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Minnesota Timberwolves Daily News
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Written by SG
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Wednesday, 17 December 2008 07:10 |
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Click here for the forum's thread for tonight's game against Cleveland
Game previews:
Approximately 13,000 tickets have been sold for the Timberwolves' game tonight against the Cleveland Cavaliers and their NBA MVP contender, LeBron James. It's their only appearance at Target Center this season...
Randy Wittman's three-year Timberwolves coaching contract, estimated at $6 million, allowed him to opt out after this season had he not been fired.
McHale doesn't think James needed to grow up much, not after displaying the torso of Adonis and the touch of Cousy even when in high school. "That guy is like a one-in-a-million type guy," McHale said. "He's special. ... He was mature when he was 12."
Now McHale gets to compare James with Bryant, who will have faced the Wolves within four days.
Said McHale, "Isn't that special."
The Timberwolves' 118-103 loss at Sacramento on Monday night -- their 10th consecutive defeat, two longer than any losing streak last season -- demonstrated at least two things:
• Losing 20 of their first 24 games this season, which was supposed to be better than their 22-victory season a year ago, has sapped their will.
• They are so utterly dependent upon the scoring of Al Jefferson.
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Written by SG
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Wednesday, 17 December 2008 03:13 |
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After tonight, the Wolves play LeBron and Cleveland on Wednesday, Houston Saturday and at San Antonio next Tuesday. They could go 0-for-December if they don’t win, say, at New York the day after Christmas or beat Memphis at home on the 29th.
Brian at Empty The Bench includes Al Jefferson on his list of "The NBA’s Top 6 Double-Double Machines Who Aren’t Household Names."
One ray of hope from the Minnesota Timberwolves is that they position themselves so that this offseason they can be aggressive on what they think will be a very good free agent market, and they are well under the salary cap.
The bad news, in 2010 the NBA's labor agreement comes up and there's talk that given the state of the economy and declining game attendance that there could be another work stoppage; although that could be seen as good news to the Timberwolves.
No doubt that the sentiment with many in the Minnesota Timberwolves organization is that Rashad McCants is the first player they would like to trade.
Before the Wolves can entice any top free agent, they know they have to improve the product on the court to the point they are considered a team worth joining.
"I think that's very important," Stack said. "I think markets can get a little bit overrated. The top players want to go to a city where they can win. We're in a position to add not one but two high-level max free agents to a core that hopefully is going to continue to grow. As we move along, we want to get the team playing better, have a good draft and look at free agency even this year. I think that's going to put us in really good position to get this team moving in a good direction to where we could start competing for championships in 2010."
“What we’re looking for is dependable contributors,” McHale said. “We really feel Sebastian can be a dependable contributor to our team. ‘Bassy’ and I had a lot of talks about how much he thinks he should play and what he should do and shouldn’t do on the floor. I keep on telling him that if you keep putting your hand on the hot burner, you’re going to get burned and you’re going to quit putting it on there. Sebastian turned the corner a few times where there was nowhere to go. I said ‘hey, you have to know where you are driving.’”
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Written by SG
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Tuesday, 16 December 2008 07:46 |
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Rockets blog The Dream Shake hosts the latest edition of the Blogger MVP and ROY Rankings
Another NBA coach bit the dust Monday, when the Sacramento Kings fired Reggie Theus and replaced him with assistant coach Kenny Natt on an interim basis.
That makes six coaching changes before Christmas in what Timberwolves coach Kevin McHale, before his team's game against the Kings, called a sign of the times.
"I think you're going to see more and more shorter term stuff in our league," he said. "Just because the access now, there's so much media availability and everything else. There's just so many bloggers; everybody's got an opinion. There's all kinds of stuff going on. Sometimes that starts forming the opinion of people in front offices, too, and owner. It's been kind of a crazy year so far."
Did you know that three of the Wolves' four wins this season have come against teams that have subsequently fired their coaches?
