“Rock Bottom”: Do Wolves hit it with heartless loss to Clippers?
Posted on December 7th, 2008 – 3:38 AMBy Jerry Zgoda
The home crowd finally awoke from their boredom and their slumber and turned Minnesota nasty in the fourth quarter of tonight’s 107-84 loss to the Clippers at Target Center: Fans shouted out reminders to Kevin McHale that he once drafted Brandon Roy and O.J. Mayo, and then traded them away. Others stood and cheered in a mocking sort of way when the team, playing without injured Mike Miller and Corey Brewer, rallied from 29 points down to only trail by 20 to an opponent that entered the game with a 3-15 record.
Afterward, rookie Kevin Love, who had his third double-double in the last five games with a 13-point, 15-rebound night, said the team with this loss surely has hit “rock bottom.” Let’s hope so.
Usually chatty owner Glen Taylor, clearly unhappy, turned me down in a hallway afterward when I asked to talk him, surely knowing I wanted to ask if he planned any management changes. In the team’s locker room, you could look back into the training room and see Kevin McHale hugging both Al Jefferson and Randy Foye, an odd sight indeed.
You’ve got to believe something’s going to happen, probably with coach Randy Wittman, but who knows?…And perhaps as early as Sunday, or Monday, when the team resumes practice, at the latest. The right thing to do if they decide to fire him and still keep McHale is to make McHale coach this group. Asking, say, Jerry Sichting or Fred Hoiberg to do so is the ultimate cop-out.
The Wolves play again Tuesday against Utah at Target Center. Interesting tidbit. Tuesday, Dec. 9, is the 20th anniversary of Utah’s hiring Jerry Sloan, now the longest tenured coach in any pro sport. In their 19-plus seasons, the Wolves already have gone through Bill Musselman, Jimmy Rodgers, Sidney Lowe, Bill Blair, Flip Saunders, Dwane Casey, Kevin McHale and now Randy Wittman.
To whoever coaches them Tuesday, here are my two bits, for all that it’s worth: Except for rare exceptions, forget shaping the lineup and rotation due to nightly matchups. Put the guys you’ve committed yourself to out there and play them together, every night for 30 or 35 minutes or more for the next four months and see what they do. Then decide how to proceed.
Let Randy Foye play the point for the entire season. Keep him there and let him float or sink. (Yes, of course he’s not a true point, but see if he can become an effective “scoring point.”) Mike Miller’s your 2 guard, Ryan Gomes your starting 3 man, Love your power forward and Jefferson your center, or vice versa. Let them go and see if any of them can fly. Telfair, Craig Smith, Jason Collins and Rashad McCants (if he doesn’t drive you completely crazy when he’s in there) are your guys off the bench.
If you get to April and you’re convinced there’s no way Foye can be a consistent NBA point guard but he can be score at the other guard spot, draft the best point guard you can get or make a deal for one next summer. Then try to trade McCants for something, anything or simply don’t make him an offer when his option comes up in July and make Foye your instant offense guy off the bench.
53 Responses to "“Rock Bottom”: Do Wolves hit it with heartless loss to Clippers?"
First of all Jerry, thank you for the update on Taylor. That actually gives me confidence that he’s planning a change because like you said, he’s normally very chatty. I don’t think I can recall a time he’s outright refused to talk to the media.
Second, thank you again for calling out McHale. This is his mess, so if he axes the coach to save himself, then he needs to take responsibility for what’s left. Firing Witt rather than himself implies he thinks this team can win, so yes, if that’s how it goes down, then make him prove it to us.
And to the question of rock bottom, absolutely. We hit bedrock tonight. Think about this guys…Memphis beat the Clippers two nights ago. That makes us worse than the Grizzlies. The Clippers beat us, so that makes us worse than them. So the only teams worse off than us would be the Thunder and Wizards. Well, the Wizards are missing two starters, so while they’re playing rather uninspired ball, they do have something of an excuse. And so far we’ve split the season series with the Thunder.
So as far as I’m concerned, at BEST, we are tied as the worst team in the NBA. That’s about as rock bottom as it gets.
