craig Smith and out 2 second round draft picks I'm thinking we could find ourself somewhere between 14 and 20 in the first round. Somebody would be willing to do that right? Big men Projected to go around that area include. Brook's brother Robin (the defensive twin), Alex Ajinca, Kostas Koufos, DeAndre Jordan, Anthony Randolph, Roy Hibbert and Rider's Jason Thompson. Kostas Koufos would be my reason to move up in the draft and Randolph isn't a bad second option, although it would mean keeping Al Jefferson at the 5 spot.

What I'm saying is that taking a flier on a potential superstar sounds better to me than getting 10, 10 and 2 blocks from what will only become a mediocre center when we could very easily get that same type of production from a big man by packaging a few things a little later. If the Cav's had the 3rd selection and the best available player was a small forward they might want to move back. If the Lakers had the 3rd pick and the best available player was a shooting guard they might want to move back. That shooting guard position on the Wolves will be inhabited by Marco Jaric, Rashad McCants and sometimes Randy Foye... we can afford to pick up Mayo and see if he turns into something special.

Gerald Green's Birthday Cake Dunk

Here it is Ladies and gentlemen, The Wolves one and only appearance in the All-Star festivities. Gerald Green may not have won the contest, but this was pretty good.

Too bad Big Al won't get to play in the All-Star game tomorrow... pretty sure he got jobbed because our team sucks.

This Kid Looks Hungry

Seriously, someone get Corey Brewer a sandwich. I haven't been watching many Timberwolves' games this season, with good reason, but I tuned in recently. It blew my damn mind when I took a closer look at Mr. Brewer. This guy looks like a recovering crackhead. I mean no disrespect, as I'm sure he's a very nice fella, but he's 6'9" and 185 pounds. Someone that size should be about about 220-230. He makes a certain "Bez" look like a steroid-poppin' meathead.

Anyways, that random thought was not why I chose to come out of hiding and post.

It was Rick Pitino that said it best.. "All the negativity in this town sucks."
I think in some weird way, he was talking about the Twin-Cities. This has been a record year for suckage in Minnesota. We just had a nice little capper the other day with the worst trade I've ever seen... Ever. I'm referring to the Johan Santana trade of course. Anyone who tries to spin this in the Twins favor is completely nuts. The best pitcher in Major League Baseball for a bunch of "B" players and 3rd or 4th starters is the kind of stuff that should make a Twins' fan so god-damn angry. The hits just keep on coming for Minnesota sports fans. But I ask, when will it end? This negative trend needs to stop. It's making it really hard to be a fan. I think it was more just talk the last time I said this, but with every passing day it gets more and more real. I'm seriously going to start looking for other teams to root for if this keeps up. Some prospects could be the New Orleans Hornets, Golden State Warriors, Colorado Rockies, or maybe the Philadelphia Phillies. I will defect to the highest bidder.





In the ounce of positivity that I have left for the Minnesota clubs, I look to whats happening down at 600 First Avenue. It looks like we have actually have a player in Al Jefferson. I used to think that his nickname, "Big Al" was a bit premature, with him having proved nothing yet. Now, he's starting to live up to it by playing Big and holding his own against the League's best big men. Amare Stoudamire got "his" against the Wolves, (and trust me, he got plenty) but Jefferson got even more and had, arguably, the most dominant game in Wolves history with a 41 point, 19 Rebound explosion which went a long way in helping the Wolves beat Phoenix for the second time in three games. Then he proceeded to make Ben Wallace and some fool named Noah look like his charlie biatchs in back to backs against the Chicago Bulls the last couple days, while totaling 46 points and 32 rebounds in the two games. I was among the many who were very skeptical about Al (We got a good vibe) when he came via the Garnett trade this summer, but he's starting to make me a believer over the past couple weeks. Along with being the reigning Western Conference Player of the Week, he should also be representing the Timberwolves in the All-Star Game. He wont even sniff the game though because he currently ranks behind the likes of Luis Scola of the Rockets, Shane Battier, again of the Rockets, and Mehmet Okur from the Utah Jazz at the Forward and Center positions. Man, I sure am glad they let Asia vote for the NBA All-Stars... That's working out swimmingly. That said though, I think hes on the right path, and maybe it wont happen for a couple years but I think he will get his due if he keeps this tear up. If he wants to fast track that recognition, he could maybe think about working on a face up game and 17-18 foot jumpers. He would be pretty scary if he mastered one, or both of those. Keep this up, big fella, and I promise we will trade you to someone who actually wants you to play for their team. Your time will come. That's a certainty.