In order of their firing, that would be Oklahoma City (P.J. Carlesimo), Philadelphia (Maurice Cheeks) and Sacramento (Reggie Theus).
''He kind of really helped me become the player that I am,'' Szczerbiak said of McHale. ''He drafted me. He molded me. He kind of schooled me a lot about the game on and off the court.''
Szczerbiak sounded almost envious of the fact that the current Timberwolves will get the benefit of McHale's counsel.
''I don't know how long he's going to be doing it, but right now those guys have to be loving it,'' Szczerbiak said.
From Jerry Zgoda/Star Tribune:
Kevin McHale stuck with 6-7 Craig Smith at power forward and 6-9 Jefferson at center against big lineups presented by the Lakers and Kings intending to turn mismatches at one end of the floor into his team's advantage at the other.
"If you're going to establish who you are, you can't worry about what the other team does," McHale said. "If you're constantly adjusting and saying, 'They're big, so we have to do this,' then tomorrow night you're doing something different. You've got to get your guys to play against everybody."
Kings assistant coach Rex Kalamian has fond memories of his two seasons as an assistant with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but what stands out the most were his chats with head coach Kevin McHale.
"I have had many, many conversations (with McHale)," Kalamian said. "Without hesitation, I would say that he's probably the smartest basketball person I've been around."
Also:
"He really, really understands the game," Kalamian said. "I hope all the best for him. I don't know if he really likes the coaching thing, but he's a very good teacher and he understands what's going on out there."
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Written by SG
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Tuesday, 16 December 2008 07:33 |
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Wolves record: 4-20
The Wolves' lifeless 118-103 loss to Sacramento was a blessed chance to end a losing streak that reached 10 games instead.
Set inside a stretch of games that already has included losses to Utah, Denver, San Antonio and the Los Angeles Lakers and now offers Cleveland, Houston and the Spurs before Christmas, Monday's game presented an opponent that had lost 10 of its past 11 games.
The Kings had gone so far south that they fired coach Reggie Theus on Monday morning and named assistant coach Kenny Natt to replace him on an interim basis.
With all that going for them, the Wolves seemingly couldn't lose. But they did, as the Kings rode a 33-17 third quarter to a 118-103 victory...
Al Jefferson had 22 first-half points, but went scoreless on three shots during the decisive third period for the Wolves (4-20), who sat all five starters for the final quarter of their 10th straight loss and dropped to 0-5 since Kevin McHale became coach.
"They weren't double-teaming (in the first half), and I just took advantage,'' Jefferson said. "It was a long time since I got to go one-on-one like that. They trapped in the second half, so I moved the ball, and guys got open shots.''
Rashad McCants scored 21 points while Craig Smith and Kevin Ollie added 17 apiece for the Timberwolves (4-20), who haven't won since Nov. 28.
15 Kevin Love rebounds, a career high reached for the third time this season.
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Written by SG
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Tuesday, 16 December 2008 02:30 |
The Wolves will be facing a new coach tonight in Sacramento after the Kings fired Reggie Theus this morning following a 6-18 start.
Theus, who was replaced by assistant coach Kenny Natt, is the sixth NBA coach to be fired this season and second since Kevin McHale replaced Randy Wittman on the Wolves’ bench a week ago.
The Sacramento Kings come into their game against Minnesota with a new coach, a 6-18 record and having lost 14 of their previous 16, but the Wolves insisted it wouldn’t change their approach.
“It doesn’t make any difference,” coach Kevin McHale said after the morning shootaround. “We’ve got to go out there and take care of ourselves and just play. We’ve got to be a lot more focused on how we play than who we play.”
Not sure how much this factoid will encourage the brave Wolves fans out there, but did you know that McHale is the only coach of the six interims hired this season with any prior NBA head-coaching experience?
I asked him if he wanted to coach for the long haul. He said the difference between this time and last is that his kids are out of the house now, which makes it easier to be on the road. But the challenge is greater now.
