Recently the TWB Staff asked forum poster T_Wolf_ in_Sydney of Sydney, Australia to submit his thoughts on the Wolves and Australian Basketball. Below is his story, and a few noteable names from Aussie past, many of which have Wolves connections. Have a read, and thank you TWiS!

I remember when the NBA was fashionable in Australia; I guess it started when “NBA Action” was televised on free to air broadcast and mind you at a reasonable hour, it featured one replayed game a week. It used to be that you’d have to pay via cable or stay up past midnight to watch American sports. See, basketball doesn’t get much attention here since we have 4 different codes of football (Australian Rules Football, Rugby League, Rugby Union and Soccer) and cricket.

We have a National Basketball League, www.nbl.com.au, started in 1979. Interestingly, each team was allowed to have no more than 2 “import” non-Australian players and traditionally most teams consist of 2 “reject” NBA players, D-Leaguers, and NBA hopefuls. Fancy seeing your local star player get benched or cut from the NBA team they tried for….sad but true. The league has recently had some troubled times, GFC has seen some teams fold, and I believe this season had been cancelled, go figure….

I just started High School and every other kid had a Bulls #23 jersey. It was cool to be American, well at least dress like one and drink some imported Dr. Pepper. Prior to this big NBA fad, I liked the Celtics despite never seeing a full game – I was just happy playing as Larry Bird on the classic PC game of Lakers vs. Celtics.

Imagine being able to see a full televised game for the first time! The first full game I saw was the Suns vs. Blazers (1992) – the newly acquired Charles Barkley was tearing it up for the Suns. So a Phoenix Suns fan I became. The most popular teams in Australia at the time were: 1) Bulls 2) Magic 3) Celtics 4) Lakers…. The Timberwolves were unheard of. So I played ball with friends from morning to midnight, we talked about how awesome Shaq was after he pulled down the hoop in his rookie season, we traded basketball cards, we showed off our new Nike Air Jordans, we spent our pocket money on genuine NBA caps and wear it back to front just to be cool. NBA Jam came out in the arcades (my friends and I always joked we would start a video game based on our local NBL, and call it NBL Lay-Up)…. more money and time spent on that. I loved basketball, until I witnessed Jordan and the Bulls down the Suns in the NBA finals – man if it weren’t uncool for guys to cry, I probably would have!

There was a sale on NBA merchandise at the Department store one day. Since I was at school, I begged mum to find and buy for me a really cool NBA jacket – Suns preferably or at worst Lakers, Celtics or Magic. She came back with a Timberwolves jacket………..WTF!?!?!?! Who the hell are they? Words couldn’t express my disappointment. A few days later, I decided I would ignore the fashion and go with the Wolves… nobody has any of their gear, I would be unique.

“Didn’t they draft that Laettner dude,” my friend would ask me. “I think so,” I would reply. That’s about the extent of my Wolves knowledge (let’s not ever mention that player’s name again). Then I found out, they had Luc Longley. 

1) AUSSIE IMPORT #1: LUC LONGLEY (C,  7ft2 and 265 lbs)

• Drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 1st round (7th pick) of the 1991 draft. Incidentally, the first Australian to ever play in the NBA. Yayyyyyyyy !!!!
• 11 seasons NBA, 3 championship rings with Chicago Bulls (1995-1998), career: 21.2MPG,7.2PPG, 0.462FG%, 4.9RPG, 1.5APG, 1BPG.
• Comments: Luuuuuuuuuuuc !!!! It’s amazing how M.J. and Phil Jackson can make this guy look awesome. To his credit, he rarely did anything wrong on the court in his prime, but then again he really didn’t do anything much anyway. Our drafting woes started early since we drafted him ahead of Stacey Augmon, Terrell Brandon, Dale Davis and Chris Gatling.

Then, my all-time favourite local player, Shane Heal, signed up with the Wolves in 1996:

2) AUSSIE IMPORT #2: SHANE HEAL (G, 6ft and 180 lbs)

• Unflattering NBA career averages of: 6.3MPG, 0.273FG%,2.0PPG, 0.8APG.  But make no mistakes this man CAN PLAY… his NBL career average is 20.6 points, 6.1 assists and 1.0 steals.
• He is nick named “The Hammer” as he nails threes virtually on command, and arguably the best clutch player Australia has.
• Comments: Best known for his run in with Charles Barkley, I mean this literally, as he bumped chests with the Round Mound of Rebound and pretty much gave Chuck a mouthful on the Altlanta Olympic pre-tournament warm up Australia vs USA. I remember this game well as Heal lit up the score boards, pinning three after three, and giving Team USA a slight (let me emphasise slight) scare. This performance without doubt might have led to his first NBA stint. Apparently, Chuck and Heal hugged and made up afterwards for photos.

Once Barkley left the Suns, I decided to follow the Timberwolves only. Then the skinny kid McHale drafted from high school changed everything, Kevin Garnett became the face of the Timberwolves, and Australia finally knew who the Minnesota Timberwolves are.  The rest is history. I’ve followed the Timberwolves through the good and bad (and worst) of times. I don’t imagine following any other teams, even if things go bad.

Just for interest here are some other Australian players that have made the NBA. I’m really hoping for more in the future. Basketball is an awesome game – I hope one day I can experience the atmosphere a live NBA game.

Read more from TWiS by clicking "READ MORE"

no comments

The votes are in and the first-round winners of the TWB NBA Draft Lottery Mascot Challenge are now being revealed.  You can click the images above for a larger version of the updated bracket.  If you click through to "Read More" you can also see a list of all the winners and the percetage of the votes that each nominee received as well as some analysis!

