January 2006

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The Three-Pointer: Boston C Party

Filed under: Timberwolves

Housekeeping prelude: Skip down to Point 1 if you're not interested. My apologies for this tardy trey pointer after not posting after the San Antonio tilt. From now on, beginning after Wednesday night's game, I will set up this site to receive your feedback after every game, whether I have been able to post my complete thoughts on the game or not.

(I can always go back and add mine later.) This is done in acknowledgment of and appreciation for the smart, passionate contributors to this space. That said, I'll still play God if I have to. Some of the posts in the last thread began to creep toward those dreaded, intimate pissing matches. I (and hopefully most of you) are not interested in opinions only, but informed opinions that go broader than one-on-one arguments. Don't post what you think without giving evidence why you think it. Keep the pejorative, smart-alecky stuff to a minimum. Stuff like Brauer's salary cap explainers, Levi's popcorn link and analysis, and Weinhold's contrarian but well-considered broadsides are just three of dozens of elements contained in your feedback that get me excited to read my own blog. (Beyond hanging on my own every word, that is.)

Last but not least: No running commentary while the games are in process and no dashed-off one-liners or retorts. I'll just doink them. And eat your peas before they get cold!

1. Jets at the point
Kevin McHale looked smart five or six different ways during last night's 25-point thrashing of the Boston Celtics, but the play of point guard Marcus Banks was the largest eye-opener. When McHale's new sidekick Rex Chapman referred to Banks as "the key" to the seven-player, three draft-pick swap with the Celtics last week, it seemed like primping, if not pimping. More than two years (180 games) into his career, Banks' shooting percentage is a doleful 40.4, and his assist to turnover ratio is a fairly wretched 2-to-1.26. Yeah, the rep was that his D was strong, but that made him sound like a younger Anthony Carter. Why was he the Celts *3rd* string point guard? For that matter, why were the Wolves adding a 4th point guard to their roster? When the post-trade rumor mill had Banks merely pivoting in Minnesota and heading to Seattle for another swap, involving Reggie Evans and/or Flip Murray, it made sense.

But in a scant 21:21 of playing time, Banks capsized any pat assumptions people had for his future. Credit McHale and Chapman for admiring and then acquiring his jitterbug quickness, but not even the guy's biggest boosters could have anticipated him going off for 20 points on only eight shots from the field (he added 7-9 from the free throw line), and six assists. At once cool and jubilant, he tromped on the throttle with zipped downcourt shovel passes off the dribble that would have been called for two-line offsides in hockey. And once in the half-court, he had his defenders bobble-heading their entire bodies in response to his deft hesitation dribbles, downshifts presaging his peeled rubber toward the hoop or his sudden, and on this night deadly, rise up for a jumper. Hell, defense was the worst part of his game.

We'll know in the next three weeks (trading deadline is February 23) whether the Wolves really do regard Banks as a keeper or bait for bigger fish. When I asked coach Dwane Casey after the game about the glut in the backcourt (nine of the 15 players on the current roster are listed as guards), he acknowledged that it was "out of balance." As of last night if not before, Banks and his relatively puny ($1.7 million) salary, which expires this year, was the most tradeable among Minnesota's quartet at the point--and he matches up with Evans and Murray (a combined $2 million, also expiring this year).

On the basis of one game, the idea of trading Banks is idiotic...almost as idiotic as making the decision based on one game. Now that Michael Olowokandi has taken his tortured rationalizations for underachievement to another town, Troy Hudson is the presiding albatross on the roster, and if McHale can coax another squad into eating the $25 million or so that Huddy is still owed between now and 2010, the Big Gopher's Lazarus-like renaissance will trend toward the miraculous. Marko Jaric is more intriguing all the way around--even at $33 million through 2011, his unique skill set makes it so perhaps he could be moved. But Banks needs another handful of quality outings before such a notion should be seriously entertained.

Bottom line, Banks had fans and media alike buzzing on Monday. In the locker, after it was noted how Ricky Davis and Mark Blount complement his game and relieve some of the pressure on his multi-tasking, Kevin Garnett himself cited Banks as another positive, and commented on his "explosiveness" saying that the ability of his point guard to "drive and drop it off" (imagine that) makes me a lot more fresh" at the end of games. Here's hoping that the squat (no way he's 6-2; try 6-1 or six feet even), muscular kid out of UNLV is indeed the steal of this deal.

2. Perspective
I honestly don't begrudge McHale a single endorphin of the satisfaction he must feel from rebutting people like me, who called him a Lame Duck a couple weeks ago, or Sid Hartman, who railed against swapping his beloved Szczerbiak for "four ordinary players" and dubbed the Boston deal the worst trade in history.

Because even if this deal turns sour in a hurry, and even if it was set up with a couple of nasty kickers on the back end--Blount's contract, which costs about $30 million between now and 2010, when Blount will be 34; and the apparently ritual sacrifice of another first-round draft pick--the players the Wolves acquired have already demonstrated why McHale liked them in the first place.

Calling Ricky Davis a good defensive player was one of the few false bills of goods McHale peddled when justifying this swap, but almost everything else about Davis thus far makes him a better fit, if not exactly or always a better player, than Szczerbiak for this ballclub. The ability to create his own shot even against a quality defender is the most obvious upgrade, but what has pleased me most is Davis's court instincts and vision. Given his fairly gaudy scoring average (a hair under 20 points per game) and his misguided lust for that triple-double a few years back (he tried to rig a rebound off his own shot at his own basket, a classless dabble in infamy), I figured the guy would be just a bit of a ball hog. But where Szczerbiak's assists were as deliberately rendered as a schoolboy learning penmanship, Davis seems intuitively aware of the flow and pitch of the game, and heeds that physical intelligence when dishing the ball. Against the Celts on Monday, he had three assists so smooth and subtle that Hudson should have been taking notes. He's a gamer--getting 26 about 24 hours after the trade, and playing through a nasty forearm from ex-teammate Kendrick Perkins on Monday are exhibits A and B of that. He wants to be here. And whatever baggage he carries (the triple-double embarrassment is probably the worst of it) is a tote bag compared to the overblown KG-versus-Wally soap opera generated by one scuffle and one ESPN the Magazine article that a lazy national media neglects to update in order to retain their stereotype of Szczerbiak.

Casey is already giving Justin Reed Ronnie Dupree's minutes, those hopefully-brief moments when you need some jacked-up athleticism as a finger in the dike while your stars get a blow. An added bonus is that Reed is an enforcer, willing to punish penetrators in the paint with hard fouls, taking to the role better than anyone on the Wolves since Tom Hammonds decided to fold his 6-9 built-like-a-brick-outhouse frame behind the wheel of a racing car. And unlike Dupree, he can hit a jump shot once every three or four tries.

We've already gushed about Banks. That leaves Mark Blount, the seven-footer whose best trait is nailing 16-foot jumpers. When your teammate is Kevin Garnett, that's not such a bad thing. Not since way back at the beginning of last season when Eddie Griffin was sinking three-pointers, has a big man compelled opponents to think twice about double-teaming Garnett in the low block. "We'll see how the different defensive schemes change up," KG said in the locker room Monday night, in reference to how opponents deal with Blount and him in the high-low post sets. "Because if they don't [change the way they're doing it now], he's going to get 18 every night."

The old Szczerbiak Rule should apply to Blount--don't, under any circumstances, dribble the ball!--and his copious blocks against his old squad Monday didn't impress me nearly as much as Stromile Swift making him look slow and confused down in Houston. But then again, I'm prejudiced against Blount, because I fear he'll take precious developmental minutes away from Eddie Griffin, a player to whom Casey doles out less love per valuable service rendered than anyone on the team.

