Minnesota T-Wolves Season Preview – “A New Beginning.”
Written by: Dave Kelsey
Wednesday, 17 October 2007

Minnesota Timberwolves – Twolvesblog.com
Last Year's Record: 30-52 (T-3rd in Northwest)
Key additions: Corey Brewer (No. 7 Draft Pick), Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes, Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff, Juwan Howard, Greg Buckner.
Key losses: Kevin Garnett, Trenton Hassell, Mike James, Troy Hudson.

It’s no secret to any NBA fan that the Kevin Garnett trade was the biggest and most significant move during any Wolves offseason in recent memory.  Sure, they also dumped some salary in the Mike James-Juwan Howard and Trenton Hassell-Greg Buckner trades, but these minor moves are massively overshadowed by the Garnett trade to the Boston Celtics.  The Wolves got a small bounty of five players and two draft picks in return for KG, but will they be enough to replace the future Hall Of Famer’s MVP-calliber statistics and on-court leadership?  The early verdict is that we got some very gifted youngsters such as Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes, and Big Al Jefferson.  These guys are all either loaded with potential (Green, Sebastion Telfair), glimpses of steady and consistent play (Gomes), or destined for future greatness (Jefferson.)
Corey Brewer was the Wolves first round draft pick (#7 overall) from the University of Florda.  Brewer, a versatile small forward/shooting guard was lauded as a superb perimeter defender and active rebounder, who is also capable of slashing to the hoop and providing the intangibles that teams need to be successful.  

2. What are the team’s biggest strengths?

The T-Wolves no longer have the “Big Ticket” around to guide them and fill up the stat sheets every night, but they are loaded with a young and very talented core group of players.  While the team is very young and relatively inexperienced, there is good reason to believe that this core group of players will be able to grow and learn together, providing the basis for contention many years into the future.  As most fans are aware, this transformation will not happen overnight, maybe not this season, or perhaps even the season after.    Fans will need to be patient and hope our youth can grow together to eventually realize their complete potential.  The necessary skill-sets and opportunities will certainly be there for this group, but it’s what they do with them that will determine the outcome.

3. What are the team’s biggest weaknesses?

In a sense, the Wolves biggest stength is also it’s biggest weakness.  Mainly, that our squad is composed of mostly young players with little NBA experience.  Also, our roster is overloaded with players, (many at the same positions), and some tough decisions are going to need to be made to determine who stays and who goes.
The sooner the young squad is able to establish team chemistry and build upon an identity, the better off the prospects for the future will become.  Without good core chemistry, things could head south in a hurry.  Nothing destroys a team more quickly than squabbling and infighting amongst the players.  The burden of developing good team chemistry is placed squarely upon the coaching staff and veteran leaders of this team.  Can Coach Randy Wittman take charge and reign in his players when the occasion presents itself?  Will he be able to command everyone’s respect in times of difficulty?  These are questions that are going to need to be answered sooner, rather than later.  Once something like team chemistry begins to spiral out of control, it is very difficult to right that sinking ship.
Another aspect that is a problem and therefore technically a weakness: Roster Construction.  The Wolves currently have 17 players associated with this club that have the ability to play in the NBA, albeit with varying degrees of skill.  Regardless, the roster must be trimmed down to 15 players by October 31st.  From there, an “active roster” of 12 players must be determined.  The difficulty does not end there.  No NBA team plays all twelve players significant minutes every game.  This is why a set rotation and minute allocation must be determined.  The season could implode if some youngsters play 30 minutes one night, but only 5, or zero, the next.  Without clear-cut roles and expectations, the players could be lost quicker than one can imagine.  As it stands without Garnett, Ricky Davis is the de facto “alpha male” of this squad.  He is a veteran that has proven he can “get buckets” in the NBA.  Another question that remains to be answered is whether or not Davis is mature enough to lead a team of youngsters and display unwavering leadership.  The Wolves will eventually need to have young core players step up and assume leadership roles, to help guide this team next season and beyond.

4. What are the goals for this team?

Winning is always the ultimate goal of every club, but as reasonable fans, I don’t think it’s healthy to have championship aspirations in the near future.  In my mind, the goals are for this team to play hard and give 100% effort each and every game.  I’m not saying that the playoffs are out of the question, but to consider the upcoming NBA season successful for the Minnesota Timberwolves, many things will need to go favorably for the home team, and they will need to catch as many lucky breaks as they can. Above all others, three distinct goals stand out as season-long keys to success:  1) Developing good team chemistry, 2) Establishing a pecking order and set rotation, and 3) The ability of Jefferson and Foye to be able to manage increasing leadership responsibilities off the court, as well as improving their numbers on the court.
Who knows, maybe the young Wolves will catch some lucky breaks and win a few more games than people expect.  The 8th playoff seed certainly isn’t out of the question.  Any team that is willing to bring the intensity every game and wants it enough, certainly has a chance to nab a low playoff spot.  If the Wolves made the playoffs this season, they would certainly exceed all expectations.

