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.

Dos Point Guards

The 2009 NBA draft is now in the books, and it was definitely exciting for the Wolves. It was definitely a point guard festival with the Wolves selecting four point guards with their six picks. Thankfully, two of those picks were traded for future consideration.

Wolves fans were pleasantly surprised and extremely excited to land the dynamic Spaniard, Ricky Rubio, with the 5th pick. (I still can't believe it. We could have Ricky Rubio in Minnesota next year!) The excitement quickly turned to confusion when they selected another point guard, Jonny Flynn, with the 6th pick. After that they grabbed Ty Lawson (another point guard) and the confusion level went through the roof before it was quickly announced that Lawson was being traded for a future draft pick. The Wolves also landed a quality shooting guard in Wayne Ellington with their final first round pick. In the second round, the Wolves selected point guard Nick Calathes (and traded him away) and something named Henk Norel (one of Rubio's teammates in Spain who I don't think will ever see an NBA court as a player).

If you buy into Kahn's reasoning that both Rubio and Flynn can be key players on the court at the same time, Wolves fans should be on clould 9, right? Well, we are Wolves fans, so things aren't perfect. Rubio may not play in Minnesota next year or ever. Ugh. More of my thoughts on this later.

Note: I've been busier at work recently so I haven't been able to comment on the recent Wolves news much lately. I hope to have a little more time soon to be able to add some in depth comments on the post-draft roster and the coaching search.

Thoughts on the McHale Era

It was a long run. There were some good times. There were a lot of bad times. The ending was a little awkward. That's the three second summation of the Kevin McHale era.

The good times came mostly in the beginning. The McHale Era started roughly when Glen Taylor rescued the team from the swindlers in New Orleans and appointed McHale the Vice President of Basketball Operations. McHale promptly made the genius move of drafting Garnett and what appeared to be a good move in drafting Marbury. Things were looking up for McHale and his promising young squad.

Unfortunately, the plan went very wrong once the team lost Gugliotta and Marbury turned out to be a crazy man. This led to about five years that could be known as the tedium of mediocrity. McHale didn't look so smart but I don't remember many calling for him to be fired at that point.

Then there was the one year blip of greatness that every Wolves fan remembers more fondly than any other year. I still maintain that getting Cassell and Sprewell was a great move. No one knew those two would provide one great year and then complain about everything and become clubhouse cancers.

After that great year, everyone knows how quickly things deteriorated. We have now been stuck with five seasons that have been far too similar to the franchise's first five season. Poor players, mounting losses, and call for McHale to be fired have been the norm.

David Kahn heeded that last point yesterday and pulled the McHale Era off of life support.

It was time for McHale to go. I find that I am not as elated as most fans, but I'm also not disappointed. McHale showed some promise as head coach, but not enough that any would reasonably entertain keeping him employed in this situation. It's a little sad just because McHale was a beloved Minnesota sports figure for so long and he seems like a very nice guy.

Of course, NBA basketball isn't about being a nice guy. It's about winning and giving the fans what they want. McHale certainly couldn't meet those demands so now we get to turn our attention to a new era. Will it be the Kahn era or the insert-new-coach's-name-here era? Only time will tell. For now, I think it is the era of possibility, as in there is a possibility the Wolves could become a good team in a few years.

For the meantime, though, the draft being one week from tonight will put the whole coaching situation on hold. As I mentioned in a post just after the season ended, there is plenty to keep Wolves fans interested this offseason.

McHale Era Over

According to a tweet by Kevin Love, Kevin McHale will not be coming back as head coach of the Timberwolves. That would be what I call news from an authentic source.

It will be interesting what kind of news comes out of Target Center today. I'll have more reaction later after the Wolves make an official announcement. Stay tuned.

Finally Official

Although, the 2008-09 season has been over for months now as far as Timberwolves fans are concerned, the greater NBA season finally ended tonight as the Lakers captured another championship. The Lakers were the best team all year long and they got what they deserved. Of course, they may only have been that good because Memphis gave them Pau Gasol for $24 worth of beads a while back, but that's a different topic altogether.