Perhaps Casey would call it tough love. How else to describe making Blount the first man off the bench Monday, despite the fact that Griffin, in the wake of a 1-for-14 brick-tossing in the previous two games, had gone 5-for-6 from the field, and was leading the Wolves in points, rebounds, and blocks at the time en route to the team's 23-19 advantage? For that he earned a whopping 7:47 seconds of play and the first starter's slot on the pine. Yes, Blount came in a racked up 10 points, four rebounds, and three blocks his own damn self in the first half, and, yes, perhaps there are enough minutes to go around. It bears repeating, however, that in less than two years Griffin will have the option of whether to leave or stay, much as Chauncey Billups did a few years back. As much as we can bemoan his lack of consistency, consider that he is younger than Marcus Banks, younger than Justin Reed, less than 18 months older than Rashad McCants, and more than six years younger than Mark Blount.

Before we stray too far from the point: All four of the players McHale acquired from Boston have demonstrated their value, and complementary value at that, to the composition of this team. Monday night's blow-out gave everyone permission to get giddy for a minute. But now for the perspective: Before the trade, the Wolves figured to have to scrap to earn a playoff berth. Even if the trade continues to pay such high dividends, that will still be the situation between now and the end of April. Davis, Blount, Banks, and Reed are not going to propel this squad into the first echelon of the Western Conference. But they do seem to enhance the chance to bag a seventh or eighth seed (thereby forfeiting our first round pick to the Clippers as a contingency of the Jaric trade), and almost inevitably suffer a first-round loss in the playoffs. Depending upon your perspective, it's a no-win or a no-lose situation.

3. Hit and run observations

*The first priority of any Minnesota Timberwolves trade should be, How does Kevin Garnett feel about it? And Kevin Garnett likes this trade.

* Amid all the hoopla over the new guys, Trenton Hassell continues to bedevil Paul Pierce at both ends of the court, limiting Pierce to 7-of-23 from the field while going 6-of-9 himself, with most of his baskets coming from backing Pierce down in the left block and then lofting short turnaround jumpers a la Garnett.

* Marko Jaric chose a bad night to open the second half with a couple of unforced turnovers and register no points and no assists in eight third quarter minutes. For me, Jaric is the great uniter--I agree (and disagree) with almost every positive and negative thing said about him. How does one of the least reliable performers lead the team in plus/minus points scored during the time he is on the court?

* My lonely campaign to point out that Ricky Davis can't guard strong small forwards or shooting guards was borne out by his matchup with Szczerbiak, who would have had 30 points if he'd had his usual shooting eye. (Small stressors like a trade and the birth of his daughter and second child earlier that day probably contributed to Wally's lack of concentration and rhythm.) Granted, Boston is one of the few teams with two potent swingmen who play together. But there are others. For instance, who does Hassell guard on Wednesday night--Hamilton or Prince (or maybe even Billups)? The other will give Davis fits.

* I rip on Troy Hudson all the time--nothing personal, I just don't like his game that much. But in all the uproar about the arrival of the Beantown crew, Huddy has been relentlessly upbeat, even after Banks's performance (and Blount's and Davis's performances before it) likely doomed him to mucho pine time in the coming days and perhaps weeks. Along with Anthony Carter, T-Hud's lack of complaint over his diminished role is classy.

Posted by Britt Robson at January 31, 2006 11:22 AM | Comments (18)

 

The Three-Pointer: Houston Allows The Win

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Mr. Negative
I wish I could say I felt good about tonight's ending of the three-game losing streak with the victory over Houston, but the Rockets were horrible, missing a bevy of open jumpers and only mildly contested follow-ups in the paint. The counterpart to "moral victories" are "moral losses," and like the game they eked out over a wounded Indiana team, this felt like one of them.

Where do we begin? How about with Troy Hudson, the one out of four, count 'em four, point guards that Dwane Casey inexplicably chooses should be in the game at crunch time. What don't we know about Huddy by now? Guys routinely beat him off the dribble. He will either jack up a long jumper, feed to KG in the low block, and troll around the perimeter dribbling and then jack up a long jumper. Marko Jaric is deep in the doghouse now (or in trade purgatory a la Kandi?), getting shut out in just 12 minutes of play and joining Trenton Hassell in their simultaneous movement away from David Wesley to provide him with an open look that would have tied the game. Does Casey understand how badly that reflects upon him more than 40 games into the season? You had one possession that could have decided the game and your two defenders do the opposite of a double team and both move away from the shooter with the ball! Incredible.

Now that we've got a number two option that can create his own shot (very nice game Mr. Davis), why can't we let Anthony Carter sniff a little more crunch time? AC just might turn down 24-foot jumpers, stay with his man when he starts to dribble into the paint, and not follow his teammate away from the shooter on a make-or-break j.

It's way too early to start ripping but I did entitle this first point Mr. Negative and I do want to point out that if Mark Blount can't defend any better in the low block than what he showed tonight, it is going to be a very long, bang-your-head-against-the-arm-of-the-couch, four years. Worse, Casey used Blount's arrival as a pretext to put Eddie Griffin back on lockdown. Yes, I know Griffin was a putrid 1-9 from the field, but we keep hearing that Casey wants athletes and emphasizes defense. Then he plays Mark Blount over Eddie Griffin against the likes of Stromile Swift. The word for that is aggravating.

2.McCants on a tear.
Rashad McCants outscored the Rockets, 16-15, in the second quarter. He did it from long range and from in close, in transition and in the half court. He was very efficient, finishing the night 8-10 from the field for 18 points, including two treys. He did not hog the ball, he defended less cluelessly than he has in weeks, and he really seemed to fit in. My second-guess is that he deserved more minutes in the second half, maybe a couple that Hudson wasted.

(BTW, has anyone else noticed the disturbing trend of the Wolves blowing second half leads and Troy Hudson playing extended second half minutes? Is it possible that one has something to do with the other?)

3.Kudos after all.
Trenton Hassell did a fabulous job on Tracy McGrady and made all my "who will play the 3" hand-wringing seem silly, at least for one night. Kevin Garnett had 15 big 4th quarter points after getting a 5th foul on that pesky rook from Kentucky, Hayes, late in the 3rd. KG did miss a couple of FTs that could have been crucial, but that's a quibble in light of his marvelous 4th. One can't help but think the ability of Ricky Davis and McCants to rack up the points in the first half took some of the pressure off Garnett early and made him fresh enough to become ascendant late.

And once again, Ricky Davis really was a fine all around ballplayer tonight, still not quite the defender I fear everyone is touting him to be, but a guy who can post up, take his man off the dribble, jack up the long one, rebound, pass, fill the break, and give Garnett and sense that there's a partner on the wing who's ready to ride. Why all that only meant a 4-point win over a decimated Rockets team already in last place is disturbing, however.

Posted by Britt Robson at January 27, 2006 11:39 PM | Comments (51)

 

BIG TRADE! Wally Szczerbiak and Ricky Davis head up multi-player deal with Celtics

Filed under: Timberwolves

In a blockbuster trade announced just minutes ago, the Wolves dealt Wally Szczerbiak, Michael Olowokandi, Dwayne Jones, and a first-round draft pick to the Boston Celtics for Ricky Davis, Mark Blount, Marcus Banks, Justin Reed and two second-round picks. Moments before, the Wolves also swapped Nikoloz Tkiitishvilli to Phoenix for a second round pick. I'll analyze the deal a little later.

Okay, first impressions.

Who plays small forward?
Ricky Davis is 6-7 but only 195 pounds. Justin Reed is 6-8 but still very very raw. Two years ago the Wolves went smaller with Spree and Hassell as swingmen, and I suppose it's possible (probable) that Hassell and Davis are both in the starting lineup, which means teams with large small forwards will present matchup problems for Minnesota. On the other hand, the Wolves could go large, with a front line of center Mark Blount, power forward Eddie Griffin and small forward Kevin Garnett, with a pair a 6-7 guards, Davis and Jaric, in the backcourt. That's a lineup with an *average* height of 6-10 (KG is actually 7-1, not the 6-11 he likes to be announced as).

