I was very surprised to see all the negative comments about Flip Saunders following the wolves-wizards game. I didn't see the game, but apparently the wizards looked terrible. It is possible that Flip has let the game pass him by, but more likely his young, extremely untalented team has tuned him out. Say what you want about Flip now as Wizards coach, but to me, he coached the wolves best of anyone in franchise history. (I'm hopeful RA can gain that title before the end of his tenure).

People saying Dwane Casey was a better coach for the Wolves are smoking something. Dwane Casey got the wolves to be a .500 team with KG and a bunch of role players, Flip got the wolves 50 wins a year with KG and a bunch of role players for 7 years. (I'm not arguing that Dwane Casey might be a better coach to hire now, because I can understand that argument).

I will acknowledge that Flip was not a great defensive coach, but watching his offense click every night kept me warm all those years through the darkness of MN winters. His teams overachieved nearly every year of his tenure in my opinion. Without a Sam Cassel injury in the Lakers series, Flip Saunders would be a coach of an NBA championship team.

I think Andy G accidently wrote Micheal Beasley, when he meant to write David Kahn in the following sentence:

"I think a majority of Wolves fans hate Micheal Beasley [David Kahn] —not just his game but his overall persona."

Please vote in the attached pole, I will go out on a limb here and say that Wolves fans hate David Kahn more than Micheal Beasley...

I'd like to thank my sponsors, the poor dick foundation and Tim Allen's world of smiles.

T-wolves nation, I have returned to CH for the first time since the draft...I'd completely forgotten what happened that night, especially when I read that Jonny Flynn was gone. I wondered if the T-wolves had to give up a first round pick to trade Flynn, then realized that somehow the wolves had gotten a first round pick in return. This seemed strange. Further, the wolves drafted the best player available at #2. Then they did some crazy Bill Belichek trade down routine to raise enough cash to get rid of Rambis and hire Adelman... Very strange indeed.

I'm too lazy to go back and read everyone's posts from that night , so tell me what you think.

This may have already been discussed, but I'm going to throw it out there. It is the first wolves related thought I've had since K-love went 30-30 (at least the first that wouldn't be laced with profanity). 

Here's the trade:

To Cleveland:  Wolves pick #2

To Wolves:  Cleveland pick #4  &  Cleveland 2012 first round pick (unprotected) 

Why do Wolves do it?  They have a logjam at 3-4 and the player that they should definitely draft at #2 is a 3-4 (everyone else is a reach in my opinion), also, they will lose their #1 pick to the Clippers next year.

Why does Cleveland do it?  They want top two Irving and Williams...badly...and want to rebuild as quickly as possible.

After 3 games, our beloved Timberwolves are 1-2 (headed for 27-55).  The core of the team is younger, more athletic, and more exciting with more potential than any wolves team since the conference finals several years ago.  And yet every time I go to read something at Canis Hoopus, I get the world is ending and the Timberwolves are heading toward contraction.  I get to read how Rambis is a terrible coach, how Kahn is an idiot, how the players are bad, how we should have picked so and so....yada...yada...yada.... 

This is the type of attitude that gets teams to leave town.  Sports should be fun. Sure you can have debates, arguments, disagreements, varying opinions, but why on earth would you write how terrible a team is day after day after day. I mean, what's the point??? 

As many of you know, I'm a conspiracy theorist. Last year I wrote repeatedly about the Wolves tanking strategies. Kevin Love Jefferson and I were undaunted by others who said the Timberwolves were just a terrible team last year...no we both believed that tanking was part of the master plan put together by the FO...

For the last 6 months I've been a stay at home Dad with my 2 year old daughter. Also during those 6 months, David Kahn has been putting together the roster of the 2010-2011 Minnesota Timberwolves. Each month, I get more and more convinced that I have unearthed the blueprint of Kahn and Rambis' rebuilding plans. Consider that Kahn is a family man himself. Think back to summer league with the Chris Webber incident...David Kahn had his kids with him. Did that seem a bit odd to you?

So what is the blueprint that Kahn and Rambis are following?  With McHale we knew he was trying to re-create  the 1986 Celtics. With Rambis is it the showtime Lakers?  Consider this, Rambis coached in LA for several years and Hollywood is in LA. So Rambis may have become star struck with all of the celebrities. 

So Kahn is a family man and Rambis is star struck???  That is when it occurred to me, the blueprint for the Minnesota Timberwolves rebuilding plan is ... 

SESAME STREET

Hear me out on this, let's examine the roster. 

First off, every team needs a star, someone who can appeal to the masses. A player with super talent and also a charismatic personality.  Obviously the timberwolves did not have a player like that last year. Someone like Cookie Monster, a real talented wild card on Sesame Street.  So the wolves went out and got their Cookie Monster, aka Michael Beasley. 

