April 2006

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NBA Playoff Thread: Lakers Win Fabulous Overtime Tilt

Filed under: NBA

The best game of the playoffs thus far occurred in what has been the most consistently competitive first-round series, with the Lakers pulling out a thrilling overtime win over Phoenix to go up 3-1. Down by 8 in the 4th quarter, the Lakers pulled it out on a Smush Parker steal from Steve Nash after the inbounds, followed by a gorgeous teardrop layup from Kobe Bryant going baseline (no bank). In overtime, the Suns were up 3 with very little time remaining. Kobe banked in a layup and then, after the Suns brought it up, Nash was trapped and probably fouled while appearing to try and call a timeout. But Bennett Salvatore (the Dukakis lookalike) whistled a jump ball! On the inevitable Lakers tap (it was Nash and Luke Walton on the jump), Kobe had the rock on a do-or-die jumper and you know what happens when that happens--Swish! Lakers win.

Despite all the points I just mentioned Kobe scoring, the story once again was his ability to involve his teammates--he led the Lakers in assists for the fourth straight game. Lamar Odom has clearly been awakened, turning in yet another strong game. But, as crucial as it is to the Lakers success, inspiring Odom isn't all Kobe has done. When Devean George, a playoff nonentity this year until this afternoon's game, hit a couple of treys from the corner, Kobe turned down his own shots and began feeding George. He likewise fed Walton, Odom, Parker and pretty much anyone left open as Raja Bell and the Suns clamped down. As someone who has disliked Kobe's game almost from the jump, I'm pleasantly surprised that I am actually rooting for him and his team during this series, because they are obviously playing a total team game and creating enormous synergy relative to their talent level.

This is more proof that Phil Jackson is indeed a masterful tactician, but it couldn't have happened without Kobe almost completely changing his me-first mindset and, in the face of occasionally huge pressure and temptation, sticking with the gameplan. Kudos to Kobe and to Jackson.

I'd love to hear what others think about the game. Nash did get fouled at the end, as did James Jones going for the hoop in Phoenix's final play of regulation. Has any reigning MVP been so disrespected by the refs? I'm not necessarily arguing with it--I believe in "letting them play," especially when the game is in the balance--but I am surprised. And barring a huge comeback (possible for Phoenix, not for Denver), there will be a Clips-Lakers series, alongside a likely Spurs-Mavs series, which seems to me like a pair of intriguing and fantastic matchups.

Posted by Britt Robson at April 30, 2006 5:42 PM | Comments (9)

 

Original Wolves Co-Owner Harvey Ratner Dead At 79

Filed under: Timberwolves

Harvey Ratner--the "Harv" in Harv and Marv--died early Friday after a yearlong struggle with cancer. Here's the CBS Sportsline link. I'm sure the Strib and PiPress will have more complete reports.

In retrospect, Mr. Ratner and his partner, Marv Wolfenson, didn't have the enormous wealth required to run a professional sports franchise. But I will always remember, and be grateful, for the fact that they brought NBA hoops back to Minneapolis, not only plunking down the $32 million franchise entry fee, but building the Target Center with their own money, a feat that is more than ironic in light of this week's passage of a Twins stadium bill for billionaire Carl Pohlad in the Minnesota House.

Of the duo, Harv was always the low-key one, the one who preferred to sit back quietly and watch while Marv paraded around as the more obvious face of the franchise. It was a great, enduring partnership, encompassing ownership not only of the Wolves, but of a string of Northwest Fitness health clubs and a number of apartment complexes up in Brooklyn Park and, I believe, Brooklyn Center.

Marv was the character, much more beloved now, in retrospect, but always a diehard basketball fan. Harv was far more mild-mannered but likewise loved hoops, and occasionally came back into the media area to chat up the writers. He also could be seen at his courtside seats on a fairly regular basis. I didn't know him well, spoke with him maybe a dozen times, but by his mien he just seemed like a mensch, somebody who never regarded himself as a self-important big shot.

My sympathies to his wife and four children.

Posted by Britt Robson at April 28, 2006 5:59 PM | Comments (1)

 

NBA Playoff Three-Pointer and Open Thread

Filed under: NBA

Note: For those of you who clamored for a playoff blog, here you go. Don't know how often I can chime in, but I'll keep opening an occasional new thread if there is sufficient interest.

1. Devil in the details
The great thing about predictions is that they can be spun by whatever level lens you want to focus on. For example, on a macro level, I picked the Spurs over the Kings and the Nets over the Pacers, leading some to think I'm right on the former and wrong on the latter. But anybody who bothered to parse the details would see that I totally blew it when I claimed that San Antonio would take Sac lightly and wouldn't be geared up in full playoff mode; and that my guessing was more accurate when I called the Nets vastly overrated.

My error was in underestimating Indiana, particularly Jermaine O'Neal, who rose up for a strong 4th quarter. Also, despite being a jerk, Stephen Jackson had a strong game at both ends of the floor. I still think the Nets have enough to get by the Pacers, and I obviously no longer think the Spurs are going to need 6 or 7 to move past Sac, especially with Artest sitting tonight.

2. Nugs in trouble
The first Denver-Clippers game didn't disappoint, but Game Two was pretty much a game of keep away for the entire contest, with LA going up 32-13 after one and then cruising home while the Nugs frantically chased the lead to just above double-digits. As someone who has seen all of both games (the only series I've followed that way thus far), I think the key has been Brand and Kamen outplaying Camby and (in lieu of naming a power forward) the pea-sized brain of George Karl.

Here's another macro-micro lens perspective on predictions. I called the series for the Nugs, which doesn't look terribly bright at the moment. But I also said the teams were evenly matched, cited all the ways the Clips could win and said that the Nugs needed K-Mart and Najera to deter Brand enough so that Camby could handle Kamen. So, what does Karl do? Starts Francisco Elson on Brand both games, with disastrous results. Brand has scored 20 points in the two first quarters, pushing the Clips to early leads both times. LA's wins about 70 pecent of the time when leading after one, so this pattern has been crucial.

According to the plus/minus totes on popcornmachine.net, Elson is a combined minus-18 in 24 minutes of action. K-mart, who posted a plus-7 in 27 minutes in Game One, was minus-11 in just seven minutes last night. But here's the real error--Karl didn't even get Najera off the bench in Game One, and only inserted him in Game Two after the contest was well out of hand. But anyone who has watched the feisty Mexican play, especially in the post-season for Dallas back in the day, knows that he is the one player who combines bulk and heart enough to give Brand problems in the low block. And he posted a huge plus-15 in 16 minutes of action last night. Another guy who plays with a lot of heart, Reggie Evans, is a combined plus-5 in 32 minutes of play.

So, coach Karl, just because Elson is a seven-footer doesn't mean he has the smarts, the below-the-waist strength, or the gumption to go mano-a-mano with a beast like Brand. I know you want to bump up the tempo and that Najera is a plodder (even before he fractured his leg not that long ago. But if you don't contain Brand, Camby is going to split his time between Brand and Kamen and you are going to get your ass handed to you once again. Play a rotation of Najera, Evans and K-Mart and keep Elson as a brief spare for Camby--match him up with Kamen, who is not quite as strong.

Other hit-and-run observations about this series:

The much anticipated matchup between Corey Maggette and Carmelo Anthony (well, at least I was excited about it) has been a bust, with Anthony again finishing a distant third to Lebron and Wade in their inevitable comparisons from that draft class and Maggette not being able to defend anybody. 'Melo is a great shooter but went goose-eggs from the field during crunch time in Game One, then committed a series of quick fouls that doomed the Nugs in Game Two. Maggette has the worst plus/minus of anybody in the series despite playing for the team that has won twice--defensive specialist Quentin Ross and mad-gunner turned unlikely team guy Cuttino Mobley have been far better options.

Also Sam Cassell provided excellent veteran leadership in Game One, but is beginning to take that role a little too seriously, regularly calling out teammates for any errors he perceives. Sammy is a marvelous asset in this series, but the more he yaks to his mates the worse he is going to look when Earl Boykins finds his shot and teams with Andre Miller (who had a great Game One) to dismantle Cassell's matador D as the series shifts to Denver.

By the end of this series, Kamen is going to be one of those guys who has been called underrated so often that he will actually not be underrated any more. And yes, he has been a stud--his outplaying Camby in Game One has been the single most important factor in this series thus far.

3.Apologies to Kobe
Anyone who knows me and even casually reads my stuff, knows I am no fan of Kobe Bryant. So, to keep with the macro-micro prediction theme, while I was correct in the macro for thinking the Suns will eclipse the Lakers, I said LA would only make it competitive if Odom got off and Kobe enabled it, allowing the Lakers to play as a team... and that that wasn't going to happen.

Well, it did happen. Game One of the Lakers-Suns has been the most entertaining playoffs hoops thus far, in large part because wily Phil Jackson totally went against type and had the Lakers sharing the ball (all their starters were double figures). Odom crashed the boards and was vitally involved and LA very nearly pulled off the upset. Kobe? All the newspaper stories wanted to dwell on his "poor" shooting performance. And while it was true that he didn't have a great night putting the ball in the hole (save for a gorgeous, deadly trey from about five feet behind the arc in the last two minutes), he played a marvelous team game and get everyone gelling. If he can continue to play that way *and* find his shot, the Lakers have a much better chance than I anticipated. What I don't know is how big of an "if" that is. In other words, is Kobe most accurate only when he is most selfish? Some guys are just that way, and if it is true of Kobe, than the Lakers may be forced to revert to their star going off for 45-60 points and having their team go down in flames and everyone proclaims the greatness of Kobe.

I'm proclaiming the unselfishness of Kobe in Game One, and offering my apology. It was a pleasure to watch.

Posted by Britt Robson at April 25, 2006 1:17 PM | Comments (14)

 

Foul tip: South side slaughter, on to KC

The trouble with the weekend series in Chicago wasn't the sweep for the Chox. It was that the play by the Twinkies was so flat that it was hard to watch.

For the record, Brad Radke's streak of giving up home runs within the first three innings remains in tact; he did so against the Angels last week and again in Chicago on Saturday. It's the one preseason prognistication I made that has been right so far.

And I wish it weren't true, but his season has been especially vexing, even by the low standards of Bradke ball. True, the entire starting rotation has been a flop (though I'm not ready to give up on relievers like Jesse Crain and Juan Rincon), but it's clear that whatever quiet powers Radke has possessed are waning.

For instance, on Saturday night, FSN's Dick Bremer wondered aloud how disconcerting it was that Radke's fastball was at times clocking in the mid-80s. Bert Blyleven's insightful reaction? "I'm sure he's throwing as hard as he can," the Dutchman deflected.

On paper, pitching is really all this team has; on the field, the Twins will soon be out of any kind of contention before the hurlers get their act together.

And when the highlight of the week is a home run off J.C. Romero, you know things ain't right.

Other notes of distress:

1) The flailings and failings of Hunter and Morneau. The batting averages are embarrassing for the heart of any lineup (.229 and .215, respectively), though one could almost forgive that by looking at the RBIs for the not-so-fearsome twosome (13 and 14).

But that would be to ignore how impatient and foolish each has looked at the plate. Neither player is capable of working a count or getting on base with any kind of consistency. Hunter has five walks versus 17 strikeouts in 70 at-bats; Morneau has four BOBs and 18 Ks in 65 official trips to the plate.

Hunter, especially, seems to be receiving his swing selection telepathically from Jacque Jones in Chicago.

2. That old dog Sierra. I've been holding out hope that Ruben Sierra would be a Don Baylor-like acquisition for this year's Twinks, but now I'm not so sure. Initially, I thought Sierra would spell Morneau in the field once in a while, but apparently Sierra didn't take to first base. (Although putting Michael Cuddyer there, as the Ron Gardenhire did Friday, didn't seem to present any real problems.)

More than that, I didn't figure in how much his age would make him injury prone. The Twins had to play Rondell White in left in lieu of Shannon Stewart all weekend; the result was that Sierra's stint as a regular DH proved that his body won't allow for such a role.

3. Morneau's mitt. One surprising bright spot has been how comfortable Morneau looks in the field. He won't be picking up any Gold Gloves anytime soon, and he'll probably never be the vacuum that Kent Hrbek was. But his play thus far has been solid, with some flashes of grace and smarts. It's enough to make a Twins fan forget about Doug Mientkiewicz--if Dougie Baseball weren't hitting 50 points higher than the kid right now.