Eating Blount.
In 2009-10, Glen Taylor will owe Mark Blount just a titch under $8 million. As has been widely reported during the ongoing Blount rumors, the guy can put the ball in the hole (perhaps better than any center in Wolves history, a distinction now probably held by Rasho Nesterovic, so we're not talking stiff competition) but currently leads the entire NBA in turnovers per 48 minutes and doesn't rebound worth a lick. At first blush, eating Blount's contract is the Wolves biggest concession in this trade. On the other hand, on a team crying for offense, he does provide more than any other pivotman on the squad.

The principals are about a wash.
There is plenty to like and dislike about both Ricky Davis and Wally Szczerbiak. After ripping on Wally for years, I really thought he came into his own this season and established himself as a fairly complete player. There are precious few more accurate shooters in the league and the other aspects of his game--ball movement, turnovers, rebounds, defense--were all on the upswing. Plus, he played hard every night. I honestly wish him luck.

But even with Wally having the month of his life in December, the Wolves went 7-7. And he wasn't having a January like his December, getting snuffed by Tayshaun Prince and Shane Battier in successive nights. Granted, those are two mighty fine defenders, but the bottom line is that Wally can't create his own shot as well as Ricky Davis can. The knock on Davis is that he can be selfish (remember the absurd attempt to get himself a triple-double a couple years back?), doesn't always play hard, and is a below-average defender. Sounds a lot like some of the old knocks on Szczerbiak (aside from the playh harfBut, like Wally, Davis seems to have come into his own a little bit this season--based on his stats, anyway; I'm not claiming any expertise. I do know that he ranks among the top five in the entire NBA in minutes played, so Celts coach Doc Rivers obviously thinks the world of him. He's also dished for nine assists three times already this season, meaning he knows how to move the rock. And his 19.9 scoring average is just a hair below Wally's 20.1 ppg. Finally, Davis likes to go to the hole and the Wolves desperately need penetrators. Aside from the fact that Davis is a 2 (where the Wolves are if anything overstocked) and Wally is a 3 (the only true small forward on the roster besides Ronnie Dupree), these two players are very very close in composite skills. And I know that Kevin McHale has always liked Davis, whom he signed to an offer sheet a few years ago. [As coincidence would have it, McHale popped on the 10 p.m. news as I typed that last sentence, saying Davis is one of the very few players averaging 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. If he is indeed averaging five boards, maybe he can play some small forward.]

The kids are a worthy, inexpensive gamble.
I now have the benefit of what McHale said on the news. He said that Casey wanted to be more athletic and be able to defend well, and that that Marcus Banks is a great defender (somewhat true) and Justin Reed is athletic and can defend (don't know--never seen him play myself). In any case, this doesn't bother me at all. Banks and Reed both have deals that expire at the end of this season, and if the Wolves like either one, they can sign them for relative peanuts. It's a four month tryout, with both guys having the potential to give the Wolves something on a limited basis, Banks probably a little more than Reed if he can stay with quick point guards. Then the Wolves can pair Banks with Jaric, Hudson, Davis or Hassell as the situation warrants. But here's the rub: His assist-to-turnover ratio is well below 2-1, and he is a career 40 percent shooter without much range. In any case, this was Boston's concession. We eat Blount's salary, they take Kandi off the books. But they get undersized Dwayne Jones as their prospect and the Wolves get a pair of defensive-oriented athletes who are a little further along.

Is it the perfect deal? No, it isn't highway robbery. It might not even turn out to be a good deal. But for those clamoring for the Wolves to do something, to shake things up, it does do that. And, hopefully, they cleared this with KG and it has his blessing.

Posted by Britt Robson at January 26, 2006 9:01 PM | Comments (39)

 

The Three-Pointer: Flip's Revenge

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Child is father to the man
I remember when Kevin McHale promoted Flip Saunders back in 1995, adding coach to the title of general manager in Flip's duties. At the time it felt like collegiate cronyism; the old Gopher big man tapping his point guard for the duties. And on a then-chronically failed franchise where both the original and the current (then as now) owner tapped their son-in-law for an important executive position (Bob Stein for Marv Wolfenson, and Rob Moor for Glen Taylor), cronyism, a cousin of nepotism, seemed like business as usual.

Sam Mitchell was angry that Bill Blair had been canned so early in the season. It was mid-December, I think; before Christmas at any rate. Mitchell had really liked Blair, an assistant for Mitchell's favorite coach, Larry Brown, when they were all in Indiana. But after two practices with Flip, I remember Mitchell, a man loath to ever admit he's wrong, but someone who can't ever bullshit with a straight face and thus decides to just be either totally honest or transparently bullshitting, grudgingly giving it up to Flip. "So, how is your new coach?" I asked in a conspiratorial, give-me-something juicy tone, expecting him to either cut Flip down and rave about him so lavishly I knew he was bullshitting. "I'll tell you," Sam said, throwing his stuff into a kit bag and then turning to face me head-on. "The dude knows what he's doing. I'm not going to say I was surprised. But the dude knows what he's doing."

Almost ten years later, McHale canned Flip, and brought in someone even closer to his heart and basketball philosophy to coach the team--himself. Tonight was the first time Saunders returned to the Target Center. The fans gave him a loud ovation that would have been longer if the PA announcer hadn't quickly launched into Pistons player introductions. And when the game was over, the Pistons had won, 107-83, in a game that wasn't that close.

At the bank of media tables, there was some buzz about Saunders constantly looking in the direction of where Kevin McHale sits in the stands; especially after Detroit had blown out the Wolves 33-13 in the 3rd quarter and choruses of "Fire McHale!" could be heard around the arena. I'm thinking it might be a manifestation of that Tourette's Syndrome-like tic that came and went with Flip, that Rodney Dangerfield collar-too-tight yank of his neck, which turns his head to the left. But it is true that in today's Strib, beat writer Steve Aschburner quoted Saunders saying that McHale's counterpart in Detroit, Joe Dumars, never talks about what it was like when he used to play, because he is looking at the future, not the past. It was a succinct and fairly devastating critique of McHale, the Dana Carvey-like grumpy old man of "the way it used to be" in basketball.

So after the game, as Flip is getting the rock star treatment from an adoring media throng from two cities--the Detroit press riding the swerve of Flip's 34-5 run to begin the season, and the dozens of Minnesota folks who have all had at least one or two memorably cordial moments with Flip during his long tenure here and want to parlay that with a contact-high whiff of his victorious vindication--when KFAN's Dan Barreiro asks him about constantly looking in McHale's direction. "I was looking for my wife," Flip replied. Barreiro stares him down, thinking its bullshit, and Flip weakly explains that it is her first road trip of the season and an emotional night for her as well, and then just claps Barreiro on the shoulder. On this night, Flip can't bullshit any better than Sam Mitchell.

But the dude certainly knows what he's doing.

2. Snuffed out.
It's not enough that Detroit has a far superior team in terms of talent, experience, character, and momentum right now; they also happen to match up extremely well with the Wolves. The three players who have defended KG best over the course of his career are Clifford Robinson, Antonio McDyess, and Rasheed Wallace. Robinson is now on his last legs, if not entirely out of the league. The other two are Pistons. McDyess likewise is not the player he used to be. But 'Sheed is long, fiercely competitive, and has teammates he trusts implicitly like all-NBA defensive stalwart Ben Wallace, for example, who allow him to body up Garnett aggressively, knowing that the other Wallace and other members of the cavalry will rotate if Garnett gets past him. Consequently, KG got his 20 and 10 (21 and 10, to be exact), but he struggled hard to get them, with 24 shots, just a single free throw, and, most telling, one measly assist.