As much as I don't like the Lakers, I am glad they won this year as it gave Phil Jackson his 10th championship. I've always been a fan of Jackson's coaching philosophy, and the fact that he is a fellow UND alumnus just adds to my appreciation. As a bonus to Jackson getting his 10th championship I no longer find any redeeming qualities in the Lakers. For the foreseeable future, there is no team in the NBA that I would actually like the Lakers to defeat.

Congratulations, Lakers, there is now yet another basketball fan who will blindly adopt the "Beat L.A." mantra.

Who to Draft At Number 6?

This year's draft is setting up to be a huge crap shoot. Outside of the top few picks, there are a lot of players who could as high as 4th or as low as 10th (maybe even lower). That means there are a lot of players for the Wolves to consider at number 6.

There are four players that I view as acceptable at number 6. These four are James Harden, Tyreke Evans, Stephen Curry, and DeMar DeRozan. All of these guys fill a huge need as either point guard, shooting guard, or combo guard. Harden is still my top pick out of these four, but I think he'll be gone before the Wolves pick. I think Evans is the most likely choice.

Whoever they pick at 6 will be a quality player, but not a franchise cornerstone. The only player (besides Griffin) with potential to be a cornerstone is Ricky Rubio. Kahn has said the Wolves still need a big time star. Could the Wolves trade up to get Rubio in hopes that he will become a star? I don't really think so. It would require a pretty hefty price to trade up for Rubio and there is always a chance he could turn out to be the next Darko Milicic.

So can the Wolves get a cornerstone player this year? It's not going to happen with the 6th pick, but Kahn could have something up his sleave for a trade to bring one in. I could see a scenario where the Wolves target Chris Paul. The combination of multiple draft picks, a poor financial situation in New Orleans, and the willingness to give up Foye/Love and expiring contracts (think Mike Miller) might make a deal like that happen.

A future with Jefferson, Chris Paul, and a solid pick at number 6 looks pretty bright. We'll see what happens starting with that number 6 pick coming up in less than two weeks.

What's Going On?

"Not too much" would be the proper answer at this very moment. I think we've hit a bit of a boring period between the roller coaster ride of a GM search and the hard core analysis of the top talent that will be available in the draft.

There's no big Wolves news right now. The initial buzz and/or disappointment over the David Kahn hiring has died down. Rick Rickert-esque talent was paraded through the catacombs of Target Center this week. (Potential players available at the #6 pick won't come in until next week.) The only thing we know about McHale's head coach status is that he and Kahn have met and have consumed some combination of pork chop, cod, and pizza in their time together. The news just isn't very juicy.

I'd say there will be about another week of relative calm before serious draft rumors really start to take shape. Maybe we'll even get to find out that McHale and Kahn will get together for a nice steak dinner. Until then, I'll be settling for editorial nuggets like this article from TWolves Blog. It's a good little Timberwolves read for a slow Friday afternoon.

Reflecting on the New GM

Welcome to Minnesota, David Kahn. The pressure is on, and there is more pressure on you than just about any other candidate the Wolves could have hired.

I had to take a few days to digest how the David Kahn era will start. After mulling it over, my view of Kahn has improved over my initials reactions, but I am still not excited. I still would have preferred Tom Penn or Dennis Lindsey, but I'm ready to bury the hatchet and wish David Kahn the best.

Kahn certainly talked the talk in his press conference, and it sounds like he wants to have the hardest working front office staff in the league. He also claims to have no preconceived notions as to who to keep around after the draft. These are the traits I like.

On the other hand, I have yet to see him satisfactorily address his legal questions concerning the Fort Worth D-League team. Also, he kind of comes across as a borderline jerk. Hopefully, that ends up being good for the team. Obviously, having nice-guy McHale did not do a whole lot for the franchise. Plus, it's not like I have to work for the guy, so he can be a little bit of a jerk and it may not hurt his performance.

So, what will Kahn need to do for me to endorse him? I'd say he needs to be successful at least 8 of out his first 10 major decisions. Given his past, he has less wiggle room on my approval threshold. Most other candidates would need 7 out of 10 successes in my opinion.

So, Mr. Kahn, I really do hope you earn my approval. I hearby drop all my preconceptions so that you may have that chance. You say you're up to the challenge. Now you have to prove it. Your move, Mr. Kahn.

Screw You, Fate!