It was announced today that Jonny was named to the All-Rookie 2nd Team. Good work. In a related story, Stephen Curry was named to the All-Rookie First Team.

From Jonah B at Timberwolves.com

Flynn joins Felton Spencer, Kevin Garnett, Craig Smith and Kevin Love as Timberwolves rookies to earn second team honors. Pooh Richardson, Christian Laettner, Isaiah Rider, Stephon Marbury, Wally Szczerbiak and Randy Foye all earned first team honors during their rookie seasons in Minnesota.

Below are the 2009-10 NBA All-Rookie First and Second Teams:

2009-10 T-MOBILE NBA ALL-ROOKIE FIRST TEAM
Tyreke Evans Sacramento
Brandon Jennings Milwaukee
Stephen Curry Golden State
Darren Collison New Orleans
Taj Gibson Chicago

2009-10 T-MOBILE NBA ALL-ROOKIE SECOND TEAM
Marcus Thornton New Orleans
DeJuan Blair San Antonio
James Harden Oklahoma City
Jonny Flynn Minnesota
Jonas Jerebko Detroit

The 4th and final region for the TWB Lottery Mascot Challenge features 8 intense matchups amongst some of your favorite Television and Movie characters of years past. Please do click Read More and be sure to vote for all 8 matchups. Votes will be posted within a few days were we will finally determine who will advance to the next round, where the intensity level will increase exponentially. Without further adieu, below are the matchups:

Battle #1: MacGyver vs. MacGruber

Vs.

An epic matchup featuring one of TV's greatest mullets taking on a sub-par bulge. MacGyver has shown us in the past he can escape from nearly any situation. However can he escape a front page poll vote against his formidable foe, MacGruber? Time will tell in this sleeper first round match.

CLICK "READ MORE" FOR THE REST OF THE BRACKET

no comments

Canis Hoopus: Where Kevin Love is better than Carmelo Anthony Happens.

Canis Hoopus: Where the TWolves drafting DeMarcus Cousins over John Wall and Evan Turner Happens.

Canis Hoopus: Where cheap shots and personal attacks Happen.

Canis Hoopus: Where herd mentality Happens.

Canis Hoopus: Where Stop-N-Pop = God Happens.

Canis Hoopus: Where Censorship Happens.

Way to take the moral high ground on this one SNP!

The time has come to crown the Official NBA Draft Lottery Mascot for our beloved Minnesota Timberwolves. Some of the candidates for the Wolves draft lottery didn't fall into the Athlete, Celebrity, or Movie/TV Character regions, so we created a region of complete randomness where the most zany of nominees will face off. If you thought the matchups of the Celebrity & Athlete regions were crazy, you ain't seen nothing yet! Day 3 of the 64 contestant tournament will be the 16 members of our Random Region.  We'll give a brief description of each matchup followed by a poll where you can vote on who should move on to the second round.  Here we go!

The Celebrity Region can be found HERE.

The Athlete Region can be found HERE.

Wolverine vs. Apache Longbow Helicopter

VS.

The first matchup features one of the most badass fighting machines of the comic book world up against one of the most badass fighting machines of the real world. The adamantium that flows through Wolverine's vains makes him nearly indestructible. But the key word there is nearly. We'll see if he can sink his claws in and take down the most advanced technology that modern battlefield warfare has to offer.

Please click "Read More" below to see the rest of the Random Region matchups

(Click above to view a full-sized image of the complete bracket)

The time has come to crown the Official NBA Draft Lottery Mascot for our beloved Minnesota Timberwolves.  Day 2 of the 64 contestant tournament will be the 16 members of our Athlete Region.  We'll give a brief description of each matchup followed by a poll where you can vote on who should move on to the second round.  Here we go!

The Celebrity Region can be found HERE.

Joe Mauer vs. Robert Swift

VS.

 
It's Baby Jesus matched up against an abject NBA Lottery Pick failure.  Some might blame Swift's failings on his knee injury(ies?), but look at him.  He was doomed to fail.  Baby Jesus, on the other hand, can do no wrong.  I'm pretty sure he is about to cure cancer while rescuing orphans from burning buildings, all-the-while hitting CC Sabathia fastballs for 550 feet homeruns.

Please click "Read More" below to see the more of the first-round Athlete Matchups...
 

The time has come to crown the Official NBA Draft Lottery Mascot for our beloved Minnesota Timberwolves.  Kicking off the 64 contestant tournament will be the 16 members of our Celebrity Region.  We'll give a brief description of each matchup followed by a poll where you can vote on who should move on to the second round.  Here we go!

Chuck Norris vs. Mr. T

vs.

This is a classic battle of two of the baddest mamma jamma's in history.  These two manage to tread the fine line of being incredibly ridiculous and yet incredibly deadly at the same time.  I can't think of a better way to kick off this tournament!

Click "Read More" below, for more of our first-round celebrity match-ups...

Round 1 of the TWB NBA Draft Lottery Mascot Challenge was a rousing success! We now up the stakes as last week's winners face off against each other for a shot at the Sweet 16. There will be humor, surprises, and fights to the death! What are you waiting for? Let's vote!

Athlete Region

Joe Mauer vs. Adrian Peterson

vs.

After knocking out their first round opponents, the two biggest stars on the Minnesota sports scene will face off in a battle for a spot in the Sweet 16.  I'm sure that this one will come down to whether we have more Twins or Vikings fans on the site, however, as an outside observer, I pose this question:  If Adrian were charging down the 3rd base line towards Mauer at home plate, does Adrian kill him, or does Mauer hold onto the ball and save the run?

Click "Read More" below to view the rest of our match-ups!