The Wolves still suck something awful, but I'm doing my best to cling to the shred of light that still exists with them. I do have one request though... Please start losing again! You were doing such a good job of it earlier in the year, but now are being lapped in ineptitude by the Miamis and Seattles of the world. Keep this up and you watch, you'll end up getting screwed by the NBA again in the draft.(circa 1992)

In closing, you know that things have gotten bad in Minnesota sports when the people at "Some People's Kids" turn our collective back's on your ass. We are about as homer as it gets.

When will a Minnesota team Play for the present?

(I know how Matt feels after hearing that Johan is gone)

The owners in this town have been breaking my heart for as long as I can remember and its a bunch of bullshit. Stop telling me that we're a small market and its impossible to make money off of the respective teams. You don't continue running a business for 10 plus years that is always in the red unless you're already loaded and can use it as a tax write off. Once, just once, I want one of these teams to really go for the glory. I'm sick of losing stars because of ownership and management.

You're probably saying that the Timberwolves did it back in KG's MVP year. You're right, but when everything want down the drain the next year the team fired it's coach instead of the stars causing all of the trouble. Then they got rid of the stars causing all of the trouble almost immediately. This last year they got rid of the one man I associate with the team. I know this was the right thing to do under the circumstances and we got some value out of the deal, but if Kevin McHale had never been the VP of whatever the hell his title is this would not have needed to happen. Flip was the scapegoat.

McHale bet on Starbury, gave KG the biggest contract the NBA had ever seen, cost the Wolves 5 picks over Joe Smith and gave undeserved contracts to a handful of players including Troy Hudson. Is the future bright after the last 5 or so games we've seen from the Wolves and the knowledge that Al Jefferson didn't take a max contract? Yes, but the future is always bright in this frozen godforsaken hell hole. (I don't really mean that, its just so cold out right now)

Maybe you argue that the Vikings are doing things the proper way now through the draft and have the future best running back of all time. (knock on wood) Agreed, unfortunately the defense that is best against the run and has it's passing numbers inflated because of that is getting older by the day. Pat Williams, Darren Sharper and Antoine Winfield- all pro-bowl caliber players, are not getting any younger and the defense can only score so many points a game. We need sacks and we need an air game and those positions don't usually produce at a high level in their first year. We have nothing to show for letting Randy Moss go and all we got for Culpepper was Ryan Cook, the weakest link in a strong offensive line. They probably give me the most hope for a championship in the near future, but they won't be playing the Patriots this time next year.

Maybe you're saying that the Wild blah, blah, blah... you gotta understand I don't follow hockey, I watch it when its on. You want some solid analysis of the teams chances to bring me a trophy to celebrate you should go and ask Bez. He likes that shit... I just think its pretty and bloody and sometimes its pretty bloody.

Same goes for that Lacrosse team, and that women's basketball team, and college doesn't count because everything is too unpredictable.

Maybe you're saying the Twins have consistently made the playoffs or come close since the turn of the century. Carl Pohlad has 2.6 million dollars. If he signed Santana for $200 million for an 8 year contract (more than he wants) that would be less than one percent of our owner's total worth... he would have kept this contender together into his brand new stadium which we paid for. I realize that the salaries in Baseball are out of control, but we're talking about the best pitcher in baseball. I know Santana wanted to be on a bigger stage, but money like this could suade him to stay.

He's gone and its too late. Now my problem is the choice of packages. I wanted to take the Yankees deal with major league ready talent to go along with a team that is pretty good minus the greatest pitcher playing today. The World of B makes a good point about those who say that deals for star players have worked out for this team in the past. This is not A good player... this is THE greatest player in his prime. We should have been able to get more than what we got. Wait one week and maybe we get one or more of these teams to throw in that last piece we've been asking for.

