The wolves have made many changes this offseason and have put forward a quite complicated "State of the Franchise" address.  Every player interviewed is optimistic and excited.  Some (Michael Beasley) sound confident.  David Kahn, and the Timberwolves organization, are putting adds in the paper calling for Wolves fans to be patient.  

This is intriguing & I believe, Wolves fans couldn't ask for any more this year.  

Changes have been made at every position.  

At point guard, the wolves got rid of Ramon Sessions, and have signed Luke Ridnour and Sebastian Telfair.  While Telfair's signing may have been more of a finical move (because of an expiring contract), the pick up of Ridnour is great.  It's one of the best moves the wolves made this offseason.  Luke is not going to be a star, but he's been in the league for a long time now, and he knows his way around.  His game fits what the coaches are attempting to put together, and I see Lucky Luke sticking around with the wolves even when (WHEN) Ricky Rubio comes around.  I think Ridnour, at this point of his career is a under rated shooter, and has a lot to contribute.  

At the wing position (What the Triangle offense calls SG's and SF's), the wolves have gained remarkable athleticism.  No longer will Ryan Gomes, Damion Wilkins, and Sasha Pavlovich, fill the target center with mediocre athleticism.  I say this not to attack them as players but simply note that they do not build the greatest rotation, that in most cases must guard the biggest stars in the game.  This year, Corey Brewer (who, yes was around last year), Martel Webster, Wesley Johnson, and Michael Beasley have the athleticism to be able to at least slow down other teams scorers.  Plus, they all have shown some aptitude as scorers.  Toss in Wayne Ellington's shot and Lazar Hayward's Length, and that builds a pretty promising rotation.  

Down low in the blocks, the Wolves let go of Al Jefferson, the offensive face of the franchise and public opinion is that Kevin Love now needs to step up and play more minutes.  I hope the Wolves give Kevin Love all the chance in the world to succeed, but the other additions are, very appealing.  Darko Millicic is young.  People forget that.  He's only twenty-five.  He might not be a star, but he has plenty ability to be a very solid NBA center.  I really don't think he's as bad as people think.  Nikola Pekovic is a strong prospect with crafty scoring abilities and a wide body that will draw attention away form Kevin Love on the boards.  Then there is Beasley and Anthony Tolliver who could really stretch the floor when they play the PF position.  Both of them are capable shooters a slashers.  Wolves fans should know what athletic PF can do to teams.  

With this said, and I know all these things have been said before, It just seems that the state of the franchise and everything it is saying and doing is pretty acceptable.  These young players have a right to be excited to play with other good young players.  Beasley's confidence is fun, as long as he backs it with his play.  David Kahn's call for patience is also merited because of the youth of the team.  To me, all of this makes sense, and I am excited to watch this Wolves team grow.  Now it appears they have a foundation, it's time to build a fortress. 

          Kevin Wesely Love was born on September 7th, 1988 in Santa Monica, California.  It is clear Kevin's love for basketball came from his father Stan Love, who was once an NBA power forward. . .

 - - - - - - - -

Okay, I'm not writing a damn Kevin Love biography here but this is my take.

          Kevin Love was a highly touted high school basketball player, who became a highly touted college basketball player.  It is simple to think that in his mind, his track record should, basically make him a NBA starter.  Really on the bottom-of-the-league team that he was drafted/traded into.  Kevin Love expects a lot out of himself.  

          Now, in his high school and college years, Kevin Love, a long with many other high school stars, some one like Sebastian Telfair, could get buy on pure ability.  While Sebastian Telfiar was able to get away with being little, because he was fast, could shoot alright, and could make ridiculous passes.  Bassy struggled to shine when he came into the league.  In high school and at UCLA, Kevin Love was able to use his size.  Unlike Bassy, Kevin Love is huge.  Or at least he was in high school and, most of the time, in college.  

          It seems to me, that Kevin Love needs a reality check, or at least needed one.  Kevin Love has lived as a basketball player off of his size and his talent.  The guy is good enough that he got to the biggest stage in basketball and rarely had to hustle.  But now in the NBA, Kevin Love cannot dominate athletically, and he can be considered undersized.  

          Bottom line, Kevin Love expects success.  He expects to be treated as a star.  

