For nearly a year, TWB readers have been intermittently teased with a silouette of a mystery man.  In a few moments, the face of that man will be revealed. 

Why today?  Why now? 

The answer is simple. 

Today is the day that the Minnesota Timberwolves either turn towards the light, or descend into a year of unimaginable darkness.  If there was ever a day that we needed this man, it is now. 

 

Tonight, the Minnesota Timberwolves will enter the NBA draft lottery for the 14th time in their history.  As we have well-documented on this site, in their previous fittingly "unlucky thirteen" trips, the Timberwolves have NEVER improved their positioning and often find themselves pushed back. It has been an annual punch to the collective gut of the T-Wolves Nation as we've watched again and again as unjust scenarios unfolded, such as Derrick Rose landing with the Bulls, while the Wolves were continually left out in the cold.  Each time, we've taken our lumps and licked our wounds, only to have hope swell the next year that this is finally "our time".

It never is.

I've personally tried every superstition short of swallowing snake venom and lighting my eyebrows on fire in the hopes of breaking the Timberwolves lottery curse.  Last year, the TWB staff even went so far as to arrange a 64-seed "mascot challenge" tournament, then faxed a photo of the winner, MacGyver, into NBA Headquarters in Secaucus, NJ so that our mascot would be "in the building" to help end the Wolves unlucky streak.  The result?  The second-to-last place Wolves, got bumped back two spots to the #4, while the Wizards, who had 73% more wins than Minnesota, were awarded the 1st overall pick and the rights to John Wall. 

This year, I am not trying to "reverse the curse" and alter the Wolves' destiny.  I'm not asking for some magical twist of fate to right all of this team's wrongs and send the Wolves to the promised land.  All I want is one thing.

Justice.

The Wolves won 17 games this season and finished dead last.  They deserve the #1 pick in the draft.  In the NFL, they would be picking first.  Same goes for the MLB.  In the NHL, there is a lottery, but no team can jump up further than four spots, so using that scenario it would take a near-miracle for Minnesota to fall all the way to #4, which is the exact spot they are most likely to end up in tonight.   Only the NBA has this ridiculous system and it's exactly why the Chicago Bulls are playing in the Conference Finals tonight, and the Wolves are making their seventh straight trip to the lottery. 

I don't care what anyone else says, the Wolves deserve the #1 pick tonight. Anything less is a complete sham, and the fact that there is a 75% that the Wolves will get pushed back tonight is an atrocity.  With the remaining 25% chance, there is nothing to be won, only their own ground to be held.  Tonight isn't about winning.  It isn't about the player we'd pick #1 either, as I'm not really sure how drastically Kyrie Irving will change the Wolves' lot in life going forward.  Tonight is simply about finally not getting screwed.  It's about finally being able to raise our chin with an ounce of dignity knowing that something went right for this franchise instead of more bad luck and disappointment.  It's about having a glimmer of hope that the Wolves can mount a semi-respectable 2012 campaign and have the Clippers pick 6th our 7th with our 1st rounder instead of 1st overall. 

I'm seriously spent with this team.  After enduring the past seven years, I just can't fathom what it will be like next season to be pickless without a light at the end of the tunnel. Things have never been more desperate for this franchise and even MacGyver with all the duct tape and rubber bands in the world couldn't right this ship.  So in one last-ditch gasp of hope, we're unleashing the final good luck charm in our arsenal...

 

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Each and every May, well after the Wolves' first month of summer break is complete, buzz about the annual NBA draft lottery begins. It is a day to celebrate ineptitude, poor performance, and general lack of accountability. It is a day mired in disappointment, but filled with (ALWAYS for naught) hope. And every single year the Wolves come up short. In fact, in all of the Wolves' years in the lottery, the team has not moved up a single time. Not once. Year after year, we either stand pat in our position, or get pushed back by whichever team owner's daughter developed a mid-Spring fellatiatic relationship with Commissioner Stern.

