SB Nation - Corey Brewer

Preposterous Statements

Stop-n-Pop — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:45:35 -0000

For those of you who are fans of the noon to three program on KFAN you are probably aware of the (in)famous preposterous statement contest where the host and the interim producer gather the silliest and most over-the-top statements from the world of sports and then run them off against each other in a winner-take-all tourney for preposterous statement champion of the world.

During yesterday's pro'grum they added the following statement (from a caller): "If [the Wolves] add a good shooting guard and a center, they'd be a .500 team."

There are two angles to this statement. On one hand, the idea the Wolves are two competent players away from being a .500 team isn't all that far out of an idea. In fact, we here at Hoopus have said over and over that the Wolves need to add a wing player like Rudy Gay and an athletic big like Joakim Noah or Jason Thompson in order to take the next step before hoping that the Sessions/Rubio/Flynn/(Wall?) battle can play itself out at the point.

On the other hand, the idea that the few remaining Wolves fans are in a position to talk excitedly about the addition of 2 more competent players in order to make it to an even split in their record is...well, that's kind of preposterous. It's really preposterous.

What is also preposterous is trying to draw any conclusions about this team from any single game of action. After performing like up-tempo gangbusters against the talented Utah Jazz, the Wolves came out an laid a preposterous egg against the Clips. This team is a whole lot of hit and (mostly) miss right now and if I had to pick one or two angles that would determine whether or not they will win, it would be the play of Jonny Flynn and the nondescript wings. Against Utah, Corey Brewer and Jonny Flynn went off and the team was able to compete. Against the Clips, not so much.

OK, that in mind, and with clear understanding that there are no grand themes you can take away from any of these games other than that Minny is out manned by a mile, let's get around to last night's tilt. It was notable for three reasons:

Effort. Last night the Wolves played like dogs. With OKC/Dallas and Sacramento/Washington on ESPN, there were plenty of other entertaining NBA viewing options last night and yours truly took full advantage of the remote in order to see them. Again, I don't think this effort is indicative of a larger trend (i.e. a team that quits); rather, it was simply a bad night in terms of effort and focus. Who should be blamed for this? Ultimately, the coaching staff but that doesn't really matter. What matters is that I found it pretty damn easy to flip the channel to watch the Thunder and Kings, two teams that were worse than the 2008/09 Wolves and who are now both hugely watchable, entertaining, and competitive. I think the Wolves are filled to the brim with a bunch of fine outstanding citizens who I really want to see succeed (for example: Brewer and Gomes) but ultimately there is a line that I'm not going to cross in terms of watching a bad product. Last night's game was a bad product. Too many blank stares and possessions with no ball movement. The Wolves had a chance to cut the lead below 10 with a few minutes to go in the 3rd. Instead of moving the ball around and attacking the paint like they were in the first quarter and a half of play, they ended the possession with two soul-sucking Al Jefferson 15 foot jump shots that book-ended an offensive rebound to keep the play alive. Each time he got the ball during this stretch, Big Al grinded the possession to a halt, faced his defender, and moseyed around a bit before jacking up a mid range jumper on a night where he wasn't shooting well. During the first quarter and a half, the ball was moving, players were driving and kicking, and the Wolves were scoring in transition. At somewhere during the middle of the 2nd quarter, it seemed like a switch went off and ball movement went out the window.
Shooting. A byproduct of bad ball movement and poor effort was a mountain of long and mid range jumpers from a squad that doesn't have any good shooters. The Wolves ended the game with an eFG of 39%. If you throw out Kevin Love's 7-12 effort, they only posted a 35% eFG while going 0-9 from beyond the arc. It's not just that the Wolves were taking long and mid range jumpers, it's that they were taking contested long and mid range jumpers without making attempts to turn their bad look into something better for a teammate. Again, effort contributed to the poor shooting and it led to many a click over to the Dallas/OKC game where I was almost blinded by the awful orange shoes of the Thunder.
Weak side defense. Ouch. I can't remember how many times during the game where I watched a Clipper player (usually Baron Davis) dribble to the corner, get doubled, and then kick the ball across the court for an open shot and/or drive. It wasn't just that the Wolves were doubling a guy they should have been begging to shoot, it was that the other three puppies on the court seemed hell-bent on drifting towards the double-team, further opening up the weak side of the court. I'm not the only person to notice this:

Minnesota has no orientation whatsoever to their defense. Like a lot of young units, the Wolves’ off-ball defenders overplay the strong side. There are moments when Baron is trapped in the right corner with two other defenders cheating that way (2nd, 3:50). Smart teams beg Baron to shoot from that distance, but for some reason the Wolves think they can beat the Clips by pressuring Davis. This dynamic is one reason Rasual Butler is able to find as many clean looks as he does against Wayne Ellington and Corey Brewer in the second quarter, and why the Clips are able to reverse the ball for easy shots at will.

It was also noticed by the coaching staff:

"Our weakside defense was awful. It was absolutely awful. We were unattentive, we didn't anticipate, we didn't read. Very poor," Rambis said. "We didn't root guys off the post, didn't try to deny post opportunities, and our double teams were sporadic. Getting to cutters, rotating to shooters, the whole thing collapsed. That was a disappointment."

It was atrocious. Aggressive double teaming is one thing, having the other guys on the floor getting locked in on the double team and drifting towards it is another. Again, this is another example of poor effort and a lack of concentration. The Wolves really blew it last night. They had a chance to put together their first winning streak of the season against a below average Clipper squad at home. Instead of taking advantage of an opportunity to (relatively) raise the roof and give their hometown fans something to be excited about, they laid an egg and made them turn the channel. Now that's preposterous.

GameFlow can be found here. Four Factors if you care:

	Pace	Eff	eFG	FT/FG	OREB%	TOr
LA Clippers	98.0	122.4	57.8%	17.8	31.0	10.2
Minnesota		96.9	39.0%	26.4	28.6	12.2

You may notice that today's post was led off with a picture of a Sacramento Monarch. That woman's name is Rebekkah Brunson. She is the 6'3" former All Star forward taken by the Lynx with the 2nd pick in the WNBA dispersal draft. She has a career 18.5 reb% and last year she put up a PER of 19.1. While the Wolves are busy putting up dud efforts on nights where they should be giving their equivalent of a playoff effort, the Lynx are busy putting together one of the best young rosters in all of professional basketball. Is it too late to put Roger Griffith in charge of the Wolves? if you are a fan of great basketball, the best basketball in town for the next few years will indeed be played in the Target Center...by the Lynx. They are putting together a championship caliber squad. Here's hoping David Kahn can follow suit with the guys in the men's locker room.