          On a MUCH smaller scale I know what this is like.  I played high school golf I was top 3 in my conference all four years of high school and made it to the state tournament my senior year.  I was the golfer in high school.  I was the guy people went to, and coaches came to me.  Going off to college golf, everything changed.  No longer was I the best player around, but I still felt like I was.  I was missing the golf equivalent to hustling, which in golf is more like patience and ridiculous time commitments.  

          At first Kevin Love, felt the love he believed he was worthy of.  Kevin the GM took him under his wing.  The GM said Kevin Love reminded him of himself early in his career.  Then Kevin the GM was gone.  Kevin Love lost the one guy who had undying confidence in him.  

          Now the Wolves are a different team.  Kahn wants a uptempo young squad and Rambis simply can't stand watching Kevin Love play basketball.  It's not that Rambis doesn't see Love as talented.  It's not like he thinks he is incapable.  I believe last season Kurt Rambis provided Kevin Love with the reality check he needed.  

          As a player Kurt Rambis was, dare I say it, Kevin Love with less strength and less ability.  One thing that Rambis new, was how to hustle.  Rambis hustled his way to a solid career on a great team.  This is why Kevin Love isn't getting the playing time he believes he deserves on the Wolves under Rambis.  Rambis is disappointed with Kevin Love's lack of hustle, just like my college golf coach was disappointed with my lack of commitment to long hours of practice.  

          Hopefully, Kevin Love can find some hustle this year and can get the minutes, he, and his ability deserves.  If he doesn't we could see a lot of Skittles and Tony Tolliver at PF.  

          Good basketball is fast paced and smooth.  It's, like your old middle school basketball told you, like a full court weave.  While I'm not ignorant enough to believe that running a weave is going to win games in the NBA, I mean that at the core of the game, basketball is a team game.  

          Then NBA is flashy and now days we have a superstar dominated league.  GM's try to build a team around one guy.  Like how we tried to get the right guys around KG.  The way the Calves tried to get the right guys around Lebron James,  Like how the Miami heat let go of nearly everyone on their roster to buy the two biggest names around to create good basketball.  Now of course, I am not ignorant enough to say that Bosh, Wade and James will not win a bunch of games, in fact I believe they will be very fun to watch.  But I do believe that good basketball cannot simply be bought.  (Unfortunately for baseball fans the Yankees continue to prove that you can buy good baseball).  Who is going to back off in Miami?  Who is going to facilitate that offense? or will there be flow, or will the Big three just look for isolation all game long.  

          Never before has there been such a prolific free agent class in the NBA than this summer.  For some teams, it was time attempt what the Heat made successful.  But for the grand majority of the league, building a team in free agency isn't much of an option.  So some of them, teams in the middle of the pack, who win some games and loose some games,  Try to build around there guy, there "big ticket" in order to make a playoff run.  Yet some other teams don't even have that guy.  

I think we all know who I'm talking about

          David Kahn came to the wolves at rock bottom, well almost.  There was no complete player to "build the team around".  Big Al could do it offensively, but struggled on defense.  The best option was to start from square one. David Kahn has done this.  I believe, we are now at the beginning.  Well, I guess, drafting Ricky Rubio might have been the beginning, but we can pin point the actually beginning later.  The wolves need to build a team.  They don't have someone to build around.  They don't have one hole that needs patching up.  David Kahn needed to build from the ground up.  In fact I think he needed to dig for the foundation.

          This offseason has filled the foundation.

          We are now looking at a depth chart that looks like this:

PG: (Rubio)/Ridnour/Flynn/Telfair?

SG: Johnson/Webster/Brewer/Ellington/Hayward/Ridnour

SF:  Beasley/Webster/Tolliver/Johnson/Brewer/Hayward/(Bejica)

PF: Love/Beasley/Tolliver/(Bejica)/Pekovic

C :  Milicic/Pekovic/Tolliver/Love

 

This stacks up to:

PG: (Eurostash Lottery Pick) - Lottery pick - Solid Veteran - First Rounder

SG: Lottery Pick - Lottery Pick - Lottery Pick - First Rounder - Solid Veteran

SF: Lottery Pick - Lottery Pick - D League Baller - Lottery Pick - Lottery Pick - First Rounder - (eurostash lottery talent)

PF: Lottery Pick - Lottery Pick - D League Baller - (eurostash lottery talent) - Lottery Talent

C  : Lottery Pick - Lottery Talent - D League Baller - Lottery Pick

 

That looks like a lot of potential.