While we have stood pat numerous times, the weeks surrounding the lotto are often a days filled with frustration, ridiculous trade scenarios only rivaling Knick/Raptor-fan level of insanity, and 12 months of frustrations all boiled down to a single big bang event resulting in the lids being blown off of the fifteen remaining (up 7 versus a year ago!) Target Center faithful. The lottery is not a good day. And no matter how many times one tries to convince themselves otherwise, it is an isolated statistical event every year. It is not predicated on last year's lottery."We must win this year!! It's our turn!!" need not apply. The only certainly in the lottery from team-Wolf is death and any form of luck flushing into the Minneapolis water system with the rest of the Spring runoff that makes water taste like dead fish. And while each lottery is a separate statistical event, let it be known that only a single time in the last 20 years (Orlando - Dwight Howard...and Cleveland for LeBron but they were tied) has the last place team won the lottery. Speaking of which, let's cut the team-loathing metaphors and talk about the damn thing.

Before we begin, let's briefly go ahead and discuss the draft lottery for those who, heaven forbid, do not understand how it works and perhaps have hobbies.To put it plainly, it is very similar to the Powerball. Each team is sorted by level of retardation from worst (the Wolves) to least worst of the non-playoff teams. Based on record, the team with the worst regular-season record has the best chance to 'win' the lottery based on the outcome of the Powerball-like lottery. The Wolves have a 25% chance to win, while all other teams have a smaller chance. The picks are drawn based on a number combination, and the team with the highest % to win (again - the Wolves) has the highest # of winning combinations. 

Here are how the % odds work out for the Wolves:

1st - 25%

2nd - 21.5%  

3rd -  17.8%

4th/Hiroshima come late - 35.7%

Statistics can be a funny thing (if you are, indeed, amused by statistics). Our odds, from a single pick standpoint, are most skewed towards 4th overall (absolutely bound to happen, sorry). However, our odds of getting 1-3 are 64.3%. More basic addition fun yields these percentage breakdowns: Odds of the Wolves picking in the top 2 = 46.5%. Odds of picking 2-4 = 75%.  3-4 = 53.5%. And most shockingly, the odds of picking 1-4= 100% (to the nitpicking-reader-type who just sprouted a mild erection at the opportunity to call me out here: I obviously know the Wolves can't pick any worse than 4. It was an attempt at cynical, sarcastic humor. Thank you, now go away).

You see, the lottery is only for the top three picks overall. The rest are simply settled by reverse record. This is what makes watching the lottery coverage perhaps a more dramatic television experience than MacGyver and the Lost Treasure of Atlantis. For when the picks are revealed, it is done so in reverse order, meaning you know immediately whether a team has moved into the top 3 and appropriately completed its annual tradition of shoving a baseball bat deep into the back-end of the Wolves braintrust. You will actually see the life drain out of Kahn's face in real time.  Tomorrow.

Speaking of Kahn, in a move to further our luck, the Wolves have decided to send him as our representative. I can't decide whether I want the Wolves to win the #1 pick for a chance at Kyrie Irving, or to hear how Kahn handles the Rubio questions if we were to win. Either way, is there a way this situation will end in anything but disappointment? I hate to keep being Negative Nancy, but if the Wolves win we have to decide between Irving/Rubio and potentially trade the 1st pick overall. Or  does Kahn do the inexplicable and pass on Irving (bad feeling here)? If we get 2nd, Derrick Williams is a bad fit. If we get 3rd or 4th, if you believe Kahnzone are taking anything other than Kanter or Vesely you are kidding yourself. Trade out you say? What will teams give up with CBA uncertainly and the weakest draft in ten years? Not to mention this is our last opportunity to upgrade through the draft, as the Clippers will have our top selection next season. 

As I have said before this is either going to be a very good, or very bad month for the Wolves.

Rather than hashing out any more conditional hypoethicals (what if the Wolves get 1 or 2? What if we get 4? Would we do this trade or sign this guy? What sort of false hope can we generate that Glen will spend any money to bring anyone here? Blah blah blah my head hurts)...I'm going to wait until tomorrow night to make any form of  what-if lotto comment. For now it's about sitting and crossing the fingers and hoping we can get lucky.

In the meantime, I'll have a mushroom cloud photo queued up to hit this page at about 7:45pm tomorrow.

Be sure to check back later this week when the TWB staff breaks down their top 10 and discusses the lotto results.

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Just wanted to catch up to post a few thoughts/musings/bullet points now that the dust has settled on the Wolves' horrendous season. There will be little-to-no focus in the following, so if you are sensitive to that sort of thing, please raise your nose even higher.

