November 2006

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The Three-Pointer: No Offense Taken

Filed under: Timberwolves

1) Messing with James
As the guy who wrote last week about Wolves coach Dwane Casey being on the hot seat, I understand his short-term priority of winning games now by any means necessary. And I understand that Mike James has lurched out of the gate bereft of the acute court vision, accurate jump shot, energetic defense, and overall mental toughness that Minnesota expected when they signed him this summer.

But let's get some perspective here: the deal was for four years, at a reported $23.5 million, and the Wolves have now played a grand total of 13 games with James at the point. To be waffling on such a significant investment after such a short amount of time makes no sense. As I mentioned in my last trey, James hasn't exactly enjoyed the sort of career that gives him sustenance when the coach starts diddling with his minutes. Until this year's training camp, he'd never really had a ballclub commit to him as anything more than a stopgap solution in the backcourt. And now, after a fitful start, he's got to be wondering if he'll become this year's version of Marko Jaric, hounded off the court by his own demons. One would assume it is Casey's job to ensure that doesn't happen. But playing a backcourt of Randy Foye and Troy Hudson in the 4th quarter against the Rockets certainly greases any self-doubts James must now be quietly but furiously tamping down in his psyche. Wolves analyst Jim Peterson and I don't always agree--I don't worship the water Mark Blount apparently walks on in Peterson's universe, for example--but his comments about the daftness of subbing Huddy for James when Foye also deservedly needs to grab large hunks of playing time were dead-on in my opinion.

Of course Casey could mount a strong defense for his action merely by playing a tape of last night's game. At least twice in the first quarter, Ricky Davis set James up in perfect shooting rhythm only to have the point guard, who finished near the top of the league in 3-point shooting percentage last year, clang the jumper. And forget about James providing a spark for others by breaking down the defense with penetration dribbles or executing the pick-and-roll with the sort of efficiency that ensure his teammate an open lane or space to shoot the J. And his defense, folks, is woefully inconsistent. Only Rafer Alston's cockeyed shooting eye (and the fact that Shane Battier was having a field day tying his shoes and calling his mom before burying three pointers from the corner on Ricky Davis) prevented him from being torched in the first half last night. According to popcornmachine.net, James was -11 in 24 minutes against the Rockets, while Foye and Huddy were +4 and +3 respectively. (Then again, James and Foye were never paired in the same backcourt, something that would seem to benefit both players.) So, yes, Casey has some justification for his action. But he also bears some responsibility for feeding the monster of James's uncertainty. And it is waaay too soon in James's four-year contract for that to be happening.

2) Youth must be served
Anyone who watches the Wolves already understands the energy boost that occurs when Foye and/or Craig Smith enter the game. What's only slightly less obvious is how intelligent both these rookies have been. I don't know what was more impressive last night, Foye taking it right to Yao Ming and lofting a teardrop over the Lego-headed Giant, or Foye dribbling hard to the corner and reversing the ball back Huddy for an open trey that he stroked. I still have doubts about Foye's ball-handling ability, but that doesn't prevent him from manning the two-guard position and making Ricky Davis a contender for 6th Man of the Year. Wolves stat guru Paul Swanson informs me that the Thrillanova from Villanova has shot 13-18 from the field, hit all five free throws, and tossed in 5 rebounds and 3 assists with his 34 points over the past three fourth quarters of action.

Smith's ascent into the NBA firmament is even more surprising. Everyone sees the gorgeous contrast between his kissably soft floater and rock-hard rebounding and defense down near the hoop. But even more exciting is the maturity of his game, his decision-making on defensive rotations and shot selection (after some gunner giddiness in his first couple of breakout games), and his sneaky jousting and clutching when contesting for position. And to top it off, both of these rooks run like banshees all 94 feet of the court. Isn't that what Casey preached as a team identity this season, the explosive "flow" offense in transition and waistband-tight defensive pressure. Smith may be undersized, but I don't see him flinching in the paint, even when Yao is the foe.

The question becomes, then, who sits? Well, Eddie Griffin is already a casualty and it is hard to limit Blount anymore than is already occurring. (I'll give Peterson this: Blount is physically and mentally giving his all to this club this season. And while he'll never be a quality rebounder or defender, he has upgraded those aspects of his game enough to warrant 20-28 minutes a game.) I suppose you could bump Kevin Garnett's time down to around 33 minutes, as Kevin McHale advised during his brief stint as coach. One of this blog's smart commenters proposed a Blount-Smith-KG front line, but that could work only against certain ballclubs and actaully goes against the NBA trend of forsaking size and spreading the hardwood with scampering athletes. And that means less minutes for the Hassell-Jaric tandem. I remain a Hassell defender. Shit, he held Tracy McGrady to 2-10 FG during their time together on the court, and his minutes have already been cut. (Time for my standard anti-Davis rant: Why are Hassell and James being deprived of playing time for poor performance while Davis, who was -9 last night and delivered yet another sorry-ass effort on defense, especially early in the game, is second only to Garnett in PT?) And Jaric, as he did even last year, continues to pile up impressive plus/minus figures because he does the important little things like clog lanes on defense, hustle in transition, set picks, and move the ball.

