Yes, owner Glen Taylor is disappointed with the Timberwolves’ 2-8 start and their inability to close out games.
At the same time, he expressed confidence today that coach Randy Wittman and his staff can rectify the problem and deliver on the promise of a better season.
“I have confidence that he will find out what are the issues in the fourth quarter and make the needed changes and get by that,” Taylor said. “I’m supporting him in that issue and hopefully that’s the way it will fall out, you know, sooner than later. It is difficult, but I have confidence that we have the right coaching staff.”
Jonah Ballow/Timberwolves site talks to JB Bickerstaff, Randy Wittman, and Craig Smith about tomorrow’s game against the Celtics (audio).
“It’s just one more dread that you worry about, that you have to talk about and that you don’t want your players to have to be thinking about,” Taylor said. “My sense is, when you get to that year, what you find out is that a lot of players stay home. But there’s so much talk. … It’s one of those things where, you as an owner, you’re always talking about whether someone was going to want to sign Kevin. So you had to think about [re-signing] him early, which put on a little pressure. That is a concern of your fans — are you going to keep a team together? It’s on the player’s mind. Some players don’t want to be playing in the last year of their contract. Some do, but some don’t. It is something that they keep talking about.”
Eventually, the rumor-mongers were right. Garnett did get traded. He wound up in Boston, winning his long-sought NBA championship at the first possible opportunity and, in essence, emboldening everyone on these types of (ahem) stories.
The Timberwolves have put some new sets into their offense for Mike Miller, who has been passing up too many shots of late, according to the coaches. With the best outside shooting percentage on the squad, Wittman wants him to be a little more unselfish. Look for some of that outside fireworks tonight against the Sixers and certainly against Boston, who with Garnett down low, are one of the best interior defensive teams in the league.
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