A message from Roughkat last night about the former Wolves playing in the Cavs/Celtics series got us thinking about whether one could field a complete lineup using only ex-Wolves remaining on the eight playoff teams. The answer: you could do so, but you don’t even need all eight teams. You just need the four teams left in the East.  And it’s a squad that would likely make the playoffs. Shocking, but true. Let’s break this down:

Center: Theo Ratliff, Detroit. It was a great run here. The knees feel better during wins.

Power forward: Kevin Garnett, Boston. He’s pretty good.

Small forward: Wally Szczerbiak, Cleveland: A candidate to be punched in the face at any point by KG — though that doesn’t necessarily differentiate things from their days as teammates.

Shooting guard: Maurice Evans, Orlando: Lest you forget, Maurice spent 10 games with the Wolves in 2001-02 after being signed as an undrafted free agent. We didn’t need him; Orlando sure doesn’t mind having him as a starting guard.

Point guard: Chauncey Billups, Detroit: In Minnesota, the greatest debate we ever had was whether his nickname should be Chancy or Launchy. With the Pistons, he’s Mr. Clutch and one of the best point guards in the league.

Bench: Sam Cassell, Boston; Joe Smith, Cleveland. Scoring and hustle, small and big, off the pine. A perfect combo. Quick, sign them to an illegal deal they will squawk about.

Coach: Flip Saunders, Detroit.

Put five scrubs around these guys to fill out the bench and you have a 50-win team.

Amazing.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 12:50 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.