What Would the IMU Do?

So I'm getting pretty stoked about this draft tonight and I'm been talking to Bez while he slacks off at work. He asked me where I thought everyone would go because I was telling him I though Chad Ford's latest Mock Draft was pretty shitty. It started because of a handful of players being in what I thought was the completely wrong place in the first round, but also because He has the Wolves taking two international players and keeping them over seas in the second round. I've already stated that I think the Wolves should move up, which I'll talk about at the bottom of this, but should they keep those picks what good is it to keep players away from this team when backing up our Power Forward turned Center are Micheal Doleac and Chris Richards who is shorter than Jefferson. Our Power Forwards are all too small as well. Gomes and Smith are 6-7 and Madsen is not only nothing more than a glorified cheerleader, but also a 6-9 player who tends to mop up in the 5 spot more than the 4.

Anyways... Here's how I see the Top Ten going down.

1. Chicago takes Derrick Rose. Easy.
2. Beasley goes here. If Miami doesn't take him they trade the pick to either Seattle or Memphis. From Seattle they get Chris Wilcox and the 4. From Memphis They get Mike Miller and the 5. I'm sure there would be other current NBA players involved in this trade for money purposes, but I'm not going to bother figuring that sort of stuff out.
3. The Wolves take Ovinton J'Anthony Mayo. Please take him. Please take him. Please take him. God strike McHale down before 6 PM. ( you don't have to kill him, just incapacitate him during our picks)
4. Jerryd Bayless goes here either to the Heat or to Seattle.
5.The Grizzlies take Kevin Love or The Heat take Russell Westbrook.
6. I think the Knicks take Westbrook or D.J. Augustine Lets face it... the Knicks could use everything and Ford has them leaning towards Danillo Gallinari. I think they want Westbrook to fix that Starbury problem. I'm not sold on teams digging that European Point-Forward bullshit after they all seemingly flop unless they are named Dirk (who just chokes in the clutch)
7.I think the Clips take D.J Augustine. If he is not available they pick Eric Gordon.
8. The Bucks take Joe Alexander. This seems pretty set in stone.
9. The Bobcats will take Kevin Love if he isn't selected at 3 (no please) or 5. If he is gone they take Brook Lopez so that they can move Emeka Okefor to Power Forward.
10. The Nets take Danillo Gallinari at 10.

I think Ford has Bayless way too low, Lopez and Galinary too high, and Augustine and Westbrook slightly lower than they should be. This is a Guard's top 10 and a Center's mid section.

Now. About that trade I want the Wolves to make to jump into the middle of the first round. It looks like The Warriors at 14 are our best hopes if we try to package this years two second rounders and/or Antoine Walker. The Warriors have Andris Biedrins and Monta Elis as restricted free agents and could use Walker's salary off the books to help sign one or both along with not having guaranteed contracts for second rounders. The Sixers are in the same boat as the Warriors at 16 as they have Andre Iguodalla as a restricted free agent this season. If the combination involves the first rounder we got from Boston there are more options... probably the The Wizards who need to figure out a way to get Gilbert Arenas and Antwan Jamison back on their team. My guess is they'll only get Gilbert back.

I'd rather not bother giving up a first rounder and ending up lower with the Wiz, but it may end up happening and that Celtics pick won't be too many spots above the one Miami gave us any way. I want to figure out a way to get rid of Antoine Walker, Marko Jaric, Rashad McCants and Craig Smith are on my chopping block. Bassy and Gomes are very reluctantly there as well. There are worse players that are obvious choices to go, but I don't think they'd be wanted unless contracts don't match up. If you want to know who I'd like us to pick up for a big man its either Kosta Koufus or DeAndre Jordan leaning towards Koufus.

UPDATE: It looks like the Sonics and Clippers will swap the 4 and 7 picks if Mayo is off the table by then. Sounds like the Clippers wanted Eric Gordon even more than I thought they did(I'll go ahaed and take half a point when this thing goes through). I still think Seattle will be looking for a PG.