Meanwhile, Tayshaun Prince was taking Wally Szczerbiak, the Wolves only other bona fide scoring option, totally out of his game. The kind way to say it would be that Wally didn't force anything--he had just one turnover, dished for three assists, attempted six free throws, and tried only eight shots. But the way the Wolves are currently put together, any team that limits Szczerbiak to eight field goal attempts is almost certain to win the game. Asked if Detroit did anything special defending a player whose tendencies he knows so well, Saunders praised Prince's stellar performance and then did allow that the Pistons were overplaying Wally to his right, a natural thing for the long-limbed, left-handed Prince to do.

As for the bouncing Marko meter, it dipped downward tonight, with one field goal (in six attempts), two assists and five turnovers.

3. A class act and an annoying facade.
Coach Dwane Casey isn't going to rip his players in public. He hasn't ever done it, to my knowledge, and these tough times are, if anything, forcing him the other way, into heartfelt declarations about how much he likes his team and is acknowledging "how hard they play."

Wolves-bashers are going to be besotted with venom over the next two weeks. They tackle a brutally tough (on defense, anyway) Memphis team on the road tomorrow (Wednesday) night, then do the Texas two-step to Houston and San Antone before coming home to face Boston Monday night--their only home game until February 8. After Boston it is back on the road to Detroit, Portland, Golden State, and Phoenix, then back to Target Center for Lebron and the Cavs. Yikes. Losing six of their next nine games would be almost respectable, or at least expected.

Which brings me back to Casey's steadfast loyalty to his troops. It's consistent with his entire demeanor, which is impeccably classy, disciplined, and respectful. But it is also a facade--he's not frustrated with the slew of bullshit flaws, tendencies, inconsistencies, confusions, and laziness that riddle his ballclub?

After tonight's game I listened to him go on about the effort of his squad and how they fought hard in the first half and then the effect of their disheartening loss to Philly on Sunday got the best of them and he was "a little disappointed" with the way they got blown out in the second half. And there were elements of what he said that were true. It wasn't horrible defense that enabled Chauncey Billups to erupt for 24 points in the second half. Billups just caught fire and started aborting pick and rolls by simply bombing from well beyond the three-point line. Wolves fans have seen this before--Chauncey dropped 24 points on Dallas in a *single quarter* back in February of '02. But don't tell me that a team that just got pasted by 24 points--it would have been 34 if not for extended garbage time--is just like every other NBA team in that it "is going to have one of those games from time to time, where we get taken to the woodshed."

So I asked him what he considered the biggest flaw on this team to be; the thing he thinks he most needs to fix. The confidence level, he answered. Or non-answered. So I tried a different tack and noted that he keeps saying his team plays hard. But they are now a game under .500, so if they really are playing hard, that must mean the talent level isn't that high. "That is not what I said. I didn't say that," Casey said, not so much in anger but in an effort to just stop this line of inquiry. "I like my team in that locker room and I'll go to war with them every game we have."

Classy. And annoying.

Posted by Britt Robson at January 24, 2006 11:58 PM | Comments (24)

 

The Three-Pointer: Finish or Be Finished

1. Competence or character?
It is tough to overestimate how nasty Sunday's last-second home loss to Philadelphia was to the psyche of this Timberwolves team, who blew a 19-point lead with 14 minutes left to play. Normally the last one out of the showers while the daily beat writers with deadlines grit their teeth, Kevin Garnett was long gone before the media hit the lockers--a bad sign. In his postgame press conference, Coach Dwane Casey went into rote mediation mode, yet again telling us how hard his team played. Then he was compelled to add, "These guys are hurting... I'm just as proud of these guys as anyone...if you want to blame anyone, blame me."

Sorry coach, there's too much blame for just one guy to absorb. But since you prefer to be the first one scrutinized, what are we to make of the fact that under Flip Saunders, Minnesota compiled a gaudy 64-39 record in "one-possession" games (those decided by three points or less) since the beginning of the 1996-97 season, but since you took over 38 games ago, your one-possession mark is 0-6? Or that the Wolves have squandered leads of 9 points or more five times in the past ten games? You invariably call a timeout when the score is tight and there is less than a minute left in the quarter, half, or ballgame; so why is the execution out of those timeouts so unsuccessful? Answers to those questions shouldn't come close to limiting the blame to you, of course, but the numbers are what they are and you are the one in charge of the chalkboard, the clock, and the substitution patterns.

Let me offer up a couple of people Flip could call upon the past two years who are no longer on the roster: Sam Cassell and Fred Hoiberg. How many times did we watch Cassell hit a crunch-time shot and then swagger back down the court pretending to swing a pair of enormous balls? How many times did we see Hoiberg make the right inbounds pass, move to the right open spot to receive the ball, set the right pick to free up the shooter, box out the right man to prevent a putback, and bail out a floor-general teammate facing defensive pressure by rushing over to get the ball and then give it right back? Cassell was the Timberwolves second-best player two years ago; Hoiberg was the Wolves second-best player last year. And both thrived in the fourth quarter.

But to get Sammy's crunch-time heroics this year would have required enduring his nonstop bitching, backbiting, dissension-sewing complaints about his contract. (You think the bountiful joy and all-around improvement in Wally Szczerbiak's game isn't at least partially related to Cassell's absence?) He needed to go, no matter how much he is missed down the stretch right now. And while the decision to scrimp on $1.7 million by dumping Hoiberg from the roster might look pennywise, pound-foolish if Freddie opts to play for another team soon, the guy will set an NBA precedent by performing with a pacemaker if and when he returns, so ripping owner Glen Taylor is 20-20 hindsight with the latest in laser surgery (how's that for a tortured metaphor?).

Many Wolves fans will argue that this team simply isn't talented enough to pull out the close ones; that Casey's necessary reliance on KG and Wally in the game's first 45 minutes spends too much of their resources for the final 3. The team's 0-3 record in overtime games this year, after going 26-16 in overtime over the last nine years Flip was here, supports that theory. But I think talent matters most in blowouts. When the Wolves get schooled by obviously superior teams from Detroit, San Antonio, Miami, or Phoenix, that's a core competence gap. Yet all but one of the team's one-possession losses this season have been to mediocre opponents whose overall talent is very comparable to Minnesota's--Philadelphia (twice), Sacramento, Milwaukee, and the Clippers. Meanwhile, just this past week, the team struggled mightily to hold off a lousy Knicks team, nearly blew the game at home against an Indiana squad without Artest, O'Neal, retired Reggie Miller, and a Jamaal Tinsley at full strength, and folded their tents versus a Celtics team more than ten games below .500.

By contrast, the last time the Wolves successfully came back from a double-digit deficit was December 7, against a callow Portland team--their fourth such resurgence in the team's first eight games. Is the reason for this turnaround in spunk sapped endurance from deficit talent, or a lack of confidence and resolve stemming from increasingly repeated failures? Obviously both. The relationship between competence and character is a chicken-or-the-egg equation, of course. But this remains one of the league's highest-paid rosters, and it is time for everyone to step up. As Wally Szczerbiak--one of the precious few Timberwolves to hang around and face the music after yesterday's game--said when it was noted that he and KG combined for only three shots in the 4th quarter: "It doesn't matter who gets the shots...We don't need any agendas...It is up to the players to defend a 19-point lead."

That means Szczerbiak can't revert to the silly turnovers that occasionally plague this squad at crunch time (he had two--to go with his measley two shots--in the fourth quarter Sunday). It means KG has to beat back the same demons that haunted him before Cassell and Spree arrived, when it was argued that he was too unselfish (meaning perhaps not sufficiently courageous) to seize control at the finish. (He had a pair of assists versus just one woefully short short on Sunday.) And it means there is room at the table for a player to seize a bigger role for himself on this ballclub, a subject we'll address in the silver linings later in this post.

