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.

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.

NLCS DINNER BREAK

Even though I had stopped writing for so long, I have by no means slowed down on what I read on the intertubes. So here is a little taste of a few things I have found interesting lately in a NLCS Dinner Break.

-We're really going to miss Trenton Hassell, this season. Freedarko has a great profile of him.



-Michael Russo, over at the Star Tribune rips apart the "Demitra is unhappy" rumors running around the NHL. If you're not reading Russo's Rants, you are really missing out. He has been around the NHL since 1995 and is extremely connected to what's going on in the league. It's worth the daily stop for the 1.5 posts per day. He also had some great stats about Nik and my favorite Wild player Brent Burns today:

Here are some great Nik Backstrom stats dug up today by the Wild:– Nik Backstrom is 24-1-2 when leading at any point in a game — lone regulation loss coming Feb. 6 vs. Dallas when he led 2-0 and lost 4-2.

– Backstrom is 16-0-0 when leading after two periods.

– Since officially taking over starting role Feb. 1 for Fernandez, Backstrom ranks first in the NHL in wins (21-3-3), first in shutouts (six), first in goals against average (1.80), first in save percentage (.933) and second in win percentage (.833).

– He’s 22-3-3 in his last 28 decisions.

– He’s 13-0-1 in his last 14 decisions since March 6.

– Has allowed two goals or less in 15 straight regular-season starts.

On Brent Burns, he leads all NHL defensemen in goals since March 11 (six). He has four winning goals in that span, tied for the league lead among forwards and defensemen (Milan Michalek and Mike Comrie).

-The Wild are fast.

-Over at Black Hearts Gold Pants, they have this list, it's a bad list, a very bad list.

-INCH (INside College Hockey) has their pre-season All-Americans up, and they have 3 kids from UND on the 1st team. I wonder if that's a good or bad sign for them.

F - Nathan Davis - Miami
F - Ryan Duncan - North Dakota
F - T.J. Oshie - North Dakota
D - Taylor Chorney - North Dakota
D - Matt Gilroy - Boston University
G - Jeff Lerg - Michigan State

The first and only Gopher on the list is Kyle Okposo, who is on the 3rd team. I expect him to finish higher on this list at the end of the season, the kid is too strong and talented not to.

-My brother who lives in Tempe, AZ and attends ASU is a bum and won't be attending the NLCS game tonight. He had some lame excuse about a test tomorrow, blah blah blah and that is a poor excuse because the game starts at 5pm local time down there. There is no way you can tell me that he won't have enough time to study. On top of this, if you went to www.stubhub.com today tickets for said game started at $5. People in Arizona are lame. For a little reference, tickets for Friday's ALCS game in Boston on stubhub start at $170.

-One of my favorite bands Meriwether is making their Debut in Minneapolis next Wednesday, at the Varsity Theater. If anyone has time, check them out, they're a fun southern rock band.

-Carrot Top, no that's not his name, sorry it's Bobby Kielty will be starting for the Red Sox friday. I wonder how many ex-Twins have played so far in this years playoffs. We all know Kyle "grand slam" Lohse did.




SPOKEN WORD.......




edit:

I had to come back after all that, cause I have found something great, hat tip to The National Anthem Before a Cubs Game. Like Jon said, I hope this is one of many.

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)