Not to compare the two--Justin's the future, right?--but there will be some head-to-head going on this week as the Twins take on the Royals in KC. If Minnesota isn't within one game of .500 going into the weekend series in Detroit, it's time for this team to offically aim lower. Much lower.

Posted by G.R. Anderson Jr. at April 24, 2006 9:25 AM | Comments (1)

 

Pitching staff in shambles

Filed under: Twins

I write this as the Twins are tied at one after three in the wrap-up of their revealing three-game set with the Pale Hose. For something like the eighth (ninth? tenth?) game in a row, the Twins staff is on pace to give up at least ten hits. For a squad that will live or die on the quality of its pitching, that's very troubling indeed.

Will things improve? Not if Ron Gardenhire keeps letting Johan Santana throw 120 pitches as he did Friday night. Yeah, I know Santana's work in the WBC put him ahead of schedule, but that many tosses outside in mid-April is foolhardy. The homer radio crew pooh-poohed it (over on the TV side, at least Blyleven has contrary personal experience motivating him to sneer at pitch counts), saying that Santana was flowing and that it was an "easy" 120 pitches. Right.

The next night Gardy lifts Liriano after only one inning and 14 pitches. Huh? How is the kid going to slowly build up arm strength for his inevitable ascension into the starting rotation if you give him just an inning every three or four days? Would it really have hurt for him to go out for the 8th inning with the team trailing 7-2? Getting to lock up with Thome and Konerko would have been marvelous training for the kid. Instead we got to watch Jesse Crain face Thome, with utterly predictible (boom!) results.

It is beginning to look like it might be a moot point about the Twins staying with the White Sox and Indians (and, uh, the Tigers), but if the club does rally and makes it a pennant race, the tardiness with which they have gotten Liriano ready to step in for Lohse should not be forgotten.

In fact, among the entire staff, only Santana and Liriano inspire confidence at the moment. I had to laugh at Gardy's comment in the paper today about how the Sox are getting bleeders and the Twinks are hitting shots right at people. There have been at least four occasions in the first two games where the Sox have drilled shots with men on base that Twins outfielders have caught at the warning track (or in one case prevented from going out with a leap). And don't take solace in Carlos Silva's yielding of one run through three thus far: along with the five hits the White Sox have amassed, six of their first nine outs have been fly balls. Anyone who knows Silva's m.o. knows that's when he gets the ball up that consistently, bad things are on the way.

Posted by Britt Robson at April 23, 2006 1:51 PM | Comments (0)

 

Regular Season Awards and Playoff Picks

Filed under: NBA

Let's get the easiest calls out of the way first. The Pistons will require no more than five games to dispatch the Bucks and Chris Paul is the NBA Rookie of the Year.

The second-easiest pair? Dallas over Memphis in no more than six games (and I'd wager five) and Flip Saunders as Coach of the Year, an obvious choice despite the reputation-enhancing jobs turned in by Avery Johnson in Dallas, Mike D'Antoni in Phoenix, and Scott Skiles in Chicago.

Medium-hard picks?

Well, everyone claims the combo of Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant is going to give the Phoenix Suns fits, but I think the only way that happens is if Lamar Odom gets really engaged--the way he used to in Miami--playing the nonstop uptempo style that will define this series, and pairs with Kobe to simply overwhelm the Suns. And I don't think either Kobe or Odom care enough about the other to let that occur. Phoenix in 5, with Kobe averaging nearly 40 points and six assists per game.

Aside from the Lakers, the New Jersey Nets are the most overrated team in the playoffs, and if they'd had the misfortune to play the Bulls, who match up with them across the board, they'd be gone in the first round. Fortunately for Jay-Z and the boyz, their opponent is Indiana, a dysfunctional crew now featuring one of the great chokers of the postseason in Peja and a number-two guy masquerading as a number-one guy in Jermaine O'Neal. The series will go five, maybe six, but this win is as far as NJ is going to go.

For Sixth Man of the Year, I had grudgingly decided to give up to Mike Miller of Memphis, who is unselfish and underrated--a great shooter who doesn't gun, tries to defend well and comes off the bench happily--when I read the Strib's Steve Aschburner name Antonio McDyess for the honor. And he's right. Detroit has a very thin bench, but without McDyess to spell the Wallaces, they wouldn't be nearly as primed to close in a potential second crown in three years. In fact I'd wager they wouldn't have home court advantage in the Finals. Like Miller, McDyess is a humble pro who sublimates himself for his team and enables the Pistons to rest key people without a bump in either their style or their quality of play (in short spurts anyway).

The last medium-hard pick is Miami over Chicago, again in five or six, maybe seven. I love the way the Bulls have pulled together this season, and they have the players to frustrate the Heat's top two. Specifically, put Luol Dong on Dwyane Wade and Tyson Chandler as the main man in the bevy of bigs versus Shaq and Miami will be struggling to move on. And if Antoine Walker takes it upon himself to be the main man by default, the Bulls might even spring the upset. Eventually, I think Wade and Shaq can overcome, but all those off-season moves and the return of Pat Riley still don't make the Heat nearly as formidable as they appeared to be last season.

Okay, here are the tough calls, from easiest to hardest.

San Antonio over Sacramento in 6 or 7.
This will be a far cry from your usual #1-versus-#8 cakewalk. Having gone to the finals twice in a row, and having paced themselves through much of the regular season, the Spurs, despite themselves, are going to take the Kings lightly. San Antonio will win because Tony Parker is simply too fast for Mike Bibby and because Tim Duncan and Nazr Muhammad can ultimately reign in the low block. But since acquiring Ron Artest in a heist (so long as he stays sane) for Peja, the Kings have a fine, playoff-simpatico squad, as both Artest and Brad Miller love to bang and the Kings have folks like Bonzie Wells and Shareff Abdur-Raheim to keep Bruce Bowen from guarding Bibby.

Bowen is a monster on D, but I believe Marcus Camby is NBA Defender of the Year in a close call over Ben Wallace, Bowen, and Ron Artest, in that order.

I understand that Cleveland and Washington are currently playing even as I write this, and I purposefully haven't checked the score before calling it for the Cavs in a wild 6 or 7 game series. This is the true suck-it-up time for LeBron, but also for Gilbert Arenas--whichever star shines brightest among these two, that's whose team will triumph. Secondly, Washington simply doesn't play enough defense to win in the playoffs, even against a deeply flawed team like Cleveland.

That leaves us with the the Clippers versus the Nuggets and the MVP Award. These are the toughest calls for me because of the frequency with which I've changed my mind. I've literally thought up good scenarios for both the Clips and the Nugs winning, and justified no fewer than three MVP picks. Let's get the individual award out of the way first.

It won't be Kobe Bryant, who doesn't even make my top five. Think the Lakers would have made the playoffs without Phil Jackson? If not--and I don't--how can you justify picking Kobe?

4th Place--Chauncey Billups. Yeah, the Pistons are the "ultimate team" and all that stuff, but where would they be with Carlos Arroyo running with the other starting four? I know that Carmelo Anthony (my 5th place pick) has been a god with the game on the line, but absolutely nobody is more important to their team in the last four minutes of a game than Billups is to the Pistons. He controls the dribble, he isn't afraid to take the shot, he's deadly enough at the line that opponents commit suicide if they foul him, and he can defend out on the perimeter (that last attitribute is Larry Brown's greatest contribution to the Piston franchise).

3rd Place--Dirk Nowitzki. No more jokes about how he can't defend anybody. I don't buy the argument that Dirk doesn't play with quality teammates--Josh Howard is among the top 20 players in the game right now, and is getting better--but he is unquestionably the leader of this team, and his commitment to improvement on D made Johnson's job much easier and elevated the Mavs to a bona fide championship contender. Oh, and in case you forgot, Nowitzki ranks right up there with Ray Allen as the deadliest outside shooter in the game today.

2nd Place--Steve Nash. Last year I argued vociferously against Nash winning the MVP over Shaq, and I still think it was a stupid call. Sure, Nash was marvelous, but he didn't defend well and he had Amare and Marion and Q Rich and Joe Johnson. I am very comfortable with saying Shaq got robbed last season. But this year, Nash was better, much better, shouldering the burden of playing 3/4 of last year's starting teammates and transforming the likes of Raja Bell and Boris Diaw into very solid NBA players, when Diaw was regarded as a would-be journeyman and Bell was an already-there journeyman. So why isn't Nash the MVP? Because, even if Phoenix didn't disguise it some with its up-and-down style, Steve Nash can't defend.

MVP--LeBron James. What he did when the calendar flipped to spring and the Cavs needed a playoff push was take it to an extra gear, and the league hasn't seen the likes of it since Jordan was in his prime. I suspect that this will be the first of about 7 or 8 MVPs for James before he's through. Will he rank with Jordan as the greatest ever? It depends on how many rings he bags. Without them, if he has the kind of career I imagine for him, he'll have to be content to sit alongside Oscar Robertson a whisker behind Jordan among the premier swingmen in the history of the game. Shit, I should be watching him try and destroy the Wizards right now, so let's finish up.

Nuggets over Clippers in 6 or 7.
On paper, and in my fervid imagination, this is the best first-round playoff matchup since the league expanded the post-season format to 16 teams. Both the Nugs and Clips are deep, resourceful, well-balanced teams led by veteran coaches who have had their ups and downs in the postseason but who know how and when to motivate their personnel. The trade bringing the Nuggets Ruben Patterson and Reggie Evans was a masterstroke that enables Denver to bang and scoot, but I still think Kenyon Martin needs to step up and Eduardo Najera needs to be getting good minutes in the rotation if Denver is going to neutralize Elton Brand, which is a key to their prospects. If Brand gets his 24 and 12 in the normal flow of things, Denver is in trouble, because that means Camby is going to have to help out and that means Chris Kamen will have a chance to get off and get his confidence up. If Camby is allowed to devote a lot of his energy to Kamen, it is going to be a long series for the "Cave Man," whose glorious footwork and admirable work ethic simple can't compensate for Camby's superb defensive prowess (Eddie Griffin can only dream of becoming Camby on D).
Another fascinating matchup could be Sam Cassell and Earl Boykins. Cassell is one of the best in the league at posting up, and Boykins has made a career out of using his extraordinary strength and darting quickness on poke-check steals to discourage opponents backing him down. Cassell is incredibly crafty and loves to take the big shot, but at the other end of the court he has no hope of staying with Boykins. And Andre Miller and Shaun Livington aren't too shabby as the two points I haven't even mentioned, eh?
The return of Corey Maggette--who posted 18 and 11 in the season finale--comes just in time for the Clips, who need someone at the three to make Melo work. No swingman in the game is more adept at getting to the line than Maggette--when healthy, anyway--and a Maggette-Cuttino Mobley tag team on 'Melo is another delicious prospect in a series loaded with enticing matchups. The Clips could easily win this thing for a number of reasons--Brand has been a beast in the low block all season, Cassell craves crunchtime, the Clips have a bunch of threats behind the arc--Mobley, Cassell, Maggette and especially Vlad Radmanovic--and Kamen is sneaky good and indomitible if not checked. I just think the Nugs' superior depth and 'Melo's desire to be considered in the LeBron-Wade conversation will be just enough, despite the lack of home court advantage, for Denver to pull it out.

Posted by Britt Robson at April 22, 2006 2:31 PM | Comments (2)

 

Two things about Wednesday night's win

Filed under: Twins

1. Ruben Sierra is enormous. Has he always been that big?

2. The Twins have now beaten the top two closers in the American league: Mariano Rivera on Saturday, and now K-Rod. The only other pitcher who compares to those guys is Joe Nathan. That's a really good feeling.

Man, what a game.

Posted by Chuck Terhark at April 19, 2006 10:49 PM | Comments (1)

 

The One-Pointer: Wolves Disgrace Themselves

Filed under: Timberwolves

If you thought the 2005-06 Minnesota Timberwolves couldn't sink any lower, well, the franchise saved the worst for last in tonight's game, purposefully losing to the Memphis Grizzlies in order to secure a draft pick rather than risk having it sent to Los Angeles because of the ineptitude of their braintrust.