Size was another item that was addressed this offseason. On Sesame Street, the pairing of Big Bird and Snuffleufflegus  is legendary.  That frontline duo often can carry a whole 5-10 minute clip of the Sesame Street Hour.  The Wolves needed to improve their frontline size this offseason, and they locked up a talented pair of BIG euros in Darko and Pek, i.e. Big Bird and Snuffleufflegus respectively...

Sesame street has always had a dynamic duo to set the table. Most of us grew up watching Ernie and Bert, and they are still going strong. The Wolves needed desperately to add a pair of athletic wings this summer.  They did just that by landing their Ernie (Wes Johnson) and their Bert (Martell Webster).   It was a stroke of genius by Kahn to get Ernie's Rubber Ducky (Flynn) before landing Ernie, it took me a while to work that one out with my daughter's help.

Grover has been a part of Sesame Street for a long time, but recently he's been remade into Super Grover (my daughter just calls him Super).  Super Grover can fly, but is extremely clumsy. He has incredible moments, but also often times ends up crashing and burning. Oddly, the wolves have had their Super for awhile and his name is Corey Brewer...

Often times Oscar the Grouch is overlooked on Sesame Street, but his role is critical to the show. Without Oscar, all of the other character's positivity would seem contrived. Oscar is like the bad guy in a Movie that makes the whole show. Interestingly my daughter shows respect for Oscar even as a two year-old.  The Wolves have Oscar on their team. He makes the whole team go, who is it?  Why Kevin Love of course! 

Now a team isn't complete without a ringer. A player who can carry his own or shift gears and just make everyone look better. He's kind of like Oscar, but simply irresistable. On Sesame  Street, Elmo has carved out a niche like no other character. His talent is off the charts, he makes all the characters around him seem brilliant yet also secondary. Also, he brings in the younger audience (it was Elmo that hooked my daughter on Sesame  Street).  The Timberwolves are still working on this piece, but they have his rights... Ricky Rubio is our Elmo...

So to review, here is the blueprint:

Cookie Monster = Beasley

Big Bird = Darko

Snuffleufflegus = Pek

Ernie = Johnson

Bert = Webster

Rubber Ducky = Flynn

Super Grover = Brewer

Oscar the Grouch = Love

Elmo = Rubio

Be prepared for the non-denial denials from the front-office on this conspiracy theory....

And I urge everyone ...  be as excited as my daughter is everyday to watch this cast of characters !!!

Could the Wolves land the top two picks in the 2010 draft? What would it take?  How many bad contracts would they have to absorb? Which players would they have to give up?

I've been pondering this for awhile.  If the Wolves could draft Wall and Turner, I would trade anyone and everyone including Rubio and Love. 

For example, let's say the draft order stays 1. Nets 2. Wolves.  Would the Nets trade the #1 for Rubio and Love?

Wall

Brewer

Turner

Jefferson

Darko /Charlotte's pick

Not a bad starting 5....

All season, and especially since the Wolves winning streak, the collective of Canis Hoopus has been scratching their heads about player rotations. Why does coach Rambis trot out these mismatched, often incredibly weak 5 man units at seemingly critical moments during games?  

Certainly, one answer could be that he simply isn't a good coach. However, it's hard to accept that, especially after his tutelage under arguably the greatest coach of all time...

Another plausible explanation is what is often termed "player development."  Those of you who follow the Celtics will remember this vividly from the early years of Doc Rivers tenure. Doc Rivers is a good coach, so why was he trotting out line-ups and using all 12 guys on the bench during those lean years?  Didn't the Celtics at one point lose 17 in a row? But Doc Rivers is certainly not Randy Wittman, so how did that happen?  Were the Celtics that bad? Or was it Doc's player rotations? Hmmmm....

So, here is a snippet between Kahn and Rambis...

<Right after the Wolves 4 game winning streak>

Kahn:   "Kurt, great job on this winning streak, wonderful coaching and our players are really meshing well."

Rambis:  "Thank you David. "

Kahn:  "I never thought we'd make it to 14 wins so quickly."

Rambis:  "Well, the players are really starting to respond and I'm shortening my rotations."

Kahn:  "Hmmmmm,  I'm concerned we are not developing our younger players enough."

Rambis: "Well, we are really on a roll here, I think it is good for our team morale."

Kahn:  "Morale,  right...  we really need to give our younger guys more time."

Rambis: "Well, that is a good idea, I've been staying up late reviewing, <ahem> other games."

Kahn: "Good, I hoped you were, you remember our goals for the season."

Rambis: "Yes, it is time to initiate operation player development"

Kahn: "Excellent Kurt, I knew I could count on you."

Kahn: "Just remember Doc Rivers had to go through this before he got his championship."

Rambis: "I tell myself that everyday."