I may end up regretting this statement I made in our recent roundtable discussion here at T'Wolves Blog:

And what are the Wolves chances of ever wining a title with Big Al as our cornerstone?
 
Won't happen. I honestly don't have a lot to add from College Wolf and Jeremy's comments, as they nailed the reason that the Wolves won't win a championship with Big Al as the first option...simply put, he's an excellent second option, but he'll need to be playing alongside a star for the Wolves to win a title. I love his game, but I don't think he'll ever have the mentality or dominant game necessary to be "the guy" on a championship roster. And that, my friends, makes this upcoming draft absolutely critical for the future success of this team--anything short of drafting a future superstar will be a disappointment, as the Wolves need to acquire their first option before we can start discussing future championship contention for this team.

Since I wrote that in mid-January, Jefferson has scored 27 against Phoenix, 39 in a later game against the Suns, a career-high 40 against New Jersey, 26 against Chicago, and 25 against the Clippers.  He's posted double-doubles in nine of his last 10 games, been named Western Conference played of the week, and shot over 50% from the field in nearly every game since the middle of last month.

He's displayed an "alpha dog" mentality, unfazed by double and triple teams and demanding the ball in key, pressure-filled situations.  He's getting on his teammates' cases when they don't give him the ball in the post, and he's showing major assertiveness in the huddle.  From the looks of it, he's quickly capturing greater and greater respect from this team, and appears to be establishing himself as a locker room leader. And while he'll never match KG's defensive ability, Big Al's shown noticeable improvement on the defensive end as of late.

In short, it seems like he's becoming a superstar right before our eyes. 

Am I fully convinced that Jefferson can eventually be the first option on a contender?  No--the jury's still out on that.  But am I becoming more confident that he'll be able to develop into that role?  Absolutely.  I can't quite put my finger on what I've been seeing from Al lately, but he seems to be attaining that "it" factor--a star mentality, a mindset that the greats achieve at some point in their career.  The attitude that says, "I'm going to score on this possession, and you have no chance of stopping me."

Two or three weeks ago, I was convinced that Jefferson could never be "the guy" on a contender.  Now, I'm not so sure.  He's been playing at an extremely high level lately, and if he continues to assert himself on the court and keeps entering a leadership role with this team, the sky's the limit for Big Al.  On the other hand, these recent weeks of dominant play could simply be the exception to the rule for Jefferson--maybe he will ultimately end up being a 20-12 guy, and a solid second-option.

At this point, we just don't know if Al can enter truly elite status.  I do know this, though: My opinion of Jefferson has changed quite a bit over the past few weeks.

Round Table Discussion: Six Month Anniversary Of The KG Trade

As you all may or may not be aware, today is the sixth month anniversary of the blockbuster Kevin Garnett trade; which changed the faces of the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves.  It is rare for a player of KG’s caliber to get traded in today’s NBA, and this blockbuster trade was the biggest single player trade in NBA history; netting the T-Wolves five players and two #1 draft picks.  In return, the Wolves received Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff, Gerald Green, and two future first round draft picks. 

The staff here at TWolvesBlog commemorated this event by holding a “Roundtable Discussion” to look at both the Wolves and Celtics franchises, during the sixth months following the trade.  The trade has made the situation in Minnesota substantially more difficult, while the Boston Celtics are reaping immediate dividends.  As it stands, the T-Wolves have the worst record in the league at 9-36, and on the flipside the Celtics currently enjoy the league’s best record at 35-8.

(Click “Read More” to continue on with the Roundtable Discussion…)

Note: This article appears on www.derok.net/wolves

In the darkest of nights, hope can still light the way.

A little over a week ago, the Wolves were sitting dead-last in the NBA standings at an abysmal 5-34. Morale amongst their fans had hit an all-time low as the players looked completely lost and had managed to win only one of their last fourteen games. To say things were bad would be the understatement of the century. If not for the apparent Top 4 draft pick the fans had coming in June, things would have been borderline apocalyptical.

Ten days later, the Minnesota Timberwolves are still dead-last in the standings, but a mini-tear has improved their record to 9-36. While those who cheer for the Spurs may consider the team's latest 4-2 stint to be smallest of accomplishments, those of us on the spacious Minnesota badnwagon couldn't be happier. Seemingly overnight, a massive change took place inside the Wolves' locker room. The team, which had been struggling to a historic degree, managed to overtake the Warriors by one on the road and followed it up with a ten-point victory over Western Conference-leading Phoenix. They then nearly shocked the world during an emotional one-point loss against Kevin Garnett's NBA-leading Celtics. The Timberwolves followed that gutsy performance with an incredible come-from-behind victory over New Jersey in which they trailed by seven with under two minutes to play. While last night's defeat at the hands of the Bulls left much to be desired, the Wolves managed to avenge the loss with a gritty effort tonight in the second game of the back-to-back series. After averaging a win about once every two weeks over the first half of the season, this sudden string of victories has injected new life into the organization. Because for the first time in a very long time, Timberwolves fans finally have reason to hope.

