Yeah, I sacrificed a Friday evening to preseason NBA basketball...here's some observations from the game:

*Good Lord, Rashad McCants was on fire (20 points, 8-8 from the field).  And what I liked about McCants, tonight, was that he played an extremely active role in the offense...he really did a stellar job of moving without the ball.

A nice sign, considering that Rashad tended to stand around waaaay too much during the KG era...when KG got the ball in the post, Rashad would often plant himself on the perimeter, and he'd barely move a muscle.  

Also in today's game, Rashad did a phenomenal job of penetrating and creating his own shot.  While Rashad's jumper will be on-target one night and off-target the next, he should always be utilizing his athleticism to attack defenses.  He may be a streaky shooter, but he can still make a consistent impact on offense. 

One more thing...Rashad was very opportunistic, with regards to pushing the tempo.  I like.

*Rough night for Gerald Green...the kid had five turnovers in only nine minutes.  He was noticeably frustrated with himself- on one occasion, he slammed his headband to the court when he took a seat on the bench. 

*One play that sticks out- Telfair almost had a clean block of a Yi Jianlian shot.  Telfair is a foot shorter than Yi, so it would've been the coolest thing ever if the refs had let the play go...but unfortunately, Telfair was called for the foul. 

Telfair had a solid game, by the way...he made great decisions when distributing the ball, and he was impressive on the fast break.  I'm very pleased with his play in camp and the preseason- the better Telfair performs, the fewer minutes Marko ("worst point guard ever") Jaric gets at point.

On another note, I hope Yi's been able to cope with the small Chinese population of Milwaukee.  Man, the struggles these professional athletes have to go through!

*How about a tip o' the hat to Theo Ratliff?  Who woulda thunk that he'd still have some gas left in the tank?  Nice evening for Theo- tonight, he looked very much like a serviceable center who will do just fine in the starting lineup.  Grabbed a few boards, made some easy baskets...in short, he did exactly what we need him to do this season.

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 third piece in this series was written by yours truly, C-Dub.  I'd like to present to you our high-flying, sweet-shooting, illmatic-dunking, third year shooting guard Gerald Green.

Gerald Green – “The Sky Is The Limit”

By: College Wolf

Gerald Green, Jr. was born January 26th, 1986 in Houston, Texas.  He did not play high school basketball until his sophomore year at J. Frank Dobie High School.  He made the varsity team his junior year, but was unfortunately cut from the team due to academic issues.  Gerald then transferred to an alternative school in Houston, Gulf Shores Academy, which began his ascent to stardom.  He averaged 33 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 blocks per game, and was named to the 2004 McDonald’s All-American team.  He won the McDonald’s All-American Slam Dunk Contest that year, defeating Josh McRoberts (who would go on to star at Duke University.)  This was a pre-cursor of things to come, as Gerald also won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest in 2007 during All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas.  He’s got the body (6’8”, 200 lbs) and the physical ability to succeed in the NBA, but can Green put it all together?

(Click "Read More" to continue...)

THIS IS 100% SPECULATION AND NOT A LOT OF SALARY CAP RESEARCH WAS INVOLVED. 

I was cruising the Wolves' sites and I noticed this trade speculation post from the Timberwolves Today blog.  It involved Eric Snow for Marko Jaric and it threw my mind into speculation mode.

If the Timberwolves don't sign Al Jefferson, the Cleveland Cavaliers would be the perfect place for him.  Does anyone know if the Cavs would have the cap room for this move next year?

Read this article from the Willoughby-News Herald in northeast Ohio about James' disappointment with management for not signing Sasha Pavlovic and Anderson Varejao.  The King is pissed that other teams in the east get better while his stood pat or even downgraded.

The Cavs have to keep the King sated.  Why not try to draw Al Jefferson to that team?  Can you imagine those two on a team for 6 or 7 years moving forward?  I'm not sure how a max deal would work for Jefferson with the Hughes and Ilgauskas contracts taking up a huge chunk, but I definitely see this being a possibility, and a very frightening one if the point of getting Jefferson is to build around him.

If you're Jefferson and an offer is made to go play with the King, why wouldn't you go?

At least he's restricted.

