An even 10: Wolves lose 118-103 at Kings
Posted on December 16th, 2008 – 3:19 AMBy Jerry Zgoda
If not tonight, then when?
The Wolves’ losing streak hit 10 games tonight against a Sacramento team that had lost 10 of its last 11 — its one victory inexplicably was over Kobe and the Lakers last week — and had gone so far south the Kings fired Reggie Theus this morning and made Kenny Natt their interim coach.
So the Kings miss their first 10 shots, the Wolves twice build a 10-point lead and Al Jefferson has 22 points by halftime…and the Wolves still trailed by three when Bobby Brown’s buzzer-beater gave the Kings the halftime lead.
From there? Good night.
Jefferson didn’t score again, going 0 for 3 in a third quarter when the Kings produced a 17-4 run and outscored the Wolves 33-17. Jefferson and every other starter but Randy Foye sat the entire fourth quarter.
After tonight, the Wolves play LeBron and Cleveland on Wednesday, Houston Saturday and at San Antonio next Tuesday. They could go 0-for-December if they don’t win, say, at New York the day after Christmas or beat Memphis at home on the 29th.
74 Responses to "An even 10: Wolves lose 118-103 at Kings"
So. I seem to recall having said a coaching change wouldn’t help this team one iota. Do I get to be right yet? Are we all enjoying being free from Wittman’s horrible horrible coaching?
Two days ago McHale says the team isn’t ready to execute his game plan. Hmm, sounds like Wittman. And hey, tonight he got all the way to resorting to the Ollie/Cardinal lineup. And it only took him what? 5 games to reach that point? At least Wittman battled it out for a good 20 games before sinking that low.
We couldn’t shoot under Wittman, we can’t shoot under McHale. We couldn’t execute under Wittman, we can’t execute under McHale. We couldn’t defend under Wittman, we can’t defend under McHale. We got blown out by the Kings under Wittman, we got blown out by the Kings under McHale. We have no center, no high caliber point guard, and no athleticism. Nothing has changed.
The team started off with the same high spirits under McHale as we did under Wittman. Then we got to the part where we build big leads and lose it at the end. Now it looks like we’re to the part where we just lose. And McHale took 1/4 the time to get there compared to Wittman. The only difference now is McHale is one step from being fired, rather than two.
The problem is the roster. The end.
And no. I’m not in a particularly happy mood about this all. I suppose I should find it encouraging that McHale is finally on his way out for good, but considering how long ago that should have happened, I really find it all just plain sad.
Anyone else throw up watching last nights game?
I wonder what it is like to have a back court that can score in the double digits in the first half - that would be awesome
They really might as well board up Target Center. I’d say moving to another city would be appropriate but with this economy and this stinkfest of an organization I doubt any city would want them.
The major problem is that even with McHale gone it is likely that the only thing that will change will be the rest of the incompetents moving up one spot on the ladder. Sorry, but Stack, Hoiberg and the rest of the merry men are not proven and, more importantly, haven’t displayed any ability to judge and select talent. These are the folks that scouted and recommended this motley crew that is on the floor. God knows McHale wouldn’t leave home to watch all of the prospects out there.
Nope, unless there is an organizational enema and an outside experienced leader and agent of change is brought in you are looking at the next 5-7 years of the Wolves right now.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. And as Tiny Tim once exclaimed “God Bless Tubby Smith…..” or hoops in Minnesota would be miserable.
Wow Bryan you are a genius, or should I say idiot? Did anybody say a coaching change to McFail would help this team? The answer is a resounding no you fool. And writing 4 paragraphs everyday isn’t helping your cause because you still sound like a fool!
These PLAYERS ARE WORTHLESS HUMAN BEINGS.
Red Auerbach couldn’t get anything out of them.
I really hated Wittman’s rotation’s or lack thereof and I hated how he pulled players after one mistake. That being said, can McHale make a substitution when the team is playing horrible? That 3rd quarter was laughable. The starters are getting steam rolled and McHale doesn’t make one change. I think the starters played the first 7 or 8 minutes of that quarter while the Kings went on their huge run.
Maybe Corey Brewer was more important to this team than I though.
[…] On the Wolves – […]
Why did McHale resign Telfair if he’s only going to play him 3 minutes a game?
I know this gets really old but did anyone catch Chalmers game last night?
20 pts 8 ast 7 reb. I’ll even throw in the negative he had 5 TO’s, but he can play and the Wolves traded him for 2 picks in the 50’s. I think that could go down as one of the 3 worst moves in the last decade and that is really saying something.
I am enjoying this.
If there is a thing called Karma, this must be Taylor’s payback.
