Darius Morris.

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So I know there is nothing but Rambis hate out there right now, but I am quite certain that we're in for another season of Rambis-ball next year.  Here's is how the scene has played out in my mind and some points I believe to be true:

1. Kurt Rambis has been doing what Glen Taylor and David Kahn told him he could do.  

First, these two told Rambis "Hey, this first year is business.  We have to clean up our cap situation and we know we already got some players you aren't interested in, but see what you can make out of them.  Next year will be your team." 

That was year one.

Second, it went more like this "We got you some of the players you were high on, and all of them are young.  We know that probably means the team will struggle a bit, but don't worry, its really about finding the core unit of our group and teaching them your system.  We want to win, but we want to build this team the right way first.  Do your best."

I think year three looks like this.

"Well we have our core team, we got Rubio and a few new vets.  Its time to push for the playoffs or else everyone is getting fired."

2. Glen Taylor doesn't give up on personnel easily.

Let's be honest.  Taylor hand selected Kahn, and Kahn picked Rambis.  None of these guys are interested in giving up on each other just yet.  

3. There is some legitimacy in saying this was Rambis' first real year.

Last year was a joke of a team that was purely put together as a rag-tag group of cheap vets that may have been undervalued.  None of them were of course as most of them are out of the NBA.  That's Kahn's bad.  This year has sucked and sucked with Rambis' desired players so this year is Rambis' bad.  Still, if I'm Glen Taylor I absolutely give this team (a team that still has a very high potential ceiling if they can figure out defense and get a starting point guard) one more year to look NBA ready.  If I fired Rambis now everyone loses, including the fans who have to sit through more transition period.

4. Its a pathetic excuse but it doesn't make it less true.  This team was bit hard by the injury bug.

Almost all of our best players this year have dealt with some major time consuming injuries and illnesses. Every team deals with it, but it was comical at times.  Wes gets hurt in the summer.  Flynn doesn't heal very well.  Beasley plays on a bad ankle for 2 months.  Darko is constantly hurting himself.  Ridnour deals with a hammy.  Pek gets hurt.  And let's not forget, maybe the biggest one in Martell Webster needing back surgery.  Martell has been showing lately what he could have been all year as far as solid scoring and defense are concerned, but instead he's only come one in these last few garbage games.

So folks, step into Glen Taylor's shoes and think about firing Kurt Rambis.  If you think he'll do it just because the fans are mad, think again.  My honest opinion is that next year is judgment year.  I highly doubt there will be a work stoppage.  I genuinely think Rubio will play for us in 2012, and along with one of the top 4 players in this years draft and likely one competent veteran, this will be a team looking to make the playoffs.  If we fall anywhere short of being a competitive team for the 8th playoff spot, or at least that we're right on the cusp, then the big heads of Kahn and Rambis will roll.

Well, Its that time of year where its time to think about anything but our current team.  

About the only thing that we have to look forward to going into next season is getting Ricky Rubio in a Wolves uni.  I know his numbers haven't been great in Europe, but there's still no doubting that he's a great prospect who could actually play some defense at the PG position, while passing, yes that's the opposite of what Jonny Flynn does, the basketball to people who can score.

For those out there who think Rambis is getting fired, keep dreaming.  Papa Glen and Mr. Kahn are not going to bail on him just yet.  He'll have one more year to prove that he can put a team together, so thus is the question; If Rubio were playing with our current team, how much better would we be?

I think he could have made the difference for at least 6 wins or so.  At this point BFD, the real problems lie in our team defense.  Its atrocious.  The TOs are bad too, but those are essentially easy to fix.  Team defense is hard to fix and our guys seem to be picking it up very slowly.  Beasley and Love get destroyed on defense, and our current PGs are never going to be good at it.  Luke will be a great guy off the bench who can score and handle the ball.  Rubio is going to be the real facilitator though.  A PG we can actually run our offense through.  

All in all, I'm still hopeful that this was the last true bottom feeder year for us.  We have a lot to fix and we really could use a few more vets on our team, but we have a talented core of players.  If they can figure out the team concept I don't see any reason why we can't contend for the playoffs once Rubio is here.

What do you guys think?

So, I think it needs to be singled out a little bit that the little guy with the big smile who has played some very suspect basketball for us over the last two years had a breakout night last night.

All last year I was waiting for the light to come on for him and a game like this to show up.  The guy is a great basket driver (when healthy) and his drive and dish game could be as good as anyone in the league if he started to look for those opportunities.  Last night was the first game we've seen the potential become reality when he dropped 14 assists, some of which were as flashy as they were effective.  Not bad for a guy who could be hanging his head after almost getting traded a week ago.  

