Aug/070
The New Timberpups: Part II (Gerald Green)
By now even the deafest timberwolf fan should have heard the news that Kevin Garnett has been traded to Boston. It is a trade that I agree with in principle, but am sad about from a nostalgia standpoint. It’s the end of an era in Minnesota sports history that began with so much promise and ended with too many regrets. To avoid shedding a tear over the recent developments, I will focus on which players the Wolves got in return for sending KG to finally play with Ray Allen. Before I get started, here is a refresher on what the trade entailed: Kevin Garnett for Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Ryan Gomes, Theo Ratliff, the first round pick that we gave Boston in the Davis/Szczerbiak trade (likely a 2009 pick), and Boston’s 2009 pick.
Potentially one of the most important pieces of the deal for us is Gerald Green. I say "potentially" because that is all that Green is: Potential! Gerald is a freak of nature from an athletic standpoint, but hasn't as of yet transferred that talent to the NBA beyond dunk contests and highlight reels.
High School
In his senior year at Gulf Shores high school, Green averaged 33 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 blocked shots per game. For this effort he was named an All-American and played in the annual McDonald's All-American game, which features two teams composed of the best high school basketball players in the United States. Green also won the McDonald's All-American Slam Dunk Contest that year, defeating former Duke player Josh McRoberts.
Draft
Green originally committed to attending Oklahoma State University, but after his success in the All-American game and festivities he decided to enter the NBA Draft upon graduation. He hired an agent, thereby making himself ineligible to participate in NCAA athletics. Green was expected by many analysts to be one of the top few players chosen but he fell to the Celtics, who selected him with the 18th pick in the draft. His fall is attributed to his decision to give individual work outs only for the teams with the top six picks prior to the draft
Green drew comparisons to Houston Rockets superstar Tracy McGrady in the period leading up to the 2005 NBA Draft.
Green was one of the last players to enter the NBA directly from high school, as the collective bargaining agreement between NBA owners and the NBA Players' Association now mandates that American players who enter the NBA Draft must be at least one year removed from the graduation of their high school class and reach age 19 no later than December 31 of the calendar year of the draft.
2005-2006
During the pre-season, Green averaged 8 points and 1.3 rebounds per game for the Celtics in the 2005 Las Vegas Summer League.
After seeing limited playing time during the first part of the season, Green was placed on the Fayetteville Patriots of the NBA D-League by the Celtics in January of 2006. He was recalled and activated to an NBA roster position on February 3. He was reassigned to the NBDL, to the Florida Flame, on February 16. He was recalled and activated again on February 21, and saw his first significant NBA game action on the following night, scoring 13 points and grabbing 9 rebounds in 23 minutes.
He appeared in 32 games and averaged 11.8 minutes, 5.2 points, and 1.2 rebounds during these contests. Gerald Green left marks on the league with his highlight plays including a shot clock beating half court three against Indiana and two Sports Center top play dunks in the closing seconds in two games against Toronto.
2006-2007
Over the off-season, Green aimed at improving all aspects of his game in order to gain playing time. He had shown flashes of his capability during the end of the 2005-2006 season, but started off the 2006-2007 season slowly, earning a somewhat limited role and playing time behind captain Paul Pierce, and swingman Wally Szczerbiak. With injuries to Szczerbiak and Pierce, his playing time increased, but he has been unable to nail down a starting role. Green started his first ever game early December against the Philadelphia 76ers, but then lost his job to a returning Szczerbiak. Green finished the 2006-07 season averaging 10.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game.
On February 17, 2007, Green won the 2007 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, beating out Nate Robinson, Tyrus Thomas, and Dwight Howard.
The objective of the Kevin Garnett trade was to get young potential in return, which we would then add to our current crop of young potential, with the hopes of winning a championship when that potential blossoms in 3 to 5 years. Whether Gerald Green will ever turn into an All-Star or even an NBA starter we don't know, but we will all enjoy the highlight reel dunks en route to whatever his destiny turns out to be...
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- Green had most of his right ring finger amputated at age eight after an accident
- Has a 48-inch vertical leap
- At the Celtics practice facility, caught and dunked a basketball bounced off of the 1986 championship banner, which is approximately 30 feet in the air
- Owns three dogs, one named Joker
- Prior to the 2007 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, Reebok began a promotional campaign called "The Gerald Green Show" in which posters and tshirts were distributed promoting Green. Green wore special Reebok Pump sneakers at the contest
- Was born at halftime of Super Bowl XX
Aug/0716
The New Timberpups: Part I (Al Jefferson)
By now even the deafest timberwolf fan should have heard the news that Kevin Garnett has been traded to Boston. It is a trade that I agree with in principle, but am sad about from a nostalgia standpoint. It's the end of an era in Minnesota sports history that began with so much promise and ended with too many regrets. To avoid shedding a tear over the recent developments, I will focus on which players the Wolves got in return for sending KG to finally play with Ray Allen. Before I get started, here is a refresher on what the trade entailed: Kevin Garnett for Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Ryan Gomes, Theo Ratliff, the first round pick that we gave Boston in the Davis/Szczerbiak trade (likely a 2009 pick), and Boston's 2009 pick.