One more good thing about this line up is that there is only one head case, and about one diva.  

The head case is Michael Beasley, we all know his story.  

And the diva is a combo of Ricky Rubio (he's a diva but he's not here yet) and Kevin Love, who is only half diva.  

 

Each and everyone of these other guys, seems ready and willing to work hard.  

It appears as if the talent is there.  I think this is a very solid base.  It seems like out of this, some star player could arise.  Or at least some walls can be built up, until we can patch it up with some good moves in the future.  

 

 

 

 

           

          David Kahn is an honest man.  He may not be the confident, strong willed or strong voiced man that draws the trust of a fan base, but he is honest.  As everyone knows, the Wolves and David Kahn are the current laughing stock of the NBA.  Now that New Jersey has the Russian Billionare vying for King James I believe we are the only laughing stock left.  And why shouldn't we be?

          With the McFail's draft and trade failure, KG for mediocrity ad nauseam, Mayo for love, Foye not Roy, and "Doody" Ebi, it only makes sense.  During the playoffs, KG said that he regrets not getting out of Minnesota sooner.  The Wolves are a laughing stock and they should be.  

          Now, what is a better idea?  Should we be looking for a GM who rolls in here with all the phony confidence in the world?  Or should our GM be honest about how huge a climb this will be.  It seems the later is a better alternative.  I am of the firm opinion that whoever our GM was, we would be ready to question his every move.  

          At draft time, Souhan pointed out on am 1500 that there was essentially a running joke about how David Kahn had no idea where he was going in the draft.  Let's just say David Kahn is bad with the media.  The wolves were understandably fine with any of the top four picks.  Everybody and their mother had their idea of who should be drafted, so the media wanted to hear who the wolves were excited about.  David Kahn made an honest comment.  Whether it was Wesley Johnson or Derrick Favors the wolves were going to be happy.  Kahn's honest indifference in picking up one of two solid rookies was misunderstood as lack of planning, or a sign that Kahn has no idea what he is doing.  

          But what if Kahn doesn't know what he's doing?  Well then, we better forget that basketball exists for a little bit, that is if it is really that life threateningly painful to cheer for, or God forbid watch, a team that loses considerably more than they win.  

          Anyways, it seems that what Kahn and crew have going rebuilding the wolves is pretty simple.  It seems to me that the wolves are doing a type of "open tryout" for the future.  

          We have loaded up on young players and giving them opportunities.  Last year we got Sessions, Flynn and Rubio.  Three young point guards to vie for who might lead the team.  We now have Al, K-love, Pek, Darko, and Hollins filling the front court, and Wes, Brewer, Ellington and Hayward filling the wing positions, with Bjelly somewhere in there as well (I'm not sure of his position, he's probably a PF even though he's a PG now).  It seems to me, that the players that develop the best will become the "down the road" wolves supporting cast.  Possibly one of these players could grow into a star, but most likely, the star will come from out side.  Not to mention some more solid draft picks from our undoubtedly mediocre play these next couple of years.  It seems the Wolves, a couple years down the road are like the Vikings before Favre.  A team that with one or two more piece could give a run at a championship.  

          This is my theory.  I think that we all just better understand that the Wolves can't be thrown into contention with some kind of quick fix.  It's a process.  No one knows exactly how to go about it, me, you, or David Kahn.  

If Kahn was confident, strong willed and strong voiced, he would still be criticized.  

          The making of a championship team is like cooking.  It's almost like the creation of a stir fry.  Championship teams, like good cooking, require a recipe.  Recipe's require ingredients.  Usually meat, assorted veggies, sauces and spices are included, and each person, or chef adds what they like to taste.  Stir fry is usually served over rice.  It is the same way with basketball teams.  Championship teams have some sort of formula, a kind of recipe.  Players, a point guard, a shooting guard ext.  A player that can carry the team, a player that makes it all work.  There is also a system, like the Triangle Offense that the players work with, using there own talents to make the system work.  Make the rice taste good.