"Last time I coached, it was more of a veteran group, it was probably easier," he said. "It was going in and instilling discipline. With this group it's confidence. Discipline's a lot easier than confidence."
And maybe being a coach is easier than being a general manager. At least McHale is making it look that way.
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Written by SG
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Monday, 15 December 2008 07:58 |
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We're more by committee since the Kevin Garnett trade. I've been able to do some contracts. And I think (Wolves owner) Glen (Taylor) is able to see I can handle some things. Kevin (McHale) has been the head guy. I'm not one to vie for that if I'm not in that role. I'm comfortable in that role if I'm put into that role. I'm not going to chase after it...
If I could trade places for a day with anyone, I'd harken back to biblical times. I'd like to be Jesus Christ. That might sound weird, but just to go through that period of what he had to deal with. Some people say he wasn't the son of God, that he was just one of the big prophets. I think it would be really neat to experience what he went through during his short life on Earth. It'd be pretty cool to be Einstein, too. To be that bright and have such an impact on society would be cool.
Click here for the forum's thread on tonight's game at Sacramento
Game previews:
Shooting guard Mike Miller looked a lot better in his second game back from a sprained right ankle than he did in the first, scoring 11 points and hitting 3 of 5 three-pointers.
"It's getting better," he said. "It's going to take time before it's there, but it definitely feels better."
McHale, who thought Miller's 33 minutes in Friday's game against San Antonio were 10 to 12 too many, played him for more than 39 minutes against the Lakers.
The Minnesota Timberwolves aren't the worst team in the NBA.
So far, that's the best news to come from this season.
Love returned Sunday to Los Angeles -- where he played one glorious season for UCLA last winter -- and was asked about the cold Minnesota winters, his new coach whom L.A. Lakers followers don't so fondly remember and the already-mounting comparisons to Mayo, the former USC guard who is posting Rookie of the Year-type numbers in a Grizzlies offense already molded around him.
Mayo scored 28 points in his team's fourth consecutive victory Sunday.
"O.J., he's a great player and I'm not taking anything away from him, but we're two totally different players," Love said. "He's going to put up those numbers. He's shooting 18 shots a game. I don't know how many I'm shooting, but it's nowhere near close to that. He's getting 38, 39 minutes a game. I might have gone into a little slump, but I've picked back up.
By ordinary standards, Love is doing great, averaging 8.8 points and 8.0 rebounds in 24 minutes.
On a rebound-per-minute basis, he's in the NBA's top 10. Not that that may eclipse Mayo's 28 points in Sunday's win over Miami in every Minnesota fan's mind.
Then, nothing about Love was ever ordinary, like his year at UCLA when he arrived looking like a 6-foot-10 pear, weighing 275 pounds, with a vertical leap that may or may not have reached double figures, and took the Bruins to the Final Four.
Love's girlfriend is still going to school at UCLA. So yes, there are days when he goes home to his self-help books and view of the Minneapolis River and wonders what it would've been like if he hadn't jumped to the NBA after his freshman season.
"Absolutely," Love said before his first career NBA game in Los Angeles. "I talked to guys in my class like Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, O.J. Mayo, Russell Westbrook, all those guys. If it made sense, which it did, they left. If it didn't make sense we would've gone back. In today's day and age with the one-year rule - unlike my situation, some are getting out of poverty and taking care of their families, so it makes it easy for them."
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Written by SG
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Monday, 15 December 2008 07:39 |
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Wolves record: 4-19
On Sunday, his team lost its ninth consecutive game -- a run of failure one game longer than any last season -- to a Lakers team that inevitably produced its 20th victory in 23 games, just 11/2 games off championship rival Boston's 22-2 start. The Wolves are 0-4 since McHale lost his front-office duties and title and replaced fired coach Randy Wittman.
