Wolves head to Denver for Sunday’s game with record in reach
Posted on November 28th, 2009 – 11:44 PMBy Jerry Zgoda
Phil Miller covered practice today and filed this after the Wolves worked out at Target Center before flying to Denver for tomorrow night’s game.
Saturday was the one-month anniversary of the Wolves’ only victory, and they marked the occasion with “one of the best practices we’ve had all season,” said point guard Ramon Sessions said.
So will it produce an end to the losing streak?
“I hope so,” forward Ryan Gomes sighed. “A win would make a huge difference. There’s this weight on our shoulders right now.”
That’s the weight of 15 straight losses, one short of the franchise record — “a record we really don’t want,” Gomes understated. But it would take an enormous upset to avoid matching that record, set twice before, considering the Nuggets are 7-0 at home. The Memphis Grizzlies or Utah Jazz, who visit Target Center next week, offer much more likely opportunities to break the skid.
Once the streak ends, the Wolves seem genuinely confident that the atmosphere around the team will clear. “I feel like one win would change everything, becasue it would give us our confidence back,” Sessions said. “It would get us over the hump. I think one win could lead to 10 or 15 more pretty quickly. I think you’d be surprised what an effect it would have.”
Kurt Rambis hopes so, too; he’s worried that his team’s effort will begin to wane if there isn’t any progress soon. “Getting a win would keep them positive,” Rambis said. He was a member of the expansion Charlotte Hornets during the franchise’s first two seasons, when they won 20 and 19 games, so the coach understands what the players are feeling.
“I know how much losing wears on guys, how much it has an impact on their outlook about everything,” he said. “Losing can be so overbearing, you don’t even realize how it’s beating you down. But the guys here have done a good job of being positive.
“It’s not to the point where problems are arising, which is good,” he added. “You can just tell that they really want to find a way to win.”
19 Responses to "Wolves head to Denver for Sunday’s game with record in reach"
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I really like the article about the team and free agency Jerry, I agree with you that I don’t think Joe Johnson is going to leave for a bad team at this point, but he there are rumors of him wanting out because of Crawford, but I don’t think he would come here. Secondly Gay is the next best option but Memphis is holding the cards tight to their chest and we won’t be able to gauge how bad they really want to keep Gay, so we could pay too much or pay too little and they would win by matching or we would lose by paying way more than he is worth.
I still think Jefferson will not be here next year. Gomes and Jefferson for someone. Martin, no thanks, I’d go for Bosh in a sign and trade but he probably wouldn’t play here.
I was pushing for Gay in the offseason but after seeing Outlaw play a few times i’m almost leaning toward him. He is a better defender and has more range from the arc. I’d hate for the Wolves to revert back to the McHale era and hand out bad contracts to mediocre players. No matter what, this team needs to make a move before the deadline to get a SG here. Nobody will want to come here if the team doesn’t start to show some signs of life.
Yea, the Sessions contract was just great right Brien? The problem is that on a team that can barely compete night in and night out you have to overpay for free agents. That also leads to the notorious let down the year after the contract because of complacency on the part of the athlete. Also, they are hired guns at best and don’t have staying power with the team. I’d prefer to draft our way out of it, but just hoping to hit the draft jackpot is a good way to be a 15 win ball club… I hope Kahn learned that this year.
After reading most of these comments I don’t see how you can’t blame the coaching.
First in every game there are about 100 possessions figuring 15 TO that leaves 85 shots. Al who is the best player on this team is getting 14 per game. Brewer and Pech are putting up way to many shots. The shot distribution should be 20 for Al, 15 each for Flynn and Sessions, the other 35 for the 6 other guys in the rotation. When Love comes back he should be seeing 10-15 shots. Brewer, Pech, Pav, Hollins should not be shooting over 7 times per game.
Second, which goes with item one look at every 1st option they all get 20 or more shots a game (Kobe in years past has gotten 24 attempts). The Triangle (a triple post offense) should run to put your best player in a position to score not have Brewer jack up shots. Didn’t Rambis watch when Shaq was the best player on the Lakers.
Third C-note give it up on Bosh he is not an upgrade from a healthy Al, nor is Martin, Chandler, Boozer, or most anybody not named Howard. If they are running the Bulls/Lakers Triangle you need a big Guard who can drive and shoot.
Lastly, if we get the #1 and take Wall another PG who doesn’t fit the Triangle what are we going to do then. Rambis needs to play a system that will allow his players to have some success. His 4 best players are Al(currently not healthy but better than anyone else on the team), Love (out), Sessions (Pick and Roll guy) and Flynn (a rookie Pick and Roll guy) so maybe just MAYBE play some 2 man game so we can actually have a chance at winning 10 games.