5. With the departure of Garnett, who will emerge to lead this young club into the future?

Point guard Randy Foye and pivot Big Al Jefferson appear to be early candidates for young team leaders of this club.  The four-year college star Randy Foye has displayed heady maturity last season, playing point guard. All indications show that Foye is ready to assume even more leadership on the court running the offense, as well as off.  Big Al appears to be another player wise beyond his years, and someone that the other players will eventually be able to look towards as a leader of this young club.  Being that Jefferson jumped into the NBA from high-school, he doesn’t have quite as much experience as Foye.  However, last season he clearly displayed his ability to mix it up with the big men, as well as take charge and bang down low.  Both these guys give 110% while exhibiting an incredible amount of desire and hustle.   Being leaders of this club means that they will need to continue to “walk the walk” as well as help their teammates develop into the best players, and people, that they can be.  It is not just about becoming leaders during the games.  These two young men will need to also lead their brethren off the court as well.  Both players are model citizens who give back to the community.  Setting and continuing to follow this type of an example will go a long way towards commanding the respect and attention of their teammates.

Predicted Record: 21-61

I’ve picked this record because valued forum member “WhiskeyDizzy” has devised and authored a complex Regression Analysis Win-Loss Predictions Article, which attempts to formulate a given team’s win-loss totals for the upcoming season, following the trade of an All-Star NBA player.

In comparision, his Regression Analysis has also predicted that the Celtics will finish 48-34.  (In fairness, after that article was published, he adjusted the Analysis further and the new predicted Celtics record is 51-31, by taking into account at what point during the season/off-season the players were traded.)  

For those of you that are not familiar with regression analysis, these results are NOT steadfast and concrete predictions.  However, it is actually quite interesting.  I advise all of you to check out his article, you may find it to be pretty fascinating. 

I agree with the results.  Under certain circumstances,  I could see the Wolves winning around 21 games.  You never know how things will turn out, as there are a lot of variables that go into an entire NBA season.  While I wouldn’t be happy with us winning only 21 games, it is certainly possible.  I could also see us winning around 25-26 games (or more) this season.  Let’s hope for the best.

While I was putting some new music on my iPod today, I started thinking about a possible Timberwolves playlist.  What songs could represent the players?  Well, here's what I came up with:

Mark Blount: Tupac/Sleep...seriously, the Wolves could win an NBA Championship, a bomb could explode in the Target Center, Sebastian Telfair could start firing one of his girlfriend's guns...and Blount would still look half-asleep.

Ryan Gomes: Twisted Sister/We're Not Gonna Take It...last year, Gomes spoke out against the obvious tanking by the Celtics, telling everyone that his team was much more concerned with their draft pick than winning ballgames.  That's a gutsy move by Gomes, and I appreciate that the tank job pissed him off so much.  If the Wolves resort to tanking this year, I hope he'll speak out.

Sebastian Telfair: Jet/Last Chance...while Telfair will clearly get a fair shot in Minnesota, he's running out of chances to prove that his nickname shouldn't be "Telfailure."  I'm rooting for him to succeed with the Wolves...we could use the help at point guard.

First Peek at the New Celtics

***The following article was authored by another valued forum member, "Bonk."  Bonk also happens to be my Wolves season tickets partner in crime, as well as general sports viewing buddy.  Kinda like Bill Simmons and his buddies "Johnny" and/or "Hench," except not nearly as homoerotic.

I am a bonafide KG pimp, a diehard KG fanatic, a loyal & faithful KG follower.  However you want to put it, I love KG.  So when “the trade” went down, it is only right and natural that my allegiances follow him to Boston.  It also helps that I am a longtime Paul Pierce and Boston follower from afar.  I already have my Celtics hat, jersey, & Truth jersey from the “old” Celtics days of the last several years.  How cool is it that my favorite player ever got traded to my 2nd favorite team, which already included my 2nd favorite player?  I am more than ready for this season to begin, and have to share my thoughts on my first look at my NEW favorite team.  Sorry Minnesota, but I’m KG first, Timberwolves second.  Without further procrastination, here are my thoughts on the London game, from a C’s perspective...

