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KG Out for the Entire Playoffs?

SBG April 16, 2009, at 9:01 am 10 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) ,

Looks like that might be a possibility. Whoa. Well, the Celtics window to another championship is slammed shut without the Big Ticket.

On another note, the Wolves season has mericifully come to an end. Minnesota finished 24-58, two games better than last season. I'm sure that losing BAJ cost them at least five wins (maybe more). They finished tied with Memphis and one game better than OKC. I don't know what the tie with Memphis means draftwise, but hey, couldn't they have found a way to lose a couple more (they went 4-6 to end the season)?

Wolves Fans Dont Have McCan’t to Kick Around Anymore

SBG February 19, 2009, at 12:03 pm 23 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) ,

The former first round pick is shipped to Sacramento, along with Calvin Booth (thanks for the memories, Cal!) for a couple of warm bodies.

2008-09 Game 30: Memphis at Minnesota

SBG December 29, 2008, at 6:00 pm 18 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , , ,

Memphis Grizzlies, 10-20
SRS: -5.53 (25th of 30) â–ª Pace Factor: 90.4 (22nd of 30) â–ª Offensive Rating: 103.7 (24th of 30) â–ª Defensive Rating: 109.3 (22nd of 30)

Minnesota Timberwolves, 5-24
SRS: -7.15 (28th of 30) â–ª Pace Factor: 91.9 (13th of 30) â–ª Offensive Rating: 102.6 (26th of 30) â–ª Defensive Rating: 110.7 (26th of 30)

<SBG>Memphis comes to town the losers of five of their last six games after winning five of the previous six games, in other words, they are 6-6 over their past twelve. That's not too bad, the recent rough spot notwithstanding, given that they, like a certain club located in Hennepin County Minnesota, managed just 22 wins last season. They've got a couple of nice young players in Rudy Gay and Ovinton J'Anthony Mayo around which to build.

I looked at this game a while back as perhaps the Wolves' only shot to win a game in December, but while I was off in the Northland, the Wolves inexplicably pulled off a win in New York City. I don't know how that happened -- I didn't hear anything about the game, but it makes me wonder how damned bad the Knicks are and why a guy like LBJ would want to tether himself to that club. Anyhoo, the Wolves are off the schneid in December and Coach McHale has his first win in his second go around, so everything is hunky dory. The Wolves could get this one, too. B-R has them as a slight favorite, giving the Home Towners a 55% chance of winning. Then again, this is Young Ovinton's first trip to Minneapolis as a pro player, so maybe he just goes nuts, the Grizzlies win, and the few remaining locals who follow this club rend their garments amid shouts of despair.

Of course, the Wolves have their own rook, Kevin Love, and he's kind of in danger of sinking into a huge funk. He's scored nine points in five games and is losing some playing time to (gasp) Mark Madsen. That's like the ultimate indignity. I suppose McHale wants to win games (how does Madsen help in that regard, though?) and he's trying to find a rotation that can win. But, dammit, Love is what the Wolves have to show for the third pick in the draft. He should get every opportunity to prove he's not a bust. He shouldn't be playing single digit minutes, like he has in two of the last three games. This team needs to develop him, if they can. No more Mad Dog!
</SBG>

<GreekHouse>I caught the end of the first half of the Knicks game and all of the second half. By the time I turned it on, the Wolves were already up big and they managed to hold on. There was quite a bit of booing there, I guess NY fans don't like it when a 4 win team waltzes into their place and beats the crap out of them.

I'd say the Wolves played reasonably well against the Magic--twice coming back from sizable deficits to tie the game or take the lead. Then, the Magic made 12 of their last 14 shots to put it away. It was pretty absurd to watch. The Wolves couldn't even make a layup while Turkoglu was making shots from behind the backboard. On a totally unrelated note, a while back I complained about the Wolves putting in a five of Foye/McCants/Gomes/Smith/Maddog. Well, somehow Mchale managed to top that lineup, putting in Bassy/McCants/Gomes/Cardinal/Maddog. Yikes.

A while ago, SBG made a case for the Wolves sticking with Mayo, so I'll have a go at making a counterpoint here.

First off, it's only 30 games into their careers. A lot of people seem to think that Mayo is destined for superstardom, while Love will merely be a decent bench player for the rest of his career (not that SBG was saying that, but this is the impression I get from some other people). I expect both of them to have very solid NBA careers. In fact, I'd say that their performances so far are actually a lot more comparable than most people think. Mayo is filling up the scoring column, but not really doing much else. He's averaging 3.0 assists, but a whopping 2.7 TOs--not the kind of ratio you'd like to see from your guards. He's also getting almost 38 minutes per game, while Love is getting a mere 22.5. If Love were able to deliver the same production with Mayo's minutes, he'd be getting 12.6 ppg and 13.1 rpg. 13.1 boards!? Soon Love would have to start dying his hair all sorts of crazy colors and start dating Madonna (take that, Arod).

The areas where Love has taken criticism are his shooting and his lack of jumping ability. He tends to get blocked a lot after he gets the ball right under the basket and his jump shooting has been pretty bad so far. The former seems like something that should come with experience. Up to this point in his NBA career, he's been able to basically just go right back up with those offensive rebounds and there wasn't anyone who could stop him. For the first time in his life, he's now having to deal with people that are taller than him and can actually block him. However, this seems like something that he should adjust to with time. He'll learn how to use pump fakes more effectively and learn when he should just pull the ball out and reset. As for his jump shooting, he was touted as a good shooter (which NBA 3 point range) coming into the league, so I expect that his shooting will improve as well as he gets more comfortable out there.

Another thing to consider is how these two players have been treated since they came into the league. Can you even remember the last time a player came into the Wolves system and exceeded expectations? If the Wolves had kept Mayo, who's to say he wouldn't be getting 15 minutes per game and would be losing PT to Foye and McCants? If Love had stayed with Memphis, maybe he would be getting his 38 mpg and putting up 12.6/13.1 numbers and people would be talking about him for ROY.

But ok, the Mayo/Love comparison is only part of the deal, although until the end of their careers, people will probably be comparing the two as if it were a straight up deal. The Wolves also picked up Miller and dumped 2 bad contracts on Memphis. While Miller has been somewhat of a disappointment for the Wolves this season, he's still better than most of the players on the team (when he's not injured). He could play a part on this team in the future or he could be a valuable trade at the deadline. Getting rid of Jaric's contract will come in handy in the future too, since the Wolves will obviously use that money to come out of nowhere and sign LBJ when he becomes a FA. </GreekHouse>

The Airing of Grievances

SBG December 23, 2008, at 7:17 am 19 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , , , , , ,

There's a light snow falling on this most special of days, and it's causing traffic to become snarled. Yep, it's Festivus and I'm in a bad mood, because you've all disappointed me again this year. Let me take this opportunity, after brianS gets the aluminum pole out from the crawl space, to discuss all of the ways I've been let down in 2008.