Bosh tops my list of desired acquisitons, but I’d be all for Rudy Gay as well. Given the sheer youth of our team, I’ve decided Joe Johnson is just too old…by the time the team is ready to make noice, he’ll be like, 36. But Rudy Gay is an all NBA talent just waiting to be developed, and he’s shown me the kinds of things I wanted to see from him this year…defense and heart.
I wouldn’t at all favor Outlaw over Gay unless Rudy is grossly overpriced. I think they’re both good players, but in terms of ability, potential, and “solidness”, Outlaw is to Gay what Deng is to Durant. On paper, they looks somewhat similar, but in reality, one produces a ton more than the other.
Also, I expect us to get killed by the Nuggets, but I’m strangely optimistic about both Memphis and Utah. We match up pretty well with both those teams.
^the more wins for utah, the more likely we get their pick though. I am hopeful for Memphis, but they a) have to figure out inside defense on Gasol and b) decrease the impact of Gay. if they can do that they have a chance.
oh that, and figure out an offense that actually works. dump into Al is too easy to defend. and so is Brewer jacking up shots.
The talk about the triangle and who it fits has taken away from the fact that the Wolves play no team defense. That is their biggest hurdle in their quest for win 2 at the end of November. Their offense is bad, but the last few games I’ve seen cross screens for AL and some pick/roll for Sessions and Flynn. It’s their defense which is flat out terrible that is the biggest problem. No team schemes of help & recover. Just giving up baseline drives for fouls or lay ups. There is NO effort and commitment on D, until Rambis takes ownership of that with some schemes and understanding that his teams effort on defense is on him, nothing will change. As far as offense goes, just the fact that our 4 best offensive players are Big AL (not 100%) Love (out) Flynn (pt guard with more to’s than ast) and Sessions (averaging 8 pts/game) says we better defend if Wolves want a win in November.
No Bosh !
I’m not cheering to get Utah or Charlotte’s pick this next season. We are going to need those in 2011 when our pick to the Clippers goes unprotected.
To someone on an earlier post regarding Rubio, I’m not sure a guard’s performance in Euro games are a good barometer for NBA potential. Ask Brandon Jennings.
LT, it’s funny because they have had a few good defensive games here and there. Just not many, and its pretty much fallen apart now. Gomes was bragging early on about how he shut down Brandon Roy and Paul Pierce early on. Well Grant Hill pretty much embarrassed him on Friday. Our offense is looking better the past couple of games.
Jerry, thanks for the reference to the fans in your column this morning. The games have been better attended than I expected this season, and for the most part the fans have been pretty good. It must be those sound veteran performances from Bianca, Natalie, MC Wally Sczcerbiak, and DJ Mike Miller.
if our defense is going to get better LT, they need to not give minutes or get better effort out of Pech and Al (not to mention Gomes). neither of which is going to happen however. no matter what you say about schemes and all that, the problem is ability and effort on that end with those players. they just can’t defend, but with the lack of players that can play besides them, they will continue to get major minutes and thats the main problem.
Mike B - I hear you on the pick front for 2011, but would you rather have a mid-1st round rookie from that draft or one from this year’s strong draft pool with a year of NBA experience? and unless this team makes huge strides between now and 2011, we shoudl still have that pick because its still top 10 protected in that draft (it goes unprotected in 2012).
silencio-I don’t think Sessions contract is that bad. 3yrs at 3-4 per isn’t bad. I was thinking more along the lines of Troy Hudson, Marco Jaric Trenton Hassel deals, 6-7 years deals. I think Gay is going to ask for 12+mil a year, Is he worth it?, maybe. It would be a gamble, i just think Outlaw might only command 6-8mil a year.
Imagine the Wolves giving up a 1-3 pick to the Clippers when it becomes unprotected, that would be devistating.
I look to see how hard the opposition is laughing after fast break dunks to see how we are progressing.
Every game I’ve seen reminds me of an All Star game. the guys on the other team are playing loosey-goosey, dunking and wrap around passing with none of the pressure of playing against a defense. So they have a lot of fun, it’s like a break in the middle of the season. Except that our team is actually trying to win too. It’s sad.
Ed- why are you defending Al, he hasn’t done anything and Kahn doesn’t want him, that says something and if you guys still think Al is as good as Bosh, there is no hope for you. They don’t even mention Al as a top big, if they could pick any big right now for their team, Bosh is always in the top 2 or 3 with Dirk and Dwight Howard.
The one thing Ed is right on is that the coaching is getting very repetitive. They need to open things up more.
