15. MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES
Preseason prediction: 17 wins (15th)
Revised prediction: 14 wins

I wrote it last summer, and I'll write it again: Other than KG, the only other pieces worth a damn in that Boston-Minny trade were Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes (a mortal lock for free agency) and the rights to Minny's future No. 1 from the Szczerbiak/Davis trade. That was the best offer for one of the 30 greatest players ever? Tuesday's Boston Globe reported that Kevin McHale turned down Golden's State's draft-day offer of Al Harrington, Monta Ellis, Andris Biedrins and the No. 18 pick, a better haul than Boston's offer. Could the Wolves have gotten Amare Stoudemire if the Suns threw in Raja Bell and Marcus Banks for cap purposes? Could they have gotten Elton Brand AND Chris Kaman from the Clippers? Could they have gotten Ben Wallace, Luol Deng and the No. 9 pick from Chicago? What about Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom, Kwame Brown's expiring contract and the No. 19 pick from the Lakers?

Believe me, I'm not arguing with how it turned out. But what happened with the KG Sweepstakes -- McHale giving a discount deal to one of his best friends and helping his old team -- was a complete betrayal of every Minnesota fan who loved KG and supported that team. How could they support the franchise after that? Shouldn't they be organizing boycotts of the games? Check out these four e-mails I received after writing about KG's impact on the Celtics and tell me that ( A ) this wasn't one of the cruelest trades ever inflicted on a fan base, and ( B ) the owner shouldn't sell the franchise and give those die-hard Minnesota fans a fresh start. All 790 of them.

Reason No. 12,804 why I love the NBA: Antoine Walker getting traded from a potential playoff team in sunny Miami to a potential 15-win team in freezing Minneapolis. Ouch. That might be the only sports trade with a chance to crack the \"Levels of Losing\" scale. The good news for Antoine was he had already packed on his extra winter weight.

Reason No. 12,805 why I love the NBA: My ongoing quest to get ESPN.com to change Theo Ratliff's player card so it reads \"Theo Ratliff's Expiring Contract\" instead of \"Theo Ratliff.\" Don't count me out. I might have the juice to pull this off.

No kidding. The way we're playing right now, it could easily be 1-19. I'm guessing 2-18, though. Every single one of those home games is tough. Atlanta is decent this year and it is back to back like you said, so that's certainly no guarantee. @ Memphis, Washington, and Philly are our only real shots at wins without pulling a major upset. I could see us winning one of those, two if we're lucky.

Time to fire the coach. Our team isn't this bad!