Streak hits 10 straight, Wolves lose 97-87 to Grizzlies
Posted on November 15th, 2009 – 1:56 AMBy Jerry Zgoda
OK, so the Wolves are three more losses away from tying the franchise’s worst start to a season, 1-13 in the 1994-95 season that led to Kevin Garnett being drafted fifth overall the next summer.
The Wolves, you might remember, were 1-10 at this time two seasons ago, in that first month playing without Kevin Garnett after the Boston trade.
Where have gone Al Jefferson and Kevin Love? Timberwolves Nation turns its lonely to you…
Al is expected back for practice on Monday. KLove will get his broken hand X-rayed again on Friday to see how the healing goes and if he can return to practice (that might be wishful thinking this soon).
It’ll be interesting to see if, or how much, the Wolves’ style of play changes once Love gets back and gets in the groove. As David Kahn mentioned from his letter earlier today, this isn’t the running show he promised and we’ll see how much Love’s rebounding can change things.
It was mentioned on the last thread, but…
Did you see Brandon Jennings didn’t score in the first quarter tonight against Golden State…then scored 55 the rest of the way.
Good thing his last name doesn’t rhyme with Flynn, huh?
Here’s the game story from tonight’s game:
http://www.startribune.com/sports/wolves/70119622.html
I set my DVR for NBA TV before I left town this morning and won’t get around until tomorrow or Monday to watch that Ricky Rubio Euroleague game from last week.
Anybody see it? Your thoughts? He didn’t have the greatest stats line, but I’m curious to see him just the same. Was Brandon Jennings right? Is RR all hype?
That’s all I got from Memphis tonight.
Let’s hope things get more interesting when Al, and then Love, return.
107 Responses to "Streak hits 10 straight, Wolves lose 97-87 to Grizzlies"
…it’s kind of…odd? ironic? sad?….that we lose a game without our best scorer and no one brings it up because we’re not sure if he helps us more than he hurts us. Kind of a microcosm of this season so far.
As for Jennings, he certainly broke out tonight. Quite a thing for a rookie just 10 games into his NBA career to accomplish.
I’m going to put this in my Canis Hoops update tomorrow, so I’ll put it here too so the Zgoda blog can sound off as well…
I think a lot of us Wolves fans believe that Jonny is just as talented as any point guard in this draft, but I also think we’re at the point now of questioning why there’s such a disparity between him and Jennings (and between him and Ty Lawson). Is it the triangle? Lack of talent on the roster? Is Jonny just not as good as we think? His scoring is ultra-efficient, but his scoring volume is limited to say the least, and he has a very bad negative assist/TO ratio this year. What’s the deal?
I think Maynor could turn out to be really good too, there were a lot of good pg’s in this draft.
Bryan, didn’t Jennings play a year in Europe which is certainly tougher than the NCAA.
Also I think we all know that it is the Triangle which is the problem for Flynn (and Al), you have to have a good (great?) SG or SF for it to work. After MJ left the Bulls the first time they had Pippen and Koucoc(?)on the wings and those teams just weren’t any good. That is why only Kobe and MJ have had sucess with it. You can play it with or without a superior big. BUT you cannot play it sucessfully without a great wing.
Jennings is a second-year professional.
He arrives for practice earlier than any other player on the team and shoots 1,000 practice shots each time. That is what he attributed to his success in the big game.
I don’t think Jonny arrives early every day to put up 1,000 shots before team practice.
The Warriors are a woeful team on defense. Jonny and Andrew B. mentioned that on the pick-and-roll, the defender would always go underneath the pick rather than trail Brandon. The Warriors didn’t change this the entire game and got severely burned.
Flynn gets trapped about half the time before he reaches the lane so as to take the ball out of his hands. They know Jonny likes to take his man off the dribble, penetrate the lane and either go the rim or dish to the wings.
In the Warriors game, no one was taking the ball out of Brandon’s hands by trapping. He pretty much had open shots after the first quarter because Andrew was killing the Warriors on the inside.
Also right now until Al is back healthy, you can’t tell if he wouldn’t make them better.
Quite frankly, when Al and Love are both healthy, I think Rambis is going to have to modify the Triangle like Jackson did with Shaq. They will need to run the ball through Love or Al on every play when they are in the half court.
