While not a reason to push the panic button by any means, it’s always concerning when your most valuable player goes down with an injury.  There’s no reason whatsoever to push Jefferson back into action before he is ready, so I expect to see the team let Jefferson return to as close to 100% as he can get, maybe get a little work in the preseason, and hopefully get him ready to go for the start of the regular season.

It’d be nice for some of the new acquisitions to get some practice time on the court with the centerpiece of the team, but the guys have already been practicing together over the summer, and I don’t see why Jefferson missing some time in camp would inhibit the team’s cohesion at all.  We see guys miss part or all of camp with holdouts every season, and they’re still able to prepare for the season and be on the same page as their teammates.

Sid Hartman-esque (overly optimistic) take:

This could in fact be a blessing in disguise, because instead of practicing the plays designed to get Jefferson the ball, one of the few things last year’s Wolves team had going for it, they’ll have more time to work on other aspects of the game and become a more complete team.  Granted, a lot of players are probably on cruise control throughout camp, but then again those aren’t the kind of players this team needs right now.

The Wolves should consider themselves lucky that Big Al sustained this injury now, rather than the middle of the season when the loss of Jefferson would be far more detrimental to the team’s success.  My guess is Big Al will be fully healed by the start of the season and hopefully be ready to make the next step in his development as a player.  Jefferson established himself as a scorer last year, but he needs to work on his defense and making smart passes out of the post to be mentioned in the same breath as some of the elite power forwards/centers in the NBA.

Fred Hoiberg was on KFAN’s PA & Dubay show last Tuesday with an update from Target Center on the team’s status. Freddie said 10 players came for voluntary workouts to do strength training, drills, and scrimmages last week and was incredibly enthusiastic about the acquisition of Mike Miller who made, “36 three pointers in a row” at the end of practice and made, “57 of 58 three pointers at one point”. Practice or not, there’s no doubt that Miller has a good shooting stroke – he was tenth in the NBA last year in three point shooting percentage and has shot 46% from the field for his career. With the lack of perimeter shooting that last year’s squad had, adding Miller will, at the very least, keep teams honest when he’s behind the arc.

Obviously Freddie is going to put the best possible spin on the outlook of the team, but it’s good to hear that we have guys who are trying to make themselves and the team better by showing up for these practices. Nobody is (or shouldn’t be, anyways) expecting Mike Miller to be the one player that turns this franchise around, just a solid addition as somebody who can knock down some shots in the fourth quarter (wouldn’t that be nice). One thing’s for sure, the brain wizards that run this team have got to be praying for Miller to play well and O.J. Mayo to struggle mightily. If the opposite happens, it’ll just be another coulda-woulda-shoulda in Wolves draft history along the same lines of the Brandon Roy and Ray Allen years.

We’re still about 20 regular season games away from really being able to get a good idea of how this team will fare in a division that shapes up to be much more competitive than last year, but as you look around the Northwest, the Wolves will probably remain at the bottom. I don’t see the Wolves being better than a Portland team that will finally get it’s centerpiece into the lineup after winning half of their games last year. Brandon Roy’s got another year of NBA experience under his belt, as does LaMarcus Aldridge, and I think the Blazers will be a team to watch in 2008-09 if Oden remains healthy and plays as well as everyone hopes.

The Nuggets made the shocking Camby deal, but they still have Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony, two proven leaders and scorers in this league, to go with a decent supporting cast with guys like ex-Timberwolf Anthony Carter, Kenyon Martin and the high flying J.R. Smith. I think most would agree that the Nuggets will, at the very least, post a better record than the Wolves.

As for the Utah Jazz, they are a lock to finish above the Wolves and have a chance to make some noise in the playoffs if they stay healthy. That leaves the Seattle Supe—Oklahoma City To-Be-Determineds, and although they finished behind the Wolves last year, Kevin Durant will be going into his sophomore season in the NBA. They acquired Desmond Mason and Joe Smith in the offseason, and with Russell Westbrook and D.J. White coming via the draft,

The Wolves still aren’t where they were under Flip Saunders in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, a perennial one-and-done team in the West, but they are headed in the somewhat right direction. The outlook on this season isn’t quite as bleak as last year, when there were question marks at virtually every position, and the Wolves should be able to put a more respectable group of players on the court in 2009. I expect the Wolves to get somewhere around the 35 win mark, barring injuries to Big Al, Bassy, or Mike Miller.