          Of course, when it comes to stir fry, people have different tastes.  This is why we have chefs.  It's why people go to le cordon blue.  Some people know what taste good.  Some people have been trained to know what works and what doesn't.  Some people know and some people don't.  

Let's leave it to the chef's guys.

We all want our Wolves to be good.  We all want our food to taste good.  We are hungry.  The one way that the making of a championship team is not like a stir fry, is that it is not a quick thing.  We can't just whip one up whenever we want.  It's a long process.  We might only have had the rice last year.  This year we might get the meat or the veggies or even both. But we cannot expect to be satisfied this quickly.  Uncooked meat, rice and veggies are not worth eating.  We can make some burgers, grill them up in Down Town Minneapolis on Target Plaza and at the Metrodome.  They might not taste as good as a stir fry, but they can keep us fed.

If the correct people are putting this together we will be satisfied.  And if not we hire a new cook.  

yes, we can complain about what we have.  The plain white rice and meat that we are served right now are not what we want but the cooks are working.  The kitchens busy, we don't know what they are doing but at least there's meat now.  The spice is coming, the sauce, the flavor.  It just takes more time than a stir fry.  

The making of a championship team is not like a stir fry.  

This is a really good article that seems to give us possibilities, some that I hadn't thought about.

http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/fran_blinebury/06/25/young.freeagency/index.html

I know two are point guards, but if we pick up Farmer I think we could add Johnny Flynn to a trade.  Anyways these guys can be got for cheep.  Anthony Morrow would be a nice catch.  He killed the summer league last year.  What do we think about these guys? 

Nemanja Bjelica - sezona 2009/10, I deo (via nikola20rlu)

I am of the opinion that this video is almost as much fun to watch as Ricky Rubio. He's interesting with his size and skill set. Being 6'10" and a point guard is interesting. He seems to have adequate quickness. It's definitely intriguing. There is also the comparison to Toni Kukoc. If Bjelica can grow into his frame a little bit he could become the kind of big passer that is a prize commodity in the Triangle Offense. He seems keen to play now. It seems like we will eurostash him away and let him bulk up a little bit, but I like what I see. So what do ya think of Bjelica? and for comparisons sake, how about one of these?

Ricky Rubio - Born To Be Wild (via ambrojordi)

Brett gets rattled when he gets hit.  He's a gunslinger, we all know this.  More importantly Brett Favre knows he's a gunslinger and he constantly makes throws that are essentially crazy.  He's got that pretty high release with a Cannon on the end of it that when working right can and does put the ball exactly where it should be.  When an athlete gets beat up they loose a little bit.  I bruised my ribs my senior year of high-school lost about 20% of distance out of my golf swing.  Also pain doesn't just hurt, it hurts a persons judgement.  Brett was pissed after that throw.  Same thing happened in 2007 in the NFC championship game and in the entire last half of the 2008 season.  Brett is so physically tough that he is mentally stubborn.  When your are hurt you gotta have the presence of mind to hit the easy 5 iron from 170 yards when it is usually a solid 8.  Brett's gotta get some damage control.  I know I can't hit the 8 iron 170 accurately when my ribs are hurting.  Brett's needs to take what he can get.

This is definitely the kind of problem you would want with a starting QB and a leader.  Well nobody wants problems, but if the Vikes would have limited the other turn-overs Brett's INT's wouldn't have cost them the game.  Brett is a spirited leader who is playin' to win, throwing to win, even if his body sometimes isn't working with him.  Brett's a playmaker not a game manager.  It's hard to be a playmaker when your are 40 and Brett did a heck of a job.  

I hope he comes back.  The offensive line can get some more work.  AD can strengthen his hand shake and everyone would have one year of communication under their belt.  

I just hope we remember that we got what we bought with Brett Favre.  A hell of a leader and a playmaker.  But whether he'll be back or not, I'm not even gunna speculate because it's so ridiculous.  I hope he speaks up soon and can let the vikings make a move if he doesn't wanna come back.  Brett's showed that the Vikings have players to throw to.  