Correction: Should read…
The Warriors are a woeful team on defense. Brandon and Andrew B. both mentioned that on the pick-and-roll, the defender would always go underneath the pick rather than trail Brandon.
The Warriors beat us by 39, and Flynn definitely did not get to the hoop at will in that game. So what does that say? It’s the triangle that limits Flynn? He couldn’t run pick and roll like Jennings, that’s basically it?
Kahn instead pf censoring K Loves tweets maybe you should have read them. He was pushing for Brandon Jennings. Kahn = Mcfail 2.0
I read the letter that Kanh wrote to fans and it struck me as odd that he mentioned in the Dallas game, already decided by double digits in the 4th qtr, he said we outscored them and continued to play hard. We didn’t play hard at the of 2nd & 3rd qtr when game was in balance. Are we supposed to get excited in a 12 pt loss that professionals played hard. That’s the coaches job to get effort every game all game. Wolves then proceed to get beat by double digits again vs mighty Grizz. I think I need another cheerleader high school letter from the athletic director letting me know we’ll try to get the squad to compete. Are you kidding me? It just gets more odd with every loss. These are pros making their living playing ball……. Enough with the we’ll try to make you feel good letters and put a product that can compete on the floor.
Scouting for players that are the equivilent of Nick Punto is the problem that this team has had since Spree and Cassell.
We need a completely new scouting staff.
LT- Couldn’t agree more. All those “feel good” letters from the former sports writer are not doing it for me. It’s obvious that this guy is all words but no expertise. I haven’t agreed with many of his decisions from the get-go, but thought maybe I’d be proven wrong when the season started. This is worse than I expected. Now we’re supposed to get excited because they played hard against Dallas when it didn’t count? Moral victories are for the D-League. Kahnman, you’re even losing the fans on this board (who are the only ones left in the state.)
It is too early to get worked up over Flynn/Rubio and Jennings. It could prove to be an error, but these happen in every draft. There was not a consensus out there that Jennings was going to be a superstar. Unfortunately, Flynn is looking like a Nate Robinson type at this point. It might be time to let him learn as a backup and get Sessions some time.
Seenenough: if this is worse than you expected then you had unrealistic expectations. AJ coming off injury and returning early, rookie PG, no 2 really, 3-brewer coming off injury and still largely unproven on offense, and projects at 5. oh, i forgot–a completely new offense and defense–which makes even the vets of the team start all over. wtf did you expect?
1/4-1/2 of the guys on this team will not be next year, we have picks and we have cash coming.
And to whomever said the Bulls had trouble w/the traingle w/o MJ–ah newsflash they were a bad referee call from Pippen taking them to the ECF game 7. Remember? phantom foul on Hubert Davis in the closing seconds? But you are correct–you need at least a servicable 2/3 to run ANY offense in the league, not just the triangle. Currently we have a 1 and two injured 4’s.
We only get 9 trips to the line and they go 20. That sure makes it easier to win.
Unless the Wolves beat the Clippers there is a really good chance they don’t win a game this month. That would have been hard to imagine before the season started.
And yes the offense is limiting Flynn somewhat. The real question is whether or not Rambis’ way of coaching him will lead to him developing better down the road. I’d gladly take a mediocre rookie season if it means Flynn will be a better all around PG later in his career. I think we all know he can run the pick and roll.
I like Rambis’ approach this season w/Flynn. Since this season was lost before it started, why not make him work on the things he’s not particularly good at this season? Force him to expand his game, figure it out on the court, etc. I see only benefits coming from this down the line.
Drafting Flynn and an MIA Rubio instead of Jennings will haunt this franchise for years to come. Kahned again by this worthless franchise.
Arenal is pretty much dead on. We have a 1, two 4s. No superstars / no all-stars. Gomes and Brewer have played well at times and our marginal starters. Sessions may continue to improve. The rest are bench players.
Flynn outplayed Jennings in the two games I saw in person. But Flynn could not get 55 points, even if Rambis let him play. Jennings was always an A prospect (Europe humbled him a little), and Flynn was a B+ prospect. When he was drafted I thought Flynn was a mid-first rounder, and he has outplayed that.