Gators Fans: Guilty By Association

aramnath — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:53:10 -0000

More photos » by John Amis - AP

This was taken before Tebow burst into tears and college football fans around the country rejoiced. (AP Photo/John Amis)

Browse more photos »

To be honest I haven't met too many Gators fans and the ones I have met seemed nice enough. I know a few people that went down to Orlando for the Capital One Bowl a couple of years ago for the Michigan-Florida match-up and said they had a great time and that for the most part Gators fans treated them well.

The reason most college sports fans hate the Florida Gators has little to do with their fans and more about the combination of their amazing recent success in football and men's basketball and two of the most nauseatingly hyped up college athletes in recent memory; Tim Tebow and Joakim Noah.

I respect that Tebow's a great guy and is one of the great college players of all-time, but I could have done without the close-ups of him during every game followed up by announcers inevitably spending 25 minutes talking about how he's such a winner, how intense he is and how there's never been a leader like him. Then he had that speech after Ole Miss ran the Gators at the Swamp last year and that was probably the most overplayed segment in the history of sports. To sum it up imagine every single reason you hate hearing about Brett Favre (i.e. he's a kid out there, he just loves playing, he's a gunslinger etc.) and now you understand why everybody but Gators fans were ecstatic when Alabama stomped on you in this year's SEC Championship and we got to see Tebow cry.

While I think most of the vitriol towards the Gators related to Tebow stems from the non-stop media coverage of the guy more than anything he ever did, Joakim Noah is a completely different case. Noah's middle-school antics, the fact that we had to hear about his energy and hustle non-stop during two national championship runs when he wasn't even the best player his team was more than I could bare.

This guy was an absolute clown what made it worse was how ESPN and the media ate this shit up. It was as if we were witnessing the de-evolution of mankind in front of our eyes and it was being celebrated and praised as if it was something we should all strive for. It was bad enough that Florida won back-to-back national championships , but couldn't they have had Al Horford or somebody more human and likeable receive the accolades and attention?

There's unbridled joy and raw emotion, like Mark Ingram's Heisman speech and then there's that. The fact that he looks like Sideshow Bob is bad enough, but when you combine it with behavior more often found in our relatives in the ape family it becomes unbearable. I mean when you can't respond normally during interviews it really makes it hard for anybody to be able to relate to you.

Gators fans take heart in the fact that almost every other college wishes they could duplicate the success you've had in the latter part of this decade in capturing a pair of national titles in football and men's basketball. I can tell you that my sporting experience is no match for that, but please don't chalk up the hate for your school to plain, old jealousy. We wish we could win like you guys did, but that's not the main reason we hate you. You have Tebow, Noah and the media that transformed them into cult figures to thank for that.

Poll

Which Gator do you dislike most?

Congratulations Utah!!!

Stop-n-Pop — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 04:46:03 -0000

You are now responsible for 1/2 of the Wolves' victories. Well done. A zombie dance for you.

Game wrap in a bit.

UPDATE: Game wrap below the fold.

The Jazz are an interesting team. On one hand, they have some thoroughly non-enjoyable/unlikable talent. Carlos Boozer is a Dookie in preparation for leaving a 2nd team in his wake, Kyle Korver is a silly Iowegan, and Jerry Sloan will continue to coach as if the league were still in the midst of a coked-out pre-80s haze. On the other hand, they have the player I consider to be the best and most entertaining point guard in the game: Deron Williams. As much as I cannot stand to watch a backstabbing Dookie, Coach Cleaver, and the most annoying fellow Creighton Jayhawk in the world, there is no player I enjoy watching more when he is "on" than the former Illini point.

A couple of games ago the Wolves' TV crew ran a poll about who they thought was the best point guard in the game. I can't remember who they ended up picking, but for my money's worth, if I'm putting together a squad to win it all, here are my top 3 picks at the point: Williams, Rajon Rondo, and Tony Parker. Williams, to me, is the greatest surgeon in the game. He's not as flashy as Chris Paul or Steve Nash but he's physically dominant for his position with a balanced game that picks apart his opponent with precision and consistency. From the line, from mid-range, from beyond the arc, in transition, in 1/2 court...the guy does it all. He was playing out of the post of several key possessions in the 4th quarter and it baffles me that Sloan didn't ride that horse hard. Plus, when the game is on the line and time is running off the clock in a must-win playoff game, he can get his shot off in traffic, which is an amazingly important trait that some possess while others do not. Sorry CP3, I want D-Will for that possession.

Anywho, the first thing that should be pointed out about last night's tilt was that Williams was the best player on the court and it wasn't even close. He shot the lights out from the floor, got to the line a ton, dished out 13 assists, and...well, (robot voice on) Jerry Sloan is a fantastic coach and he knows exactly how to use Mr. Williams (robot voice off).

OK, now that we've talked about Utah's point guard, let's take a few minutes to gab about Jonny Flynn. Flynn undoubtedly shows flashes of brilliance. His quickness is world class and while he still needs to learn a thing or two about running a pro offense, his court vision is top shelf. His outside shot is surprisingly serviceable and should he ever develop an ability to dish off of the drive, he'll be damn near unguardable. That being said, the flashes of brilliance are accompanied by stretches of outright boobery. The CP3 inbounds boner in the NOLA game stands out over anything else but he is also guilty of overdribbling, going too much to his right, and inexcusably holding the ball when it is rotated his way on a nightly basis. Adding to our T-Wolves dictionary (first addition: Brewsist) is the Jonny Stop: The way in which a freely moving ball is stopped by an ultra-quick lead guard who uses the opportunity to survey the court and negate his greatest strength, his speed.

Watching Flynn play the point you can practically see his High School/AAU/Syracuse coaching play out in a motion picture thought bubble above his head. This kid has been the dominant lead guard for so long, and he has played for so long against such relatively inferior competition, that his first instinct in close games and/or highly leveraged situations is to do what he has always done: Be the be-all/end-all of ball movement and end the damn possession for his team. At Niagra Falls High, NY AAU, and Syracuse, his speed alone was enough to get the job done. No need for setting up teammates. No need for creating angles. No need for worrying about the shot clock. When the heat was on, it was Jonny, the ball, and his defender. This kind of nonsense will not fly in the NBA for a player like Flynn. He's not that quick. Maybe it will have its time and place in a few years when he gets the benefit of the whistle and learns how to better incorporate his teammates, but not now. While Flynn ended the contest with a career high in points while shooting the lights out from beyond the arc, he stunted several key possessions with the Jonny Stop. Also, while I'm very, very happy that he made the game winning shot, I think I suffered a Randy Foye flashback with the kamikaze drive down the right side of the lane. At least he didn't try and bank it off the shot clock.