I'm excited to see how this pans out.  Donavan McNabb is and interesting possibility.  T-Jack and Rosey might get their shot to battle to start a year later than they expected.  The Vikes have pieces in place just like last year.  Just a point of continuing to piece them together into a super-bowl victory.

Skol Vikings   

(lets get ourselves a stadium so the Free Agents have somewhere new and exciting to play, the Twins have shown that that works!)

It is difficult for me to contain the excitement I have for this upcoming Twins season.  The team looks very strong.  I am greatly encouraged by the way the organization has gone about this offseason.  It appears that they recognize as the Vikings did, that they now have pieces in place to make a deep run in the playoffs.  Yes, the Vikings didn't make it to the Superbowl, but it was a heck of a season and gives them something to try to repeat and better.  The Twins have always been scrappy, always had the hustle guys, always played smart baseball and always had young players with good potential.  The down side has always been, that when a player is finally showing there potential, the team looses them in Free Agency.  Johan Santana, Torii hunter, David Ortiz, Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett can illustrate this.  Another down fall of the organization is the type of free agents they have signed in the past.  For example, last year the twins signed Joe Crede, the year before that they signed Mike Lamb.  These two players are capable but were on the decline. It was as if the organization was simply trying to squeeze a good year out of this guy for cheap.  While some of this off-seasons appear to be similar to those I believe for a couple of reasons they are moves in the right direction.  

A look at the line up using whatifsports.com (best year stats going back to the 2006 season)

1.  2009 Denard Span   .311 Ave      8 HR      68 RBI        CF

2.  2007 Orlando Hudson   .294 Ave      10 HR       63   RBI        2B

3.  2009 Joe Mauer    .365 Ave        28 HR       96 RBI       C

4.  2006 Justin Morneau     .321 Ave    34 HR      130 RBI     1B

5.  2009 Michael Cuddyer      .276  Ave     32 HR      94 RBI       RF

6.  2009 Jason Kubel       .300 Ave      28 HR      103 RBI      DH

7.  2007 Delmon Young     .288 Ave    13 HR       93 RBI        LF

8.  2008 J.J. Hardy        .283 Ave  24 HR   74 RBI        SS

9.  2007 Brendan Harris    .286 Ave   12 HR     59 RBI      3B

This looks pretty good to me.  Toss in two bench players:

2006 Nick Punto     .290  Ave     1 HR     45 RBI

2006 Jim Thome    .288     42 HR     109 RBI

This looks very nice.  While of course this is highly optimistic (it's not really fair to expect a team could have 6 players with more than 90 RBI's.  But when you look at the stats it shows that the players in the line up can get the job done.  Another notable thing, is that the twins line up still looks really good with out a strong third baseman.  It appears that third base will be a battle between, Punto, Harris, Tolbert and Danny Valencia (AAA).  I thing this position will end up as a platoon anyway. 

Also last year the team got into trouble when they played against Left-handed starting pitching because the heart of the line up (Mauer, Morneau, Kubel) is lefty dominated.  This allowed for opposing managers to go to their bullpen early and put a Lefty Specialist relief pitcher in to face the big dogs.  Now that Jim Thome is around now on the bench ready to pinch hit late in games, opposing managers will have to worry about Thome's left-handed power late in the game.  

Another great thing about this line up is that it starts with three high OBP guys who are followed by three high RBI guys.  This definitely has a good ring to it.  The other trio have the potential to be solid hitters, or at-least fun little piranhas.   

One of last years downfalls that I noticed was that because the team began to hit HRs last year, they seemed to

forget how to do the little-things.  This is why I like Nick Punto.  This site is very interested in Punto so I thought I'd

take a stance as-well.  I like the little guys who hustle their ass off because that is the kind of athlete third I am myself.

I think putting Nick Punto at third this year seems to fit pretty well.  As J.J Hardy is getting older most likely he is

losing range.  Punto's range playing third would diminish the effect of lack of range at Short Stop and infuse the line

up with the piranha ideology (but, move the baserunner, steal bases).  If this Twins line up stays pretty healthy and

individually plays close to their best in the last four seasons, they will be contenders offensively.

I remember earlier the post asserting that Nostradamus predicted a Vikings Superbowl victory.  It was quite an interesting post 

I found everything I'm commenting on from:

http://lotgk.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/nostradamus-predicts-vikings-to-win-superbowl/

I recall that Gonzo took this post down, but linked the above blog post.