As fate would have it, the Timberwolves have yet again dropped a position in the draft lottery. They are now slotted to pick 6th instead of in the top three like every Wolves fan had hoped. Obviously, the Wolves were long overdue for some good luck in the lottery. Fat chance of that happening.

The most frustrating part is that Memphis had the same regular season record as the Wolves moved up to the number two slot and will have the privilege of choosing Ricky Rubio.

So now I am officially joining the ranks of those who hate the lottery. I have no more hope that the Wolves will ever move up in the lottery. For that reason, I can no longer take solace in losing as a way to improve draft lottery odds. It's now up to the Wolves to work some magic with the hand they've been dealt as there will be no savior from this year's draft. If they can't figure out some way to improve, I may as well plan on using this exact same post roughly one year from now.

I guess it is time to start thinking of who the Wolves can take at number 6. (Seriously, pick number 6! Screw you lotto balls!) The early possibilities might include Demar Derozan and Tyreke Evans as even James Harden will likely be gone at number 6. I'll look closer at some of the potential picks as the draft approaches. There will be many possibilities since this draft will be such a crap shoot.

You're Kidding, Right?

Make Tom Penn the latest to pull his name out of the hat after everyone started getting their hopes up that the search was almost over. Apparently, a nice promotion was enough to get him to reject the Wolves offer. This is getting ridiculous.

At this point, the Wolves are forced to settle. Since that is the case, the only people that I am willing to accept in the GM position are Fred Hoiberg or me, with Hoiberg coming in second on that list. That's right, Mr. Taylor, I would like to throw my hat in the ring.

I suspect I would be just as good a candidate at Bill Simmons. In fact, I have a very big advantage over Simmons in that I am a lifelong Wolves fan. There is no way I would let Danny Ainge fleece me in order for Boston to get another championship at Minnesota's expense! Plus, I am an engineer so I definitely should have the numerical skills to be a fine capologist. Make it happen, Mr. Taylor!

GM Search Over?

According to Jerry Zgoda's blog at the Strib website, Tom Penn is all but assured to be the next GM of the Timberwolves.

All I can say is it is about time. The Wolves need to get some positive press by way of announcing a new GM from outside the organization. The lack of official comment from the team over the past few weeks has not been beneficial for the club. The reports that Lindsey and Pfund both removed their names from consideration, and that the Wolves were very close to offering the job to Kahn created a lot of negative chatter from the hardcore fans.

So, is picking Tom Penn a good move? I think so. Based on the limited information we have about the candidates, I think Penn would be my second choice after Lindsey if I had to pick from the candidates I listed in my previous post. Of course he could end up being a total failure, but I am optimistic that he will help make things better for the Wolves. It will be interesting to see what kind of new info emerges if/when the Wolves formally announce the hiring of Penn.

On a side note, I just want to say that Jerry Zgoda has done a great job covering this story given the lack of communication put forth by the Wolves. He has routinely been the first source that I have seen on nearly all the GM search developments. No one else in town has even come close to reporting on the search in an adequate fashion.

There's one more side note I have to mention. The draft lottery will be held tomorrow night around 7:30 Central time. Of course, ESPN will delay the actual good stuff so I'm guessing it will be closer to 8:00 before we find out our draft fate. I'm expecting the Wolves to stay at number 5, but I'll be quite happy if this would finally be the year that they move up to 1 or 2.

The Search Rambles On

The Wolves search for a new GM continues to ramble on longer than most people thought it would. Over the last few days several names have looked to be front runners only to fall back behind. Speculation is running rampant. Many people claim to be "in the know" but the Wolves haven't made any sort of statement. Let's review the status of all the candidates for the job:

• Dennis Lindsey - withdrew from consideration, was fan favorite
• David Kahn - was rumored to be the guy a few days ago, Wolves have apparently cooled to the idea of hiring him, fans HATE the idea of hiring him
• Randy Pfund - he is interested, no good reports on his chances
• Tom Penn - new name that popped up last night, currently assistant GM with Portland
• Jim Stack - internal candidate, not believed to be strongly considered
• Fred Hoiberg - internal candidate, could end up being new GM's right-hand man
• Lance Blanks - no evidence he was actually interviewed
• Bill Simmons - entertaining sportswriter who volunteered for the job, fans are so desperate for change that they have been flooding the email of Wolves personnel begging them to seriously consider him

That is up to eight candidates. Maybe four of them (Kahn, Pfund, Penn, and Hoiberg) could be under serious consideration at this point. I actually wouldn't be opposed to Bill Simmons as things could be very interesting with him, but there is no way the Wolves seriously consider him.