That's right, I said PURPOSEFULLY lost. The Wolves tanked this game as blatantly as I've ever seen a professional sports team perform with premeditated incompetence, to the point where Glen Taylor owes everyone who paid to get in a refund down to the last penny and Commissioner David Stern needs to launch an investigation and assess fines and penalties. I'm dead serious. And time will tell how others react, but I don't think I'm exaggerating.

Why do I say this? Remember when the rationale for "resting" Kevin Garnett and Ricky Davis with the "injuries" they incurred was in order to get a look at the young players to see how they developed? Well, the Wolves were up by six points heading into the 4th quarter. How many minutes do you think Marcus Banks, Rashad McCants and Justin Reed played in that period? Answer: zippo. No, the five iron men in that quarter were Mark Madsen, Eddie Griffin, Trenton Hassell, Ronnie Dupree and Bracey Wright. Remarkably enough, the Wolves were still up 5 with 45 seconds left to play. Time for some tough D, right? Nope. A Grizzy scrub named Anthony Roberson is allowed to waltz in for a layup within five seconds. Time to bring in your free throw shooters, inbounds the ball and wait for the foul, right? Nope. First you make the inbounds to Madsen (45% from the line this year), who gets fouled, but alas, Memphis still isn't over the limit. So the ball in brought in again and Madsen launches a three-pointer with 6 seconds still on the shot clock. Brian Cardinal's trey ties it with 18.5 secs left, and Wright turns it over dribbling into a double team but Memphis can't get a shot off. Overtime.

Okay, so far it is very fishy but not quite in the realm of scandalous. Oh, you want to leave absolutely no doubt that you are flushing your integrity down the toilet? Well then, let's let Mad Dog launch two more threes in overtime, with ten and eleven seconds left on the shot clock. Not good enough--already resting Pau Gasol and Eddie Jones for the playoffs (they're in street clothes) Memphis is playing five guys from the absolute bottom of their bench and the game remains tied at the end of the first overtime.

Second overtime, the Wolves trot out the same quintet that have been on the court since the beginning of the 4th quarter. Mad Dog launches five more three-pointers--needless to say, not even half of them even grazed the rim and none of them went it. At the other end, the Wolves allow Brian Cardinal to keep chucking uncontested three-pointers, and Memphis finally gives Minnesota what it so obviously craved--defeat.

With it came disgrace. This wasn't subtle, folks. The Wolves played to lose, and when it looked like they might win regardless, they played more and more blatantly to lose. I mean, Mad Dog hadn't attempted a trey all year and was 1-9 from beyond the arc in his five-year career before chucking up 7 of them (officially; anyway, the scorer didn't register the one he launched at the end of the 4th quarter) in ten minutes of overtime, none of them occurring because the shot clock was about the sound.

Coach Dwane Casey should be ashamed of himself. And if and when the shitstorm comes down, Casey should come completely clean about whether he was given marching orders from above to tank this game--it is no time for the coach to fall on his sword.

Am I being too moralistic? I don't know--I'm interested to see how others react. I would have asked Casey and the players if they realized how obvious they were being, but as the gruesome irony would have it, it was Fan Appreciation Night and there was the traditional ceremoney afterwards where selected fans get a jersey from each of the players. When Mad Dog grabbed the microphone and started thanking the fans for their support (at first the mic went dead on him--that was karma talking), I frankly couldn't stomach it anymore and came home.

Here's my take: No amount of ping-pong balls and draft pick placement is worth this big of a blot on your integrity as an organization. It might be comical if it weren't so pathetic. And it might be pathetic if it weren't so corrosive to the very concept of competition and sportsmanship. Believe me, one of my pet peeves is journalists getting on their high horse about one thing or another. Most of the time, I'd simply rather write about the game. But I honestly feel like I have no choice this time. More than a sad day, it is a bad day in the history of the Minnesota Timberwolves franchise.

Posted by Britt Robson at April 19, 2006 10:42 PM | Comments (31)

 

Does Borton Deserve To Stay?

Filed under: Gophers

Nine days ago on this Balls! blog, my colleague Jim Walsh wrote a brief but spirited defense of Gophers' women's basketball coach Pam Borton, who was rocked by a slew of players leaving the squad after the season concluded last month. I kept meaning to join the commentary that followed, but was busy with other deadlines and the moment passed. Now, belatedly, I'll offer a couple of things that for some reason haven't been reported in other media--at least not in any outlets I've seen.

First, although it was briefly reported by Jay Weiner in the Strib that Borton faced a similar mini-mutiny among players when she coached at Vermont, the circumstances weren't really fleshed out. For years, Borton was an assistant coach at Vermont under a woman named Cathy Inglese, who put together a powerhouse, going undefeated for two consecutive years--53 regular season victories in a row--before parlaying her success into a gig as head coach at Boston College.

As Inglese's loyal assistant, Borton was flipped the keys to a small college dynamo in May 1993. And how did she fare? Well, Vermont won its conference for a couple years, but finished second in both the 95-96 and 96-97 seasons. In her four years at the helm, Borton's record was 69-46. That's a far cry from 53-0, eh?

At the end of that fourth year, Borton was confronted by the transfer of two players, and another who was threatening to transfer. It was at this point that Borton decided to rejoin Inglese as an assistant coach at Boston College. When the issue was raised at the time Borton was hired to coach the Gophs, it was spun that Borton made the move to position herself for a big college job--and who could argue with that rationale, since she was in fact being hired for a big college job? But let's get serious for a moment. Borton had taken a powerhouse and, after winning using Inglese's recruits, turned it into a mere conference contender. The players she had recruited were in open rebellion. How had she proven herself enough in Vermont to call the transfer to BC a step up? For that matter, how does becoming an assistant to someone you've already had success assisting better position you for career advancement? Looking over this record, it is a wonder why the Gophers hired her in the first place.

So Borton comes to Minnesota and history looks to be repeating itself. Using the top recruits of her predecessors, including future WNBA pros such as Lindsey Whalen and Janell McCarville, Borton enjoyed success early in her tenure. With her own recruits, the record has started to falter and the players have started to become disgruntled. As was noted in the commentary following Walsh's post, five of the seven players recruited by Borton have transferred out to high-quality programs.

What's done is done: the unhappy players are gone and the U of M administration has expressed its support for Pam Borton. Time will tell whether or not that was a wise decision. But given her history, it is now up to Borton to prove why she should have been hired for this job in the first place. At stake is the enormous gain in profile and revenue that the Lady Gophers experienced in the past three years.

Posted by Britt Robson at April 18, 2006 5:15 PM | Comments (7)

 

What's going on in Detroit?

Filed under: MLB

Tigers first baseman Chris Shelton, a 25-year-old from Salt Lake City, hit his major league-leading ninth homerun today off Cleveland pitcher Paul Byrd. Shelton is now on pace to hit 108 homers this year, and he's hitting a ridiculous .479. Oh yeah, and he's also on my fantasy team (suckaz!).

Posted by Chuck Terhark at April 17, 2006 1:08 PM | Comments (0)

 

Foul tip: Yankees wrap-up

Even with Sunday's rather authoritative win by New York, the weekend series at the Dome was about as much fun a Twins fan could have watching baseball indoors.

Friday's game featured the kind of baseball I'd like to see the Twins play all season long-- offering precision pitching, eeking out a run or two to stay tight, then scoring a batch of runs to set up the final stretch for the very tough bullpen.

I missed much of Saturday's epic game to instead see Hamlet, the final production at the Guthrie as we know it, but from what I can tell it was full of as much drama as Big Bad Billy Shakespeare himself could muster. The best news about that game, of course, is Mauer and Morneau getting on base and hitting during crunch time, something they need to learn how to do now and often.

The bad news, though, is that is was yet another come-from-behind win; this habit of spotting runs early is something that will not play out with good results for the long haul of the season.

Sunday's game proved that theory, with the Twins falling too far behind too early to seriously contend. Which brings us to ...

1) Bradke ball. Another home run early, this time a two-run dinger to Jason Giambi in the second to give New York a 2-0 lead. That's the fourth time in three starts this season Radke has given up a home run in the first three innings, thus far (sadly) not proving me wrong at all about his unique gift for doing this on a regular basis.

2) Rondell will hit. Eventually. The guy is just in that weird hall-of-mirrors, echo-chamber thing, and needs a couple days off. He said after yesterday's game that being in the DH role is messing with him, and that all he does is sit on the bench, spending the next 30-40 minutes thinking about his next at bat. Uh-oh. Sit him Gardy, and now!

Luckily, Reuben Sierra is ready to join the team now--might was well give him a shot at DH and sit White. But White works too hard to wash out completely, and he still has enough skills to be a force in this lineup.

3) Baker's future. As impeccable and impressive as Scott Baker looked on Friday--and he truly was both--I have a nagging fear that his second time around the league, opposing batters are going to figure him out. The reason for this concern is rather fundamental: He throws the ball belt-high frighteningly often. He can paint the corners all he wants, but he's got to get that ball lower or it's trouble.

Even so, his performance on Friday was truly a wonder, an accomplishment he should feel good about for exactly one more day.

Thoughts about the series, or the upcoming one against the Hell-Let's-Just-Call-'Em-California Angels that begins on Tuesday? Feel free to post comments below.

Oh, one final note: The New York media-plex is already playing the Torii card; yesterday's Times had a story fanning the flames on a PiPress bit about how Johnny Damon said he would surrender his spot in center should Hunter become a Yankee next season. Given Hunter's dreadful history in the Bronx (.185 career with two homers and eight RBIs), I don't see Steinbrenner forking over the cash.

Posted by G.R. Anderson Jr. at April 17, 2006 9:51 AM | Comments (3)

 

The Three-Pointer: 48 Minutes to Euthanasia

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Debating Banks
Coach Dwane Casey remarked how it was a tale of two halves today, and, firmly in accentuate the positive mode, chose to talk about how the Wolves were much more aggressive and less in awe of San Antonio in the second half.

Well, that's one way to put it. Another way would be to point out that Tony Parker didn't play the entire second half, and that Tim Duncan logged a grand 2:57. The Spurs could rest their two stars because they led, 56-35, at the break, having outrebounded Minnesota 29-11, putting up a 13-2 edge in fast break points, 28-18 on points in the paint, and 54%-39% in field goal percentage. The Spurs are a quality team that is playing for home court advantage throughout the Western Conference Playoffs. The Wolves are a scuffed and disheveled team playing to lose enough games to hold on to their draft pick in the lottery.

Personally, I was most interested in seeing Marcus Banks matched up with Parker, one of the very few point guards as fast as Banks in the NBA. How would Banks respond when his signal virtue was negated? It was obviously an incomplete sample, given the early blowout, but what is clear is that Banks can get his own shot off pretty much when he wants to, be it moving behind screens or penetrating the lane. His final line--25 points, 11 free throw attempts (he sank all but one) five rebounds, four assists, four steals and zero turnovres--looks mighty gaudy indeed against one of the better defenses in the league. But at the half, in his extended matchup with Parker, he had 9 points (4-9 FG), zero free throws, two rebounds, one assist and two steals in 20:14. In the second half, he got to the foul line by simply being too fast for Parker's backup, Beno Udrih, to contain. Udrih fouled him three times, and backup big man Fabricio Oberto fouled him three times, and Robert Horry hacked up on a drive to set up a three point play. In the first half versus Parker, he sank three outside jumpers and one layup; in the second half, one j, two layups, and lots of free throws off penetration. Toss in that 4/0 A/TO ratio and it is a very good game's work, even against the scrubs.

But there are two knocks on Marcus Banks, only one of which he quieted today. That would be that he doesn't have good point guard instincts, frequently acts without a plan, gets caught in mid-air and can be outguessed by cunning opponents who like to poach the lanes, etc. Zero turnovers in 40:50 against the Spurs.

The other one--let's call it the dreaded green blotch of the ex-Celtics--is that he doesn't defend worth a damn. And so, Tony Parker went 5-7 from the floor in the first half and Beno Udrih led the Spurs in scoring for probably the first time in his life with 15 points, and the 25 put up Banks is negated by the 26 he ceded, not even counting Nick Van Exel's 9 when San Antone was running a small lineup.