Flynn and Jefferson have the same problem. They can do things offensively as individuals. They have not been great facilitators (Jefferson does not make anyone else out there better). They are both obviously young and can improve. IMO, Flynn is as right-sided as Foye was, although it looks like he is trying to go left.
I think with Rubio in the wings, if Sessions improves and Love picks it up when he returns, Flynn and Jefferson are likely not long-term players here, even though right now they are probably the best on the team.
I don’t think I’ve seen Okafor in a long time. He kind of has the same issue as Jefferson where he is the size of the PF but does not have the all around skill set for a PF, and thus plays more center. Probably a defensive improvement over Jefferson, but a step back on offense. Kahn will probably look to find a player that plays best alongside Love. I’m interested to see Hollins and Love have extended minutes together when Love returns.
^or Jawai and Love. lots of beef up front for the Twolves
Arenal says:
November 15th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Drafting Flynn and an MIA Rubio instead of Jennings will haunt this franchise for years to come. Kahned again by this worthless franchise.
This is what I was getting at yesteday and that the Knicks really screwed up by passing on Jennings and you rippedd me and said I was “clueless”
Do most of you guys think we should draft a SG with our 1st pick? If we can’t get Joe Johnson, or maybe draft one even if we can get Joe Johnson?
I just think that would improve everyone’s play, Flynn/Sessions more assists, less double teams for Love and Jefferson and a smoother triangle.
Let’s not get too carried away with second guessing picking Flynn ahead of Jennings. Does anyone remember how Jennings couldn’t / wouldn’t even follow a simple drill during his workout for us? I don’t think anyone had Jennings rated as a top 6 player at the time of the draft. DX’s mock draft had Flynn going six or seven picks ahead of Jennings. You can slam Kahn for passing on Jennings if you want, but pretty much no one would have taken him at 6.
Yeah Mayo started out well and then faded too, and Love was pretty steady. But boy would Jennings have looked good in NY with Mike D’s run and gun offense.
I said on the previous thread that Flynn will probably be the better defender, he already is a better one on one defender, Jennings jumper just looks better right now, he is shooting 50% from the field and 57% from 3, that is crazy, probably won’t keep it up, but very impressive start.
Sweet run by Peterson Go Vikes
I think the main thing separating Flynn and Jennings at this point is Jennings had a year to get used to the NBA 3 before his rookie year, Flynn had a most a couple months. Jennings rode the pine for a year, leaving lots of energy for pre and post practice shooting sessions. Flynn played last season. Flynn has given no indication of having any ‘head’ issues, Jennings has.
Jennings is playing for a PG coach, Flynn is playing for a ‘team’ coach, who is forcing him to do things he’s not necessarily good at–forcing him to improve.
I agree with you about the head issues, just think how big Jennings head is right now after the 55 point game, lol. He probably can’t get thru the door
Who cares about Jenning’s head size if he can play. Kobe’s head is bigger than anyone’s and most would agree that he plays with confidence.
Kobe has a big ego but he keeps it in check and it doesn’t hurt his play, lets see if Jennings starts to turn into a gunner now.
Arenal, what do you like about Rambis and his approach to Flynn? You’re big on putting players in a position to fail by playing away from their strengths. Explain please.
Jerry,
Two questions that I would like asked of Rambis if you get the opportunity.
1) Do you think that Flynn’s and Al’s play are fits well into the triangle offense?
2) If it is not a resounding yes, then why are you implementing a system that does not highlight your star players’ strengths?
I am not trying to complain or 2nd guess the coaching staff, I would just like to understand his reasoning.
Woofie, been asking the same thing since 1st exhibition game. The answer is he’s teaching. I just can’t figure out what he’s teaching.
I do not have a problem implementing parts of the triangle as it does force movement without the ball (we do not want 4 players staring at Jefferson as he posts up), but I do not see the advantage of it as our team’s offensive system with the current personal.
Mass depression, I see, amongst the Wolves “faithful?” What happened to that childlike unbridled enthusiasm?
Buck up, man! We are “rebuilding” and we have Dingus Kahn writing us letters and stuff.
You’re right, Marty. We have lots to be thankful for. Thank God that our government isn’t requiring us to buy T-wolves season tickets along with our health insurance. Thank God the TV coverage is free. Thank God that David only writes to us about once every 6 weeks and not more often. Thank God that the word “rebuilding” erases all other flaws in the scouting, drafting, trading, and coaching decisions.