You have to wonder about the NBA sometimes.  When your team trades it's leading scorer and their serviceable starting center, who combined for 29.3 ppg last season, and all they get in return is an 8.5 ppg scorer with conditioning issues, two scrubs, and a conditional future first-rounder, you shouldn't be happy about that.  But when WFAN did their sports update on my way home from school and announced that Ricky Davis and Mark Blount had been traded to Miami for Antoine Walker, Michael Doleac, and Wayne Simien, I was ecstatic.  It really is a shame when most of a league's player movement revolves around swapping your team's syphilis for some other team's chlamydia, and the big selling point of the deal is how fast you can get rid of the players you just traded for.  Yet that's the state of the current NBA with it's nonsensical salary cap and luxury tax.  Oh well, at least at the end of the day I feel my team came out ahead in the deal.  No amount of Valtrex in the world is going to cure Miami of the Mark Blount Herpes for the next three years.

With that being said, here are some things I like about the trade:

1. No more Blount! "Cancer" does not begin to describe Mark Blount.  As I mentioned above, painful genital ulcerations is more like it.  I was certain we were stuck with him for the next three seasons, and now we're free.  This must've been like what Elizabeth Hasselbeck felt like when Rosie quit The View. 

2. As a Wolves fan, any time the words "Kevin McHale" and "trade" are used in the same sentence, and you actually gain a draft pick, you should be doing backflips.  Unbelievably, this deal now marks two consecutive transactions in which this has happened.  I feel like I'm living in bizarro world. 

By the way, you may now mock me for using a "View" analogy on TWolvesBlog.  Seriously, that had to be a new low point for me. 

3. We got to spread out our expring deals. The Wolves had Theo's 11.6 million and Ricky's 6.8 million set to expire at the end of this season.  Seeing that losing all that salary still wouldn't have put Minnesota under the cap, it's good that we won't be taking over 18 million off the books this year.  We'd never use all that salary space as leverage in a trade deadline deal this season.  It's simply too much money.  We'll be much better off losing Theo's 11.6 and then another four from the Doleac/SimienWilkins combo this season, while being left with Walker's 8.3 and Howard's 6.8 to play with next year.  This trade effectively gives the Wolves two seasons in which they can be major players at the deadline.  Having that much money tied up in expiring deals could put them in the position to make the next blockbuster trade, much like the Iverson and KG deals. 

4. Wolves fans now get to witness Antione Walker and Gerald Green go head-to-head in an all-out war to see who can chuck up the most ill-advised shots.  As there may not be very many close games in the 4th quarter this season, at least fans will have a reason to stick around and watch this incredible sub-plot play out.  I can only imagine how many times this season a highly-contested three by Green will be followed up by an "Antoine Special" from the bullseye in the Target Center logo.

5. You just have to appreciate the dark humor of the Wolves, already one man over the limit, completing a 2-for-3 trade, days before the deadline to trim rosters.

I want to get a couple things out of the way before getting to a brand new topic that I've never discussed here or anywhere.  I'll give you a preview: it has something to do with point guards, this team not having any, and me lying in the second part of the preceding sentence.

First off, I dragged myself to the Timberwolves/Indiana game.  Per usual, I will be the last to report this news: they lost.  However, I finally get to base my reactions to the game on my eyeballs rather than a box score.  I'm going to keep this brief:

- The past two preseason games, Jefferson had put up 18 points/12 rebounds, then 21 points/13 ball boards.  On my other blog before coming here, I stated that these are numbers at or around what I want to see out of him consistently.  However, last night he put up 27/17 and played an all-around outstanding game and that deserves recognition.

- I thought the Wolves looked good in the first half.  A lot of missed shots, but they were smart, open-look attempts at least.  Things got a little sloppy in the second half with less movement and shot-clock panic heaves.

- The effort on the boards, especially offensive boards, is going to be exponentially better this season than the last two.

- It's still tough to give an opinion on the team because of the injuries. 

Notwithstanding my stance that there are no point guards on this team, two of the three players that either (a) claim that they are point guards, or (b) the organization tells us are point guards, did not play due to injuries.

There's my game wrap.

Now, back to it.  You know where I'm going: it's that place to complain about point guards, it's after the jump, and you need to come with me.  Please click "Read More".

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 second piece in this series was written by a Wolves fan relocated to Austin, Texas: forum poster, Whiskey Dizzy.  In it, he gives us an informational look at our newest second round draft pick... the two-time NCAA Champion center Chris Richard.

Chris Richard - "A Committment To Winning"

Chris Richard was born on Christmas Day, December 25th, 1984 in Lakeland, Florida.  Richard attended Kathleen High School in Lakeland, where he played varsity for four years averaging 24 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and seven blocked shots per game. He won the state championship in 2001 during his sophomore campaign but failed to play for the title his junior or senior seasons.  During his senior year, Richard was named the Gatorade High School Player of the Year and won the Mr. Basketball award for the state of Florida. Richard committed to play for Billy Donovan at the University of Florida the summer before his senior year, choosing the Gators over offers from Alabama, Auburn and Miami.