Continue Reading...

 The Second TWolvesBlog Open Mailbag...

Like last time, we might as well jump right into this; it's the long awaited Second Edition of the TWolvesBlog Open Mailbag.  (Ok, so it definitely wasn’t “long awaited.”)  Like last time, I’ve got even more quality questions from people all over the world!  Or not.  Anyhow, there is a very diverse variety of topics from: This year’s All-Stars, should we trade McCants (yes!) and/or Foye?, updated predictions about this team’s final record and status, Coach Wittman’s job status, Adriana Lima, Chris Richard’s PT, Corey Brewer, and finally, College Wolf’s First “Unintentionally Funny and/or Entertaining Roster of Awesomeness!”

(Click "Read More..." to dive into the MailBag.)

This one hurts quite a bit, doesn’t it?

I know it’s rather remarkable that the Wolves (7-35) were even competitive with the Celtics (34-7) tonight.  It’s even more remarkable that they had a great opportunity to win the game, and should have emerged with the win.  But man, our squad was in the driver’s seat with 23 seconds remaining, and they frankly handed this game away. 

The play that’s sure to generate much discussion is the Corey Brewer inbound sequence, as Brew was nailed for a five-second violation.  For starters, Brewer needed to call a timeout, since absolutely no one was open…Corey just lacked awareness on that play.  If you’re inbounding the ball, you need to be counting down from five to zero in your head.  And secondly, the inbound play itself was ridiculous…again, Corey had no options because everyone was covered.  Witt’s inbound play failed to free anyone up.

And here’s what is even more insane: On the next inbound play, the EXACT SAME THING happened.  Marko had no options, and was forced to call a timeout.  It’s inexcusable that inbound plays, of all things, played an instrumental role in deciding this game.  Truly a case of the Wolves snatching defeat from the hands of victory.

Witt had Marko and Bassy make the final inbounds passes of the game…problem is, that decision was too little, too late.  I must question Wittman giving inbound duties to a rookie at a critical juncture of the game—I’m a Corey Brewer rube, but there are definitely more reliable passers on this team.  Of course, hindsight is 20/20.

With their meltdown in the final 40 seconds or so, the Wolves dropped an extremely winnable game.  But even though the ending was a crushing one, this team still deserves major credit…they fought valiantly, and we can’t forget about the intensity and passion they displayed for virtually the entire game.

(Click "Read More" to continue) 

 

It's Mailbag time again...

I'm running the second TWolvesblog Open Mailbag for anyone that is interested in sending any questions and/or thoughts, and I'll anwer them next week.  Heck, I promise that I'll even answer them all... I'm like an Equal Opportunity Employer.

There's tons of things to talk about at this point in the season:  The Wolves roster, our awesome record, the Head Coach/Front Office situation, any previous or upcoming games, what you like or don't like... the possabilities are endless!

Or you can just email me and tell me that I suck.  It's all good.

Email all inquiries/Mail Bag questions/comments/hate mail to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

A lot to talk about from this game, so let's get going...

I've been constantly complaining about effort lately.  Too often, the Wolves have looked like a team that just doesn't care...a team that isn't buying whatever its coach is selling.  But tonight, I can't justify criticizing them for a lack of effort, because our guys played a (mostly) gutsy game.  For once, they displayed some heart.

There are a few things you need to do to beat the Denver Nuggets.  First, shoot the ball well...Denver loves to push the ball in transition off of missed shots, so shoot a high percentage from the field, and the Nugg's fast break opportunities will be very limited. 

Then, you've gotta get back on defense.  Again, Denver will make you pay on the fast break if your transition defense is sluggish. 

And finally, you must control the tempo of the game, and force Denver to play your style of basketball...few teams can keep up with the Nuggets in a run-and-gun battle (certainly not the Wolves, at least).

With the exception of the much of the first quarter and part of the second, the Wolves were generally successful with all of those tasks.  They shot 53% from the floor for the game, and just as important, they shot 10-22 from beyond the arc--mainly thanks to hot long-range shooting from Antoine and Rashad. 

And I could definitely sense some frustration from Denver because of the Wolves' hot shooting...it limited opportunities in transition for Iverson and Carmello, and if you can stop those two from getting easy baskets on the break, you've got a great chance to beat the Nuggets.