With Flynn's trade value at an all-time low, a big finish would be huge for our team no matter what his future is.  I don't see Flynn and Rubio on the same team for more than a year (unless Rubio is terrible) so let's hope Flynn is coming into his own.

The sole job of David Kahn is simple.  Bring in the best players he can with the resources he has.  How can anyone say he has done a poor job at this point?  He got Darko for free.  He got Beasley for free.  He got Rubio for free.  (In this case free=garbage).  He got Martell Webster for the 16th pick (don't whine to me about Gomes, Portland did us a favor).  It appears that Wes Johnson is proving to be the smarter pick over Cousins (at least so far).  The only thing you can hang on the guy is Flynn over Curry, and I still think Flynn will be a good player.

Throw the guy a frickin bone!!!

Don't get me wrong.  I hate David Kahn's personality.  He just looks like an asshole and he sucks at giving interviews.  He is anti-PR.  Just looking at his mad-hatter hair makes me want to punch him in the face.

Putting this aside, I think its time to give credit where credit is due.  He.  Is.  Doing.  A.  Good.  Job.

Even the things we have yet to see materialize (i.e. use of cap space, draft picks for Al Jeff) can't be screwed up enough to say he is doing poorly.  And anyone who says Rambis is making the picks is copping out BS style.

Yes the team has a long way to go yet, but that is officially on Rambis and the coaching staff now.  Kahn did everything he could for this team in the position that he is in as POBO.  Its time for CH to start showing a little more respect for the moves he has made.

ESPN just posted this article

Indiana Pacers rookie guard Lance Stephenson was arrested for pushing his girlfriend down a flight of stairs early Sunday morning in his native New York City, according to police.

Police say Stephenson was taken into custody Sunday following a 5 a.m. fight with the woman in Brooklyn.

The woman was treated at a hospital for injuries sustained in a fall down a flight of stairs.

The New York Daily News was the first to report the arrest.

The Pacers, who selected the 6-foot-5 guard out of Cincinnati in the second round of this year's draft, issued a statement Sunday night acknowledging Stephenson's arrest.

"We have been made aware of a situation involving Lance Stephenson early Sunday morning in Brooklyn," Pacers president Larry Bird said in a statement. "We are currently in the process of gathering information and will have further comments as we learn more facts."

Stephenson, 19, has been charged with third-degree assault and is awaiting arraignment, according to the Daily News.

The Brooklyn native was drafted with the 40th overall pick by the Pacers after one year at Cincinnati where he averaged 12 points, five rebounds and two assists.

Stephenson has had prior run-ins with the law, most notably he was charged with sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl while in high school in 2008.

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I found this quote from Twolvesblog.  Apparantly its from an ESPN radio interview.

But Kahn continues to speak highly of the former No. 2 overall pick's potential -- in part because Beasley has assured him he's done with dope.

"He's a very young and immature kid who smoked too much marijuana and has told me that he's not smoking anymore, and I told him that I would trust him as long as that was the case," Kahn said this morning, during an interview that will air at 1:40 p.m. on 1500 ESPN Twin Cities

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The Timberwolves have made nearly wholesale roster changes this offseason, and it looks like our offense should be much improved with our added jump-shooters.

However, when I look at the new roster I see much larger improvements on defense.  The Wolves were likely the worst defending team in the league last year and have nowhere to go but up.  Both David Kahn and Kurt Rambis have talked about adding toughness to their team and it appears they have done that with guys like Martell Webster and Lazar Hayward.  I thought I'd take a stab and putting our players from last year and this year into tiers as far as how they performed, and will be expected to perform, defensively

2009 Tier 1

Corey Brewer

Darko Milicic (for the last 15 games or so)

Tier 2

Kevin Love

Al Jefferson

Ryan Gomes

Ramon Sessions

Damian Wilkins

Brian Cardinal

Tier 3

Jonny Flynn

Ryan Hollins

Oleksey Pecherov

Wayne Ellington

Sasha Pavlovic

This year I project something like this:

2010 Tier 1

Corey Brewer

Martell Webster

Darko Milicic

Wes Johnson (I know he's from Syracuse but from what little I've seen from him the guy looks like a natural defender)

Tier 2

Kevin Love

Michael Beasley

Nikola Pekovic

Luke Ridnour

Lazar Hayward

Tier 3

Jonny Flynn 

Ryan Hollins

Wayne Ellington

This is purely my gut instinct from what I've seen in summer league and the opinions that seem to be consensus about some of our new players.  

It would appear that we move from the worst defensive team to something like a below average defensive team, but with the talent to grow into something pretty solid in time.  A lot of our defensive problems have been about communcation and "gelling" as a team.  We've gotten better individual defenders but with so many new players it will likely take until midseason before we start seeing major development there.  Still, I have to believe our improved quickness alone has to amount to many more posessions this year.  If Jonny can cut down the TOs we'll have some very nice nights to look forward to.