As sad as it is, I was hoping we’d get blown out tonight. I knew that a bad loss to LAC would force SOMEBODY’S hand. It seems that we’ll either fire McHale, or fire Witt, find a new coach, find out we’re still horrible, and fire McHale.
That’s the hope at least.
[…] On the Wolves – […]
They need to get Love and Jefferson cozy on the court together. The rest of the team besides Miller shouldn’t be anywhere near a starting lineup.
Get Miller his shots (when he returns) let the bigs rebound and decide what to do with the rest of the garbage on this team as opportunities present themselves.
I wouldn’t be surprised if both coach and gm go.
Good post Jerry!
The problem with Love and Al on the floor is that neither can play defense - Al is too invested in his offensive game (and thus is not capable of 2 way play as of yet) and Love is still learning in a league where most of the guys are bigger than him now (whereas in college he was above average). They both can score and rebound, but they both are 4’s and this team needs a legit C. Thabeet intrigues me - we were pretty good when Ratliffe played last year. Just having his presence made us better. Even having collins makes us better, even though he offers zilch on the offensive side of the ball.
We need a real GM and a coach that can run the team. Why not bring back Sam, have him run the team and have Witt stay on as the playbook guy. As for GM, I have no idea whose out there and who can run a team, but Hoiberg has shown us some interesting things and I wouldn’t mind another mind in there - Flip maybe?
The effort is the key here - they CAN do it, but do they? Not so much. Miller was an underrated star on this team and its showing with every game. Also, no Brewer either - his intensity was only surpassed by Miller. Now you’ve got a guy out of position in Foye, a star who can’t (or won’t) play both ways, a rookie that can play but needs time to develop and find his right niche, and stud veteran who plays his guts out but is injured, and a bunch of role players.
I just wish that Serbian guy could get out of his contract and come here. He’d make a world of difference.
I wish this team would do better - I know it can, but the worse it does the better off we’ll be in the lottery next year.
If there are still idiots out there who don’t think Randy Witless is part of the problem; well there is your wake-up call. Hopefully this is the end of a miserable era of this pathetic team. Bye Mcfail, bye Witless. Good Riddens.
This team sure looks like the Celtics did before Mchale reenergized them. Some time a bunch of players can get real used to losing. (Jefferson, Gomes, Telfair, Miller.)
This is a really deeeeep hole that we find ourselves in.
Hoiberg is an unknown commodity and I have no faith in him. Pekovic is averaging 7 points for his team now so how will that help us again? Like Jerry said yesterday, Sam Mitchell is being paid millions for the next 2 years to sit around, so why would he come here and give that up? He could get a cushy studio analyst job and make more $ on top of those millions.. This team will have a top 5 pick, but if that idiot Mcidiot is making the decisions, this team will be no better than it is now. Like Pauly said the hole is deeeeeeeep.
Let us all bow our heads and pray that in june we hear that with the first pick in the 2009 NBA draft the Minnesota Timberwolves select Ricky Rubio.
lets all bow our heads and pray for it to be 1995 and mchale decides to pursue other interests after drafting kg.
Nothing will change here until Mchale is gone. Everything else is just like putting a bandaid on a severed limb. He will always be my all time favorite player, for the obvious reason, but he just does not have the right ideas or enough creativity to ever turn this team into a winner.
Thanks alot Jerry. This is a very realistic look at what’s happening with this franchise. So much so it’s almost out of place on the interweb. My question to you is this: cop-out or not, is Sichting a viable Head coach option?
He’s always came off as cool head, and smart guy, plus I know on past Wolves teams he was very well respected by the players.
jerry, this is pure common sense. what we need to know is what we have. we know we have scoring in the pivot. can they defend? let’s find out. we know we have a legit sixth man (foye). can he start at the point? let’s find out. give the kids the keys and let them learn about NBA life the hard way. as david brent says, “trust people and they will be true to you. treat them greatly, and they will show themselves to be great.”
chris- “i wouldnt be surpised if both the coach and gm go”
Now that would be a great early Christmas present!!