It is being reported today that the Wolves have retained the only true point guard on the roster, Sebastian Telfair. The team signed him to a 2 year deal with an option for a third after the 2010 season. Telfair exceeded expectations last season and some would say that playing in a new environment has had a positive impact Telfair’s work ethic and his evolution as a player. Whether Telfair is going to be the Wolves point guard for the next 3 or 4+ years remains a waiting game, but as the only point guard the team has, the Wolves need the services of anyone with experience playing the position.  Minnesota is probably one of the only franchise’s in the NBA that would offer Telfair the starting nod, so you have to figure Telfair was eager to re-sign.

Gomes in limbo

Meanwhile, Ryan Gomes is still in negotiations with the front office. The Strib is reporting that Gomes’ agent is looking for $5.6 million/year, a pretty steep price for a player of Gomes’ caliber. Ryan has shown himself to be a pretty good situational player, but he has shown very little indication that he’ll be somebody that can anchor any position in the lineup. He’s a solid free throw shooter and can get his share of rebounds when given the right matchup, but you’re also hoping that Corey Brewer can emerge as this team’s small forward.

It’ll be interesting to see what McHale decides to do with Gomes. With the additions the Wolves have made this offseason, namely the acquisiton of Mike Miller, it’s likely that Gomes will be a bench player next year that could get a spot start when Wittman has to resort to mixing up the lineup to get more production.

The Wolves went ahead and drafted Mayo number three, and, to me anyways, that seemed like a logical move. Lopez would have helped take some heat off of Big Al and give us a big-bodied center, but Mayo is the more exciting, athletic player capable of scoring in bunches and and putting fannies in the seats. Had they just gotten Mayo and nobody else, I would have been enthusiastic about the direction of the franchise, but with the trade they made in the subsequent hours, you have to figure the timetable for this franchise to contend has been moved up, putting more pressure on Coach Wittman.

The Wolves traded Mayo, Marko Jaric, Antoine Walker, and Greg Buckner to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Kevin Love, Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal and Jason Collins. Wow. At first blush, this seems like a great deal for Minnesota.

Not only do they get the Pac-10 Player of the Year in Love, who many experts believe has enough basketball acumen to be a significant contributor on a contending team, but they also get Mike Miller, a guy who has showed he can be a productive scorer from multiple areas on the court, even on a bad team. Miller is only 28 and may still only get better with age ala Paul Pierce.

As if getting those two guys for 2009 wasn’t good enough, Wolves fans (and McHale) have to be eternally grateful to the Grizzlies for taking on the terrible contracts of Walker and Jaric. All I can say is that the Grizz must really be high on Mayo if they’re willing to do that. If you thought Antoine Walker was upset to be in Minnesota, wait until he arrives in Memphis.

I just can’t say enough about how good this deal looks on paper. By no means does it exonerate Kevin McHale for his past blunders, but this is definitely a huge step in the right direction for the re-building process. I’m not completely sold on Kevin Love yet, but it seems like all he’ll have to do is feed the rock to Jefferson, Miller, and McCants from the block and get some occasional clean-up baskets near the rim. He showed that he’s a great passer in college, and he looked good against fellow top-10 pick Brook Lopez when they matched up head-to-head last season.

Rashad McCants has to be breathing a sigh of relief right now. He may still find himself as the odd man out with the addition of Miller, but his dismissal would have been almost certain had to Wolves stuck with Mayo.

The Wolves also picked up a 6-11 Serbian center in the second round named Nikola Pekovic. ESPN’s Chad Ford says that he’s the “most dominant international player in the draft”, and since I haven’t been able to score tickets to any Serbian basketball games recently, I’ll have to take his word for it.

There are still some pieces left to put in place, most obviously being a better than mediocre point guard, but Kevin McHale has finally made the kind of earth-shaking deal that fans have been clamoring for for some time. Maybe he learned a little something from the last time he tried to build the franchise around the team’s power forward and will have better luck with it a second time around.

