Oh, how I want Nicolas Batum to come and grace us with his basketball goodness. The length! The shooting! The defense! And he's French! I love french fries and french toast, so he must be a wonderful person.

Of course, I also am a bit of a realist, and the entirety of being a realist is realizing what's real and what's not real (for real!). And in this scenario, what's "not real" is the possibility of Batum actually landing in Minnesota late next week amidst an adoring throng of reporters and fans, a la Rubio in 2011. What's more likely - probable, even - is that Batum will be kept in Portland's grubby clutches for the same contract we've offered. I suppose he could just decline to sign anything and hop into free agency next year, but my gut tells me he's going to sign the extension and pretend like all this crap never happened. And then we'll all wear sad faces when he thrashes us for 38 points a game this fall/winter.

If the above scenario happens - and almost assuredly, it will - the Wolves need a Plan B. Let's start with the facts, after the fold:

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We'll this would be a more inspired post if say the Wolves Front Office didn't feel that it's too hard to do any drafting outside of the top 10. It is too risky to chance a bust when you can get middling players (of the type that can be easily filled in during Free Agency). 

Things to watch for:

1. Will Jeremy Lamb or Austin Rivers fall to #18 and force us to slam our collective hands in the door?

2. Will Derrick Williams be part of a block buster

3. Will Derrick Williams be part of a weak sauce turd of a trade

4. Does Kahn have a wink wink deal with Houston to send us Kevin Martin after they sign Courtney Lee. If Houston had been trading for a team with a real GM like Indiana or Milwaukee the answer would be yes.

5. Who goes at the #10 pick that McHale gave away in an attempt to make the Wolves worse in the short and the long term?

The NBA Finals are done and we're officially headed into draft season. I suppose this means I can come back out of my cocoon.

Over the past several seasons, I've been incredibly loyal to this team. I'm also overly optimistic. This brand of fandom borders on the delusional, but hey, it's how I roll. Remember the 15 game losing streak? (Which one?) I found myself clinging to plus/minus stats, double-double streaks, and moral victories. Remember the repeated fourth quarter collapses? I saw them as learning opportunities that would pay off in the future.

Frankly, I'm good at dealing with losing. I can handle it. After all, I'm a Timberwolves fan.

But I just could not deal with Ricky Rubio's season-ending ACL injury. Nope. That was the last straw.

And so, like so many other Timberwolves fans this season, I checked out. I'm not proud of it, but I just couldn't bare to watch a season filled with so much promise go down in flames. 

That being said, this season was truly an amazing one for both Timberwolves fans and NBA fans in general. Below are 8 reasons this season turned out to be amazing...

Yep, that about sums up the state of this team right now. He's starting the game tonight vs the Pacers, in place of our ineffective second overall pick in the draft. And no, I'm not talking about Michael Beasley.

 
Like AR is wont to do this time of the year, like clock-work, watch him go off for 35 points, 15 boards, 10 assists, and 8 blocks... followed by Kahn immediately resigning him to a $40 million, four-year deal.

Thank goodness for all our sanity that the game isn't on TV tonight. 

No sense telling you all what you already know, namely, that we suck without Kevin Love. (Good job on that roster construction, Kahn!)  

We're currently down 20 at half-time vs. the Nuggets, and like the last dozen games and the reminder of the season... this one is over.

Per Rotoworld:

Kevin Love has been diagnosed with both a minor concussion as well as a neck strain, and he will stay at a Denver-area hospital overnight for precautionary reasons.
The Timberwolves have two games left this week, and Love's status is in serious doubt for both of those games. The team has yet to release a timetable for his potential return, but once they do we will let you know. Stay tuned.
 

Kevin Love will not return to Wednesday night's game after taking an elbow to the head while attempting to take a charge.
Love received the elbow from JaVale McGee, and was down for quite a while before being helped to the locker room. It sounds as though he may have suffered a concussion, but there has been no official word yet.

Kevin Love had to be helped off the court after taking an elbow to the head from JaVale McGee while attempting to take a charge on Wednesday night.
Love's teammates immediately called for assistance and he stayed on the ground for a few moments before being helped off. We will update you as soon as we know more.

Who knows yet if he sustained a concussion, or how long he'll be out. There has not been any other official word released as of now. All we know is that he won't be returning to this crapfest the game.  Let's just all hope it isn't a Sidney Crosby or Justin Morneau situation. 

So yeah... as usual:

For those that may have missed it, Ricky Rubio went knee to knee with Kobe Bryant coming over trap him in the corner in the final minute. Sadly his ACL did not survive this encounter. It is a day for Wolves fans to mourn. 

per Zgoda

Portland is a tough place to play, and they usually have our number.  Can we reverse that trend tonight?  And will LaMarcus dominate K-Love like he usually does?  Tune in to find out!

Click the comment button below to come join us all in the Live Chat Game Thread for tonight's game!

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Finally, the last game of a tough back to back to back. We started off strong beating the Clippers Tuesday night, but then got demolished by the Lakers in a brutal game last night. Is K-Love going to play tonight against the Suns?  Who knows.  If not, we need a strong bench, and much better efforts from Williams and Beasley.

Has Rubio smashed into the proverbial "Rookie Wall?"  Dear god, I hope not. Because we desperately need him out there for any chance at winning games.

So click the comment button below to come join us all in the Live Chat Game Thread for tonight's game!

So come join us in the chat or the TWolves Blog Forums, where we are always discussing something!

The second game of a tough back to back to back. We started off strong beating the Clippers last night, and we don't have to travel anywhere for this game.  I really like our chances here, and I really love them if Kobe misses the game as rumored (thanks D-Wade!)

Can Beasley and Williams come off the bench strong again tonight? I hope so, because we're really going to need them.  Even moreso if K-Love is limited at all for this game (rib injury?) And hey, we're only half a game back from the 8th playoff spot!  Too bad we don't have a real Shooting Guard, or we could be up fighting for a home field advantage seed! (thanks for nothing Kahn!)

So click the comment button below to come join us all in the Live Chat Game Thread for tonight's game!

So come join us in the chat or the TWolves Blog Forums, where we are always discussing something!

The Big Alcoholic comes back to town tonight to extract revenge once again.  It seems like he typically does well against us, and unfortunatley it also sounds like The Peksecutioner will miss the game for precautionary reasons. So look for a big game from Big Alco.  Who's going to stop him, Brad Miller? (Who :gasp: is our likely starting center.)  Things could get rough real quickly.

So click the comment button below to come join us all in the Live Chat Game Thread for tonight's game!

Come join us in the chat or the TWolves Blog Forums, where we are always discussing something.