The Twins have (barely) made it through the first month of the season with an unfortunate 6-16 record. I thought I would contribute to the fanposts by taking a look at what went right (not much) and what went wrong (a lot) in April, and how things might develop over the coming months. It's a bit scattershot, but I hope you enjoy.

Continue reading this post »

Hey all, thought I would put up a thread for the first weekend of playoff action. Once again in this crazy season, the next game is upon us before we can digest the last one; one whole day off for the league between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs. Matchups (and a bit of off-the cuff, unreasearched commentary) after the jump

Continue reading this post »

Welcome to the first of what I hope will be 29 fan posts, one about each team in the NBA. I'll ask those interested to sign up to do one (or more) of these below. My goal is to generate conversation as this season mercifully comes to an end and we head into the draft and free agent period, and to collect information in what I hope will be an interesting and entertaining format.

I'm starting with the Washington Wizards, for no good reason other than I was looking something up about them when I got the idea to start this series.

Continue reading this post »

Well, they won. In a game that featured an interminable halftime, a Warriors team that looked like it was in full tank mode in the first half, and way too much Chris Mullin, the Wolves hung on to beat the Warriors Monday night, 97-93.

After seeing the Warriors get all the way back from a 14 point halftime deficit to take a lead, the Wolves finished the game behind Kevin Love, and at least temporarily stopped the bleeding after Sunday's fiasco in Sacramento.

A couple of game notes before the grades after the jump:

Makes and misses. That was the difference between the halves last night. In the first half, the Warriors couldn't hit anything, and therefore looked awful. In the second half, their shots (more or less the same shots) went in, and they looked a lot better. Many nights, it isn't about hustle, or effort, or brilliance, or anything else other than sometimes they go in, and sometimes they don't.

Ridnour and Barea: I've been harping a bit lately on the fact that there is immense pressure on Ridnour (or Barea) because they play with no other ball handlers. Tonight, Adelman played them together for most of the 4th quarter. It worked, I guess, in that they went on the decisive run with both of them in there.

Continue reading this post »

I spend far too much time thinking (and yammering, I'm sure you're thinking) about the Wolves. Since it's my birthday today, I decided I was justified in wasting your time by publishing some of my thoughts. Consider reading it your birthday present to me.

Continue reading this post »

Having consumed a half of a bottle of wine this Christmas Eve, I thought is would be a good idea to make a thread for us Members of the Tribe who are stuck with little or nothing to do on this holiday weekend. I usually go to the movies and/or eat Chinese food on Christmas, but this year there's nothing I want to see. I'll probably stay home and watch the games.

This can also serve as an open NBA thread for the first day of games.

So, if there are any other Jews out there: what are ya doin for the fake-birthday-of-Jesus weekend? Take the poll after the jump!

What sort of player is Danny Valencia?  Like so many Twins, he's been disappointing in 2011 after his excellent debut last year.  This is an article about Valencia, but what it's really about is statistics, the role of luck in baseball, and sample sizes. 

All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference

Continue reading this post »

Thought I would do a grab bag of things I've been thinking about, none of which seemed to justify a fanpost on their own.  Seems worthwhile to expand the discussion beyond what to do with the second pick and just how terrible David Kahn is as POBO.  Other things are going on around the league, some of which touch tangentially on the Wolves.

Continue reading this post »

I must admit that my thinking has been somewhat muddled on how to think about the current CBA negotiations, which is unusual for me, because right or wrong, I'm usually sure.  Seriously, I've spent a significant amount of time and thought on labor issues in my life, but it took me a while to figure out why these sports negotiations seem so complicated.  Below the fold, a long (long) essay on why this is so complicated, what the issues are, and how I think they might play out.  (I don't think I got the formatting right; hopefully you can follow).

Continue reading this post »

Or, Another Entry In the ongoing Canis Hoopus Death Match Soap Opera: Optimism vs. Pessimism, Red Pill or Blue

It seems to me that there are 2 prongs to the argument for optimism: first that this team has more talent and potential than last year's crew, and second that this year's team is competing better than last year's.  I want to take a quick look at that second prong to see if its true that this year's team is more competitive.  Follow....

Continue reading this post »

Over the last couple of days, stories about the counter-offer made by the players’ association to the owners have been dribbling out in the media. Here's one, bizarrely highlighting the least important aspect of the offer, eliminating the age limit.   

