Patience Hurts

So here we are, with the Wolves now staring at a 1-11 record. Most Wolves fans know we will need some patience to get through this season. Make that a lot of patience.

Already, Wolves fans are disgusted with Kahn, Rambis, Flynn, Jefferson, and just about everyone who gets paid to be at Target Center. While I'm not pleased with the early results, it is not like we've been enduring McHale and Wittman for years like we were last season.

Finally, I just remembered something that should help me get through this season. Last year, the OKC Thunder were absolutely wretched at this point in the season. Their record was very similar to the Wolves record this year, and now they are the darlings of the NBA with their assortment of good, young players.

So, maybe we have that to look forward to. Maybe.

Expectations Low and High

My basketball expectations for tonight are pretty low. The Wolves (who are struggling mightily) are facing a quality opponent (Dallas) without Al Jefferson (tending to an ill family member).

It is games like the one tonight where it is easier to deal with a blowout since the deck is stacked against them. On the other hand, it is also the type of game where they could totally surprise us and maybe sneak out a victory. That's why I still watch the games. You just never know when the unexpected will happen.

On a related note, I get to take my not quite 2-year-old daughter to her first Wolves game. She's very excited to see Crunch, and I'm very excited to see what she thinks of the experience. So, even if the Wolves lose, it will be a fun time tonight. That's the great thing about bringing a little kid to see a struggling team -- you can still expect something special.

Whoa Nellie!

Yuck! Nellie's Golden State Warriors thoroughly embarrassed the Wolves last night by tying the Wolves records for margin of defeat (41) and points allowed (146). Usually, the Warriors are only capable of embarrassing themselves. Leave it to the "re-re-re-re-rebuilding" Wolves to change that.

After last night's game, Rambis said, "We knew we were going to take some lumps. Until we have an idea of a nice starting unit and a set rotation where guys can feel comfortable and when they're going to play, we're probably going to continue to play up and down and be inconsistent."

I'm still waiting for the up part, unless you count a competitive game against Boston and the last six minutes against the Nets.

We all knew it wouldn't be a good year, but it really wears on fans' patience to be setting records for futility. They need to show improvement this year. I've been saying for a while now, but there is only so much more I can take. The Wolves have only given me a few tiny glimmers of hope over the last five years.

I'm still hopeful that Rambis and Kahn know what they're doing, and I'll continue to be patient through next off season due to the anticipated high draft pick and the much publicized cap room. BUT, I demand to see significant improvement at that point. 41-point losses next year might finally be the silver bullet that knocks off this die-hard fan.

You hear me, Glen Taylor?

The Slide Continues

The last week was not kind to the Timberwolves. Four losses and zero wins since my last post puts their record at 1-6. We're not in Randy Wittman territory yet, but it would be nice to pick up another win soon.

I will give the Wolves some credit for playing the Clippers and Celtics close. They could have even had a shot to beat the Celtics had the referees not given Garnett the star treatment on a big non-foul call. But then, ugly losses to both the Bucks and Blazers soured any moral victories that may have come from the close losses earlier in the week.

As most fans expected, it is already looking like it will be a tough year to follow the Wolves. So far, there are really four things that have hurt the Wolves over and over this year:

• Defense -- This is the big one. I'm guessing this is mostly a factor of the amount of inexperienced players on the team. In last night's game against Portland, the Wolves were way too slow to rotate defenders after a pass was made. Time and again, Portland would swing the ball quickly from one side of the court to the other for wide open 3-pointers. I have to hope that the defense will improve with experience.
• Rebounding -- It is surprising that this has been a deficiency given how well they rebounded last year. True, the absence of Kevin Love of is part of the problem, but there are other factors. Al Jefferson hasn't been pulling down the rebounds like usual, but the biggest culprit I've seen is the lack of boxing out once a shot goes up. That is unacceptable. The Wolves need four, if not all five, men boxing out every time the other team puts up a shot.
• Shooting -- This one is easy to pinpoint. Most of the early season has seen poor shooting by almost everyone on the team. Jefferson has been forcing up bad shots, Brewer has been taking a ton of shots (most of them are open shots, but he just misses them), and role players have been missing the few shots they've taken.
• Offensive Execution -- This is the deficiency that everyone should expect. The players are still learning the triangle offense and they clearly struggle with it right now. You have to hope that the players will eventually just "get it" and start to execute with more precision.

