Sweet Jesus, We Need a Miracle
Posted by SBG on Friday, May 18th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
It's up to Randy Foye to change two decades of bad NBA lottery luck.
Foye, who just finished his rookie season with the Timberwolves, will represent the team at the NBA draft lottery Tuesday night in Secaucus, N.J.
"Since I live so close I decided to go there and represent the team," said Foye, who went to high school in Newark, N.J.
He won't go empty-handed. Assistant general manager Rob Babcock brought back some holy water from Lourdes, France, obtained during a scouting trip.
More accurately, Holy Mary, pray for us. Unbelievable.
I'm sure Foye had to fight Kevin McHale for that "honor".
But, in other news, there's been a healing:
McHale said the sore right quadriceps that knocked Kevin Garnett out of action at the end of the season is OK.
Praise the Lord!
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More accurately, Holy Mary, pray for us. Unbelievable.
I'm not above appealing to a higher power in matters of chance.
But say, hypothetically, that the holy water does its thing, and the Wolves get the first overall pick in the draft. What should their course of action be?
If they draft Oden, I could see the potential of dealing Blount plus maybe another bad contract for some expiring contracts opening up, just because everyone's always looking for seven footers, and Blount's essentially been scoring in double digits the last four seasons. We all know he's limited, but he's the sort of guy it seems like everyone thinks they can fix.
Or how about this? Regardless of whether they draft Oden or Durant, just go for broke. Sure, Oden/KG/Foye could probably compete and might even win some playoff series. But Oden's going to be developing as KG (inevitably) declines, so that's maybe not the best long-term plan. So just go ahead and trade Garnett for young talent, maybe a pick or two in next year's draft, and maybe still try to flip Blount somewhere and get rid of one of the boat anchor contracts in the process. Maybe they couldn't get enough young talent in return to make the plan work, but trying to build around Oden/Foye with other young talents would give the organization some financial flexibility in the long term, and more importantly, might give them a better chance to win it all in three or four years than if they just try to patch an obviously flawed team.
Blount is untradeable with that contract.
Ultimately, I would tend to agree with you, but I also tend to agree with Bill Simmons when he claims that most NBA GMs are pretty bad at their job.
Keep in mind, I'm not talking about adding a real player in return for Blount, just an expiring contract. Obviously, anything good (in the way of talent) in the long-term that came from trading anything from this team would have to come from trading KG.
I guess that Blount still seems like the most tradeable because seven-foot tall NBA players are to NBA GMs like women with large breasts are to men. Both men and NBA GMs are so distracted by that one alluring quality that they are often willing to overlook the rest of the package, or don't notice the rest of the package until it is too late.
You would have to go and mention women with large breasts. I was already having trouble focusing here at work.
Fridays are probably rough for you, then, if you ever click through on some of Gleeman's Link-O-Rama links.
Thankfully the nazi webfilter here at work frowns on such sites - not that I've tried or anything.
Aaron seems like more of an ass man.
Then again, he does frequently link to pics of Keeley Hazell.
What do you mean, "the rest of the package"? What else is there??
Watch out ubes. You are stepping into Moss's wheelhouse. Giving Moss the opportunity to criticize Kevin McHale is like providing him Manna from Heaven. It is a live-giving event.
Moss was actually referring to the b@@bs remark...
I guess that wasn't clear. By "the rest of the package," I meant all of Blount's negative qualities.
Yeah, but you made the "Both men and NBA GMs..." statement. Moss was focused on/distraced by the one part of the statement. Moss couldn't care less about the other.
I don't see much chance that they could deal Blount (or James, or Hudson, or Jaric -- any of their four, albatrossian contracts on the books) without the deal including either KG or other significant assets (e.g., Foye or.... well, or Foye).
those players are mediocre back-of-rotation guys for most teams. Ok, maybe Blount could start at center for half the league -- which tells you the state of the position these days. But none of the others is starting material for a playoff team. And each is paid as though he were. For too many years into the future (minimum of two more -- with James, but his third year is a player option; think maybe he's gonna take that????)
even Jeebus isn't so merciful as to give the Wolves BOTH Oden and a way out from under one or more of those odious contracts.
I agree. We're stuck with that shit unless we can trade them for equally bad actors with similarly ridiculous contracts.
shit for shat, as it were.
Ooh, that was nicely done.
That's gotta be worth at least +50.
Ok, maybe Blount could start at center for half the league — which tells you the state of the position these days.
That's I think mainly what is driving my thinking here. It seems that NBA GMs are generally unwilling to think outside the box. So when they are presented with a lack of talent at the center position, rather than exploring different ways to win, they overpay marginal centers in hopes that they'll magically improve. Basically, just by virtue of being a center, Blount's perceived value likely outstrips his real value.
The problem is the Wolves can't package a #1 pick because by league rules they can only be two down, which they already are.
I'm probably just totally crazy here, but PT Barnum said there was a sucker born every minute, and I suspect that one of those suckers is an NBA GM that would take Blount without demanding a #1 pick. You don't think that there's anyone out there who would overvalue a 7-foot center scoring 10+ PPG?
Yeah, his name is Kevin McHale.
I'm in a permanently pissy mood about the Wolves. Can you tell?
Now that you mention it....
ah, pssshaw. If the Wolves pull a rabbit out of the hat in the lottery, you'll come running like a kid at the park to the ice cream/crack truck.
*ding-a-ling-a-ling!!!!*
So what you're saying is the T-Wolves have already taken out a second and a third mortgage on a house with termites, a bad foundation, a flawed floorplan, and a leaky roof, in a neighborhood full of crack dens and Starbucks.
That doesn't sound so bad . . .
mmm... lattes!
yeah, but there's a Lamborghini parked in the garage...getting another year older...
Rhu-Rhu with a deep 3-ball from the corner...YES!!! And One!
*Gus Johnson with the call*
*Gus Johnson channeling his inner Marv*