The final line is what I want to focus on:

"The Bear, Lion, Eagle, shall no longer be welcome, victory blood green to purple, the spoils of war earned."

This was originally explained as the Vikings needing to beat the Bears, Lions and Eagle on the way to the Super-bowl.

I'd like to assert that These three animals refer to the three lackluster the Vikings had late in the season.  The way the Vikings played against the Bears, Panthers and Cardinals is no longer welcome.  

A Panther is close to a Lion, A Cardinal could be mistaken for a Eagle.  

I also like the line about the Taylor:

"The great son of apostle Peter lie in tandem with the 22nd man of the serpent, reign upon the battlefields as the Taylor waits patiently for his cloth."

Here the blogger asserts that Adrian Peterson is "the great son of the apostle Peter" (Peterson), Percy Harvin is the 22nd man of the serpent (22nd Draft pick from the Florida Gators similar to a serpent), and the Taylor is Chester Taylor.  I really like this because Chester is a very important member of this team and he is incredibly patient and ready to step up and do his job.

I just thought this was interesting. . .

Furthermore. . .

The Playoffs look awesome.  I am super excited to watch the games this weekened.  It is going to be very interesting to see how the teams who got beaten so badly last week stand up in the playoffs.  

I look for the Cowboys and the Packers to win in the Wild Card week.  Playing the Cowboys in the Dome would be a fun game to watch.  Brett Favre Versus Tony Romo is destined for excitement.  Romo also grew up outside of Milwaukee and was most likely a Favre fan.  If this is the case there could be some nerves attached to the game.  

It seems that the Vikings are in pretty good shape.  The big issue that I see is how we will stand up against the pass.  All of the teams in the NFC are very dangerous teams through the air and I fear that if the pass rush doesn't step up, the Vikings could give up a lot big plays.  However, do like what I've seen with the Vikings defense in the way that they are using packages in the secondary, getting fresh bodies in the game.  

This is going to be a fun postseason to watch and I'm am anxious to see how it pans out.  I can't help but day dreaming about the prospect of the Vikings and the Packers matching up again or the Vikings paying the Saints.  

I would like to read any comments about the Nostradamus crap and any playoff scenarios or Matchups (team and individual) that you might think are interesting or important.

Predictions:  NFC

Packers beat the cardinals in a shoot out but the Packer Defense, line backers in particular put a lot of pressure on old Kurt, resulting in sacks and rushed throws.  Turn over differential and pressuring the QB is the key in this game.

Cowboys beat the Eagles.  I don't think that the Cowboys can loose to the eagles at home without a lot of big mistakes.  I think we will see Jerry Jones stadium really pay off in this game.  "America's" crowd will stand up and help push "America's" team over their rivals.  (I hate that they are called americas team)

                Packers play the Saints in a shoot out, the final score relies on the play of the two teams secondaries.  Can Darren Sharper stop his old team?  Can the Packers stop the Saints WR core?  Honestly I don't see either happening if both QB are playing well.  I think the Saints pull in off because of the injuries in the Packer secondary and efficiency that their air attack has showed.  But the Packers will have a chance

                Vikings will play the Cowboy's and the Cowboy's will be tested away from Jerry Jones' Palace.  It will be essential for Brad Childress to allow Brett Favre to make the pre-snap checks that he has made all year to create mismatches.  The Vikings offense has enough weapons that when Favre does this effectively they are very hard to stop.  Vikings win, but they will have no chance if they come out flat and the crowd gets out of the game.  Romo can roll against the Vikings secondary if that happens.  

                                   A Vikings-Packers rematch in the NFC championship game would make my year.  Could Aaron Rodgers step up against Favre?  

                                   A Vikings-Saints would be very exciting as-well and would greatly test the Favre- Childress issue in leading the team.

AFC I'm not so sure about but I think that whoever wins the NY-Cincy match up will loose to the Colts or the Chargers.  

Baltimore-NE will be interesting, but I think the two teams to look to get to the Superbowl are the Colts and The Chargers.  Of course surprises are always welcome.

LEMME SEE YA THOUGHTS!