There you have it. These four things trouble the Wolves. Unfortunately, those are four BIG things. If you're optimistic, at least two of those items (rebounding and defense) are mostly functions of effort. Realistically, though, they are also limited by the personnel that is put on the court. So, until Kevin Love returns and the Wolves find a more deadly shooter, things could stay ugly a while longer.

Early Season Thoughts

The Timberwolves are now three games into the season and sitting in last place with a 1-2 record. That's probably right where they should be expected to be, if not slightly better than what is to be expected.

The first game of the season yielded a thrilling comeback victory over the Nets. They played pretty poorly for much of the game, but fought until the end to provide the home crowd with a nice reward for showing up. Flynn looked good, Al Jefferson did not. The Wolves "sold" a decent number of tickets for this one, but the arena appeared to be only about 60% full.

Game number two brought in King James and the Cavs. The Wolves played a little better than they did in the opener, but the superior opponent had no trouble putting the Wolves away. Again, Flynn looked good, but Jefferson was rusty.

Last night brought the first road game of the season and another loss. I actually think this game had the Wolves best showing of the season. Jefferson looked to be shaking off some rust, and the offense was the most efficient they've been so far. Gomes had an excellent night, and the Wolves were competitive for much of the night. Were it not for the sizzling 3-point shooting of the Suns, the Wolves would have had a good shot at stealing this one.

Today the Wolves play the Clippers and have a good shot of picking up a win. We'll also find out whether or not Kahn picks up the options on Love, Brewer, and Pecherov. He will certainly pick up Love's option. I could go either way with picking up Brewer's option, but I'd prefer to decline and make him show what he can do. I might cry if they pick up Pecherov's option. He should be nothing more than an 11th or 12th man on a decent NBA team.

Back In Action

The Wolves are back in action tonight and so am I!

It has been quite some time since I posted -- way back when we were still wondering whether Rubio would be here this year, in fact. About that time I got pretty busy and then Kahn went on his whirlwind trade processional and I knew I couldn't keep up, so I didn't even try. If you're reading this blog you know what all happened this summer, so I'll skip the recap and move on with the future. Hopefully I'll have more regular updates throughout the season.

It will be great to see the Wolves back on the court tonight. The start of the season is always great because there is still hope that the team may have some success on the court. Unfortunately, that hope probably won't last long with the continued rebuilding project that is the Minnesota Timberwolves. That means I'll enjoy a little optimism while I can.

I saw an interesting note today that said there are "only" 2000 seats left for tonight's game. Sure that reflects the loads of freebies given away at area Target stores last weekend and the fact that all 10-game season ticket packages got the home opener for free. That's why I'll be there tonight. I'm sure I'll see far more than 2000 empty seats.

Rubio, Rubio...

... where for art thou Rubio? That is the question I and all Wolves fans will be asking in the coming months and perhaps years. I finally have the chance to share a few thoughts on the Rubio situation. (I had a whole week off from work and somehow I has even less time to work on the blog!)

First, drafting Rubio with the 5th pick was absolutely the right move even if Rubio never plays for Minnesota. Rubio falling to 5 was an absolute gift. In this year's draft, Rubio was one of maybe two players who have superstar potential. Don't get me wrong -- I think guys like Jonny Flynn can be high quality players, but I'd be very surprised if Flynn turns out to be the next Jason Kidd. Rubio can be the next Jason Kidd. There's no guarantee, but his ceiling is unbelievably high.

The Wolves now have the rights to a possible superstar and someone who will definite fill the seats -- if he puts on a Wolves uniform. At this point that is the biggest problem. There have been countless media "comments" that he may stay with DKV Joventut or he may sign with another European team. I think all of these accounts need to be taken with an even greater grain of salt than most NBA rumors. We have no idea how truthful any of these Spanish-to-English translated reports may be. Until I hear official word from the Timberwolves, I'm going to assume there is no news on the Rubio front.

So how will the whole Rubio situation play out? I think Kahn is in it for the long haul. I think Rubio will stay in Europe for one more season while the Wolves hold onto his rights. This will give the Wolves a chance to evaluate Jonny Flynn's play. If Flynn is surprisingly great, Rubio will be traded before next year's draft. If Flynn disappoints then I think we will finally get a shot at seeing Rubio in a Wolves uniform since he won't need to worry about being shown up by another point guard on his own team.

But, I am still hoping that the Wolves and Rubio can work something out that will allow him to play in Minnesota this season. That would be a great reward for a new season ticket holder like me.