pants wrote:


Celtics: KG
Spurs: TD
Lakers: Kobe
Detroit: Sheed (3-4 yrs ago)
Cavs: Bron
Heat: Shaq/Wade
Bulls: Jordan
Rockets: The Dream


Anyone get where The Daddy's going? Sure Al is a good player who helps you get wins. Is the future about getting some wins or about building a contender? EVERY championship team has an anchor for much more than simply scoring. These anchors have inspired their teams to be better at the fundamentals of the game. They’ve inspired their teams to play more defense and to be accountable for themselves.

Al does none of those. His fundamentals on offense and on rebounding are great. His fundamentals on defense and his intensity on defense are subpar (for an “anchor”). I rarely see the signs of encouragement a leader in any industry/sport shows their teammates – but then again, we don’t know what goes on behind closed doors. None of us have any idea of whether or not he holds himself accountable or blames others when things go poorly. All signs point to the latter though. If we don’t see those two traits, however, it’s likely he doesn’t stand out in those areas. Our media love to proclaim leaders the new prophets of the free world, ie. KG. We know KG in and out because the media relayed his amazing knowledge of the game and his leadership. They also relayed his shortcomings frequently and are doing so again in Boston. I hate to turn this into a KG/AL comparison, it’s not meant to be that. However, KG’s the best example for us all as we’ve had so few good leaders in sports in this pathetic city…

I’m rooting for Al, I think he’s a good guy. I don’t think he’s a franchise player, nor is he a superstar. He’s Zach Randolph with more inside game and less drama.

daddyfatsax wrote:

No, Al is Zach Randolph on a diet and with more pump fakes.

But seriously, I agree with you whole-heartedly. Al does bring the scoring, and I'm not that hard-headed, he is the reason why we've won some/most of our games. However, it's pretty apparent how "clutch" he has been lately. He isn't the guy I would accredit for our recent 5 game win streak. Players defending him are learning to just crowd the lane and stop him from getting the ball to the glass. Once he spins baseline/middle of the lane, the opposing team have just been ripping away at him since he brings the ball down so low.

Anyway, my point is that Al can be a very effective offensive player (IE: Randolph), but he has miles to go in terms of leadership and defense. I'm not proclaiming that Foye brings all this... to tell you the truth, I don't think anyone on our team has this right now. But Al definitely doesn't bring it in those aspects, and until he gets with the program or someone else emerges, he's going to have to take a backseat in terms of being labeled a "franchise player."

I'm sure I read Shaq was sitting this one out as it is the back end of back to back (and the Suns went to OT last night as well).

I think J-Rich might be our downfall tonight.

Wolves 93 - Suns 105

Al isnt the franchise player either he didnt take the max contract which means that contract goes to the franchise player.

oddio oddio! daje
incredible, on the roead against phoenix. something is really changing

Whoa!!!! WE WON!!!

Love to Carney is da bomb. When we made the trade for Carney I was hoping to see some of Love's long bombs to Carney but it never happen untill now and now that it's happening, it's pretty exciting to watch.

I can't believe this is the same team at the beginning of the season.

Suns couldn't contain Carney.
Shaq couldn't handle the Love.
Amare couldn't hold down the Rhino.
Al was Al, Fourth Quarter Foye finally woke up in the fourth quarter. What a fun game.

Wow... what a game. I can't believe we won! Rather than type thoughts and whatnot here, you can just check out my "Mini Musings of a Wolves Fan/Bullet Point" game recap. It's on the front page of TWB, or here:


www.twolvesblog.com/200901171817/minneso...enix-suns-11609.html

What a game. I'm not gonna get into it too much, but I'm sooo glad I watched the 4th quarter. Was debating if it was worth it or not.

-Foye, despite shooting a pretty bad overall %, wasn't as consistent as I was hoping him to be. I'm still going to ride his bandwagon and say he was crucial to our win, but (Here it goes...) he did take quite the poor shot selection near the end of the game. The crazy fadeaway J at the end of the shot clock that he sunk was sick, no doubt, but was a pretty bad shot. Oh well, all's well that ends well.