Why would anyone pay to watch this crap?
Do I hear 11?
I do, I do!!!!!
Where is Laettner when we need him.
Al Jefferson-LOSER
Randy Foye-LOSER
Mike Miller-LOSER
Craig Smith-LOSER
Ryan Gomes-LOSER
People actually stay up and watch this crap?
Whats not to like about this roster?
Anyone seen Swan lately????
AAAAAAA AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA AAAAAAA AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
Stop being so hard on my Kev. Think of all the good things he’s done for this team. You should all be ashamed of yourselves!
He’s really smart.
Where am I?
Where is the second scorer to take pressure off Al, who never saw a sgot he didn’t like by the way, why can’t Miller do what he was paid to do and that is come in here and produce offensively…I think it’s great he wants to be a team player but only a complete friggin moron couldn’t see by looking at these guys that when there launching missed shot after missed shot that maybe it’s time that Miller assert himself and be that outside threat he was traded for!!!!
The spunk that this team showed in its first two performances under McHale has quickly evaporated.
The whole thing needs to be blown up — the front office and the team. Better to do it now than spend another couple of years trying to make this mismatched collection of supposed talent work together.
Perhaps tonight’s opponents would be interested in Mike Miller. Make us an offer, Danny Ferry!
I don’t think there is anyone on the Cavs roster other than LeBron and Mo Williams(they aren’t going anywhere) that I would even want the Wolves to go after.
The Wolves have to be open to trading Miller at this point don’t they?
Jama - Chalmers is playing with Wade ! Not with Ryan Gomes.
Pointless - I am always here ! Go Woooooooooooooooooves ! Don’t worry…we are gonna win out.
Jama - Yah but only trade Miller for some value ! Anyone who says the name “Gerald Wallace” I hope stubs their toe.
Pointless - Its obvious without Brewer that this team can’t do anything. He is our MVP…had we had him we’d have won the previous 4 games !
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooves !
He’s not doing anything…if they wanted a player to come in and dish off and create shot opportunities for other players they should have gone and got another point guard. Miller was traded for to come in and hit the outside shot, be a threat from beyond the arc and take the pressure off of Al in the paint. He’s done none of that and is a non shootin, long hair wearin waste of space!! He should be averaging 15 points easily!!! It make me wanna vomit everytime I see him receive a pass in transition at the three point line and pass up the shot, give a meaningless head fake and then pass off to a sorry excuse like Foye or McCants who blow the shot anyways!!!! UGHHHHH!
Maybe the Wolves should go for cap room in 2009 instead of 2010. Trade Miller and Collins for Wally (I can’t believe I’m saying that.)
Detroit is the only big-name team poised to have significant cap room this offseason. Memphis and Oklahoma City will have cap room as well. With the first-rounders in hand, the Wolves could be well-positioned to sign one of the available FAs or help other teams clear room.
Or maybe I’m just allowing my frustration to get the better of me. I understand this team is going to lose much more than it’s going win, but when there’s no signs of life, it’s rather depressing.
I won’t even argue with Swan, but let’s all take a step back and think about that. Brewer as an NBA teams MVP.
It feels like I just did 500 sit ups. You are one funny son of a gun!
Swan
I understand that Chalmers is playing with Wade but doesn’t shouldn’t that hurt his point production? He’s getting a lot less shots with Miami than he would be here. Plus playing with Wade doesn’t change the fact that he would be the Wolves best defender as soon as he put on his uniform.
Jama - Not necessarily.
Yes, that’s true. One would expect that an established NBA scorer like Mike Miller would get shots in the Wolves offense. Yet, only Jason Collins and Kevin Ollie shoot less often on a per minute basis.
Sean- Miller does get the shot opportunities, problem is everytime he gets the ball and has room to rise and fire, he gives a head fake that does nothing and he passes off…if anyone that is a basketball fan and truly follows the games, not just the wolves but other players and teams as well, just watch how the true shooters and scorers put themselves in postions to create shots and when they’re open, they don’t hesitate….he was that kind of player in memphis, which is why they brought him here…i don’t buy the “oh he’s a team player” crap…a team player comes in and leads by example and makes others around him better while he does what is expected of him…Miller has shown none of that and the Wolves will be one dimensional (AL J) until he does
Miller is probably the greatest shooter who’s afraid to pull the trigger. The guy is tall and can shoot over anyone. I don’t mind him jacking up shots. I do mind McCants jacking up shots, because he’s not a great shooter. What’s wrong with these guys? I think the team will move to Seattle soon, so who cares anyway?
What the hell makes you think that Seattle wants this f…ed up mess.
