Goodbye Bismarck, Wolves back home again
Posted on October 20th, 2008 – 3:29 PMBy Jerry Zgoda
Now 5-1 and finally off the preseason road, the Wolves came back home to Target Center on Monday and that’s where they will stay until next week’s regular-season opener against Sacramento. They finish off the preseason schedule with Target Center games Wednesday against Chicago and Thursday against Milwaukee.
Rashad McCants practiced Monday after he did not play in Sunday’s 111-107 victory over Denver in Bismarck. He tweaked his back before the game and if it had been a regular season game they probably would have put him on the floor and see how the back responded. But it was Sunday night in Bismarck…enough said.
Kevin Love played just 11 minutes because of foul trouble against a quick Nuggets team that vexed him the first time around, nine days before in Denver. Wittman attributed it to a veteran officiating crew that gave Love a couple of “rookie calls.” Wittman called it another “learning” experience.
Randy Foye and Sebastian Telfair got a good talking-to after Thursday’s game at Toronto, where Blake Ahearn was the best Wolves point guard on the floor, and Foye responded with a 15-assist, 2-turnover game. Foye acknowledged that it sure does help the stats when you throw the ball to Mike Miller and he shoots the ball.
David Harrison still hasn’t participated in a full practice, so it’s almost certain Wittman won’t get a look at him in a preseason game. They’ve still got 18 on the roster and three have to go — Calvin Booth, Ahearn or Ollie and…someone (my guess is that it isn’t Harrison). Brian Cardinal practiced some on Monday for the first time since Mankato and Booth is ready to play, but the fact that he hasn’t sure makes it look like he’s the foregone conclusion to a contract buyout.
20 Responses to "Goodbye Bismarck, Wolves back home again"
Ahhh Jerry, I can see the other side of keeping Ahearn now as well based on this post…maybe it will make Foye and Bassy fear of their status in the depth chart and make them strive to be even better….
Booth is gone, ahearn is gone and my guess for the 3rd is gonna have to be richards. cardinal will be kept b/c of his contract. booth will be bought out since he came free. I’d rather them keep Harrison and bank on his upside than let him go and we keep richards. richards doesn’t have much of a ceiling and if Harrison reverts to his old ways richards will be available.
Arenal - Richard already signed his QO didn’t he ? Are we gonna buy him out or what ? Any idea the salary cap / contract ramifications of that ?
Harrison obviously would be the cheapest because there’s no guaranteed money involved, but the Wolves clearly are intrigued by his upside and probably at least want to a real look. Let’s say he stays…Richard would be the cheapest obviously. The other options: Mark Madsen (I know: sheer sacrilege, but two years at about $5.5 million total), Jason Collins (one year, $6.2 million) Cardinal (two years, $13 million>
If Harrison stays, I’d think it should be either Cardinal or Madsen that gets bought out. Richard is the cheapest in the short term, but the team is clearly trying to free up as much cap room as possible over the next two summers, so ultimately, a buyouy of a big contract appears to serve us better in that regard. Richard doesn’t have a high ceiling no, but he is strong, defensively oriented, young, and will do a lot of what Collins does (and I think Jason is secure because of our lack of real size) at a much cheaper price. As other writers have noted (specifically Steve Aschburner), Cardinal and Madsen don’t have much of a place with this team anymore, and would be much better off on teams that are contending now where their spot-duty burn can e meaningful.
I will feel bad for Richard if he is cut. He spent all summer in Minny working on his skills to try to make the team. Harrison rolls in at the last second, never gets healthy enough to practice, and may very well get tossed off the team mid-season due to weed or anger management issues.
Richard doesn’t look like an NBA contributor to me. Neither does Madsen or Cardinal, but they have contracts. Given that Harrison has potential, it seems like it has to be between Richard, Madsen, and Cardinal. Given that they’re all at about the same skill level and Madsen and Cardinal will be expensive to buy out, Richard seems like the no-brainer cut to me. I like his work ethic, but I think he should be the one to go.