Let's wrap this up with some bullet points.

Should the Wolves have lost, Kevin Love and Damien Wilkins would have been my choices for goats of the game. There is no dumber shot in all of basketballdom than the foot-on-the-line 3. There is no excuse for it. It has all the risk of a 3 pointer with none of the reward. Dumb, dumb, dumb, and more dumb. Love and Wilkins both made toe-on-the-line 2 pointers.
While Flynn took some heat earlier this season for an ill-conceived behind-the-back pass attempt, he and Love ran the behind-the-back pick-and-roll twice in the last two minutes of the game and it netted them two wide open three point attempts. It's really not a flashy play and it has the potential to be a nice addition to the offense. I want to see a lot more of the middle pick and roll with Love and Flynn.
The star of the game has to go to Corey Brewer. There were a few points in the game where Brewer reverted to the holy-crap-he's-everywhere kind of player that we got kind of excited about a few weeks ago. He was dunking, sticking shots, rebounding, and holding people up on defense all night long. It really is amazing how different this team looks with competent wing play. Imagine if they had some outside shooting to go along with the competent wing play. Paging Rudy Gay.
If the flash went to Flynn and the star went to Brewer, the workhorse award goes to Big Al Jefferson. The guy is really starting to return to form and he played the role of the bruising running back, grinding out short yardage situation after short yardage situation in order to keep drives alive and his team in the game. This site has been home to a long standing debate over the relative worth of Jefferson and Kevin Love for about 2 years now and my current thoughts on the duo are this: The problem with the Wolves is not Al Jefferson and Kevin Love. Neither has the advantage of playing with a consistently competent wing player or an outside shooter worth his salt. Neither has the advantage of playing with a group of properly-sized perimeter players. There is nothing wrong with having 1 or 2 undersized players in your rotation provided that you surround them with athleticism and length. Al and Love have complimentary skills and they are obscenely skilled on the offensive end of the court. My take on the pairing is that they are still in need of a Joakim Noah/Jason Thompson 3rd wheel and a pair of athletic slashers on the wing. I have been saying this since before Love came aboard. In the front court I want the aforementioned Noah/Thompson type and on the wing I have opined for, in order, Josh Smith, Trevor Ariza, and Rudy Gay. This team can put it together with some competent wing play and for either Flynn or Ricky Rubio to work out at the point...or for John Wall to land at the doorstep of 600 First Avenue. Wings, an athletic backup big, and hashing out the point guard situation, these are the things that need to be worried about before talking about whether or not Love and Jefferson can play together. Rudy Gay, Rudy Gay, Rudy Gay. Please, get 'r done. It has been obvious for over 2 years.

OK, that does it for tonight's wrap. We'll have a very cool announcement on the site tomorrow and then I'll follow that up with a post on the Lynx's choice in the supplemental draft, Rebekkah Brunson.

PS: If you really want to know why the Wolves won, it was because they collected a very large number of their misses:

	Pace	Eff	eFG	FT/FG	OREB%	TOr
Minnesota	98.0	112.2	52.4%	27.7	32.6	15.3
Utah		110.2	53.7%	25.9	17.1	12.2

When you have an eFG of over 50% and you are collecting a 1/3 of your misses, life is good. This is another reason why you don't want to monkey with the Love/Jefferson duo. If you surround them with competent perimeter players, they will destroy the boards. BTW: We need to come up with a Wolves Dictionary term for when Love grabs an offensive rebound in between 3-4 defenders.

Corey Brewer Throws It Down

mlmintampa — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:11:38 -0000

Throw it down young man!

Alternate Realities in the Timberwolves' Universe

wyn — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:33:02 -0000

"Every man on that transport died! Harry wasn't there to save them, because you weren't there to save Harry." - Clarence the Angel

Now that Thanksgiving's over, it's ok to put up your Christmas lights (or winter decorations for any holiday you celebrate). In my family, it also means watching It's a Wonderful Life. If you hate America and therefore haven't seen it you can watch the whole thing here. Suffice to say that George Bailey is a man who runs into serious money problems and decides to jump off a bridge. But instead of plummeting to his death, Bailey is saved by Clarence the Angel. Clarence then does George a "solid" by showing him the world as if it had never been graced by George's presence.

Like Mr. Bailey, Wolves General Manager David Kahn has gotten some people angry with him as the team's 1-15 start has been softened only slightly by the recent win in Denver. After all, Kahn is the man responsible for acquiring 2/3 of the players on this year's roster. The criticism of Kahn includes, implicitly or explicitly, the assertion that the Wolves would be better off without some or all of the moves he made.

So to get us in the holiday spirit, let's consider life for the Timberwolves had this summer gone differently (whether David Kahn exists or not is immaterial at this point, so the tie-in to It's a Wonderful Life weakens... let's just move one).

What follows are scenarios of varying plausibility with the corresponding win shares (defined here) and contract commitments (see here for details on options and such).

Thanks, as always, to Basketball-Reference.com for being the best stats site for the NBA. And for more Wolves What Ifs, check out Mike's recent post at TWolvesBlog. Thanks to Mike for getting me to finish my earlier draft of this post.

[EDIT: Not sure why I had the record wrong, thanks commenters.]

Before diving into rampant speculation, it's worth talking a bit about what they're based on: win shares. Did you read the linked explanation? If you're unfamiliar with win shares, do it. The biggest caveat mentioned in that article is attributing team success to individual players doesn't necessarily work. This is an obvious problem in the scenarios below, as Shelden Williams is one of the biggest win producers. Do you think Williams earned his 1.2 wins all by his lonesome, or is it possible Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, Rasheed Wallace and Kendrick Perkins might help Williams' win share production? Right. Likewise, Corey Brewer's -0.3 win shares could be explained largely by his logging the most minutes on a team with only two wins, or it could be that the team only has two wins because Corey's playing so much. Such is the nature of win shares.

Current Roster

Here we sit after a whirlwind offseason, a couple quality players worth building around, some expiring contracts, some future picks, the rights to Ricky Rubio, and 2 measly wins. The future's bright, but the present is a complete downer.