At this point it is one big crap shoot. I wouldn't be surprised if the Wolves are leaking small amounts of info saying that one candidate is leading just so they can gauge public reaction. That could be why Kahn was the front runner for two days and now they are continuing their search. I don't think I can even make a guess anymore as to who the final choice will be.

Took the Plunge

This die-hard Timberwolves fan finally took the plunge and purchased season tickets for next season. The 10 game weekend pack to be specific. I'm not in a position as far as free time is concerned to go to all 41 games. Also, the Wolves haven't played well enough for me to fork over that much cash.

So why did I decide to make a season ticket commitment when the Wolves were only able to muster 24 wins this year? Well, there are several reasons that I will share.

The biggest reason is that Wolves season tickets have been a goal of mine for roughly the last 12 years. Back then, the Wolves had just started to become successful and had a promising future. I wanted to be a part of that. Over the years, time, money, and the state of the Wolves themselves have always delayed that goal. But the goal was still there.

Ticket prices have been cut to their lowest level in quite some time. I was able to get 2 tickets about 10 rows up in section 205 for $220 for the 10 game weekend package. While those aren't great seats, they are good enough for me to test out being a season ticket holder. Maybe if the Wolves would show some more ability on the court, I would have shelled out for something a little better.

Finally, I still have hope that things will eventually turn around, and I want to be one of the true supporters that is there for the beginning of something good. Maybe the Wolves will have the good fortune of landing Rubio or Griffin in this year's draft and will be next year's overnight success. Or maybe they will regress even more. If that is the case, I may only be a "one season" ticket holder.

GM Search

The Wolves are well into their process of selecting a new GM. (At least they had better be well into it by now.) I was hoping to do a good post of possible candidates, but I quickly realized that is a tough task for someone who does not have good contacts with personal knowledge of the candidates. One can scour the internet for the names that have been mentioned, but there is only so much out there. It's not like searching for draft prospects or even head coaches. The GM often does so much behind the scenes that there is not a lot of public information on these guys. Plus, even if there were more information, it would not be very interesting.

So instead of an in depth post, I'll just give a quick summary of my thoughts on the four candidates that have been mentioned the most.

First, we have the two internal candidates in Jim Stack and Fred Hoiberg. Stack has been in the Wolves front office for a while now and has surely at least been consulted in personnel decisions. I think he has been too tied into the organization to be "the" guy to make all the upcoming personnel decisions. Hoiberg is a likable guy and has supposedly been groomed to become a GM someday. However, he instantly lost credibility with the fans when he said the Wolves drafted Mayo to keep only to see Mayo get traded for Love a few hours later. The problem with both guys is that they can't offer a fresh perspective that is so vitally needed for this team.

Another leading candidate is former Timberwolf Lance Blanks. He has front office experience with both the Spurs and Cavs. Unfortunately, there isn't much info out there about him. Obviously, he would have the new point of view, but I haven't seen anything that makes me want to either endorse or dismiss him as a candidate. I'd take him over Hoiberg or Stack, but I couldn't get excited about him.

Finally, we have Spurs assistant GM Dennis Lindsey. He is reportedly the leading candidate and we do know the Spurs have been contacted by the Wolves about him. Canis Hoopus has some decent info about him. It looks like this guy is highly regarded within the NBA. I don't know that there is enough info to get excited about landing Lindsey, but at least there are no red flags that pop up.

So, who will it be? Hopefully, we will find out next week. Based on the limited info I have seen, I'd endorse Dennis Lindsey if it had to be one of the leading candidates. Of these four, I'd only be disappointed if Stack or Hoiberg became the official GM. Of course, there could be some secret candidates no one knows about. Even choosing a secret candidate would probably be a step in the right direction. (As long as the secret candidate is not named Kevin McHale.)

