Wolves Fall to Goomba, Bobcats for 14th straight loss.
From Jerry Zgoda, the Wolves started off okay but then went to Arby’s over halftime and mailed in the rest of the evening. Note to team: There is no need to tank anymore. We have secured our draft position.
They are 14-58. The franchise’s worst season was 15-67 in 1991-92, when they were the NBA’s worst team but picked Christian Laettner third in a draft that offered Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning.
The Wolves committed six of their 16 turnovers in that withering 20-0 stretch, which in many ways was a microcosm of their entire season: Travel. Bad pass. Bad pass. Ball dropped out of bounds. Bad pass.
Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace (23 points) seemingly made layup after layup on a night when Charlotte outscored the Wolves 24-8 on fast breaks and 66-46 on points in the paint.
Jonny Flynn has struggled this season
From Sven Cobum, RealGM. Points out the obvious that Flynn has struggled this season and not quite performed up to par. I’m not sure why there are such tight constraints on the point guard? How is this helping his development again?
Unfortunately for Flynn, the honeymoon period is brief when you win two games in the first month of the season and the offense is in shambles. New system or not, Flynn wasn’t looking like the decisive leader that we saw in that classic game vs. UConn. In trying to find the balance between being distributor and offensive weapon, his indecision was leading to a turnover rate higher than any of the other starting floor generals from his rookie class. In a league where scouting reports spread like wildfire, teams found that like most rookies, his midrange game was limited. Flynn would try and stay aggressive and attack the rim, but would often end up on the floor after a forced shot attempt with no foul call to bail him out.
Darko Milicic is an angry man
From ESPN, a quick, comical writeup on Darko’s attitude. I mean, its no doubt the guy is a little traumatized. Its obvious Darko’s problems are more internal than anything else…
He’s earned roughly $37 million for playing 6,183 career minutes, a wage approaching $6,000 per minute. Yet Milicic wants to blame Brown? He should be thinking positively and thanking his agent. Without a rich daddy, sweetheart deals like that are difficult to find
Offseason o’ Disappointment Fun Ahead!
Travis Heath of Hoopsworld lays out the possibilities for the Wolves this Offseason. In short, draft night better be good or Hello Joel Przybilla and Travis Outlaw!
Truth be told, the draft is where Minnesota has the greatest chance to turn things around. The Wolves have a total of six picks in this summer’s NBA Draft with three of those picks coming in the first round. If the standings stayed the same at the end of the season as they are today and everything held to form in the lottery (which as we all know that never seems to happen) the Wolves would own the second, 17th, 24th, 32nd, 44th, and 46th overall picks. All told, the Wolves need to add at least two wings and a legitimate center to the roster as foundational pieces. Not all of this has to be done through the draft, but with six picks expect the Wolves to try and address these needs if at all possible come June.
Historical Lottery Results
Forum poster 9Deuce posts historical lottery results for teams in our position. It’s not good:
01-02 = Warriors – Picked 3rd
02-03 = Denver – Picked 3rd
03-04 = Bulls – Picked 3rd
04-05 = Hornets – Picked 4th
05-06 = Knicks(Traded to Chicago)- Picked 2nd
06-07 = Boston – Picked 5th
07-08 = Thunder – Picked 4th
08-09 = Wizards – Picked 5th
09-10 = Wolves – it’s over…we are done!!!
The Deuce however, follows it up with this refreshing point:
On a slightly positive note, even though the 2nd worst record fell, 6 out of the 8 years it turned out to be positive for them.
For example:
02-03 Denver – Picked Carmelo
04-05 Hornets – Picked Chris Paul
05-06 Knicks traded to Chicago, Chicago traded to Blazers – Picked Lamarcus Aldridge
06-07 Boston traded to Seattle for Ray Allen – Seattle picked Jeff Green.
07-08 Thunder – Russel Westbrook
08-09 Wizard traded to Wolves – Wolves picked RICKY RUBIO!!!
So the “bad” years?
2002 – The Warriors picked Mike Dunleavy over future NBA standouts DeJaun Wagner, Nikoloz Tskitishvili and Drew Gooden.
2004 – Ben Gordon, who was fairly decent for Chicago for many years. He was picked over Shaun Livingston, Josh Childress and Devin Harris who is currently the floor general for what could be the worst team in NBA history.
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