...is what you would be reading if this team really had any hope right now.  I am definitely at my "Witts" end with this team, the decisions, most of the players, the staff, the tickets, you name it.  Let's visit some of the main highlights of the apathy:

Kevin Love v. OJ Mayo argument

This is about the only passionate Wolves item running right now, and of course our squad is on the raw end of the deal.  Yes, Mayo is playing better than Love.  Yes, he's probably the better player in the long run.  Yes, that's probably why he was drafted higher.  All the speculation about where he wants to be in three years aside, no one can convince me that OJ Mayo would be having the season he's having right now in Minnesota.  When is the last time you saw a Timberwolves rookie start right away?  Can anyone tell me?  If I remember correctly, it was Christian Laettner.  Here's a window into the parallel universe that has OJ Mayo in a Wolves jersey: Doesn't start right away, possibly doesn't start all season.  Watches as Foye, McCants and Telfair all get significantly more minutes through at least the first 20 games.  Emphasis on "at least."  Finally starts getting playing time (20 minutes or so) around game 21.  During games, gets pulled everytime he makes a mistake.  Loses all confidence and becomes a malcontent.  End of story on parallel universe.  Which brings us generally to...

Rookie and Sophomore Playing Time

This has never really happened with this team.  Partially because our first round draft picks are here for a limited time (Rider, Mashall, Marbury, Szczzczczczcczerbiak, Paul Grant, Laettner, etc.), get injured right away (Foye, McCants, Brewer) or literally don't exist (all the lost Joe Smith picks).  The only rookie that stayed and played was KG, behind him...you're realistically debating Doug West and Rosho.  Happy twentieth anniversary!  Look at the rookies now: McCants was routinely taken out of games by Casey his rookie season only to be injured the majority of year 2.  Foye found his minutes eaten up by the Mike James experiment, then (you guessed it) got injured.  Brewer had about as much confidence as a female sophomore that has yet to develop breasts, then got injured.  Love plays the same position as the Wolves alpha dog and finds his minutes bouncing up and down like a porn star.  Being a Wolves sophomore has equal injury odds as the Madden Cover (only it looks like Favre is about to give the Wolves the crown there, too).  Oh, well, we got Mike Miller, and our draft pick back from Boston!  Speaking of draft picks...

Remember the Marko Jaric Trade?

It included one of our first round draft picks.  That's always a super-sweet deal when you get the largest and longest contract in the deal while trading away the best player involved and your first round pick when your team is on the decline.  That's the kind of trading that would make Bear Stearns proud!  It's a well known fact that no one in the marketing department wants to highlight that the first round pick protection is going to be up soon.  Tack on that we no longer have Jaric or the other 35 players that have been PG in the last 8 years, and that's a kick square in the nads.  Maybe we can quickly acquire a mega-star in order to trade him to the Clippers for that pick back.  As for mega-stars...

Big Al Jefferson

I like Big Al.  I get the 20-10 bit.  Please play some defense.  Not defensive 1st-team-worthy defense, just SOME defense.  Emeka Okafor and 24 points should never be written on the same line.  Just as I thought he was growing into the Alpha Dog role a little better, I've seen a slight decline so far this season.  However, I guess I'm not at the games anymore, mainly because of...

Everything About This Team Sucking.

Our coach looks more defeated than Scott Norwood in January 1991 after "wide right".  No lead is safe.  There's never been a high definition camera in Target Center.  The team is being run by two of the characters from Sports Guy's Atrocious GM Summit.  My favorite dancer from last season (the lovely Sally) isn't on the team anymore.  The last two marketing campaigns are worse than Dan and Dave and the Dr. Pepper GNR/Chinese Democracy ordeal combined.  There's still no point guard.  Despite all that, the team still wanted more for tickets than I paid last year for the same seats.  In twenty years, the most positive Wolves' fan reaction is cheering KG for winning a championship with a different team.  The team is about as relevant as the collar on the new uniforms.  Add in that the tree on the side of the uniforms resembles a "member" and you've got the complete package.  The most impact this organization has had in twenty years is causing the lock-out.

Go Wolves.