I don’t remember anyone saying we should use either of those two picks on Jennings. A few people commented afterward that Jennings could be the steal of the draft at #10, but no one even then said they would rather have Jennings over the guys we picked. I guess there is hope for the Bucks, though. Leading the Bucks to a win over Denver the night before is as impressive as the 55 points.
I guess I don’t feel as bad losing to the Bucks a week ago. Jennings was off, but other guys, including Bogut, killed us. Frodo Baggins, too, if I recall.
For having our two best players as centers and point guards, we are get murdered by our opposition at those positions. Gomes always keeps his guy in check. Brewer needs to stay on his own guy instead of running all over the court for steals. He gets a lot of nice steals, but he goes too far sometimes. I remember Gomes having Roy locked down on Wednesday with the shot clock running down and Brewer wildly going for a steal which allowed Roy to swing it to Rudy for an easy open shot. Brewer’s steals that result in missed layups don’t offset all the times he tries to double-team, gets out out of position and people are shooting open shots (i.e. Azubuike).
If it is a lost season then why not put Ellington in at the 2 move Brew to the 3, you can use Gomes at the primary backup at the 3 and Brew moves to the 2. Go all young and see if any of these guys can play.
seenenough thank god you don’t have the mental ability to open a door and you are stuck in your mother’s basement your entire life. MORON
I’d like to see Ellington start. Gomes isn’t going to be around beyond this year, so might as well let Wayne get some burn and play through the mistakes.
Might even stop Corey from shooting so much.
“Also I think we all know that it is the Triangle which is the problem for Flynn (and Al), you have to have a good (great?) SG or SF for it to work. After MJ left the Bulls the first time they had Pippen and Koucoc(?)on the wings and those teams just weren’t any good. That is why only Kobe and MJ have had sucess with it. You can play it with or without a superior big. BUT you cannot play it sucessfully without a great wing.”
This might be the dumbest thing ever uttered. Pippen and Kukoc led teams were any good ?
Year 1 without Jordan = 55 wins…two less than the previous championship team and only lost in the playoffs because of the Hue Hollins call !
Arenal, instead of name calling , explain what Rambis is teaching and who’s learning what, running an offense that doesn’t fit personnel. I’m interested in your opinion. Another thing I’m confused about, is in Kahn’s letter to fans, he claims he’ll ask “work harder”, “study tape” blah blah blah but ends with “I’ll ask more questions”. Who’s he asking questions to? Isn’t he the President of basketball shouldn’t he have answers and us non informed fans have questions? This squad needs answers not more questions…. Can anybody say “in over his head”.
Kahn is doing fine.
if you are judging a first year GM’s decisions 10 games into a season with a bunch of rookies/young players not to mention being stabbed in the back by a marquee player…you have some issues.
Who is the marquee player who stabbed him in the back ?
well marquee in the sense of the draft - Rubio. he was projected to be a special player and Kahn spent ages trying to get this guy over here only to have him turn down a great deal.
I’m not judging him by the first 11 games…. I never liked him. Snake Oil salesman to me. What I’m asking is who is asking all these questions to and about what?
Probably asking the coaching staff who is responding, who is not, who are good / bad locker room guys. Who is difficult to coach, who listens, who is leading, who is quitting, who keeps their heads up etc etc.
Probably asking what types of players they think they need and for what roles, whether they can / need to be fixed immediately etc etc.
Not hard to figure out the questions…the answers are the harder ones to determine.
Oh Rubio. I thought you were talking about a free agent or something
Good analysis Swan of questions that need to be asked in order to move on.
Shouldn’t Kahn be observing practice and games and making his own decisions? My belief has always been he doesn’t know a thing about basketball and to rely on a coach who can’t even put his players in a system that fits them, for his own evaluation, is dangerous. Foo, where are you at these times of need for all things Wolf????? 2 months ago you were an expert on everything David Kahn thought, felt, or may be feeling in the future. At least Mad Dan is around to help put sugar in the Kool-aid that is getting harder to stomach with each loss and bizarre letter from NBG.
Who says Kahn isn’t watching practices and games ? Where are you getting that ?
