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TWolves Blog - Minnesota Timberwolves News and Articles
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Written by SG
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Sunday, 02 March 2008 00:09 |
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Wolves veteran Antoine Walker's agent said Saturday evening there
will be no buyout agreement reached by tonight. Walker had to be bought
out by tonight to be eligible to make another team's playoff roster.
But, as expected, there will be no deal, so Walker apparently will
remain with the Wolves for the rest of this season.
Walker has been inactive for the team's past five games. Walker said he
and Wittman agreed he would not be in uniform for games if he wasn't
going to play or play little or sporadically while Wittman evaluates
the team's younger players.
"He hasn't given me any reason to so far, and until he does, I'll
answer the same way every time," Wittman said when asked Saturday for
the second consecutive day if he worries about Walker's influence when
he would rather be elsewhere. "The passport, him being sick, that was
nothing about being ticked off about a buyout or trying to get one. If
it ever becomes that, I'll tell you that."
McHale and Wittman insisted that Walker's absence at
practice Saturday because of an illness was legitimate, not a
disgruntled veteran blowing off work. Walker visited a team doctor
Saturday, Wittman said.
Now it remains to be seen what will happen the rest
of this season. McHale said he's not worried that Walker will cause any
distractions the rest of the season.
"No," McHale said. "He's been fine."
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Written by SG
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Saturday, 01 March 2008 23:24 |
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Even if we all know Ratliff wasn't part of the future here, isn't that
kind of pivot man something this franchise should be manuevering
towards? Shouldn't we get Jefferson and Gomes ingrained in those habits
now, in their formative stages? Do we really need Jefferson playing 69%
of the center minutes for this ballclub and just 5% of the power
forward's minutes? (According to the 82games.com web data.) And do we
really need the Wolves' 8 most popular 5-man lineups to feature
Jefferson as the center--especially when the most popular 5-man lineup
that doesn't feature Jefferson as a cetner puts Mark Madsen in the
pivot instead?
Wittman said veteran guard Marko Jaric played just
six minutes Friday because of an injury. Jaric banged a knee during the
Toronto game and it hampered him against Cleveland. Jaric is
questionable for today's game after participating in most of Saturday's
practice. "He said he's still pretty sore," Wittman said.
Previews of today's game against the Sonics:
Click here for the forum's game thread
Wolves boss Kevin McHale said he and owner Glen Taylor debated the
"pros and cons" of paying off Ratliff and ultimately decided to do so
to save money, help Ratliff and theoretically clear more playing time
for little-used rookie Chris Richard and role player Craig Smith.
Ratliff played 12 to 14 minutes a game in each of his first four games
back from a knee injury because McHale and Wittman wanted to see how a
true shot-blocker played with natural power forward Al Jefferson. It
was a plan scrapped by pragmatics.
"He's a good dude," Ford said. "He calls. We always just talk friendly.
We never talk about the incident, ever. ... He's a genuine, caring
person."
Look for Target Center to seek legislative approval to improve concession areas at a cost of more than $1 million.
The Wolves keeping on buying out players such as Theo Ratliff, who could have helped make Al Jefferson a more effective player.
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Written by Derek Hanson
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Saturday, 01 March 2008 21:50 |
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I've just launched a new Minnesota Twins site with Alex Halsted, one of my esteemed competitors in the Battle of the Bloggers. It's by far one of the most advanced sports blogs on the internet - even more than goold old TWolves Blog. (Don't worry, updates are coming!) In addition to the traditional blog format, we've put together a great forum, as well as a MySpace/Facebook-ish area for our members called "The Clubhouse". Alex has also done a phenomenal job of crunching stats and putting together pages for every player in the Twins organization from the Majors all the way down to the smallest of the Minor Leagues. I'm not a baseball fanatic, so I'll admit I didn't even know you could go lower than Single A. Well, you can, and Alex even has stats for all of them. It's really a goldmine if you're a Twins junkie.
Again the URL is www.twins-territory.com (Don't forget the hyphen!) Please check it out if you're a Twins fan - you won't be disappointed!