I can't bring myself to wear a Yankees cap just to ensure that I get to celebrate a championship once every decade. I can't watch the Celtics without watching Allen and KG together and thinking about what would have happened if they'd started playing together back in the 90s on my team and changed the course of history. I won't be able to watch this Sunday's game without thinking that Joe Buck has something to do with Randy Moss being a Patriot and not on the Viking's sideline as part of a very explosive offense to go along with that dangerous defense. ( I know that is crazy far fetched and Red McCombs is really to blame, but I hate Buck and I hate how he handled that FAKE moon in Lambeau and how McCombs used it as reasoning to get rid of a hall of fame caliber receiver)

I just can't handle losing another phenomenal player. I've decided to brace myself for Adrian Peterson's departure today. I'm not doing this again. On behalf of Minnesota sports fans I say Fuck you world. Stop stealing my joy.

Ain't no stoppin' us now

Watch out NBA, here comes the Timberwolves.

They'd still suck but...

I've been thinking about the Wolves lately and I feel that I've relegated them to the back of the blog for too long. I chose the old wolves logo because that is what this team reminds me of- The Pre-KG not talent all-stars. I remember going to Wolves games with my father shortly after the birth of the franchise and cheering on Felton Spencer, asking Luc Longly for an autograph (I still have it around here somewhere, Tom Gugliota's too), and most of all that long wait for the first in-person win. I swear it took a good 3-4 years of going to a handful of games a year to finally see a victory.

The thing is that I believe in this team way more than I did in those teams. I believe in Randy Foye and Craig Smith. I believe that one day Al Jefferson will make us forget about KG. I believe that all Marko Jaric needed to get his game jump started was some Brazilain supermodel NaNa. I believe that the player everyone more or less thought was a throw in to help even out money issues could be our point guard for years to come. I'm beginning to think that this team should move Foye to his natural two spot and use our lottery pick on O.J. Mayo or Derrick Rose and put them behind Sebastion Telfair for a while. I'm leaning towards Rose because I have a feeling that Mayo would do like Eli Manning or like Kobe and never step foot in Minnesota.

I don't want to stray too far from the reason I even began writing this, the fourth quarter free fall. It didn't happen tonight, though they still lost, but this team seems to keep me entertained and keep my hopes alive through the first three quarters only break my heart in the final 12 minutes. I did a little research and found that this team would be 10-16-1 if the game only lasted 36 minutes. We held the lead in all four of our actual wins against The Kings, The Hornets, The Suns and The Pacers. We had the lead against Atlanta twice, The Spurs, The Nuggets, The Heat and The Wizards in a game which included a healthy Arenas (scored 27 that night).

If we had that record our team would be better than New York, Chicago, Miami, The Clippers, Memphis, tied with Charlotte and Seattle would be below us in our own division. I'd like to know what Kind of affect "Fourth Quarter" Foye would have on this teams record or what will happen when hes back on the floor and in good health. I'd also like to see what a steady rotation would do for this team. I guess the only real difference would be seen in draft position, the difference between picking Derrick Rose or Roy Hibbert if we really turned it on in the next few months.

I guess I'd just like to see this team play an entire game instead of just watch their opponents take over. I guess I'd just like to see the team play more like the teams that this logo reminds me of.

Ricky Buckets, Largest Small Forward in the League No Longer Have to Play on our Shitty Team

It looks like the Wolves traded Ricky Davis and Mark Blount to the Miami Heat today. In return we'll get Antoine Walker, Micheal Doleac and Wayne Simien, but don't worry because Doleac and Simien have expiring contracts. According to ESPN we also get a future first rounder. For those of you keeping track at home that's some good shit... 3 expiring contracts next year, 3 1st round draft picks, one less year on Walker's contract than Blount's and a bunch of young kids with promise down the road. As far as the 1st round draft picks go I'm not sure what year the Heat's will be and technically one of the Celtic's picks was originally ours.

With Blount and Buckets gone I think the team will put up more assists, grab more boards and have a higher 3pt percentage. That won't translate into more wins this year, but hopefully this sort of play will become a theme of the new look Wolves. I think it will also help with team chemistry... I don't know for a fact that Ricky Davis has a bad attitude but I always sort of got that feeling and I heard that Blount and Big Al have had something going ever since their days in green.
For those of you who don't know Doleac is a Center who averages 3.4 rebs and 5 points. Simien is a forward who averages 2.9pts and 1.4 rebs. Antoine Walker's production has been steadily decreasing over the years, but that will probably pick up a bit on a team full of kids. Last year he averaged 8.5 pts and 4.3 rebs but his career average is 18 pts almost 8 rebounds and 3.7 assists. I don't know what this will do to the roster seeing as we already have too many players. This most likely makes Rashad McCants our starting Shooting guard and moves Chris Richards up in the depth chart.