The most important piece of the deal is Al Jefferson, not only because he plays power forward, but because he is the most likely of the bunch to lead us to a championship sometime in the next decade.
Jefferson attended Prentiss High School in Prentiss, Mississippi. As a senior, he was a 2004 McDonald's All-American selection, and was a finalist for the Naismith Award, after he averaged 42 points, 16 rebounds and 9 blocks per game during the season. He committed to the University of Arkansas, but decided to forego college for the NBA Draft.
Al Jefferson was drafted out of high school with the 15th pick by the Boston Celtics in the 2004 NBA Draft, becoming the first high school player to be drafted by the Celtics (Kendrick Perkins was drafted by the Grizzlies, then traded to Boston on draft day in the 2003 NBA Draft). He played primarily as a power forward and averaged 6.7 points and 4.4 rebounds in 14.8 minutes per game during his rookie season. Jefferson's 2005-2006 season was widely considered a disappointment, mostly due to a series of ankle injuries which limited him to playing in 59 games. He averaged 7.9 points and 5.1 rebounds in 18.0 minutes per game during his sophomore season.
In the off-season prior to the 2006-2007 season, Jefferson hired a personal chef and lost about 30 pounds. After experiencing lingering pain after participating in the Las Vegas Summer League, a CAT scan revealed bone spurs. On August 2, 2006, he underwent ankle surgery to remove these bone spurs. On November 8, 2006 prior to the fourth game of the season, Al Jefferson had appendectomy surgery at New England Baptist Hospital. The surgery was performed by Dr. Steven Camer and Dr. Farhat Homsy and assisted by Celtics Team Physician Dr. Brian McKeon. He missed seven games and returned to the lineup on November 23, 2006.
While already playing increased minutes (9.3 points and 7.0 rebounds in 22.0 minutes per game over 9 games as a reserve), his role expanded due to an injury to starting center Kendrick Perkins. With backup centers Michael Olowokandi and Theo Ratliff already on the injured list, Celtics' coach Doc Rivers started Al Jefferson at center on December 6, 2006 against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Over the next 7 games, Jefferson averaged 16.3 points and 11.1 rebounds in 33.7 minutes per game. In what some considered a breakout performance against the New Jersey Nets on December 9, 2006, he scored a career-high 29 points and grabbed 14 rebounds which tied a career-high (set on May 5, 2005 in a playoff game against the Pacers). It was the second time he had scored more than 20 points in a game. The previous occasion was on December 10, 2005 against the Dallas Mavericks where he scored 21 points. His third and fourth 20-point game came six and seven days after the second, on December 15 and December 16, 2006, when he scored 28 against the Denver Nuggets and 22 against the Charlotte Bobcats. These efforts punctuated a five-game win streak by the Boston Celtics.
On March 3, 2007, Jefferson scored a career high 32 points to go along with 18 rebounds against the New Jersey Nets, who Jefferson had previously set his career high in points against earlier in the season.
On March 5, 2007, Jefferson was named the NBA's Eastern Conference Player of the Week.
Al Jefferson finished the 2006-07 NBA season with averages of if 16.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks
For more information you can read an interview by Mike Trudell on Timberwolves.com http://www.nba.com/timberwolves/news/meet_al_jefferson_070802.html
Enjoy!
Jul/0716
With the number 7 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft the Minnesota Timberwolves select…
Corey Brewer. Let me lead off this post by saying that I stand completely behind McHale et al.'s selection of Corey Brewer. He was, in my opinion, the best available player when we picked. However, I was a little surprised that we didn't make a draft day trade for a shoot-first point guard. It just seems to be what the Wolves like to do. I kept expecting to hear "there has been a trade. The Wolves have sent Corey Brewer to Atlanta for Acie Law IV and future considerations or cash." One of the worst moves in team history, right behind Ndudi Ebi and the Joe Smith wink-wink ink-ink, was trading one of my favorite players of all-time, Ray Allen, to Seattle on draft day for Stephon Marbury. The Timberwolves followed the same blueprint last year when we made a draft day trade with Portland sending Brandon Roy there for Randy Foye and cash. For the record, I still support the trade last year, but it looks like a trend. A lot of people like to jump down McHale's throat about many issues, both deservingly and not, but our last two drafts have been fantastic. Foye is going to be a 15 year pro, Craig Smith would start on many teams this year (unfortunately for him he is really a 4, so unless we trade KG he will have a reserve role), Corey Brewer is a proven winner who plays steller defense, is slippery in the lane, and can dish with the best 3's in the league, and Chris Richard, also a proven winner, has looked like a taller version of Craig Smith in the summer league and is a team-first guy--imagine a strong, athletic Mad-Dog.