Wouldn’t the prudent course of action be getting all the information possible ? Showing that he values staff input ? Being as thorough as possible before making a decision ? Do you think a GM should have supernatural powers and be able to make every decision without outside input ?
You assume waaaaaaaaaaaay too much and imply that he is acting with negligence towards the franchise.
Moving on, I’m bored. So we got an angry injured Chris Paul down in NO. So say he is available for the sake of fun. What do we give up to get him ?
Al, Flynn, expiring contracts and a pick ? Would you do that and take on say, Peja’s awful deal ?
Kahn shouldn’t be omnipresent with the team. When a GM is hanging around the team too much, it undermines the coach.
I don’t think the record is unexpected, but clearly the way the Wolves lost those games last week was unacceptable.
Let’s not pretend, though, that the Wolves didn’t seriously lay some eggs last year. The Wolves lost seven games by 20 points or more at home last season, and six of those seven were when McHale was coaching the team.
Are there questions that can be raised about whether Flynn was the right choice at #6 or if the triangle is the right offense to be running? Sure. But it’s also far too soon to pass judgment.
Randy Wittman and Kevin McHale each went 2-9 in their first 11 games as head coach last year, and both had a healthy Al Jefferson and Kevin Love.
The next letter to fans from Kahn should be his resignation letter.
And your next post should be your last.
2-9 to start for Mchale without training camp. Then his only full month with Big AL he was coach of the month and won 10 games in January. That’s more than Wolves may win this year.
OOOOHHHHH I like Hypotheticals Swan
I would give up Al and Sessions and future 1st for Paul, not sure if I’m ready to give up on Flynn, but if they would let us protect the 1st rounder, I would think about adding Flynn and keeping Sessions as the backup. We would pretty much be Paul and Love until the draft. But Paul is a top 7 or 8 player and right now we don’t have a top 20 player and Paul is a solid Super Star and those are hard to come by.
Swan,
That game had so many missed calls that it was lucky that it was still close enough for Hugh to blow one against the Bulls. Also that would have only got them to the ECF where they would have lost. And as I recall the Western team won the NBA Championship. Also by that point most of the best teams were in the West. East had the Knicks and Pacers, but not much else. So to say you were the best in the junior division isn’t much. Year 2 they Blew.
Not ready to give up on Flynn either, but Paul is one of the 4 players in the league I pretty much instantly would make a deal for.
LT — The NBA season is more than one month long. McHale in December and February was a disaster.
Edkroten - How would they have been necessarily bounced in the ECF ? They would have taken the spot the Knicks had…they would have matched up very well against the Pacers and better than the Knicks would have against The Dream in the finals.
And I don’t know how you get a team that won 2 more games (Knicks) and a team that won 8 less (Pacers) as being the class of the East.
Let’s mention something else…Pippen made allstars out of Horace Grant and BJ Armstrong that year. Read that again just for my sake.
I think people forget how freakin dominant Pip was. He is arguably a top 10 player ever and no less than top 20.
[…] Kevin Love(notes) is scheduled to be re-evaluated on Friday. He’ll have his hand X-rayed, and an updated timetable should come shortly […]
Mchale had no training camp in December and taking over a team in disrepair like this present one. Big Al out in Feb. Those teams played harder than this one. To a man the players loved playing for him. Just saying that Rambis has yet to show a thing to me on O with triangle or D with NOTHING I can see as a scheme. Kahn is selling Snake Oil on the side to anybody foolish enough to buy it. Remember Snake Oil cures all. Just buy a bottle.
LT - We only have 5 players from last year. Chemistry takes time.
LT - The Wolves were 1-6 in last seven games Jefferson played in last year. January was the outlier, not the trend.
Yeah we know were going to be bad but we are missing are 2nd, maybe 3rd best player (Love), how good would other teams be if they didn’t have thier 2nd best player.
not to mention in Jan they played something like 2 teams with winning records?
Swan, who are the 4 players you would instantly trade for now. I want to see if my list of 5 would match.
are we talking bets players in the league or just guys who are young/talented and are franchise-players?
by the way, pretty crazy they don’t play till Wednesday. 4 days off should get them some good practice time in I hope…
I don’t see what everyone is complaining about. The perfect scenario for the Wolves this year is to give their young guys a lot of minutes and to get a high draft pick next year. You get a high draft pick by losing games. And, that’s what they’re doing. Would they be better off winning 30-35 games starting Foye, Telfair and Miller? Would that help develop / evaluate the young players on this roster? No, it wouldn’t.