David Kahn has set himself up to be dealing with one of the most grandiose sucess/failure opportunities I've seen in a major sport.  He is constantly on camera trying to sell Minnesotans on his plan.  Well, there is no doubt that this team is his creation and he will live or die by the Kahnsequences (seriously I should be writing for ESPN) he has laid out for himself.

If you're anything like me you have read most every rehashed, poorly researched Kahn hating article on the internet. People seem to find any move the our current GM makes to be the equivalent of shooting one's self in the face.  Even when its as simple as signing a low risk veteran PG like Luke Ridnour.  God knows there have been worse signings than that.

I for one feel like I can see the big picture Kahn is going for.  I hope he gets there and he'll need some luck, but the biggest moves for this year have now been made I believe, and from here its a matter of a few minor trades and waiting to see who steps up from our new crop of players.

The point of this post is look even further into the future to next year which, if all goes according to plan, should be our breakout year into relevance.  The way I see it, there are 4 major changes that will happen between this year's team and next year's team and I think the Wolves have a lot to be looking forward to in 2011.

Change #1: Look for us to trade Jonny Flynn before the beginning of the 2011 seaons.

The Luke Ridnour signing makes a world of sense if one is willing to look a little further down the road.  It practically guarantees Flynn will be dealt.  It has been my belief since the night of the 2009 draft that Kahn did one thing and one thing only with picks 5 and 6.  He drafted for the best possible value he could.  The reason he did this is because he knew that the team would be moving players all over the place so there's no need to commit to need over talent.  Of course we've been over the fact that Steph Curry seems the superior player and I'm sure all of us including Kahn would do that one differently another time around.  However, I still believe Jonny will be the 3rd best PG to come out of that draft.  I don't think Kahn really ever felt that Jonny and Ricky would play together.  He knew one would likely get traded at some point, he just wasn't sure which one.  With Ricky telling us he will be here next year the time is ripe for making Jonny look great this year, letting him play to his strengths, and watching his trade value shoot way up, while keeping Ridnour around for the future to be backup/mentor to Ricky Rubio.

Change #2: The use of our trade exception.

Speaking of Kahnsequences, this is pretty much the big moment.  Not that having the cap space added to our payroll isn't worth a lot, but I think we all feel he has to use this to acquire a major player.  The number one guy I think most of us have in the back of our minds is Iguodala.  We need a good SG and Webster has only about a 20% chance of being our future starter.  Iggy would come in and give us the ball handling we need from the 2 spot.  I think Philly is going to be crying for the cap relief too, especially if Turner works out for them.  There may be other players that would be even better but I think most would agree this would be a home run.

Change #3: Ricky Rubio in MN.

I don't deal in the media's belief that Rubio won't play here.  As soon as the lockout business is settled I believe we will see mop-top playing for us.  He's the most likely player to be our superstar and Kahn gets 100% of the good or the bad that comes from Ricky.

Change #4 One more lottery draft pick.

I expect us to finish slotted around 6th in the lottery for this year.  That still gives us a good shot at the top 3 picks, and regardless should net us a nice player.  We also should have the added bonus of having no major holes on the roster so those clamoring about BPA, this should be your draft.  We will be free to get the guy with the best chance of being an allstar.

Therefore I see the 2011 starting roster looking like

Rubio

Iguodala

Beasley

Love

Milicic

Then add to that the 2 unknown assets in what we get for Flynn and the player we draft in the lottery, as well as our seemingly very solid bench.  

I am confident that this is a playoff squad.  Our system should gel this year and be ready to roll when this happens.

Anyone else see the vision??  Anyone??  I hope you weren't serous about that f%#$ing avocado!!!

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=Jefferson-100713

Hollinger actually admitted that the Wolves have done something worthwile.

For Minnesota, I can't argue with the idea of trading Jefferson. There was no way he could coexist in the same frontcourt as Kevin Love, and I'm a huge Love fan. Additionally, wiping away Jefferson's $13 million opens the door to substantial cap space -- it'll have it right away but may not choose to use it until next summer. Alternatively, it can adopt the Oklahoma City model and rent out its cap space in return for more assets. And two first-rounders never hurt.

Regardless, a frontcourt with Love, Michael Beasley, Nikola Pekovic and Darko Milicic will be a considerable improvement on last season's unit at both ends of the floor. The Wolves likely will spend another year in the basement, but one can at least see the kernels of a foundation taking shape.

That's the closest thing to high praise that I've heard about this team from any media member since well before Kahn got hired.  Nice to see someone else seeing that we are in fact building something here and not taking players willy-nilly.

