Well, I can understand the difficulty with trading the deal, but this is disappointing. Especially since the trade deadline is tomorrow. Kahn already gives up. Meanwhile the Nets acquired Deron Williams for cents on the dollar.

There goes your latest "window of opportunity."

Quick thought - with few exceptions, teams that over value draft picks and mediocre young players tend to stay rather mediocre in this league. Many out there say the Knicks gave up too much for 'Melo, especially relative to the Nets in the Deron trade. They gave up nothing. Fans overrate their role-players and become attached, thinking they are more than they are.  Role-player production is cheap and easily replaceable. Look at the Spurs for a shining example of this. The Knicks are a top 2 team in the east once the Celtics run out of fuel. The Nets aren't far behind if they play their cards right. The Celtics did it. the Heat did it. You do not always have to fall back on the draft in order to build your team. Anyone who says the Wolves' only opportunity for ugrading talent was Randolph/Curry is lying to themselves. Kahn's job is to generate opportunities based on the king's ransom worth of assets he has and isn't using.

I sincerely hope the Wolves trade their 1st round pick this year in a package deal  with some combination of Rubio/Beasley/Flynn/Johnson/other picks heading out. Enough pre-teens running around. This is a stellar package, to get a stellar player. Stop defending or standing by a 13 win roster, Kahn. Otherwise Love is next on this list, and he should be the only one you aren't shopping.

Per RealGM

 Yesterday, CBS' Ken Berger had the latest on the 'Melo situation:

The Knicks would send three starters -- Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, and Raymond Felton -- to Denver for Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williamsand Anthony Carter, sources said Sunday. The Nuggets would get the Knicks' first-round pick in 2014, while Minnesota would get Eddy Curry's expiring contract and Anthony Randolph from New York. Curry would then be waived, and the Knicks would send as much as $3 million to Minnesota to pay his freight.  The Wolves also would send Corey Brewer to Denver in the proposed deal. Carter must approve the trade and waive his Bird rights for the trade to be approved.

Four points of discussion for this fine, snowy Monday:

1. There have been many Anthony Randolph trade scenarios thrown out there this season, all loosely pointing to this. Some reports like the above have the Wolves trading Brewer, some say a first rounder, and some say both. Either way, for the Wolves to not get Randolph would be surprising.  We can all but guarantee the addition of another long, athletic big left-handed big man from New York in some capacity. Regardless of what happens, whether we give up a first round pick, Brewer or both:

2. This is another example of Kahn's continued demonstrated incompetence and a very questionable use of resources. Consider the perceived value and opportunity costs given up by the Wolves: 1) Worst case scenario: Brewer, a starting player on our team, a first round pick, or both. Decent value as it is and certainly more than enough value for an 11th man on a Knicks team, However, 2) We are renting all of our cap space in favor of a potentially better deal until the offseason, a time when our cap room will be in the $6-$7 million range, potentially less with the Randolph addition.  All of this so New York can: 3. Move an albatross deal that will free up enough cash so they can acquire Carmelo Anthony and 2 former Wolves point guards, one of which was a NBA Finals MVP, thus solidifyng their future and essentially making Donnie Walsh's Knicks rebuild a staunch success. If this doesn't get any Wolves fans left on team-Kahn to fold, then I will start to rudely question sanity. Here is what Kahn is saying if this goes down:

"Donnie, yes. We will forgo our trade deadline plan. We will allow you to use all of our cap space, which will decrease by about 50-60% this off-season... n'er to return. In addition we will give you a first round pick, our starting shooting guard, or both! Just so you can free up enough money to acquire a top 10 NBA player and a former NBA Finals MVP! All we ask is for you to give us your 11th man in return, who plays a position of relatively little need. Do we have an accord?"

As a very comparable and relevant example of why this is incompetence at the highest of NBA levels,  consider:

3. A few years back the 76ers were trying to free up about $4 million so they could get far enough under the cap to sign Elton Brand. In order to do so they they had to shed some salary, so they agreed to a trade with a McHale-led front office in which the Wolves received Nicholas Cage lookalike Calvin Booth (!), Rodney Carney AND a first round pick for a top 55 protected 2nd round pick. AKA: nothing. Just so Philly could free up an arbitrary amount of cash to sign a Tier 2-3 Power Forward. The pick we received, might I add, ended up turning into Martell Webster 2 years later. And of course, Kahn got the credit for it.