This brings me to the last thing I'd like to mention. I'm a web-design fanatic. I probably love making web pages more than I actually enjoy maintaining them. If you're a dedicated sports blogger who would like to upgrade your site to something along the lines of TWolves Blog or Twins Territory, feel free to drop me a line at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
, and perhaps we could work something out. I'd really love to get hooked up with a Vikings fan to complete the Minnesota Tri-fecta, or perhaps somebody who shares my passion for the Patriots or Orioles. But even if you're a dirty Denver Nuggets supporter, I'd be more than willing to hear you out... Maybe.
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Written by SG
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Saturday, 01 March 2008 18:13 |
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Antoine Walker called in sick for practice and visited the team doctor
on Saturday, the fourth consecutive day he has been absent for either a
practice or game. For Wednesday’s game at Toronto, it was a lost
passport.
There's reason to speculate he might be sick of something else, too. Walker wants a buyout of his contract completed before tonight's deadline that would make him eligible to catch on with a team bound for the playoffs. But at this point it's unlikely that a buyout will be reached.
Also from Alonzo:
McHale said he believed Walker's illness to be legitimate. "If a guy says he's sick, he's sick," McHale said.
Walker saw a team doctor this morning, Wittman said. “He was throwing up last night,” Wittman said.
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Written by College Wolf
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Saturday, 01 March 2008 00:05 |
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T-Wolves -vs- Cleveland Cavaliers (2.29.08)
BOXSCORE:
http://www.nba.com/games/20080229/MINCLE/boxscore.html
FORUM THREAD (Click Me)
POSTGAME PODCAST:
http://www.TimberwolvesToday.com
It was a close game for the most part, but the Wolves just ran out of gas in the end. Well, either that or some guy by the name of LeBron James took over. Truth be told, it was a combination of both. The Wolves trailed by as much as 15 points in the fourth quarter, but the first three were actually much closer on the scoreboard. In fact, with a tad under five minutes to go in the game, the Wolves were only trailing 79-75. Of course LeBron was always in control, never willing to let this game slip away to a sorry squad they haven’t lost to in quite some time. ‘Bron is only amazingly 23 years old, but plays with the maturity of a 10 year vet. I was wondering if he was even going to play at all, seeing that he was a “game-time decision” after he sprained his ankle in Wednesday’s loss to the Celtics. He showed no ill effects, just barely missing his 7th triple double of the season with 30 points, 13 dimes, and 8 boards. How’s that for returning from injury?
The Wolves couldn’t buy a bucket to save their lives, missing 53 shots while shooting 39% from the field. There was a particularly brutal stretch in the second quarter when it took the Wolves nearly five full minutes to score 4 points. The missed shots, free-throw attempts discrepancy, and inability to contain LeBron James were the hits that sunk the Wolvies battleship tonight.
(Click "Read More..." for thoughts and analysis.)
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Read more...
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Written by SG
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Friday, 29 February 2008 23:46 |
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Antoine Walker also is seeking a buyout agreement by
tonight's deadline and a chance at a fresh start. But considering the
Wolves already made an offer that was rejected, don't count on Walker
getting his wish.
McHale said there haven't been further negotiations.
"There was an offer made to Antoine, and they said
they weren't comfortable with that, and that's kind of where it is,"
McHale said.
The move saves the Wolves money, grants Ratliff's request and
theoretically creates more playing time for rookie Chris Richard and
Craig Smith. Ratliff is expected to sign with title contender Detroit
when he clears waivers. All of Ratliff's big salary slot still comes
off the Wolves' books this summer.
My thoughts are when I look back at when we first started this team and
Kevin and I and some others put together a plan and for eight years we
went with that plan and we got better and better each year. We got in
the playoffs five years. We did everything we said we would and then we
had a couple really bad years that did not meet my expectation, nor
Kevin's expectations, and we get criticized for that. But when I look
at Kevin McHale, I look at all the good things he does and how he was
helped young players, how he's willing to do things to help this team
and he'll be out on the floor if that's what it takes. I just think
he's a very good
influence on this team. But on the other hand I would say we've changed
some things. We have added staff around Kevin to give him more
scouting, more people to help in that area. Probably Kevin didn't ask
for it before and maybe that's my fault. I probably should have given
him some more help to do that job better. We've been doing that this
year. We have a lot more scouting. We're over in Europe more. We're out
watching all kinds of college games. That makes Kevin's job easier
because he has more information.
