Is Imitation Truly Flattery?

Fini for the Lakers and Nuggets last night. For the Lakers, it was expected. Kobe is demanding something be done now. Wolves fans, beware. There's not much they have that I would want, and I don't think a combo of KG and Kobe would win a ring. The more interesting bunch of losers are the Nuggets. Let's take a minute to examine the particulars.

If you take a look at that team, they're everythiing we wanted for the Wolves: two legit stars, a strong frontcourt with the defensive player of the year at center, a decent backcourt, good role players, and an accomplished coach. But, much like the Wolves futility against the Spurs in the late 90's-early 2K, they couldn't match up. At least Carmelo didn't compare his plight to KG's as he did last year. But, with four straight first round losses, they are becoming a robust imitation of the Wolves in those years.

Of course, KG and the Wolves were in the hunt for Allen Iverson. Many thought he would be a piece to compete for a ring or go deep into the hunt. With his performance in this playoffs, how do you think Wolves fans would have reacted with the same result for their team? They'd be bitching to high heaven! Then the reality sets in: two fading stars, making half of the salary cap, with limited ability to upgrade the team because the VP traded away his draft choices. In the Wolves case, they didn't have nearly the quality front court the Nuggets do, and have a lot more to do to get better. This is exactly why AI was NOT a good fit for the Wolves. You're not going to be able to quick fix this team; you can show progress, but it will take a good few years to rebuild the talent pool, even more if McHale is left running the team. A team vastly superior in talent to the Wolves added Iverson, and they only won ONE game? At least we didn't hear George Karl say it was because AI didn't have a training camp with the team. Go tell that one to the Warriors. Congratulations to Chris Mullen, who somehow brought in a gaggle of new players mid-to-late season, and actually pulled a great upset WITHOUT a training camp.

BTW, a generous comment from Britt Robson on my last post. I enjoy tweaking him now and then, but let me be clear: he's one of the best Wolves commentators around here. With Aschburner in limbo, there's not much to turn to for perspective.