It's that time of the month again to present to you my most favoritest thing in the entire universe.  Ok, I guess my second most favoritest thing after CW Jr.  (He's a balla.)  Anyways, for the Second Edition, our fellow Bloguin Network Blogger Upside and Motor did an absolutely spectacular job hosting these rankings.  Seriously, they friggin rock my socks off.  Check out the Blogger MVP/ROY Rankings for this go around.

After careful consideration, I wasn't going to inundate you with my boring rankings and comments decided to post my rankings and comments for my 10 MVP's and 5 Rookies of the Year below:

MVP:
(10 = 1, 9 = 2, 8 = 3 and so on)

10. Al Jefferson/Shaq (TIE) – ShaqZilla is back.  Big Al just keeps plugging along and dominating games, allthewhile getting no respect because the Twolves blow chunks and make me want to stab my eyes out. I could swear in this comment but I’ll refrain, since no one will read this anyways because Al and/or Shaq have a 0.000001% chance of reaching the Top 10. 

9.  Joe Johnson – Kid is good. 

8.  Kobe Bryant – His stats will increase.  It’s just that his team is so good he doesn’t need to play as many minutes as he has been accustomed to.

7.  Tim Duncan – Still waiting for his big decline.   He’ll probably average at least 16 and 10 until he’s 47 years old.

6.  Paul Pierce – The offensive leader of the best team in the league.  This should not be discounted.

5.  D-Wade – I saw him walking down the street and I was like “Yo DWizzle, whattup playa.  Keep on rocking it in da free world, you my #1 baaaaaby!”  He did not know how to respond.

4.  Dwight Howard – Do they save money by engraving his Defensive Player of the Year award trophy early?

3.  Chris Bosh – How did I have him ranked #9 for the last edition?  I have since gained some brain cells.

2.  LeBron – This is not a knock against LeBron.  See #1.

1.  Chris Paul – LeBron could very well win the MVP, but how do I demote someone that nearly notched three straight Triple-Doubles?  Like I said last time, he barely missed winning it last year = winning it this year.  Voters are screwy like that.

5. Rudy Fernandez – Just wait until he gets more minutes and a defined role.  He could finish Top 3.

4. Marc Gasol – How is this porker so good?  Good thing the Wolves didn’t get him in the Love-Mayo deal.  Errr… wait a second, did we need a center?

3.  Michael Beasley – Looks like he landed in a good situation.  Needs to increase his rebounding average and he could finish higher.

2. Derrick Rose – Can make a solid argument for him #1, but Mayo has exceeded expectations.

1. OJ Mayo – Just doing all that I can (from my mother’s basement) to continually stick it to Wittman and McHale.

Musings of a Wolves Fan (11.29.08)
vs. Denver Nuggets

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One of the TWolves Blog Forum members, paginingstanleyroberts, produced a very thorough post yesterday which analyzed every single move that Kevin McHale has made while running the show for the Timberwolves.  As the title of this article suggests, this compilation covers a staggering fourteen years of front office moves for the Timberwolves.  It's a great history lesson and a really nice way for Wolves fans to get a look at the big picture and see exactly why this team is where it currently is.  I felt this was clearly something that deserved to be promoted from the forum and onto the front page for everyone to see.

I got to hand it to "paging", the man has endurance. I attempted to compile something similar back when this blog first started.  The idea was to do a post for each year and I'm pretty sure I made it to about 1996 before getting bored.  Well, either that or I got too depressed.  As you'll see, this list starts out with a move of sheer brilliance and proceeds to get progressively more painful.  If you'd like to avoid high blood pressure, chest pain, and the re-opening of old scars, maybe you'd better skip this article.  However, if you've got the stomach for it, you can proceed with caution as it really is a very well-done list.

1995-96

1. Draft Kevin Garnett: A. No explanation needed.
2. Draft Jerome Allen (2nd): C-. Good enough to stick for a year.
3. Draft Mark Davis (2nd): C-. See previous. Both were picked late in the round.
4. Sign Sam Mitchell: B+. He was inexpensive and productive on and off the court.
5. Sign Terry Porter: B+. See above.
6. Trade Christian Laettner and Sean Rooks for Andrew Lang and Spud Webb: B-. Dumping Laettner was good, and Lang became the third player in the Marbury-Allen deal. Talent-wise, it didn't match up.
7. Replace Bill Blair with Flip: B. Made team a consistent winner but didn't pull off any playoff upsets.