Keeping Banks is a worthy debate to have, because there are compelling arguments on both sides and now is precisely the time to have it. Of all the players Casey needed to get a look at, Banks is the guy whose minutes matter right now, far more than McCants or Reed or Bracey Wright, fer cryin' out loud. Why? Because McCants is a lock to play big minutes for this team next year, and at best Reed and Wright will get about the same amount of love they got this year, provided either or both are still around. But Banks? He could be a starter for years to come, or gone like the wind. The bargaining table will be open and the stakes will be some or all of the Wolves midlevel exception, up to $6 million per year.

Ironically, it was Stephon Marbury who famously said that point guards are a creation of God, born instead of made--this was back when Steph didn't know about apostasy and the wrath of God for excessive immodesty about the gifts He provides--and if you agree with him, you are very skeptical of Marcus Banks. Because Banks is not a "natural" point, he's a tweener who further complicated matters by rebutting two-thirds of the predominant character traits he was known for in Boston--good defender, lousy shooter, can't set up others. He shot very well, set up others unevenly but with some success, but locks down his man on D about as well as Ricky Davis and Mark Blount, which is to say not at all.

For some reason, I have faith that Banks will be okay running the offense, so long as he runs things through Garnett instead of Davis. And when he does have the rock in his hands, I'd be far more interested in Casey running half-court sets with lots of ball movement and plenty of spacing, so that Banks can not only drive and scoop to the big man down low, but drive and kick to the baseline or back to the top of the key...the way the Spurs were playing all day today in roasting Minnesota's indifferent rotations on defense. Banks has proven to be good enough shooting from outside to play the high pick-and-roll effectively with KG, and certainly can penetrate. Better spacing would allow him to dish with clearer vision, sans traffic. And sometimes--like at least half the time, please--he can dump it to KG in the low or high block and then either dive for the hoop or scoot to the three point arc and let the superstar find him or some other open man. If this happens, Banks's play in the past month or so has convinced me that he can be a decent floor general, and perhaps a good one in a year or two. In that regard, I'm higher on him that most of the media that cover this team, in part because I think getting a banger is a bigger priority.

But the defense, well.... Rashad McCants returned from his sprained ankle today, and was frequently paired with Banks in what is obviously anticipated, or at least being rehearsed, as the backcourt of the 2006-07 season. And McCants's defense is not any better than Banks's, plus both are small. So I asked Casey after the game if this team can play the kind of defense he wants with those two in the backcourt and he essentially said not yet but they will somebody soon. I doubt it. And when he said one of the notions is to run a three-guard set next year with Davis, McCants, and Banks, all I could think of is what a horrible, horrible, defensive unit that would be, requiring a Ben Wallace or a Kirilenko alongside KG to handle the overflow of open opponents running around and through the Tres Matadores out on the perimeter.

So I asked Casey how big of a priority retaining Banks was, given how much time they had invested in him since the trade, compared to other needs such as a big man and a long-range gunner (the Wolves are near the bottom in three-point shooting this year). Without ordering the priorities, the coach replied that keeping Banks was very important, definitely a priority, but added that the team was hoping for a "hometown discount" in the contract negotiations. I repeated that to Banks in the locker room and he sort of smiled a smile that said--"who are you kidding?!"--then made his mouth do all the right things about how he's leaving it up to his agent, etc. So I said, well, how important is familiarity and playing time--will they be as important as money for you during the off-season? And he responded, "I'd love to play for a winner and I'd love to play a lot of minutes. Like I've said, this is a business and you never know--some guys get both of those things and some guys get all three" (meaning money, minutes, and wins).

The caliber of that smile when I said "hometown discount" and the introduction of the notion of playing for a winner indicated to me that Banks is gone if he gets a great offer. As I've said before, I'd give him what Griffin got last year--about $9 million for three years, and hope that's enough. But if you blow out the entire midlevel exception on resigning Banks, that draft pick--provided the ping pong balls in the lottery don't push the Wolves past 10th by moving up teams currently behind them in lottery line--had better be NBA-ready to go a la Andrew Bogut, minimum. And how many college kids coming out fit that bill?

2. Davis vs. Szczerbiak
Since Davis is done for the year, and since the trade with Boston happened almost exactly at mid-season, the numbers for Davis and Wally Szczerbiak in a Wolves uniform are pretty comparable. Davis played 1460 minutes for this team, or just 95 minutes less than Wally logged (1555) before being shipped east. Despite that (albeit slightly) lesser time, Davis had already jacked up 595 shots, compared to Wally's 590, and despite the fact that Wally took a higher percentage of threes, he still shot 49.5%, compared to Ricky's 42.9%. Remember the mantra about Davis being more adept at getting to the line? Not by that much, as Szczerbiak shot one more FT (very slightly fewer per-minute) than Davis, 182-181, and made 17 more, 163-146. As might be expected, Szczerbiak had a slight advantage in rebounds 190-164, and Davis a pretty large edge in assists 173-112, albeit with more turnovers. The clincher for me is that the Wolves ceded more than five addtional points per game on defense after acquiring Davis, while adding less than two points of offense, which is why they were 19-21 before the trade and 14-27 after it.

3. Clear as mud
That's the best way to describe the quality of Eddie Griffin's future in the NBA. Is he a shot-blocking stud who merely needs to endure the slow, hard learning process of banging in the paint and will eventually blossom. Or does he love blocks as much as Kobe likes to shoot, to the point that his pursuit corrodes team D? At this point, I have no clue, and I'm guessing no one else does either. I do know that he suddenly began knocking down shots against Indiana the other night, including a couple of treys, en route to his best offensive performance since the last time he played the Pacers.

For the record, I wasn't agitating or grumbling about him not having laser surgery in the off-season; I was grumbling about how this has become an all-purpose excuse for either not playing EG or allowing him to play badly when he is out there. The keys to Eddie Griffin are first, in his head; second, in his heart; and third, in his eyes.

Posted by Britt Robson at April 16, 2006 11:21 PM | Comments (18)

 

Foul tip: Damn Mussina, not the Yankees

Filed under: Twins

As crazy as it sounds, for the last few years I've felt like the Twins have the potential to be better than the Yankees, at least in head-to-head competition.

Things, of course, haven't quite worked out that way. The Yankees, for starters, knocked the Twins out of the playoffs in 2003 and 2004. (The final game of the 2004 season, a playoff loss to the Yankees at the Dome, was especially excrutiating.) And then there was the recent atrocious record the Twins accrued in the Bronx--winless in three regular seasons.

But even so, I think the Twins could stoke their hot streak against the Yanks.

For starters, all the focus is on the powerful lineup New York has, and it's true that the firepower is there. But isn't that always the case? The Twins have more often than not pitched well against the Yankees, and this weekend I think the staff will settle down and show that it's the best staff in the AL.

More than that, the Yankees look weak in middle relief, and the Twins have been scoring runs in batches in those innings. They could jump out ahead very quickly if a New York starter gets in trouble.

Finally, the Twins aren't just on a roll, they're oozing confidence, which they really haven't done since Puckett was still playing. Besides, as everyone knows, the Yankees are old, old, old.

Some other things to watch.

1) The Mussina factor. Mussina is long past the point of being one of the top three pitchers in the American League, as he was once upon a time. Still, he's got enough to dominate the Twins, as he has for all of his career--he's 20-4 lifetime against them. People are looking for the thus-far-pathetic Rondell White (.088) to break out this weekend, especially since he's 5 for 8 lifetime against Mussina. White may hit this weekend, but it won't happen tonight--Mussina's got some kind of curse cast on the whole franchise.

2) Los Bates del Fuego. It won't matter much if White doesn't hit, as long as everyone else continues to. Morneau and Hunter among the league leaders for RBIs? Castillo, Castro and Punto all hitting .300 or better? I'll take it. The team's batting average jumped from .225 to .267 during the sweep against the A's.

3) The Silent Assassin. For all the big names on the Yankees, the one I fear the most is Hideki Matsui. The guy had the quietest 116 RBI season ever last year, and he always, always, always gets a key go-ahead hit against Minnesota. If the local hurlers can keep him in check, they'll go a long way toward Minnesota coming out of this series with a .500 record or better.

As always, comments after the game and throughout the weekend are welcomed.

Posted by G.R. Anderson Jr. at April 14, 2006 5:33 PM | Comments (5)

 

The Vikings de-horned? Thankfully, no.

Filed under: Vikings

G.R. Anderson Jr. just sent me jpegs (from an anonymous tipster) of some Minnesota Vikings uniform prototypes: "The day they traded Culpepper, all the Viking people at Winter Park were trying to get the press to ask about the new uniforms, right? The purple pants? I have to say, those people were right! I can't wait to see those on Bryant McKinnie." Understanding that these aren't the final uniform designs, and probably not even the work of designers commissioned by the Vikes, the first infraction would be the loss of the horns on the helmet. Reducing these icons to silkscreened flair on the sleeves would be nothing short of sacrilege. A Vikings helmet without horns is like Samson without his hair, who I think went 7-9 after his trim. Contrary to the images found after the jump, Vikings Review blogger Mr. Weatherstone posted on March 29 that Vikings owner Zygi Wilf had announced the horns on the helmet would remain.

 

In an e-mail exchange with Anderson about these concepts, I had to tweak him with a friend's theory that new uniforms equal Super Bowl victories, citing the Broncos, Patriots, and Buccaneers as examples. Anderson, a nurturing mentor figure around the office, described me as "pathetically delusional" in regard to the Purple and Gold achieving such a feat. I concurred supernatural forces would have to be at work for the Vikings to break the Runestone curse.

And then I cried quietly in my office.

UPDATE: From vikings.com: Please join us on Thursday, April 27, as the Minnesota Vikings celebrate the unveiling of the team's new uniforms in the Rotunda at the Mall of America. Hosted by the radio voice of the Vikings, Paul Allen, the event will run from 6:00-6:30 p.m. with current Vikings players, including Matt Birk, Jim Kleinsasser, Mewelde Moore, Jermaine Wiggins, Kevin Williams, Pat Williams and Troy Williamson scheduled to showcase the new designs. Head Coach Brad Childress will address the crowd while alumni, including the first-ever Vikings draft choice Tommy Mason, as well as Joey Browner, Paul Krause, Jim Marshall and Randall McDaniel, plus Vikings cheerleaders and other representatives, will also take part in the event.

UPDATE: The new uniforms revealed on Thursday, April 27 aren't much of an improvement over these fan designs. What do you think?

 

Posted by Corey Anderson at April 14, 2006 12:23 PM | Comments (15)

 

Dear Tony Batista...

Filed under: Twins

Thank you for hitting that three-run homer last night. The Twins' 7-6 win was an all-around good effort by the entire lineup, but your hit above all saved the home opener.

And thanks for almost hitting another homer later in the game, a shot off the baggy that turned into a double. I'm constantly amazed that your goofy batting stance results in any power whatsoever. Please continue to prove me wrong.

Speaking of which, I'm sorry I said you were fat and suck at baseball. I wish I could say that was the pre-season anxiety talking, but really I was just trying to steel myself against what I thought was inevitable disappointment. Again, you proved me wrong last night. And having now Googled pictures of you, it's clear to me that you've had that same pear shape your whole career. So I'll be the bigger man (metaphorically speaking, of course) and admit that your big ass is just fine.

But Tony, I also want to mention that I saw you strike out in the fourth by swinging at a strike-three slider that a ten-foot bat couldn't have hit. Even if you had miraculously made contact, Tony, it never would have gone out of the park. And that's what you're here for, isn't it? I mean, you'll never turn a chopper to short into a hit, not with all that junk inside your trunk. So please, Tony, please stop swinging at that pitch, and please keep proving the naysayers wrong. I'm watching you, Tony.

Posted by Chuck Terhark at April 12, 2006 9:57 AM | Comments (6)

 

The Three-Pointer: Garbage Time, Indefinitely

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Flunking the tryout
What are we supposed to feel as we watch the Wolves go through the motions and get pounded--their 27th loss in the past 30 road games, and 14th in a row--versus Memphis tonight? Anger at the purposefully shoddy product being dumped on the court? Disappointment over how inept players who normally ride the pine are performing despite the supposed impetus of a chance to prove themselves? I'll choose apathy: I honestly don't know how many more treys I can put up, and wonder why you'd care. The Timberwolves have given up on this season--why should we keep going?