This should put things into perspective as to how much the Wolves are getting fleeced in this scenario. I guess we will have to wait and see.

4. Under this scenario, the Al Jefferson trade is now: Big Al and Corey Brewer for a 16-20 range first round pick, Anthony Randolph, Eddy Curry's Krispy Kreme franchise and Kosta Koufos.

David Kahn: Worse than McHale. Here's hoping this story changes as the week goes on. 

PS: You know those NBA commercials where they show lost footage of stars when they were young, and someone "goes back in time" to tell them they will be an NBA star someday? You know, like the one with Stephen Curry? Well, if some little kid came up to you on Nicollet Mall downtown and told you that David Kahn would use his cap space on a 500 pound Eddy Curry, how would you have reacted?

(Get your tickets above if you are lucky enough to go to the game!)

For the very casual and uninformed, K-Love is in the All-Star Game Sunday night, while our rookie Wesley Johnson will participate in the Rookie-Sophomore game tonight.

Yesterday Jerry Zgoda hosted a TWolves live chat review from yesterday HERE.  You can read a transcript of the entire chat if you so choose.  TWolves Blog was nicely represented by questions that made it into the chat.

And of course, check out all the Wolves/NBA discussion, Trade Deadline happenings, game analysis, Wolves news, updates, , and much more in the TWolves Blog Forums.

If you missed Wally World's hugely polarizing discussion piece, "In Kahn We Can No Longer Trust", make sure to check it out!

If you had any optimism left about this team, you won't after reading today's article by Jim Souhan: T-Wolves Have Found A New Level That's Below Rock Bottom.

And two stories of interest...

Former St. Paul Johnson Player Dunking Phenom Story‏

I recall telling you about a dunk contest held at Harriet Island last summer. The winner of that event, former St. Paul Johnson player and St. Paul native, Terry Cournoyea, is going to be judged by LeBron James in the finals of the Sprite Slam Dunk Showdown next Friday (2/18) in Los Angeles as part of NBA All-Star weekend. He had to win the Taste of MN tour stop and then beat out the rest of the semi-finalists via an online vote on www.nba.com/dunk to become a finalist.

He played in the 2004 MN state tournament and is now widely considered one of the best – if not the best – dunkers in the world by street ball circles nationwide. You can see highlights from his Fourth of July win HERE.  You can also read about the finals that he will be competing in HERE.

Kevin Love in GQ Magazine‏

GQ blogger and T’Wolves big man KEVIN LOVE named as one of Five Best NBA Players Under 25 by the magazine, with help from NBA greats like Charles Barkley, Moses Malone, and Reggie Miller.

To read the full list and 26 other reasons why GQ is calling this the greatest NBA season in decades, please visit GQ.com!

Top 5 Players Under Age 25

From Jerry Zgoda:

Kahn on #Timberwolves: "There is no more rebuilding. There are no more wholesale changes. I like a lot of players on the team...

Well Team Kahn please rise and defend your man! Your singular move: Smoke and Mirrors.

In Kahn We, Sadly, Can No Longer Trust. Long ago, when I was young and naïve, I envisioned writing an article called “In Kahn We Trust” hoping to stick it to the ESPN clowns after the Wolves made a major turnaround. But, it appears not to be, as they were right in the end. David Kahn has not worked out.

Whining, ranting, pessimism, self-loathing. This is the tone that is about to be heavily prominent in this write-up. So, if you are sensitive to those kinds of things, or would rather think positive things about the “Kahn plan," I humbly ask you to either respect the take that Is about to unravel, or instead return to your land where unicorns prance openly, and where David Kahn is instead the doppelganger of a small Leprechaun.

Okay, okay, perhaps a bit harsh and dramatic to start things out, but the point is: things are bad. Very bad. There is no other way to put it aside from now hindering workplace productivity and pumping out a few thousand words about nothing positive, nor encouraging, as it pertains to this team we so blindly follow as if something good might happen other than 75% completion of a fast break possession (progress!). But, let’s back waaayyy up here for a moment, to a land free of run-on sentences (a place, as I have already demonstrated, we are definitely not in).