And get over that Al Jefferson is a good player. He is a non fundamentally sound selfish pos.
I’m certainly not saying that Al J is a good player, like I said, he’s a “never saw a shot he didn’t like” kind of player…but he IS the only sourse of offense that the wolves have…Miller could be a serious outside threat if he would just take the shot when it’s there and not try to create for someone else…that’s a point guards job, not a guy brought in to light it up from the arc
Despite the numbers he has put up, I think this has been a disappointing season from Jefferson so far. He has shown essentially no development from last year. Offensively, he’s still the same black hole and defensively, he still gives varying level of effort and shows no hint of being able translate his offensive ability into a method to be able to defend others using those moves against him. He doesn’t seem to be a leader. I don’t get any sense of players responding to him like they did to KG (even early in his career — KG was acknowledged as a leader on the team).
Should this continue, the Wolves will have a big decision to make — is Al Jefferson the guy to build around? If not, what do you do?
I am starting to believe the Chalmers trade will go down as one of the top fiasco’s McHale has made. And we all knew it before the trade happened! Those second-rounders we get in exchange will likely not pan out, and Chalmers is looking great in Miami.
Al is not a guy that can be the center for a team (literally and figuratively)
the guy can flat out score, and is a great initiator on offense, but he is not a leader (despite what he says/thinks). he pretty much refuses to play defense; certain games he shows up and blocks some shots, but then he reverts back to his old ways. in addition, he has terrible court vision and is a below average passer - McHale tried to remedy it by getting a good passer in Love, but the problem was that Love just doesn’t play big enough to man the middle with Al (as good a rebounder as Love is).
The team needs a new center (again, literally and figuratively). we need to do everything we can to get Thabeet in the draft (he is everything Al isn’t, and Al gets to do his thing at the PF), then trade one of those low 1st rounders for a proven player. if that trade was a true pg, i’d be real happy.
i’d try and get a good slasher/scorer type in FA or in the draft (maybe a diamond in the rough at the end of the 1st round/early 2nd), then go after someone big in 2010.
That all needs to happen before this team improves. Imagine this lineup though:
Chalmers
Mayo
Roy
Love
(Insert real center here)
That lineup scores, is balanced, and can play defense once in awhile.
the problem is not drafting guys; its keeping them.
How would the Wolves end up with both Love and Mayo? Did they have two top five picks? Why wasn’t I notified of this?
I just can’t for the life of me see what the braintrust saw in Foye. The man is not fundamentally sound enough to know how make a layup. I think we are doomed to watching this crap for a lot of years. You can’t trade all of them and expect to pick up decent players. Look what happened when Blount and Davis got sent here. We are going to have to lay in bed they (Mchale,Stack and Taylor) made.
You have to see the whole chain of events. First we took McCants… so Roy was the same position, so we swapped with Foye. And then it happened again with Mayo… we keep trying to find a good shooting guard and McHale keeps screwing it up. It’s kind of like a certain NFL executive who drafted receiver, after receiver after receiver and never got a QB.
That reminds me of another thing that drives me crazy. In the NBA you want size. McHale has repeatedly gone with undersize players. Foye as SG that he is, McCants, Love, Craig Smith, and countless other Craig Smith types. He always tries to be too clever with his picks. Why not just pick a nice 6′ 6″ shooting guard like Roy?
This team is so pathetic and they themselves have given up. It was evident last night in their body language. There is nothing to play for, and they know McHale is an idiot GM who cannot improve the team at all. Cap space? Who would come to this organization anyway? I agree that the entire organization should be blown up and start over from nothing. Trade AJ for someone decent and start building through the draft and free agency. In many respects, starting over is easier than this constant tinkering. Plus, McHale simply can’t judge talent. Trades away Mayo and Chalmers. Brilliant. Sure could use them now. Idiot.
Fellas don’t be so hard on the Pups – They’re achieving their potential. It’s not their fault the team isn’t even structured to compete in the Minnesota State High School League.
The infinite possibilities of what could have been had McHale not traded Roy, Mayo, Chalmers and so on or had he not fired Flip are vast. Though unquestionably the most depraved act of the McHale administration, at least in the eyes of the basketball Gods, is refusing to surround KG with winning talent – One year of 10 is not a sufficient argument…But that’s an old wound I won’t re-open.
I agree that recent management decisions are directly related to the kindergarten recital fans are subjected to. The reality is that if you look to any team which has had success over the past 15-20 years the prototype doesn’t vary much: You’ll have a serviceable big man who relishes opportunities to snag a rebound or throw an elbow, a talented power forward who above all is a polished scorer (the four and five position are inter-changeable) , a three-guard who can hit shots when they present themselves (he’s not greedy) and is the teams preeminent perimeter defender, a shooting-guard who is your playmaker/star player, and an offensively proficient pass-first point guard. All aforementioned positions would have been filled had a trade or two not occurred.