But since I did watch--taped the game so I saw it straight through--let me report that despite being held to 70-something points, Minnesota's defense looked worse than their offense. In order of relevance, here are the offending defenders:

Marcus Banks. Great speed, good in transition, inconsistent but occasionally sparkling at drive and pitch and half-court vision. But the guy takes plays off on defense and plays himself out of position on other plays with either a lack of knowledge on rotations or bad judgment about when to rotate and when to stay home. Tonight he looked horrible letting Chuckie Atkins just come down and bomb away freely (Atkins was 4-4 from long range in the first period alone). If Banks is your point guard of the future, why is he so horrible on defense? Isn't this supposed to be a time of learning? Well he isn't learning--if anything he's regressing.

Eddie Griffin. Speaking of regression, what is up with Eddie G? True, the guy was never particularly staunch on on-ball D, but he's been simply dreadful the past few games, as players have learned to go into him when driving the lane and taking away his shot-blocking prowess and forcing him to play with his body. And Eddie's body isn't ready to rumble in the paint. That's forgiveable--go bench iron in the off-season. But either Griffin is perpetually lost or he's simply stopped giving a shit. Yeah, he misses KG (don't we all!), but it is abundantly clear that his ticket in the NBA will be punched on the basis of his defense, and right now, unless he can get the block, he is a subpar defender. As I said in another trey, there is enough blame in this scenario for both Casey and Griffin, but the communication and the improvement are sorely lacking.

Rashad McCants. All this talk about the huge leap forward in McCants's defense is padded by a lot of wishful thinking. Yes, Rashad is much better than he was before, but that was when he wasn't much better than you or I out there--his D was a glaring liability even the most casual fan could detect. He's not that now--merely lousy. Is that good enough? Maybe if he could go off every game like he did Sunday against Atlanta, when he really showed off that superb sense of rhythm. Specifically I mean what he does with his feet--he'll execute a spin move in traffic and then stop on a dime and throw up a head fake, get his opponent(s) in the air and only then go up and draw the contact. The beauty of it is that he's usually only a few feet from the hoop because of the spin, giving him an excellent chance for a three point play. Another example of his advanced sense of rhythm in his hesitation hitch, both in his stride while maintaining his dribble and in his dribble while his stride accelerates. Either way it is tough for a defender to get a fix on him.

Which is why, to get back to my original point, his defensive lapses are more tolerable and more potentially injurious to the team. You don't want the scorer you need in the game to be a defensive liability, like Michael Redd, Paul Pierce or the younger Dirk Nowitzki. McCants has good hands and good anticipation, making him a threat for steals. But his on-ball D can flag if the dribbler is persistent, and he too is too prone to make bad decisions on when to help and when to stay home, when to fight the pick and when to switch. The aggravation, as with Banks and Griffin and most of the team tonight, is you don't get the sense that they care how they are defending, that it is just something to do in a half-assed fashion before you get the ball back and show people what you can *really* do. Put simply there is no investment in defense, and that is on Casey. If you are going to insult your fan base by benching your best player (Davis's absence quite frankly doesn't bother me) then the scrubs you do toss out there better be playing, to borrow a Casey phrase, like their pants are on fire. That's not happening.

Marko Jaric. Hard to say who is helping themselves less right now, Troy Hudson for proving that either his ankles or his heart are permanently flawed, or Jaric for demonstrating that he now defends inconsistently in addition to (appropriately) having no confidence in his shot.

A pair of vets. Trenton Hassell had an atypically subpar game on defense. Mark Blount no longer surprises with his spectator's approach to that end of the court (he should bring a folding chair into the paint).

2. Kudos to Justin Reed
You can tell the people who hustled because they stood out among the Wolves tonight. Mark Madsen, Ronnie Dupree and Bracey Wright all were engaged, if not exactly artful. But Justin Reed seems to have a clue about what this extended garbage time should be all about. He's being slightly more selfish with his shot, but not so much that you'd complain, especially without KG or Davis on the floor and especially since he's hitting that J with some regularity. More to the point, his defense hasn't taken a step back. Maybe it's because he hasn't played with Garnett quite as much as the others and hasn't grown accustomed to KG covering for him. But I suspect it has more to do with his attitude. Reed isn't going to take games off--a play or two, very very rarely, but that's about it. And he's sniffing a little job security right now, if not in Minnesota, somewhere else for a million a year or so. Because right now he is earning that kind of consideration with his effort at both ends of the court. Hell, it paid off for Mad Dog to the tune of more than 2 mil per for the next 3-4 years.

3. McCants also on the shelf?
The rook sprained his ankle coming down on his opponent after making a long jumper in the fourth quarter. If he can't go, the top five scorers on this team will be Banks, Reed, Blount, Hassell, and Wright: the three Boston dudes (two of whom don't defend), the erstwhile defensive specialist, and a kid fresh from the developmental league. I don't care how much you are "building for the future." That's an abomination.

Posted by Britt Robson at April 11, 2006 11:18 PM | Comments (29)

 

Foul tip: Bradke ball is back

Filed under: Twins

After a terrible opening week, the Twins need to notch a slew of victories at home between now and next Thursday. While we wait for the hometown nine to get their season back on track, some things to consider--worry about is more like it--going into tonight's Dome opener.

1) The return of Bradke ball. Brad Radke will start his ninth home opener tonight since 1996. He's gone 6-2 in his role as the team's opening ace, and Twins execs, coaches and players will tell you that's a testament to Radke's consistency. Perhaps, but Radke is also amazingly consistent in what I call Bradke ball: That is, giving up home runs early and often.

In his first start of the season last week in Toronto, Bradke proved to be in fine form, giving up two dingers in the first inning, spotting the Blue Jays three runs early. This season, I'll keep unofficial track of how often Radke gives up a homer in the first three innings. Smart money says he does it tonight.

Twins hurlers can bitch--legitimately--about lack of run production, but the ancillary truth is that they're great at giving up runs early, deflating the team and forcing batters to press at the plate.

2) How many black holes are there in the lineup? The most dispiriting part of the season thus far is not just lack of run production--though that's tough to take--but how clueless the Twins are at the plate. It's a full-blown regression to 2005, after a promising spring.

The Twins, with an anemic .225 team batting average, have been outscored 33-27 in this young season, and that includes the 13-run aberration in Toronto. But more vexing is a lack of grit at the plate and quality at-bats. Players like Luis Castillo (.250) and Rondell White (.091) were supposed to be tough and professional--working the count, fouling off pitches, generally looking competent at the plate--even if they produced outs rather than hits.

Instead, most of the team has defined the term "easy out," with the exception of Shannon Stewart (.360) and--gulp--Juan Castro (five hits in 14 at-bats). For instance, only two players have more than one walk. Joe Mauer, who's hitting a misleading .300, has failed to advance runners in scoring position with alarming regularity. And the much-touted rightfielder Jason Kubel has so far accrued one hit.

In short, the Twins, with a team on-base percentage of .270 (compared to .369 for opponents), appear to have no offense--not even of the small-ball variety--and only one regular line-up player, Stewart, who is a threat to get on base.

3. The Liriano factor. Scott Baker's performance in Cleveland on Saturday was admirably workmanlike. He pitched himself into, but then out of, a number of jams, and it's hardly his fault the Twins were blanked by journeyman pitcher Jason Johnson (53-86 lifetime, 4.86 ERA), a creampuff they've repeatedly defeated in the past. Baker looked like a decent enough choice as a fifth starter in what, on paper, is an impressive starting rotation.

But he was spelled by Francisco Liriano, and that alone was enough to make the Twins look foolish for adhering to the current rotation. Baker was hitting 93 mph on the gun periodically; Liriano's heat made Baker look like a slo-pitch softballer. The Twins have made Baker and Liriano nominal competitors for the fifth spot. But here's a solution: Let Baker stay, but move Kyle Lohse (15.43 ERA out of the gate!) to the bullpen. Or, better yet, see if anyone is silly enough to take Lohse and Lew Ford for a quality left-handed middle reliever, or--if Dennys Reyes proves himself in Rochester--a real bat.

It's too early to panic, especially since a team doesn't really reveal itself until a month or so into the season. Even so, it's obvious that for the Twins, who have the worst record in the American League, the time to rack up some quick victories begins tonight against a very tough Oakland team.

Posted by G.R. Anderson Jr. at April 11, 2006 12:23 PM | Comments (1)

 

In Defense of Pam Borton

Filed under: Gophers , Gophers , Gophers , Gophers

I don't know Pam Borton and I never played ball for her. All I know is what I saw and what I wrote in City Pages two years ago; a scenario of a tough coach and a tough player who found each other and who wanted the same thing:

"Last March 22, at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, California, the Gophers were down 28-27 at the half to Tulane in the opening game of the NCAA tournament. Uncharacteristically, [Lindsay] Whalen was held scoreless throughout the first half. As the teams came out for warm-ups before the second half, Whalen sidled up next to Borton, with whom she shares a certain steely purposefulness. The two women stood watching the other players, not talking to each other, for a minute. Two. Maybe three.

"All that silence left an observer wondering about what might have transpired between the pair at halftime, about how they get along, and about how Whalen has dealt with having had three coaches in three years--Borton, Littlejohn, and Brenda Oldfield, who left the Gophers for Maryland after the breakout season of 2001-2002. The answer, in part, came as the horn sounded for the second half. Without a word, a blank-faced Whalen wind-milled her arm and spanked Borton hard on the butt. Borton barely reacted. Neither said a word. Borton picked up her clipboard, Whalen roared at her teammates in the huddle, then went out and hit two three-pointers to open the half. She finished with 18 points, and the Gophers blew out Tulane, 68-48."

Jamie Broback was a freshman the next year. I saw her at practice and at games, and the distinct impression was of a talented, moon-faced farm girl who was in over her head. I had hoped she'd adjust to the rigors of Big 10 basketball, and she did for a while, but the obvious answer now is that she wasn't cut out for it. She wanted to be a kid. It looked to me like she was tired of basketball, and all the pressure.

Borton is class act. Rumor has it she has information about at least one of her former players that would cast this recent brouhaha in a different light, but she was recently quoted as saying, "this is not going to get ugly."

I coached my ten-year-old son in basketball this year. Near the end, I yelled at them, saying, "You guys are pathetic. You don't even play defense. You're PATHETIC." Some of them laughed at me, some got pissed and played defense. None of the parents complained.

Some of the Gophers' former players' parents have been quoted as saying their little girls didn't get enough playing time or that Borton called them "selfish."

I wonder what Whalen would have to say about that?

Actually, when it comes to jock-quotes, Whalen is as garden-variety as they come; she's a show-don't-tell artist who prefaces everything with, "Obviously...," so she likely wouldn't have much to say about the situation, other than that Borton's tough, demanding, and likes basketball played the right way: With rhythm and five-as-one.

Like I said, I don't know Pam Borton, or why the team tanked this year. All I know is that I'd love to have my son or daughter play basketball for her, and if they ever came crying to me (hello, Kris Humphries' father) about playing time or how "abrasive" the coach is, I'd tell them to shut up and pass the ball and play defense and get their degree.

Posted by Jim Walsh at April 9, 2006 8:19 AM | Comments (12)

 

The Three-Pointer: Risky Business

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Garnett on the pine
The 4th quarter chants of "K-G! K-G!" from confused and inpatient fans were louder than the boos and screams directed at Wolves coach Dwane Casey tonight. But don't expect that to last. Once the Target Center faithful learn that Casey is determined to give his superstar as well as Ricky Davis ample time on the bench for the rest of the season in order to hasten the development of his young players, they are either going to get ugly or apathetic. And right now it is hard to say which would be worse for this franchise.

First, the background. Garnett played the entire first and third quarters in tonight's tilt against Utah, during which time the Wolves outscored the Jazz, 53-51. KG sat the entire second and fourth periods, when Utah registered a 52-42 advantage over Minnesota en route to a 103-95 victory.

I could be very wrong--and I hope I am--but I think Casey is taking a huge risk with this maneuver. There are three other people--KG, owner Glen Taylor and personnel VP Kevin McHale, in that order--who have to be on board with this in order for it not to blow up in the coach's face. (And even then it could.) Garnett seemed subdued and a little embarrassed during his uncharacteristically early postgame interview in the locker room. To most of the questions, he replied, "You'll have to ask the coach."