If I were McHale my first move would be to buy out Simien's contact, which is just a shade under a million. My second move would be to sign the shit out of Al Jefferson... Lock that kid up, but in a non franchise crippling way. My third move would be to trade that gimpy Mark Madsen back to the Lakers for a hot Cheerleader. I don't like when my cheerleaders are 6-9, 250 lbs and have a set of balls.
I'm so excited for basketball to begin. Seriously. The Wolves may suck, but there is finally a good reason for it. We'll get to see some really talented kids lose on an almost daily basis and all of that yummy cap space we've been piling up over the summer will allow us pick and choose who we want to keep on our team and who we want to try and lure into the snow.

If you want more literature on the trade go here, she finds it all.

KG Looks Weird in Green

I couldn't find any video of the game that took place between our Timber Wolves and The Boston Celtics but here is a highlight of the Celtics first game featuring the "Big Three"... individually known as Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.

Ray Allen did most of the scoring (28 Pts). My Favorite Timberwolf (I will continue to call him this regardless of jersey) had 9pts, 6 rebs,2asts, 3 blocks. Ricky Davis was the high scorer for the T-wolves which angers me as he is probably my least favorite player on a team full of players that I don't even know.

The former Celtics did ok; Bassy had 9pts and 3 asts, Ratlif had 6pts and 2 blocks,Gomes had 9pts and 4 rebs, Green had 4 pts and the most interesting piece we got in return had 5 pts, 2 blocks and 6 rebs in the 92-81 loss in London.

Rashad McCants had 11 points and 4 rebounds which hopefully means that his knees are back at 100%. Randy Foye, however, had no points in 8 minutes. Hopefully they just wanted to start figuring out the backup PG position and he isn't injured.

Get ready for a lot of losses this year. Hopefully this team can still put an exciting product on the court.

P.S. I'm going to miss Trenton Hassell.

Too many MCs not enough Mics

I know that Baseball is in full swing and we are now just getting to the entertaining part of NFL training camp but I just can't get over the Timberwolves. I'm probably the last person that should be trying to figure out the roster for next year, but this team has way too many players that play the same position (2 &3) and too many players in general. I'm going to try to go through the roster, make some hypothetical trades, balance veterans and newbies and get this team down to the 12 active players allowed by the NBA. This is going to be hard and I know the post is going to be long, but bear with me.

The easiest problem to solve is Chris Richards. The teams second round draft pick out of Florida is going to have to spend at least one year in the NBDL. Hopefully while there he will be turned into more of a center and will only have to wait until Theo Ratliff's big contract is up or he goes down for the season. Whichever comes first.

Theo Ratliff is going to spend the season as the backup center. Mark Blount will probably be the starter. I really don't care who starts, but I like the idea of this tandem. They are Yin and Yang. Blount is finesse and can come in when the team is down and in need of some points. Ratliff can come in when the D needs to keep the lead. He's gritty, a rebounder and a shot blocker. Granted I don't believe that he'll be 100% but if he is good enough to play he can bring the D that this team has been lacking. Between Ratliff and Jefferson they can equal or do better than one defensive KG not to mention the other power forwards I'll be keeping on this roster.

Al Jefferson is a no-brainer. McFail and Taylor better get a contract extension in front of him and soon, if not they had better find a spot in the witness protection program because every basketball-loving bastard in the state is going to be out for blood. You don't give up KG and let the best piece of the puzzle get away. He stays.

The backup to Jefferson is going to be Juwan Howard. I know he is old balls like Robert Horry, but I want him on the team to help Jefferson and Craig Smith and/or Ryan Gomes. He'll be a great teacher for the young guys and hopefully he'll have a calming demeanor and interject some veteran presence when it’s needed.

My major problem with this roster is that 5th big man. I want to see Smith and Gomes battle it out in training camp for the final spot, but I feel like I'm going to pair one of their cheaper salaries and upside with Marko Jaric or Mark Madsen in order to get a team to bite on a trade. Wikipedia claims that 6 of the 16 players currently on the roster are Power Forwards. We've already sent Richards to the NBDL and given 2 spots on the roster other 4s, plus Howard can play center when necessary. The two vying for my last spot are the same height and while Gomes had a better average over the season Smith averaged 21 pts and 10 rebs when he started the last 5 games. It comes down to intangibles when they are only going to be allotted so many minutes. I think I'll go with Smith seeing as he and Foye have meshed while Jefferson and Gomes share the same position and there won't be that same kind of connection on the court.