When David Ebenezer Kahn was hired in May of 2009, there was a general wave of optimism. Whether this optimism was misguided due to spillover from the long-awaited end to the McHale era remains to be seen. But before Kahn was hired we had 3 others in the final consideration pool (that we know of): Dennis Lindsey of the Spurs, Randy Pfund of the Miami-based Nightingale Manor Assisted Living Facility, and the legendary Tom Penn. To the best of what was gathered based on’09 reports, Pfund was asking for over $4 million, a salary many would agree is much too high. Penn ended up using us for personal gain in Portland (he was later fired for doing so), but Lindsey was the most interesting case. It is fully unclear what made Lindsey withdraw, but reports at the time suggested it had to do with a lack of front office autonomy. If I had to guess, this was tied to a lack of budgetary discretion for building his own front office, not retaining McHale. Kahn demonstrated his ability to fire McHale only weeks later. And thus after Lindsey withdrew, we ended up with the man who was our obvious first choice all along, and anybody who said otherwise was “completely wrong” according to Glen Taylor. Enter David Kahn, of whom, during his legendary introductory press conference, compared himself to glam rock artist Adam Lambert, pretended that he wasn’t absolutely desperate to get a job, name dropped George Karl, and used the term “our league” not once, but five times. Yet, here we were, ready to usher in a new era. And we bought into it, the scent of McHale still lingering.

Kahn’s very first “transaction” was to dismiss Kevin McHale as coach, which hit hard and home with many. Opinion at the time seemed to split on this maneuver. Had it not been for the gargantuan Russia-sized bowel movement McHale had left on the front office, he might have made a fantastic coach for this young squad.  A laid back type, yet firm and fair. Positive. Not arrogant, but humble and human. Empowered players to bring the best out in themselves with his laid back, Midwestern charm. The anti-Rhombus. Not to tangent, but I often wonder why coaches do not seem more receptive to feedback. In a corporate setting, the stubborn mules tend to be the least respected. And in basketball, a respect for your coach is basically mandatory for team success. Coaches make errors too, and nothing, personally, makes me respect or hold someone in higher regard than a willingness to admit and learn from mistakes. Tangent over.

Shortly after the McHale dismissal, Kahn began wheeling and dealing. His first basketball-related move, at the time, was a good one: trading Mike Miller and Randy Foye for the 5^th pick in the 2009 draft, Darius Songaila, Etan Thomas and Oleksiy Pecherov. From a value standpoint, we won big. This pick, as most know, turned out to be Ricky Rubio. The same Rubio, might I add, could be in danger of not joining the team next year due to current Collective Bargaining Agreement issues. However, that night, all was magical. The Target Center-based draft party was louder than any Timberwolves event since the ’04 Western Finals. Unicorns were running rampant (literally, see photo below):

All was well.  This was the apex of Kahn’s career as President of Basketball Operations, a title which Kahn of course says is “meaningless.”

Shortly after, we selected Jonny Flynn, passing over a projected top 5, dead-eye shooter in Stephen Curry. An odd buzz permeated Target Center. Confused patrons could be heard mumbling things such as “a trade must be in the works.” And then Kahn stepped out to the podium, dressed in a blue-button up, to address the crowd:

“You are going to love Jonny Flynn…. We think these two (Flynn and Rubio) can play together.”

One cannot blame Kahn for jumping on a tax-starved Wizards team, or for taking Rubio. Surely he could have done more homework on the buyout situation, but passing on Ricky would have been a very large PR blunder as your first ever draft pick. It is the Flynn pick that, well, do we need to elaborate?

Many remain confused to this day. Had it not been for the post-McHale era Kool-Aid (which provided Kahn FAR too much time, in hindsight), Draft Day ’09 was the start of Kahn’s fall into the GM we know today; the man many could argue is worse than Kevin McHale. The same McHale Kahn had fired days before. The same McHale who acquired our current All-Star. Who do you blame? The Chicken or the Egg? Does the old saying not apply somewhat to this scenario? If you bought a used car for $2,000, would you expect it to drive like a brand new $35,000 Audi? Glen Taylor thinks so, apparently. And yet, we bought into it.