Bottom line, Smith probably isn't going to get more than 20-22 minutes a night right now unless Mark Madsen never rises from the bench to do anything but cheer (not that unpleasant an option, but in fairness to Mad Dog, he too has been effective in his mercifully short stints this year), KG is cut back to 33 minutes, and the surfeit of swingmen cough up an extra 5 or so minutes.

3) KG's typical excellence and other quick hits
Let's not overlook Garnett's superb game last night--9-15 FG, and 11 rebounds to go with his 25 points. The Rockets wisely deploy a jackrabbit power forward with a constant motor in Chuck Hayes to steal rebounds and beseige opponents necessarily focused on Yao, and KG did allow Hayes 11 boards and a few open looks for that reason. But by the same token, he didn't shirk from battling Yao in the paint on various defensive rotations and got a fair amount of his points down low as well. As his teammates continued to misfire, KG was a beacon of offensive consistency--the team's second-highest scorer, Randy Foye with 11, had only 2 heading into the 4th quarter.

The best reason for playing Hudson is how much Garnett seems to enjoy his presence on the court. KG is often giving Huddy encouragement and the two do have a rhythm on the high pick-and-roll some this season. All that said, there just isn't enough room for Hudson in this rotation.

You want the glass half-full? The Wolves gave two of the NBA's best teams all they could handle, managing tie scores deep into the 4th quarter in back-to-back games on the road. Half empty? They never held a lead in either game, and, aside from Foye, Garnett, and Smith, seemed to be the less aggressive as well as the less talented team in both contests.

Yes, Houston plays great Van Gundy defense, but the Wolves lack imagination and rhythm in their half-court offensive sets. Most of the time, it looks like they are freelancing, yet one of the few virtues of that, trips to the foul line from penetration, isn't happening. Overall, the margin of error is very thin: The club is 0-5 when shooting below 45%, and only 6-3 when shooting over 45%.

Posted by Britt Robson at November 29, 2006 7:50 AM | Comments (21)

 

The Three-Pointer: Foye in the 4th, Take 2

Filed under: Timberwolves

1) Teasing the Wade comparison
For the second straight game, rookie Randy Foye turned garbage time into crunch time with a galvanizing fourth quarter performance that saw him penetrate for layups, draw fouls, hit an outside jumper, and will his team from a 15-point deficit with 7:48 left to play into an 84-84 tie with 2 minutes to play. When the Wolves acquired Foye on draft day, the supposition was that they were looking for a combo guard like Dwyane Wade, a nearly-finished college product who was his team's unquestioned emotional and physical leader operating out of the backcourt, who craved the ball in his hands with the game on the line and would rather court bruises in the paint than loft long jumpers.

Foye is on that track. How long and far he rides it is anybody's guess. Calling him another Wade is like dubbing a folkie the new Dylan, or some reggae hotshot the next Marley, and frankly, right now, there's no upside for anyone in overselling him that way. But he's got some promising attributes. He's got the personality of a leader--he can be humble and deferential on all the small, symbolic stuff that shouldn't be sweated anyway, but seizes the game by the throat if enough of the conditions expose themselves. He doesn't gripe about minutes or cart around an attitude that assumes leapfrogging privileges in the pecking order. He listens to his coaches, plays defense, and has the patient confidence of a predator.

Some aspects of his game are rough. Even his signature move--a drive down the right baseline culminating in a banked layup that's a hybrid of a scoop and a hook, more arm and wrist than fingers in the toss of it--isn't pretty, and will be increasingly difficult to execute once the scouts spread the word. But Foye likes contact, and already knows how to turn blocks into fouls with a strong, thrusting finish. And if you count both Trenton Hassell and Marko Jaric as small forwards, Foye is, right now, the Wolves' best defender among the guards, which damns him with faint praise, perhaps, but is an element of his game that will continue to improve as his minutes rise. He leads the team in steals-per-minute by a fairly wide margin. He's also a decent rebounder, a relatively important skill for this board-challenged squad.