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 first piece in this series was written by a Wolves fan all the way over in Germany, forum poster, Sanyarin.  In it, he gives us a very detailed and thought-provoking look at one of the more enigmatic players on the Wolves roster, Sebastian Telfair.

A Personal Game Seven - Sebastian Telfair 
 

WINNING IN THE NBA: A HOW TO GUIDE

Part 1 of Many

Having Players Play Positions (yes, that sounds dumb)

**Disclaimer - I am not Denny Green.**

This is the first of what I hope to be several posts here at the Twolves Blog.  If you are not familiar with my short body of work at "The Old Timberwolves Logo" blog, let me preface this post by stating that I am a die hard fan of this team.  I use the term "die hard" in sense that I will not lose interest in the Wolves, but I also take a very realistic view on this team's chances.  In 2003-2004, I was optimistic, but satisfied in the product and effort.  2005-2007, I ranted and complained, because they not only lost, but they looked bad doing it and they failed to entertain.  I also have invested a financial stake in season tickets, so I really reserve the right to complain.  I will not rant much about this team's records, but some common themes you will notice in my writings: lack of point guards, lack of making jump shots, poor shot selection, poor scheming and a certain "center" in general.  Please email me at your convenience if you want my opinion on anything or if you just want to tell me I suck, whatever.

The main body of this article shoud appear after the jump, but I already screwed it up once as I learn the system and I'm sure it will happen again.  This means please click the "Read More" to the right, I'm about as technologically advanced as Brooks in Shawshank.

As Sonia mentioned earlier today, the Wolves introduced a "See What They Can Do" Tour, which will lead up to the home opener on November 2.  Kudos to the Wolves for holding events at area elementary schools, the Waite House, and a brand new learning and rec center.

Many of the non-charity events focus on impressing the VIPs...corporate sponsors, rich season ticket holders (Jimmy Jam, Superfan), and people who are members of the various exclusive clubs at Target Center.

That's fine...I completely understand the need to secure the support of people who can provide the organization with some serious cash.

So, the Wolves seem to be doing a solid job of reaching out to the community and their crowd of rich dudes.  But they forgot a significant group.

The real fans.

Whelp, for the rest of the preseason, we're going to have to rely on the radio/newspaper/box scores to evaluate the Pups...so here's some general observations from the box score of Tuesday's Atlanta game.

*Foye was a DNP, so Marko got the start at point guard...and he responded by shooting 0-5 from the field and picking up 2 assists in his 33 minutes of playing time.  Marko was absolutely clueless at point in Casey's first season, and two years later, it doesn't seem as if he's made any great strides at that position.  I can't say I'm surprised. 

I'm hoping like crazy that Telfair pans out, so Jaric won't be getting 10-15 minutes per game at point guard.  There are few things in Minnesota sports that drive me as crazy as watching Marko run the point...so for the love of God, Sebastian, have a good freakin' season. I don't know if my psyche can handle another year of Jaric at point.

*Green's been playing with more self-control since the Efes Pilsen game, in which he had 15 shots in 14 minutes- he put up 12 shots in 27 minutes against Atlanta.  He shot 1-5 from beyond the arc...I know that Green can shoot the three, but that stat suggests he may have jacked up a few threes while being guarded pretty tightly. 

It scares me that Wittman is coaching Green during this critical point in Gerald's development.  Green could be a phenomenal player if he had a no-nonsense coach who's a great TEACHER...unfortunately, I don't think Wittman has either of those qualities.

*Big Al dominated the boards, grabbing 15 rebounds (6 of them offensive).  While it's unreasonable to expect Jefferson to attain the rebounding prowess of KG on the defensive end, he'll be able to provide the Wolves with some much-needed improvement on the offensive boards (in my opinion, a lack of second-chance points was one of the major issues with this team, last season).

*Rashad's three-pointer wasn't falling, but he did reach the free throw line several times, going 6-7 from the charity stripe.  Rashad's issue is no secret: He's extremely streaky (speaking of which, the streaker at a recent high school football game I attended at least had the decency to wear skin-colored underwear. It was hilarious- they had this vehicle that chased the streaker around the field, eventually cornering him in the endzone).

ANYWAY, on any given night, Rashad seems to either be unstoppable or inept.  Not much of a middle-ground with him.  On the days when his shot isn't falling, it's crucial for Rashad to get some easy looks...the best way for a streaky shooter to get on track is to knock down a few 10-15-footers.