This offer was made to the owners some time ago, and as of yet, there has been no response.  It is more and more clear that the owners interest is not in making a deal but in breaking the players, because the think they can.  Some more thoughts about collective bargaining after the jump. 

Continue reading this post »

A fairly busy couple of weeks since the draft for everyone in the league, including the Timberwolves.  As we sit here today, the Wolves have added 2 immediate roster players through the draft (Johnson, Hayward), a couple of likely stashes (Bjelica, Prentiss), resigned Milicic, reached an agreement with Pekovic, and traded for Martell Webster and Mike Beasley.  As we currently stand, the Wolves have 3 players still on their roster from before the hiring of David Kahn: Jefferson, Love, and Brewer, and at least Jefferson is likely gone before he plays another game for the Wolves. 

I thought I would take stock of where the roster sits right now, and see what sort of team the Wolves are assembling, and what further adjustments need to be made.  Over the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Hey SnP, can you put this (or start one) on the front page for those of us who won't be sleeping?

Continue reading this post »

At least since the end of the Bulls reign in the late 1990s, the power of the NBA has resided in the Western Conference.  It isn't just the multiple championships won by the Lakers and Spurs (8 of the 11 titles since the Bulls run ended), but it's also the quality in the top half of the conferences, with a win total approaching 50 often required to make the playoffs in the West, while under .500 teams regularly making the playoff bracket in the East. 

I've been wondering in recent days whether circumstances are conspiring to begin reversing this process this summer.  Follow my argument over the jump.

Continue reading this post »

There's been a lot of talk here about attempting to get a second pick among the top 5 (or top 4, ideally, given the profile of this year's draft class).  I have been against this, arguing that lots of rookies is better in theory than in practice, that the draft is a crapshoot, and that we overvalue draftees because we have yet to see their flaws exposed in the NBA.  It's easy to dream on guys we haven't see fail yet, and we do it every...single...year. 

On the other hand, the argument goes, the only realistic way for the Wolves to get the superstar that they need is in the draft, and therefore more (high) picks increases the chances of getting that superstar.  So even if we are wrong on Turner, maybe Favors or Cousins becomes that guy.  The more chances you have, the more chances you have to hit the jackpot.

Continue reading this post »

Hi All.  This is Semifinal day for the Euroleague FInal 4 in Paris.  The first game, Barca v. CSKA Moscow tips in a few minutes, and I am going to try to provide a running commentary in the comments to this fanpost. 

In other European news, poster in-the-game just posted a fanshot with the information that apparently Nikola Pekovic has an agreement with the Wolves and will be coming over this season.  There are other interesting tidbits from the translated Greek article, which extensively "quotes" Tony Ronzone.  You should check it out.

Strong indications from David Kahn are that he is convinced that the team needs a player like Darko Milicic--presumably meaning a full-sized center who has a presence in the paint defensively.  He also has said recently that he doesn't think Jefferson and Love can play together very much due to the defensive deficiencies, but that he doesn't think one of them has to go, as long as they have a 3rd player up front that works (like Darko).  The implication is that we may wind up with a Jefferson/Milicic/Love front line (again) next season. 

I can't see that working.  First, we saw that it didn't work already.  Darko does some nice things, and I would be OK with bringing him back, but he isn't THAT much of a defensive stalwart.  We saw him get torched more than once during his stint.  My main problem is that such a front line is just too lacking in mobility and athleticism.  I suspect (though don't know) that Kahn realizes this too, but isn't just going to announce: "yeah, I have to get rid of one my bigs." 

At any rate, over the fold is a list of NBA big men that, to one degree or another might serve the needs of the T-Wolves assuming they bring Darko back.  This isn't an exhaustive list, as I left off guys that there is no chance to acquire (no Dwight Howard, for example), and I'm sure I missed some guys.  It also isn't a list of guys all of whom I personally would want.  Think of it as a survey of the type of player that might be out there, at greater or lesser cost.  I'm sure some of the guys below would ultimately be unavailable too, but they are all guys who I can at least imaging conversations about.