I particularly like the quote about OKC for those of you out there who keep Presti shrines at home.  I think the team is planning on doing exactly the kind of renting he's talking about.

So I'm trying to make sense of our roster and what kind of capabilities it has.  Michael Beasley has quickly become the biggest X-factor next to Ricky Rubio, but it seems like he doesn't quite fit in to our line-up as anything other than a super-talented backup PF.  Unless.......

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With our recent moves, I thought it would be fun to rank our roster from last year and our roster this year and compare.  Here's the way I'd do it

2009 roster:

1. Al Jefferson/Kevin Love (tie)

3. Corey Brewer

4. Jonny Flynn

5. Darko Milicic

6. Ryan Gomes

7. Ramon Sessions

8. Wayne Ellington

9. Damien Wilkins

10. Ryan Hollins

11. Sasha Pavlovic

12. Oleksey Pecherov

13. Brian Cardinal

Wow!!  Just looking at that kinda makes me want to throw up in my mouth!

2010 roster (Pending)

1. Kevin Love/ Al Jefferson (for now)

3. Wes Johnson

4. Michael Beasley

5. Martell Webster

6. Jonny Flynn

7. Darko Milicic

8. Corey Brewer (moved down cause he'll be a backup)

9. Nikola Pekovic

10. Ramon Sessions

11. Wayne Ellington

12. Lazar Hayward

13. Ryan Hollins

14. Rick Rickert (J/K)

I think when you sit back and look at the new roster (especially considering Al will be moved) we look a hell of a lot better than last year.  Its kind of a miracle we won 15 games with list really.

How would you guys rank them?

Probasketballtalk is again reporting the David Lee to GS rumor late Wed. night.

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/

I'm really hoping at this point that we don't sign Lee.  I like the guy.  I think he's an upgrade at PF for us, but after we trade Al, KLove is our reigning best player and I would hate to have to count on another trade to make our team look balanced.  

Trade Al for Michael Beasley and a draft pick through Dampier and call it a day.  I don't know that Al can bring us a better SG than Webster will be.  Unless there's a team no one is talking about who wants Al (I'm taking the rumors of a Batum trade to be hot air) then we need to get at least one decent draft pick for the guy.  Beasley should be gotten easily and can be our backup PF.  A screwball with upside.  Again, I'll take it.

Balanced team!!!

Make it happen Khan!!!

Ok Kahn haters.  Its time to face the facts.  There has been much negativity on this site about Kahn and this team, and I personally think its because of all the hate from guys like Woj, Simmons and Ford about the Wolves.  Take a close look and see when all the super-hate began.  People weren't so down on Kahn until that Woj article came out 2 days before the draft.  People were skeptical but the outright hate happened after that article.

Kahn's biggest decisions:

Trading Foye/Miller for Ricky Rubio

Drafting Jonny Flynn over Steph Curry

Hiring Kurt Rambis

Drafting Wes Johnson over DMC

Trading for Martell Webster

Signing Darko Milicic

These are the biggest and/or most controversial decisions Kahn has made.  I'm going to break down each one and give it a +5 to -5 rating for the team.  Also pointing out how much is actual and how much is speculative.

Actual:

Foye/Miller for Ricky Rubio (+5):  I don't see how anyone can say this is anything but a great trade.  I could have put this one in speculative because we haven't seen Rubio play, but realistically Rubio will be the face of our franchise unless he truly sucks in the NBA.  Getting the face of the franchise for a draft disappointment and a guy who was trade filler the year before is nothing short of fantastic.

Drafting Jonny Flynn over Steph Curry: (-2)  Some will argue about my rating, but I think its conservatively low.  Steph Curry looks to be an all star for a while and because Jonny Flynn struggled everyone thinks he sucks.  The truth is I think Flynn will end up being bettter than Jennings or Ty Lawson once he knows how to play on this team.  Will he ever be better than Curry?  Probably not, and if he is it will be because his defense becomes better than Curry.  I think this will eventually be seen as a good #6 pick and that Curry surprised.  Keep in mind a lot of GMs weren't sold on Curry.  He's skinny and his PG game was highly questioned.  I don't think you can rip Kahn for this.  I really don't.

Signing Darko Milicic: (+1)  Again I think conservatively low.  Darko looked like the only big man who could play in Rambis' offense last year.  I watched almost all of the games he played and he was the only front court defender we had, and he put up some nice numbers in later games in both scoring, rebounding and assists even though he was terribly out of shape.  I've said before I think Darko will be one of the great coups of trading and look for him to win the most improved player award this coming season.  Oh, and Kahn?  Got him for a steal at 5mil a year for 4 years.  This guy is going to surpass his contract number.