Say Hello to Your New Vikings

On the surface this years draft does not look that exciting with only one pick on the first day and 4 the second none before the 5th round. Keep in mind that our first round pick was a 26 year old all-pro DE who racked up 15.5 sacks on a D-line that was no where near as dominant as the purple. History says Sack leaders numbers go down the year after leading the league but logic says that its impossible to double team everybody on the line. If any of you are worried about giving all of that money to a man who could face a big suspension and even possible jail time with one more DUI fear not, I've found a post on Pro Football Talk outlining how the Vikes have protected themselves against this sort of thing. If you thought we gave up too much for Allen you're pretty crazy considering the Jaguars gave up their 1st, two 3rds AND a 4th rounder for Derrick Harvey at the 8 spot. Thats a 4th rounder more than we gave up for a proven commodity.

In the second round yesterday we moved up a few spots to select Tyrell Johnson, a safety from Arkansas State. He was the Sunbelt defensive player of the year and had 6 interceptions in his senior year. He made 363 tackles and had 13 interceptions during his time at Arkansas State and was impressive during his school's pro day benching 225lbs 27 times (more than anybody else) running a 4.41 40 and showcasing his 39 inch vertical. Many people were confused by this pick but I like it. Sharper is getting older and though his play doesn't show it yet its only a matter of time before we'll need Johnson to step in.

In the 5th round we moved up to select John David Booty of USC. I never thought I'd say it but thank you Green Bay... we swapped 5th rounders and threw in our 7th round pick. Booty means we'll be able to release Bollinger and upgraded both of our back-up QBs from last year. He's also a good option to have if the T-Jack experiment goes bad. I'll post a video of him in action soon.

Our next selection in the 5th puzzled me a bit. We picked up Letroy Guion, a defensive tackle from Florida State University. I know that Pat Williams is getting a little older, but we signed Fred Evans last offseason. I was thinking the team would go after an OT, but Spielman has a very complex draft board and he was rated 8th overall at his position by scout.com.

With our First pick in the 6th round we selected John Sullivan, a center out of Notre Dame. He will most likely become the center of the future should Matt Birk decide to leave after this season. He's 6-4 and 303 lbs and is extremely reminiscent of Birk.

Our final selection was Jaymar Johnson, a WR out of Jackson State. At 6-1 180 he'll need to bulk up a bit but he'll be used mostly as a kick returner if he makes the team. I was hoping we'd use this pick on OT Brandon Kieth out of Northern Iowa University, but we let him go and Arizona picked him up in the 7th round.

In related new Dominique Barber was drafted by the Houston Texans in the 6th round. He was the only Gopher drafted. As for Hawkeyes Charles Godfrey was picked up in the 3rd round by Carolina, Kenny Iwebema was picked up in the 4th round by Arizona and Mike Humpal was picked up by the Steelers in the 6th.

UPDATE: The Daily Norseman has a list of the 16 undrafted free agents signed by the purple today.

Troy say hello to Mr. Tice

The Vikings collective catching ability just got considerably better:

The Vikings have agreed in principle to trade receiver Troy Williamson to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a second-day draft pick, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

The trade cannot become official until the official start of the league year, Thursday at 11 p.m. CST.

This of course reunites Williamson with none other then Mike Tice. Which obviously means future success.


The Vikings had a pretty good draft last year, so hopefully this additional pick will have similar results.

LINK


*I bet Troy dropped that ball.

Gerald Green Brings his Cupcake to Houston

The Wolves traded Gerald Green to the Houston Rockets For Kirk Snyder (Above), a second round pick in 2010 and some cash. Green was the odd man out in the core of young players we received from Boston for KG. Its too bad that somebody as athletic as Green couldn't translate that onto the court with the Wolves. The team did the right thing in trading him for a pick and some cash, but I'm afraid that somewhere along the line somebody will be able to teach this high school pick how to play at this level properly. Green played High School ball in Houston and said that the trade was a dream come true.

