MVN - Most Valuable Network

2007-2008 Wolves Season Review

With nearly a week already completed in this year’s playoffs, it’s hard to believe just how much has changed since this time last year. The Wolves roster has undergone a complete overhaul since then; the Wolves acquired a total of 11 players and 3 picks via trade during that period while getting rid of only 6 men off their own roster.

Timberwolves trades since the end of last season:

June 14th, 2007 : Traded Mike James and Justin Reed for Juwan Howard

July 31st : KG Deal. 5 players, 2 first round picks and cash for Big Ticket.

October 24th : Traded Mark Blount and Ricky Davis for Antoine Walker, Michael Doleac, Wayne Simien, and a protected first round pick (which means the Wolves won’t get it this year with the Heat a shoe-in for a top 3 pick).

February 21st : Traded Gerald Green for Kirk Snyder and a second round pick.

As you can see, they pretty much maintained the same sub-par level of talent throughout these series of deals. You’re definitely not upset to see guys like Ricky Davis, Mike James, and Gerald Green to go, but if the players you get in return are bench guys like Doleac or players you’re either going to buy out or not even play such as Antoine Walker, Juwan Howard, Theo Ratliff, etc., what are you really gaining?

The ultimate goal should be to solidify a core of 2-3 players, starting with Big Al, that have some chemistry together and, oh by the way, have talent as well. Ryan Gomes proved himself to be a potential part of that core, but the Wolves still have to make a decision on his contract for next year. Don’t expect them to make any personnel moves like that until after the draft though. If Michael Beasley is available, would Kevin McHale take him with the first pick and then jettison Gomes, thereby putting all his eggs in one basket with the K State freshman? He hasn’t been afraid to make moves like that before.

Concerning the draft:

Last Friday, the Wolves won something that could end up being more important than any of their 22 victories. In a blind draw with Memphis, who had an identical record as Minnesota, the Wolves were awarded the third spot in the lottery, meaning only the Heat and the Sonics have a better chance of getting the number one overall pick. Really, this isn’t that big a deal - apparently it only increases their odds at #1 by 0.1%.

Obviously the entire draft is important for the future of the team, but the most pressure is on that first round pick. Could these extra ping pong balls dictate the success of the team for the next 2 to 3 years? Very possibly. Let’s just go by the math and the standard draft projections for arguments sake. Suppose the Heat draft Michael Beasley followed by Derrick Rose to Seattle, or vice versa. Who do you pick if you’re the Wolves? Brook Lopez, a potential answer for the Wolves lack of size in the middle that could play alongside Big Al? There’s O.J. Mayo or Eric Gordon, both playmakers who would likely usurp Rashad McCant’s role on the team. Either Mayo or Gordon could bring some excitement to the team, especially Mayo with his ability to finish. Then again, we all know how good of a dunker Gerald Green is and it didn’t seem to get him very far in game situations. Bottom line is, we need a guy who is going to develop into a complete player, not just an athletic freak or a guy that’s going to spend more time on the bench than the court.

Ugh, enough draft speculation, it really only matters until after the chips have fallen where they may.

From Start to Finish

I went back and looked at my season outlook from way back in October, and some things I anticipated, others not. Bear in mind this was still before the Ricky Davis trade with Miami.

1. We get production from Telfair, Gomes, and/or Gerald Green. Fans would like to feel safe in assuming Al Jefferson will continue to post the numbers he has recently, but to justify the KG trade I really want to see one or more of the other players we acquired develop into something more than a marginal player. These guys should be able to get a fair amount of playing time to show us what they can do in a new setting.

Well, obviously Gerald Green didn’t give us much of anything, but Gomes and Telfair were both pleasant surprises, Gomes more so than Telfair. I didn’t really know what to expect from Sebastian going into the year, but I have to say he played mediocre basketball, which for him is saying something. He had moments of greatness and stood out in a handful of games, but his lack of consistency and apparent willingness to stay on the bench after his ankle injury at the end of the season are bad signs. Not only that, this was the first season that Telfair has shown himself to be anything better than lousy, so the team has a tough decision on whether or not to resign the point guard, still just 22 years old.

Gomes had a quiet first half of the season before he began to fall into his niche on the team as the games wound down. Over the last two months of the campaign, it’s hard not to make a case for Gomes as the second best player on the team behind Al Jefferson. It might be Randy Foye with some of the offensive production he was able to bring to the table in March and April, but Gomes was pretty good too.  The thing is, you can only re-sign him if you think he’ll truly be a piece to the puzzle over the long haul, which means deciding if he has hit his ceiling as a player.

2. Frustration doesn’t lead to a complete implosion. It is very possible that by the all-star break the team only has around 10 or 15 wins. If that happens, you may see a few players get frustrated and start to bring the team down. If Randy Wittman is the coach that is destined to bring the team back into contention in the future (which seems highly unlikely given his record last year),then we need to see the him try some new things to keep our young talent interested and build for next year.

By the time New Orleans hosted the All-Star game on February 17th, the Wolves had a record of 10-41, pretty much my worst case scenario. If I recall correctly, it wasn’t until sometime around the beginning of March that the whole Antoine Walker situation really started to come to a head. Feel free to take sides on that one, but ultimately the Wolves were going to shut down Walker and will now decide if they want to negotiate in the offseason. He wasn’t enough of a distraction to contribute in any way to the Wolves losses during that stretch, but it’s clear that losing burns up veteran players who can see the end of their career looming.  Give credit to Walker for still supporting his teammates, but as soon as any team offers him more than a base salary, goodbye Antoine.