T-Wolves -vs- Celtics (10.10.07)

I didn't know if I was going to recap this game tonight or not... however, after watching the game with Bonk, I couldn't help myself but bring back the "Musings of a Wolves Fan..." series by Yours Truly.  This presentation is brought to you by DVR and my computer, god bless technology.

I'm not gonna lie, we didn't look very good.  With that said, it's only our second pre-season game.  It's in London.  We are playing the paper champion Boston Celtics.  I didn't expect us to dominate.  Being that this was our second game, with a team composed of a plethora of new players, I'm not going to delve too deep into what we did wrong or focus solely on the negatives.  We've still got more than half a month of training camp to work out the kinks, establish a set rotation and pecking order, cut some guys, make trades, find a new coach, etc. (Yes, I am aware this team has a long ways to go.)  Am I confident in our Front Office and Coach Wittman's ability to ready this cluster**** of a roster into a cohesive unit come November 2nd?  I'm not sure yet. I'll have to get back to you on that.  We'll keep this "Musings" on the lighter side, there's still an entire season left for spewing negativity.  Don't get me wrong, I like most of our roster and I think we've got great potential... I just hope that our Front Office, coaching staff, and the players can eventually put it all together at some point.

Click "Read More..." for thoughts and analysis.

Through meticulous research, he has compiled a plethora of empiricial data and statistics based upon NBA All-Star caliber players involved in trades within the past 15 years.  He then devised, tweaked, and rigorously tested a complex Regression Analysis Equation.  In the following article, the Regression Analysis Equations will attempt to formulate a given team’s win-loss totals for the upcoming season, following the trade of an All-Star caliber NBA player.  In this situation, the "given teams" happen to be our very own 2007-08 Minnesota Timberwolves and Boston Celtics.  How many wins does WhiskeyDizzy predict for both the Wolves and the Celtics this upcoming season?  I think you will enjoy both the results and his in-depth analysis.

Read on for his article in it's entirety.  I guarantee you will find it to be well done and quite fascinating.  If mathetical analysis isn't your cup of tea, at the very least it is well-written and exceedingly interesting.

- College Wolf

Quick notes as we get ready for Wednesday's Wolves/Celtics game...

*As I figured, Juwan Howard is willing to stay with the Wolves, despite his desire to play for a winning team.  I almost never feel sorry for professional athletes, but I've gotta admit...I can definitely see why Juwan wants out.  His career is coming to an end, and he just wants to win a few ballgames.  Can you blame him?

With that in mind, I've gotta give him some credit...he's displayed total professionalism over these past few weeks, by stating that he'd be cool with becoming a mentor to the younger players on this squad.  He's handled this situation very well, and it's apparent that Wittman doesn't need to worry about Howard being a problem in the locker room (if Juwan does indeed remain with the team).

*Doogie says that Sebastian Telfair has been a pleasant surprise in training camp...and frankly, I wasn't expecting to hear the phrase "pleasant surprise" used in a description of Telfair.  Who knows, maybe this change of scenery is helping Sebastian to finally get his act together.

The Wolves could certainly use the help at point guard.  I've heard Freddie Hoiberg say that he'd like to see Foye get decent minutes at shooting guard...unless Telfair can contribute, though, Foye will need to play almost exclusively at point guard.  So for Foye's sake, let's just hope Sebastian can prove to us that he deserves to be on this team.

*Finally today, a quote from KG: "In 13 years, this is the best camp I've been involved with by far...I've never experienced a lot of things that have been going on. But you can definitely tell a difference in the organizations. It's revived me, I will say that. I'm having a lot of fun."

KG, KG...I love ya, but it's time to move on.  Believe me, us Wolves fans are perfectly aware that this organization is run by a bunch of clowns...you don't need to tell us that.  You're not making any new revelations.  It's over, done with.  Sorry, but there's absolutely no reason for you to publicly rip the Wolves, two months after the trade.

A few observations from today's game:

*It was easy to see that this group hasn't played together much.  The half-court offense looked rough...the ball movement could have been better, and the Wolves forced too many shots (they ended up shooting 33% from the field).

*The transition defense also needs work.  Efes Pilsen got too many easy baskets on the fast break.

*On the plus side, the Wolves were solid on the boards.  They outrebounded Efes Pilsen 68-47, with Gomes and Big Al combining to grab 30 of those boards.  Gomes, especially, looked great on the offensive glass...hopefully, his six offensive rebounds are a sign of things to come. 