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What can I say, we're back with one of my most favoritest things to partake in as an NBA Blogger.  That's right, the Blogger MVP/ROY Rankings!  We're back and bigger than ever in Year 2.  As you may or may not remember, BrewHoop started this whole shebang last season, and it continues on with the First Edition hosted by HoopsAddict. Click HERE to see the snazzy first post, and if you are a fan of the NBA and/or awesome NBA Bloggers, I highly recommend that you check it out.  It rocks my socks off.

After careful consideration, I wasn't going to inundate you with my boring rankings and comments decided to post my rankings and comments for my 10 MVP's and 5 Rookies of the Year below:

MVP:
(10 = 1, 9 = 2, 8 = 3 and so on)

10. Al Jefferson – Guaranteed that for the second year in a row I am the only one to ever give Big Al any votes.

9. Chris Bosh – He good.

8. Carlos Boozer – He’s the most non-descript 20 and 11 guy I’ve seen in a while.

7. Paul Pierce – The Captain and the Truuuuuuuuuth. He’s backing up his self claim of being “the best player on the planet”, while leading the 8-1 Celtics to the best record in the East. Not to mention he’s hitting game winners and dropping 22 points in the 4^th quarter like it’s nobody’s business.

6. Kobe Bryant – There is still something to say about players that help their team win ballgames. Too bad for him he’s “only” averaging 24 points per game. Ha!

5. Tim Duncan – Didn’t everyone pretty much agree that he was washed up like 3 years ago? 25 ppg and 10 rpg says otherwise.

4. Dwight Howard – I want him and his 15 rebounds per game to have my babies.

3. D-Wade – Holy revival! Wade is back in black. He’s scored 30 or more points the past 4 games and it doesn’t look like anyone can stop him when he wants to score. And looking at the rest of his teammates, he’s going to need to “want to score” every play for them to have any chance at winning.

2. LeBron – He’s so good that if he doesn’t average 30 ppg, 10 rpg, and 8 apg you wonder what’s wrong with him.

1. Chris Paul – Picking up right where he left off. Leading the league in assists, scoring points, looking studly, you know the drill. Being that voters always reward the second most deserving player from the previous season, CP3 is a lock to win it this year.

5. Michael Beasley – Just because Sam Greg Bowie Oden sucks so bad.

4. Kevin Love – If his arms didn’t jiggle so much when he runs I probably would have ranked him higher.

3. Derrick Rose – The mixture of CP3 and Monta Ellis is a bonafide future star. Don’t forget he’s averaging 19 points per game and 5 helpers. Oh and he’s super quick, has incredible court vision, and gets to the rim at will.

2. Rudy Fernandez – He’s “only” averaging 15 points per game on an incredibly deep playoff contender. He can do it all and is uber-athletic. And he’s foreign. That gives him more of a boost right?

When Mike Miller came over from Memphis in the off-season, he was expected to fill the desperately-empty role of "outside sharpshooter" in the Wolves' rotations.  Management and fans alike envisioned Miller firing away from downtown, helping to kill triple-teams on Al Jefferson and forcing opposing defenses to stretch.

Instead, Miller seems determined to go against the grain.  Despite playing more minutes per night than almost any other time during his career, his shots have actually gone down; he's gone from nearly 12 shots a night to under 10, a confusing reversal considering that he was expected to go the other direction this season.  Per 36 minutes, he's taking over 20% fewer shots, and people are starting to wonder: What gives?

I've done a somewhat-scientific study of a random number of completely fictional Wolves fans, and here's what they think:

• 32%... think he's being paid off by Rashad "5-for-17" McCants.
• 17%... think that Memphis management promised him an unlimited supply of incredibly girly hair bands, as long as Miller didn't make them look bad for trading him.
• 15%... believe that Miller's mom told him that sharing will help him make friends on his first day at a new school.
• 10%... are guessing that Miller's just glad he's not the only white guy on the team any more, and therefore doesn't feel the need to play into the "three-point-shootin'-white-guy" stereotype.
• 8%... think he injured his head in the same golf cart accident that claimed Jason Collins.
• 7%... think he's feeling the pressure from the constant scrutiny by the huge and powerful South Dakota media establishment.
• 5%... are betting that he's just trying not to hurt Mark Madsen's feelings.
  