Don't Look Back

The Timberwolves' 20th season has come to an end, and just like many other seasons, this one mostly sucked. Most blogs would probably take a look back at the past season right now, but I'm not going to do that. There are plenty of other people that will take care of that elsewhere.

I'm going to jump right into looking toward the future. This will turn out to be a very interesting off season. The biggest question mark is the new GM. This is even bigger than the topic of McHale as head coach. The new GM will have the power to pick the new head coach so it might not even matter what McHale wants to do after spending a couple weeks up north. Popular opinion right now seems to point to a GM coming from outside the organization. If this is the case, it is hard to imagine that McHale will be back as head coach. Obviously, if McHale is not back, that will become the second most interesting question after the new GM is appointed.

It sounds like the front office and coaching decisions will probably be made well before the draft. That is good, because this could again be an important draft. The lottery is about a month away and the Wolves have a so-so shot at moving up. Lucking out into the number 1 or even the number 2 pick would really boost the rebuilding process.

Unfortunately, knowing the Wolves luck, there will probably be no moving up. That's unfortunate due to the weak draft class this year, but there should still be quality players available at the 5, 6, or 7 spots. Probably not All-Stars, but it would hard to not get someone more promising than someone like a Corey Brewer. If the Wolves get another player of Corey Brewer's calibur, we may be in for another long season next year.

Finally, there will be the free agent market and trade season coming up in July. There isn't enough cap space to be major free agency players, but the Wolves do have valuable expiring contracts in Cardinal and Miller. The new GM could work out a trade for a very good veteran using these chips and some of the extra draft picks. Someone like Kirk Hinrich could be within the Wolves sights this summer.

There is plenty there to hold the interest of the remaining Wolves fans for much of the summer. I don't see a real down time for Wolves news and speculation until late this summer. By that time training camp will only be a couple months away, and with a little luck Wolves fans can start to get excited for season number 21.

Playing Out the String

We've almost made it to the end of the line. Only one more game against Sacramento remains in this clunker of a season. I just have a few scattered thoughts about the end of the season.

At 24 wins, the Wolves already are guaranteed of having a better won-loss record than last season. Although, that will amount to no better than a three game improvement over last year. Also, considering that 10 of those wins came in January. I'd argue that makes the rest of the season even more disappointing than last year. Only the latest stretch of games holds anything encouraging outside of January's hot play.

The Wolves have a chance to finish 5-4 in their final nine games. Sure, they have beat some teams mailing it in like the Clippers and Warriors, but they also beat the Jazz (in Utah) and only lost by two in Dallas. It looks like they may be finally starting to learn to play without Al Jefferson. Also out for this stretch has been Randy Foye. I think this is more evidence that Foye is still not worthy of being named a starter in the NBA. If the Wolves could include him in a package for a second top ten draft pick or above average veteran this summer, I would be all for it.

Finally, the Wolves will finish with the 6th worst record or tied for the 5th worst record. While I'd love a few extra ping pong balls in the lotto, the difference between tied at five or being alone at six is pretty small. I say just go out and beat Sacramento and try to get back some good karma to make up for "Mark Madsen's how not to shoot 3-pointers" exhibition a few years ago.

Lottery Watch

We're down to the final four games of another miserable season. The injury depleted Wolves defeated the injury depleted, suspension depleted, and clearly tanking Clippers. I'm ready to call the Wolves final position in the lottery. They will finish with the 6th worst record as a result of picking up win number 23 last night. Memphis and OKC still have the outside shot of catching the Wolves, but I don't see any winnable games in either team's remaining schedule. The Wolves on the other hand still have winnable games against Golden State and Sacramento. I think Wolves fans should start thinking about who will be available at the 6th pick in this year's draft. I'm afraid our hopes will only be dashed yet again if we start dreaming of landing the top pick.

I Think I'm Going to Boston ...

... to see KG and the Celtics. Well, not quite. I am departing to Boston tomorrow for a few days, but it turns out I won't be going to a Celtics game. My original thoughts were that it would be a great opportunity to see a good basketball team for a change while seeing KG in person one more time. It turns out that Generic Corporate Name Arena #237 is officially sold out and the nosebleed seats on Stubhub are going for $60 a piece when I'm in town. Couple that with the possibility that KG may not play due to a lingering injury and it is simply way too much dough to spend on a team that ultimately does not hold much interest for me. Maybe I'll just catch their local broadcast after my daughter zonks out for the night.