-It has been about sixteen days since the Wolves' season ended. Lockout be damned, we have now traversed through about 12% of the offseason and have already demonstrated our continued incompetence by doing absolutely nothing. I find this eerily similar to a family member I have who has a "harsh" car-accident history, including one doozy where she managed to initiate an accident in a parking lot while her car was completely empty and she was shopping inside. How this came to be I will leave a mystery, but it happened.

-It seems reasonable to assume that following the season, most Wolves fans expected immediate action in the firing of head coach Kurt Rambis, which would include finally unearthing the great Bermuda Triangle mystery and putting it to rest. Glen Taylor recently stated he was taking time to complete evaluations of his staff, but yet we hear nothing as the draft approaches. Speaking of coincidences, this is exactly what happened two years ago when we went into the draft without a coach or system in mind. We then drafted Jonny Flynn. It is reassuring that management has learned from their mistakes. Or we can assume the worst: Rambis is staying.

-In what seemed to me like an un-smart move, The Warriors fired head coach Keith Smart the other day, mere weeks after he lead the Warriors to a 10-win improvement vs. 2010. 36 wins gets you fired in today's NBA. Rambis is not far behind, at 32 wins. Oh wait, that's how many wins Rambis has in two seasons combined, yet here he is seemingly still ready to return to the sidelines. Absolutely baffling, on both accounts. How can you fire a coach who leads your team to a ten-win improvement? 40% more wins than last year! On the flip-side, how can you keep a coach running a system meant for carrier pigeons who coached the Wolves to one of the worst 2-year stretches in NBA history? What I would give to have a normal front office.

-Recent reports have surfaced that Ricky Rubio's team has given him the green light to sign with Minnesota. Noted in this article is that it would be best if Ricky signed with Minny before the end of May. As for "green lights" and "go aheads" I must have missed it within after Google Translating. Here is a forum link where you can view the translation. All this seems to be is a statement of the CBA deadline spun into a story by a Spanish reporter. Oh well, at least we have news other than Kahn's word (and like Peter Banning in "Hook," Kahn's "word is his bond"). So, hopefully we will learn his fate within the next thirty days. It is strange that it has already been nearly two years since Ricky was drafted by us. The end to the saga could be nearing. However, with the lockout looming I am having a tough time seeing him come over. The kid will have to pay his way in order to play for Kurt Rambis while simultaneously being called a "special person" by David Kahn. Doesn't Kahn's tonality and day-care-leader-esque phrasing bear a striking resemblance to Mr. Rogers? Kahn even "Plays Make Believe" regularly to the press. It is all too suspicious.

-Kevin Love has been a hot topic around here, whether he is worth a max contract or not. No one seems to think so, while some seem to think it is a mandate to gain his long term commitment. Some want to trade him for Andre Iguodala, some want to keep him for fear of losing their odd man-crush. The basis of the 'trade-Love' argument is that the team needs more defense on the perimeter. Also,  Love "does little to help the team win" because he is a poor defender, a problem that, apparently, Beasley/Randolph can solve. These collective benefits are "better than signing Love to a long-term, expensive deal." That may be. Nobody knows for sure. But, does the source of the qualm stem from player ability to defend on the perimeter, or is this a Rambis issue? We have competent defenders. Who is to say Iguodala's presence would suddenly give Rambis the idea that, "hey, maybe closing out on three point shooters is a good idea. That way, I can prevent Ty Lawson from hitting ten straight threes, the most consecutive in the history of the National Basketball Association."

I'm just saying.

And Beasley/AR are better post defenders than Love? They would fill the void with their consistency? Please. Look, there are some deals for Love worth getting behind, but the bottom line is this: he is not and should never be a scapegoat for this team. He is the last thing wrong with our roster as it stands today.

-The lottery is approaching. We will have a 25% chance of nabbing the #1 pick, and a 100% chance of coming away with Jan Vesely, Jonas Vonaskfocweiocjweiojefowejdiowjdiweygyhuincnefjio$$$^^^&&&^^^^!123456weiojdewious, or Enes Kanter. Buckle up! More coverage there in the coming weeks.