• 4%... think he's angling for a trade to Boston by doing his best Wally Szczerbiak imitation.
• 2%... think he's probably still just embarrassed about being traded for Marko Jaric.

I wrote a piece on Randy Wittman several weeks ago that was not necessarily an endoresment, but more of a call to suspend condemnation.  I had reasons for the post at the time being: (1) Wittman was thrust into an inenviable position with (2) a team that underwent a monumental transformation (KG's exodus and the influx of new players) shortly after he took control, that (3) continued, and still continues, to transform during his tenure.  Despite those encumbrances, the team (4) improved slightly under his command as last season progressed and, most importantly, (5) the team seemed, to the casual observer, not to give up on him.  Basically, I stated that I was not convinvced that Randy Wittman should be the coach of the Wolves going forward, but I was also giving him a chance now that the team seemed to resemble one that can move forward without major anticipated roster adjustments.  However, I asserted that my main indicator of approval would be Wittman's ability to establish a solid rotation.

Before I move on to a more firm stance in my opinions on Randy Wittman based on the criteria from that past post, I need to clarify my own position as a writer on this site and in my relation to professional basketball in general.  Very rarely do I offer speculation or suggestion on where the team should go or what they should do.  I do not work for the organization, I do not see the practices, I do not speak with the players, and I am not, nor do I aspire to be, a member of the media.  Other than my ticket representatives, I don't seriously anticipate any discussions with anyone that works for the Wolves (though I would welcome discussions with the dancers).  There is also no doubt in my mind that Randy Wittman and the rest of the Timberwolves coaches and staff know infinitely more than me (and probably anyone that reads this) about the game of basketball and the NBA.  Thus, my observations are limited to being (a) reactionary to what I see as (b) a fan of the Minnesota Timberwolves, to a lesser extent the NBA in general, and to an even lesser extent, a fan of NCAA basketball.

That being established, my reaction is now this.  Like with anything else, sheer knowledge of the subject matter does not equal effective application of that knowledge.  In the past week, I listened to analysis on a KFAN show (I believe it was Sludge and Lake where Mark Rosen was a guest, but I don't remember) in which one of the personalities referenced a conversation someone had with Bobby Knight who asserted that Randy Wittman was one of the smartest players he ever had.  I won't cast any doubt on that.  His basketball intelligence has probably kept him in the league as an assistant for several years and as a two-time head coach.  In my opinion, as a fan and from what I've seen, whatever high basketball intellect he possesses is not assisting him during the ebb and flow of the actual games.  A coach has to form a gameplan, prepare set rotations around that gameplan, keep the roster motivated and ultimately make adjustments during the game.  The players have to execute the gameplan, something I feel they've been doing better this season than last.  I was also pleasantly surprised at the insertion of Telfair and Love into a starting lineup that wasn't getting it done (though I will be less pleased if the lineup makes several changes without injury).  This leaves in-game adjustments, and as a fan, I think Wittman has failed.

The most recent example in a history of similar situations occured in the Golden State game.  The Wolves were down by as many as 13 in the third quarter.  Wittman changed his lineup, the players made a comeback, and even took a nine point lead with about 2:30 remaining in regulation (the lead remained static from about the midway point of the 4th to that 2:30 mark).  During the comeback and lead increase, the Wolves energy was up and they were making some outside shots.  However, towards the mid-point of the 4th quarter, the shots quit falling and the run was over.  Wittman left the lineup in that made the run, but didn't make any moves once that team went cold.  Aside from the fact that a couple of the players made awful shot selections with a lot of time left on the shot clock (McCants), Wittman failed to switch a lineup that could no longer make it's shots nor protect its lead.  This failure may or may not have led to a win, but in my opinion from watching the game, keeping those cold players in, probably lead to a loss.  These situations cause me to believe that Randy Wittman, with all of his Bobby Knight certified basketball knowledge, is probably better as an assistance coach who doesn't have to make these kind of in-game calls.

So where should the team go?  Like I said, it's not my place to say.  Let's just say from a business standpoint, this young team is substantially more entertaining than last year's version and an extra win here and there may help sell a ticket or two.