In his own postgame remarks, Casey said that KG doesn't like the situation but understood what was going to happen before tonight's game and understands the need to develop the likes of Rashad McCants and Marcus Banks and Justin Reed. Asked if Taylor and McHale were likewise aware of the move, and presumably endorsing it, Casey nodded in the affirmative and said, "Yes, I'm developing players, which is what they want. This is the charge I've been given; to improve McCants and to improve Marcus Banks." Well, that's not exactly a response that guarantees either Taylor or McHale were in the loop on this idea. Taylor was courtside and doubtlessly heard the KG! chants and the boos and the anger. McHale was nowhere to be seen. "At this time next year, our fans should be thanking us," Casey said, explaining that if you really want these guys to develop, getting them extensive time in game situations is the only way to do it.

I asked Casey two questions. One was, given how much pride KG takes in being regarded as an all-out gamer who always gives his all to help his team win, is he going to be comfortable with this arrangement for the rest of the season? Casey essentially said yes, he won't like it, but he understands why it needs to be done. I'm not so sure. I think if the fans erupt with enough passion, and rightfully bitch that they paid $40, $150, $200, whatever, to see a game and the Wolves only play their superstar for part of it, Taylor and KG will start to backtrack, and Casey will be left with egg on his face.

I liked Casey's answer to my second question much better. The query was, How is playing without KG preparing these young players to be Timberwolves? After all, isn't the most important thing they can learn is how to play *with* Garnett? Casey replied that it is true, that it is almost like two separate scenarios, and he specifically mentioned how Garnett is often triple teamed and how that affects room to manuver and spacing. But he said he wanted to see how his young guys fared when Garnett wasn't sucking up the opposing defenses, and also when these guys couldn't rely on Garnett to bail them out. He specifically cited McCants's ability to drive to the hoop in heavy traffic as something he was interested in witnessing with Garnett out in tonight's fourth period. He added that exhibition games and garbage time don't provide the same stiff level of competition.

My take is, Coach Casey, you better hope that Taylor and Garnett have your back (I'm not sure McHale does, but he matters least of the three), because a united front is required to weather the fans' reaction. Personally, I do think it is a good thing to see how Banks and McCants in particular fare without their superstar around, although I wouldn't do it as often as Casey seems prepared to experiment. Tonight the coach said he might not follow the same pattern--one quarter on, one quarter off--but that 24 minutes was "probably the limit" he would play Garnett from here on out.

Why is this a risk? Because, sure, I can agree with Casey that this is a great way to accelerate the learning curve; but neither one of us is shelling out major money for those tickets. Tonight the Wolves were outrebounded 18-6 in the 4th quarter, including 9-4 on the Wolves defensive glass (that's right--the Jazz grabbed 9 offensive boards in the 4th quarter alone) with Garnett and Mark Blount out and Eddie Griffin getting all 12 minutes. What happens a week from Sunday versus San Antonio? Will it be a slaughter or just really extended garbage time as the Spurs clear their bench as well? What happens if and when the fans revolt? Will a chastened Garnett demand to play? Will Taylor, who seems to be no great fan of Casey's anyway, hang him out to dry on this move? I did ask Casey a third question, which was what are the risks for him in all this. And he said, in so many words, there are always going to be risks but this is what he feels he needs to do to improve the team for next year.

2.Eddie Griffin's step backward
By most any yardstick one wants to use, Eddie Griffin has experienced a disappointing season, and I think there is plenty of blame to go around. Casey certainly gets some because he didn't think Eddie was better than Michael Olowokandi and he didn't seem to value what Eddie gave this team defensively after preaching at the onset of the season that he wanted to stress defense.

But what I haven't heard from anybody--and as a chronic defender of Griffin, I've been waiting--is harsh criticism directed at EG himself. It's been too easy to say, "Oh, it's his eyes that are the problem; well let's get his eyes fixed and see what happens next year." Now some of you properly wonder why Griffin didn't take it upon himself to address the eye problem during the off-season. But I'm also wondering exactly how important razor-sharp eyesight is anyway. Okay, maybe for shooting, but points were always a bonus with Griffin anyway. What I'm looking for is his presence in the paint, in terms of blocks, man-defense and defensive rotations.

Are Griffin's eyes appreciably worse now then when he had his breakout game after cracking the starting lineup earlier this season?
Because for whatever reason, he got manhandled in the paint but most everyone he matched up with--Jarron Collins, Carlos Boozer, and Mehmet Okur. It seems to me that lapses in concentration have hurt Griffin a lot more than fuzzy vision this year. He remains a marvelous help defender and a disruptive shot blocker par excellence, with exquisite timing--he blocked three more shots tonight. But it seems as if that skill would also require keen vision, for depth perception if nothing else. Bottom line, this has been a fitful season for Eddie Griffin and everyone in the organization, including EG, needs to feel hang-doggish about it. Because a quality defender in the paint is one of the huge needs on this team. And if Griffin is going to get tossed in the development pool to sink or swim alongside Banks, McCants, and Reed for the rest of the year, that's a good thing. And it should have happened sooner, and with the same care and dedication accorded him in practice that Banks has been getting.

3. A couple of gamers
In addition to McCants's strong moves to the hoop (the rook had 6 FTs in the 4th period), the other player Casey could cite to justify his crash development course was Justin Reed, who erupted for 18 points in 17:48 of playing time tonight, despite being saddled with five fouls. If nothing else, it was a marvelous audition for Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, who loves players who have a nonstop motor and flirt with dirty--call it gritty--play at both ends of the court. If the Wolves let Reed slip between their fingers because they need every penny spent on an upgrade at point guard or center, it wouldn't surprise me to see Sloan snap up Reed.

The other gamer who deserves high praise is Trenton Hassell. It is an honorable axiom of most coaches that a players doesn't lose his position due to injury unless the circumstances are extraordinary. Hassell lost his spot in the starting lineup to hasten McCants's development, while the frequently selfish Ricky Davis (of whom it can be said that he *doesn't* do all the little things) logged his usual 40+ minutes until tonight. But there Hassell was versus the Jazz, out there with the scrubs, providing ballast and leadership, hitting four of six shots, grabbing four boards, two assists, a steal and a whopping three blocks while spending copious time guarding center/forward Okur in the second quarter and the bruising Matt Harpring (who tortured McCants in the low block the way a cat tortures a wounded fly) much of the rest of the time. He's a true professional.

Posted by Britt Robson at April 8, 2006 12:13 AM | Comments (21)

 

The 9-hole

Filed under: MLB

Anyone wondering why the Cleveland Indians are going to blow up this year should note that their ninth batter--Casey Blake--just hit a grand slam against Kyle Lohse. Meanwhile, the Twins' nine-man is Juan Castro. That just about sums it up.

Posted by Chuck Terhark at April 7, 2006 3:56 PM | Comments (1)

 

Foul tip: playing the Canada card

In this morning's Strib, Twins beat writer LaVelle E. Neal notes that Justin Morneau went 1-12 in Toronto, "fueling the club's belief that he tries too hard... when in his native Canada." Ex-Jay Shannon Stewart, on the other hand, went 7-13 with a double and two home runs. Does this mean Stewart is trying too hard when in his native United States?

Posted by Steve Perry at April 7, 2006 11:55 AM | Comments (0)

 

The 2006 Minnesota Vikings Schedule

Filed under: Vikings

The National Football League released their schedule today. The Vikings season is as follows:

PRESEASON
Week 1 Oakland 8:00 p.m. (ESPN)
Week 2 @ Pittsburgh
Week 3 Baltimore
Week 4 @ Dallas

SEASON
Sep 11 @ Washington 7:00pm
Sep 17 Carolina 1:00pm
Sep 24 Chicago 1:00pm
Oct 1 @ Buffalo 1:00pm
Oct 8 Detroit 1:00pm
Week 6 BYE
Oct 22 @ Seattle 4:15pm
Oct 30 New England 8:30pm
Nov 5 @ San Francisco 4:05pm
Nov 12 Green Bay 1:00pm
Nov 19 @ Miami 1:00pm
Nov 26 Arizona 1:00pm
Dec 3 @ Chicago 1:00pm
Dec 10 @ Detroit 1:00pm
Dec 17 N.Y. Jets 1:00pm
Dec 21 @ Green Bay 8:00pm
Dec 31 St. Louis 1:00pm

I'm guessing 9-7... how about you?

Posted by Corey Anderson at April 6, 2006 1:09 PM | Comments (4)

 

Twins '06: Is the future still now?

Filed under: Twins

THE LINEUP

Shannon Stewart, LF: Like his new teammate Rondell White, he's a pretty good player on the downhill side of a career marked by extraordinary physical wear and tear. Stewart's 32 now, and last year he dropped 60 points apiece from his on-base (.380-.323) and slugging (.447-.388) percentages. He hasn't played a whole season without injury since 2001. Likable as he is, odds are he'll be below league average as a left fielder and a leadoff hitter.

Luis Castillo, 2B: The signing of Castillo says everything you need to know about the kinds of upgrades the Twins were content to make last winter. He's an improvement over Luis Rivas because a) once you get past A ball, there aren't a lot of second basemen who could contribute less than Rivas, and b) Castillo has posted on-base percentages of .373 and .391 the past two years, including 65+ walks. He'll need all the free passes he can coax, because the rug at the Dome is going to eat a lot of those infield singles he dropped on the grass in Miami. It'll probably be a moral victory if he manages to get on base at a .350 clip--and that's not much for a guy who does so little else with a bat.

Joe Mauer, C: No problems here, if he proves as durable as he looked last year. Apart from Victor Martinez, Mauer's got the highest offensive ceiling of any catcher in the American League.

Rondell White, DH: Twelve years and dozens of DL visits ago, White was one of the more exciting young hitters in the National League. He's played a full season exactly once in his major league career. He can still hit some when he's not on the shelf, but chances are he'll do about what Matt LeCroy would have done, and manage to break a bone or two in the process.

Torii Hunter, CF: If the Twins are mired in the middle of the AL Central pack come June, look for Hunter to get more than his share of the blame. Too bad. Torii Hunter isn't the Twins' problem. A championship-caliber team can certainly get by with a centerfielder who scores 70 runs, drives in 80, and brings his kind of glove. But Torii Hunter isn't the solution, either--he's not the offensive mainstay that fans and the front office think he is. That's not his fault. It's the lack of punch at the corner outfield spots, where defensively challenged sluggers typically graze, that hurts them.

Justin Morneau, 1B: Scouts and statheads alike have agreed from the start that Morneau will rake someday, to the tune of 35+ HR a year. The question is, when? Power prospects like Morneau occasionally take a long time to develop; Derrek Lee finally had his breakout year at the age of 29. It's hard to know what Morneau's 2005 portends, seeing as how he was both ill and injured the previous winter. He could contend for a home run title this year, or in 2009, or never.

Tony Batista, 3B: Meh. I think the Baseball Prospectus guys were right about him--he could hit 30 home runs and still be barely useful due to all the outs he makes.

Jason Kubel, RF: Back from a bad injury, he could be a pleasant surprise, or not. Same with Cuddyer. But either guy would have to overachieve to give the team a league-average amount of production from right field, most likely.

Juan Castro, SS: The kind of shortstop who prevents runs with his glove and more especially with his bat, a real dime-a-dozen character. For this they sent Jason Bartlett back to the sticks?

--Steve Perry

THE ROTATION

Johan Santana: By consensus the best pitcher in baseball, just 27 years old, with three complementary "out" pitches--plus-fastball, nasty slider, and a devastating changeup made all the more effective by the first two. Even with a traditional slow start in the spring, he'd be a threat to win 30 games on the Yankees.

Brad Radke: A third or fourth starter in all but name--seniority has its privileges--Radke has won 15 games or more twice in 11 years (though never during the Twins' three-year run of division titles) and sports a career ERA of 4.22. He does have impeccable control and eats innings, but at age 34, the paucity of walks is a much safer bet than the surfeit of innings.