Been lurking and just want to jump in here with a few LA-centric comments:
* I love my ex-UCLA guys, but… Love will never be a top level PF because he doesn’t have the body/ability to *defend* the position. He has terrific offensive skills and if he was 6′11′ and/or could play above the rim he’d destroy the league, but he’s not and he won’t. Take Jerry’s advice and start/play him 35+ minutes — I’d pay to see him try to defend Duncan, Stoudemire, Garnett, Aldridge etc…
* Don’t know if McHale could bring himself deal with the Lakers, but my guess is they’d love to have Mike Miller. They have *two* seven footers who can’t even break the rotation — Chris Mihm and DJ Mbenga — that could help you play Al at his proper PF position. Mbenga’s long and legit on the defensive end (which you desperately need), but little offense; Mihm is the opposite. Add in a Sasha Vujacic and/or Luke Walton (who’s passing/playmaking could help your lack of PG) and/or Vlad Radmanovic. They could all give you better minutes than you’re getting now.
* Go get Javaris Crittenton from Memphis. The consensus among Laker observers was that he had better upside than Jordan Farmar, but was too raw as a rookie to get major minutes on a playoff-bound Laker team. Why he can’t get any PT in Memphis is beyond me, but they’re a messed up organization too. Maybe you can get him for a song.
Best wishes. Sorry our boy Love is going to be a bust…
Hoopshype says there is chatter within
the Wolves locker room there will or could be a trade of Collins and McCants to Charlotte for Gerald Wallace
Good post Jerry. I really wish I was at Target Center last night to take part with the other 4,000 people at TC in the long overdue uprising from their apathetic slumber. I also wish I was at Williams Arena yesterday to take part in the “Fire Wittman” chants. That disgraceful loss last night has to be the last straw. Not only is this team not improving, but has not played with any energy or intensity since the season’s first few games, which is what’s so unacceptable about their losing. When Wittman took over for Casey, it was promised that he would get more out of his players because he would not put up with a lack of effort. And nearly two calendar years later, many of the players have changed but the inconsistent, undisciplined and sometimes effortless play remains. The coach has got to go. And McHale, once and for all, should not be far behind. Of all Wittman’s offenses as an overmatched NBA head coach, not demanding consistent effort from his players is the most egregious.
UCLA Fan- no thanks to Mihm or Mbenga. they are not any better than Collins. and the wolves would have to give up mike miller to just get one of those two scrubs? no way
ombudsman - Actually, Nikola Pekovic is averaging a team-leading 13.5 ppg for his Panathinaikos team in Euroleague play, which is their highest level competition. (In fact, his lowest scoring game in Euroleague this year is 10 points.) He averages 13.8 ppg in his Greek league play. He’s not going to be the answer, as he’s a low-post scoring threat more than anything else. But he’s doing a lot better than you suggest. Be as negative as you feel the need to be, but at least check the facts before posting incorrectly.
Great post, Jerry. It gets at a lot of things we fans have been speculating about for a while now. Thanks for the excellent coverage.
lh, wow. thanks for that wonderful update. really sounds like he can lead this team to championship playing against a bunch of scrubs. get a life if you are betting on him making a difference mr. positive. there are 5 second round pics or undrafted free agents who would be making a bigger difference than him right now. I will leave you to figure it out since you seem to think you are an expert.
I would love Gerald on this team - could we give them a late 1st rounder and get Felton too?
Felton PG
Miller SG
Wallace SF
Love PF
Jefferson C
That lineup would score, a LOT.
Wally:
That report is coming from nydailynews.com, so spurious even by interweb standards. Honestly it’s sounds like someone’s agent (Shaddy’s if I had to guess) desperately trying to get their client out of MN.
ombudsman, first, relax a little. It’s just a professional basketball team, and you’re not on it and you don’t own it. Sheesh. And second, my post says he isn’t the answer. You apparently missed that part. I just figured accuracy was better than made-up stats. (And third, Euroleague is actually really good basketball, not scrubs.) But whatever, if complaining makes you feel good, knock yourself out.