Hiring Kurt Rambis: (+3) I know some on this site have flamed Rambis because the team looked ugly last year, but he was an amazing hire.  To get a guy who has a pedigree with the Lakers, has some head coaching experience, and has a clear vision for the future is amazing for this franchise.  I am a big Rambis fan, and I think he'll be the best coach we've ever had once his guys "get it".  If you need any more convincing of Rambis being good I offer this.  Coaches are largely measured by how their players respect them.  The fact that Rubio met Rambis once as is on record saying that he can envision playing for him is a huge endorsement.  Rubio seems mercurial and one to speak his mind.  He means this statement.  A great hire for Kahn.

Speculative: 

Drafting Wes Johnson over DMC: ( 0 ) Lots of people on this site wanted Khan's head for not drafting DMC.  DMC should be a good player and may be a great player in this league.  Sacremento will soon find out just how far he has to go to become a man, but he should put up good numbers.  Let's be clear.  He didn't fit on this Wolves team.  He would NEVER have lived up to his potential on this team because he is an Al Jefferson in that he's the offensive black hole.  Feed it to him inside all day and he'll get you 30 a game, but he's not going to make his teammates better.  Wes Johnson is a terrifically talented 3 and fits perfectly for us.  You wanna argue ceiling?  Fine.  The truth is no one knows cause neither guy has played in the NBA thus this was a neutral 0.  Reserve your judgment until we've seen these guys play.  All Kahn did was draft the best player for the Wolves without trading his pick.  You can't rip him for this.

Trading for Martell Webster: ( 0 )  The overall consensus was that the Wolves overpaid on this trade.  As we all learned that Gomes' contract was worth less than we thought, this trade looks more like a push with a lean in our favor because Webster is such a good fit for us.  Webster is an above average defender and a deep 3 point shooter who runs the floor very well.  He can play the 2 or 3 probably seeing most minutes at 2.  The only way we lose this trade is if Babbitt becomes a star.  I really think he'll be Mike Miller most likely.  A guy who can shoot and rebound ok, but will never be star material.  Webster has some good upside due to his not playing in a system that fit him.  As far as Kahn goes, this gets a 0 again because it seems fair right now and we can judge him once these guys start playing.

So, the way I see it, averaged out Kahn get slightly over a +1 per move.  Hardly a shabby record for a new GM.  Realistically he's gonna need 3-5 years before we can say anything about the guy's performance.  This hate is totally unfounded.  At worst he's an average GM.  Don't be so weak as to let these media pundits sway your emotions.  The Wolves are our team and giving up on them won't make the hurt go away.  Things actually look pretty bright for the future.  I'm sure there will be some haters replying to this and I welcome it, but I am confident that this team is on the upswing.

Side note:  Obviously trading Al isn't on this list and will be a big move for Kahn when it happens.  Can't judge what hasn't happened yet.  Also if people want to rip him for signing Ryan Hollins, all I can say is "really?"  The guy hasn't played great but was too low risk to even worry about in this post.

ESPN reported that Kris Humphries opted in to the 3.2 million for this year to stay with the Nets.  The Nets are looking to trade him to get the salary off the books.

I know little about Humphries' NBA game outside of that he's struggled a bit, but also played much better last year.

The only other thing I know is that he and I went to the same high school in MN.  

What do you guys think?  Would he be a decent guy to back up KLove this year?  The hometown connection never hurts, and he could be had for next to nothing.  Maybe a second round pick.

So it recently occurred to me that our new international scout team of Pete Philo and Tony Ronzone are pretty much unprecedented in the NBA.  The league knows these guys are the best, and we have a number of prospects that these guys have told us to pick up.  

What happens if these guys all turn out?

The NBA is not known for being especially knowledgable about Euro players.  There's a chance that our scouting staff will give us an enormous advantage over other teams when drafting in the second round, potentially adding consistent talent that is greater than what most teams find among college kids.

There is an added bonus in that we could legitimately be the first "international" NBA team.  The cliche that Prokhorov has talked about and that the league craves.  

We will know better after next year when we have our biggest talent, Rubio, in the fold, but with guys like Pekovic and possibly Bjelica joining us this year, maybe we'll see the first step to our new second round dominance.  

One of the reasons that teams don't like to draft Euro players is that they often don't come to the NBA right away.  A legitimate concern that our team could bypass be drafting one in the second every year, so that we have a constant stream of guys who want to be here, and with more developed games than their American counterparts.

Now, I don't expect us to always go Euro.  BPA will always be the slogan, but if Philo and Ronzone can tell us the real deal on Euros, we'll be one step ahead of every other team on who the real BPA is.  