The ESPN Trade machine says that there are trade restrictions on all of the Boston players and Juwan, so I've decided to have Smith and Gomes duke it out in camp. If Smith loses he gets bunched with one of the players I'll try to trade. If Gomes loses I'll deal him for a draft pick and some cash if I can get it.

We're going to skip the Shooting guard and small forward for the moment because those positions are the others that give me problems.

As for Point Guard I'm going to stick with Randy Foye as the starter even though it's not his natural position. This hurts me, but there are so many interchangeable parts in the 2/3 positions and I see football players change positions when they are drafted all the time. Sebastian Telfair is going to stick around as my backup PG as long as he can keep his guns locked up in a cabinet somewhere far away from the team.

Now I've got 5 spots left and two positions to fill. Starting shooting guard is going to be Ricky Davis for the time being. I'd like to trade him later down the road because of the prima donna ways and what I've read about possible bad blood between him and Jefferson. His backup is going to be Rashad McCants. I want Shaddy's minutes to expand, but I want his micro fracture surgery fully healed. Plus I still feel like he's got some learning to do after all of that missed time.

I think I'd like to keep my 3 shooting forwards on the team. I feel like they've all got something to bring to the table. I have a good feeling about Gerald Green… not just because he is so young or because he won the Slam Dunk competition. Green had to sit behind Paul Pierce and Wally Szczerbiak. He'll be my scoring SF. Trenton Hassell will be my veteran presence. I love Trenton so I'm going to keep him around but he is going to be trade bait in a year. His job is to teach Corey Brewer everything he has learned about defense. Brewer is going to get the fewest minutes of the bunch, with Green and Hassell switching in and out in a similar fashion to our Center position; Green to get the lead, Trenton to keep it.

That leaves 3 men out not including our NBDL bound friend Mr. Richards: Marko Jaric, Mark Madson and most likely Gomes. Gomes is easy to get rid of, but like I said before I may have to part with Smith in order to rid myself of Mark and O. I heard a rumor that Detroit wanted Marko Jaric for Nazr Mouhammed, which I'm totally down with, and Madson and Smith for Lindsay Hunter worked, so I'd like to work out a deal with Detroit. If we got Hunter in here he could spend his final contract year teaching Foye how to play point and Bassy how to stop pointing guns.

I know I just spent far too much time rambling but I've come up with a team. Gomes gets traded for a pick. Mad dog and Smith end up in Detroit. (I know. I hate that I got rid of two young players, but being a GM is hard and you can't please everybody.) Three deep at PG Foye starts, Bassy plays second fiddle and Hunter teaches. Starting shooting guard is Ricky Buckets with McCants backing up. Marko Jaric clings to the end of the bench waiting for someone to injure himself while Jaric tells himself that he can play 1-3. The crowd sits and laughs knowing that he can't even properly shave the stubble off of his face. Small Forward is taught and started by Hassell with Mr. Green as our 6th or 7th man and Brewer slowly adapting to the higher level of play. Al Jefferson Starts at Power Forward backed up by Juwan Howard. Mark Blount Starts at Center and Theo Ratliff backs him up. If a smaller lineup is needed or one of the center/ Forwards gets hurt Brewer or Hassell can slide to the PF for a minute or two.

I know that's 13, but someone is going to get injured during camp and as soon as they get better someone else will get injured. This is basketball people! There are always injuries. That leaves us with Lindsay Hunter, Theo Ratliff and Ricky Buckets in their final years. Same goes for Foye, Green, Jefferson, McCants and Telfair but some if not all will be resigned using. The veteran contracts add up to almost 21 million to add to the 15.8 million worth of yummy cap space that we have already got stock piled and the almost 4 million in trade exceptions (Which I tried to fully understand). That 37 million is enough to handsomely reward Foye and Jefferson and still go after another big name. Right?

Written by the Muck-up (photo from I heart KG)

The Love We Lost.....