I’m just not a fan of G. Wallace’s game. it’s far too close to Ricky Davis’s for my taste, plus his contract is waaaay to big & long(6 years averaging 12mil -/+) for what he gives you(15 points, 5 boards, respectable defense). Felton would give us an actual PG, even if he never lives up he draft position (a crowded club on this team).
kevin love is bust. if you watched him play, he has no skills and is really just a clone of mark madsen with a little better offensive game. Mcfail should be fired though..traded away roy, cassell, mayo…etc. They need to get rid of McCants and Miller
Love no talent? 13 pts 15 rebounds with a talent to get to the offensive boards. Love plays best with Al Jefferson look at most teams and they only have one low post scorer. So that limits the defensive liabilities of Love and Jefferson. Starting line should be Al, Love, Miller, and whoever. Wittman is the problem get rid of him and the Wolves will win more games. They won’t be a playoff team but they were not going to be one anyway.
Planetjake - you make fine points except you say Wallace’s game is too much like R. cancer Davis yet you say he has respectable defense (which Davis didn’t ever show, thus contradicting yourself). which is it? He’d be a rock at the 3 for us for a long time and would give us that scoring punch this team needs. That said, Felton makes more sense for this team and would probably cost about the same if not less in a trade - and his contract is much more manageable.
twinsfan32 — I didn’t suggest one-for-one — I also included any/all of Vujacic, Walton and Radmanovic, all of whom can play quality starter minutes better than what you’ve got now. Yeah, Collins and Mbenga are journeyman level centers, however Mbenga provides something you need that Collins cannot: A legit shot blocking defensive presence in the paint to compensate for what your PFs lack.
I think a local vp of bb ops once said it best: “Rock bottom baby, rock bottom”.
Planetjake,
Yes, the contract is too big to get into, sounds like a Charlotte salary dump to me. I hope McHale goes to Taylor with the trade and says, no that’s it your fired.
I can see McHale drafting Tyler Hansbrough and trading Jefferson so Love and Tyler can be the smallest and least athletic front court ever in the NBA, lol. Seriously, couldn’t you see McHale drafting Tyler and we would here, “He’s just a winner and has a great attitude about the game”
Hope is the only thing left for fans still watching. Maybe the lottery will bring you Demar DeRozan who will entertain the fans with highlight reel dunks.
Getting a veteran in FA to help the young guys would help out too.
Oh and for Pg help in the draft, Rubio would be ok, but I would rather have Brandon Jennings
Trade for Pryzbilla!!! Send McCants, one of our worthless bench players to make salaries match and the Celtics 2009 first rounder (since it will be a low pick and we already have two more for 2009). He can play D and get rebounds. Jefferson can’t do everything, and we need to help him out in the paint on D. Jefferson likes to block shots, and that’s a lot easier to do if he can be the weakside help defense rather than man-up in the paint. The Blazers should want to shed Pryzbilla’s salary. We don’t need cap space since NOBODY is going to come here unless we OVERPAY BY A MILE (e.g., Mike James and even then we still had big ticket). Saving cap space for the summer of 2010 with every other team is just plain stupid since no respectable free agent is going to come to MN.
I was at the game last night, and let me tell you, it was just sad. On a possession later in the 3rd quarter, McCants came out and started slapping his hands, demanding the ball. Instead, Ollie threw the ball down low to Al, who had inside position. McCants rolled his eyes, and started walking towards the other end of the court. The kid is completely self-absorbed, worries only about getting his shots, and I just can’t stand watching him anymore. Remember, we drafted this kid over Danny Granger. Another McHale genius move.
How bad was it last night? There was one guy in the upper deck chanting “Fire Wittman” and I bet he could be heard on press row like he was standing right behind it.
If Glen Taylor ever wants fans to show up again for a game, he needs to fire McHale, and do it now. Send Wittman packing with him. This team is pathetic, has no energy or passion, and the blame for this lies solely on the coach and GM.
