I'm very excited to start the Wolves regular season tomorrow.  I'm kind of relieved to enter a season in which not finishing last will exceed my expectations.  The past two versions of the Minnesota Timberwolves were not only disappointing, but also very boring.  KG's style of play requires competent shooting and continuous effort out of his teammates and, unfortunately, the Timberwolves could give Kevin neither with any consistency.  I cannot even count the amount of times I watched the Wolves get up by ten points in the first half, only to watch them fail in the end.  As a fan who came to 40 of 41 home games last season, the sports entertainment value was unnacceptable.

This offseason, the Wolves traded Kevin Garnett in the least attractive of the several deals out there for him.  However, the organization did a solid job of retaining its stated cornerstone for the new project (Jefferson resigning) and has earnestly opened the door for the future.

Now, I will give you the opportunity to see what I'm looking for this season and my NBA picks (if you click "Read More") or to skip over this entirely and move to the next post (likely).

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Garnett is gone, but we'll still fight on. [image2]

Note: This article appear on the Minnesota Timberwolves Den at DeROK.Net

For the first time in my life, I'm about to experience a Timberwolves season without Kevin Garnett. Yes, I've been a fan of the team since its inception, but for all intents and purposes, Friday night will be the first time I watch a season begin without No. 21 pounding his chest and making a chalk cloud. You see, in the era before Garnett, things like the internet and NBA League Pass were futuristic technologies. If you lived in New Jersey and liked the Timberwolves, you were forced to follow the team through a box score in the paper. The only way you even knew what the role players on your team looked like was if you were fortunate enough to get one of their basketball cards in a pack. Back then, being a fan of the Timberwolves meant owning a t-shirt and always picking them on NBA Live '95, even though they were awful. Eighteen years later, things are extremely different. Kevin Garnett isn't able to sneeze without a complete play-by-play of the event being instantly sent to someone's cell phone. Hardly a minute passes by without some fan making a blog post about his thoughts on the team.  If I had the time, I could easily plunk myself down in front of my computer and spend a solid two-hours every day reading all the latest Timberwolves news.  Being a fan of the Timberwolves has a completely different meaning in medical school than it did in elementary school.  And so that's why I say that Friday, November 2nd will be my first time that I truly begin a Timberwolves season without Kevin Garnett.

Continue Reading...

In anticipation of the 2007-08 Minnesota Timberwolves season, TWolvesBlog is counting down the days 'til tip-off by featuring some of our team's players.  These player articles were written by several of our forum members, as well as the site's regular contributors.  The seventh piece in this series was written by yours truly, C-Dub.  I'd like to present to you our Jack-Of-All-Trades, largely unknown, third-year small forward Ryan Gomes.

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Ryan Gomes, Jack of All Trades [image2]

I've gotta be honest...Craig Smith probably wouldn't have been my first choice of Wolves players to preview for this upcoming season.  He does the dirty work...and we all value the superstars over the cleanup crew, right? 

Well, with that said, Craiggers deserves some serious respect. 

A scene at last week's Wolves/Bucks game really impressed me- Craig was matched up against Yi Jianlian.  Yi happens to be five inches taller than Craig.  Despite the height disparity, though, Craig absolutely manhandled Yi...Craig did a phenomenal job of boxing out Yi, and his defensive effort against the rookie was spectacular.

Welcome to the NBA, Yi Jianlian.  You just got eaten alive by the Cookie Monster.

Let’s be perfectly honest; I am not an objective writer. I root for the teams I like, boo the teams I don’t, and become overly connected to players that will probably never, ever know that I even exist. Hell, if we’re talking standard writer’s guidelines, I’m hardly a writer at all. I falsify information, openly generate stats and rumors, and make outrageous claims that can hardly be backed up or substantiated. Research? Pfft, for homos. Ethics? Yeah right, terds. Morals? You can keep them. I am a fan, and as such, I am going to write like one.  

Now, I understand that some people do not enjoy that. Some people like facts and figures and objectivity and blah, blah, blah. (Ugh) So in the spirit of friendliness, I have written two types of profiles -a super lame one and a totally rad one- for Corey Brewer. Enjoy. 

Super Lame Style

Corey Brewer: An Exercise in Versatility 

Corey Brewer, the 21 year old, 6’9”, 185 lb swingman has already generated a lot of buzz these past few months and enters this season as the Timberwolves’ second most anticipated new recruit. Back to back NCAA Championships (and countless individual awards) have already established Corey Brewer as an unfamiliar commodity (read: a winner) and he will likely play an important role in bringing the Timberwolves franchise to prominence in a Western Conference that is heavily saturated with all-world talent.  

I went to last night's scrimmage with a few buddies.  Here are some observations:

1) The team was split into the black squad and the white squad.  The black squad included all five starters, Foye, McCants, Gomes, Jefferson, and Theophilus, plus Antoine Walker.  The white squad was everyone else.

2) We had our first Antoine Walker sighting.  He was in a suit for Friday night's scrimmage, so tonight was the first chace to watch him play on the court.  He took the majority of his reps with the first team, spelling either Al Jefferson or Ryan Gomes when it was his turn in the rotation.  First thing, after hearing Riley's comments on Antione's conditioning, I was expecting Walker to resemble the mom on What's Eating Gilbert Grape? but he looked like he's always looked.  On a positive note about Walker, I know he chucks up a lot of threes, but he also knocks a lot of them down.  For a team with no real three point shooting, Walker, who typically is guarded by a small or power forward, can draw that defender out of the paint and spread the defense a little bit.

3) The players, in general, still have a tough time consistently hitting the wide open jumpers, including mid-rangers.  If these players can develop the mid ranger, I think it could easily translate to a couple Ws this season and compliment the strong post play this team has demonstrated this preseason.

