A Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

Haven't we seen this before? The Wolves lay an egg against a beatable opponent (Sunday's effort against OKC), then rebound with an entertaining yet futile effort against an elite, albeit struggling team. It's fitting that we are celebrating the 20 year anniversary of the franchise, because it's expansion time all over again, baby. Any thought the Wolves might just surprise a few folks and actually compete for a low seed playoff slot are being dashed quickly. Our club had no answer for Tony Parker, who scored 55 points, with 10 assists in San Antonio's 129-125 victory in double OT.

Right now, after four games, it's hard to be on the fence about this team. Those who have bitten into the "McHale can rebuild this club" apple will point to individual performances by Mike Miller, Kevin Love, Corey Brewer, Sebastian Telfair and Al Jefferson as reasons to keep hope alive. For anyone who's in that camp, shouldn't those players be the starting five right now?

For those in the "nothing's changed" camp, we can look at poster children Randy Foye and Rashad McCants, along with coach Randy Wittman and the incessant spin of the Wolves broadcast team. Let's start with the coach. Given Parker was insane the entire night, I would certainly buy into the argument that there might have been nothing anyone could have done to stop him. No Wolves point guard or Brewer could even slow him down. However, at key points of the game--especially at the end of the first OT, couldn't the coach have tried to double team him to get the ball out of his hands or--gasp--deny him the rock? The fact is that time and time again Wittman has no answer for what the other team is doing.

Then there's Foye and McCants. Foye has been awful this year, but despite having a better game against the Spurs, he made two crucial turnovers at the end of the fourth quarter to once again cast doubt that he will be a star or core role player for this team. And of course, we have Shaddy. Here's a guy with all the physical talent in the world, but as immature as anyone named J.R. Rider. Last night he played no defense and made little effort to move the ball around to other teammates, being content to immediately jack up shots when he touched the ball.

Blogs across the Wolves community have presented viewing these two players as an "either or" proposition, as in one should stay and one should go. I've said it before and will say it again: how about dealing the both of them? It would of course be another blow to McHale's reputation as a personnel evaluator to do so, but given they have Telfair signed and a decent backup in Kevin Ollie along with other offensive weapons, why not get those two out of here? Jamaal Tinsely would be a better point guard than Foye at this juncture, and he probably has a better arsenal of handguns for this concealed carry state. It's getting more obvious by the day that as long as Randy Wittman is coach here, McCants will continue to have a short leash. They both still have the label "potential" etched into their resumes, why not send them packing, while they still have value? In Portland and Indiana, I'm sure Brandon Roy and Danny Granger are so thankful they didn't get drafted by this club.

Then there's my favorite whipping folks--the Wolves broadcast crew. This bunch can't call a game or produce any media without spinning how great everyone in the organization is, from draft picks to front office, to coaches, to ballboys, to trainers, to themselves. Could we at least get back to an 8th seed playoff slot before the heavenly proclamation declaring excellence is produced? Jim Petersen better get a room with Kevin Love, because he hasn't show this much affection toward a front court player since Mark "Second Best" Blount left the team. If I were Big Al, I might actually be jealous.

Here's the deal: Love has some good instincts, but the Spurs, like the Wolves, are pretty much a half-court team. Where the rook has been exposed is when matched up against any big who can run the court. Love played well against Duncan in the first half, but strangely wasn't matched up with him when Timmy heated up in the second half. K-Love is showing himself to be a good weak side defender, for example, but to state that he and Jefferson are going to be "dominant, at both ends of the court", is a huge stretch, and has that desperate, oversold feel to it, like having told us Mark Blount is "the second best center in the Western Conference" a couple of years ago. To both Petersen and Pat Reusse, I would simply say let's wait and see, it's a long season.

So once again we have lines being drawn here; you can either be taken with efforts like last night, or you could take a step back and say--not unlike David Byrne--"same as it ever was". Because it's only four games, I remain a glass half full guy at this juncture, but I could certainly understand why fans would not want to support this team, until actual, un-spinnable progress is shown by the Wolves.