Snyder, a 6-6 guard, hasn't had much of an NBA career averaging 15 minutes, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 6 points while playing for the Jazz, The Hornets. He lead the Nevada Wolf Pack to its first ever sweet sixteen in 2004 after beating Gonzaga and Michigan. That season he averaged nearly 19 points, 6 rebounds, 3.5 assists and a steal per game. Most likely Snyder will be gone from the team when the next season begins, but hes still got about 30 games to prove that he belongs on a team with very few certainties.

Devean George is Gangsta!

You guys may not have known that, but I have for quite a few years. My father and I always went to Augsburg to see George single-handedly crush the competition back when I was in junior high school. When he was drafted in the first round out of division III many may have scratched their heads. I knew it was deservedly so. You may be scratching your heads right now, sure he has three rings, but he was just a role player on a really good team. I cannot deny this, it is true. The thing is that George put a MONSTER block Jason Kidd today. I bet he knocked the wind right out of Kidd's sails.

Did the Mavs even play the Nets tonight? No. That sort of thing doesn't stop a man like George from wreaking his anarchic fierceness throughout the NBA.

Today, the Mavs attempted to acquire Kidd and forward Malik Allen for Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, DeSanaga Diop, Maurice Ager, George, 3 million dollars and two first round draft picks. That’s a lot of shit, right? Huge trade, right? Not gonna happen. Wait... is that right?

Devean George may have opened the NBA's equivalent of Pandora's Box by using a little know rule that allows players under one-year contract with teams that hold early bird signing rights to block trades like this. These rights cannot be traded along with the player and as compensation to that player they are given the right to block a trade.

I'm gonna go ahead and guess that Dallas won't be following through with their early bird rights, but it was probably still in Georges favor to block this deal. His minutes have diminished this year, but he would have been sent to a team that now had 3 extra players and would have had to A: trade him once again, or B: put him on the far end of the bench on a team that most likely would have favored the role players that have been on the team since the season started.

His agent says the reason for blocking the trade was hold onto this powerful "early bird" rights that will give them leverage in a sign and trade deal in the upcoming off-season. The problem is that George's expiring contract is what the Nets are looking for and keeps the Mavs from taking severe cap hit.

Mark Cuban no es Feliz.

Latrell's kids must be really hungry.

MILWAUKEE -- Former NBA star Latrell Sprewell's home is up for foreclosure and his yacht sold at auction to help pay off the $1.3 million he owes on the boat, according to court filings.

Sprewell, who once turned down a three-year, $21 million contract extension saying, "I've got my family to feed," has apparently fallen on tough times.

RBS Citizens NA, or Citizens Bank, filed a foreclosure suit last week in Milwaukee County for the $405,000 home Sprewell bought in the Milwaukee suburb of River Hills in 1994.

In court documents, the bank said Sprewell owed $295,138 in outstanding payments plus interest.

Sprewell failed to make his mortgage payments of $2,593 per month from September 2007 to January 2008, the documents said.

I guess the sub-prime mortgage problem is worse then we thought. For a guy who made millions playing in the NBA, times are tough. For a house that was only 400,000 you'd think he could have made some big payments with the money he was making and have it all payed off. I guess it shows the flaw at it's core.
I wonder which team needs his services the most for a playoff run. Labron always needs help, and as benny was saying, it's close to miluakee. Maybe even Houston, although the Wizards could use some help with Caron out and Gilbert on his way back in less then a month.

This NBA season is becoming quite fun. I would like to thank Steve Kerr, Mitch Kupchak, Chris Wallace, and Pat Riley for helping February not suck as bad as it usually does.

I never talked much about either of the big trades when they happened so I will take this opportunity to.