The Lakers' height and length left Gasol towering over 6-7 Craig Smith at power forward and Byum looming over the 6-10 Jefferson at center, a pair of mismatches McHale and the Wolves tried to exploit with quickness at one end of the floor to compensate for what they surrendered in height at the other.
After a quick look at the stat sheet, McHale noted, "It's hard to shoot 36 percent and win many games."
The Lakers enjoyed a huge height advantage with a pair of 7-footers in Gasol and Andrew Bynum, but the Wolves won the battle of the boards 53-46.
What bothered McHale most was his team's failure to play with the kind of push and pace he has been trying to instill.
Al Jefferson had 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead Minnesota, but he shot 8-of-24, missing 15 of his last 19 shots. Craig Smith added 18 points and eight rebounds, and Ryan Gomes scored 13 for the Timberwolves (4-19), who lost their ninth straight game and fourth in a row since Kevin McHale took over as coach last Monday...
The Timberwolves have the NBA's second-worst record and are 2-10 on the road, but they led 57-54 with 6 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter after scoring eight straight points. But a 3-pointer by Bryant, a basket by Odom and five straight points by Luke Walton gave the Lakers a seven-point lead, and they were on top the rest of the way. It was 69-62 entering the final period.
Afterward, Kevin McHale said his team is not yet mentally or physically prepared to push the ball the way he wants them to play. He wants them to push the ball at every chance not in an attempt to become a fast-break scoring team but rather to get into the ball to Al Jefferson in the post and get into their offense with, say, 18 seconds left on the shot clock rather than eight.
“We’re not sprinting it down to shoot it, we’re sprinting it down to play inside-out,”McHale said. “If you drop it inside with Al, they double team. If you have 18 seconds, you can really do some stuff. If you have eight, you don’t have much time.”
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Written by SG
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Sunday, 14 December 2008 09:31 |
Click here for the forum's thread on tonight game at the Lakers
Game preview:
“He carries a lot of the scoring for them and gets a lot of touches. He has a reel knack in there, and it’s going to be a challenge. We’ve talked about who is the best to defend him, and it’s probably better to have (Andrew Bynum) on (Craig) Smith and Pau (Gasol) on Jefferson, but we’ll probably wait and see how that goes. He’s a guy that doesn’t want to readily give it up because he believes in his own scoring.”
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Written by SG
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Sunday, 14 December 2008 08:59 |
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McHale said after the game that he was disappointed in his team's mental breakdowns and some players' tendencies to let missed shots affect their play on the defensive end.
"We've got guys that a couple bad things happen and it causes them to be like in a funk for two or three minutes," he said. "They've got to learn to play themselves through that."
Looking at the schedule, McHale said his first goal on taking over the team was to get the players to play with energy and effort and worry about execution later.
From Brian Stensaas/Star Tribune:
As the team's heart and soul, forward Al Jefferson knows it's part of his job to lead in all facets of the game. But he too was caught letting frustration get the best of him Friday.
He has vowed to make that a thing of the past.
"We're thinking of plays that happened three plays ago, and we have to put that behind us," he said. "It's about being mature about the game. A lot of guys out here feel like if they don't make shots or do something right, they're going to get snatched right out of the game. It's going to take some time to realize that the game of basketball is full of mistakes, and you have to learn from them."
One thing that is evident, even from just watching players cool down: someone needs to buy Kevin Love a big shiny balloon or a puppy or something to cheer him up. Maybe getting back to L.A. today will do it; get back to his college roots and churn up some competitive fire. In any case, this kid is down right now. I almost felt bad asking him about the team’s struggles, because I didn’t want to add to his glum nature. But, alas, a reporter’s gotta do what a reporter’s gotta do :) And to Love’s credit, he didn’t dodge any question. He’s very open and honest about how much he’s reeling right now.