-Lastly, enjoy the playoffs. Just watching the intensity of these games reminds me, sadly, of just how far the Wolves have to go, even with considerable upgrades in talent. Would Wes Johnson ever have hit a shot like Gary Neal did? No. It just breeds with a winning culture, something we are so far from right now. Anyhow, there have been some fantastic games only March Madness can replicate. Some surprises as well. Tune in and enjoy some real NBA basketball. 

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When it comes to the young Spanish "Superstar" there remain so many intangibles....not  including his eyebrows. 

These beco me more and more confusing as time passes......so let's rewind to summer 2009, just after the NBA draft.

David Kahn, according to ESPN, has spent all summer trying to carve out some sort of solution to the Rubio contract complexities and eventually has to abandon hope of Rubio joining the Twolves in the immediate future.

"Of course there's disappointment, but I don't think that disappointment should overshadow the big picture, which is, he's still so young," Kahn told ESPN. "It appears now we will have a two-year wait. But if you frame it as he'll be 20 years old and he'll have two more years to develop, I can think of a lot worse things to happen to us as a franchise."

"Two more years to develop.." hold that thought and let's push the fast forward button to 2011.

Please click "Read More" to continue...

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Form vs. Function, Funk vs. Fusion... the aesthetic of the game vs. the utility of the win. This is what Ben Polk describes in his post here: "Charming ruins: David Kahn and Kurt Rambis in Springtime." Ultimately you need to find that zen as a team where you are playing the game as it is meant to be played, to the greatest degree you can (whatever degree that is), and you are still able to accomplish your function- that is, winning enough.

For our team this year, enough would have been around 30 wins. We were an up and coming young team with some good pieces. Ultimately for me the aesthetic was decidedly off. Beasley's early season scoring binge took the eye off the team as a whole before Love's double-double streak permanently ended any semblance of a team mission.

There are a million satellites on the blogosphere where we can deconstruct the various sources of failure for the Team this year. The bottom line to me is that the concept of Team failed and that is that.

As far as a productive discussion moving forward goes, the better questions to ask are, "what needs to be done in order to strike the balance between trying to win, and playing the game right?" Or, more importantly, "what changes need to be made in order for us to start to play the game right?"

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In my Google Images search to find some sort of humorous "last place" image, I stumbled upon the picture above.  I have no idea why that phrase has anything to do with a snarling wolf, but I figured it was close enough to the topic of this post that we could roll with it.  After all, it makes about as much sense as half the lineups that Rhombus rolled out this season.

So the T-Wolves finished in last place for the second time in franchise history.  The last time they held this distinction, Shaquille O'Neal was ripe for the drafting.  Today, Shaq is 480 lbs. and limping around the court with Minnesota's only legitimate franchise player, who happens to be playing alongside another perrenial all-star that the Wolves drafted but traded away before he ever played a game for them, and they are all playing for the team that our former Vice President of Basketball operations used to play for.  Confused?  Well, that about sums up the past 19 years of Timberwolves basketball. 

At any rate, the Timberwolves now own a pretigious 75% chance of getting screwed yet again in the NBA lottery, and they will without a doubt keep their streak of 22 years without improving their draft positioning alive.  If by some miracle their ping pong ball combination does come the winner, they will get to select first in one of the weakest drafts ever.  David Kahn will likely draft a power forward, make that a European power forward, with the belief that the Euro and K. Lav will absolutely be able to play together on the court.  Adding insult to injury, Ricky Rubio will finally be able to get out of his contract with FC Barcelona, only to have the owners lock the players out, which makes him decide to stay overseas. 

Are you pumped yet?

Look, I know that this post is just brewing with negativity, but I really mean this all tongue-in-cheek.  The Minnesota Timberwolves are a sad-sack NBA franchise if there ever was one, but I love them all the same.  Everyone just keep hanging in there.  Things will get better.  After all, they can't get any worse.

And with the first pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Clippers, using their pick from the Minnesota Timberwolves, select...

Oh, wait.  They can.

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Excellent forum post from very valued TWolves Blog member "Wolfenstein."  We'll let him take it away from here...

