The balmy weather and the impending denoument of my favorite season sent me up to Ely and then on to the Superior Hiking Trail for a little fresh air the past two days and I thus wasn't able to make it back for the Wolves-Bucks tilt. Here are my questions and observations simply from gleaning the recap and box score from nba.com. Anyone who can respond--or if you want to chime in with second-hand observations and questions of your own--are welcome to do so. After all, we now have less than a week of wankery before everything counts and we take hoops (but hopefully not ourselves) seriously.
* The four starters aside from Randy Foye shot 80 percent from the field (28-35)?! McCants was perfect in 8 attempts, Jefferson 9-12, Gomes 5-7 with 2-3 from trey, and Ratliff 6-8...is Milwaukee's D really that horrible? And does this look like the sensible starting lineup on opening day even before that little shooting explosion?
* Did anyone else read Sports Illustrated's NBA season preview issue, especially the Timberwolves page, especially the anonymous scout's take? Especially the part where the scout ripped Al Jefferson and gave huge ups to Gerald Green? What is a customarily fine mag like SI doing quoting obvious idiots as experts, and where was at least one editor with a smidgen of hoops knowledge to spot this bullshit and demand either a new scout, another interview, or one of those laughing heads to clue people in that the whole thing was a weird joke? Witt should throw the thing up on the bulletin board, as the mag also picked Minnesota to finish 15 out of 15 Western Conference teams. I'll bet you Mike Bibby's torn thumb ligament they finish ahead of Sacramento, and probably the Clips. BTW, Gerald Green had 5 turnovers in 8:53 tonight, which is probably why he was able to squeeze off only two missed shots.
* Green was only the most egregious turnover-er. For those who saw the game, how many of Craig Smith's seven miscues were charges or travels? And how many of those were questionable calls? And what is the world coming to when Theo Ratliff not only has as many assists as his rebounds and blocks combined, but only commits one turnovers versus his four dimes and chips in a couple of steals?
* Is Sebastian Telfair just healthier than Randy Foye right now or more adept as spreading the ball around? Six assists, two turnovers and only six shots (three of them makes, including his only trey) in 26:54 are blessed numbers for Telfair. Foye played ten fewer minutes, had as many missed FGA and personal fouls, doled out one assist and looks inert, box score-wise? True?
* I know he was a DNP, but is Antoine Walker out of shape? In street clothes or his uni? Smiling or sourpuss?
* Was the Wolves winning by 21 enough to overcome a preseason basketball game featuring 57 turnovers between the two teams? And was it a coincidence that every one of the four Wolves DNPs were at least 30 years old, or are we saying goodbye to a couple of them soon?
Xand, thanks for this.
ps I will miss Marko (I'm assuming he'll barely play), in a weird way - that is, I'll miss what Britt once described as his "unique skill set." Never a dull moment.
To the poster who asked about Big Al - no, he's not that unathletic at all. It's just common media exaggeration and group think. He's no Dwight Howard, but he has decent ups and is actually pretty quick considering his size. He'll have no shortage of nice dunks this year. In short: he's not athletic enough to tout it as a huge asset, but he is athletic enough that it is not a weakness for him, especially considering his skill set and size.
He reminds me a bit of Duncan in that regard (though a few inches shorter). Duncan doesn't sky on anything he does on either end of the floor - he uses his smarts, touch and quickness to score and to alter/block shots. Al should pay attention to how TD gets it done (and it looks like he has been).
And I wouldn't worry too much about the TO's. I'm sure they'll plague us for a while, but the preseason numbers were bumped up due to the lack of PG play and the fact that the refs were twitchy on calling traveling and double-dribbles. If someone jab-stepped and swung the ball right and then made a move to the left too quickly, it was a whistle every time, which I don't seem to recall being the case during the regular season.
As the kids learn to play together, I'm sure the TO's will decrease. Especially once Foye and Telfair are back full time so we don't have to see Marko throw it into the stands 3 times a game. It was more encouraging that they were at least looking to pass to each other and move the ball during this game - there was noticeably less 1 on 1 play than before (coincidentally, Ricky wasn't there.. hmm..).
