If Elizabeth Barrett Browning had been a basketball fan, I'm certain our Wolves would have challenged her muse.
From being again outclassed on Friday night after one quarter's effort against the Suns, to last night's Rocky Mountain futility, our club has lost about every way possible. I'm having a hard time keeping up--was last night a good loss or a bad loss? Watching Antoine Walker clang free throws, Al Jefferson get technicals, and Randy Wittman put his face in his hands is the stuff only a nihilist could love.They have proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that--at least for this organization--there is no order, no ethic, no meaning to their professional lives. As I have mentioned before, they simply have taken all the fun out of watching pro hoops.
We're almost at the halfway point of the season. What have we learned?
1) Jefferson needs to stay a power forward. This has been widely discussed and accepted among the fans, yet the Wolves stubbornly still play Big Al major minutes at the five.
2) McCants is a poser. Here's a guy who scores when it's easy, and talks big, but has proven time and time again he's someone you can't rely on. Too many fouls, too many misses when the game is on the line. He's a head case, pure and simple.
3) Telfair is a reliable backup. He will be our Jacque Vaughn, if ever we can find a better point guard.
4) Gomes is okay. I'm still on the fence with this guy, but his play in the last month has been one of the few bright spots for the club.
5) Smith can't start for this team. The only way he can start for an NBA club is if there's a dominant center playing with him. He's one of my favorites, but he's a smaller version of Big Al, and defensively puts the Wolves at a serious disadvantage. Plus, he still gets no love from the referees.
6) Wittman is not the coach for a developing team. He's part of the fraternity, and that's the problem.
That's it. Richard hasn't played enough, Green probably won't be with the club next year, Foye's still on the shelf and the veterans are interchangeable bench parts. We'll get a top three draft choice next year, but at this rate it will take YEARS to develop a winning combination, given the front office we currently have.
Meanwhile, the fans remaining on board with the club are showing signs of desperation. I've read suggestions to put McCants at the point, for example. How bad of an idea is that? One of the reasons why the Celtics are looking for a point guard to assist (no pun intended) young Rondo is the fact that Eddie House has to come off the bench and play distributor, instead of doing what he does best, which is shoot the ball. I would put Rashad in that same category. I'm advocating dealing him, but if he stays on the team, he's a scorer, plain and simple.
I'm also seeing a lot of statistical comparisons and analysis, as well as a lot of draft talk about up and coming college hopefuls. The loyalty and support this fan base has demonstrated for a moribund organization like the Wolves has been nothing short of remarkable. Folks, the Wolves don't deserve us. Get ready for the hard truth however: outside of taking our money to watch a game, they don't care about us. They have gone out of their way to demonstrate their knowledge of the game, and our lack of it. They've told us we should have enjoyed the days when they were winning more, instead of being dissatisfied with illegal, franchise crushing free agent signings, and an inability to surround KG with talent to go deeper in the playoffs. Not exactly the most fan friendly approach in the world, to be sure.
In short, they may be the most arrogant 5-34 team in the history of professional sports. An optimist would say there's no where to go but up, but that's the problem, we haven't seen any reason to be hopeful. That's the fun--and work--of rebuilding.
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3 comments:
Very well put. I think I'm coming up on my apathy tipping point. I don't know when it will hit but it's coming. My best guess is that it will be when they don't unload Ratliff's money in a 3 way deal to pick up 2 mid level salaries and a draft pick (my favorite scenario would be to work with Sacramento and Cleveland). Ratliff's money is useless to them and, to me, letting it expire here would be the biggest slap in the face for actually buying into the whole rebuilding whitewash. Outside of Jefferson and a re-do on the Wally trade pick, Ratliff's salary is the most important part of the KG trade and if they don't use it, we'll have traded one of the top 5 players in the league for Big Al and a do over on the Wally pick. That's almost as bad as Boston essentially trading Brandon Roy to the Blazers for Bassy.
Put Danny Ainge and Kevin McHale together and you'd have half of a competent GM. Everyone loves Danny right now, but after months of everyone else telling him he's going to need another point guard to go with Rondo, NOW he's starting to get the clue. Up until the KG trade, he was in Iron Ranger territory as being one the worst executives in basketball.
As for the Wolves, since you can't believe anything they say, we have to wait to see what they do. Right now they are hemorrhaging money, so I would expect they will let Theo's money come off the books. The next few years will be spent acquiring low-salaried youth, and spinning it as more hard rebuilding work.
Yeah, and who am I kidding about some sort of line? ;) I'll keep coming back for more. At least it will be easy to get tickets.
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