It’s about time, Clear Channel.  KFAN was the radio home of the Wolves for the first 17 seasons of the franchise’s existence.  I loved listening to Chad Hartman and Billy McKinney call games back in the glory days of the Wolves when the franchise making the playoffs was more than a punchline on The Common Man Progrum.  Instead of spotty reception from a country station of all things that is based in Princeton, MN, Wolves fans in the metro will once again be able to hear the games loud and clear on the AM dial.

Unfortunately, it looks like Chad Hartman won’t be back as the play-by-play man, but McKinney will still offer his insight along with Alan Horton.  Earlier today on the FAN, Sludge and Lake filled in for Dan Cole and played some classic McKinney sound bites that reminded me of the kind of entertainment I’ve been missing out on.  Those of us in the metro who were out of “The Bob’s” range could still listen online through NBA.com, but when you’re driving around in a car or doing something else to distract you from the frigid cold of Minnesota winters, it’s not always convenient to listen online.

As far as I know, KFAN has yet to announce if they will bring back “Wolves After Dark”, the post-game show to break down all of the action, and until the Wolves put a better product out on the floor I don’t see why they would.  If they do decide to put After Dark back on the air, however, you can’t go wrong with the rock solid analysis of Trent Tucker and Dave Sinykin or the always entertaining Sludge and Lake.

More Draft Speculation

With the draft just a few weeks away now, rumors have started swirling about what the Wolves will decide to do with their third overall pick.  Apparently Pat Riley and the people down in Miami are considering going against conventional wisdom and taking either O.J. Mayo or Brook Lopez instead of Beasley/Rose.  If that were the case it would mean the Wolves can get one of the top two players in the draft (according the the experts, anyways), without having to trade up.

Another scenario that hasn’t been talked about very much is if the Wolves were to trade down.  They already have an extra second round pick from the Heat, and there might be a team out there willing to give up some more picks for the #3 selection.  The only problem is that with the dropoff after Beasley and Rose, the third pick isn’t nearly as attractive in this year’s draft as it has been in other years.

Whatever transpires, I wouldn’t be surprised if Kevin McHale ends up getting fleeced once again one way or another.  That just seems to be the way things have gone for the franchise recently.

Now the speculation starts, and it was already rampant on ESPN Radio last night and today on unwatchable shows like First and Ten.  The story of the draft is the Bulls, a statistical long-shot to get the first pick, moving all the way up from the 10th spot to capture the number one overall selection, but the sub-heading of that story focuses around who will go first and who will go second.  At this point, it’s pretty much a given that Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose are going to be the first two players selected, and the only thing that remains to be seen is which team selects them.  The Bulls already have Kirk Hinrich, meaning they are the more likely team to take Michael Beasley, and you can bet the Heat will be happy to have Derrick Rose fall into their lap.  If the Bulls opt to take Rose, the Heat will gladly take Beasley to compliment Wade and Shawn Marion.

So where does that put the Wolves?  Virtually all mock drafts I’ve seen (which isn’t many since I hate mock drafts) have Brook Lopez, the center out of Stanford going at number 3 to the Wolves.  Lopez put up good numbers last year, scoring 19 points per game and averaging 8.1 rebounds, but Lopez’ performance in college shouldn’t be entirely what Wolves management bases their decision on.  They have to sit down with Lopez, get an idea of whether he has his head on straight or not, and then decide if he’ll be able to make the transition from the college game to the pro game from a mental standpoint.  The knock on Lopez has been his lack of “basketball IQ”, and although that means he might find himself right at home in the Timberwolves franchise, it could be something that prevents him from being even a serviceable big man in the future.

The player whose future in Minnesota may be affected most by the drafting of Lopez could be Ryan Gomes.  This is looking down the road a little bit, but if Lopez becomes the Wolves everyday center, that will mean Al Jefferson has been moved to the power forward spot - Ryan Gomes’ spot.   A possible lineup could look like this:

C - Brook Lopez

PF -  Al Jefferson

SF - Corey Brewer

SG - Rashad McCants/Randy Foye

PG - Sebastian Telfair/Foye

The only spots really up for grab in that scenario are the point guard and shooting guard positions.  Point guard has been a position that the Wolves have been looking to fill for years now, but unfortunately, the consensus best point guard in the draft will almost surely be gone by the time the Wolves make a selection.  They could opt to go with either O.J. Mayo or Eric Gordon, hoping that whichever player they take can assume a sort of hybrid role on the team by getting some time at both PG and SG, but few players come to mind that had the ability to play multiple positions consistently well.