Continue reading this post »

The season, mercifully, is almost over, and we head into the most vital of Kahn's "windows" to change the fortunes of this woebegone franchise.  Kahn has stated that he expects to have roughly $12-14 million in cap space; my sense of things is that $11-12 million is more realistic.  At any rate, there is some room.  We know that quality free agents are going to have lots of options, and that Minnesota is not going to be at the top of the list, meaning that the most likely use of the cap space is through a trade in which the Wolves take on more in salary than they send out.  This could take the form of taking on a talented but overpaid player, taking on a salary to also get a cheaper young talent, or taking on a salary to get a draft pick. 

In order to get a better sense of the possibilities, after the jump I'll take a look at the teams that are most likely going to be looking to shed salary given their circumstances.  A couple of notes:

1. This is pretty long, so get a snack

2. PoorDick: your objection is stipulated.

Continue reading this post »

David Berri and Martin Schmidt of Wages of Wins fame have a new book out soon called Stumbling on Wins that was recently reviewed on True Hoop by Henry Abbott.  It's quite interesting, and I wanted to point it out for anyone interested.  Some ruminations after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Barca beat Panithinaikos today in Athens in Euroleague action, 70-67.  Barca's win eliminated Pani from the competition, as they can no longer mathematically advance out of the group of 16 round.  This game featured the Wolves 2 European prospects, Ricky Rubio and Nikola Pekovic.

Continue reading this post »

All of us here are Wolves fans, and, if we are here during these lean times, we are probably stuck with them.  Since our team sucks, we've been having lots of conversation about how to proceed, and what we want as fans.  I thought it might be fun to try a different approach to this question on a post-deadline Friday.  Below the fold, I'll present you with three teams, and ask: in a world where you could choose, which would you choose to root for?  Or perhaps to put it a different way: which would you like the Wolves to be today if you could choose?  I picked teams that I think create interesting choices that are at different stages; I hope you find this interesting.

Continue reading this post »

Here's a story about Charley Finley, who was the eccentric owner of the KC and Oakland A's in the 1960s and 70s.  He built a 3 time champion in Oakland in the early 70s, before economics caught up with him and he proceeded to sell off his players in protest of the new economic realities of the game.  He was never taken seriously; he was sort of a less successful and wealthy Mark Cuban of his time.  He had, however, one brilliant idea that was completely ignored by the other owners.  When it became clear during the mid-1970s that free agency was going to become a reality in major league baseball, and the owners were preparing to negotiate with the players association, Finley told his fellow owners that they should offer total free agency: every player should be a free agent every season.  The other owners scoffed at that idea, and of course we can never know how it would have played out, but it's not hard to imagine that it would have significantly held down salaries.

Continue reading this post »

Or, Some Thoughts About the Structure of the NBA. 

Across several threads now the argument about how quickly the Wolves should try to win has been raging.  Should they spend money this summer, or wait?  Is it better to develop longer, not prioritize winning in 2010-11, and try to keep the pick they owe the Clippers for one more year?  SnP wrote eloquently about this question in his Memphis game wrap, and we have been discussing it for even longer, in one form or another. 

My position has been that they should prioritize winning starting next season.  That's not to say I want them to trade their young players for 32 year olds, but I do want them to spend their cap space, do their best to fill their holes, and get on with the process of winning.  However, many here disagree, and I respect their opinions (well...not PoorDick, but everyone else).  Below the fold, I want to try to get beyond this question and figure out why we're having this argument and how the way the league works is affecting it.

Continue reading this post »

I posted much of this as a comment in Jesse's offensive projections post, but then I thought I might as well put it in a new fanpost in case people want to discuss.  Much of this is behind a pay wall, so I won't get too specific, but some tidbits after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Or, What Hath the Changes of Kahn Wrought? 

This is the third season of the post-Kevin Garnett era for the Timberwolves, and we all know that many changes took place at the hands of new POBO David Kahn and new coach Kurt Rambis.  And yet the team is on pace to be even worse record-wise than either of the past 2 iterations.  While unlike many others, I don't think this step back (or non-step forward) is a good thing, my purpose here is to briefly examine what's different about this team than either of the past two versions from a statistical standpoint.

Continue reading this post »

Jayson Stark wrote an interesting article for ESPN about baseball revenue, sharing, and payroll.  It renewed my curiosity about Twins revenue, so I thought I would open it up for discussion.  Below the fold, I'll make some guesses, but what I really want is for people who know more than I do to chime in on this.

Continue reading this post »