Carlos Silva: The best argument for Castro at short is Silva on the mound. A smart pitcher with phenomenal location (one unintentional BB every three games!) and an effective sinker, he has hurled with Maddux-like efficiency--latter-day Maddux, but still--when healthy the past two years. Given his weight, the knee is a concern, but who would you rather have: Silva or Eric Milton? Kudos Terry Ryan.

Kyle Lohse: Not a smart pitcher, not a consistent pitcher, and not one to keep the ball down, it is a real mystery why the Twins agreed to go to arbitration with Lohse again this off-season--and why they haven't dealt him since losing at arbitration and overpaying his ass.

Scott Baker: Looks to be a classic-mold Twinkie: Effectively works up and down and in and out with stuff a titch above mediocrity. Which is none too shabby for a fifth starter with room to grow.

Francisco Liriano, long relief, SP in waiting: Remember three years ago, when everyone in the world knew that Santana should be starting but the Twins inexplicably kept him in the pen? How long they repeat this idiocy will depend on how soon Silva is injured, Lohse blows up, or Baker can't handle extended viewing by major league hitters. But with a blistering fastball and a nasty changeup from the left side, there is no time like the present for Liriano to start if the Twins have any hope of competing with the Tribe and Pale Hose.

Joe Nathan, closer: It seems like his rising heater is an invitation to gopher balls, but you can't argue with the results the past two seasons. More dominant than Reardon, Aggie, or Everyday Eddie, Nathan was the first dividend from Ryan's greatest personnel coup, the trade with SF that brought him along with Liriano and prospect Boof Bonser for AJ Pierzynski.

Juan Rincon, set-up: Beware of hurlers with elbow troubles and a history of steroid suspension, but Rincon looked superb last night versus Toronto, and, if capable without chemicals, has better overall stuff than Jesse Crain, who is temporarily getting the 8th inning while Rincon works the 7th.

Jesse Crain, set-up: A dozen wins and a 2.71 ERA for your secondary set-up man is a boon to any team, and it indicates how good Crain at dousing rallies with men on base last year. Good fastball and slider, but now that Romero is gone and Liriano is (hopefully) headed to the rotation soon, can he consistently get lefties out?

--Britt Robson

THE BOTTOM LINE

Where they'll finish:

2nd, behind the Indians, who are poised to return to their mid-'90s form. The Twins still have the best pitchers in baseball--better than last year, even--but their offensive upgrades aren't enough to compete for the division or even the wild card (that'll go to Boston or New York, as usual). Oh yeah, and the White Sox are a bunch of clowns. (Chuck Terhark)

3rd, behind the White Sox and Indians. The trouble with the Twins is that their offense stands to be middling even if all the question marks get settled in their favor. That leaves pitching, and once you get past Santana you've got a good but not great staff featuring three or four bottom-of-the-rotation types and a pair of youngsters who may or may not arrive this year. (Perry)

3rd. The Indians and White Sox (in that order of finish ahead of them) both hit better and pitch nearly as well. (Robson)

2nd, barely. The Twinks will also win the wild card, where they could spoil into October. Cleveland and Chicago's bullpens are a full grade below that of the Twins. Besides, the current Twins batting order, flawed as it is, carries more WTF potential than anything Minnesota has seen since 1988. (G.R. Anderson Jr.)

Who to watch:

Joe Mauer: Assuming our Canadian man-child of a first baseman underperforms again, Mauer is the Twins' only non-pitcher with All-Star potential. Shannon Stewart: Any hope the Twins have this year depends on the left fielder rediscovering his power (and as of this writing, it looks like he has). Francisco Liriano: Duh. If he escapes the bullpen he'll be Minnesota's first Rookie of the Year since Marty Cordova. (Terhark)

Justin Morneau, because another season as underwhelming as his 2005 would go a long way toward making a mediocre offense downright bad; Scott Baker and Francisco Liriano, because the team's chances of dominating in any facet of the game are riding on their good health and strong performance; and the right-field tandem of Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel, because a team already staring at one or two offensive black holes in the lineup (shortstop, third base) can't afford another. (Perry)

Lohse and Liriano (a change has gotta come); Morneau and Mauer (best hope for an upgrade). (Robson)

Whoever's in right field. Also, Jason Bartlett is the franchise shortstop, and, mark my words, Terry Tiffee will replace Batista, for the better, at the hot corner by the All-Star break. Finally, it's worth waiting to see if Ruben Sierra can get healthy and spell Morneau at first when the kid--who could be great, someday if not soon--has his inevitable meltdown. Injury or no, I still think signing Sierra is the best off-season move Terry Ryan made on the cheap. (Anderson)

They could win the division if:

I can eat a dozen Dome Dogs before the seventh inning stretch of the home opener. Failing that, the Twins need their young players to step up big-time. When Bartlett and Kubel have jobs, the team's depth becomes playoff-quality, and with either Baker or Liriano in the rotation they stand to allow the fewest runs in the bigs. Starting both rookies might be too risky, but doing so and trading Lohse while his value is high (he had the best spring of any pitcher in the league) could bring a valuable third baseman, which would send the team's post-season potential through the roof. (Terhark)

a) the White Sox and Cleveland's team charters collide in mid-air, or b) Terry Ryan finds the will and the means to deal a couple of his only-adequate starting pitchers--or one of them plus either Baker or Liriano--for upgrades to the offense. An impact hitter at third base or one of the corner outfield spots would look mighty nice about now, as would a shortstop who could hit a lick. The latter's not as rare a commodity as it used to be, though you'd never know it by examining a Twins roster of recent vintage. (Perry)

all of their pitchers throw well, or both Baker and Liriano establish themselves alongside Santana, Silva and Radke as the best rotation in the American League. (Robson)

the planets align, which only happens in Trip Shakespeare songs. That said, a lot can come together if Hunter starts clearing the bases, Bradke gets off the early-inning home run curse, and Jesse Crain becomes comfortable as Joe Nathan's set-up man. It's ridiculous to put Scott Baker in the rotation instead of Francisco Liriano--bundling Michael Cuddyer or Lew Ford with a prospect for a lefty in the bullpen would take care of two problems. Which brings us to a lack-of-depth issue: Cuddyer's got better offensive skills, but only Ford can replace an aching Hunter in center on this team. And there is no real backup at first base. An injury-free season--unlikely for any team--is required. (Anderson)

Posted by Steve Perry at April 5, 2006 3:23 PM | Comments (1)

 

The Three-Pointer: A dozen down in a row on the road

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Perfect timing
I want to thank the Wolves for making me look smart tonight, tossing away another game to a dreadful opponent on the same evening as my piece highlighting the prevailing dysfunction surrounding Kevin Garnett appears online (it hits the street tomorrow). The theme is that Kevin McHale has revamped the roster with players who are incompatible with the superstar. Well, in tonight's 92-97 loss to Charlotte, KG had 24 points, 22 rebounds, four assists, three steals and one turnover. In other words, he had nearly a quarter of their points and nearly half the team's 46 boards and 7 steals--and one/23rd of their turnovers.

Charlotte starts a backcourt that averages six feet tall--5-11 Brandon Knight and 6-1 Raymond Felton. The pint-sized duo thumbed their noses at the Wolves, scoring 41 points and ringing up 16 assists. Meanwhile, Mike Carroll was the latest no-name player that Ricky Davis's pretend-defense turned into a temporary stud. Carroll had 14 points in the first half.

Charlotte has the worst shooting percentage in the entire NBA. Their best player, last year's rookie of year, Emmet Okefor (whose name I just butchered, I'm pretty sure), has been out since December. They have also lost first-round draft pick Sean May for the year. They are without question one of the five worst teams in the NBA this year. The Wolves were up six with less than six minutes to play. Did anybody think they would win? Minnesota's last vic on the road was in January.

2.Hassell, McCants and Banks should get the minutes
Wolves color man Jim Peterson had a pretty good night, the vivid reality freeing him from any constraints to be too much of a homer for his squad. I wholeheartedly agree with his contention that Trenton Hassell should be slotted alongside Rashad McCants in the starting lineup, with Davis coming off the bench for instant offense. Why? Because you need to keep developing McCants as quickly as possible to provide any hope at all for the poor season ticket holders and the even poorer people who will try and get them to renew next year. Because playing Ricky Davis heavy minutes while Trenton Hassell sits on the bench makes a mockery of any words Dwane Casey speaks about the importance of defense. Davis is getting worse on defense, and by that I mean he is not trying to play defense. C'mon, Charlotte comes within three points of a hundred? Hassell even had a better game on offense than Davis tonight, despite blowing two crucial foul shots in crunch time.

But I do not agree with Peterson's continually harsh view of Marcus Banks are a viable point guard. Banks is better at the point right now than the three others on the roster--Jaric/Hudson/Carter. Pete mentions going out and getting someone like Toronto's Mike James. Great, except that will likely eat all of your midlevel exception, and this team's biggest need, in my opinion, is a decent big man, a banger who can score a little and take the pressure off KG in more ways than one. For the past two years, by far this team's most productive lineup has been when they go small. Garnett hates it but mostly endures it. Just once before KG slips well past his prime, it would be nice to see him not have to be the primary banger on this squad, but to be the Dr. J. to someone else's Moses Malone. Instead, Garnett is always Dr. Malone, Moses Erving. Keep Banks, for as little as possible. Get a big man.

3. A quick little kudo to Justin Reed
The past three or four games, the Wolves gritty 'tweener has put on the jets and sped to the hole for a layup at least once. He is, incredibly enough, sneaky-explosive. The rest of the time, he's all sweat equity. But the dude has a nice little baseline jumper, and isn't afraid to mix it up. He'll never hit what amounts to the jackpot in this league, but if there are enough smart GMs around, he should pick up CEO money in the real world--$600,000-$1M--every season from now until 2011 or so.

Posted by Britt Robson at April 4, 2006 11:43 PM | Comments (22)

 

Twins in '06: Callin' it

Filed under: Twins

The 2006 baseball season is officially underway, which I suppose means it's finally time to stretch our legs, wipe the crust from our eyes, and take stock of the situation here in Minnesota. It's also time to make the predictions that will invariably embarrass us in September. But first, an off-season round-up.

After a miserable 2005 season that resulted in just 83 wins and a third-place divisional finish behind Chicago and Cleveland, Minnesota kept their pitching strong and made a modest offensive upgrade. They lost Matt LeCroy, Luis Rivas, Jacque Jones, J.C. Romero, Terry Mulholland, and third base coach extraordinaire Al Newman, while adding former all-stars Luis Castillo (2B) and Tony Batista (3B), the latter of whom, it has been widely reported, is fat and sucks at baseball but really likes Jesus. They also added Detroit's Ron "DL" White, a move I like because he was cheap and as DH should produce some the best numbers of his career, as well as veteran Ruben Sierra, perpetrator of the heartbreaking three-run jack that cost the Twins their season in 2004 but is nonetheless a sub-par offensive boost. They also called up pitchers Scott Baker (the new fifth man), Francisco Loriano (the bullpen's new ace-in-training) and reliever Willie Eyre. In the last week of spring training, Ron Gardenhire decided send shortstop Jason Bartlett back to the minors after hitting .382 this spring, opting instead for veteran defensive-specialist Juan Castro, a banjo-hitter if ever there was one. Ronny told Bartlett he needed to learn leadership skills; two days later Bartlett led the Triple-A Rochester Redwings to a 15-3 ass-kicking over their big-league counterparts, going 4-for-5 with a homer in the Twins' final exhibition game. With that embarrassment behind them, the Twins will open their season tonight at Toronto, with former Cy Young winners Johan Santana and Roy Halladay squaring off.

So how does 2006 look for our Twins? According to PECOTA--a computer program developed by the thick-lens'ed savants over at Baseball Prospectus (essentially the Deep Blue of baseball analysis)--the Twins will win 84 games, good for second in a tight Central Division race behind the Indians, with the Tigers, White Sox, and Royals bringing up the rear. The flesh-and-blood faction of the baseball world disagrees with that dig at the World Champs, however, having almost unanimously declared Chicago the winner of at least 90 games, with the Twins taking third behind Cleveland with a flaccid Wild Card hunt in September.