The most apparent examples of recent memory are the 2008 Celtics, the Lakers from 2000-2002 and the Jordan era Bulls. These teams were stratospherically better than the field because of the use of, and the positional understanding of, role-players. Not sure why the Wolves are committed to concocting a new formula for success – All this trial and error gets old.
The worst part is that this will only get worse. It we continue like this we will go 0-16 this month. The only winnable games we have are @ the Knicks and home against the suddenly red hot Grizzlies. I think we should be able to pull out one win before 2009 but seriously wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t.
This still doesn’t answer the question, why doesn’t Foye know how to make a lay-up? Even Peterson commented on it the other night. If you continue taking these knuckleheads out of high school you need to employ a coach who’s only job is to teach fundamentals to the spoiled children. Maybe make it mandatory to watch films of John Wooden, back to the basics.
I guess Glen Taylor can be somewhat happy that there will probably only be about 5,000 fans in the stands for when O.J. Mayo and the Grizzlies roll into town later this month. With a decent crowd, the sight of Mayo lighting up Foye, McCants and Miller would result in a large amount of fan dismay.
pauly: Randy Foye played four years at Villanova.
As for the answer to your question, my take on it is that Foye doesn’t seem to be under control when going to the basket.
O for the month of December.
WOW… And when you think about the fact we drafted a player who plays the same position as our supposed “best” player it only gets funnier.
We might have 4 picks in 09, but the punch line there is it’s considered one of the worst drafts in recent history.
YAY!! us.
There should not be a player on this roster who we would not be willing to trade. This team needs a cornerstone AJ is not that piece. He is what we had, a nice 2nd piece. Mayo is gone, Roy is gone. Please get someone in here who can evaluate talent.
The December 26 game at the Knicks isn’t looking so good anymore. They are playing some good ball… and more importantly, unlike the Wolves, are pulling for each other under a very positive, creative coach. I wouldn’t be surprised if they blew the Wolves off the court.
Foye looks to me like he should have been held back about four more years at Villanova. I was more talking about Al Jefferson and his poor fundamentals. Maybe we could include Telfair and McWont’s also.
Jefferson has excellent fundamentals — on the offensive end. Defensively, it’s a disaster.
WHO CARES…. Basketball sucks.
You must be kidding, don’t you see him and his lazy body position to receive entry passes. Most of the time it isn’t the person making the entry pass but the one receiving it. The term slack-jawed mouth breathers comes to mind with both of them (Foye and Jefferson).
Amazing stat from 82games.com: Kevin Love has had 20% of his inside shots blocked this season.
Who thought we would find someone with less lift than Craig Smith.
While the mounting losses are frustrating, this team was never going to make a playoff push. The bigger problem is that McHale’s rebuilding plan is looking very questionable. The problem is two-fold. One, Foye is too inconsistent and it’s unlikely he develops into a high-quality PG. Two, while Love seems to have a nose for the ball, I just don’t think McHale’s grand plan of playing Love and Big Al together is going to work. Too weak defensively and Love is really struggling to score in the post.
So where does that leave this team? A few tradeable assets (Miller, Collins’ expiring contract, and Love). A few solid role players/backups (Gomes and Craig Smith). A few players with very little value (McCants and Telfair). Two big question marks (Foye and Brewer). And only one legitimate star to build a team around (Jefferson).
Sticking with this roster feels a little bit like throwing good money after bad. I’d probably give Foye a little more time, but I’d try and move Collins, Miller and McCants for sure and wouldn’t hesitate trading Love to a team in need of a PF. Thankfully, there are a number of teams struggling this year (Kings, Bobcats, Sixers, Clippers etc) so there should be some worthwhile trading partners.
meant to say al jefferson instead of love
Trading Love instead of Jefferson would be a huge mistake.
Jefferson has not been anything but a loser since he came to the league. He is just to comfortable with this situation.
How ironic is it that one of McHale’s teams has lost 10 in a row, while McHale’s OTHER team just won their 15th straight game? I wonder if he’s gotten his championship ring yet from his buddy Danny Ainge.
Trading Jefferson, Foye, and McCants would be all very good ideas.
Its ironic how many people were saying, give McHale a chance. He’s going to get this going…..I dont think so! The wolves are better, a better loosing team I suppose. Get real. Fire McHale, New front office and respectable nba people. Taylor needs a big kick in his pants…and not the back of the pants!