(Check out this post and much, much more, in our TWolves Blog Forums)

 

First of all, credit where credit's due: from Simmons via ESPN.com (about halfway down, read the Rockets write-up):

...The Law of Too Many Guys. You only need eight and a half guys to win in the NBA: five starters, three bench guys, then an 8½th man who doesn't mind playing 0-10 minutes a night and being on call if a rotation guy gets into foul trouble, gets hurt or whatever. Of those eight and half guys, ideally, you need two scorers, one ball handler, one perimeter defender and one rebounder. You need to be able to play defense. You need everyone to know their roles. You need to know who's playing crunch time and who gets the ball in those last few minutes. And you need a coach competent enough not to screw things up. That's it.
...
It's a common-sense thing. Ask any NBA starter how many minutes would make them happy and they'd say 36 to 38 (one rest per half). There are 240 minutes available in a basketball game. That means you need to allot 180-190 minutes for your five starters to be happy. Now, ask any bench player how many minutes they need to play well and you know what they'd say? Two stretches per half for 8-10 minutes. They need time to run around, break a sweat, get a feel for the game and get comfortable. That means you need to allot 50-60 minutes for your three bench guys and your 8½th man.
...
So let's split the difference: 185 minutes for five happy starters, 55 minutes for the three and a half bench guys. That adds up to … wait for it … 240 minutes! What a coincidence.

Deep, deep insight from Simmons. If you line up 2 scorers, a ballhandler, an excellent rebounder, and an excellent defender in a pickup game, you know you can run the court for a few games, until you either tire out or until someone brings a better team with similar balance and better talent. I would argue that it is possible for your best defender to be a post defender, as long as you don't have substantial gaps with your perimeter defense. If you are letting guys penetrate all game long, you will have a problem with just a great interior defender. Otherwise, with decent perimeter defense a guy like Mutombo or Garnett as your plus defender is good.

Let's assume this bit of basketball knowledge is accurate, as I think it is. Let's also go one step further and say that you can have a MAXIMUM of one defensive liability in your starting 5, and one in your 3.5 backups. Usually this is one of the scorers, but if you think back to some of the great teams of the last 10 years you realize at times it is a ballhandler, at times a big man; in no case is more than one starter a defensive liability.

So, to recap:

• One Ball Handler
• One Rebounder
• One Elite Defender
• Two Scorers
• Three Bench Contributors
• One Serviceable Sub
• MAX one Defensive Liability as a Starter, one as a Sub

Let's now take this theory back to our dear Wolfies. Keep in mind that everyone at the NBA level is versatile to a certain degree- i.e. Love is a solid scorer as well as rebounder, but since we must categorize him as one or the other, the dominant role takes precedence; obviously Love gets classed as a Rebounder. I'm also going to list each player's overall score as I see it at this point in their career. ++++ would be your perennial All-Stars, +++ is top 10 at his position, ++ is a legit starter, + is a contributing role-player, = is a replacement level player and - is sub-par. I will also note those players that I believe are significant Defensive Liabilities. This is obviously a subjective exercise so there will be those that disagree with details, but it's useful nonetheless for sorting purposes.

Please click "Read More" for the in-depth analysis and insight from "Wolfenstein"...

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(The closest the score of the game will be all night long.)

Last night was CW Jr.'s first Timberwolves game at Target Center.  He just turned 3 a little over a week ago.  I know, I know... poor kid.  But we live in Minnesota, not somewhere with a good team, like 10-15 or so other cities in the United States.  Anyways, so we were heading into downtown Minneapolis from 35W:

Mrs. CW: Look Graham, that's Minneapolis. See all those big buildings up there. Whoa, that's Minneapolis!
CW JR: Yeah, there's lotsa-apolis.
Mrs. CW: Graham, it's "Minn-e-apolis."
CW JR:  No... it's LOTS OF APOLISES!!!

Logical.  He's got a point there.

 

(CW Jr. is naive to the score of the game, which still makes this fun!)

I don't know if this was the worst game of the season; probably not since we were facing such a great team, but that didn't make the loss any more palatable.  We are a bad, and very sad, sad, sad team.  The best part of the game/night was that CW Jr. had fun, and really, that's all the matters anyway.

 Is there even any point in listing off the ineptitude that occurred last night?  Our starters were sat the entire 4th quarter; maybe it will teach them a lesson, but probably not.