Part 2 of Glen Taylor's interview.
http://www.twincities.com/timberwolves/ci_7308142
It's almost as if Taylor thinks retrospectively placing blame on everyone other than himself and McHale is going to make people forget that (with the exception of one season) the team failed for more than a decade to capitalize on talent of one of the finest basketball players in the history of the game.
He owns the team so ultimately it's his fault. And the next highest position is VP of Basketball Operations, no? If Flip was the problem, there were plenty of opportunities to rectifiy the situation.
How arrogant.
The PiPress's Rick Alonzo has a revealing interview with Wolves owner Glen Taylor (are there any other kind with Glen?). The biggest bombshell is Taylor's flat-out statement that KG told Taylor Flip Saunders didn't have it anymore, essentially endorsing a coaching change. Taylor also says that Cassell and Spree had quit on Flip. Many of the other things--Rasho, Billups, Flip's despondency--further the essentially pro-McHale, anti-Flip narrative Taylor had in an interview with me a year ago. But hat tip to Alonzo for mining more good stuff here, and to Taylor for continuing to say what's on his mind. Better that than the tight-lipped crews that run the other sports operations in town.
Here's the link:
http://www.twincities.com/ci_7301055
The Star Tribune is reporting that the Wolves bought out Juwan Howard. Does anyone know how much the buyout was worth?
Reports are that the Wolves have bought out Howard's contract, putting our roster at 15 if you believe that Simien and Doleac will not report.
I'm not really that excited about it, honestly. I mean, we have a vet who shows professionalism, and yes it's "classy" to show someone like that the door if they don't want to be here, but don't you think that professionalism could rub off on some of our players who need it? Maybe I'm too selfish in wanting that for this team over the will of Juwan to play for a contender. I'm squarely in the camp that you need vets as a calming force, both in the locker room and on the court. I want to play guys like Howard and Buckner when our offense is stumbling and we're headed towards the first zero-point quarter in NBA history. Sure, they're not go-to options, but they're not going to give you deer-in-headlights looks either.
It's a nice move to buy out Howard. He should be able to find gainful employment pretty easily. What confuses me, however, is that he seemed one of the most important parts of this rebuilding process. I don't trust Wittman to be a great teacher for these guys and it seems one KG drop step has been McHale's only contribution to the Wolves' brain share.
I hope Walker is on the way out. I don't want Jefferson to learn his outside game. It would also be painful for me to have a multifaceted PF (walker) dominating the ball. He's like KG, only not quite as good shooting, rebounding, passing, playing D, cleaning the glass, playing passing lanes, energy, usw...
the 15th sounds a bit harsh...I say the wolves finish 11th or 12th. Brewer will be 6th man by Dec. and the team's best player by this time next year.
As a T-wolves/Raptors fan who can't follow either team this year (living abroad), thanks for keeping me up to date. I did see the SI article - I haven't seen much of Jefferson - sure, the scout was a bit rough on him, but is he really as unathletic as the scout says?
Witt was pretty carefull with Foye's minutes last night (a couple of 8 minute stretches to start the 1st and 3rd quarters), and Randy showed little to none of his usual offensive aggresiveness. He wasn't trying to beat his man off the dribble and drive the lane, instead seeming content to make the first pass and then camp out at the 3 point line. It's tough to say whether he looked injured, or if he was just out there to ease himself back up to game speed and not do too much on coaches' orders.
Telfair on the other hand, was given extended minutes and looked to be playing at full speed with no ill effects. I didn't get a chance to see him play much in either Portland or Boston, but from what I remember reading, it seemed like the biggest knock against him was that he played out-of-control fast and too often looked for his own shot at the expense of his teammates. I can only hope that last night was an indication that he has begun to mature and realize his true value as a distributing point guard. He played fast, but stayed within himself (avoiding temptation on a couple of high risk plays when you could see that he was thinking of trying something but then thought better of it), and on multiple occations was able to penetrate and dish to an open teammate. He still needs to improve his perimeter defense (Williams and Bell were getting by him regularly), but he had a couple of scrappy high-effort steals and near-steals in the backcourt so it's tough to fault his overall defensive effort.
A few other brief impressions:
* I wouldn't put too much worry into Smith's high turnover count. He played mostly garbage minutes surrounded by offensively challenged 2nd and 3rd teamers (Telfair, Jaric, Green, Brewer, Richard etc.) and was clearly trying a little too hard when he was the best/only offensive option on the floor.