Well, I hope you all appreciated it while it lasted. The only true face of the Minnesota Timberwolves since their inception in 1989 is probably busy packing his bags and saying his good-byes. It appears what ADAMBEZ and many others reported earlier today has come true, as Kevin Garnett is apparently heading east to the Boston Celtics. The deal isn't official but I'm going out on a limb and saying its done. The Timberwolves would receive Al Jefferson, Sebastion Telfair, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff, and two first round picks in return. Go figure it would be with the only team that McDouschbag seems to trade with, mainly because himself and Celtics GM Danny Ainge are buddies. As a Timberwolves die hard for many a year, I can't help but shed a tear at this news. Kevin Garnett is the reason the Wolves have any fans left, and with the exception of one year, the only reason fans came out to games on a frequent basis. Before I break down how great of a trade this is for us, I have no choice but to reflect on everything that Kevin Garnett is. I think he deserves that much.

Drafted in 1995 straight out of Farragut Academy in Chicago, Garnett came into the NBA as the first High Schooler since Moses Malone to be drafted. The decision was not a popular one with many people. Too young, too skinny, too raw. Whether he used that for motivation was not clear, but ever since then he has been everything that Wolves fans had hoped for and more. For 12 wonderful years, Minnesota got to experience not only one of the best players in the NBA but also one of its hardest working as well. It was a joy to watch this lanky 6'11" man exude such raw joy playing the game of basketball. Some people who play the game treat it more like a job than anything else. Kevin treated it like it was the game he grew up loving, and acted like he was truly happy to be getting paid to play. Now, some people might say that he was vastly overpaid, but if you stepped back and thought about what Kevin brought to the table, that point loses a lot of its luster. Not only was good for 22 and 12 almost every game of his career, but he also averaged around 5 assists for most of it as well. He may have not hit as many big shots as everyone would have liked, but he made his teammates better in every way. He never got himself in any trouble and treated the people of Minnesota with respect, always saying that he loved to play here. To me, he was worth every penny of the 20+ million a year he got from the club.


Sadly though, that 20+ million dollar salary, coupled with many horrendous other contracts, completely handicapped the team into mediocrity. Even though many of us did not want to see it end this way, something had to be done. The team had to part ways and start this Biotch over. It appears they have done so.

They couldn't have asked for much more. If all is true and they receive who they are said to be receiving, the trade is the first one in a long time that you can say that we actually came out on top. Sure we give up Garnett, but we get a budding "star" in Al Jefferson and lots of yummy cap room. The other actual players aren't that great, with the exception of Gerald Green, who could bring some excitement to the Target Center. I'm not sure that Sebastion Telfair will be with us, or anyone else, for very much longer. The part of this deal that makes it so appealing is those two first round picks that we acquire. Sure, one of them would be our pick that we owe the Celtics already, but it helps undue some of the mess McHorrible GM made down his leg a couple years ago.





If, for some reason, you happen to be optimistic for this upcoming year, let me be the first one to burst your bubble. This team will be very, very bad next year. And by bad, I'm talking 20-25 wins at most. I'm hoping for 15-18 actually, which would probably guarantee ourselves a top 3 pick, if not (GASP!) the first overall pick. This might be the only way we get to keep our pick that belongs to the Clippers. If you couple that fact with all the yummy cap room I mentioned earlier, this could be a shorter rebuilding process then usually is the case. Taking a quick look at the notable free agents for next years class, names like Elton Brand, Dwight Howard, Ben Gordon, Shawn Marion, and Agent Zero quickly jump off the page. Those are some of the names that could make this pill a lot easier to swallow.

As the Kevin Garnett era nears its end, I want to be one of hopefully many to look back at his time here, not with disdain, but with fondness. I know that we didn't get to where most fans wanted to get, but we truly saw one of the good ones play for 12 years. He did his best to take Wolves fans to the promised land. It wasn't his fault that a couple idiots were driving the bus. I'm gonna keep cheering for Kevin in Bean Town, and I hope that he can finally find his way to more success. He deserves it as much as any player in the NBA. Maybe the people in Boston will embrace him the way Wolves fans have.



Good Luck, Ticket.





On a lighter note, I am currently watching the Twins-Royals game,(and no, I don't know why) and Dick Bremer just uttered the words "Lew Ford absolutely owns Jimmy Gobble."(Royals relief pitcher) Man, has it really gotten this bad?? If they are clinging to statements that absurd, then the answer just may be yes.