Kevin Love came back and played 27 minutes, but we were blown out again.  Anthony Randolph put up better stats in only 19 minutes.  Side note: Someone please tell me WHY Darrell Rhombus* refuses to play Kevin Love and AR together on the court?!?  Literally the only shred of optimism left for this season is to play Love and AR together huge minutes (at the same time, you dolt) and see how it works out.  We need to find out if it's A) even possible and B) if we've got something with these two guys on the court together. I am so sad.

*If you are new to this blog and/or don't know who "Darrell Rhombus" is... Kurt Rambis' real first name is actually "Darrell."  No lie, look it up.  His middle name is "Kurt."  As for "Rhombus" rather than "Rambis", a rhombus is a geometric shape that looks like a normal square, but is quite clearly not.  Much like Kurt Rambis' bi-angle offense.  Err... I mean triangle offense.

We had 12 assists on 35 makes, compared to 31 assists on 45 field goals for the Bulls. They also shot over 50%, compared to 41% for the Wolves (yay, over 40% this game!)  That's probably why da Bulls have the best record in the Eastern Conference, and we have the second worst record in the entire league.

I believe we are something like the best rebounding team in the league, (by some metric.)  Too lazy to look it up, and yes its semi-mind blowing, yet we were STILL outrebounded by 16.  The Bulls are also missing their best defender, and one of the top rebounders in the league (Joakim Noah), while the Wolves had the league leading rebounder back in action. Someone please explain this to me!?!  Maybe I need to just move on...

(Look!  Darko almost got a rebound!) 

 Please click "Read More" to continue on with the Game Recrap and pictures...

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TWolves fall to OKC in the second night of a back-to-back, 111 - 103

Wow, a second really good game against two really top teams.  And they were back-to-back with traveling involved, as well.  Gotta say I enjoyed it again. Who would have thought we would ever played OKC and Dallas that close without K-Lav? What does that say about not having him out there? It's definitely not good for K-Lav apologists, no offense. We were in both games very late, only down 2 points at times (with 1 minute left in Dallas, and in the end of the 3rd against OKC.) The Wolves, dare I say it, actually looked like a much better team, and more of what (I think) Rhombus envisioned) without K-Lav in the mix.

Ok everyone, Randolph is legit.  A question was posited in the TWolves Blog forums, and I explained it my response in detail here, in response to forum user "9Deuce."  Here's how I responded:

Sure looks like he is [legit.] AR can do it all, and you can tell that he has tons and tons of natural talent. I don't know if I have seen anyone that tall with soooooo much talent since a young KG. And I'm not even kidding here, his skills are unreal. It's just a question of if he will get the minutes on the court, and if he has the right attitude to maximize his potential, and play within a team game.

So far, the past two games he has done all that and more. Creates his own shot, hitting jumpers, rebounding, playing D, scoring baskets in all kinds of ways, making better passes than anyone else on our team, and dribbling like a PG. He can pretty much do it all.

Yes, I think he's pretty legit. Too bad it took Rhombus until now to figure out he should get minutes. Fool.

 

Can we trade Love to OKC for Ibaka and Harden? That's probably one of the better deals we would get at this point? K-Lav's sky-high trade value can't get any higher in my opinion, and will only go down from here on out. Especially with him being hurt, his double-double streak and subsequent national media slobbering of attention being over, and the fact that I don't think he wants to be here and will be wanting a max contract extension. Love fits in great on OKC, and we'd get nice value in return with Ibaka (huge STUD!), Harden (a baller), and perhaps draft picks or something? Ibaka is great; he plays D, rebounds, blocks shots, hits jumpers, is tough inside... what a solid defensive-minded big man, especially as it currently stands with him on OKC next to Durant and Perkins.

For the record, Randolph had 45 & 15 in Love’s place and '+/-' of +6 in an 8 point loss with Randolph playing 37 minutes.  Of course, our bench gave away the game, which wouldn’t have played with Love.  Our starters actually outscored OKC, but were decimated whenever AR went to the bench.  Two games in a row now in which we performed much better than expected without K-Lav, AND the starting unit performed better with AR than the aforementioned Love in the game.