I’m a little interested as to why everybody’s writing off Calvin Booth so quickly….he’s a proven shot blocker, and a less costly cut than David Harrison.
Also, it should be noted that Glen Taylor is not at all adverse to expensive buyouts. We bought out Troy Hudson, Juwan Howard, and Theo Ratliff, all expensive contracts, and were very close to buying out Antoine Walker as well. So I don’t think the organization really cares how much it would cost (provided it doesn’t reach outrageous amounts) as long as everything is off the books by next summer.
Actually jizzno, Harrison is on a non-guaranteed deal. So waiving him wouldn’t cost us anything.
Buying a player out doesn’t take him off the cap earlier. Richard is the obvious cut.
Buying out big contacts doesn’t make any sense unless you have to get rid of the player and no one will take him. The wolves are still paying for Hudson and Howard yet we can’t use the salaries for anything. Players with big contracts like Collins’ 6 mil in the last year of his contract is good trade bait if the wolves decide it is better to force a player to be here through trade than hope a player will sign here in FA which nearly no one has ever wanted to do even when KG was here. Next year Madsen and Cardinal would be great to have to buy a good player for cap space like the Lakers and Celtics did for Gasol and KG.
I say we cut both Richards and Harrison and sign Darius Miles to play him at least a 1 min a game for the 10 games to screw over the blazers for the 10 or 15 million in cap space. I don’t care if he can’t really play. Then if we would rather have a big man go find richard or harrison and resign one of them, the odds that both are gone is basically zero. Harrison couldn’t even get an invite to a camp until halfway through the preseason, he is not in demand and Richard is looked at as a backup to Mark Madsen. MARK MADSEN’S BACKUP that should say how in demand he is.
Is Richard still an option to send to the D-League, and does he count against the 15 man roster if he’s playing for the Skyforce?
Richard can still go to D-League, but he counts towards the roster as long as the Wolves hold his rights.
This is a pickle. I hear what everyone is saying about keeping Ahern and Ollie and then cutting a big. It’d almost play out like this:
PG - Foye, Telfair, Ollie
SG - Miller, McCants, Ahern
SF - Gomes/Brewer, Carney
PF - Love, Smith, ? (Cardinal or Madsen)
C - Jefferson, Collins, ? (Harrison, Booth, or Richard)
Booth seems cut. I hear what Sean and Q are saying about keeping Madsen and Cardinal (dance team USA). I think Harrison’s on the team. So do you keep Richard or Ahearn? Yeah, I’d have to say Ahearn. I’d really like Richard to turn out to be a beast of a player and if we didn’t have Mad-dog and the Card he’d be fine as the last big. Hopefully by keeping the Great White Foreheads we’re saving money on our coaching staff budget. I like the mentoring job Ollie’s doing. Perhaps that’s what M & C can do at least.
CRAP! I’m still at sixteen. Fine. Cut Madsen too.
It’s one or the other with Ahearn and Ollie, not both. Make your choice.
Thanks for the clarification, Jerry. Who do you think they’ll keep? Ollie’s the veteran but only plays point. Ahern seems to be more of a combo guard the wolves would like but is young. I’d say keep… oooo, I don’t know.
Both. (j/k)
My feeling is they should keep Ollie for now, release/cut/buyout Booth, Ahern and Madsen. Madsen is a tough one because of 2 years left on his contract, but he’s making less than Cardinal or Collins. Ahern will likely not get a long term deal anywhere this year and still be an option next year if the Wolves are still looking. Booth seems to be a forgone conclusion that he’s out. Maybe they can convince Mad Dog to retire as a player and become a rebounding coach. 
How can Refs still get away with “making rookie calls” and “just showing him the ropes” (talking about Love) every player in the league should get the exact same calls at all points of the game no matter the situation. This is why people do not have any respect for the NBA anymore. Stern sits on his high horse thinking “everything in my league is perfect and the private investigation I did found nothing.” Shocking, his private investigating team that he hired did not find anything incriminating about any ref. I believe that as much as unicorns. Worst league management in sports with no accountability or repercussions for their actions.