Go Wolves!

There's a ton of talent left to taken in free agency.  Namely Manny Harris!!

I'm a Michigan guy and Manny is a terrific player.  If we can nab him that would soothe some of the pain I'm feeling.  He's a natural 2 guard who can get to the basket with ease.  His shooting is good but can use work, but he would be a steal.  I heard he was tearing up workouts too.  Definitely a few other guys worth a look though.  

I'm tired.

After searching the depths of the internet for that one piece of all important rumor news that will tell me what I want to hear I have been left with the constant stream of Cousins v. Johnson.  Two players who, quite frankly, should not have to be considered for this team.  One is a head case, and the other has a low ceiling.

Though it still burns me that the draft lottery effed us over once again, I realize that I must move on and accept "Oh boy!  The Nets might take Johnson so now we can draft Favors and ship Al Jefferson for magic beans and maybe in three years we'll have an all star!" Or...  "Sweet!  The Nets didn't take Johnson so now we can draft him and he'll be the wing scorer that we need and maybe be an all star once in his career and give good interviews!!!"

This prayer is for the voice that's still in my head saying "There's a number of things that could make sense for us to trade for Evan Turner......"

1.  Khan said early on that his big regret from last year was not doing everything he could to get the top player on their board (Evans).

2.  Philly has at one point or another talked about how much they like Favors and Johnson.  

3.  David Khan has been talking about everything under the sun "candid and open" EXCEPT Evan Turner.  

4.  Turner will be BPA for Philly but is the worst fit of the top guys available.

The smokescreening and rhetoric has gotten practically interstellar on all scenarios but this one, however if I was to script how these two teams would best posture for this trade I would script it exactly how its gone down.  Philly has to say they are drafting Turner no matter what or else their bargaining power is hurt.  Khan has to pretend he's totally moved on and isn't considering it because whoever is at 4 will be perfect.  

The game of poker is down to the final bets, Khan is all in, and if somehow we get Turner, and I don't care how at this point, I think we win.

I can't say I'm totally sold on David Khan right now, but I think the media has officially found their whipping boy.

I kinda want to pick fourth so I can make Minnesota's pick... that way T-Wolves fans can pretend they have someone competent in charge for 5 minutes.

The key word there is "under the watch" - Kahn will be gone by 2012 when they're playing together (Rubio and Favors), so he'll be watching them on TV.

The article from yesterday has started a feeding frenzy from the big-time pundits.  Again, I'm not sold on Khan but after doing things like trading Foye and Miller for Rubio he doesn't deserve to get hammered like this.  IMO he needs to turn over the limelight to Ronzone cause he's bad in front of the camera.

Its rumor status but I just read that (though they mixed up which team had which pick).  

This sounds awful by itself.  I don't see what we gain by picking up two more late draft picks when we have too many picks already.   Either Kahn's master plan is coming together or we are going to do something reeeealy stupid.  We'll wait and see what gets fleshed out in the coming hours.  Hopefully its better than this.

So, I'm not a big DMC guy.  If we stay at #4 I think we'll suck it up and take Wes Johnson.  He fits the need, is athletic and has no attitude baggage (I still hope we trade for ET and this point is moot).  Now with 16 someone will fall to us, and I know we're all in love with Paul George and Xavier Henry, but they will likely be gone, and if we take Wes, its less likely that another rookie wing is gonna help us win.  However, it is likely that Patrick Patterson will be there waiting for us and I think he might be the best pick no one's talking about.

As I look at our PF problem with Al and KLove, they are both really good players but I just don't see us maxing out Al's skills with our new system.  KLove should fit ok, but needs up his conditioning.  Thus, if we end up trading Al at some point we are going to need a legit backup PF and I don't think Pekovic is that guy.  Pek is a better C on our team than he would be a PF.

Patterson could be a terrific add to our team.  He's got a terrific skill set on offense, a chiseled body, and plays with high energy on D.  I think he could be a perfect fit to our "running" team that Kahn wants to make happen.  I really feel he should be a very solid rotation guy right away with some potential starting ability down the road.

So I know that a lot of people on here view Pekovic as a PF, and I can understand why with his scoring ability and athleticism.  It seems that no one is talking about him playing C though, and at 6-11 I don't see why he couldn't be great in that role.  I know his defense has a ways to go, but ideally Darko will be our starter and should be a great defender, so having a guy coming off the bench who is big and can score seems to me a great fit.  Do we need to look any further?

Admittedly I haven't watched more than just a few clips of the guy's Euro games so I'm no expert but if this line up works then we have an important spot on our team set for the near future.  Especially if both guys continue to develop.