1. Billy Smith -- Way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. You got an MVP caliber performance from your catcher, another nice year from your first baseman, your starting pitching staff did yeoman's work, Dino Span was a pleasant surprise and Nick Punto didn't stink to high heaven. All you had to do was make one good move and the Twins could have had a run at a World Championship in this Yankee-less year. But no. You sat on your hands while Chad Bradford was claimed on waivers by Tampa Bay and then you go out and sign "Yesteryear" Eddie Guardado. Boo. You cost us post season baseball.

2. Glen Taylor -- You suggested that KG gave up on the Wolves before you traded him to the Celtics. Yep, KG was the problem. Since the trade, the Celtics are 92-18 during the regular season. In the last three plus seasons, the Wolves are 91-181. Since the trade, the Wolves are 26-82. You should have fired Kevin McHale about six or seven years ago. Your roster is a mess, your front office is a joke, and you frittered away the best years of KG's career. But, at least we've found out the answer to the question, "What if KG was actually surrounded by a couple of players?" The answer is this: his team turns into one of the greatest teams of all time. And thanks for this: Before the trade, I'd started to compare him to Bill Russell. My comparison was made to suggest that he is so dominant on the court in all facets that he doesn't need to be the top scorer on a club or take the last second shot to be the best player on the floor by far. The comparison kind of fell apart (no rings, dude), but he's got the ring now, and everyone else is picking up on a comparison I made years ago.

3. NDSU football -- The last two years of their transition period to DIV I-AA (or whatever they call it now), the Bison were 20-2 with three wins over I-A schools, including a manhandling of the Gophers. This year, finally(!), they were eligible for the playoffs, and they went 6-5 and miss the playoffs. Oy vey!

4. Minnesota Vikings -- Okay, I'm not really disappointed. I am more amused with the various failures of the Vikings. We all know about "Take a knee, Denny" or "41-doughnut" or the game in Arizona where Jake McClown (sic) knocked the Vikings out of the playoffs, and various other indignities suffered by this club. When I was a kid, the Vikings had the decency of either losing in the Super Bowl or getting shafted by the referees (that wasn't a Hail Mary, that was freaking offensive pass interference). But, now, they just stumble through one shop of horrors after another. Seven fumbles against Atlanta. I suppose the impossible can happen and the Vikings can still make the playoffs (impossible, because they usually screw up and miss the playoffs these days). But, I will note that the schedule maker ominously set up the last three games against Arizona (McClown), Atlanta (Take a knee), and New York (41-0). Cover your eyes, Vikings fans. I'll be watching the events like a proverbial car wreck.

5. Target Field -- Jeebus. The Twins could have gone with LOL Park and we would have all enjoyed that for about a millenia. But no. Target is a good enough Minnesota company and they sell this pasta sauce that my wife likes, and hell, they've got decent enough merchandise, the aisles are well-marked, and the stores aren't crowded and dirty like that outfit out of Arkansas, but good grief, don't the Twins realize the bad karma associated with playing in a facility named for this particular corporation? It's bad enough that they are going to be located right next door to those fools at 600 First Avenue North, but do they have to have the same corporate sponsor? This is more fate tempting than I'm comfortable with. Then again, the Twins have shared a stadium with the Vi-Queens for 47 seasons, so maybe they can survive the name Target Field. However, if they hire Dave Winfield to be the GM, I'm running for the hills. Then again, considering the occupant at the top of this list, I'm willing to roll the dice with someone else. Just so Carl Pohlad doesn't hire someone because he always wanted to meet him.

6. Those two Iowegians caught humping at the Metrodome -- It's too bad that they became the story, because that game was one of those things of beauty that don't come along very often. Well, okay, they do come along quite a bit for the Goofers. I don't know why I hate the Gophers -- they didn't really do anything to me. They aren't a natural rivalry for the Bison, although they do make a nice, soft non-conference opponent for the Thundering Herd. I guess I really enjoy seeing them fail. It's too bad, because the Goofers of the early sixties were a great club. I suppose when my Dad was in high school, they were fun to watch. Maybe, with the new stadium, they'll become competitive. But, hey, Joel Maturi is talking about extending Brewster's contract on the heels of his epic collapse, including that 55-nil debacle against Iowa at home. Come on, Maturi, do it! Extend him! But, again, these two clowns mating in the wilds of a Metrodome bathroom has served to deflect the attention away from the, um, pounding, that occurred on the field of play inside the stadium.

There you go. I could go on and on, but I've got to wrestle ubelmann now.

Half Speed

SBG December 18, 2008, at 6:53 am 12 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , ,

So, Bron-Bron comes to Target Center, drops 32 points, allegedly breaks a sweat, and the Cavs walk out with a 23 point victory. I was watching that game and Mr. James looked great, hitting shots, making spectacular passes and the Cavs were never seriously threatened. But, something was off about the game. Then, I turned it over to ESPN and I figured out what was going on.

The Celtics and Hawks were playing over there and the intensity level was turned up to about 11 on the old regular season dial. Guys were scrapping, blocking shots, straining to get to balls, playing defense. The crowd was into it, albeit aided by the local tape recordings of some guy yelling "De-fense!". But, what was going on there was a very intense game. Flip back to FSN and the intensity level is about the same as one of those games where they play "Sweet Georgia Brown" during the warmups. LeBron "Meadowlark" James and the Cavs were facing a team worthy of the Washington Generals.

James livened the game up with some razzle dazzle that he'd never use in one of those "this one goes to 11" games. But, here he was, dishing out multiple no look passes and guys were always wide open to receive them. And James was hitting all kinds of shots, but he wasn't being guarded like he is during a regular NBA game. He wasn't forced to play hard on the other end, either. But, that's kind of the point, isn't it? The Generals always score some points to make it close, but in the end, they also always lose.

When James finally came out of the game, he was feted by the crowd with a standing ovation. He waved to the locals and acknowledged their cheers. He's a professional. He'd put on a nice show for the locals and they were appreciative. Now, he and the Cavs have to get back to the business of playing NBA games. As for me, I prefer watching the NBA games to these exhibitions, but living in the Twin Cities, you take what you can get. I'm just glad that Mr. James didn't pull that old bucket of confetti trick.

2008-09 Game 23, Minnesota @ the Lakers

SBG December 14, 2008, at 7:30 pm 10 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , ,

<SBG>Kevin McHale, the once proclaimed "Best GM in all of Sports" had the winningest percentage of any coach of the Timberwolves (at 19-12, he'd won 61.3% of the games he'd coached the first time out). But, there's a slight chance that he'll fall to 0-4 this time out, which would give him a .543 winning percentage, lower than the .558 percentage that Flip Saunders managed. So, um, that didn't take long.

