From David Brauer/MinnPost: Should it matter that Mark Madsen donated to Prop Hate?
Stop-n-Pop/Canis Hoopus on Madsen and the relationship between politics and sports.
The Timberwolves decided to switch things up a little bit today, going through a full practice on the main floor of Target Center. Normally, the Wolves conduct their practices downstairs on a court inside the recreation center, and only use the main court for the game day morning shoot around and, of course, the actual games…
Al Jefferson (yes, he returned to practice today and said everythying’s fine) on the Wolves giving up leads down the stretch: “We have lost a lot of games this year that we should have won. It’s still early, but we should be over .500 right now. I don’t know if we’re just being cursed by the basketball gods or something. I don’t know what it is.”
Well, I underestimated the braintrust’s capacity to stick with what doesn’t work. Seven games into the season, Mark Madsen has all of 13 minutes, and Jefferson and Gomes have seen the overwhelming majority of their minutes at positions for which they are relatively undersized. Even more damaging, Craig Smith, a player I was frankly perplexed they re-signed, someone I expected to get mop-up and early foul trouble minutes only, has played 116 minutes thus far, or more than 16 minutes per game. When Smith subs in, Smallball almost always gets smaller. There are precious few power forwards, let alone centers, that the Rhino can adequately defend. And then there were times when it was Smith and Gomes in the frontcourt!
Wolves rookie Kevin Love has helped kick off the inaugural Rookie Relief for St. Jude, a fundraising campaign to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, one of the world’s premier pediatric cancer centers.
To entice you even more, Love has committed to matching funds raised through the auction up to $12,500. Well played, sir.
From Tom Ziller/Fanhouse:
Of course, not a soul would cry foul should Wittman walk the gallows — his rotation has been suspect, the team seems completely aimless most of the time. If there were an NBA yearbook, “Coach Most Likely to Look Completely Lost in Crunch Time” would be a unanimous Wittman victory. But still … does McHale honestly think the Wolves should be 4-3 right now?
From The Bleacher Bums:
But the notion that the Timberwolves would play better defense this year, that they in fact focused on defense during training camp, is laughable. Aside from Corey Brewer, this team seems to have no concept of defense. Opposing teams drive into the lane untouched, or kick it out to wide-open players on the wings. It makes you wonder what exactly they were doing during training camp.
Chris Sheridan/ESPN on the top ten unemployed NBA players:
10. The D-League EntryFormer Timberwolves forward Chris Richard went No. 1 in the D-League draft earlier this week…
The Minnesota Timberwolves were the tall sweaty guys I mentioned earlier. I sat down with assistant general manager Fred Hoiberg after a recent practice.
“We’re one of two teams that brings back three 40 percent three-point shooters from a year ago, the other being the Lakers. Ryan Gomes, capable shooter. Kevin Love has such a unique skill set – to get Al Jefferson the ball. He’s another guy who can shoot the NBA three,” he said.
From Bill Simmons/ESPN:
Q: Went to the Wolves home opener Wednesday against the Kings. Great seats right behind the Kings’ bench. Garbage game to watch, as you can imagine, but saw Khloe Kardashian sitting courtside wearing a custom T-shirt with Rashad McCants’ name and number on it. Seriously, what does it say about Khloe’s place at the family dinner table when big sis Kim is hooked up with the main course in Reggie Bush, and Khloe is begging for table scraps in McCants?
— Josh, Minneapolis
— Josh, Minneapolis
SG: I love the Bush/McCants parallels to Kim/Khloe and their relative places in the pop-culture hierarchy. Kim dates a famous and highly paid football player who lives in a fun city; Khloe dates the 10th man on a lottery team in Minnesota. (Note: That’s IF she dates him, I’m going off your info.)…
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