Al Jefferson	0.7	$12,000,000	$13,000,000	$14,000,000	$15,000,000
Ramon Sessions	0.5	$3,670,667	$3,964,320	$4,257,974	$4,970,000
Ryan Gomes	0.4	$3,867,500	$4,235,000	$4,602,500	$4,970,000
Nathan Jawai	0.3	$736,420
Oleksiy Pecherov	0.3	$1,547,640
Ryan Hollins	0.3	$2,183,333	$2,333,333	$2,483,333
Brian Cardinal	0.1	$6,750,000
Damien Wilkins	0.1	$3,630,000
Jason Hart	0.0	$825,497
Jonny Flynn	-0.1	$2,969,280	$3,192,000	$3,414,720	$4,329,865	RFA
Corey Brewer	-0.3	$2,916,120	$3,703,472	RFA
Sasha Pavlovic	-0.3	$1,500,000
Wayne Ellington	-0.4	$1,003,560	$1,078,800	$1,154,040	$2,083,042	RFA
Kevin Love	n/a	$3,401,040	$3,638,280	$4,609,701	RFA
Mark Blount	n/a	$7,967,375
(Antonio Daniels)	n/a	$5,863,580
(Chucky Atkins)	n/a	$760,000
Total	1.6	$61,592,012	$35,145,206	$34,522,268	$30,934,534	$0

Alternate Universe 1

The trades with Washington or the LA Clippers never happened, nor was Ty Lawson traded to Denver. The the same picks at #6, #18 and #28 were made. In free agency the Wolves held on to Shelden Williams, Kevin Ollie, and Rodney Carney, but let Jason Collins walk. Facing roster glut, Bobby Brown and Mark Madsen were cut. This was in spite of Brown's superior performance to Corey Brewer and Wayne Ellington thus far due to financial commitments.

Shelden Williams	1.2	$825,497
Ty Lawson	1.0	$1,438,680	$1,546,560	$1,654,440	$2,544,529	RFA
Mike Miller	0.9	$9,780,937
Craig Smith	0.8	$2,300,000
Al Jefferson	0.7	$12,000,000	$13,000,000	$14,000,000	$15,000,000
Ryan Gomes	0.4	$3,867,500	$4,235,000	$4,602,500	$4,970,000
Kevin Ollie	0.4	$825,497
Rodney Carney	0.4	$825,497
Sebastian Telfair	0.4	$2,500,000	$2,700,000
Randy Foye	0.2	$3,575,761	RFA
Brian Cardinal	0.1	$6,750,000
Jonny Flynn	-0.1	$2,969,280	$3,192,000	$3,414,720	$4,329,865	RFA
Corey Brewer	-0.3	$2,916,120	$3,703,472	RFA
Wayne Ellington	-0.4	$1,003,560	$1,078,800	$1,154,040	$2,083,042	RFA
Kevin Love	n/a	$3,401,040	$3,638,280	$4,609,701	RFA
(Mark Madsen)	n/a	$2,840,000
(Bobby Brown)	n/a	$736,420
Total	5.7	$58,555,789	$33,094,112	$29,435,401	$28,927,436	$0

Maintaining last year's roster may have improved the team's record to 6-11, but the franchise won't be players in next year's free agency bonanza (unless they let Miller, Smith, Foye and others walk for nothing) and there are four players (Ollie, Flynn, Lawson and Telfair) who require minutes at the point. They also don't have Ricky Rubio's rights and you may notice that they're actually committed less salary in this scenario than in reality. It's not a huge improvement in the win column, but it's an improvement none the less and the future is still rather bright. But we can do better.

Alternate Universe 2

In this scenario, the trades with Washington, the Clippers or Denver still don't go down and the Wolves have draft magic that allow them to draft the player with the most win shares from amongst the pool of available players (with this method, their 2nd round picks would have been AJ Price and Lester Hudson. Each has a win share equal to Brian Cardinal and therefore wouldn't have improved this scenario). Free agency, as before, brings back Williams, Ollie and Carney and shuns Collins. Madsen and Brown are cut.

Brandon Jennings (#6)	1.4	$2,969,280	$3,192,000	$3,414,720	$4,329,865	RFA
Shelden Williams	1.2	$825,497
Ty Lawson (#18)	1.0	$1,438,680	$1,546,560	$1,654,440	$2,544,529	RFA
Mike Miller	0.9	$9,780,937
Craig Smith	0.8	$2,300,000
Al Jefferson	0.7	$12,000,000	$13,000,000	$14,000,000	$15,000,000
DeJuan Blair (#28)	0.7	$1,003,560	$1,078,800	$1,154,040	$2,083,042	RFA
Ryan Gomes	0.4	$3,867,500	$4,235,000	$4,602,500	$4,970,000
Kevin Ollie	0.4	$825,497
Rodney Carney	0.4	$825,497
Sebastian Telfair	0.4	$2,500,000	$2,700,000
Randy Foye	0.2	$3,575,761	RFA
Brian Cardinal	0.1	$6,750,000
Corey Brewer	-0.3	$2,916,120	$3,703,472	RFA
Kevin Love	n/a	$3,401,040	$3,638,280	$4,609,701	RFA
(Mark Madsen)	n/a	$2,840,000
(Bobby Brown)	n/a	$736,420
Total	8.3	$58,555,789	$33,094,112	$29,435,401	$28,927,436	$0

8.3 wins ain't too shabby, bringing the Wolves' to an 8-9 record. This scenario presents the same 2010 free agency problem as the previous one, but the future is a tad brighter with Jennings, Lawson and Blair instead of Flynn, Ellington and a future 1st. The point guard glut also still exists, merely swapping Jennings for Flynn. I know what you're thinking: we can do better. And you're right.

Alternate Universe 3

Corey Brewer's win share total of -0.3 is the worst among all players considered in this experiment, so forget his option and cut him. Ramon Sessions and Ryan Hollins, on the other hand, are in the top 14 in win shares for all of the considered players, so they're worth using the MLE on. Unfortunately, that means eating Brian Cardinal's salary, in addition to Madsen and Brown. But, hey, we're in this for wins, right?