Minnesota Timberwolves, 4-18
SRS: -6.85 (28th of 30) â–ª Pace Factor: 91.3 (19th of 30) â–ª Offensive Rating: 102.9 (25th of 30) â–ª Defensive Rating: 110.0 (25th of 30)

Los Angeles Lakers, 19-3
SRS: 9.84 (2nd of 30) â–ª Pace Factor: 96.2 (3rd of 30) â–ª Offensive Rating: 112.7 (3rd of 30) â–ª Defensive Rating: 101.7 (3rd of 30)

It's kind of cool how we have this connection with the best two franchises in league history. The Lakers, of course, moved to Los Angeles from Minnesota, so LA literally took our first franchise. And, of course, Boston got our "franchise" in a trade a little over a year ago. So, that's kind of cool in a we-used-to-have-something sort of way.

I have mentioned a couple of times that the Lakers have slipped somewhat from what was an unbelievable start and that slippage has come primarily on the defensive end. I grab the numbers above from basketball-reference.com, a great website for basketball stats (kind of like baseball-reference.com, but not quite as good, the way that basketball stats aren't as good as baseball stats). They show the Lakers as being third in defensive efficiency in the NBA, which is darned good. But, a couple of weeks ago, they were a clear #1. So, they've slipped a little. But, only a little. And who's to say that this isn't just a little blip along the way through a very long season. Only time will tell that story.

You can't think Lakers without thinking Kobe Bryant. Bryant is now 30 years old, he's logged north of 32,000 minutes in the NBA and he's scoring the fewest number of points (save the 2003-04 season when the Lakers had Karl Malone, Gary Payton, Shaq, and O'Neal) per game since he was 21. Does that mean that Bryant is slowing down? Maybe, but if so, the drop is barely discernable. In fact, he's scoring just a tenth fewer points per 36 minutes than last year, so the points per game drop is most attributable to fewer minutes played. So there. Still though, he's played more minutes than Chris Mullin played and he's within 1000 minutes of Magic Johnson. Of course, Magic was playing at a pretty high level when his career was cut short the first time (with fewer minutes played than Kobe has now, remember Magic had that comeback). But, it was also clear that Magic had reached the backside of his career. I think we've probably seen the best of Kobe Bryant, but don't expect him to fall off a cliff. He's almost certainly going to score 30,000 points in this league and he has a chance, albeit a small one, of making a run at Kareem's otherworldly record of 38,387 points scored. He's just about 16,000 points short, which means playing until he's 39 or so (and at a very high level). That's probably out of reach. But, he's just about 10,000 short of Michael Jordan's total, and I'll bet plenty he'll aim for that.

It isn't about scoring points in this league, though, it's about winning. The Lakers have a great shot to win a championship this season. In addition to Kobe, they've got Pao Gasol and Andrew Bynum up front, with old hand Derek Fisher and Vladimir Radmanovich. Plus, Lamar Odom coming off the bench. Odom is very versatile, but he's also pretty inconsistant. I think he likes coming off the bench, which is cool, but he's making over $11 million in the last year of his deal. The Lakers have $75 million committed next year (Kobe has a player option at $23 million... he can opt out, but he'll only do so to get another long term deal signed up with the Lakers) without Odom. I suppose they can resign him and hey, they might, but they might not, either. I wouldn't be surprised if the Lakers deal Odom this year to get somebody that they can plug in now and for the next couple of years. Gasol is signed for two more years after this as is Radmanovich. Bynum is signed long term. This team is set for now and into the future. I can't believe they'll just let Odom go for nothing, because they won't really be able to replace him, being so far over the cap.

As for tonight, the Lakers are extremely big, especially on their front line. BAJ and K-Love will have their hands full with Andrew Bynum (who's less than a year older than Love) and Gasol. And Rashad McCan't is going to guard Kobe Bryant?

Lakers big. And McHale will become the second winningest coach percentage-wise in club history.</SBG>

<GreekHouse>It's kind of crazy, but there are 3 teams in the league that actually have a shot at beating the 1995-96 Bulls record of 72 wins in the season. One is the Wolves' opponent for tonight (19-3) and the others are the Celtics (22-2) and Cleveland (20-4). Cleveland had an 11 game win streak snapped last night, but they still have the greatest point differential in the league at +12.7. If I were to pick a team that would break the record however, I'd pick the Lakers if for no other reason than that the other two are in the same league and have to play each other more often. It may not seem like a big deal, but when you're talking about winning 72 games, 1 loss constitutes 10% of the games you're allow to lose for the entire season.

So how good are the Lakers? Their best player is better than our best player (by a lot) and in terms of PER, they have 4 players (Bryant, Gasol, Bynum, Ariza) better than our second best player (Love). And the worst of those 4 is Ariza (19.10) is way ahead of Love (16.06). You could even make arguments that Fisher, Odom, Farmar and Walton are all better than anybody on the Wolves other than Jefferson. In any case, anybody on the Lakers who is not an end of the bench player would be in the starting lineup for the Wolves. It seems almost unfair that these two teams are even in the same league. </GreekHouse>

2008-09 Game 22: San Antone at Minny

SBG December 12, 2008, at 6:00 pm 20 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , , , ,

<SBG>The Spurs come to Target Center tonight and this could be a hide your eyes evening.

San Antonio, 13-8
SRS: 2.42 (10th of 30) â–ª Pace Factor: 88.0 (27th of 30) â–ª Offensive Rating: 107.9 (12th of 30) â–ª Defensive Rating: 104.6 (10th of 30)

Minnesota, 4-17
SRS: -6.70 (28th of 30) â–ª Pace Factor: 91.4 (18th of 30) â–ª Offensive Rating: 103.2 (23rd of 30) â–ª Defensive Rating: 109.9 (25th of 30)

These two teams met in the fourth game of the year, with the Spurs winning in double overtime behind Tony Parker's 55 points (and Tim Duncan's 30). That was the Spurs' first win of the season after three losses. Manu Ginobili was out -- he's missed 13 games so far this year. The next game Parker got hurt and missed nine games. With those injuries, the Spurs have started slow and are pretty much an afterthought in a league with three teams bolting out to a huge lead over everyone else But, the Spurs are back to full strength and are moving up in the pack, so to speak.

Hollinger has them rated sixth overall, and as you can see, SRS has them 10th. The Spurs have been a notoriously slow starting squad through the years, and I now expect them to seriously challenge in the West, unless they are somehow felled by injuries, like they've already experienced this year.