As we come upon the midpoint of the season and the patterns of play are more reliably established, the choice between rebuilding and contending is becoming particularly stark. Initially, I thought it would be a best of both worlds type of situation; that the best way for this team to contend was to rebuild. Specifically, I figured that folks like 23-year old Eddie Griffin and rookie Rashad McCants would help crystallize this team in the present while paving its course for the future. Griffin has ratified that faith. But McCants is becoming more and more of a collossal bust with each succeeding game. The Timberwolves are a minus-87 in points versus their opponents in the 405 minutes McCants has logged this year; no other player is worse than minus-36. His field goal percentage is below 40, and he commits fouls at a rate that would disqualify him every 39 minutes. Even spotting him in the 2nd quarter for 5-10 minutes, Casey is almost invariably conceding a 4-5 point advantage to his opponents during that stretch. When you're record in close game is as abysmal as Minnesota's has been, that's a poison pill masquerading as a vitamin.

2. The X factor
It I had to pick a player upon whom the fortunes of this season rest, it would be Marko Jaric. By the numbers, Jaric has been a resoundign success, leading the team in plus/minus (at plus-154!), and ranking among the top 12 in the NBA in steals per game (1.7). But does anyone have confidence in this guy with the game on the line? In November and December, when Jaric hit some big jumpers to help decide games, and buttressed it with some staunch defense (most notably against Lebron James in Cleveland), the answer would have been a hearty yeah. But even in those early months, there were some horrible blips--the debacle in Oklahoma City, where rookie Chris Paul embarrassed Marko right out of the game, the New Year's tilt in Miami, when it appeared Marko was working uphill against a nasty hangover, are two that come to mind--to indicate that you didn't want to mortgage the future of the franchise on Jaric just yet. Except in some sense, the Wolves already have; trading Cassell and a number-one pick (lottery protected but still an egregious concession) for Marko after working a sign-and-trade agreement that put Jaric on the roster longer than KG, Wally, or anyone else on the team.

In recent weeks, Wolves fans have been subjected to the disconcerting spectacle of Garnett blasting Jaric with full-bore screaming fits at least every three or four games. The hopeful spin on this is that KG has sussed out that Jaric is thick-skinned enough to be deployed as an outlet for his overall exhortations to the entire squad. More likely, Garnett is simply venting, furious that Jaric has frequent lapses in attention span and willpower.

There is a back-handed compliment in this. You don't vent on Troy Hudson for jacking up shots without a conscience, or Anthony Carter for turning the ball over due to excess exuberance, because the virtue and the vice are so closely alligned. Huddy can get you a bundle of points when he's on, and AC's defensive intensity and push the ball pace causes as many opponent miscues as he commits. It's pretty clear that neither of these two are going to change much, for better or worse. But it's tantalyzing to consider what Jaric could be if he got his shit together, and to somebody as perceptive and industrious as KG, that wasted potential must be enormously aggravating.

Flash back to Sunday's game. What better way to try and grind down Allen Iverson, the Energizer Bunny, than for the 6-7 to take him to the hole, hard and strong, as often as possible? Sure enough, in the first two minutes, Marko drives and scores, kicks to Wally for a successful J, and executes a steal for another driving layup. In the next five minutes, he drives twice, once for his third layup and another for a dish-off that Eddie Griffin slams through the hoop. When Jaric leaves the game with 2:12 left in the 1st quarter, he's made all three of his shots (all layups, reversing his year-long trend as a shaky finisher) and dished for two dimes as the Wolves amassed a 20-9 lead.

For the rest of the game he is 4-16 from the field, including two more layups, but three other occasions when center Stephen Hunter ate his lunch with blocks in the paint. Worse, from the time Jaric lays the ball in with a minute left in the 3rd period to boost the Wolves lead to 67-50, he shoots six times (making two) with no assists while Minnesota's star deadeye scorers Garnett and Szczerbiak total just three shot attempts. And in the frantic final minute of the game, with Minnesota in make-or-break possessions in the half-court set, Casey twice calls for KG to get the ball on the pick and roll. The first time, even after Iverson falls down, Jaric's weak pass to Garnett is picked off. Then, with the score still tied, Jaric again can't get the ball to the superstar with arguably the largest target area (if you add wingspan plus height plus sureness of hands plus quickness of movement) in the NBA, and opts instead for an open jumper along the baseline that clanks off the rim. Setting the stage for Philly's look-what-I-found putback to end the game.

Does anybody really need to guess what was uppermost in KG's mind as he bolted out of the building?

In less than half a season, I've run hot and cold on Marko Jaric more than any Timberwolf player in my decade-plus time covering this franchise. And I still think if he can somehow straighten out his game and sustain some confidence and consistency down the stretch this spring, the Wolves will make the playoffs, regardless of what McCants does or doesn't do to this team.

3. Silver linings
I wish circumstances allowed me more time and space, but this is already a marathon three-pointer and after the Philly debacle, the clouds outweigh the silver linings. (My apologies for not posting at least a nominal, abridged 3-P after the Boston and Indiana games so posters could have at it in this space without me.) That said, Wolves fans have reason to feel good about the recent performances of Trenton Hassell and Eddie Griffin.

Hassell is certainly making my friend David Brauer look smart for touting him as a viable third scoring option on this team. In the 4th quarter against Philadelphia, Hassell had his finest stint as an offensive force for the franchise, posting up for four baskets in a four-minute span after Philly had whittled the lead down to one with 8:20 left to play. Hassell has proven adept at banking the up-and-under layup and spinning across the lane with a six-foot bunny jumper, both signature moves emanating from the left block in the low post. Best of all, he's got his eyes open, finding Griffin on interior passes and kicking it out to Wally or Garnett for open looks. The upgrade in his offense more than compensates for the slight fatigue (resulting in a uptick in his personal fouls) he shows on defense. Given that Hassell is a natural off-guard, and that Jaric plays best when he swings between the point-guard and off-guard position, the argument for Minnesota cutting its losses and trading McCants now, before his value plummets even further, is pretty beguiling. I'm not saying I'd necessarily pull that trigger, but neither would I malign those who'd take that option seriously.

Last but not least, hats off to Eddie Griffin for dumping the last shovel-full of dirt on the Minnesota tenure of Michael Olowokandi. Yes, Griffin can be manhandled inside, even from an untested mediocrity like Indiana's David Harrison, or Boston's jumping-jack youngsters Al Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins. Yes, Griffin is probably the most inconsistent performer among the Wolves' top six players; Jaric is a beacon of stability by comparison. And yes, Griffin's accuracy and shot selection are dicey, his on-man defense sporadic, and his personality affable but extremely shy.

Consider the weight at the other end of the abacus. Griffin will be 24 on May 30. He is in his second month of his career playing the low-post pivot position. In the past two games, the first two times that Casey has provided him with vital-starter's minutes (more than 38 per contest), Griffin has gone 13-20 from the field, with 24 rebounds and 7 blocks. He is that rarest of commodities on this Wolves' team, a salary bargain at little more than $2 million per year. And in two years, the option of whether he wants to stay in Minnesota or not is his, not the team's. So let's not jerk him around with inexplicable pine time and complaints about his consistency when the options are the oafish Kandi man and the game but often-overmatch Mark Madsen. With Eddie Griffin, at least, rebuilding and contending are still the same process.

Posted by Britt Robson at January 23, 2006 9:23 AM | Comments (16)

 

The Three-Pointer: Squeaking by in NYC

Filed under: Timberwolves

Note to those who usually only read Balls!--I have a Hang Time column on Kevin McHale, entitled "Lame Duck," printed elsewhere on the homepage to citypages.com. Here's the link. It will also be in the paper edition on Wednesday.

1.Two for the money
Anyone who has watched the Timberwolves over the past six weeks won't be surprised that Kevin Garnett and Wally Szczerbiak carried this team yet again for its third straight victory, 95-90, over the Knicks. KG is a freak of nature, of course, a top-five rebounder and defender for many years now, and the easiest player to coach in the entire NBA. But the latest remarkable thing to realize is that as a short-to-midrange jump-shooter, Garnett is as deadly as the Pejas and Ray Allens and Dirk Nowitzkis of the world, and could get 15-20 points a game even if he never went strong to the hoop.