Brandon Jennings (#6)	1.4	$2,969,280	$3,192,000	$3,414,720	$4,329,865	RFA
Shelden Williams	1.2	$825,497
Ty Lawson	1.0	$1,438,680	$1,546,560	$1,654,440	$2,544,529	RFA
Mike Miller	0.9	$9,780,937
Craig Smith	0.8	$2,300,000
Al Jefferson	0.7	$12,000,000	$13,000,000	$14,000,000	$15,000,000
DeJuan Blair (#28)	0.7	$1,003,560	$1,078,800	$1,154,040	$2,083,042	RFA
Ramon Sessions	0.5	$3,670,667	$3,964,320	$4,257,974	$4,970,000
Ryan Gomes	0.4	$3,867,500	$4,235,000	$4,602,500	$4,970,000
Kevin Ollie	0.4	$825,497
Rodney Carney	0.4	$825,497
Sebastian Telfair	0.4	$2,500,000	$2,700,000
Ryan Hollins	0.3	$2,183,333	$2,333,333	$2,483,333
Randy Foye	0.2	$3,575,761	RFA
Kevin Love	n/a	$3,401,040	$3,638,280	$4,609,701	RFA
(Brian Cardinal)	n/a	$6,750,000
(Corey Brewer)	n/a	$2,916,120
(Mark Madsen)	n/a	$2,840,000
(Bobby Brown)	n/a	$736,420
Total	9.3	$64,409,789	$35,688,293	$36,176,708	$33,897,436	$0

This is the most expensive of the scenarios and the 2010 free agency problem remains. In fact, the Wolves eat $9.6 million more than in the previous scenario and only gain 1 win (9-8). That's probably not something that would impress Glen Taylor or fans. And, stop me if you've heard this before, but the team's got Jennings, Lawson, Sessions, Ollie and Telfair seeking minutes at point guard. That is, at least, if you want to reap their win shares in the total.

These alternate realities may be attractive to fans concerned about the win column, since a 2-15 start does little to build excitement for the current season. But there are some fatal flaws in calling Kahn's summer a bust this. First, you probably noticed that picking the best player at each opportunity in the draft is highly unlikely. Moreover, it's far too early to determine which rookies were better picks. I've also pointed out the point guard glut that a reliance on win shares creates. Lastly, another flaw with the Win-share-way-back-machine Model (that's trademarked, by the way) arises from the depth chart: the sum of minutes needed by each player to achieve their win share is likely higher than minutes available.

Even if David Kahn had made what appear now to be the right moves, the Wolves would be about a .500 team, they'd be out of the 2010 free agency class, they wouldn't have the rights to Ricky Rubio, they wouldn't have enough minutes to go around to an unbalanced roster, and they look like a team whose peak is the Western Conference Semifinals.

If that doesn't make you feel better, go watch It's a Wonderful Life and curse that evil Mr. Potter.

Dealing with no hope

Stop-n-Pop — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 04:43:16 -0000

Take a good look at that picture. That's the view from the "Wolves Section" of the Scheel's store in Mankato. 4 shirts (one of them to be picked up by yours truly) surrounded by 5 Celtics shirts, 5 Lakers shirts, 5 Cavs shirts, and some Dwight Howard and Paul Pierce gear. I was out and about at 9 AM for some Black Friday craziness and I'm pretty sure I didn't miss out on the Wolves rush. What I did miss out on was the North Star rush. Check out the Stars' apparel rack:

If you look to the upper right portion of the picture you'll see that the old-school Stars logo shirts were picked through to the bone; with only smalls and XXLs still available at the same time the Wolves had XLs and Ls still available to anyone with some cash in their wallet. For those of you playing along at home, that's a fully stocked apparel stash for a team that doesn't exist compared to 4 shirts for a team that was supposed to play on ESPN tonight.

I say "tonight" because I'm writing the game wrap with 2 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter and the Wolves are flirting with a 30 point loss to the Suns on a game that was preempted for the OKC/Milwaukee tilt on national TV.

For those of you who missed out on the nationally televised game because FSN and Channel 45 didn't pick up the slack, you didn't miss anything. In fact, you may be better off not seeing what happened at the Target Center on Kurt Rambis Glasses Night. The only intrigue available to the home fans was wondering if and when Kevin Love would take off his Rambis glasses while sitting behind the Wolves' bench. Really, that's the only interesting thing about this game.

The only other interesting thing about the game was that the Suns announcing crew took shot after shot at the Wolves' front office for putting together a team that clearly can't compete at an NBA level right now. From quickies about Ricky Rubio to extended stories about how the Wolves were consistently out of position, perhaps it was a good thing that the Wolves weren't granted a national audience tonight. If they did have a spot on ESPN they may go from 4 shirts at Scheel's to 1 or 2.

Some highlights from the game: Robyn Lopez torching Al Jefferson in his first minutes of the season, Earl Clark showing all sorts of versatility, Goran Dragic getting a rebound/put-back against 2 Wolves front court players, Jonny Flynn being completely unable to run a professional offense, several mentions of the fact that the Wolves traded away 2 starters for a guy who may never play at the Target Center, and Corey Brewer missing all sorts of layups and close shots.

That's about it. There is nothing good to say about this game. There is nothing good to say about this team. Forget Brewer's effort and Ramon Sessions' ability to run something close to approaching an NBA offense, this team is unwatchable right now and I am more interested in watching the Thunder take apart the Bucks right now than I am in writing about a team that doesn't even have 5 shirts at my local sporting goods store.

We all knew this would be a bad year. We all knew there would be a pause before the flurry of using the team's considerable offseason assets. That being said, who knew it would be this bad? How can this squad, and its fans, continue at this pace? The Wolves are not even close to winning a game right now. How on earth can they use said considerable assets to put together a competitive team before they lose the increasingly obviously frustrated Al Jefferson? Love coming back will help but will it help enough to bridge the gap between the hopelessness Wolves fans currently feel right here and the now and the time where they may be competitive some time in the next...what, 2 or 3 years? This team is off of the Minny sports radar. Here in Mankato I have MSU hockey on the radio and Dr. Laura will take over when that game is finished. No one is going to the bar to watch this mess. No one is going to Scheel's to buy a shirt or a jersey (except for this guy right here). Where is this headed? What is the end game? This is unwatchable basketball. Wolves fans deserve more than this. Even the diehards. We deserve more than this. This is nonsense.

To be perfectly honest, I don't look forward to watching these games any more. I really don't look forward to writing about them. What am I supposed to write about? We all know the score right now: A complete lack of talent and a bunch of guys who don't appear to fit together. Sessions is a player. Jefferson is a player. Brewer is a player with 4 other players around him. Flynn looks like a chicken with his head cut off. Opposing announcers talking at length about how Ricky Rubio will never play here....what the hell?! Were the folks at www.firedavidkahn.com ahead of their time?