If this works out we can devote pretty much all our energy to fixing the backcourt.  I think, with the assets we have, we could realistically bring Evan Turner and Rudy Gay to the team without giving up Al Jefferson, leaving us with

Flynn/Sessions

Turner/Brewer/Ellington

Gay/Brewer

Love/Jefferson

Milicic/Pekovic

Not bad for a team who has yet to bring in Rubio.  I have to say, if the Centers hold up, this has incredible potential.  I could see this team winning 30-40 games pretty easy.

Thoughts?

So I keep reading all the new potential trade posts on this site, and there seems to be a common theme.  Whether its that Wolves fans have an inferiority complex, or just because we had a bad year, it seems clear that the fans are undervaluing our assets.  To attempt to clarify the pieces of the puzzle that we do have I'm attempting to put together a straight up draft pick value to each of our potentially tradeable players, so the next time you want to trade Rubio and Flynn and Jefferson and the number 4 pick to get Evan Turner you'll see how ridiculous that sounds.

Players:

1. Ricky Rubio - (value #2 overall)

I think he's worth no less than #2.  He should have gone #2 last year and if it made sense I could see someone valuing him as high as John Wall.

2. Kevin Love - (value #8 overall)

He's one the best rebounders in the league and still improving.  The only reason he doesn't go higher is because he's a little undersized, a little out of shape, and is a "below the rim" player in the post.  

3. Al Jefferson - (value #10 overall)

Big Al is one the best low post scorers in the league.  If he didn't hurt his knee and have a tough year he would ranked much higher.  The only other trade issue is that he makes good money, but its far from unreasonable for his skills.

4. Jonny Flynn - (value #10 overall)

The much maligned Jonny Flynn (when viewed from any vantage point other than being a Wolves fan) is a super-athletic PG with the ability to penetrate as well as shoot from distance.  He's high character and there's reason to believe he will turn into a great starter in a year or 2.  

5. Nikola Pekovic - (value #16 overall)

He's known to be the best big man in Europe.  He's young, he's big and he's got a great offensive game.  A guy who can potentially be a legit C in the NBA.

6. Ryan Gomes - (value #31 overall)

Gomes is 3 million in additional cap room for any team.  He's not half bad as a player either.  On the right team he could be a good 6th man.  His real value is the cap money though so I put him as worth the first pick in round 2.

7. Ryan Hollins - (value......um....a McDonalds chicken sandwich??)

The great flailer.  Yeah I don't think we'd get much.  All we can do is keep him and pray he learns to play defense and block a shot once in a while.  Hopefully hes not allergic to lifting weights.

So hopefully this puts things in perspective for some of these trades.  Good negotiating starts with knowing what your assets are worth.  Undervalue and thats a one way trip to permanent lottery status.  

After I regained my appetite and my hand didn't hurt so much from when I punched my bedroom wall due to our most recent David Stern hope-buggering, I started to do what my ever optimistic self must do.

Look at the bright side.

In this case, as frustrating as it was, there is a legitimate bright side to be found.  

1. The best news we got was that we aren't picking number 5.  Picking number 5 would have absolutely killed our ability to move up.  The top talent in this draft is 4 deep, and everyone knows it.  We have to hope that people aren't too scared to draft Cousins of course, so hopefully he isn't a dick in his private workouts.

2. I am convinced that the FO wants Evan Turner, come hell or high water, and we're only gonna get him at the #2 spot.  We actually lucked out on this because Philly landed the 2nd pick.  Philly doesn't need Turner they way they need a guy like Cousins, so they have a good reason to trade down and pick up value.  Also, Philly is one of the few teams who have major cap issues.  We can offer them both players they can dump for cap room, as well as potentially taking on some of their overpayed players.  That's gonna be very interesting to them.

If I'm correct in my assumption that the FO will pay what they have to to land Turner, I think it would reasonably break down like this:

Philly:  #2 pick and Jason Kapono to the Wolves

Minny:  #4 pick, #23 pick, Ryan Gomes to the 76ers

I think that's reasonable and fair.  

The one thing I am thinking is that we shouldn't surrender the #16 pick.  Its too valuable in this draft, and losing #23 isn't so bad, as we really don't have the room for 3 rookies to make the team this year.  Gomes can either be a nice 3-4 for them, or they can dump him for the cap room.  He should be the perfect extra piece to get this deal done.

Does this sound fair to you?

So I've been thinking about what to do if we're forced into drafting Derrick Favors and its brought me to the conclusion...

Maybe we should!!

When I think of John Wall or Ricky Rubio running down the floor I get all excited until I imagine the part about the big men loping from the back court.  Favors could be the PF answer to this problem with his athleticism.