The Target Center roof may soon be growing green.
The Minneapolis City Council Friday authorized taking bids for three
differing configurations of vegetation atop the city-owned arena.
At 115,000 square feet, the arena would have the second-largest green
roof in the state, according to the Minnesota Green Roofs Council.
The Minnesota Timberwolves, KSTC.TV Channel 45, FSN North and Charter
Communications today announced that they have partnered together to
broadcast Timberwolves games aired on KSTC.TV Channel 45, in the
Mankato, Minn. market.
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Written by SG
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Friday, 29 February 2008 23:33 |
LeBron
James had 30 points and 13 assists to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a
92-84 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
James was a game-time decision after spraining his right ankle in
Wednesday night's loss to Boston.
Also from the recap:
The Timberwolves have lost nine of 11 and are 2-25 on the road.
Wolves record: 12-45
Timberwolves center Al Jefferson lit up the Cavs' interior defense in
the first half, scoring 18 points with seven rebounds. But the Cavs
used better help defense in the second half, and he was held to four
points and three rebounds.
The Wolves certainly are going young. Except for
Marko Jaric, 29, who played six minutes, every Wolf who hit the court
against Cleveland was born in the 1980s.
"Real young," coach Randy Wittman said. "That's who we are right now."
Despite that youth and inexperience, they played
well enough defensively to keep the game close until the last five
minutes, when the Wolves made too many mistakes, and Cleveland pulled
away.
This time, James led a team remade after last week's trading-deadline
deal sent away four players and brought back big Ben Wallace, Delonte
West, Joe Smith and Wally Szczerbiak in return. This time, James
provided 19 of his 30 points after halftime with an exhibition of
soaring dunks and baseline drives, on some of which Brewer tried to
obstruct around the big fellow's path to an easy basket and still got
brushed simply aside.
The Timberwolves had 16 offensive rebounds in the first half. They had four in the second.
Minnesota, a team with only 12 wins, trailed, 79-75, with 4:44 left.
The inside defense of Ilgauskas and Wallace got tougher, but the Cavs'
offense, led by James, also picked up.
From Jerry Zgoda/Star Tribune:
4 Minutes played by Wolves rookie Chris Richard, the intended
beneficiary for playing time after the team waived Theo Ratliff on
Friday.
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Written by SG
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Friday, 29 February 2008 12:48 |
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"Theo indicated to us that he wasn't sure of his plans in the future -
whether he was going to play or not - and there was an indication that
he would not re-sign with us if he did choose to continue playing,"
said Timberwolves Vice President of Basketball Operations Kevin McHale.
"This provides us an opportunity to play our younger post players -
Craig Smith and Chris Richard - and give us more time to continue to
evaluate them. I cannot say enough about Theo's professionalism
throughout the entire season and we wish him the best of luck in the
future."
Wolves
VP of basketball operations Kevin McHale said the buyout discussions
for Theo Ratliff started a few weeks ago when Ratliff's agent
approached the Wolves about such a move. McHale said Ratliff and his
agent were professional in the way they handled it.
"There are some pros and cons, no question," McHale said. But in the end, "It was a win-win situation for everyone."
The positives:
A) The Wolves get to see more of their young guys, like Chris Richard and Craig Smith, on the basketball floor.
B) The Wolves save some money.
C) Ratliff has the chance to sign with a contender in order to make a playoff run.
The only negative noted by McHale was that the Wolves won't get to watch Ratliff play alongside Al Jefferson.
The Wolves opted not to trade Ratliff because they
had what they wanted: salary-cap flexibility. A $11.66 million slot is
infinitely more valuable to Minnesota than a (for instance) player with
a fat, multi-season contract. Rebuilding teams generally look to horde
salary-cap flexibility unless a perfect, young piece to the puzzle
falls into their lap. Last month, no available player fit that mold.
Ratliff and Wittman said good-bye to each other last night. Ratliff was not at shootaround this morning because he already had left town, according to Wittman.