People wonder why I get prickly when the subject of KG leaving or staying inevitably arises and people refuse to simply take him at his word. Well, last week, Chicago Tribune writer Sam Smith, author of The Jordan Rules, actually wrote, "If Garnett doesn't demand a trade, one might assume he doesn't really care about anything but the money." For the record, Sam Smith has been painting scenarios that bring Garnett to Chicago off and on for nearly a decade now. Ever since Michael Jordan retired, Sam Smith hasn't had a basketball club in his hometown that can generate enough national curiosity to feed his enormous ego. His provocative, disparaging "assumption" is so outside the realm of what makes KG tick--the competitive player who left more money on the table during his last contract negotiation than Sam Smith will earn in his lifetime--that one must assume it more accurately reflects the way Smith chooses to prioritize his own life. What an asshole.

Back to more substantial matters. As good as KG has been recently, the improvement of Wally Szczerbiak has been the unexpected boost that has prevented this squad from sinking like a stone. Szczerbiak's hustle, his defense, his intelligent shot selection, and his flat-out toughness have all been eye-opening this season. He laid a pick--a clean pick--on Stephon Marbury this afternoon that had Marbury doubled over and out of the game with a painful stinger that may be something more, like a slightly separated shoulder.

Garnett and Szczerbiak have separated themselves from the rest of the roster more thoroughly than the "MV3" of KG, Spree, and Sammy two years ago.

2. Sooner or later...
Sooner or later, Dwane Casey is going to realize that Eddie Griffin should play at least 25-30 minutes instead of 18-25 minutes, and that betting on Troy Hudson is investing for the future with fool's gold. I don't have much sympathy for fantasy league guys demanding Eddie should play because they want more blocked shots in their mythical empire, and I understand why Casey winces over Griffin. The truth is, his shot selection is horrible and his discipline on defense is sporadic at best and disruptive to teamwork at worst.

But here's the bottom line: Griffin and KG have chemistry in the paint, and the blocks Griffin registers are achieved in large part because his help D is so undisciplined (and yet single-minded). But those blocks are an elixir for his teammates, who ratchet up their defensive intensity after one or two swats. As of a couple of games ago, all three Wolves centers had a net-minus in the plus-minus ratios, despite a net plus for the team overall, indicating that the squad's most effective lineups occur when they go small. But if Casey would just exhibit a little more faith and patience with his 23 year old pivotman, it would pay huge dividends. And I think that's fairly plain.

As for Hudson, well, best to use this occasion of the Knicks game, where Huddy is being hailed as the guy who bailed out the Wolves today with his last-minute trey to turn a two-point squeaker into a five-point clincher, to point out that Nate Robinson toyed with him off the dribble; and to point out that, relative to most point guards, Hudson is so inept at effectively distributing the ball that if his own jumper isn't going in, he's a huge liability. Troy Hudson was named "Player of the Game" this afternoon. Anyone who saw what Garnett and Szczerbiak did, and what Hudson didn't do, probably got a solid belly laugh out of that trivial travesty.

I found it interesting that Huddy said after the game that Casey called his number on that game-clinching three-pointer. Well, if Casey really did diagram it up on the chalkboard that Hudson should spend nearly all of the shot clock dribbling 26 feet from the basket while looking for all the world like he was unsuccessfully trying to negotiate a high pick-and-roll with KG, only to heave up a prayer before the 24-second buzzer sounded, then, boy, he certainly has a lot of faith in Troy Hudson. I'm guessing that that's not the most reliable way to beat San Antonio and Memphis and Dallas and other elite teams come spring.

3. Slow train comin'
A second straight solid outing for Rashad McCants this afternoon--relatively speaking, of course. McCants canned two three-pointers and played decent defense in the first half, but couldn't hit a shot and short-circuited the defense enough to help the Knicks get back in the game when reinserted late in the 3rd quarter.

To keep their eyes on the prize, the Wolves need to keep developing McCants. To his credit, Casey is slowly bringing him along. To his credit, McCants is slowly getting better. To no one's credit it sure is taking a long long time.

Posted by Britt Robson at January 16, 2006 6:35 PM | Comments (40)

 

The Three-Pointer: Positive Signs

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. In good hands with KG
In the wake of Minnesota's 99-93 victory over the Bulls tonight, coach Dwane Casey made a point of emphasizing the lack of turnovers as the key to the win. After averaging a horrid 17.7 turnovers the previous 7 games (2-5 record), the Wolves burped it up just ten times against Chicago.

But the key to the key is running the offense through Kevin Garnett. Jaric, Hudson, Carter, all have their strengths and weaknesses, but none of them are better decision-makers or can dish the ball from the visionary aerie Garnett has about 7 feet up, operating in either the low or high post.

Check this out: In the 1st and 4th quarters, Minnesota shot better than 50% (22-42) and had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 16-to-6. In the 2nd and 3rd quarters, the team shot an absurdly bad 23% (8-35) with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. The difference was KG, pure and simple: He dished for 9 assists and one turnover in 21:11 total minutes of the 1st and 4th quarters, and had nada assists and zero turnovers in 19:17 minutes of the 2nd and 3rd. In other words, take away KG's involvement in those ultra-productive beginning and ending periods and the rest of the squad's a/to ratio is 7/5; not that much different than the 5/4 they put up when Garnett wasn't dishing.

When I mentioned this (without all the stat geek stuff) to KG in the locker room after the game, and asked him if it was tough adding waystation authority to his rebounding, scoring, and defensive responsibilities, he pounced on the question, saying not only doesn't he mind it, but that he likes running the flow, and that his teammates will be a lot better off if they accept it and let him create shots for them. He specifically noted that his teammates don't fully understand his ability to do this yet, without calling anybody out by name.

I'll take a 9/1 a/to ratio anytime. I'll take a happy, enthused, KG any time. Casey brought him back at the 9:11 mark of the 4th quarter after his customary early-4th Q blow, a dramatic improvement over the too-late insertion at 6:36 against Milwaukee on Monday. As the Wolves ride out this rough patch in the season, I think the man's minutes need to stay in that 40-42 range for awhile.

2. Go-go nexis
For some reason, the trio of Szczerbiak, Madsen and Carter seem to play very well together. For the past year or so, I've referred to it as the "go-go lineup" (because all three love to run and because AC and Mad Dog have nonstop motors that create chaos and Wally thrives in the crevices of chaos) and endorsed its implementation in selected settings, especially when the Wolves need to maintain energy when KG sits. I thought it would have worked when Garnett rested in the 4th quarter on Monday.

Tonight, for the first time in a long while, Casey grabbed the go-go from what he likes to call his tool box (because it contains items that come in handy but aren't used on a regular basis). With 3:56 left in the 3rd and the score tied, Madsen replaced Griffin. At the 2:40 mark, with the score still tied, AC replaced Trenton Hassel. Boom--5 straight points, which was cut to a three-point lead as the third period ended, a margin the go-go crew held for the 2:49 of the 4th that KG sat. Then Garnett returned (earlier than usual--good move Coach Casey) and gave Wally a break and Madsen and AC spurred an energy surge that had the Wolves up 7 when Mad Dog fouled out with 5:37 left to play.

Madsen isn't effective all the time, but ever since he arrived in Minnesota, it's been apparent that he boxes out extremely well, knows how to create low-post space for Garnett on offense (knows how to get out of the way, in other words) and, especially in conjunction with AC, gives the squad a scrappy intensity that provides them with the benefit of the doubt on borderline calls with the officials. In other words, Mark Madsen is a quietly valuable dude.