(Click "Read More" to continue) 

T-Wolves -vs- Houston Rockets (1.11.08)

BOXSCORE: 

http://www.nba.com/games/20080111/MINHOU/boxscore.html
  

POSTGAME PODCAST:

http://www.TimberwolvesToday.com

I’m not gonna lie, after the game started to get out of hand I may have started to lose a little interest.  Can you blame me though?  Can you blame anyone?  It was a blowout approximately halfway through the second quarter.  It was simply “more of the same” that we’ve been accustomed to seeing so far this entire season.  The win versus the Miami Heat was simply an apparition.  I suspected that the win on Tuesday didn’t really mean much, but I didn’t want to rain on the proverbial parade and ruin something positive for any remaining fans.  I’m not sure if it would be worse to be a Heat or Wolves fan at this point in the season.  Shaq is out (again) and Dwayne Wade is perpetually injured.   I mean, being resorted to cheering for super starters Ricky Davis and Mark Blount?  I’d rather scratch out my eyeballs.  They don’t have much for youngsters other than Wade, and have virtually no depth.  Then again, they still do have 3 more wins than us.  It’s a toss up I guess.

 When the Wolves are letting guys like Luis Scola and Carl Landry to run roughshod in the paint, you know it is gonna be a l o n g night.  Houston was hustling for lose balls and displaying far more energy than the Wolves, despite the fact that we were coming off the “big win” against the Miami Heat on Tuesday.  Also, the Wolves had 3 days off and quite frankly, there is no excuse for coming out for a game so flat, dull, inconsistent, and lifeless.  The Wolves put forth a putrid effort and it was quite an embarrassing performance.  It’s no wonder we were down 30+ points for a large part of the game.  I was more bored watching this game than Michael Jackson at an all girl keg party.  Heck, I was more bored than Elton John in the Playboy Mansion.  I was even more bored than John Amaechi at the… ok, you get the point.

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

THE CASE FOR TURBO

If you attend Wolves games and can hear anything shouted from Section 124, you may hear the frequent encouragement for a certain Wolves player a few of us like to call "Turbo".  Some coworkers of mine who happen to be fans of the 1980s break-dancing movie Breakin' noticed that a certain rookie Timberwolf has an uncanny resemblance to the character "Turbo".  As we all have season tickets, we have started vocally supporting the nickname.  In our section, the nickname is starting to stick.  At the Gameworks ticket-holder event, my coworker informed the player of his resemblence.  The response - "Breakin', eh?  I might have to check that one out."  I now present the evidence to you (and invite you to see this):

Here's Turbo:

If you need further evidence, please click read ahead.

Editor’s Note:  This article was written before last night’s 101-91 victory over the Miami Heat.  Slight edits/adjustments have been made to compensate.


      I’ve recently found it harder and harder to collect my thoughts and objectively attempt to cover a team that displays such a putrid effort on a nightly basis.  In fact, the most consistent thing about this 5-29 Wolves squad is our glaring lack of desire and heart out on the court on a daily basis.  Dwane Casey may have been fired last year for being too “inconsistent”; but I’m not sure Glen Taylor & Company were bargaining for a coach that is consistently bad, which is what we’ve got in Randy Wittman.  Then again, they are all buddies so who really knows what's going on. 

    I’m not at the stage where I’m apathetic enough to no longer care, and I’m also not yet extremely angry about what’s going on during the games.  It’s true that watching the Wolves has been pretty depressing of late, but going into the season I expected a heavy dose of losing.  Anyone that thought we wouldn’t lose a majority of our games was merely kidding themselves, or a tad bit delusional.  My contention is that I did not think this team would accept losing to the degree that has been happening lately.  Most nights the Wolves are a sad, sorry lot that looks like they’ve already managed to lose the game before tip-off.  It does not appear that our team is adequately prepared heading into games, nor do they have competent leadership; be it on the court or at the top of the organization.  When it comes down to it, I’m a die hard fan that will support this club to the bitter end, but if the Timberwolves Organization does not start turning things around soon, they will find themselves losing the attention and financial support of a large group of the fair-weather fans.  I’m not using “fair-weather fans” in a derogatory way, but every sports team has its fans that support the team when they are winning, and appear to care a bit less when things are not going so well.  From what Glen Taylor would like us to believe regarding his financial situation of owning the T-Wolves; losing any financial support is not an option he can readily or easily afford.  Thus, the onus is on Glen Taylor and his cherry picked Front Office to turn this club around, before things become completely unpalatable to the vast majority of Minnesotans.

(Click "Read More..." for the article in it's entirety)