Our starters played well overall, and had much better stats this game than against Dallas. Well, except Beasley and his 3 month long (and running) slump.  He missed 10 shots out of 18, had 7 turnovers, and 4 fouls.  But his issues are another story for another day.  And again, we were in this one. In the third, after being down 16 points and 10 at half-time, Rhombus went with a crazy lineup of:

PG: Ridnour
PF/SF: Beasley
PF: Tolliver
PF/C: Randolph
C: Darko

... and it worked! With Love out, it's the hugest, longest, most athletic, and awesome the TWolves could possibly field.  These guys rolled off a 15-4 run,  and we came back to within 2 points.  Really, they were just playing some great and frenetic basketball.  The defense was on point, and OKC couldn't really answer.   Beasley was the SG! Tolliver was playing superb D against Durant.  In fairness, Durant did hit two huge threes towards the end of the quarter and at the buzzer. Still, I was loving it. To Rhombus' credit, he went back to this lineup again in the fourth quarter after giving our backup backups some minutes. That lineup was fun to see.  What was not fun to see was our super backups coming in and squandering all the goodwill.  Flynn, Ellington, Pekovic, and Hayward gave all that away, and the Wolves were back down 10 before you knew it.

Man, I really love OKC. If I could only watch all the games of 1 team in the NBA, it would be really hard to pick between OKC and Boston. I like all their players, and they are pretty much the perfect team. They've got a prototypical stud young PG in Westbrook.  Durant is of course, the man and the unquestioned alpha leader.  They've got a lockdown defender in Thabo.  They've got 3 point specialist in Cook, and a super sub 6th man in James Harden.  They have size to bang with any team in the league (Ibaka, Perkins, Nazr Mohammed, Nick Collison, and Cole Aldrich.)  And of course, all these guys compliment each other PERFECTLY.  On top of all this, they will still (most likely) have cap room to spare next summer, depending on the new CBA/salary cap rules.  Sam Presti is a genius.  He's the best at what he does. 

I don't know what there is to not like about these guys. I hope they can make some noise in the playoffs, although the Lakers seem to be back and are playing crazy awesome since the AS break. The Lakers and Celtics have to be the favorites right now to make the Finals again. Perhaps Chicago, but their offense is only average, and tends to sputter at times.  Good defensive teams like Boston can stop them by packing the paint and daring them to shoot from the outside.  That really negates a lot of Rose's greatness.

Anyways, a solid game all around.  We better bring K-Lav back soon, or else we might blow our second worst pick draft position by winning games if he stays out of the rest of the season...

Hit us up in the TWolves Blog Forums, tons of Wolves/NBA analysis going on at all times.
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I was thinking about K-Love and his impending free agency the other day while his Double-Double streak was going down in flames against the Warriors, and I came to the personal decision that I don't think he's worth a maximum contract extension.  Whether it's under the parameters of the current CBA, or the yet-to-be-determined financial structure of the inevitable new CBA. Clearly our team would be worse without him, but I'm not sure paying him as much as possible is good for the long-term future of the franchise.  And here's why:

The reason I've been thinking so hard about this, is because of how easy it appeared for an average (at best!) David Lee, and absolutely terrible Warriors team defense, to shut down Love and render him almost completely useless Sunday night. Yes, he had a bad game. But it can, and will, happen more often if teams actually care about trying to stop him. They know the rest of our subpar team can't beat them, so it usually doesn't matter if K-Love gets his stats. Remember his last game against the Lakers before he started the DD streak? 0 points and 7 rebounds in 34 minutes.

If teams care enough, they can shut him down, rendering him mostly ineffective. What I mean is, it's relatively easy to keep Love from helping a team win games. Yeah, he might still get some stats, but big deal as long as the other team wins the game. Who cares if he gets a double-double if you still win the game, ya know? Frankly, our team stinks like a rotten corpse, so you can let K-Love do his thing and still beat the TWolves pretty easily. (At least, most teams can. Some teams suck just as much as us.)

As "Wolfenstein" said in a similar discussion in the TWolves Blog Forums, Love creates opportunities for the team without greatly improving his teammates' opportunities.  That is great and all, and valuable, but doesn't exactly lead to a lot of winning games. He also rebounds rebounds and throws outlet passes (sometimes.) He can also hit threes, which is valuable (don't get me wrong here.) He scores points with a low usage, mostly because of his hustling and energy (that's seriously not just a white guy comment.)  While this is all valuable, it clearly isn't helping us win games this season. We have 17 wins. Someone has to score points every game.

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