Shortly following came the much-heralded signing of our current coaching staff, lead by the legend himself Kurt “Darrell Rhombus” Rambis, and his minions Bill Laimbeer, Reggie Theus, film director Woody Allen, and JB Bickerstaff. A very positively received hiring by the fan base at the time lead to  a joyous harmony of:

"Triangle Offense!” “LA Lakers!” “Phil Jackson’s heir apparent!.” ”He talks just like Phil!”

Little did we know.

After a series of cost-cutting trades (Kahn averaged one trade/signing every two-weeks from August-October, 2009), we had the 2009-2010 Wolves poop-fest headlined by Damien Wilkins, Sasha Pavlovic, Pecherov and Nathan Jawai. Because apparently marijuana and heavy drugs were legal in Minnesota at the time, I predicted 30 wins in a season preview post. We won 15.  

“A growing year.” “It doesn’t really count.” “Bad roster.” ”Ha, Pecherov?”

 The human psyche tells us many things to convince us we couldn’t possibly be wrong. Quick hypothetical: If you could go back in time and slap yourself for thinking something, would it be ask that beautiful girl on a date you never had the courage to speak to… or to tell yourself you are an idiot for supporting the Rambis hire? Kind of a tough call.

But, despite the 15 wins and the susequent 2010 draft, many bought it anyways.

Rambis, has, in short, been a complete disaster as a head coach. There is currently no single basketball-related counterpoint that someone can provide (believe me, I have tried to find one, and have asked his small faction of supporters…to no avail) that suggests otherwise other than the nauseating “give ‘em more time” mantra. How many examples do we need to provide in order to invoke an understanding of the level of coaching incompetence coming from the man barking orders in his ‘pretend-to-sound-like-Phil-Jackson’ rasp? A few, in typical run-on form: thinking Kevin Love is a 6^th man, playing 11 players in first halves, refusing to close out 3-point shots, alienating your young point guard, becoming, at one point, the worst coach in team history record-wise, having the exact same # of wins as last year (in what was the worst season in franchise history) to date, completely disregarding player's strengths and comfort levels. So many more examples.And we want Ricky Rubio within 3 feet of this guy? Long story short, he had his chance. But most importantly, again, the team currently has the exact same number of wins as last year. Oh by the way, rather under the radar, the Wolves just hired a consultant to provide an outside evaluation as to just what is going on with this team. Again, all I ask is one reason not related to patience.

Kahn was not done, though. Another draft passed in which he picked, or traded for, 3 players who play the same position, passing over DeMarcus Cousins in the process. But then, after making his annual slew of cost-cutting moves, Kahn had previously promised us he was freeing up money to make a big move via three windows of opportunity. At first these windows were the ’10 trade deadline, the ‘10 draft and the ’11 Trade Deadline, the last of which is next Thursday. Now, after little materialized, the windows were conveniently pushed out in his latest “letter to the fans” before the season. This bought Kahn more time to make cost cutting moves and draft underperforming players. So where is this plan? Do you not realize our cap space has an expiration date, and it pretty much is next Thursday? Does this all seem like an unplanned representation of sheer boobery and BS or is it just me?

Another tangent….Let me pause and say this about DeMarcus Cousins: anyone who honestly takes a step back and says “I would still pass on Cousins today” seems to be grasping at Wolves-colored straws. In the NBA, behavioral issues are two-fold. You have the criminal-types who do drugs and get into legal trouble; and you have the temperamental, but over-competitive type. Think Rasheed Wallace and Kevin Garnett vs. Eddy Curry (who we were ironically rumored to be acquiring last week) or Ron Artest (to a lesser degree). DeMarcus Cousins is in camp A in every way, and may one day be a better player than Rasheed Wallace. Wes Johnson MIGHT one day be better than Ryan Gomes. Rasheed Wallace and Kevin Garnett have championships. Championships that these “head cases” helped their teams win. Wes Johnson is scared to draw fouls. There is such a night and day difference between being over-competitive and showing an on-court fire, and being a “criminal” head case. Cousin’s issues are derived from, at least, positive intentions. While he is absolutely in the wrong without question, this is not something to start a witch hunt over. Our front office made a mistake passing on him, plain and simple, and thus to date the only solid draft pick Kahn has made based on pick position and value appears to be Wayne Ellington. Perhaps the 16^th pick for Webster trade, but our coach seems to think Webster is a slasher versus a deadly shooter, and thus our death spiral continues. And it will not stop until one or both of these guys is pushed aside.