T-Wolves win a championship in 20?
Joe,
Who in the hell said that?
I have been calling him
Mc-Failed-Abortion for years now. I want the man barred from the state and I don’t even want him allowed to be buried here and taint the soil of this great state!
So don’t count me in on that.
Taylor isn’t going to fire McHale during the season. Why? Because he’d have to pay someone else, and he’s already paid McHale, so why not let him do his job. I’d even guess that he’s waiting for McHale to resign so he doesn’t have to pay him.
I don’t understand why a team that has had such a hard time scoring in the 4th quarter the past 2 seasons would trade away a player as talented as Mayo. When Jefferson is getting doubled in the last couple minutes, wouldn’t an outside scorer like Mayo make sense. Before last season(college) started it was between Mayo and Beasley for the first pick in the draft. Instead we trade Mayo for a player who does nothing to fix our 4th quarter problems Then a guy like Chalmers(projected to go as high late lottery) falls in your lap and you trade him away for useless picks and cash. The Wolves got lucky with the
way Garnett’s career turned out. Can you imagine if Garnett was a bust. It might have made the Wolves the worst franchise in the history of all sports. Even with Garnett’s career here, it still might be the worst franchise. With an inside-outside scoring combo of Jefferson and Mayo, Foye might be more productive. Corey Brewer’s defensive role would be more meaningful. McCants scoring off the bench would be a plus when Mayo takes a breather. Chalmers would have been reason enough to not re-sign Telfair. I didn’t play college or pro basketball, but even I could have done a better job than McHale.
well said
if we had just kept our draft, its possible we’d have chalmers, mayo, roy, jefferson, and a better center besides a guy whose not even playing for us..
thats a solid starting 5
“Amazing stat from 82games.com: Kevin Love has had 20% of his inside shots blocked this season.”
At that rate Love may want to go Rip Hamilton and wear a face mask for protection…
Is there any chance James beats Melo’s scoring record in a quarter tonight?
I think it could happen.
My early prediction…..47 points.
Go Kev, Go!!!!!
Nice team Glen.
“They could go 0-for-December if they don’t win, say, at New York the day after Christmas or beat Memphis at home on the 29th.”
I bet McHale has his team fired up against Memphis. He sure isn’t going to want OJ and co. coming in and beating the Wolves (remember the good old saying “Don’t compare Mayo and Love, compare the teams’ records” - yeah that’s going really well.
If you’re 0-for-December, it really shouldn’t take McHale, O.J. Mayo, or the second coming of Jesus to get you fired up — you ought to be there already.
“All I’ve got to do is get free,” Marbury said. “Once I get free, the team I’m going to go to, I think a lot of people will be shocked.”
- ESPN.com
What would be more shocking than having Marbury playing the point for the Wolves? Think about it. He’d do it just for the laughs.
Going into this season, I didn’t really care how many games the wolves won. I was hoping they would use this year to evaluate the talent they had in order to make decisions about how they would shape their future roster, especially with so much cap space opening up in the next few years.
I am very disappointed with the season so far, not because of the losing, but whom we are losing with. No offense to Ollie, but shouldn’t Foye get most of the time at point guard? How much time should players like Cardinal really receive? Shouldn’t the players the front office believes are part of their future plans should get the bulk of the playing time to see if they should be part of the teams future?
I don’t know, maybe I’m the only one who feels this way… Any opinions?
JMP
If you are looking from that perspective then Kevin McHale is doing an adequate job.
He is playing the young guys most of the time trying to get them to do some pretty simple things.
The problems are multifaceted though. One the players are already brow beaten into submission because of Wittless. Secondly too many players are playing out of positions that are best for them. Such as Randy Foye should be a 6th man, but he’s the starting PG on this team, Jefferson is a 6-9 PF playing center, our best rookie is a 6-9 PF, and Craig Smith is a 6-6 PF (probably our best 3 players), Mike Miller is a 6th man, or a 3rd or 4th scoring option on a team he has to be the number 1b or number 2 guy. Corey Brewer has limited offense, McCants has no defense…. ect. This basically leads to point 3 which is that McHale put this team together which means they were freaking doomed to begin with.
How is it possible for a team that had J.R. Rider to draft McWont’s?????
He is smaller and slower and can’t score to save his life.
I’m sorry, I’ve just reread my posts and I don’t mean to be so negative, but this seems to bother me a lot more than it does the people it should. aka Taylor and Mchale and Stack and Babcock and Hoiberg.
Pauly…
The Wolves front office should be trying to find the spaceship behind the Hail Bop commet…
They are so pathetic that they could survive the jim jones koolaid test.