I'm sticking through this but it is increasingly becoming a chore just to pay attention to what is going on. I'm sure fellow diehards feel the same. I know they do. I get emails.

Whatever the case, the long and short of today's lesson is that I got to buy a single Wolves shirt on Black Friday and instead of finding a Wolves sweatshirt for my daughter I bought her a youth basketball for Christmas before we sat down and watched the Thunder vs. the Bucks. Forget the Wolves. I want her to be exposed to real basketball. When will we see real basketball again?

Until later.

Walking Backwards: Grizzlies beat Wolves 97-87

djturtleface — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:28:21 -0000

by Nikki Boertman - AP

about 1 month ago: Minnesota Timberwolves forward Corey Brewer, left, defends Memphis Grizzlies forward DeMarre Carroll, right, in the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Nikki Boertman)

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Tonight the Grizzlies beat the Minnesota Timberwolves at home in a bit of an ugly game, but a win is a win. The two young, losing teams were tied at half, but a respectable 3rd quarter put the game out of reach for the Timberwolves, who were consistently down by about ten points.

Marc Gasol played his heart out and grabbed some major stats on the game, but Sam Young was the game-changer. When Young was off, he was a ball-dominator who suppressed his teammates efforts. When Young was on, he broke upon the game with his aggressiveness.

The starters were effective, but played best in the lineup of Marcus Williams, Sam Young, Rudy Gay, DeMarre Carroll, and Marc Gasol. Rudy distributed a little bit tonight, getting 6 assists, albeit at the cost of 4 turnovers. O.J. Mayo played fine but did nothing memorable. Zach Randolph was in Isiah Thomas-mode tonight, starting out 0-7 from the field.

Rockness Monster: Gasol was 8-8 from the floor, the Grizzlies were +19 while he was on the court, he had 16 rebounds, and played great defense. Yes, he fouled out, but all that tells me is that he played hard on defense. And he dropped a three-pointer in the downtime after a foul call. Did I hear him shout, "Good."? Maybe.

Bitter Limon: Zach Randolph did very little playing against a frontcourt rotation of Ryan Hollins, Nathan Jawai, Oleksiy Pecherov, and Brian Cardinal, as in the Brian Cardinal of "The Brian Cardinal Contract" fame. He looked out of sync and was settling for the Zach Randolph turnaround way too often.

U-Turn: After a few really ugly outings games DeMarre and Sam Young finally put up a nice game. DeMarre still settles for jumpers too often, which should almost never happen, and Sam Young still thinks he's a star scorer. But tonight Carroll killed everyone on defense to make up for his shot selection, and Sam Young impacted the course of the game like a true blue sixth man.

Sleeping With the Enemy: Corey Brewer is starting to come into his own, which is a nice story after all he's been through. Dude moves like a snake and is a joy to watch, but he's got to control himself at times. After starting 6-7 by taking all the right shots, namely finishing and wide, wide open jumpers, he finished 7-19 and wasted too many Wolves possessions. Flynn didn't impress me; Gomes looked just acceptable, despite finishing with a nice line. Otherwise a completely uninteresting team without Love and Jefferson.

Not in the face!

Stop-n-Pop — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:58:53 -0000

More photos » by Jeff Chiu - AP

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OK, this is something of a game-wrap record for me. I'm writing this with the score 106-73 in favor of the 1-6 Warriors with roughly 1:50 left to go in the 3rd quarter. Hanny has just said something about the season not being about wins and losses and he's even moved on to the hustle award for the night.

When I fired up the post editor Golden State had an astounding 48% oReb rate: 11 offensive rebounds on 23 misses. Awesome? I know. Flash forwarding to Stephen Curry's buzzer-beating 3 pointer to end the 3rd quarter and this is what the Four Factors look like:

	Pace (Poss)	Eff	eFG	FT/FG	OREB%	TOr
Minnesota	105.4 (79)	97.5	47.8%	19.4	33.3	22.8
Golden State		140.5	61.1%	31.9	33.3	10.1

I suppose you could take something of a moral victory away from the fact that the Wolves have pulled even in the oReb% category but keep in mind that the Warriors have a significantly smaller number of misses to fool around with.

Let's try something different for tonight's post. Let's talk about the positives. First and foremost is Corey Brewer. Here's what True Hoop's Henry Abbott had to say about Brew after the Portland game:

In the last few weeks, I have heard Corey Brewer mentioned three or four times as the butt of jokes. It's getting to be time for that to stop. He and Andre Miller both dared each other to shoot all night, but Brewer did it with purpose -- and was an effective help defender helping to keep Roy (who had one of his worst games as a professional) at bay. He's no All-Star at this point, but there's no doubt he's vastly improved. He's among the team's leaders in steals, assists, blocks and free throws attempted -- and his defensive talents and efforts are constant and not to be overlooked. When he hits a couple of 3s, like last night, he's hard to miss.

In tonight's game, Brewer got out in transition, was disruptive in the open court, and for the first time I can remember he d'd up an opposing wing with superior size (Stephen Jackson) without getting physically abused. I know what I am about to write doesn't seem like a big deal, but for those of us who have watched the Wolves over the past 2+ years, it is: Corey Brewer is an NBA rotation player. For a while there his game was pretty dicey and I wasn't sure I would ever write that. Yet, there it is. Hooray!

Hey, look at that: Oleksiy Pecherov finally got into the game! Can he trigger a 28 point comeback? That would be a gigantic positive.

Another positive is that we got our first extended look at Jonny Flynn and Ramon Sessions in the same backcourt. We'll have to wait for the PopcornMachine GameFlow to really break it down, but I believe the tally from the first stint was a +2 against the similarly undersized Warrior backcourt.

Did the Warriors really have a 66-33 run? Sorry, I have to get back to the positives. AC Law is making his 3rd appearance of the year. Good for him. See, another positive.

OK...more positives. (crickets)

Let's have some random thoughts to bring this thing on home:

This game will hurt the ol' defensive efficency ranking. It will also hurt the less-mentioned Pride Index.
It seems that the preseason optimism concerning free throws was both short-lived and ill-conceived. Getting Kevin Love back will help a bit but this team is generating zero offense going at the rim. This is problematic when you are not a jump shooting squad. With just over 5 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter the Warriors have taken 4 more threes than the Wolves have FTAs.
The Wolves aren't a very good team but their offense has faaaarrrr outpaced their defense in terms of ineptitude. Here are their Four Factor stats heading into the GSW game:

Team Four Factors
	PACE	OFFENSE					DEFENSE
TYPE	POSS	EFF	eFG	TO	OREB%	FT/FG	EFF	eFG	TO	OREB%	FT/FG
STAT	94.3	96.8	45.1	16.2	27.2	17.0	106.8	49.6	17.6	29.2	24.6
RANK	9	27	27	18	9	29	16	18	8	27	15

This team simply can't put the little orange ball in the bucket. Again, when you can't get to the line when you are not a jump shooting team, this is a tad problematic.