The problem is I like both Big Al and KLove for their abilities, and let's be honest, they're probably 1 and 2 as far as best players on the team.  I'd hate to trade either of our best players, but if they can't run the floor well enough, we will never make this team work.

The good news is also the bad news here, as I think these guys both played pretty out of shape this year.  Meaning, yay, they could potentially be a lot better, and, boo, they have work to do.  

Big Al at least has the excuse of coming back from the ACL and having to learn to play so much lighter this year, KLove doesn't have an excuse as he was healthy all off season and his broken hand didn't mean he couldn't do cardio.  (In fact I believe KLove coming off the bench was Rambis' way of telling KLove he needs to work on his body.  His core strength is for crap and so is his balance.)

So, either way we gamble.  Keep our guys and hope they get quicker/faster, or trade them and nab Favors?

My vote is to keep them.  If they both improve and can learn what their roles are on this team we could have an awesome force with Al's scoring and KLove's toughness/rebounding and wicked sweet 3 pointer (dream).  I'm glad to hear Al is working with Hakeem the Dream to improve defense.  I think he'll be a lot better next year.  Hopefully KLove will follow suit and put on a little athletic bulk to go with better flexibility.

If we add 2 shooters in the offseason, either draft or free agency, and these guys get better, our team could be fierce in the future.

So I'm thinking about our roster, and one of the questions that keeps popping into my mind is "How much better will Ellington be?"  If he manages to improve his conditioning this offseason so he can play better defense (not that he was so bad) does he have any potential to be a starting player, or is he only ever going to be a 3 point gunner off the bench?

So, I tend to be a major home-team optimist, but I really do feel like Wayne has a very high ceiling for this team.  I think most would agree that they would take Wayne's rookie year over Corey Brewer's.  Hopefully Wayne will have a similar trajectory as Brewer has and round out his game with some better ball handling and more aggressiveness offensively. 

I feel like he has a complete package to be uncovered, quite possibly starting quality.  If he can still drain 3s and starts to find some consistency in driving the basket (and gets the minutes), I see a guy in the 15-20 ppg area.  And my optimism tells me that could be as early as next season.

Anyone out there think I'm crazy?

I shudder to mention it without knocking on wood, but I'm a realist and it is in fact most likely that we end up with the 4th pick in this Timberwolf-yearly-screwing known as the NBA lottery.  So here are my ideas for each of the 5 possible pick slots.

The no-brainers:

#1 - Evan Turner.  

Sure, John Wall may have a higher ceiling, but Turner is right on his heels and he is the smooth scorer that the Wolves need so badly.  He's also a great rebounder for his position.  I think the Wolves take him if they get #1, with some small potential that they would draft Wall and trade him for Turner if there was a team that could offer that.  It would just be a waste to draft Wall and trade Flynn and still have no outside shooting.

#2 - Evan Turner.

Pretty sure he'll be there at #2 no matter who gets the #1 pick.  He's the perfect need/value pick.

The crapshoot:

#3 - Derrick Favors.

So, all of these picks between #3-5 is really a question of whether or not we are trading it to whoever drafts Turner.  I could potentially see us trading this pick with a guy like Ryan Gomes to get Turner.  That being said, if we stick with the pick, I think we have to go BPA and Favors has the upside to be a superstar.  We would likely move Al or Love during the year if we took him, but if he is a legit star it would be worth it.

#4 - Wesley Johnson.

I just can't see us drafting Cousins.  He's the biggest talent in the draft, but there's no way Kahn puts his butt on the line for a 19 year old diva.  Johnson is an older prospect but really fits a need and looks to be a really solid all around player with legit star potential.

#5 - Wesley Johnson.

I think he'd still be there at #5 and considering the crap luck we would have to get the #5 in the lottery, Johnson would be a fantastic consolation prize, as I think there is a significant drop off in talent after him.

Again, the big question is do we trade for Turner (I personally think yes) or stand pat.  Any way you slice it though, we're gonna have a great prospect.  I'm also secretly harboring hopes that Xavier Henry will be there at 16.  That would be unbelievable no matter who we draft.

Can we get off of Jonny Flynn's back a little bit?  The guy Is forced to play starting point guard, the hardest position, on a terrible team where everyone is learning a new offense, and his coach is outright saying he is making Jonny do things he is uncomfortable with.  Then you knock the guy for not being a breakout player like Evans or Curry??  Give the guy a break.  Considering the situation he did well to keep himself even trying to win towards the end of the season (where his assist numbers finally started to climb).  I admit many of the turnovers he gave up need correction, but that will come once the team "gets" the offense, and clearly his defense needs a lot of work, but he'll come around.  Hopefully that will be next year.  Jonny backing up Rubio makes me excited, and I think those 2 could still be an incredibly dynamic 1-2.