But Kahn was not done yet! He then traded away both of his 2009 free-agent signings, one of which had his own press conference with the team a year prior, giving up a 2^nd rounder and cash to do so, and taking on salary in return. One actual, serious response I remember reading in Wolves-dom? “Oh, it’s great he is learning from his mistakes and taking corrective action!”

Really?

What preposterous rationalization will we make next to justify the incompetence? And we are supposedly trading a first round pick for Anthony Randolph? And you also gave up a draft pick to gift away Ramon Sessions, who just put up 32 and 8 in a win against the defending champions? Speaking of proper value assessment...

This was preceded by a trade of Al Jefferson for 2 first round picks, cap space (!!!), and Koufos (who had, of course, starter potential because he was ONCE a first round pick). The cap space was to be used for the aforementioned “singular move.” Oddly, the Al trade was a trade some, including myself, supported. Despite the going-ons in Utah and what appears imminent with our cap space (nothing), again Kahn gets cents on the dollar for another valuable asset.

I am curious what the front-office-fed excuse is going to be when the trade deadline passes with maybe a relatively harsh overpayment for Anthony Randolph or Hasheem Thabeet. Your singular move. Actually, no, your singular crap on the proverbial head of your glorious window of opportunity to do something with a slew of assets. Assets that, to date, have netted us a group of confused wings, a young, black-hole former #2 pick playing out of position (yet, still a bright spot), a coach who couldn’t manage a group of typing monkeys, and the maintenance of the 2^nd best rebounder since 1982. The biggest bright spot coming from the guy Kahn fired, and who initially he wanted to mold into a 6^th man. And somewhere, the sound of Rubio can be heard laughing.

Yet, Rambis and Kahn are still defended. "Give them time!" Absolutely not! No more time after all that has transpired. At what point are we going to stop gifting away our assets? At what point do the rebuilding trades stop where one big asset net us 3 (or 1) smaller asset(s)? At what point do we stop overpaying?

And here we are today, with 13 wins, having just lost a game in which our starting 1-3 combined for a single point.

David Kahn, your legacy. Created by your own dishonesty and mismanagement of expectations. You have done Our Town well. Speaking of town, I want to say that I firmly believe a swift change to the front office can make an immediate difference. It is easy and painless. Let Kahn go home, and leave ‘Our League’ for awhile. Let Tony Ronzone get a 1 or 2 year trial run that provides him a 7-digit budget to beef up his FO. Then  let Rambis go and give Laimbeer a shot. While at the women’s level, Laimbeer has proven he can coach and win at a professional-level, and lead people whom, quite frankly, are very different than he is. This is not something to sneeze at. The move would be quick, painless, and suddenly the Wolves have a front office with a track record of success, that is also free of shady characters and with no long-term commitments. And, most importantly, no more Kahn, who has just proven time and time again that he is only good at one thing: turning silver into coal.

Do it Taylor. Do it for Our Team. Or Kahn, please prove us wrong next week, it might be your last chance.

PS: This article should not be the only voice on the front page. A lot of people disagree with what is contained here. Anyone is welcome to write up a counter post (ideally a forum contributor), hopefully with better grammar and spelling, and we will plop it right up. This site isn't designed to be my personal soap box.

Warm Regards and Go Wolves!

-Mike

Before we glean some insight from Depressed Fan regarding players such as Elton Brand (a potential pre-draft trade with the Wolves???) and Andre Iggy; as well as thoughts on the future of the TWolves, and tonight's game... first let's find out a little something about everyone's former T-Wolves pre-draft wishlist #1 pick, Evan Turner:

TWolvesBlog: Evan Turner Lightning round:
     1.  Is he going to be a stud?

Depressed Fan: Stud? I'm not sure. I think he's going to be a very versatile player, on both ends of the floor, but I'm not really seeing a number one scoring option in him. I think he'll probably good or very good, but probably not great.