4) Michael Doeac looks like he can be a competent reserve to spell the center.

5) We noticed that Juwan Howard was absent, and it turns out there was good reason as the team bought his contract out (only because I haven't put up old news yet, so there it is).

6) Gerald Green, who I've been down on, played very well in the second scrimmage session.  He hit his open jumpers and looked generally better than he did in the preseason, although that's not a huge accomplishment.  If he can play like he did in yesterday's scrimmage, he will be able to contribute.

7) I don't think point guard play can be accurately measured in this scrimmage.  Not too many avoidable turnovers from that position, though I think Bassy turned it over once by trying to be flashy instead of efficient.  Overall, I like Bassy's play in the last game and during last night's scrimmage.  Not much penetration into the paint by the PG position this season, but I don't if that's a reflection of the team's scheme or the point guards.

That's all I've got.  Looking forward to the season.

I apologize for interrupting your regularly scheduled Timberwolves programming, but I felt that what I have to share is something that all of us need to hear. 

As basketball fans, we're all well-aware of how powerful this game can be. There just something about basketball that can take a group of 40,000 strangers and unite them towards a single cause.  Often times, that "cause" is something as simple as cheering on the Timberwolves to victory. But if we limit the game to something that gets our pulse pounding every now and then, and serves no other purpose than to make the players and owners rich, we're doing the world a great disservice.  The game of basketball can be used to accomplish something so much bigger...

My best friend and high school basketball teammate, Dan Occhiogrosso, has made it his goal to do just that.  He's decided to take his world-class ball handling skills and use them to accomplish something that will change lives.  Through Dan's website, www.ballforlives.com, he's been able to sell instructional videos with 100% of the donations going to the Bethesda Outreach in South Africa to help AIDS Orphans.  Dan has also spent time doing performance demonstrations for teenagers with the goal of educating them about poverty and the AIDS epidemic. 

Dan's next activity with Ball For Lives will be to dribble the entire NYC Marathon, this coming November 4th, in the hopes of rasing $10,000 for the Bethesda Outreach and Meals on Wheels.  This latest fundraiser is the reason I'm telling you all about Dan and his website.  I don't want to put a guilt trip on anyone, but none of us think twice about plunking down a ton of cash to go to games, order NBA League Pass, or buy jerseys and other merchandise.  Yet by donating only $10 to support Dan and his cause, you'll be able to change the life of a child whose parents have been taken from him by AIDS.  You'll be able to help give that child food, shelter, education, and a future.  I apologize for going all Sally Struthers on you, but this problem is real and there's something that we actually can do about it. 

If you'd like to find out more about the Bethesda Outreach, Ball for Lives, and what you can do to help children who have been orphaned by AIDS, you go to http://www.ballforlives.com/.  Again, 100% of your donation goes directly towards helping the children. 

Thanks for hearing me out.

Print your playoff tickets, Timberwolves fans, the Wolves win 106-85 over the Bucks of Milwaukee.

I had the privilege of attending this evening's game and I am doing my inaugural game recap for this site.

First off, here's the Box Score off of ESPN to get the statistics.

Now to the recap, for things you care about pertaining to the game:

- Al Jefferson continues to look tough in the post.  He had 24 and 12.  If you're not accustomed to my expectation, I won't heap praise on Jefferson for those numbers.  I expect 18-25 and 10-15 every night.  HOWEVER, he did it on 9-12 shooting, which deserves praise.  What can't you see from the box score?  He played excellent D tonight on Charlie Villanueva, who has a dangerous inside-out game and he also passed better out of the double team tonight than he did on Tuesday night against the Pacers.  I'm also McLovin' the 10 free throw attempts in 30 minutes.

- Theophilus (yes, that's his name) Ratliff hopped in his DeLorean, hit the pedal to 88 mph, and turned the dial back to 2001 on 6-8 shooting.  It's nice to have a center playing center after a season and a half of Mark Blount moonlighting as a shooting guard that can't dribble, rebound or play D.  He had several blocks, the most notable of which was a two-handed rejection of a full-speed (and out-of-nowhere ripped!) Daniel Gadzuric.  Although I think 13 points is more than we should expect from him, watch for smart, blue-collar play out of the center position when he's in the game.

- I am no Rashad McCants apologist, but he had a good game that goes beyond the statistics.  His shots were mostly smart-open looks or created shots in one-on-one situations.  His four turnovers were probably all easily preventable (including a two on one fast break where he tried to do a behind-the-back-pass-fake-layup that was stolen).

- In the limited time Brewer was on Michael Redd, he did an excellent job.  Redd did hit a three in Brewer's face, but he's Michael Redd.  Brewer played good transition defense and his four steals were more the product of him than bad offensive play by the Bucks.  He did have a couple of rookie turnovers.

- For those with Ryan Gomes' crushes, it got more attractive tonight.  He's the type of player that can spread the defense and defender's have to pay constant attention to him because he moves around a lot.  He brings a serious inside-out threat and, if he's not paid attention to, he'll sneak by post players for an offensive board on missed jumpers.

- Bassy looked better than Foye tonight at point.

- Gerald Green continues to look as scared and lost as a sophomore in high school whose girlfriend just uttered the phrase, "I'm pregnant."  He should be worried that his future is about as unsure as that sophomore right now, too.

- Toine Walker (I think "Hot Pudgy" is a good nickname) was in the building in his suit.  Doleac either (a) was not or (b) I just didn't see him (possible).  I read in one of SG's news post's links that Doleac and Walker were to report, Simien was not.  Is Doleac one of the cuts?  We still need to shave this thing down.

Please click "Read More" to go after the jump if you want to read stuff that virtually no one cares about that can't be ascertained by box scores.