I mentioned a while back that I think it would be great if the Lakers and Celtics had a finals rematch. The Lakes bolted out to a fantastic start and this Celtics club, looking to join the elite Celtics clubs of the past know that they need to win multiple championships. Since then, the Celtics have continued to wipe the floor with all comers, while the Lakers, at 18-3 suddenly look like they are just a little vulnerable. I know. They are winning more than 85% of their games and I'm calling them vulnerable. It's like when Johan Santana was in one of his second half grooves. He'd go out and pitch seven innings, give up a run on six hits and eight strikeouts. Yep, pretty darned splendid, but last time out it was eight innings, no runs, three hits and 11 Ks. Plus that run was on another home run. I'm splitting hairs in an otherwise brilliant start.

Well, there's that, and there's the matter of the Spurs. Yep, Duncan's a little older and so is Ginobili. The Spurs aren't that sexy -- look, they are 28th in pace -- they like to set it up and play in the half court. Boring. Plus, Duncan is almost a statue out there. So stoic (when he's not complaining about foul calls). He's no KG, screaming profanely like the type of insane street dweller that you cross the intersection to avoid. But, the Spurs have an almost unbelievable pedigree. Duncan is looking for one for the thumb. And that's just darned impressive. I think it's quite possible that we could see San Antonio in The Finals, and that would be delicious if the Celtics can make it, too. Duncan v. KG. For all the marbles. And really, for KG's place in history. That would be even more delicious for us KG dudes than The Rematch.

Yep, I'm talking about the Celtics when the Wolves are playing San Antonio. Sorry, folks. I suppose it's easy to get distracted from the hometown club when they have a better record than exactly one team (and that crappy club got one of their two wins against the Wolves -- and almost got another against Minnesota, except for a game saving three from the not playing Mike Miller). So, let's talk about tonight's game. But, first, a comment about McHale, the coach. Anthony Carter's comments about McHale the Xer and Oer were funny and McHale, to his credit basically said that his philosophy was to exploit mismatches. Fair enough. And I don't think there's any denying that McHale can teach big men a thing or two about playing in the post. After all, he was pretty much just about the best big man, ever, in terms of his footwork (although Hakeem Olajuwon had some pretty nifty moves, too, but if you are in the conversation with The Dream, well that's a conversation worth being in -- incidentally, ESPN has H.O. as KG's most similar at age -- all-timer, I tell you! A win over TD's Spurs in The Finals would be some serious validation. I digress.).

Anyway, in the Striberini today, McHale says that the Wolves intend to exploit mismatches tonight against the Spurs.

"Oh, we'll have mismatches," he said, referring to his team having the upper hand in spots against the Spurs.

Jeebus Christmas, we are going to win, because we are going to exploit our mismatches and the Spurs won't think about where they might have mismatches. Do they have any? Can't think of any.

This isn't the Spurs team that limped into Minneapolis a month and a half ago. Spurs by plenty tonight.</SBG>

<GreekHouse>It looks like the Wolves have returned to their beginning of the season form--where they were usually ahead until late in the game and then ended up losing. I have to say that this is still more satisfying than the last games of the Wittman era. Had it not been for Melo's 33 point quarter, the Wolves might have won that one. It's kinda weird to say, but it would have been really nice to have Brewer in that game. Beyond him, there's really nobody on the Wolves who can even slow down a guard like him, Kobe or LeBron.

Tonight the Wolves get another go at the Spurs. Last time, Love did a decent job on Duncan when he was in there, but the Wolves had no answer for Tony Parker. I have no idea what McHale's plan is to stop Parker, but I can only assume that he has a good one. Love continues to dominate on the boards and given the way he played Duncan last time, I expect him to get plenty of PT tonight. The Spurs are old and don't like moving, so the Wolves need to aggressively attack on anything resembling a fast break opportunity. If the Wolves get stuck in a half court game against this team, they will get clobbered.

I've discussed my man love for Gregg Popovich in the past, but I'm also really an admired of the whole Spurs organization. They've managed to building their team around Duncan (and before that Robinson) and keep it strong for years. They don't seem like a house of cards the way a team like the Mavericks do either. Every season, everybody expects them to be a contender and every year they are. They've got a good coach and a deep bench and that makes them very tough to beat.</GreekHouse>

Quarter Pole

SBG December 10, 2008, at 6:46 am 9 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , , ,

Last year, GreekHouse and I had a conversation about the Wolves at each of the quarter marks of the season. Last night was the 20th game of the season, roughly the quarter mark of an 82 game schedule. The Wolves, of course, are 4-16, which projects out to ugly. They also have a "new" coach, there's been a trade rumor, so there are a few things to talk about. And so, here we go, the transcription of an e-mail exchange that occurred over the last two days.


Click here to continue reading Quarter Pole...

2008-09 Game 20: Utah Jazz @ Minnesota Timberwolves

SBG December 9, 2008, at 6:00 pm 11 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , ,

<SBG>Tonight marks two coaching milestones. In one corner stands Kevin McHale. Tonight is his first game back in his second stint as coach of the Timberwolves. This is also the first game played by the club without Kevin McHale as VP of basketball operations since he assumed the role in 1995. It remains to be seen whether this new arrangement is more of the same (McHale reports directly to Taylor), or Glen Taylor's first step in pushing McHale out the door. So, yeah, a big night for the Wolves.

In honor of the bang up job Mr. McHale has done as the VP of Basketball Operations, I thought I'd look at the roster from three years ago, when Dwane Casey took over as coach of the Timberwolves. This was the year that the Wolves traded for Marko Jaric and made the in-season Wally Szczerbiak trade. The club was still trying to win as opposed to whatever it is that they are doing now. I have listed all of the players who played at all that year, their age that season and a brief comment where they are now relative to the league.

Kevin Garnett, 29. Starting PF for Boston Celtics, won Defensive Player of the Year last year, was 3rd in MVP balloting, led Celtics to 2007-08 NBA Title.

Wally Szczerbiak, 28. Traded in middle of this season to Boston, now a bit player on the Cleveland Cavaliers, getting 6.9 points in 18.8 minutes per game.
Ricky Davis, 26. Currently suffering from tendonitis in knee. Out until at least after Christmas. Prior to that, a reserve for the Clippers, averaging 4.3 points in 21 minutes. Acquired in the Wally Szczerbiak deal.
Rashad McCants, 21. Currently a reserve with the Timberwolves averaging 9.5 points and 18 minutes a game.
Anthony Carter, 30. Reserve guard for Denver, averaging 5.8 points and 4.5 assists in 25 minutes a game while getting torched regularly on defense. But still, he’s playing!