The bottom line here is that one player, whether it be Lopez, Mayo, Gordon, or even Beasley/Rose should they fall to three, will immediately turn the franchise around.  There is no LeBron James in this year’s draft, no Michael Jordan.  There won’t be a quick fix type of player that I can foresee, and it’s going to take some time for these guys to develop and really make an impact on the league, particularly with Lopez.  He’s big, but he isn’t very quick, and with only two years of playing experience in college, the adjustment period could take even longer with the big man from California.  A team’s ability to mold their rookies into NBA talents is one of the most important parts of the drafting process, and if the Wolves track record is any indication, they’re going to need more than Brook Lopez to be a contender on any level.

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.

It was fan appreciation night at Target Center, and the first 5,000 fans were given an authentic “Al Jefferson Coin Bank”, a keepsake I would proudly display on a mantle somewhere for years to come. Wait, the first 5,000 fans? So basically, if you bothered to show up at all, you got a coin bank. Okay, that’s an exaggeration; the arena wasn’t completely empty, and plus, we’ve all become used to the blue seats interspersed between the crowd.

If you’re Randy Foye, you have to feel satisfied with the way the season ended. There was definitely some adjustment for the second year player after returning from the knee injury and even more when he had to take over at starting point guard after Telfair went down, but the good news is that Foye seemed to keep improving as the season progressed, and his scoring numbers consistently went up. In the month of April, Foye averaged 18.4 points and 5.2 assists per game. If he can produce at that level for the majority of a season, that would just be icing on the cake - I expect Foye’s points per game to go up a little from this season’s 13.1, but no higher than around 18.

When his game gets going, he can attack the defense with his perimeter shooting and dribble drive and be an above average player offensively, but his problem, like everyone on the Wolves minus Al Jefferson, was consistency. When Foye first returned to action, his shot was expectedly rusty. I’d like to see him shoot for a little bit higher percentage than 42.9, something he was able to accomplish in April at .456.

To cap it all off, Randy closed out the regular season with one of his best performances, a 32 point, 4 assist game in which he shot 4-5 from downtown and 13-18 from the field. Even more encouraging, the majority of his makes were from just inside the arc or at the foul line extended, and he was able to step up for his team in overtime.

After the T’Wolves rallied from being down 16 early in the third quarter and made it 74-69 going into the final period, they eventually tied the game and managed to exchange buckets with the Bucks until the final 30 seconds when Corey Brewer stepped up and hit two clutch free throws to tie the game. Milwaukee turned the ball over on their final possession to send the game to overtime.

Once OT started, it was all about Foye. He hit threes on back to back possessions and had two more buckets for a 10 point overtime effort. Were this game in Milwaukee, the outcome may have been different, but the Wolves were at home and benefited from having those who stuck around until the end providing some fuel for the fire. They finished with a 15-26 record at home and a horrendous 7-34 record on the road, just a game ahead of the Heat’s 6-35 road record for worst in the NBA.

Ironically, the team’s best performer, Big Al, was very quiet in the season’s final game. He still had a double-double with 13 points and 11 boards, but his presence in the paint that we have been accustomed to seeing was not there. I’m not dogging his effort by any means, and besides, he only played 30 minutes as Coach Wittman gave more playing time to Michael Doleac, Mark Madsen, and Chris Richard.

The Wolves will now enter what is one of the franchise’s more important offseasons in a while.  For those of you who just can’t get enough Wolves Watch (and I’m sure there are many of you), I’ll have my full review of the season up within a few days.

While the Pistons will be using the full compliment of their bench, the Wolves will still be using the same rotation they have gone with for the majority of the season. Their most recent starting five has been Foye, Jaric, Snyder, Gomes, and Jefferson with Brewer, McCants, and Richard and Smith coming off the bench, and Coach Wittman will likely go with the same look tonight.  That is with the exception of Smith who is going to miss the rest of the season with a collarbone injury.