The Wolves did get a little lotto help last night with a Memphis victory. I personally think there's about a 90% chance the Wolves end up with the 5th or 6th most chances given the remaining schedules of the Wolves and the other bottom feeders. However, I still hope Memphis and OKC play some downright mediocre basketball and give the Wolves the 4th most chances.

I'm expecting the lotto standings to be a little more solid by the time I get back next week. Maybe then it will be a little less pointless to speculate on draft prospects.

Fan Apathy Level

The Wolves lost again yesterday, and I'm sure very few people cared. As is often the case with the consistently putrid performance of the Wolves in the front office and on the court, there are two ways that the fans will react. They will either get angry or become apathetic.

Getting angry is the preferred outcome. An angry fan still cares about his team. An angry fan may go to fewer games, but that fan will still follow the team, vent on message boards, and check out team blogs to share their pain with others. The angry fan may even contact someone employed by the franchise in an effort to let them know how bad they are screwing things up.

No team wants angry fans, but it is better than the alternative: apathetic fans. The apathetic fans are the ones who have lost hope. This is the difference between the two kinds of fans. After a tough stretch for a franchise, a fan that lost his hope for a better team will be much harder to win back. The angry fan will feel rewarded for sticking with the franchise through dire straits, but the apathetic fan will tell themselves, "That franchise had their chance with me." The team has failed that fan's trust and will rarely earn it back.

So, what is the apathy level amongst Wolves fans? Well, let's see. This Timberwolves basketball blog has noticed fewer people care. The 600 Project points out how cheap Wolves tickets are on Ebay. Cheap tickets mean people don't want to go to games, and that means people don't care. And then you have all the Wolves blogs out there that haven't been updated in months.

It looks like the apathy level is very high.

At Least the Lottery Position Improved

I tuned into yesterday's game against OKC expecting to see a close game. That thought was based on the 42 point blowout in the Wolves favor the last time these teams played combined with the loss of Al Jefferson. Of course, that also assumed the Wolves would show up to play for most of the game.

Unfortunately, no one other than Craig Smith showed an interest in playing until the 4th quarter. The only reason the final scored looked respectable was the fact that OKC got tired of beating down the Wolves after three quarters.

A game like that just makes a guy wish the season would just end. At this point, I don't believe there is much to build on. There will be no momentum building for next year unless they have something like a 9-3 finish. Most of the young players have had plenty of time to show what they can or cannot do. The final 12 games will not do much to sway the opinions of the team's talent evaluators. There isn't even the benefit of getting the youngsters more playing time with Big Al to get comfortable with each other. No, the only thing left in this season to determine how many lottery chances the Wolves have this year so we fans can look forward to the future (yet again).

Speaking of lottery chances, if you ignore ugliness of yesterday's game, the loss was very good for the Wolves. It puts them into a tie with OKC for the 5th most chances. A win would have put them two games ahead of OKC in the standings. I think that would have pretty much cemented the Wolves into the number 6 slot as it would be tough for OKC to make up two games with only 12 to play. There is now a very good shot at landing the 5th most chances while there is still a remote chance of moving to the 3rd or 4th best shot at winning the lottery. Let's go ping pong balls!

Introduction

Welcome to Talking Timberwolves. This blog is a place to share my thoughts on whatever is going on with the Minnesota Timberwolves. There will some praising, some ranting, and a lot of thoughts somewhere in between. (Unfortunately, things will probably come closer to the ranting end of the spectrum for some time given the current state of the franchise.) I hope that other fans will stumble upon this blog and provide their thoughts so we can share in the trials and tribulations of following our Wolves.

Here's a little background on me. I've been a Timberwolves fan since the day they announced Minnesota was getting a franchise. I've followed them through the many, many bad years and through the couple of good years. The Twin Cities area has been my home for the past 8 years and I've been to many Timberwolves games in that time. I've never broken down and purchased season tickets but I think about it every year. (More on this in a future post.) Most posts will stay on topic with the Timberwolves, but I may occasionally touch on a different topic from time to time.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to share your comments.