Trenton Hassell, 26. End of the bench reserve in New Jersey with 94 MP and 13 points through 19 games.
Marko Jaric, 27. End of the bench reserve in Memphis with 61 MP and 9 points. Remember how we had to throw in a number one to get him? Good times!
Marcus Banks, 24. Acquired in the Wally Szczerbiak deal. Currently an end of the bench reserve in Miami, with 32 points and 94 MP. Remember how we had to throw in a number one to get him? Good times!
Mark Blount, 30. Acquired in the Wally Szczerbiak deal. Currently an end of the bench reserve in Miami, with 32 points and 107 MP.
Mark Madsen, 30. Still collecting on his five year deal signed before this season. End of the bench reserve in Minnesota with 29MP and zero points He's taken only one shot all year. And, he still has another year on his deal after this one!

Troy Hudson, 29. Out of the league.
Eddie Griffin, 23. Deceased. But first, out of the league.
Justin Reed, 24. Acquired in the Wally Szczerbiak deal. Out of the league.
Michael Olowokandi, 30. Sent to Boston in the Wally Szczerbiak deal. Out of the league.
Ronald Dupree, 25. Out of the league.
Richie Frahm, 24. Out of the league.
Bracey Wright, 21. Out of the league.
Nikoloz Tskitishvili, 22. Out of the league.

That's 18 players. One is a starter, Kevin Garnett. Four are reserves seeing real time. Five are end of the bench players. Eight are out of the league. We are just three seasons removed from the start of that season. And, it's not like anyone was really old on that team. No one was older than 30. Of course, the Wolves solved the problems on this club by signing Mike James the next year. And somehow when Dwane Casey had this crew playing 20-20 ball the next season, it wasn't good enough and he got fired. Heckuva job, Kevin.

On the other side, there's a milestone of sorts, as well. Tonight, Jerry Sloan marks 20 years as coach of the Utah Jazz. In those 20 years, he's won 1008 games, an average of 50.4 wins a season. The Timberwolves have won more than 50 games in a season a grand total of twice, with 51 wins in 2002-03 and 58 wins the next year. I should point out a few things. One, the Wolves are in their twentieth season, so hey, maybe they'll get over 50 wins this year! Two, at 20 years , that means that Sloan has been the coach of the Jazz longer than the Wolves have been in existence. Three, Sloan's 50.4 wins a season average includes the strike shortened season of 1998-99, so his per 82 game total is actually a little better at 51.4 wins per 82 games. So, for the past 20 years, Sloan's teams, on average, have been better than every team the Wolves have ever assembled, save one. It never hurts to have a couple of guys like Stockton and Malone, but he's also won with a whole new cast of characters. Sloan has never reached the promised land of an NBA title (he was oh, so close, losing twice to the team he played for and coached), but he'll be remembered on the short list of all-time great NBA coaches. To have lasted 20 years in one job as the coach of a professional sports team is almost unheard of.

A quick glance from the Utah bench over to the Timberwolves bench will allow you to look upon a transition from the sublime to the ridiculous.</SBG>

<GreekHouse>I had planned on writing something about Wittman and how my feeling on him had changed somewhat in the past couple weeks, but those will be covered in our upcoming 1/4 poll post! Instead, I'll write something of a somewhat personal nature.

A little over two years ago, I started suffering from a variety of neurological symptoms. I went to see a general practitioner and she seemed to think that there was nothing major wrong, but that I might be having anxiety attacks. I didn't really believe her, because anxiety attacks didn't seem to cover all of my symptoms. This was right around the time I moved to Iowa, and it takes forever to get into see a neurologist. I had an appointment in MN to go see one, but it wasn't until after I moved. I finally got to see one in Ames, but it wasn't for over 4 months after I initially started experiencing symptoms. I was worried that I might have MS or something else that was serious. MS seemed to fit the bill since I was about the right age to get it. When I finally did get to see a neurologist, he said that he thought I was healthy and didn't even want to bother doing any other tests. Although I still experience some of these symptoms, they aren't too major and don't seem to be getting any worse, so they don't really affect my life in any major way, other than that they are somewhat uncomfortable at times.

During the 4 months that I had to wait to see a neurologist, I realized that my original doctor was right about the anxiety attacks. I would have one and not realize what was happening and start to freak out and that would make things worse. Sometimes they were so bad I thought I was going to pass out. I still have them sometimes, but they are few and far between. Now when I have them, I realize what is happening. I take a few deep breaths and try to calm myself and they only last a few seconds and then they're gone.

There is also a very important life lesson I learned from all of this. When you start to have negative feelings about something, it is important to acknowledge that you're having them and to deal with them positively. These can be feelings of anxiety, anger, or anything else. Denying that the feeling is happening won't make it go away. Even if people acknowledge that it's happening, many people don't deal with it well. Many people realize they're getting angry, then they get more angry about being angry, which often results in them doing things they later regret. Rather, when they realize they are getting angry, they should take a few deep breaths and try to center themselves.

I guess I don't really need to tie this to basketball in any way, but I will anyway. The reason I thought of this story is that I realize that I've been having these feelings about the Timberwolves. For years I've just looked back and said "we should have won like 1 billion championships with Garnett if our management hadn't been so incompetent". Maybe that's true, but dwelling on it isn't doing me any good. Now that McHale seems to be on his way out and an era of vastly superior management is imminent, it seems like a good time to let a lot of these feelings go. This doesn't mean I won't talk about the mistakes of the past, but I will try not to let them bother me. Instead I will try to learn from them. I hope that Glen Taylor does the same and that he uses what he learns to make better decisions about the franchise in the future. The concept of what should have been is irrelevant. There is only the reality of what was and was not.</GreekHouse>

From Bad to Worse

SBG December 9, 2008, at 6:50 am One LTE - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

No, I'm not talking about the Timberwolves, although I got a chance to watch that presser last night and excuse me, but who's going to do the job that Kevin McHale used to do? No one? What does that say about the job that McHale used to do? I actually expect the Wolves to play a little better for a few reasons: (1) they can't play much worse, (2) it's obvious that they were tuning out Wittman, and (3) I think McHale probably can coach a little. It's too bad that the Wolves have 10(!) guys under contract for next year, with only Rashad McCants really playing for a contract at all. The next year, they are on the hook for just $15,700,000 (BAJ and Bassy, who has a player option), so hey, we'll just persuade LeBron James to come here! In actuality, they'll have to pay Kevin Love and probably Corey Brewer, too, but that still leaves them at around $20,000,000. Plus the four #1s they have next year and the one after that. (Have you heard? Next year's draft is projected to be extremely poor... and we have four picks!!! They all get guaranteed money for a couple of years! We might want to trade one or two of those.) Plus, if they want to keep Randy Foye. So there's some flexibility there. I doubt that they'll be able to entice any big time free agents to come here, though.