Last year, I thought one of the Wolves' major weaknesses was their lack of second-chance opportunities, so Gomes' performance in today's game is pretty promising.

*I can definitely see why Gerald Green is described as being extremely athletic, but having a low basketball IQ.  He made a few impressive plays in transition, while also making plenty of boneheaded decisions.  I mean, he took 15 shots in his 14 minutes of playing time.  Holy crap! 

*Foye had a rough game.  Both of his baskets came from beyond the arc...he didn't have many opportunities to penetrate and create his own shot.  He also only had three assists.  As the team plays more games together and the chemistry grows, though, Foye's effectiveness will increase exponentially.

Pregame:

*The game will be broadcast on NBA.com at 1:00 pm CST (sorry for the confusion about the start time of the game, the NBA press release was inaccurate)...should be a fun one.

*The crowd's giving a nice ovation for our guys...Turkish people = classy.  Or just excited that an NBA team is actually playing in their country.

First quarter:

*Uh...this is awkward.  NBA.com is showing the feed of the Celtics game instead of the Wolves game, for some reason.  The Wolves are trailing 10-7, with Foye, Gomes, and Ricky Buckets putting up points, thus far.

*Click here to see live stats from the game.

*Well, as long as they're showing the Celtics, let's make this a live blog of Garnett's debut with his new squad.

Toronto Raptors vs. Boston Celtics

Pregame:

*Man...seeing Garnett at the Celtics press conference is one thing, but actually seeing him in a Celtics uniform is even stranger.  We miss ya, KG!

*The Wolves, meanwhile, trail 21-18.  Foye leads the team with six points, with Gomes and Blount adding four each, and Big Al on the board with a basket.  Al, by the way, aleady has six rebounds, as the first quarter winds down.

More after the jump...

Hey everyone...join me tomorrow at 2:00 pm (Timberwolves.com says the game is at 1:00, but I'm fairly sure that's incorrect), as I live blog the Wolves' opening preseason game against Efes Pilsen.  You can watch the game on NBA.com, and discuss it right here at T'Wolves Blog.

Inspired by Stephen Colbert, I present to you my premiere edition of "Tips of the Hat, Wags of the Finger" for the 2007-08 season.

A wag of the finger to Greg Buckner, who is reportedly upset about getting traded to Minnesota.  Greg...I realize that it's a bummer to get dealt from a contender to a rebuilding team, but it simply isn't acceptable for you to disturb the team chemistry.  Get over it, and step into your role as a veteran mentor to the youngsters.  It'll be okay.  I promise.

A wag of the finger to Rashad McCants, who failed to say anything interesting in his media day interview.  C'mon Rashad...I was expecting you to compare yourself to a library book, or something...not say boring stuff, like "We now have the chance to showcase."  Seriously, you're getting a little rusty with your quotes!

A tip of the hat to Ricky Davis.  I'll admit it...I've always considered Ricky to be a big punk.  No, I never quite got over the infamous game where he "rebounded" a ball he threw off the backboard to complete a triple-double.  But as it turns out, Ricky's actually a good guy...he's organizing a dinner for workers who helped save lives after the 35-W bridge collapsed.  Good for him...I'll have to reconsider my attitude towards him.

A wag of the finger to Marc Stein.  In his latest power rankings, Stein ranked the Wolves dead last in the NBA...that's simply too harsh.  I'm not suggesting the Wolves are going to have a particularly good year, but this team is going to be a bit better than people in the mainstream media are suggesting.  If our guys can mesh quickly, I have a feeling that the Wolves will move up a few spots in Stein's rankings.

A tip of the hat to Juwan Howard.  While Juwan recently reiterated his desire to get traded, it definitely looks as if he'll accept a role of mentor on this young team.  Juwan's been extremely classy throughout his time in Minnesota, and that's something I appreciate from him, especially given his disappointment over the Garnett deal.  We love ya, Juwan...you'll be a valued presence in Minnesota.

A tip of the hat to Marko Jaric.  No, I can't believe I'm saying this either, but I've gotta give credit to Jaric for showing some enthusiasm during the opening day of training camp.  Now, if only he could show some positivity on a more consistent basis, I might not despise him as much as I do.

Finally, a tip of the hat to me (a little cocky, I know).  Join me right here at T'Wolves Blog this Saturday at 2:00 pm, as I live-blog the Wolves' preseason opener.  While they're playing some mysterious European team I've never heard of, it should still be a fun game to watch and discuss.