Thank God I got the tickets free last night. I wouldn’t pay to watch that crap again.
good stuff f/ everyone on the blog…it really is amazing(me not seeing a game in the last month) that this team has seemed so lathargic since beating Detroit…really must have been a fluke. I don’t know if a trade is even viable at this point in the season…GWallace would be fun to see in a wolves uni…would highly doubt that though…will be interesting to see if there are any changes this week…my best guess is that there won’t be any changes until January…
Jerry I very much agree w/ your personnel ideas…the wolves shouldn’t change their line up so much…play the guys that you see in the plans for next year…sit the rest…it won’t matter much as far as the game results go anyway…and those guys can play and play and play.
It’s a damn shame that McHale is not the least bit competent at his job. The original story was great NBA player returning home to MN to give legitimacy to it’s struggling NBA franchise. The reality is that McHale is horrible at player evaluation, salary management and business leadership. It’s really quite sad. If McHale is half the man that we all thought he was when he originally came on board he would turn in his resignation. I don’t see how any coach could steer this ship that McHale assembled.
Great post Jerry. Fantastic work.
Hi Jerry. Sounds like another soul searching for our beloved Wolves and our reliable ace reporter. I love basketball and value our local franchise. That is why it is so difficult watching the Wolves even play. I’m good through midway into the first quarter to see if they once again revert to form. If so, I’ll check the paper later to see how bad the damage was this time.
Ok I think that i need to vent for a little bit about my beloved Minnesota Timberwolves. To start out, does anyone else watch sports center at night, only to see Brandon Roy leading the Blazers to a division leading record, and also putting up great individual numbers. Also that O.J. Mayo is the best individual rookie scorer that I have seen since Lebron. I just don’t know how much longer Taylor, or anyone else that still watches, and goes to games can put up with this. I don’t know if Mchale thinks he has a chain big enough to pull himself out of the hole he has dug this team, but let me give him some advice. STEP ASIDE OLD MAN!!!!!!!!!!! Realize that you have taken a team that at on time had one of the best players to ever play the game, a team that won 50 or more games per season 3 seasons in a row. to a team that has drafted two all star caliber players in three years only to trade them away for role players without having on practice with the team. A team that has not even had a whiff of the playoffs since 05, and a team that has to almost beg, and put stupid “gimicks” (a.k.a Don Overbeck) on comercials just to try to get the Target Center to a crowd of 11,000. Now don’t get me wrong I like K-love, and think Miller is a great talent. However if anyone has looked at a stat sheet over the last ten years you will see this. KG NEVER WON A CHAMPIONSHIP HERE CAUSE WE NEVER HAD A LIGITMENT SCORING THREAT. How in the world is it going to be any different with Big Al. You need a guy to put up consistent points every night to take the pressure off your best player. They never did it with the Big Ticket, and with Mchale at the helm, we are looking at the same senerio for our new star. Another thing I don’t get. If we have so much cap room for the next couple years, and have all these draft picks to trade, or keep, why not get a great scorer, and post player here now before the big free agent market comes around. Imagine being a free agent like Amare’, and how apealing a team with a great wing, and post threat looks, (Al, and Mayo) and the possibilty of a championship at that team. The wolves might be able to lure a great player with cash, but there will be no championship in sight until Taylor wises up, takes out the trash (Mchale, and Whittman), and brings this once proud basketball team back to winning, and respectability!
Wittman has lost the team he has never had listening to him - time to axe him.
McHale has lost the whole wolves market long ago. He needs to not only resign or get fired - he needs to hide in Siberia.
He has done this franchise and fans a huge injustice and should hang for it.
Rex Chapman is the talent that got away.
I would like to see Pryzbilla here also, but would Portland want to trade him right now. It’s hard to tell yet if Oden is going to be injury prone his whole career. Plus, would Pryzbilla want to come back, just from seeing a couple of interviews with him you can tell he’s still a little upset with beeing booed on draft night and when he comes back to town with the Blazers. I dont know if NBA players can get no trade clauses in their contracts, but I believe he is in the first or second year of his latest deal,and if he does have a no trade clause, I would bet the Wolves would be one of the teams on it.
Is next summer’s pick lottery protected again or does it have to go the Clips?