No, what I am talking about is a little footnote on the car accident in which I was involved last summer. You might remember that I was rear ended on the way home from work. The woman who hit me was at fault and she had insurance, which was good because I got my car totaled out. However, she didn't have a license. I got a letter from the city of Minneapolis awhile back indicating that they were prosecuting her and asking me if I wanted to get involved (because I was considered to be the victim of her crime). I declined -- I'm not sure that they needed my testimony to convict her of driving without a license, but I wonder if in fact there isn't more to the story. Whatever, I don't know what I can add to my statement in the police report.

Anyway, I got another letter in the mail stating that she failed to appear at her pre-trial hearing and so there's a warrant out for her arrest. This is not smart. Her situation is getting worse. She should just appear and plead guilty.

It’s Not About the Team

SBG December 8, 2008, at 6:46 am 28 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , , ,

Some of my earliest memories of the NBA involve my Dad pulling for the NY Knicks because Phil Jackson played for them. I recall first watching NBA basketball on our black and white television back in the early 1970s (most probably the 1972 NBA finals, which the Knicks lost to the Lakers). I remember Wilt Chamberlain, not as the brilliant, dominating offensive player that he was as a young man, but the older guy, no longer the dominant offensive force. I remember Kareem playing for Milwaukee. Back then, I wasn't that much of a fan -- high school basketball was what I saw the most and I was a fan of SBGville high, more than anything. Of course, when I was a kid, there was no cable television (hell, we had a B&W set, the only one in the house -- nobody had more than one TV), there was no ESPN (obviously), there was no NBA on TV four or five nights a week.

As I grew up, the league was in serious trouble. The NBA Finals were televised on tape delay at 10:30 at night. Imagine that. The ratings were so terrible that CBS didn't want to disrupt their prime time programming in May to show the finals. Afterall, May is a sweeps month (I don't even know if that wasy the case back then), so good grief, the network could not afford to be weighed down by the low ratings of a league populated with drug addicts. Of course, Minnesota didn't have a team, so I didn't have a natural rooting interest. My team back then was the Sixers, because I was a Dr. J fan. Loved the Dr. Loved hearing Brent Musberger exclaim that "The Dr. just made a housecall!" Of course, being a Philly fan back in the late 70s was to experience disappointment. The 1977 Blazers cut out the heart of the Sixers fans, and 1980 Lakers beating the Sixers was tough to take, especially with rookie Magic Johnson playing center in the deciding game six. Of course, there was a payoff in 1983, four straight over the Lakers (eat it, Magic). And then, there was Michael Jordan exploding into the league and I was a huge NBA fan. And man, I was totally stoked when I found out that Minnesota was getting a team.

And that first season, man. The Wolves seemingly were always in games. They were 27th (last) in pace and 24th in offense. It wasn't pretty. But, they were also 15th in defense and they scraped together 22 wins with a coach that was insane about winning. They weren't talented, but they played hard. It was a great time to be a Wolves fan. Then, things went downhill. Drafting Felton Spencer and then Luc Longley, the firing of Musselman, the missing out on Shaq, Laettner, Rider, those first few seasons were rough. Then, there was the announcement that the team was moving to New Orleans (the Commissioner later quashed that deal). Being a Timberwolves fan was a difficult thing, indeed. But, still it was the NBA, and I also pulled for the Bulls -- at last, a dynasty not located in Boston or LA.

Then, the Wolves got the break of breaks -- KG came straight out of high school and just enough teams were nervous about that to allow him to fall to #5, where the we-need-to-take-a-chance Wolves snapped him up. It wasn't long before it was clear that the Wolves got the player of the draft. Laettner and Rider were cleared out. Tom Gugliatta (brought in before KG in the Donyell Marshall deal) was a nice piece -- and then the Wolves drafted Ray Allen and dealt him for Stephon Marbury. And Marbury was fast with great offensive game. He passed the ball (hell, he even made Dean Garrett look good) and the ceiling was pretty high.

We know how that all turned out. And how the Joe Smith fiasco turned out. And Ndudi Ebi. And Troy Hudson. And the ridiculous infatuation with Rickey Davis. And how Spree and Sam-I-Am were great for a year and imploded. And the disastrous Cassell and a #1 for Marko Jaric. And so on, and so forth (we all know the list is much longer). All the while, KG was busting his hump every night. Eventually, I became less of a T-Wolves fan and more of a KG fan. I stopped cheering for the Sixers when Dr. J retired. The end of the Jordan era in Chicago was the end of my cheering for the Bulls. And guess what? When KG finally went to Boston, my allegiances followed him. Oh sure, the local club still gets my attention, but this is a players' league. It's not the jersey so much as the guy wearing it. This isn't the NFL, after all, where the more faceless the players, the better.

Now, we hear that Kevin McHale wanted to fire Randy Wittman, but Glen Taylor said only on the condition that McHale coaches the team. McHale doesn't want any of that, so there will be no firing, I'm thinking. But, the stench of that foiled maneuver hangs over the team like a bad fart. Their hard working rookie says they've hit rock bottom -- and the season isn't even 25% spent! I'm sorry, kid, it's going to get worse. Firing Dwane Casey was a mistake. Hiring Wittman was a mistake. That shouldn't be surprising, of course, given the plethora of personnel mistakes that this organization has made. It's almost beyond my ability to keep cheering for this club. I don't really have anything against any of the players -- hell, I want them to do well and win (but, please, Shaddy has to go). Madsen and Cardinal and Jason Collins, all great guys, I'm sure. Two Stanford Cardinal men and Brian Cardinal was just the hardest worker ever in college. But, this is what the Wolves front line looks like after BAJ and Kevin Love (okay, there's Craig Smith, too). It's Cardinal overload. Oy.

Oy.

Oy.

Until Taylor fires McHale, this is going to continue. More than fire McHale, he needs to bring in some new blood and start over. Because, as constituted, this organization is doomed to fail. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to spend my time contemplating whether the Celtics can win another championship.

More Clocks and a “Tough Loss”

SBG December 4, 2008, at 7:38 am 17 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , , ,

I never imagined when I started this little website that I'd be talking about babies and toddlers, but now that BabySBG is running the show, well, what else is there to talk about? So, here's a sleep report. BabySBG goes to bed every night at 8PM. The routine is as follows: about 6:30, I tell her that bedtime is about 1:30 away. Then, periodically until 8PM, I give her a status update (35 minutes, 10 minutes, etc.). I think this is wholly unnecessary now, but it's a vestige of the nighttime training that I put in place around her first birthday. When eight rolls around, I inform her that it's bedtime. She goes over to her mother, gives her a hug, and we head up stairs. Sometimes, she walks up to her room on her own, sometimes I carry her. Then, I take her to her rocking chair, sing her one song and then put her in her crib, put a blanket on her, say good night, and hopefully, I don't see her again until I get home from work the next night.