As for Wittman’s role in keeping the team’s effort up, he did a pretty good job. There was no shortage of learning to do with our rookie and second year players, so that right there should be enough motivation for them. Al Jefferson didn’t seem to slow down at all down the stretch, and Randy Foye in particular actually elevated his game as the season grew old. While the record is horrendous, what happened in Miami was an implosion, not the Wolves season.

3. The team is at least somewhat exciting to watch, regardless of record. The team is really struggling to attract fans right now, and they need to figure out a way to bring crowds back to Target Center. We have enough athleticism on the team to get up and down the court and make some flashy plays, and that might be enough to bring people in to watch the game. A fan might say to him or herself, “Sure, I probably won’t see the Wolves win, but I can still watch Gerald Green dunk the basketball or see Randy Foye throw up an alley-oop to Al Jefferson.” That is at least a start in the right direction when it comes to building fan interest.

Exciting to watch — not exactly. Watching poorly played basketball and repeated losing is never exciting, and the Wolves don’t have enough firepower to amaze the crowd. Some of the trades we made, particularly the Ricky Davis move, cut down on our overall athleticism, but this team just doesn’t have the personnel to play an up-tempo style of basketball. With the dominance of Al Jefferson offensively, the team is much better suited for a half-court, post up kind of game; we didn’t see many Gerald Green dunks (in game, anyways), and there weren’t many Foye-to-Jefferson lobs. Fan interest in the team may be at an all time low, and Wolves fans are hard to come by in the Minneapolis area. The Wolves are clearly the biggest afterthought among Minneapolis sports fans right now - the Wild had an exciting year despite getting bounced in the first round of the playoffs, and even though the Twins are re-building, there’s still more recognizable faces on that team than the Wolves. There will always be a large following of the Vikings, and even with a down year, at this point I’d say there’s more interest in Gopher Hockey than the Timberwolves.

4. Our Florida kids Corey Brewer and Chris Richard have an impact. After a string of terrible drafts, the Wolves’ recent draft history has shown that the front office is capable of getting decent players. Rashad McCants was on the rise before his injury and should be fully rehabilitated by now. Randy Foye got a good amount of playing time last season and showed a knack for scoring the ball around the rim. Craig Smith was a pleasant surprise last year and could be a decent role-player for us this year. Hopefully the trend of Wolves draft picks developing into better-than-terrible players (Ndudi Ebi) continues and Brewer and Richard can make the transition to the NBA.

I’ll admit that I had a generously optimistic view about the recent state of the Wolves’ drafts, but I think Brewer will end up being a decent NBA player. When you look at who we passed up, you can see that Brewer really might have been the best player available. Al Thornton was up and down this year with the Clips, but the one this he established is that he’s clearly a much better scorer than Brewer. Thornton may be the guy we should have gone with, but I still like Brewer’s defensive abilities and intangibles. Rodney Stuckey, the guy who burned the Wolves in their matchup with Detroit on April 1st, went 15th, but he was purely a bench player for the stacked Pistons team and isn’t ready to be a starter in the NBA - we just make him look like one. There’s big man Glen Davis in Boston who fell to the second round, where he was snatched up by the Celtics with a pick they acquired from the Sonics. He’s a good compliment to the Celtics’ personnel, but he’s pretty comparable to Chris Richard and wouldn’t have had an impact on the Wolves this year.

Speaking of Chris Richard, it’s still be too early to make a call on him. He suffers from a lack of size that will likely make it impossible for him to be a center in the NBA, meaning that we have to go with Jefferson at the 5 when Richard is in the game. While we have to get him some playing time, using that lineup won’t be a long-term solution if this team is to approach 30 wins anytime soon. With the apparent likelihood that Craig Smith’s time in Minnesota is done, a bench spot could be opening up for Richard, and that’s probably the most he’ll ever amount to.

One final thought about Brewer: Every time I heard a radio interview with Randy Wittman and he was asked about Brewer, you could just see the smile on his face over the airwaves.  It sounds like Coach really likes this kid and he has a great deal of optimism about his future.  That remains to be seen, but with a good fundamental background taught to him by Billy Donovan at Florida, Brewer should be able to become a serviceable player for this squad.

 

5. KG gets 25 points, 18 boards, and 10 assists in his first regular season game against the Wolves. That way, everyone (including the people at Forbes) can see what an imbecile Kevin McHale is.

Well, it didn’t quite go down as I had hoped.  Garnett missed his return to Target Center with an abdominal strain, meaning he sat and watched as his Celtics managed their second victory of the season over the Wolves.  He played an average game for him in their first matchup in Boston, and it was disappointing not to see him suit up against his former franchise.  The intrigue of the game had worn off by that point anyways - nearly all of Garnett’s former teammates were wearing different jerseys anyways.

KG didn’t make Kevin McHale look like an imbecile, but it was statements about him made by Glen Taylor that ignited a firestorm in Minneapolis.  We all know the quotes by now, and all I can say is that Glen Taylor had better hope his fan base has a short memory when they’re deciding whether or not to renew their season tickets.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 10:25 am and is filed under Marko Jaric, Craig Smith, Glen Taylor, Kevin McHale, Juwan Howard, Chris Richard, Randy Wittman, O.J. Mayo, Michael Doleac, Michael Beasley, KG, Rashad McCants, Antoine Walker, Randy Foye, NBA, Minnesota Timberwolves, Transactions, Draft, Trades, Kevin Garnett, Ryan Gomes, Al Jefferson, Corey Brewer, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Timberwolves. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.