     2.  What does he do really well?  really poorly?

DF: Poorly is pretty easy, his jumper isn't there yet, especially from distance. His mid-range game has come a long way, but his form is just ugly on long jumpers. Even Doug Collins said he needs to rework his jumper over the summer. Rebounding is probably the biggest strength of his game. He's an excellent rebounder, he has a really good handle, he's a good passer. He's also taken great care of the ball. His game has looked a lot like Iguodala's recently, minus the elite athleticism, but with a bit better touch on his jumper and better one-on-one moves.

     3.  In retrospect would you have wanted to make a trade with the Wolves? (to dump Elton Brand's salary as well, pre-draft.)

DF: No. Brand has been great and if I was going to trade down, I wouldn't have dropped lower than #3. I wanted Derrick Favors, wanted no part of DeMarcus Cousins (still don't) and I think Turner's a much better prospect than Wes Johnson. At the time, I probably would've considered it, but in retrospect, Brand has been great this season. There are much worse contracts out there, no matter what ESPN tells you.

     4.  Did you want to make a trade with the Wolves at the time?

DF: I never really thought it was a legit option, but probably not for the reasons listed above. For me, it was a three-man draft and it would've taken something unbelievable to get me to trade down out of the top three.

Please click "Read More" to continue reading the in-depth and insightful discussion with Depressed Fan...

The Wolves took down the Rockets last night 112 - 108 in Houston.  Check out the TWB Forum Game Thread for more thoughts, analysis, and discussion from tons of fellow Wolves fans.  In case you didn't see it, a great win; we really needed that tonight.  Defeating the #4 defensive ranked Hornets and then the revived Rockets teams on the road is solid, no matter how you look at it.  Especially for a team that struggles as badly as we do away from Target Center.  Can the Puppies make it 3 consecutive road wins (for the first time in... I dunno, forever?) Friday night at Indiana?

We finally again won two consecutive road games for the first time since April of 2009. Someone mentioned this fact to me, of which I was already well aware.  They then go on with "Ha, only since 2009?  I would have thought it was longer ago than that!"  Gotta love the casual baskball fan.

The Wolves looked great, winning a tough game at the end without 4 of our top 5 leading scorers. Can you imagine if the Rockets didn't have Scola, Lowry, Brooks, and whomever else? Battier?  Regardless, the point is that I am pretty sure the Rockets would get destroyed if their only top 5 scorer for a given game was Kevin Martin.

Our bench has really stepped up HUGE the past two games. It sucks Rhombus keeps playing EVERYONE THAT IS ACTIVE, but we've won two in a row nonetheless. Still, it's a horrible coaching strategy. It was a bit "more necessary" tonight though because of all the injuries.

Pekovic played well I thought. Had some nice post moves and rebounds.  He's a beast down low for sure.  I can't wait until he figures out the speed of the NBA game, and all the rules/nuances and whatnot.  If he doesn't ever figure this stuff out, we'll just combine him with Kosta to make Nikosta Pekofos, the ideal foreign NBA backup Center.

Tolliver, Telfair, and Ellington were all great off the bench and instrumental to the win. Nice to see Ellington playing well. I never thought he'd amount to much, but he seems servicable. Tolliver had 10 big boards and played well all around.  For what we are paying him (basically chicken scratch), he's a great signing.  He has been superb lately and needs more burn.  I think everyone already knows my feelings on Telfair vs Flynn.

Not sure that Webster acquisition was the greatest, because will he ever truly get a chance to shine on a team like ours, where Rhombus plays 12 guys almost every game? Actually, is Webster even that good? I'm not sure we even know yet, but he has shown flashes.

Flynn had 15 points, but don't be decieved.  I suppose he played better than he has earlier this season, but that still equates to Less-Than-Average-At-Best.  Of course a starting PG playing 30+ minutes per game is going to score some points. He also had 7 assists and 5 more turnovers. He is a turnover machine. Sadly, he's our PG doing this turnover-ing. Please trade him and play Telfair and Ridnour the rest of the season.

I'm not a fan of the plus/minus statistic on a per game basis AT ALL, but once again, Telfair > Flynn.  Check out the past 5 games: 

In the previous 23 games, Telfair only played in 3 of them: 6, 15, and 3 minutes.  In those games, the Wolves went 2-1.  In the other 20 games that Telfair did not play a single second, the Wolves went 3-17.
Hopefully Flynn starting and playing huge minutes means he'll be traded soon.  I think it's pretty obvious that Rhombus doesn't like Flynn either, nor the fact that he is forced to play him so much.