Well, as I pointed out yesterday, it doesn't always work that way. And last night was one of those nights. At 9PM, she started crying. I usually let her cry, but after a while, I will go in and settle her down. Well, I went in last night and -- of course -- she said "Clock!" when she saw me. I picked her up, held her for a minute and she was sound asleep. I didn't hear another sound the rest of the night.

I consider her to be a pretty good sleeper, but there was a time when she fought this a little bit (or more than a little bit). I had to work with her, learn what I could do to calm her down, apply my tricks as needed, etc. We had a fairly lengthy routine, but I slowly chipped away at it until we got to the point where the current routine is more of a few minutes for Dad to enjoy BabySBG before she goes to bed. Interestingly, she absolutely will not behave for my wife when she tries to put her to bed. Will NOT. I'm not sure why she is an absolute angel for me and some sort of terror for her mother. I'd like to think it's because I'm father of the year or something, but in actuality, I'd like to figure out a way to get her to respond to her mother better. Any thoughts?

-----

I watched a little bit of the Wolves game last night and it seemed like the Wolves were maybe going to hang in there, but while I was away for about a minute, the Magic went a very quick run and put the game away in the third quarter. I didn't see what happened, but I can about imagine -- the Magic pounded it in to Howard, who had his way with whoever was guarding him. The Wolves didn't protect the perimeter, leaving guys wide open. A quick look at the box score suggests that might be what happened. In 1:19 of game time, the Magic went on a 9-2 run. Two threes and a traditional three point play by Howard and the game was blown open. By the end of the third quarter, it was a 20 point game. The Wolves scored 39 points in the fourth to make it look relatively close, but this was a blowout. It's not that terribly surprising or disappointing -- this Orlando club is one of the better clubs in the league. They have better talent than the Wolves, they were at home, and after allowing the Wolves to hang in there for a while, they stuck it to the Wolves in the second half and turned it into a laugher.

I turned back to the broadcast after the game and heard possibly the worst play-by-play guy in the league, Tom "Battle Back" Hanneman, tell me it was a "tough loss" for the Wolves. Tough loss? They were never in the game at any point over the last 18 or 19 minutes. The outcome wasn't decided on a back breaker at the buzzer, it was decided midway through the third quarter. This was a game that everyone expected the Wolves to lose, and they did. Convincingly. Not only do the Wolves have a crappy product on the floor, they have a television crew, anchored by Hanneman, who are totally divorced from reality. It's hard enough to watch this club lose and lose and lose, but at least in the old days we had Kevin "No Regard for Human Life!" Harlan. I miss those days.

Brewer avoids trip to development league

brianS December 1, 2008, at 12:52 pm 2 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) ,

Ok, so mebbe that was a bit harsh. Nonetheless, Brewer out for the season with ACL tear.

Watch Your Language, Stick

SBG November 24, 2008, at 7:29 am 2 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , , ,

After a long dry spell, I finally started writing around here again last week. It felt good, honestly, to just put some words on the screen. I even worked on a new look for the site on Saturday, one that is much easier to read than the current monstrosity (although I've moved the T-Wolves game logs to the front page for the time being, so that's an improvement over Game 163 staring us in the face for a long time). My wife even commented. She said, "I read what you wrote about the Timberwolves game. You swear too much." Thud. It's hard to explain to her that the Wolves can really drive a guy to drink or swear, but she's probably not going to understand or care about such things, so I promise, no swearing today, honey.

But, holy poop. Did you see that the Wolves absolutely drilled the Pistons on Sunday night? I knew that the Pistons were up next, but I was away from the computer on Sunday, off prematurely putting up the old Christmas tree and performing various other domestic tasks. I had no idea that the Wolves had played on Sunday until about 12:30 AM. And then, I see a 26 point win over the Pistons, dropping Detroit to 4-5 since the Iverson trade. That was the Wolves' first road win of the season and such a I-can't-believe-it moment that one has to stop and think -- is this team better than I thought? Well, the Wolves did get a home win in New Orleans last year early on in the season (and the second road win took a while), so it's not impossible for a really bad team to get one on the road every now and then, but an almost 30 point win???? That's a little harder to explain.

I think it says a lot more about the Pistons than anything. I watched them play the Celtics on Thursday night and it was ugly. The Pistons may have gone to the Eastern Conference finals for the last 15 seasons or so, but this is most definitely the end of the line. They are old, they are unmotivated, and they've got an all-timer in their division and he's not about to let his Cleveland club end up anywhere short of the ECF this year, and that club that Detroit played on Thursday night looks even tighter than the one that cut down the nets last June. Anything is possibllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllle, I suppose, but the Pistons are looking up at a steep climb this year. With Rasheed and Iverson coming off the books, they can maybe infuse some new talent into their club via free agency, but they can forget about getting into the LBJ sweepstakes, what with the Knicks getting themselves about $45 million under the cap in 2010, there ain't no luring the King to Mo-town.

But, anyway, Sunday's was a nice win for the hometown club and it was nice to see the Answer come up big for the Wolves. As much as I enjoyed seeing the Big Ticket on Friday night, it wasn't a lot of fun watching the absolutely dreadful Wolves. I found myself clapping when the Celtics scored, and although I didn't make a big demonstration of it or anything, I was pulling for a Celtics win. Yep, I'm a bigger KG fan than Wolves fan. The Answer got absolutely torched by Rajon Rondo. I've heard it said that by next year, the Big Three in Boston will be KG, Pierce, and Rondo, with Allen being the fourth option. I can see that happening.

As for the other Answer, it looks like the question is, who's going to be willing to pay him next year and how much of a salary cut is he going to take? It's going to be significant and I'm not sure anymore who would want him. I'm a big AI fan, but he's not an elite player anymore. I wouldn't pay him big bucks, that's for sure.

I mentioned that I found out about the Wolves game at about 12:30. I went to bed early, but woke up about 11:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. Finally, about 12:30 I got up, took a Unisom and checked The WGOM, where I found the game log. I've never, ever taken a sleeping aid in my entire life before, but I needed to sleep and doggone it if a dosage isn't two tablets. So, I took one (because I didn't want to sleep until 9 AM), fell asleep and woke up totally rested at 5:00. I don't want to make that a habit or anything (it's supposed to be non-habit forming and man, it's better than lying in bed awake all night), but my day isn't ruined, so that's good.

Speaking of which, I'd better sign off now. No swearing. Is that better, Lucy?

