Heavy Mettle

met-tle
–noun
1. courage and fortitude: a man of mettle.
2. disposition or temperament: a man of fine mettle.
—Idiom
3. on one's mettle, in the position of being incited to do one's best. Example: The loss of the first round put him on his mettle to win the match.
Origin:
1575–85

So, as pointed out by my good friends at Canis Hoopus, we have games against Miami and Phoenix this week, a heavier test of the club's basketball mettle. We have, of course, the obligatory MSM story about another in a series of players who got away from the Wolves, one Mario Chalmers, drafted in the second round and traded to the Heat almost immediately. The "explanation" is that we had too many guards around, the team would have had to cut him.

Huh? With an entire offseason to make roster moves, and issues still at point guard regardless of Telfair's signing, they couldn't have held onto him longer? Ah well...there's been plenty of bile expressed about this trade already, so I'm not going to rant, but it's one more reason why McHale had better be a superior head coach--his personnel skills are mediocre at best. And, he's extremely G.W. Bush-like in his refusal to acknowledge his mistakes:

"I really like Mario, we liked him a lot," McHale said, shrugging when asked if he regrets the trade and its timing. "We said we'd trade that pick, and then everything changed. That's the way it is in this business sometimes." - StarTribune.

Enough about the Iron Ranger, let's talk about Miami for a second. At 19-17, the Heat are currently 6th in the Eastern Conference. With a rehabilitated Dwayne Wade at off-guard, pared with Chalmers at the point, this team will be a tougher test for the Wolves, especially considering Randy Foye will be primarily shadowing the gold medalist. Michael Redd ripped the lad on Saturday night; a more athletic Wade will be slashing his way to the basket if Foye can't find a way to stay in front of him.

First round (2nd overall) draft pick Beasley--as mentioned by this morning's Trib story--has yet to find his groove. He's averaging 13.6 PPG, in around 25 minutes per game, shooting nearly 46% from the field. Not game changing by any means, but not "bust" territory either. With other front court members Shawn Marion, Joel Anthony, Udonis Haslem and Jamaal Magloire--not to mention the artist formerly known as the second best center in the Western Conference, Mark Blount--the Heat are serviceable, but underwhelming. Our former starting center is not playing much at all with Miami; I'm assuming the only "paint" he patrols are the brightly colored outdoor bar patios of South Beach. Big Al should be able to make a dent against this crew.

It may come down to whether the Wolves can control Wade at all, and make sure their bench perimeter shooters like Chris Quinn and Daequan Cook don't get off easily against Minnesota's defense. The Heat have more athletes than the Wolves; this would also be a perfect game to for Beasley to find himself and blister the Wolves.

A better indication of Minnesota's progress starts tonight. This is where the team's mettle gets tested.