I agree that one has to be concerned that the losing will take a toll on the young players. But, this team is so far away from being good that we need as many high picks as we can get. So, keep playing hard, keep learning, and keep losing. That’s the best formula that we can hope for.
I think we were talking about players that we would trade for right now, I think to build around. Like Flynn and Al plus a pick for….. fill in the blanks. I have about 5 or 6 I would trade for right away. Swan brought it up and I love hypotheticals.
Paul, Durant, Melo, Bron.
My list of guys is:
1. Lebron
2. Wade
3. Durant
4. Paul
5. Granger
6. Roy
(Next set would be Mello, Derron Williams, Howard, and maybe Bosh)
No Wade Swan?
Those 4 have zero “question marks” in my eyes. All others do.
Wade has had some bad injuries but he has looked great last year and this year but injuries have to be a part of it.
Too many miles.
Sean,
How can you say McHale was a disaster in Feb.? No Brewer, No Al, Smith out with ribs, Ollie in and out, Love out with flu, Miller in continuous pain, etc…. And the guys still played HARD. It was obvious. You’re telling me that this team is playing as hard as THAT team did? Not even close. You’re dreaming.
And you can’t blame McHale for the mess he inherited from Wittman, coaching-wise. While he may have brought the players in, he certainly shouldn’t be responsible for how they were coached and all of the bad habits they had acquired. That would be like blaming Kahn for the Triangle debacle (although Kahn should have found out during the interview process that the triangle offense was Rambis’s offense of choice.)
Sha Sha,
Wasn’t that our goal last year and the year before? At what point is our goal to actually win and entertain?
What the hell is going on here ? When did “hindsight is 20/20″ become “hindsight is Helen Keller & Corky’s offspring” ?
Marty,
LOL about the next Kahn letter being the resignation letter. Couldn’t agree more.
hahaha…’Corky’s offspring’ is funny because of the STD’s affecting the children..love it.
Iverson’s coming to Minnesota, jk, but he just got waived, maybe the Cavs will pick him up
Being a little late here but do you think Khan has any idea what is happening on the court. I ask this due to several things in his letter. One he talks about Flynn and Ellington getting lots of time to play and develop when both play less than they should if that was a goal. Then he talks about having a tough schedule when we played argueably the worst teams in the league (NJ, Mil, GS, and Mem)in half our games. Granted the other teams we played are good. Also he talks about being a running team and how he and Rambis invision it yet I have never seen a running triangle offense.
I think you can run in any offense, the Triangle is when their in the half court sets. But I agree that Ellington and Flynn need to play more.
Jennings 2-9 and 6 points against the Mavs. Look at him now! Look at him now!
Go after Chris Paul if you can get him. That would be awesome if New Orleans decided to blow up their roster.
There is no way NO is trading CP3 so quit dreaming
Dreaming and looking in the rear view mirror sometimes comfort the afflicted Wolves fan… So, my dream would be trade for CP3 and get Bosh or Joe Johnson in FA next summer… as for looking in the rearview mirror, let’s look at Flips Wizards… Mike Miller is doing alright, but Foye had a DNP-CD in a loss on Saturday
[…] Kevin Love(notes) is scheduled to be re-evaluated on Friday. He’ll have his hand X-rayed, and an updated timetable should come shortly […]
What could you give N.O. for Chris Paul? He’ll fetch a kings ransom. They might take Rubio he’s averaging 6 pts and 5 asts in Barcelona. Well maybe not. Foye is out with sprained ankle by the way.
Also Jennings has 25 pt 8 ast 6 boards and 2 to’s. Add 5 to’s and that is a solid 2 games for our pt guards combined.
Ya thats great Jennings had 25 points, but how many times did he shoot? I would bet that he shot atleast 20 times to get that. I would like to see how many points Flynn would score if he shot over 20 times a game
Yep, 22 shots to get 25 pts. 8 asts 2 to’s impressive though. Flynn is so lost/confused by all the teaching by Rambis he has a 1 to 1 ast/to ratio. Terrible for a center much less a guard.