Ditto Anthony Carter. Any points you get from AC are a bonus. Casey went to him because Kirk Hinrich was slicing and dicing up everybody else en route to a 17-point, 17-assist, 8-rebound night. Perhaps Coach Casey will remember what the Wolves felt like the last time Carter was a part of the regular rotation. I'm sure he remembers what the Wolves have felt like in the recent games when AC hasn't been part of the equation. (The Wolves were 3-11 over their last 14 games going into tonight.) Anthony Carter rotates on defense with what only can be described as a vengeance. He is dogged enough to go for the steal and then hustle himself back into position even if the recipient of the pass breaks for the hoop. Anthony Carter, too, is a quietly valuable dude. Together, Mad Dog and AC are the go go grunts. They're not always going to be effective. But, especially at home, with the crowd on their side, they will ensure the Wolves won't be lethargic when they're synergistically paired out in the rotation pattern.

3. No Kandi
Michael Olowokandi's DNP-CD is not the end of his effective contributions to the Wolves. There will be games when Kandi's length will be much in need, and games when his utterly capricious rhythm and intensity will click into sync and make him a (very very temporary) force to be reckoned with. But sitting Kandi down for the entire game and have that game be a gritty win is not a coincidence. Plus, keeping Kandi on the pine had to be good for Eddie Griffin's confidence, further indicating that he is the pivot man of choice on this team. And it was good for everybody to remember what Madsen brings to the table. So another bump or two down the pecking order for the Kandi Man is a net plus for this ballclub.

Posted by Britt Robson at January 12, 2006 12:31 AM | Comments (16)

 

The Three-Pointer: Margins of Error

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Casey's regression
Time for Dwane Casey to take a day off, maybe two. By most accounts, the guy's an obsessive worker, ever prepared, wed to the film projector, and suffused with strategy. All that seems to be sabotaging rather than abetting his intelligence as the Wolves spiral to a series of close, shoulda-won losses--he can't see the forest for the trees. Specifically, he can't see that when his tenuously confident, up-and-down 23-year old center has five blocks in the first quarter and has locked into a rhythm that is primarily responsible for Milwaukee scoring only 14 points in the game's first 12 minutes you don't sit him down for the entire second quarter!

There is nothing to justify it--least of all common sense. The decision would be difficult to defend even if Casey wasn't taking out Griffin in favor of a career underachiever who is in the last four months of his three-year contract; and even if Milwaukee didn't follow up that 14 point first quarter (when Griffin played) with a 34 point second quarter (when Kandi and then, belatedly, Madsen played, but no Eddie). It is asinine first half decisions like this--one that even ostensible Wolves cheerleaders like announcers Jim Peterson and Tom Hannaman had to harp on--that inevitably spell the difference in a narrow 95-92 defeat on the road.

Remember when Casey said the Wolves' identity would be on defense? Well in the 19:20 that Griffin played tonight, the Wolves outscored Milwaukee 30-28. In the 20:22 that Kandi was on the floor, Minnesota was outscored 42-51. Otherwise, their lines were remarkably similar: 4 points apiece on 2-5 (Kandi) or 2-6 (Griffin) shooting, with one offensive rebounds and two defensive boards and one turnover apiece. Kandi an assist and a steal, one block and five fouls. Eddie had no assists, no steals, five blocks, and one foul. Obviously, the things that jump out statistically are the differential in points scored (by both teams) and blocked shots when Eddie was on the court. If you want to emphasize defense, Eddie Griffin is the person you play tonight. If you want to build this franchise for the future, Eddie Griffin is the person you play tonight. Nothing like losing ten of your past dozen games with a win-now philosophy to cement your status as a panicky rookie coach.

2. 4th quarter lineup a joke
With the Wolves down 63-68 after three periods, these are the five players Casey sent out for the 4th quarter: Szczerbiak, Hassell, Hudson, Frahm, and Olowokandi. As the Church Lady used to say, isn't that special? Kandi, Huddy, and Frahm as your crunch time trifecta. Gee, I wonder how Milwaukee scored 15 points in the first 5:06 of the period, much of it spent without leading scorer Michael Redd on the floor? (When Bucks coach Terry Stotts rested Michael Redd after 2 and a half minutes, Casey substituted Jaric for Hassell.)

I understand the need to rest Kevin Garnett, whose customarily enormous burden became even greater when Szczerbiak picked up his 4th foul and had to sit for much of the third period. Resting him nearly half the 4th quarter (he replaced Kandi at 6:36) is too much, for both the team and KG's mental equilibrium, but if you are going to do that, why not put in Madsen and Anthony Carter in the game with Wally and either Hassell or Jaric and play some go-go, high octane basketball for 4-5 minutes? As it was, the Bucks were killing the Wolves with 37-year old Tony Kukoc bombing from outside. What better way to expose Kukoc than to run?

If the argument is that the Wolves needed offense, well, Wally supplied it pretty much on his own for most of the time KG sat, hitting long-range jumpers with people hanging all over him. Huddy chipped in a couple, and Frahm had one layup--in two total attempts, in more than 17 minutes played. He's afraid to clank the trey anymore.

What it boils down to is, who do you trust? What worries me most about Casey is that he trusts Kandi more than Griffin, Hudson more than Carter, Frahm more than Madsen as a situational bit part. Anyone who has watched this team for the past few years knows that these are not good instincts. In fact they are lousy instincts.

Meanwhile, Rashad McCants has regressed to the point that he's really on the cusp of a lost season. Whether McCants or Casey is most to blame is certainly open to debate, but neither one has distinguished himself in that relationship. The Wolves called up Bracey Wright from the developmental league, the rook from Indiana that Rex Chapman argued hard for on draft night. The notion that McCants is fighting for--and losing--minutes with Richie Frahm and Bracey Wright is profoundly depressing, especially since McCants is justifying the unflattering comparison.

3. Trenton Hassell as silver lining
Let's slap a happy face on this sucker. Especially in the first half (when he went 8pts-4rbs-4assists) Trenton Hassell got his own shot with some nifty paint work while denying Michael Redd many scoring opportunities. Even the jumpers Redd eventually nailed in the 4th quarter required much effort, and Hassell's defense on Redd during Milwaukee's final possession, when the Bucks were up 3 and trying to ice it with less than 20 seconds left, was textbook perfect in terms of not leaving your feet on up-fakes, crowding the shooter but not so much he can blow by you, and sidling crablike in front of the shooter so he doesn't even have good vision on the basket. Redd's fadeaway moving toward the baseline barely grazed the iron and set up the opportunity for the Wolves to tie it with 3.5 secs to play. Bravo, Trenton.

Posted by Britt Robson at January 10, 2006 11:31 PM | Comments (17)

 

The Three-Pointer: Something To Prove

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Casey passes gut-check
Tonight's 91-78 win over Dallas was significant for many reasons. The Wolves haven't been below .500 since November 15 (3-4) and likewise haven't been out of first place in their horrid division in nearly that long. They were coming off two merciless beatings by at least 20 points heading into this, the first of three games against teams with the two best records in the Western Conference.

It is exactly the kind of situation that tests a coach's mettle. One sensed that the Wolves could go either way tonight; quit and get hammered by another embarrassing margin, and respond to the situation and start hoarding back their dignity. And more often than not, the coach is the fulcrum upon which way the ballclub tilts.

Well, Dwane Casey not only got his win, he scored it in character, with smart, diligent defense and a triumverate of scorers. The 23-8 Mavs haven't been held below 80 points all season, and under 90 only once since November 17, a span of 23 games in which they went 17-6. Throughout the game, Casey mixed and matched his defenses well, frequently switching on the pick and roll and resorting to the occasional zone to keep Dallas off balance. Anticipating that the Mavs would go small in the 4th quarter, he left Troy Hudson in instead of Eddie Griffin when Michael Olowokandi went to the bench, wanting the smaller unit to have a little momentum when Dallas deployed Dirk Nowitzki and a squadron of tweeners. And the gambit worked. Casey also got that third fount of points so important to his deliberate offensive schemes. Which bring us to...