Anyone ready to declare love a bust is lacking any sort of legitimate hoops knowledge. Get back to the Y and get picked last again in the pick up game, because you’ve got no clue. The young man - yes he is a young man, barely 20, provided a nice glimpse last night in another drubbing, with his 13 & 15. If you’ve not noticed we can point out a few attributes of his; excellent hands, ferocious (even though undersized) rebounder, best passer amongst big men -note: he often gets Big Al the ball in a spot to score, solid jump shooter lacking confidence due to coaching, he’s worried if he misses he’ll get the hook (something Foye & Al never have to worry about), and MOST importantly he’s getting his without the staff or his teammates running a SINGLE play for him! Not one all year. He’s manufacturing his buckets through hardwork and his high i.q. Peterson called it right on the money last night during the telecast-How can you not love this kid? He works his butt off. If they ran a play for him, or if one of our sorry PG’s passed him the ball once - watch next time the defense switches a pick ‘n roll - basketball 101 teaches the big guy to post up when the switch happens as he has a ‘mouse in the house’ when he’s got the opposing guard on him in the post. EVERY time (no joke) that has happened this year Telfair or Foye or McCants waives him out of the way so they can take the big one on one because they are not real PG’s and don’t understand basketball 101 (see: Randy Wittman). As Peterson noted last night Memphis is just as bad as us and Mayo is the FEATURED player on their team (just like Big Al is on ours). Get it? That means the plays on offense are called for him and the ball runs through him, not to mention he’s a guard. Anyone that is trying to compare numbers might as well take up hockey cause it’s too late and you don’t understand basketball.
Merry Christmas.
I think all Wolves fans (current and former) should band together…FOR ONE GAME, we all buy a ticket and each of us brings a “Fire McHale” sign and/or a “Fire Wittman” sign…nothing else. Then, we throughout the game we chant together as if we were doing the wave. Taylor would HAVE TO do something then (wouldn’t he?)
Since Kevin can’t play anymore, he has to go, as he is horrible as a GM. McCants buds are all gone, (Ricky Davis, Blount, Justin Reed etc. and we improved by subtraction ) so he has to go too. Who wouldn’t trade Foye for Roy and a million bucks, but since a trade like that would never happen- oh yeh - but anyway trade Foye or Telfair for a point guard, some one not suggested by Wittman or Mchale. All we need now is a center, since I’ve done all this, you figure out how to do that and we have a start.
Taylor was loyal to the wrong Kevin…
Well if we fire Wittman, we could always try to lure Flip Sau (oh we burned that bridge), Clem Has (oh we him these days), Kevin McH (oh we can’t stand him), we are screwed
Good blog by Zgoda. I am so fed up with the Wolves, I don’t even check out their box score anymore when I travel. I used to watch them online, but not since KG left.
McHale is a disaster as a GM (worse than Trader Jack if that is possible) and should have been gone long ago. He has made several of the worst trades in league history. The ONLY good move he ever made was drafting KG 5th. But you take enough chances, one of them has to work out.
So first, get rid of McHale. Then, try to find a good GM that is a little bit more astute when evaluating player talent and also figuring out what pieces are important. How about a legit point guard??? If we had one of those, we never would have lost KG in the first place.
Taylor, this is it!!!! You have been way too loyal way too long. Your legacy is in question here. You don’t do this right, you better sell the team, cause ain’t NO ONE going to come to Target Center if this isn’t fixed soon.
I agree with all the griping re Wittman, McHale (both must go). But how come no one ever mentions the guy running the point in Miami? I guess we’d rather have a couple 2nd rounders and cash considerations and play Kevin Ollie…
Jerry
Prophetic post, in retrospect.
I also completely agree with your assessment of the lineup. If it’s a rebuilding year and we’re supposed to ’see what they can do’ why not just put the kids out there, give them consistent minutes and in fact see what they can do. What’s the worst that can happen? The first pick in the draft? (Actually the 4th because we know the Wolves’ luck)
The Blazers won’t be trading Pryzbilla to anyone. His defense is a big reason the team are winning. 2 seasons ago, Joel turned down a deal with San Antonio to resign with the Blazers.