* Theo Ratliff continues to impress. He had a pump-fake, blow-past Gadzuric dunk (and 1) that I never dreamed he'd still have the quickness or athletecism to do. And I knew the guy could protect the rim - but he's a really nice passer too, with his assists almost exclusively coming off of plays where he'd post up and feed cutters to the rim Vlade-style.
* After watching the international games and becoming increasingly frustrated with the team's inability/unwillingness to feed Al down low, the first quarter of last night's game was very refreshing. They fed Al early and often and he completely had his way with the overmatched Villanueva.
It appears that this will be the starting lineup. What will be interesting to see is who else is in the rotation over the first 20 games or so.
I assume Smith, Telfair, and Brewer are locks to get some burn, and probably Walker too if he stays around. I generally don't like more than 9 guys in a rotation, which leaves some questions.
Is Howard gone this week, or does he get run? Does Jaric inhabit the DNP-CD zone, and if so how will that go over? What do you do with Gerald Green? Most especially, can Wittman establish a rotation and stick with it without too much internal agita?
After Davis was traded, anyone who didn't think this would be the starting lineup has not followed the team closely in the preseason.
Foye is slowed by his knee tendinitis. I sure hope it gets better soon! But the starting PG is his job to lose. He doesn't have to be spectacular, just run the offense and limit his mistakes.
McCants has been good and consistent all preseason. It may have gone unnoticed because Davis was always starting at SG, and McCants missed the previous two games with a bruised knee. They aren't going to throw a rookie out there to start (Brewer), and Green has continued being the bust he was in Boston.
Gomes won the starting SF spot after his first two games. He went unnoticed because of a foot injury since then, but he was back once again showing that he is the only choice to start at SF. It'll be interesting to see how Walker fits in, if he's still around.
Jefferson was a lock at PF before the preseason began. And he has been better than anyone had even hoped for. He will be the go-to guy for this team.
Theo didn't play in the first preseason game. But he won the starting C job at the first oppotunity he had starting the 2nd game. With his outstanding defensive presence in the paint, and his veteran leadership, he is the reason the Wolves will surprise a lot of people this season. If Theo goes down during the sesaon - a distinct possibility - the team might just crumble.
I think the timberwolves might finish 16th out of 15 western conference teams.
I was there for the first half and will answer what I can.
The starting line up was my pre-season pick (except I had Davis instead of McCants). Al and Theo were dynamite in the middle in the first quarter. Gomes looked solid on both ends. McCants was passing like I've never seen before. My comment to my friend was that maybe the coaches said to Rashad that the fastest way to earn PT is to pick up the assists lost when Davis went to Miami. Foye looked rusty but OK. The Bucks looked to me like they were dogging it, particularly on the defensive end. The biggest surprise for me on the positive side was Theo's energy and effectiveness, especially when Al sat and he was the go to big man. If he can stay healthy he will contribute to this team's success.
SI has things upside down. Jefferson looked like a man among boys for the first half. Things looked almost too easy for him. Green, on the other hand did NOTHING to impress me. He looked lost and his box score was entirely representative. I think he got benched quickly, given another chance shortly thereafter and failed again.
There were too many thrown away balls that I saw but, the refs were calling travelling, carrying and double dribble more than I can ever remember. I can't comment on Smith, I think a lot of his minutes came after I left, but there was a lot of ticky tack stuff getting called.
If I had to pick our go to PG based on what I saw in the first half tonight, Telfair's the guy. As I said before, Randy seemed rusty. Telfair wasn't brilliant but he seemed pretty solid.
Antoine looked good in his suit. I didnt see him ordering any fries or ice cream sitting behind the bench.
I liked what I saw in the first half. Marko was glued to the far end of the bench and seemed somber. Howard, also inactive, was engaged with his teammates - joking and supporting during time outs. No Doleac, no Simien.
A couple other observations: the team was noticeably unselfish - lots of passing, particularly on fast breaks (of which there were quite a few. McCants had a couple of serious bursts I saw. Maybe the '05'06 hops are still there.
One Timberwolf employee told me the team would be getting younger still. I stopped Jim Stack at half and told him how fun the team was to watch. His response was that there would be a lot of ups and downs ahead.