2. Marko Jaric resurrects his intensity
The beat writers will lean on Jaric's performance in their game stories tomorrow morning, and properly so. But it was easy to curse him during the first half, which saw him come out determined to be aggressive and get to the hoop, only to blow a series of makeable layups and clang the occasional jumper. During a half when the refs were rewarding penetrators with whistles off the slightest contact, Jaric not only shot 2-8 (including an 0-5 beginning)but was the only starter without a free throw despite ranking second on the team in shot attempts. And while his counterpart Jason Terry only managed two points and one assist in the half, the cause seemed as much Terry's lethargy (the Mavs played last night at home) as Jaric's tenacity.

But Jaric was arguably the differnce in the second half, and thus the ballgame, spurring a 53-37 Wolves' advantage at both ends of the court. He took more than twice as many shots as any of his teammates, nailing 7-11 from the field, got to the free throw line 6 times, and was second only to KG with four rebounds. The result was 18 points and just one assist in the second half, an approach totally at odds with his customary dish-don't-shoot ethic, which clearly caught the Mavs by surprise. What's more, Terry shot 2-9 from the floor and committed four fouls trying to contain Jaric, who is five inches taller.

After the game, Casey raved about Jaric's "defensive containment," code for the fact that guards weren't breaking his ankles and the Wolves' perimeter D with simple crossover moves and quick first steps. Now Terry isn't that quick, certainly not as fast as Jameer Nelson of Orlando, but he is kind of like Miami's Jason Williams, who also schooled Jaric on the recent road trip. Bottom line: Jaric has actually had much better games defensively, and tonight was as good rotating over and getting his hands in the passing lanes and boarding in the paint as he was on on-ball defense; but the real difference was that he stepped up offensively and flummoxed Dallas's obvious strategy of limiting KG and Wally's point production. And yeah, the resolve was a tad better than paper-thin.

3.Kandi as enforcer off the bench
I'm not about to predict this is going to continue, but Michael Olowokandi also earned praise from Casey tonight for the way he handled himself on pick and rolls and aggressively contested shots in the paint. Usually when Kandi's line includes zero points and five fouls it's been one of his infamous no-shows mentally and physically. But tonight he didn't score because he didn't shoot--zero field goal attempts in 20:46, which, blows to hell all those theories that it is important to get Kandi off with some early shots because he's more thoroughly engaged in the game. On the contrary, except for his fifth infraction out of the perimeter, Kandi's fouls were delightfully purposeful enforcement in the paint--messages to the Mavs that penetration would be painful, and a welcome sign that her was indeed engaged from the get-go once he replaced KG (saddled with a pair of quick fouls) late in the first quarter. With Mark Madsen off to attend a family funeral, Kandi's selfless contribution off the bench was emblematic of the teamwork Casey and the Wolves required tonight. The big man didn't sulk about losing his starting position to Griffin, and in an ironic twist, grabbed the 4th quarter minutes Eddie usually snares when he is the sub and Kandi's the starter.

Posted by Britt Robson at January 4, 2006 10:38 PM | Comments (15)

 

The Three-Pointer: Florida Fiasco

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Too many goats
Kevin Garnett and Wally Szczerbiak are playing smart, inspired basketball. The rest of the Timberwolves are a passel of partial talents who seem to be coming unglued rather than complementing each other. On Friday they got thumped by 20 in Orlando, 107-87. On Sunday, the Miami Heat totally dismantled them in the second half en route to a 27-point loss that wasn't that close, 97-70. There are so many people who share the blame, it is hard to know where to begin.

How about the backcourt, where not a single damn player performed to his potential during the double massacre. Orlando Magic guards were lining up with drool on their faces at the chance to roast Marko Jaric off the dribble Friday night. Marko, I understand that small, quick opponents give you trouble, but for someone with such a famously competitive rep, hurting his foot after kicking a wall in international league play, etc., your resolve seems paper-thin. On offense, you don't have much confidence in your jumper, with some justification, and you can't finish very well off the dribble. More than anybody on the team, you should be the third wheel that provides traction and manuverability for the offense behind KG and Wally. But your offense has been fairly narrow (you've got a lot of "Stockton assists"--dishes to good jump shooters like Garnett and Szczerbiak) and while your defense is a mostly positive roller coaster, it really kills this team when it plummets.

Troy Hudson, go heal. You obviously don't have the spring or the jets to get open, and if you're not a scoring threat, you're pretty much like Aretha Franklin without a voice. And Anthony Carter, love how your subbing for Jaric coupled with a tenacious zone hacked more than 2/3 of Orlando's 21 point lead away in the first half on Friday; but all those turnovers in your second half stint sabotaged that stint, not to mention your team, which lost going away.

Trenton Hassell, it is beginning to look like this team can't afford your lack of offense. Those 10-12 point nights you chip in when things are flowing for you are quickly becoming a requirement. Can you deliver them and maintain your typically stolid D? Your salary says you should be.

2. Calling out McCants
Rashad McCants, you're being exposed. Your coach has been trying to protect you with limited minutes in inconsequential situations, but the need for offense on this team is so enormous right now, that you're finally beginning to see some meaningful action. It hasn't been pretty. You're making guys like Patrick Reusse, who ripped you almost from the moment of your first game, look smart. And you're making your defenders, guys who note your extraordinatry skills and clamor for you to have a bigger role--people like me--look dumb.

Some quick tips. When you're running down the floor on the break and it feels like you're open, don't gesticulate and otherwise call attention to yourself. First of all, your teammates see you--peripheral vision and sharing the ball in transition are fairly basic parts of most NBA players' games. Secondly, almost every time, you're not as open as your think you are. Third, suck it up and don't pout. You're acting like a punk and I guarantee you it is starting to get on people's nerves--even your best buddy KG's nerves.

Playing defense is not heroic. You like to go for the steal, for the poke check, and you like to use your quickness to try and close out on the man you're guarding. Pay attention to the fundamentals. Stay in front of your man by using your feet more than your hands, and don't be so quick to leave your man either to rotate or double down or to dip below the picks. Nobody else loses their man as frequently as you do, and it snags a piece of your teammates' attention to their own defensive duties as a result.

On offense, by all means, continue to be aggressive, especially going to the hole. You draw fouls as well as anybody on the team already. That said, you can still cut your shots by at least a third. Too often, you shoot when you've been bottled up by a defender, and you think it's a last resort. Take a breath and start looking around for the bail-out help that's coming. Too often, you don't dish off the drive, a fact already noticed by scouts--people don't stay on their man when you start for the hoop, which is why there is so much congestion so frequently. I'm not asking you to think like a point guard, or even to be unselfish--just keep your eyes open and let your instincts flow in sync with your common sense. The more dimes you drop off the dribble, the easier the route will become for those monster left-handed jams we all love so much.

As I said, you're being exposed. You are making life difficult for Kevin McHale, who drafted you and who should already be feeling the heat for the composition of this ballclub, and for Dwane Casey, who obviously concurred in the decision to make you the first new piece in his regime. Nobody should jump to conclusions--all but a very few rookies struggle with a large learning curve and you're in the process of scaling yours. I know you like to compare yourself to Kevin Garnett--who wouldn't?--but the fact of the matter is, your rookie year thus far resembles nothing so much as a poor man's Wally Szczerbiak in his rookie year. And right now it is an extremely poor man's Wally Szczerbiak.

3. Tough sledding this week
Dallas at home, then San Antonio and Dallas again on the road. The odds are pretty good that at the end of this week the Wolves will be 14-17 and perhaps out of first place in the division for first time in weeks. It is the first stiff challenge for Coach Casey. The Ron Artest rumors will be deafening. Coach, Wally Szczerbiak just had the month of his life, one he likely won't repeat this season, and your team went 7-7. January is arguably your toughest month, schedule-wise, with two games apiece against Dallas and San Antonio, home games against Detroit and Indiana, and nine out of 16 on the road. Good luck.

Posted by Britt Robson at January 1, 2006 10:08 PM | Comments (24)

 

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