Yet as McHale noted in his coaching news conference, he'll always have Taylor's ear … and probably will long after he's gone from the day-to-day operations. The Wolves make a lot of their decisions by committee anyway and I presume McHale is always going to be the most persuasive guy in the room. I know it's been suggested that general manager Jim Stack is now the point man of the Wolves' front office, with assistant Freddy Hoiberg widely expected to take charge in the near future dating back to KG's last days as a Wolf, but numerous teams have pointed out to me that Stack was already Minnesota's point man for most of the calls coming in, mainly because McHale never liked dealing with agents or doing the GM grunt work.
We could go on and on here but my stance hasn't changed in the year-plus since Garnett left 'Sota: I'm convinced that nothing substantial will change with the Wolves until Taylor brings in someone from the outside or sells the team. Sorry.
After beginning the year with a new found discretion in his shot selection and team centric attitude, Shaddy’s clashes with Wittman resurfaced a careless and petulant demeanor that stifled his undeniable talent. And on a team with few-if any-swingmen besides him, this has come at their detriment. With Corey Brewer gone for the season and Mike Miller hampered by an injured ankle, McCants was given a new coach and the starting spot he’s coveted for so long. He didn’t do much with it. In his last three games, McCants shot a combined 8-36 from the floor. I’d honestly be surprised if he rung in 2009 as a Timberwolf.
"I saw every game Kevin played and the thing about him is he's just a very smart, a very skilled player," Adelman said. "I'd love to have him with Yao, the way he can pass and shoot. He's got the ability, a lot like Vlade, to see the play happening and make the right decision. He doesn't react to it. He knows what's coming. He anticipates."
Adelman knows Love -- measured at 6-7 and change at last summer's NBA draft, a bit over 6-9 in his sneakers -- is undersized for the NBA game. He knows his athleticism has been questioned. He admits Love and Wolves forward Al Jefferson will struggle together defensively, something Wolves fans already have figured out.
“If this is something he wants to do, than I think he can do a good job,” said Ainge, who as of late last week hadn’t talked to his former Celtics [team stats] teammate. “But I know Kevin is the kind of guy who isn’t going to be forced into something he doesn’t want to do.
“I thought he did a good job the last time. He really wanted it to work out with Randy - I can tell you that. But he obviously feels that this is what has to be done.”
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Written by SG
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Saturday, 13 December 2008 08:06 |
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Garnett expressed support for both Thursday and was surprised Kevin McHale left the front office to take over for Garnett's former coach, Wittman...
"I know Kevin once told me that if he had to make a decision between coaching and his family, he'd choose his family. I had to respect that when I was in Minnesota. So to see him coaching again, it's kind of weird. Plus, I've been in that situation and I know it's all smoke and mirrors at the end of the day, too.
It also was a rough night for Rashad McCants, who had started the previous two games in Miller's place at shooting guard.
McCants scored seven points in nearly 22 minutes off the bench but hit just 3 of 13 shots and heard it from the fans.
McHale, asked if McCants is pressing, said, "Yeah, I'd say so."
"You know what, there are times when it's tough out there, man," the coach added. "Anybody who's played a lot of years knows that it gets tough. You've got to work your way through it."
The Wolves brought Tony Campbell to town for Friday's game against San Antonio as part of their 20th-season anniversary celebration. From afar, he has watched a franchise that has come what he calls "full circle," although he knows there never will be a time again like that very first season.
"It's almost like it's coming back around, the ebb and flow of an NBA franchise," Campbell said. "Last year's wins and losses were exactly the same as our first year there, if I'm not mistaken. Just to be there in the beginning was a special thing. Coach [Bill] Musselman supplied the animation and we continued with more drama. We were like enemies in some of our practices and yet we always came together as a team. Nobody played harder than those teams did."
McHale also has drawn some tough coaching matchups, including San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich.
“It’s really an honor to be able to coach against Popovich, Jerry Sloan, Phil Jackson’s coming up,” McHale said before the game. “Those guys are the blue chips of the business.”
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