Concerning why this move made sense now, Wittman said, "I think it was kind of indications being that this was it for him. If he did decide to try to play another year, it was going to have to be for a championship-caliber team."
“We put an offer out there and I wasn’t sure they’d accept it, but they did,” McHale said. “And here we are.”
The buyout made sense to McHale and the Wolves because Ratliff was
willing to give up a chunk of the $3.7 million still owed him and
because it was obvious that, if he does decide to try to play again
next season (a reasonably good-sized if) it won’t be in Minnesota. This
saves the team money, presumably allows them to give Chris Richard and
Craig Smith more playing time and makes Ratliff happy.
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Written by SG
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Friday, 29 February 2008 12:41 |
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In short, the Wolves made a buyout offer to Walker and his agent, and
"they said they weren't comfortable with that," said McHale of Walker's
negotiating party. McHale expects Walker to remain with the team for
the remainder of the season.
It was Madsen who collided with Ford during a game in February 2004
that caused the first – and most serious – injury to Ford's spinal
column. He ended up missing almost a season and a half after that
collision and had surgery to fuse two vertebrae.
Ford and Madsen didn't know each other before that incident but have become friends.
Previews of tonight's game at Cleveland:
The last time Gomes and the Wolves faced James, the Wolves accomplished
their objective, forcing James to beat them with the least accomplished
of all his skills, his outside shooting. James simply made six
three-pointers and scored 45 points in an 11-point victory at Target
Center.
"I don't know how you defend him," Gomes said. "We wanted to make him beat us from the outside, and he did."
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Written by SG
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Thursday, 28 February 2008 23:41 |
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The Detroit Pistons are poised to sign the shot-blocker for the stretch
run if he clears waivers within 48 hours, which is expected given that
a team taking him off waivers would have to pay $3.7 million. Ratliff
would be returning to his first team. The Pistons drafted him 18th
overall in 1995, and he played two seasons there.
Ratliff is in the last year of his contract and is
due to make $11.6 million this season. If the Wolves buy out that deal,
and it appears they will, he would be eligible to sign a new contract
with the Pistons and be on their playoff roster as long as the buyout
is completed by Saturday.
The Pistons expect to sign center Theo Ratliff for a prorated portion of the $1.3 million veteran's minimum after he clears waivers Saturday. He can then sign early next week.
It's almost sad to see Theo Ratliff, a Sixers All-Star in 2000-01, trying to hang in with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The power forward/center who developed as an outstanding weakside shot-blocker has fought his way through a series of back and knee surgeries.
"I'm still chasing the same thing everybody else is chasing, trying to
get on a winning team, on a championship team, possibly having a chance
to win," he said.
He has been effective, too, averaging 18.6 points
while shooting 50 percent in five games since the NBA all-star break.
But that doesn't mean he thinks his role as a reserve who provides
scoring punch is working out well.
"No," McCants said. "I'd rather be a starter, play
more minutes, get more production. But whatever Coach (Randy Wittman)
wants me to do, I'm going to do. The role he's giving me, I can accept
it regardless if I like it or not. I really do feel like I'd be more
effective in the starting lineup, playing 40-something minutes. But
that's not my role."
Preview of tonight's game at Cleveland:
Click here for the forum's game thread.
10,000 Takes wants you to vote for the best anagram from Ryan Gomes' name.
It should be easier to hear Timberwolves broadcasts in the southeast and southern metro beginning tonight when its games begin airing on KGBY (107.5 FM) as well as BOB 106. Both stations are owned by Dennis Carpenter.
KGBY, which also is known as La Mera Buena and carries several hours of
Spanish-speaking programming a day, had aired select Wolves games in
Spanish the past three years. This move means those broadcasts will
stop.
Instead, Alfonso Fernandez will host a half-hour pregame show in Spanish on KGBY that will begin an hour before tipoff.
The team is also trying to entice early buyers in a campaign called
"Let's Build It" that begins Saturday by offering significant discounts
on full season tickets. That includes a limited-time offer of a $25
per-game, per-seat charge for a spot in Target Center's lower bowl.
Seats in the upper deck, with a single-game value of $20, are being
offered for $9 per game through a season ticket.
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