Real early prediction. The Warriors are going to draft Favors to add to Curry, Ellis, Randolph, and Biedriens. They will be a top 6 team in the West next year. How they got rid of Jackson’s contract I’ll never understand. Michael Jordan and Larry Brown could possibly be the worst talent evaluators in the NBA and that is really hard to do. They have made some horrible moves over the last 2 years.
Jama - On paper, you would think that. But it’s the Warriors, and it’s Don Nelson. All you have to do is look at the ridiculous see-saw playing time Curry and Randolph get to realize Favors wouldn’t help.
I mean, Nelson starts Azubuike and Mikki Moore over Randolph, and is now starting Morrow over Curry. He hates rookies.
Swan, I agree with you about Pip being a top 10 guy, but what I was saying is that if you don’t have 1 great wing and 1 star somewhere else it is tough to win with the Triangle. (you absolutely need a wing guy, something the Wolvies don’t have.
Jennings was 8-22 and that was his worst shooting night in 8 games, I’ll take that if I am a coach(or fantasy owner) He also was 4-9 from 3 and almost had a triple double, 2 rebs and 2 asts short. Thats a pretty good game against a good team with not much help. Two people have sent me trade requests since the 55 point game and I laugh in their face…… I better not have just jynxed myself and now he blows out a knee.
Wall had the game winner in OT for Kentucky tonight. He got to the line a lot but had 5 TO’s but 5 asts to go with 19 points. Kentucky might have 3 first rounders this summer.
seen- McHale went 1-6 in the last seven games Jefferson played in (most of which were in early February).
seen — So McHale gets a pass for everything that happened after Jefferson’s injury? Then, why no pass for Rambis, who is missing Love and has only about 75% of Jefferson?
Again, I’ll point out that the Kevin McHale-coached Wolves lost by 20 points or more six times AT HOME (plus two more on the road). The notion that the guys were always busting their butts for McHale is garbage. Plenty of games were mailed in last year, too.
seen — And to say that McHale isn’t at all responsible for what Wittman did is a joke. Who hired Randy Wittman?
So Kahn is responsible for what Rambis is doing to poor Flynn. There is no comparison between the effort the team gave last year under Mchale and this year under Rambis. Not even close. Sean, you claimed a couple months ago the team upgraded GM, coach & talent this year, why then are they 1-10 and directionless on D?
LT: I claimed the team upgraded the GM and coach. I did not say that the talent this year was better than the talent last year. What I did say is that Kahn has positioned this team to have a higher ceiling in three years than the McHale team.
Effort has been a problem for this team for years. Anyone who claims that this team always played hard for McHale last year wasn’t paying attention. There were plenty of lay downs last year. I expect better, no matter who is the coach.
I’m not going to draw final conclusions on Rambis at this point. I actually think this team’s bigger problem right now is the offense. They are in the bottom 5 of every meaningful offensive statistic, and are faring slightly better defensively.
I expect to see better effort from the players and improving execution on both ends of the court — especially as Jefferson rounds into shape and Love returns. If it doesn’t happen, I will be right there with you in criticizing.
Now that Atlanta is turning into a beast in the east, does that make the J. Johnson FA signing nearly impossible for our little pups?
Gotta say I’m not real high on R. Gay for the money he will get, and I don’t see other “realistic’ options. We may be better off trying to swing a trade this season, especially since a prized FA to -20 degree weather is a pretty hard sell.
Does anybody have any viable trade speculation that could net the wolves a true team leader and star? I love the C. Paul talk, but unless he demands out I just can’t see NO sending him anywhere.
So this certainly isn’t a trade that would net us a star….but since the triangle offense Rambis is dead set on us running needs shooters, which we are severely lacking, what do you think it would take to get JJ Redick out of Orlando? He isn’t getting a lot of minutes, is still young and is a great 3 pt shooter.
Would Gomes and maybe a protected 2nd rounder be enough? Gomes would be a great piece to a championship team like Orlando and Redick could be a nice piece for a rebuilding team like us.
Any thoughts?
I don’t see why the Wolves would spend resources to get a guy like Redick. Ellington has the potential to be a Redick-like guy. I’d rather have a better feel on how good Ellington is going to be before making a move to pick up a guy who’s strictly a role player.