OK, AC Law just got a breakaway dunk. Really?
Nathan Jawai followed up his career performance in garbage time against the Blazers by getting worked on the offensive glass by Anthony Randolph.

OK, that about does it. The score is now 129-89 with Anthony Randolph at the line. Corey Brewer is still the only player out there who looks like this bothers him enough to do something about it. The problem here is that there is far too much to do and Mr. Brewer lacks the tools to do a lot of it. There is no other way to put this one other than it is the most embarrassing and frustrating loss since Dwane Casey's Revenge last year against Dallas. Who doesn't remember that classic tilt in which Minnesota built a 29 point lead shortly after the half only to watch the Casey-led Mavs claw their way back to not just a win, but a win where Minnesota conceded a 5 point game with 45 seconds to go. I think Kevin McHale's post game comments were something along the lines of "our guys had had enough by that point."

It's now 144-99 and I'm going to bed.

Until later.

UPDATE: The FSN studio crew has just told me that the Wolves have equalled the worst loss in franchise history as well as the most points given up. Now that's a positive!! A record setting performance!! Who wants to talk about cap space!!??

Cap space and draft picks oh my!

Stop-n-Pop — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:55:36 -0000

More photos » by Don Ryan - AP

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The caption on this picture says that Jonny Flynn is battling Steve Blake and LaMarcus Aldridge during the first half of their game. In reality, Flynn had lost control of his dribble and simply fallen over in the lane, dropping the ball into the hands of a Portland defense who was willing and able to relieve him of possession. Such was the night for the Wolves. These are the sorts of contests where you really hope that the Wolves' coaching staff knows what they are doing because to the fan's naked eye, there really wasn't anything that went right. Nothing.

BTW: before you head below the jump, you should click here to read our newest feature: Money Talks with shrink.

We all knew this was going to be a long season. We all knew the Wolves weren't going to be world beaters. Most fans know that the Wolves have put themselves into a situation with a solid organizational future filled with cap space and draft picks. We know that the new coaching staff is installing a system with a high learning curve. We all know that being a Wolves fan in 2009/10 requires a load of patience.

All of that being written, there are some quarters, some halves, and some nights--even this early in the season--where even the most patient amongst us has to be wondering "what the hell?"

David Kahn started his tenure by priming the pump for an expectation of a two point guard system. He drafted a bunch of points, signed one more, and then hired a coach who won't put two points on the floor together. Al Jefferson, the team's highest scorer and best paid player, is looking completely hampered by injury and by a system that seems 100% not geared to utilize his talents. The team's best all-around player is out for 6-8 weeks with a broken hand and will probably take a few weeks to get back in the swing of things once he finally finds his way back onto the court.

I give this team about a 2% chance of finishing the season with its current roster. Something is going to give. Someone is going to get moved. This is a good thing. This team has a lot of assets and, by all accounts, they have a hard working VPBO who is willing to make the big deal. The problem for us fans is that the current product is...well, what are we supposed to feel about it on nights like the ones against Milwaukee and Portland? This team was blown up in the off season and it looks even more mismatched than last year's group. Yes, Jonny Flynn is intriguing. Yes, it looks like Kurt Rambis and his staff knows what they are doing, but can this franchise weather the storm of unwatchable ball with players who are likely not part of the long term plan? Who on this club can you be sure will be around in 2 months? Really, even Al Jefferson has to be put into question at this point. He looks like a square peg out there...a square peg who can't play defense and is 30 pounds more mismatched at the 5.

It's not that they're not playing hard. It's not that there aren't some things to be excited about, but...well, I don't think I really appreciated just how much Kahn's early dealing put this entire franchise into a state of flux and how that would affect my interest in what is going on out there on the court. I will watch the games because I love pro ball and the Wolves are my favorite team, but watching the squad against the Blazers I couldn't help but think that we're going to see about 10 more changes to this team in the next year and that I have more allegiance to what might happen than to whatever Pecherov, Wilkins, Cardinal based rotation we see run out on the floor. Jonny Flynn can put up 20 points a night but the most exciting thing about this club is still its cap space and draft picks. That's crazy. A lot of people have emailed me to ask me when I think the Wolves will "turn the corner". My answer to this is the moment we stop talking about draft picks and cap space for about 10 games in a row. For now, it's more entertaining to talk about things like whether or not Big Al is a fit or whether Ryan Gomes and Ramon Sessions will get traded before the end of the year. That's a bit more problematic than I thought it would be at the start of the season.

Getting around to the actual game, here's the Four Factors:

	Pace	Eff	eFG	FT/FG	OREB%	TOr
Minnesota	94.0	98.9	48.8%	14.5	21.3	16.0
Portland		123.4	54.3%	32.9	29.3	13.8

(UPDATE) The PopcornMachine GameFlow is available here. (UPDATE)

The most disappointing aspect of this particular game was a complete unwillingness of anyone in blue to attack the paint. Greg Oden is a nice young center and the Blazers have a lot of young athletic wings who can make that sort of thing a bit of a pain, but if you are going to win in the NBA you need to attack the rim and get to the line.

Another disappointing thing of note was the Wolves getting out-assisted 35 to 19 and out-rebounded by 10. Al Jefferson was in full Black Hole mode, drawing the entire offense to a grinding halt whenever he touched the ball while taking a good 5-6 seconds to set up a one-handed push shot that rarely was on mark. Nathan Jawai repaced him and proceeded to find Ramon Sessions twice in the middle of the lane where he could do nothing with the ball because he was surrounded by nothing but trees. On too many possessions, 3 or 4 Wolves just stood around and watched.

As for the rebounding...the less said about that the better.

I don't have any bullet points for this game. It was completely non-descript on the part of the Wolves. Jawai had some nice moves, Gomes played OK, and Corey Brewer found some time to make a few good hustle plays as well as keeping the Wolves from getting ally-ooped on a couple of times.