-Love was most definitely the MBP (Yes, I used it. The Most Ballanous Playa) tonight. He couldn't guard Shaq, but gimme a break, no one else came close either. There's only a handful of guys in the NBA that can guard that kind of play (D12... um.....). Unfortunately, Shaq can't bring that night in night out due to his age, but he's definitely proving haters (Like me) that he still has some juice left, and his FT's... wtf???

But like I was saying, Love grabbed so many crucial boards and nailed most of his FT's for once. Did anyone see that offensive showcase he put on in the 1st half? Where did that come from... jeez. PS: Who was the guy that said Matt Barnes was one of his favorite players?? That "frustration foul" to Love's face was pretty cool. Yeah, that's the kind of shit I was talking about in my rant about him.

-Carney, no words to describe how valuable he was. Since when did he hit clutch 3's?? Memphis would like to know. Guy's an athletic freak... so glad he's showing up night-in night-out now.

-We're so lucky J-Rich, Grant Hill, and Steve Nash all took a vacation tonight.

YoLeo wrote:



That's at least partly true, but we did beat a team above .500. That's what everyone (like myself) has been holding against them over their past 15ish games.

As for Barnes, I agree with you. I've never really liked or hate him, but that foul last night was ridiculous. It was purely a frustration foul and he went over the line.

P.S. Bonk (aka The Barnes Guy) is on vacation, or I'm sure he'd say something about it.

The fact that the stats weren't in their favor make the win look pretty good. The Suns really have changed; Carney made more 3s than their whole team did last night. That might've been what swung the game in their favor, along with the frontcourt's ability to play Shaq and Amar'e to a draw in the scoring department.

After the Suns-Nuggets game the night before, the Inside the NBA crew had a fairly long discussion questioning the Suns' decision to play Shaq against the Wolves and sit him against the Nuggets. Over and over, C-Webb and Kenny Smith said some variation of "The Suns can beat Minnesota without Shaq, so he should've played tonight." They had a point, but it was still cool to win a game that surprises the "experts."

pagingstanleyroberts wrote:

Wow, interesting tidbit. I didn't even notice that stat... good catch! Howl.

pagingstanleyroberts wrote:

Hahaha, for serious. Another theory is that maybe the Suns were expecting a tough, long and drawn-out game against the Nuggets (Like the game going into OT), so the Suns figured that wouldn't be the scenario where Shaq is the most effective. An 53 minute game against a frontcourt of big-boy Nene, a drugged up Birdman, and the big, probably drugged up, [overly] physical K-Mart?

Probably better to give Shaq that game off.

Also, like the announcers were saying for this last game, the Suns are about to go on some crazy 7 game road trip, so they probably figured the Suns could steamroll the Wolves in 1 half in yesterday's game so Shaq could get maximum rest. The Suns apparently made it back to Phoenix at 4:00am the morning of the game or something, not really ideal before a long road trip.

But yeah, like you said, it's a great feeling to prove all the experts wrong. Whew, still on a high from the finish of yesterday's game!

Wow... what a game!

When we went down by 11 in the 3rd I was resigning myself to our typical fate, but I was just amazed at how these guys fought back and won. Carney's amazing determination to grab that loose ball in the 3rd seemed to give our team a lot of energy. Al played pretty well which is always good, Carney was amazing and a lot of fun to watch (I hope we re-sign him) and Love and Foye played very good games. This was an excellent game for Love offensively, probably the best I've seen him play.

I feel bad for /mad at Mike Miller. I KNOW he can shoot better than he has, something is wrong with him right now. Every time we played Memphis he torched us, I was hoping to get that on our team but right now he is playing horribly. If he was on his A or even B- game we would have an excellent shooter on our hands!

Carney is far, far better than McCants!