Speaking of the Foye trade, Brandon Roy was rookie of the year because he was put in a scoring role on a team with no guards and no hope. It's easy to have inflated stats when you are the only perimeter scorer on a bad team (see Mike James for Toronto in 2006). Marbury had a great first couple of years and Seattle looked like dopes for trading him for Jesus Shuttlesworth, but one or two seasons does not a career make. In hindsight Ray Allen has been one of the best players of his generation and Marbury has been a poison pill for every team he has touched.
My prediction is that the Foye-Roy trade will look similar in the long run. Brandon Roy is a solid pro, but doesn't have the upside to be the face of a franchise like Foye does. This year in the summer league Foye is doing a much better job of running the team like a true point guard and getting his shots in the flow of the offense and at crunch time. On Saturday night Foye scored 26 points in the flow of the offense against Memphis. Granted, they didn't have Pau in the lineup, but Foye was going against Mike Conley Jr. of Ohio State and in the summer league they only play 10 minute quarters. In my opinion, the second round choices of Smith and Richard have saved McHale's job for the next few years. In fact, Foye and Smith made the Summer League First Team, which was announced today. Yes, this was the same summer league that Foye was the MVP of last year, and that is played in by the likes of Roy, Kevin Durant, Greg Oden and Rudy Gay, to name a few.
McHale hasn't been as bad as everyone thinks. The aforementioned Joe Smith and Ndudi Ebi transactions were diseased, don't get me wrong, but McHale has done some good things too. Almost all of rube nation was behind McHale in 2003 when he signed Cassell and Spree. In fact, I was as happy as Pat Williams at an all you can eat Cajun Crawfish buffet about it. We were a Sammy C groin injury away from winning the NBA championship. It is not McHale's fault that Cassell got hurt and we lost in the Western Finals. It's not fair to go back now and criticize McHale for taking the risk to get Sam and Latrell, because we were all behind it at the time.
Also, McHale has been bound by Garnett's contract (who he never gets the credit for drafting, by the way) his entire tenure. Garnett keeps complaining that we aren't putting a good team together? Ok, let's redo your deal so you get the mid-level exception (still about 6 million per) and we'll sign Gilbert Arenas! Oh, I guess he's not THAT upset about losing. Every year all we have is the mid-level and the 1 million dollar ditty to sign new players. KG either needs to take less money so we can afford another (real) superstar, or he needs to start recruiting his friends to come play for the mid-level. Shaq went and got Antoine Walker and Gary Payton for the mid-level and the minimum, respectively, and they won the Championship. Maybe if KG didn't disappear for 6 months during the offseason we could make some progress. Even better, KG could take a pay cut AND recruit his buddies to play for the minimum to win a championship... I guess he hasn't considered that, because if he had thought of it he is such a team-first guy that he would undoubtedly have already done it. I don't know if you can say "unselfish, team first player" and "largest contract in league history" in the same sentence with a straight face. If you can, feel free to leave a comment...
Feb/070
Timberwolves’ Draft Pick?
As we currently stand, with our .456 winning percentage, the T-Wolves are in line for the 12th overall pick. The problem is that we have to give our pick to LA from the Marko/Cassell deal. However, our pick is lottery protected under the 10th pick. In other words, if our pick is #10 or lower we get to keep the pick. The Warriors and the Knicks are nipping at our heals in the win-percentage column. If we get both of those teams to jump past us, while at the same time not letting any team drop below us, we will be in line for the 10th pick, which we will be able to keep, and will also have a chance at Oden or my boy Kevin Durant (hook 'em horns) via the lottery. Stranger things have happened... Remeber when the Magic got Shaq after just missing the playoffs?? Remember when the Spurs got Duncan?? It could happen to us too. Just imagine Garnett and Oden as the new twin towers..
+ 
OR 
I think I'm turning into a dangerous amalgam of Chuck Walters and Sid Hartman today..