The Sox's rout of Cleveland on Sunday's rainy opener certainly bodes well for the grey matter side of this debate, but in the end I'm with PECOTA. The Sox don't have the bullpen to win that many games. The Twins do, but they lack the punch of Sox batters (especially if Jim Thome stays healthy). The Tribe has better balance, although you couldn't tell watching their pitchers on Sunday. And don't forget the Tigers. They've got a great new manager in Jim Leyland and could be the sleeper hit of the central this year. Whatever happens, the division is better now than it's been in years, and it's going to be great to watch how it unfolds.

My call: The Twins will win 86 games, finish second behind Cleveland and fail to reach the playoffs after a Wild Card chase that includes Chicago and the Yankees. New York will go to the ALCS and lose to the A's, who will win the World Series.

Posted by Chuck Terhark at April 4, 2006 12:37 PM | Comments (3)

 

Three up, three down: Twins preview

Filed under: Twins

Remember this time last year when everyone was falling all over themselves predicting a World Series trip for the beloved Twinkies? Safe to say it's been a long year since then.

Though it's always good to be regarded as underdogs, this year the Twins aren't even on anybody's radar, really. While most of the attention in the American League has rightly been on the Angels, White Sox and A's--and wrongly been on the Yankees and Red Sox--Minnesota has been scoffed at for a lame off-season of pick ups, if the team has been mentioned at all.

But this team deserves better than that, even though opening in Toronto tonight against what may actually be the best team in the AL isn't likely to change any pundit minds out of the gate.

(The season preview in Sports Illustrated must have been especially painful for Terry Ryan to read; Peter King's piece centered around Luis Castillo's "aching left knee and surgically repaired left hip." "So this is supposed to be the new spark plug of the Twins?" King wondered.)

But the Twins may ultimately surprise, as Murray Chass of the New York Times pointed out on Sunday, becoming the only person on planet Earth to give the Twins a shot at winning the AL Central: "Forget the White Sox," Chass wrote. "They are last year's news. They will be lucky to make it out of the division."

Strong words to be sure, but Chass then goes on to quote Mark Shapiro, general manager of the Indians, of all people: "The most overlooked team in the majors is Minnesota."

Well, we'll see. "It's a long season" is a cliche for a reason. Even so, here are three early signs to look for in tonight's game.

1) Santana's fastball. That is, is he throwing it? Nobody disputes Johan's talent, and he is widely viewed as the best lefty in baseball. Still, Santana has a tendency to get too cute out of the gate, relying far too much on his devastating change-up in early innings. He especially seems to do this early in the season, and when he got in trouble last year, it was because he wasn't attacking hitters with his fastball.

Perhaps he's keeping something in reserve, but Santana needs to remember that his change-up is only devastating if it comes on the heels of one of his nasty little pills. The coaching staff, apparently, has noticed this in spring training, and has been leaning on Santanta to bring the heat already.

2) Hunter's leadership. It was quite a roller coaster for the face of the franchise last year: Coming out to USA Today with terrible tales of his drug-addled father's life, showing early leadership through aggressive base-running and his usual defensive prowess, and watching his season crumble due to a broken ankle before taking all his frustration out on poor little Justin Morneau.

In this space last summer, I made a case that Torii should be given a spot on the All-Star team, just because he seemed like he matured enough to be in that stable of elite players, sort of like Kevin Garnett has in the NBA. But the truth of the matter is that Hunter's production hasn't backed up that notion--injury or no--and this year he's got to walk the walk. A bad sign has already arisen this year, with Hunter in full-whine mode, bitching about the players who went to play in the WBC, then lamenting outloud (again) that he won't be here next season, a la Dougie Baseball.

But it's time for Hunter to put up and shut up. No less an authority than Jack Morris has said that this is the year that Hunter needs to show that he's a "true leader," and Morris specifically talked about a return to the 25-home run, 100-RBI form.

3) Left side of the infield. The worst-kept secret coming out of spring training is that Tony Batista is essentially a turtle at third base. The Twins are banking that his erratic power at the plate will make up for his significant shortcomings in the field. But here's something else to consider: If Batista doesn't produce at the plate, he's essentially costing the Twins two bats. The reason? Juan Castro and/or Nick Punto were given the nod over Jason Bartlett at short, mostly because it's believed they can cover the ground that Batista can't.

As much as I like Castro's mitt and Punto's grit, I have a hard time believing either is worth more in the lineup than Bartlett. Bartlett is a pure swinger, and has put on what appears to be 10 pounds of upper-body strength in the off-season. The coaching staff thinks he's a liability in the field, but I don't think it's any problem that a little playing time can't fix. To me, Bartlett has the potential to be a mini-Jeter--but we won't see that tonight. If the Blue Jays start slapping Santana around early, see how much Castro or Punto's gloves--and Batista's bat--really mean to the Twins.

And, hey, it's not a great day, but it's a good day, because it's Opening Day. Comments and impressions after the game are welcomed.

Posted by G.R. Anderson Jr. at April 4, 2006 11:41 AM | Comments (5)

 

The Three-Pointer: Lesser Warriors

Filed under: Timberwolves

Thanks for your patience, folks. I'm been off cogitating on the fallout from KG's remarks last Sunday, for a story that will be on the cover of Wednesday's paper, and probably up online Monday or Tuesday.

1. Good enough to screw themselves?
The Wolves finally played a team even lousier and more determined to lose in crunchtime than they are. Despite a few boneheaded plays down the stretch--Ricky Davis's pass to an out-of-bounds Marcus Banks and Banks's dish to a driving Justin Reed just as the 24-second clock was expiring stand out--they pulled it out in OT, 106-104 over the Warriors, thus moving ahead of Golden State in the standings.

Yup, Minnesota now has the 10th worst record in the NBA, and can't leapfrog any more teams if they want to keep their first-round pick rather than ship it to the Clips. The, ah, bad news is that they catch a break in the schedule over the last nine games, playing Atlanta twice, Charlotte once, a Memphis team that doesn't want to move up from its sixth seed twice, Utah at home, and Houston. Only the Spurs game at home and Indiana on the road look like certain losses (although San Antonio may have already wrapped up the number one seed in the West by then) and if the team goes 4-3 in the other seven, those 35 wins will almost certain cost them the pick. Right now they are one game behind Houston and two behind Chicago, both of whom have tougher schedules.

2. Looking on the bright side
I've been ripping this team so long--and will again, in point 3--that I think it is only proper to point out that they've won 3 out of 4 and have some positives that should be duly noted. First, Mark Blount has been hotter with his jumper, and more active once, in that first Boston reunion game right after the trade, but today's game still ranks as perhaps his best non-shooting performance since coming to the Wolves. He pulled down a dozen boards (including five on the offensive glass) and had three steals and a pair of blocks. The five turnovers look ugly, but at least two and probably three were three-second calls, which I think stemmed from him actually trying to get position under the basket. In any case, he played like a big man, like a seven-footer. Minnesota outscored the Warriors 48-38 in the paint and his 39:27 on the court had something to do with that.

The distribution of shots among the five starters was remarkably even. I'm not sure that's a great thing--if KG isn't leading this team in either shot-attempts or assists by a fairly significant margin, something is askew--but when I asked the coach he seemed to like it and the team got 106 points in 53 minutes which is 96 per 48, which ain't bad offense. Anyway, I noticed at halftime that Davis had 9 attempts, KG 8 and Blount-Banks-McCants all had 7. They finished with Banks leading Minnesota with 17 attempts, Blount and Davis had 16, and KG and McCants had 14.

Rather than being a ball hog, Banks actually should have called his number on penetration a little more often, as he obviously was too quick for Derek Fisher and the Warriors's interior D simply isn't very snug or gritty. Best of all, Banks held to Casey's dictum of pushing the ball, leading the team to a 22-7 advantage in fast break points, with a team-high 7 assists to go with his 24 points on 10-17 from the field.

That vibe between KG and Rashad McCants is growing stronger with the rook's inclusion into the starting lineup. (Indeed, the 44:32 McCants logged is almost certainly a career high.) KG had three dimes for the game and all went to McCants. In addition, McCants actively seeks out touches for KG much more often than the three ex-Celtic starters, something that Flip Saunders used to preach rather harshly in the past. When I asked him about it after the game, McCants essentially gushed about Garnett's passing ability and explained that if you get KG the rock, he'll get it back to you in better shape than you had it before. The rook's appreciation of this essential truth will help him enormously next year and beyond. I wish it would rub off on a few other folks but we're keeping this portion of the trey positive. so let's end on the image of the seven-foot superstar with the $20 million contract diving on the floor in an effort to save the ball for his team with 1.7 seconds left in OT and the Wolves up 2. Casey called it "the most impressive play of the game" but my unabashed admiration for Garnett includes an expectation that I'll see that kind of effort from him every time out.

3. My Ricky Davis problem
Ricky Davis has the quickness to defend people. Judging from the quality of his passes, he has the basketball intelligence and court vision to be a good anticipator and tactician on defense, cutting off angles and learning opponents' tendencies. But Ricky Davis is a lazy defender, one who likes to gamble on the flashy steal if he bothers to kick it up a notch at all. Most of the time he is content to get beaten off the dribble and let somebody else help out, or simply hope that the man misses the open jumper he has allowed. It happened constantly against Golden State, first with Jason Richardson and then with Michael Pietrus.

Davis simply doesn't put forth the effort to play defense. It is insulting, and, because he averages well over 40 minutes per game, very damaging to his team. He often defends with his hands instead of his feet, rarely stay with his man very long either vertically or horizontally on the court--on penetration he'll assume a big man will be there to pick him up, a curious attitude, given how long he's had Blount as a teammate. When the opponent is using a pick, he usually allows himself to get picked or works under it and permits the shot. Off the perimeter dribble from side to side, same thing--he'll let another man take over after awhile. Sometimes that is what the defense calls for, for Davis does it more than anyone on the team. It is the kind of play that makes an ostensibly great team good, an ostensibly food team fair, and an ostensibly fair team poor. Yeah, Davis stripped J-Rich a couple of times when the Warrior was driving into traffic. But the amount of open jumpers Minnesota permitted today was unbelievable, especially in the 3rd quarter.

Unfortunately, just as KG's all-out hustle can be the example that buoys a team, Davis's dogging it can be contagious enough to sink a squad. There are certainly times when Blount and Banks pick up that scent and literally watch people blow past them, and, sadly, it happens with McCants occasionally as well. It was weird hearing Casey begin his post-game press conference in high praise of McCants's D on Mike Dunleavey, who shot just 2-13 from the field, but McCants affected maybe 3 or 4 of those 13. Almost the entire game, various Warriors were *wide open* and simply couldn't convert.

When I asked Casey if maybe his team got lucky with that cold shooting, he agreed, but then said there were only a handful of times, and those when the Wolves were playing zone, when Minnesota didn't contest the jumpers. Does he just assume we aren't paying attention, or is he so mentally upbeat for his squad that he has to wait for the tape to see how easily opponents can usually get what they want versus the Wolves? The Warriors did--they just couldn't execute it, or finish it, when they got it.

So here I am again wishing Casey would be more honest with us in his disapproval of his players, or at least not feed us what feels like a line of bullshit. But maybe some people just have a certain way of behaving that is in keeping with their character. From Day One Casey has proven to be a guy who wouldn't even think of ratting out his players, who doesn't bait officials, or bark back when Charles Barkley is calling his team into question, or bitch about anything when the heat is on. When owner Glen Taylor began to not so subtly rip his performance last week, Casey calmly said he was fair game for criticism, even as KG protested.

I have probably ripped Casey as much or more than anyone in the media this year. I am comfortable with every bit of it, and still think he has frequently been overmatched in his rookie season. And while I'm pretty sure that he doesn't read me very often, if at all, the tone and tenor of my questions can't be mistaken on many occasions.

Which is all to say that after the game as I was exiting the Target Center and it's raining pretty steadily outside, I hear someone yelling my name from about 20 yards away. I look over and at first just meet the eyes of some aluminum can collector by the curb about five yards away, who simply points toward a car in the street. Coach Casey's at a red light and he's got his window rolled down and he's asking me if I need a ride. I didn't, but I appreciated the gesture. And whatever I think of his coaching prowess, I've never waivered from my impression that as human being he is a man of class and dignity in ways that have as much to do with compassion and integrity as manners and social graces.

Posted by Britt Robson at April 2, 2006 11:37 PM | Comments (6)

 

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