The last thing I have to say about this game is that I hope whoever gets to stick around for 2-3 years remembers this one. I hope they remember the Blazers taking 3s and going for the Sports Center dunks while being up by 25 (quick side note: how in the world did Ramon Sessions get called for a foul when Martell Webster jumped on his back?). This is one of those tilts that you have to file away in the revenge file. The Blazers came out and kicked the you-know-what out of the Wolves and they kept on kicking when they were down. I'll never hope an injury on anyone but this was one of those games where you were kind of hoping Jawai or Brian Cardinal would have put someone trying a 3 while up by nearly 30 on their back. Perhaps the Wolves aren't even at that level of play. Maybe there's nothing long term for the majority of these guys to protect. Whatever the case, here's hoping someone remembers what kind of crap was put out there last night and does something to change it when they get the chance with a better surrounding cast somewhere way, way, way down the line...well past 70+ more games of wondering who will get to stay or go, and what, if anything, will be done with all that cap space.

Until later.

Game 7 Preview: Timberwolves vs. Blazers

Dave — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:26:03 -0000

Game Time: 6:00 p.m. Pacific TV: Comcast

Suffering through the latest in an interminable litany of rough starts to their seasons, the Minnesota Timberwolves bring a 1-5 record into the Rose Garden tonight to face the Blazers. If this surprises you then you might also be shocked to learn that it's a little cold in Minnesota this time of year. And that hockey is popular there. And that if you want gravy with your meal you have your choice of white, off-white, beige, or cream...which is also the standard culinary color palette of the region. But that's OK, because all they eat is soup. Except in the summer, which lasts exactly 2.5 days in early August. That's when everybody flocks to the lakeshore to get eaten by mosquitoes. Well, except for the substantial portion of the population that can't get to the lakeshore because of all of the road construction they do in those 2.5 days. Gotta fix the potholes yanno. In Oregon "pothole" is that depression in your seat divider where you hide your stash, but in Minnesota they can literally swallow your car. This is not only bad for your shocks, it leaves nasty abrasions from the gravel that has collected at the bottom from last year's snow traction follies.

In any case, even though the ‘Wolves have hit the NBA pothole from hell, to their credit they've only been blown out twice, actually generating a close finish against Boston and a reasonable one against Phoenix. But close only counts in prom dancing and federal budget planning. 1-5 is 1-5 and the Blazers should be prepared to take this team out early and never let them back in.

One of the chief sources of Minnesota's woes, besides never being able to live down having elected an ex-wrestler to the state's highest office (darn you, Iron Range!), has been the shaky recovery of star forward Al Jefferson from knee and Achilles problems. Jefferson is back into the rotation this year but he's shooting 39.6% from the field. That's a bad number for your gunner guard. From the forward-center upon whom you depend for superstar production it's a disaster. Like the Jell-o running out before supper. Or Gary Anderson missing his only field goal of the year just when you need those three points to take you to the Sup...uhhhh...sorry. Too soon? My bad. Jefferson has had a couple nice games but he's been inconsistent. Naughty or nice, he's not been able to lead them to wins. They've just gotten closer when he's played better.

One of the bright spots of the young season has been rookie point guard Jonny Flynn, whose name sounds like he should be the lead character in a Broadway Musical. "What are you doing here, Jonny Flynn?" "Why I'm here to court trouble, and woo a girl, and build the most fantastical contraption the world has ever seen!" Flynn's fantastical contraptivating has propelled him to a 51% shooting clip and 15 points on 10.5 shots per game. He's been averaging only 3.2 assists per game though, coupled with 3.3 turnovers. Stop me if you've heard this one before. A Minnesota GM walks into the draft and says, "Give me a point guard who's more of a scoring guard and can't really take care of the ball." That said, Flynn has more promise than Randy Foye or the boatload of point guards who preceded him and is likely to be a nice pick-up for the team.

Another new arrival is forward Oleksiy Pecherov, late of the Washington Wizards. He's got a sneaky offensive game, gives energy, and can rebound some. He's been doing both for the ‘Wolves and appears to be blossoming in his new home. Less successful has been point guard Ramon Sessions who can't seem to get used to the new system, new teammates, and the expectations that have been put upon him. He's falling deeper and deeper into the rotation. 7-footer Ryan Hollins also comes off the bench to provide a small scoring boost.

A couple stalwarts from past years remain with the team. Ryan Gomes is a 6'7" bruiser with range who always gives the Blazers fits. Corey Brewer is an energy guy with no offensive game...and often not much energy.

The ‘Wolves had a difficult time last season in part because they started three forwards and no center. Their solution to the problem this year is to start four forwards and no center. Having ditched Foye in the backcourt they now send Brewer out there. For the record that's one small forward, one swing small-power forward, and two power forwards plus Jonny Flynn. But don't worry, that'll only last until Kevin Love's hand heals. Then they'll probably get rid of that pesky small forward and just go with four power forwards and Flynn.

Fielding that lineup it's little surprise that Minnesota is coughing the ball up like a loogie in the snow. They're also shooting an anemic percentage from the field and an abysmal percentage from the three-point arc. They're giving up more foul shots than they generate. Their shot blocking can best be described as "Minnesota Nice". They're only barely holding their own on the boards. It's a bigger nightmare than that time they caught revered columnist Sid Hartman French kissing a llama in the janitor's closet at the Star-Trib. Ewwwww...the flashbacks are the worst.

If Minnesota is going to win they need you to make a ton of mistakes, pay no attention on the boards, and they need to get hot from the field. That's a pretty tall order. Let's hope the Blazers aren't in an obliging mood.

Pivotal Points of the Game

1. If you hound their point guards, who else is going to handle the ball? Or make a pass? Or do anything good besides put up a possibly awkward shot?

2. Even though you want to make it tough for Flynn and company to move the ball you can actually relax if their point guards score. They'll not win the game on their own. The only guy who can possibly do that is Jefferson. Don't let him wake up and you have the ball game.

3. This game should be an offensive buffet for Portland. They have no shot-blockers, so get the ball inside. Posting with Oden is good. Driving guards are good. They pretty much have to commit extra men to stop any aggression. When they do that, flick the ball outside. They'll not recover from the perimeter and you should be able to feast on threes all night long. If your offense is struggling you stopped you. They won't do it.

4. The only other key is not to get lazy or complacent. Any team can grab offensive rebounds and score off of misses. Any team can run out and convert your careless turnovers. Play professional basketball, walk away with the win. Don't let them think they have a chance.

Check out the Minnesota point of view with our old friends at CanisHoopus.

Enter tonight's Jersey Contest here.

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)