Love was sick last night, and as you could tell if you were watching the game, he did not chase down rebounds with his usual aplomb.  He had a great fourth quarter though, hitting some threes and had 10 or 11 points?  Maybe more.  But if I remember correctly, he had something like 9 points and 11 boards at one point in the 4th, and finished with 20 and 14.  He also set the franchise record for 38 consecutive double-doubles and counting.  So big congrats to him for that.  I think it's a pretty arbitrary stat to keep track of, but it's recognized around the league and by media members, so no discounting him setting the record for the longest DD streak in the past quarter century.  How long can it continue?  Through the rest of the season? Ha?

Regarding the Rockets, Luis Scola is really, really, really good. I can't believe the Spurs GAVE HIM AWAY FOR NOTHING!?! That's probably the biggest mistake that franchise has ever made. I truly believe they'd have at least 1 more title if they would have keep Scola. Heck, maybe even more. Scola would have prolonged Duncan's career, and he + Duncan would be nearly unstoppable. It's like having a big men version of LeBron and D-Wade together.

From the oh-my-dear-lord-department: Since December 1st, 2010 Wesley Johnson has 23 free throw ATTEMPTS. Total. In almost 40 games. That is beyond discouraging.  Please tell me this is going to change?  He's got the skills to be a slasher, but is it Rhombus that makes him camp out at the three point line all game long and hoisting jumpers?  I'm no genius, but that's not what I had in mind when the Wolves drafted him.  If this doesn't change at some point relatively soon, then give me Cousins over a high lottery pick jump shooter.

We had 15 turnovers and 21 fouls to only 7 and 17 for the Rockets. However, we shot 51% from the field, and 8 of 18 from three; compared to only 45% and 7 of 28 (!) for the Rockets. A great win.

Friday night the Wolves go for three consecutive road games, against the Indiana Pacers.  Let's do it.  Game Thread can be found HERE

Chris Brussard's Twitter feed

Here's the story on ESPN:

Sources: Three-team deal discussed:

I've always liked Randolph, but I dunno... maybe he'll just never live up to his sky-high potential? If there's any place he can, it's with us and having Kahn believe in him, I suppose.

I would NOT trade our own pick for this next draft. We have a few other crappy protected 1sts; one of which is probably worth Randolph.

I don't think it really matters about Brewer being involved, as he won't be retained by us next year anyways (it doesn't appear.) I have liked him a lot though recently. He's playing well, especially defensively.

WHY would we do this though and take Curry and have to pay $5M and then cut him after the trade deadline? That makes no sense. A few weeks ago it was that we could trade a first for Randolph. So what's with Curry and Brewer? Stupid.

We have all the power here if they really need the Wolves involved to complete this deal. Just take what we want (Randolph) and give up nothing (aka one of a few protected firsts which we don't need anyways.)

If Kahn does this with our OWN pick involved for next year... get him out of here. Help the Knicks and the Nuggets and screw us over in the process? Egads.

Funny comment from "Cycosurgeon" in the TWB Forums:

The only good that will come out of this suggested trade is the fact we can put Curry in an old Oliver Miller uniform, and relive the old days before we cut him.

The Wolves fell to the 13-Losses-In-A-Row-Raptors last night in Toronto, which is pretty epic fail.  You can check out the Wolves-Raptors Game Thread for more info/discussion if you so desire.  Granted, we didn't have Puke Ridnour or Ellington, but man... tough loss (again.)  Rather than go on and on about a game I couldn't even watch (wasn't on TV), I am going to do the almost unthinkable and link to SNP's recap post over at CH.  It looks like he aptly sums up our ineptitude well enough.  No point in me retyping everything he's already said.

Here are some special interviews with some Wolves players yesterday as well.  Thanks and props to Hoops Addict for getting them, and then hooking me up with the links:

(Having some technical difficulties at the moment embedding the vidoes, but here are the links)

Please click "Read More" for KLove All-Star news, as well as a juicy TWolves trade rumor...