Sunday Reflections

Sunday mornings are great for reading all about basketball. I've read Robson, Vecsey, Aschburner and Winderman so far. While I think the beat writers must borrow heavily from each other in producing their Sunday summations, the columnists and bloggers are a little less traditional. Robson goes on the stats analysis route, comparing Wittman to Casey. Shockingly, he has determined that the Wolves played worst defense under Randy than Dwane, which I think even a casual fans could pick up on if they had watched the last half of the season. For the beat writers, it's time to announce their picks for league "best of" categories. Needless to say, our club doesn't qualify for any achievement awards.

The bigger news was from the resident grenade throwing columnist for the NY Post, Peter Vecsey. I like Vecsey the best, simply because he will often work through the mainstream media hype to tweak our "heroes". Sometimes the tweaks are cheap (Charlatan Barkley, Abscess Ahmad), and are often as a result a poor working relationship he had with the individual in the past (Barkley). But he's direct in his criticism, and is willing to take on the establishment.

He leads with the notion that the Knicks are going after KG, which isn't surprising. I'm sure Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune will once again continue his "Star Trek"-like five year mission to encourage the Bulls to deal for our fading superstar as well. Vecsey however casts doubt on whether this would ever happen, sarcastically saying: "Yup, that's who the Timberwolves aspire to be, last season's Knicks." Of course since the Knicks have given the Bulls the one thing Minnesota really wants this year--a top first round draft pick, as a result of the Eddy Curry trade--I would doubt if the Knicks really have anything the Wolves want. At least I certainly hope that's the case, but with the Iron Ranger, you never know.

Even though this season was lousy, if you're at all interested in organizational psychology and business, June through August are going to be fascinating months for the Wolves. As with other years, it will probably be more bluster than real activity, with fans being once again disappointed and disheartened by the results. But consider a few scenarios:

1) Keeping the lottery pick AND KG. Depending on who we get (please, no more PG's!), that would generate some buzz, despite any front office reshuffling.
2) Losing the lottery pick AND KG. Sure, we'd probably pick up a number one as a result of a trade, but I think the shock value of that long discussed outcome would cast a bit of a pall across the Wolves community, and generate still MORE anger at Taylor and McHale.
3) Keeping the lottery pick and losing KG. The team is officially blown up, with hopefully two top 10 draft picks. Sad to see KG go, but hopeful for the future, unless of course McHale stays. Then the fan's trepidation will remain.

Of course, it's looking like the Ranger is sticking around. Gotta work on that podcast!