A Meeting of the Deerhoof Fan Club

SBG November 22, 2008, at 7:49 am 13 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , ,

Last year, citizen E-6 contacted me about going to a Timberwolves game. I hadn't met our guy E-6 at that time, so I was pretty excited about that, but due to circumstances, we just couldn't make it work. I was delighted to get a message here about a week or two ago, inviting me to go to the Timberwolves game Friday night against the World Champion Boston Celtics. E-6 has a line on some good tickets and although I'm not surprised that they might be relatively easy to get this year -- I was surprised that they were available for this game. But, they were, and so we were able to go.

We met up for a pre-game meal at The Local. The joint was packed, but we were eating, so we got a spot in back and ordered a couple of beers. We had a decent meal, a couple of drinks and had a good visit, discussing the merits of Deerhoof, the whereabouts of Rifding Hokme, and whether I should ban a certain California bureaucrat from the site for enticing other citizens to send him free beer for no real reason.

There's really only so much you can say about those topics and there was a game to be played a few blocks away, so we headed out towards 600 First Avenue North. E-6's ducats were at Will Call (what lines! It was obvious that this was the biggest night of the season over there.) Then, we got our tickets and we laughed. This is the 20th anniversary of the Wolves and whose face was on the ticket? Have a look.

Seriously, this franchise is so pathetic that they put J.R. Rider's picture on its tickets, at least for this game. If it was my club, I'd be pretending that he never played in a Timberwolves uniform. I'd categorically deny even knowing of the guy. But, no. This idiot's face is on the ticket. Oy.

We got to the arena just in time to see KG being introduced. KG was introduced first for the Celtics and the Target Center crowd was cheering pretty strongly, but the Wolves PA announcer cut that off by announcing Paul Pierce almost immediately. E-6 and I headed over to the beer stand and missed the over-the-top Wolves introduction. The lady working the stand was friendly, but she mentioned that she'd been working since 6AM. She tipped over one of our Summits before she could pour it, so she grabbed another. She said that if Big Brother wasn't watching, she'd have spilled the rest of that one into our cups. Nice lady, working hard, tough day. Fuck you, Big Brother.

The first half was pretty sloppy. The Celtics started slow and had a tough time controlling the ball. Rajon Rondo was by far the fastest guy on the floor -- Randy Foye couldn't stay anywhere close to him, but Rondo wasn't doing much to finish. Plus, the Celtics piled up a ton of turnovers. Somewhere early in the second quarter I looked up and the Celtics had 11 turnovers already. Ugly. It kind of reminded me of the Detroit game the night before -- start slow early. I've heard that that has been happening a lot this season.

At halftime, the score was 39-36 Minnesota. I was pretty sure, though, that this wasn't going to be some sort of huge upset. The Celtics hadn't really played yet. They did in the third quarter. The result was devastating. It seemed like the Celtics always had the ball in the third, were always scoring and even if they weren't they were stopping the Wolves. At the end of the third, Rondo hit a buzzer beating three, KG made a fist pump right in front of the Wolves bench (apparently right in front of Glen Taylor) and the destruction was complete. It was 71-49 after three. That's right, the Celtics outscored the Wolves 35-10 in the third quarter. I turned to E-6 and said, "KG's done for the night." I looked up and the Wolves were shooting 23% for the night at that point. It was devastating. As Reusse said:

He played 11 minutes in the third quarter and it could serve as an instructional tape titled "The KG Way to Play Basketball." He scored, kept balls alive off the backboard for teammates, made passes, set screens and played magnificent defense.

And yes, there it was. KG basketball. It's not just scoring, although he led the Celtics on Friday night. It's the whole game. True, he doesn't fill the stat sheet anymore -- primarily because he's no longer the sole focus on offense. He still provides offensive punch, but his primary value is on the other end of the court. The Wolves practically suffocated in the third quarter, and #5 had both of his hands around their collective neck. You read Reusse and Top Jimmy this week kind of admitting that hey, old #5 is pretty good and you wonder why they were practically joyous when he got traded. Yep, I resigned myself to the idea that he had to leave -- not because the Wolves needed to rebuild -- hell, they are lost in a forest of those pine trees that adorn their logo. No, he had to be traded because it just wasn't right to see him be brought down by this club anymore.

Yep, he's made $250 million playing fucking basketball. I understand that that's more than a little crazy. But, if you forget about the money for a second and think about the game, it was just criminal to watch him being stuck with Mark Blount and Rickey Davis and all the other idiots with which McHale surrounded him. If there is a Basketball Jesus, KG needed to be relieved of that burden. And, you know, anything is possible. KG could get out. Those of us who understood that he deserved more in the basketball sense weren't dancing on his T-Wolves grave. We weren't saying things like KG's an ass or stupid or whatever the sludge that Reusse and Top Jimmy were shoveling. Because we don't really care about all that. Because fans of the game see KG straining and pressing and trying so hard every night. Yep, he's not the best fourth quarter scorer ever. But, no one plays as goddamned hard as he does every night. And in the end, that's what basketball is all about. Playing defense. Playing team basketball.

You hear about how Kobe Bryant is playing team basketball now. Well, Bryant is an ass because he was playing with the most dominating center ever and he pouted about his stature and in the process probably threw about three rings away. Meanwhile, ol' KG busted his hump every night along side the Blounts and Davises of the world. If he finally got pissed off about that and got surly, who's to blame him?

Last night was a nice cold dish of revenge. KG owned that place. He was cheered on every made hoop. They say a couple of things about revenge: it's a dish best served cold (as I mentioned oh, about three sentences back) and that the best revenge is living well. Well, a year and a half after being traded, after hearing the owner say that he tanked a season, KG came home and stuck it to the old club, hard. And I hear he's living well, both in a personal sense and in a basketball sense. Yesterday it was mentioned in the paper that last year in a little jawing match, BAJ mentioned to KG that they both have the same number of rings. BAJ said yesterday that he needs to learn to shut up. I like BAJ, but he's not getting any championships in this town, either. It remains to be determined how many KG gets, but the answer is definitely more than zero.

I certainly enjoyed hanging out with E-6. He's an interesting guy to talk with, as you might imagine. The game itself was not really all that exciting and by the end we had both a Brian Cardinal sighting and a Mark Madsen sighting. Sad. But, you know, I'm glad I was there. I'm glad that I got to see the final chapter of the KG/Wolves story. Because that's what Friday night was. The story is over. Perhaps the Wolves will remake the front office, draft smart this year, and begin to put a product on the floor that people will actually want to watch. I hope they do, because I enjoyed the team when they had a product worth watching. And lest anyone ever get confused, it was always that hump busting KG that was the Product Worth Watching. Thanks, E-6, for giving me an opportunity to see it one last time.

 
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