Shaq for the Matrix*
When I first heard about this I was dumbfounded, which was the case with many of the people I talked to. I first called my brother who lives in Phoenix to see what he thought of the deal. Just like me he had just heard about it but didn't know. Again, dumbfounded.
As I thought about it more, the more it made sense to me. As long as the guy can play 20-25 min a game, maybe a little less, in the playoffs he'll bring so much to this team. There really hasn't been a team, at least one I can remember that would be similar to this team. They can run, and when need be they'll be able to throw the ball down low. This will give Boris Diaw a chance to show what kind of player he really can be. He had a great year when Amare was out and now I think he'll get to play like that again. I'm guessing he'll play many of the minutes opposite to Shaq.
So after my knee jerk reaction of hating it, this trade has grown on me, and I really hope it works out. I'd love to cheer for the Suns this year in the playoffs.

Pau for player a,b,c,d,e,f &g.

I haven't thought about this one as much, but it's a great deal for the Lakers. I feel that it's accepted that they stole him. He's pretty young, and will help them make runs for years to come. When they get Bynum back, they're really going to be a tough team to beat.


*Marcus Banks sucks so we won't included him as being part of this trade.

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.

Twins Lose: Santana now a Metropolitan

The Twins traded Johan to the Mets today, and pending the two parties coming to terms on a contract extension, Santana will be a Metropolitan by the end of the week.

Fuck, in my own opinion Bill Smith has blinked twice.

1) When making the deal for Delmon Young, he originally could have included Rincon in the deal, but then he blinked and added Morlan. Don't get me wrong, I like the pieces we got in this deal, it's just a shame we had to get rid of one of our best pitching prospects in the process.

2) From the beginning of the Santana talks, the Twins stated that they wouldn't deal with the Mets without them including Reyes. It was pretty obvious that the Mets weren't going to included him in the deal under any circumstances. So the next best thing was to get a top prospect (see: Fernando Martinez), they definitely didn't do that.

I know, I know, this trading for Prospects business is never clear until said prospects have a chance to prove or disprove themselves. It is just that I'm not feeling much confidence in our new GM.

On the other hand 2 draft picks and a season of distractions wouldn't be any better.

So in the last 6 months or so we've lost the following:

Kevin Garnett

Torii Hunter

Johan Santana


Hey at least Santana didn't go to Boston or the Yankees, and will be playing in the NL. I'm going to go throw up now.

Also, the Twins Geek ask some interesting questions on this transaction.

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.

HUH???

Terry Ryan is done, as GM. This is strange. Why now? Why at all? Is he saying? There are so many questions. More later.

Todd Lowber: We Hardly Knew Ye (And Other Vikings Movement)

Probably because Division III Basketball players have no place in the NFL. Cross your fingers for the scout team, buddy.

This move, coupled with a few other cuts and Tyler "Pigpen" Thigpen's move to the scout team opens up room for Kelly Holcomb to move in and "compete" for the back-up quarterback position. I have a feeling that it will be a lot safer having a 12 year veteran on the active roster than having a rookie who happens to be the first ever player drafted out of the Big South. Holcomb only cost the Vikings a 6th round pick in the 2009 draft and that pretty good for a back-up QB.

I have a feeling that Lowber has a better chance being paid by the Vikings than Bollinger come next season. An injury prone QB with a 2-7 lifetime record and a preseason passer rating of 30.4 is just not what an NFL team looks for in their most important position. He'll stay on the team for the year simply because the team gave up a draft pick for him and Thigpen isn't quite ready to sit on the big boy's bench. Next year Bolinger is either wearing a Chicago Rush jersey or a polo that reads University of North Dakota.

Man, this offense is gonna rock!

KG to the Celtics?????

Draftexpress is reporting it's almost a done deal.

Multiple sources close to the situation told DraftExpress Sunday that the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves have come to terms on a trade exchanging Kevin Garnett for a package including Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, and Theo Ratliff. The exact details of the trade aren’t known at this point, but it is believed that the deal will be completed shortly with similar parameters.

Stay tuned for developments...