The Wolves have to feel like they don’t have much to play for at this point, but they should be used to this type of game. Neither team will really benefit from winning - in fact, the Wolves would really benefit from a loss as I wrote about yesterday. It was the same story when the Wolves played Orlando and Memphis in their last two games. Orlando’s spot in the playoffs is secured, and Memphis, like Minnesota, is playing for ping-pong balls.

The lack of interest in games like this is a problem that arises in all sports. It happens to a lesser degree in the NFL with a shorter schedule, but this Wolves-Pistons matchup is comparable to Green Bay vs. Detroit or Carolina vs. Tampa Bay in week 17 of last year’s NFL season - one team has sealed their playoff fate while the other is playing for pride. The number of playoff spots in the NBA as opposed to MLB helps somewhat with the meaningless factor, but games like this one are inevitable.

Although it may be one of the lowest rated games in Timberwolves history, it’s the second to last game for the Wolves, meaning the end is near. What this game boils down to is a forgettable game in a season that Wolves fans would like to forget ever happened. Rebuilding a franchise is always hard on the fan base, but it’s especially tough when it means losing the most beloved figure in team history.

20 games or so ago, I would have argued that there was no need to tank games. We needed to get an idea of what our team next year is going to look like, and for a guy like Randy Foye that has missed half the season, every minute of game time should count.  At this point, however, it seems logical to drop the final two games of the season for draft positioning.

Back in March when the whole tanking games thing starts coming into play, nobody knew exactly how many losses it would take to have the worst record in the league.  Now, with just a game separating the Grizzlies and the Wolves, it could be advantageous for Minnesota to lose their final two games.  Nobody’s going to catch the Heat, and the Sonics have just one game left, meaning the best record they could finish with is 20-62, which the Wolves have already topped.  It’s going to come down to the Grizz and the Wolves, and with the Knicks playing the Celtics and Pacers in their final two games, they’re still in the mix for 3rd worst record.

Unfortunately, the Wolves just beat the Grizz on Saturday, moving themselves further ahead of Memphis for the 2008 ping-pong-o-thon.  The Grizzlies final two games are against Portland and Denver - both will probably end up in losses for Memphis, especially if Denver hasn’t clinched the playoffs by then and they need a win to get in.

It’s sad to be talking about draft positioning at the same time the top teams are concerned with playoff positioning, but that’s where we find ourselves.  The Wolves play the Pistons on Tuesday night followed by the season finale against Milwaukee on Wednesday.  You never want to see your team give up, but losing these two wouldn’t be the end of the world.

Carmelo gets busted

ESPN is reporting that Carmelo Anthony was arrested for a DUI early Monday morning on Interstate 25.  Not only is this bad timing for Carmelo, it’s bad timing for his team.  They just eclipsed Golden State for the 8th spot in the playoffs, and they have a chance to clinch that final spot on Wednesday.

There seems to be a pattern evolving with Carmelo here.  There was the brawl in The Garden last year, he was pulled over for driving 25 mph over the speed limit in February, and now this arrest.  The Nuggets have to be concerned with their star player’s trouble’s with the league and the law, but let’s face it: they’ll be more than willing to put up with the occasional headache for the production that Anthony gives them on the court.  With Allen Iverson, they still have a top-flite scoring presence, but Carmelo is still the top dog.  That may be a cynical view, but I think most franchises have a certain amount of leniency with their best players in situations like this.

As happens with most altercations between athletes and law enforcement, this will probably be swept under the rug and most people will forget about it by the end of the playoffs if the Nuggets get in.  Is that right?  While the NBA has cleaned up its image somewhat since the Malice in the Palace, I think the “thug” image still lingers among most casual fans.  Not to say that that’s an accurate portrayal of the majority of NBA players, but guys that get themselves into trouble perpetuate it.  There has to be some accountability within the locker room to stay within the boundaries of not just NBA rules but also societal norms.  You don’t jump into the stands of a crowded stadium and attack somebody you think threw beer at you.  I realize this all sounds preachy and self-righteous, but it’s clearly a problem the NBA has addressed with the dress code, longer suspenions, etc.

I mean sure, we all make mistakes, but why can’t Carmelo afford a chauffeur?