The weakness is ball handling, not for an off guard, but if he's the primary guy facing full court pressure and half court traps. His court-vision decision-making is also unrefined by constant exposure to the quickness of NBA defensive rotations, meaning he hasn't learned that passes and other intuitive gambits that worked in college can be turnovers in the pros. And his jump shot isn't exactly money in the bank.

Bottom line, you can't let someone with this much promise, who smells the fourth quarter so deeply and appreciatively, linger on the pine. Foye is already a 25-35 minute guy. Coach Dwane Casey seems to like rotating him in with Troy Hudson and then, for the last two games anyway, leaving him in alongside KG, Blount, Davis, and Jaric as a crunchtime unit. The latter decision is tough to dispute, given the roar of the recent fourth quarters, but if you're flipping the keys to Foye that way, don't you owe Mike James another rotation or two earlier in the game while providing Huddy with a seat beside Eddie Griffin in purgatory? I didn't see the goose egg games James laid against the Hornets and Clips last weekend, but he was two different players tonight--aggressively taking Devon Harris to the hoop for 10 quick points in the first half and sleepwalking on defense after intermission. Still, his skill set is not only vastly superior to Hudson's, but match up much better with what Foye needs.

Huddy had a three pointer grooved to him tonight, a waist high pass as he stepped in rhythm toward the hoop, and he clanged it off the front iron, a crucial miss during the stirring comeback. At his best, Hudson was never a particularly good point guard. But James could be, if he was finally assured of a crucial role on a ballclub that welcomed him with open arms. One would have thought his contract bought that here, but a dozen games into the season, he's back to being one whose contribution floats with the flow of the game, a pattern that must bedevil his psyche right now. Remember, this is a former CBA warhorse and fringe scrapper who, at age 31, has never achieved full validation.

2) Swingman minutes and my usual bias
So I'm gone for five games, see Andy B's perceptive comment about Ricky Davis leading the squad in minutes-played during the rousing three-game winning streak, and hear Jim Peterson pronounce that Davis did a superb job clamping down on Sam Cassell in the 4th quarter last Saturday. I figure it's time to view the dreadlocked one his teammates call "Buckets" with a more generous, or at least less biased, perspective. But then Davis decides to give Jerry Stackhouse room to launch jumpers--as if Ricky Davis doesn't have the foot speed to crowd Stack and then stay with him off the dribble--and the tics start dancing on my face. By the third quarter, when Davis and Mike James have totally tossed in the towel on anything resembling perimeter defense, I'm screaming at the television and wondering why the Ricky Davis who inwardly vows to atone for a horrendous airball by dashing down the court to deflect a pass off of Stackhouse in transition, and who helps limit the Mavs to a measly 6 fast break points, can't be bothered to pay attention to his man for any more than a pass--two tops--in the half court defensive sets. The guy is a gifted passer, has curbed his annoying habit of launching j's with 20 seconds on the shot clock, and is a potent scorer. He admitted to one and all before the season began that he didn't try very hard on defense last year, and said it would be different. It isn't different. And yet on a team choked with swingmen, he's second to KG in minutes played.

I'll shelve my suspicion and take his clampdown on Cassell on faith that it actually happened. But tonight, Casey shrewdly decided to go with a zone, flummoxing Dallas into ten missed shots and zero buckets in 6:45 of play. And one reason it worked was because Ricky Davis always plays zone, standing in a certain area ready to poke-check a steal or come with a double team. This becomes problematical in a man to man when Ricky's man happens to move without the ball. Casey's response was to let the other four teammates play zone along with Ricky, and tonight it worked. I don't begrudge Davis getting his layup swatted away by Erick Dampier without drawing contact when the score was tied in the final two minutes, and am willing to concede that leaking out for a breakaway pass instead of boxing out of maintaining defensive intensity worked brilliantly for a easy basket during the Wolves comeback tonight. I simply want an athletically gifted player to exert a trifle more energy and concentration on preventing his man from receiving the ball in an advantageous position--or have his ass sat down if he doesn't deign to play that way.

Tonight, Peterson as good as proclaimed that Hassell should be the one to sit more often and loosen this swingman logjam a bit. Again, I'm operating on total ignorance of the five prior games, and I'll grant that the new rules favoring perimeter flow fluctuates Hassell's value into more specifically situational matchups. I understand why Jaric and Foye are a great tandem when the Wolves are launching a comeback; they're both opportunistic and aggressive on defensive, probing for steals and run-outs in transition. Hassell's defense is less risky--he's about staunching jump shots and denying position, and I gather his shooting has been fitful lately. But should Davis really average nearly 8 minutes per game more than Hassell? And if and when Rashad McCants returns from injury later this year, what distinctive quality does Davis provide?

3) Hit and run observations

Mark Blount buried his first three pointer of the season to get the Wolves within one late in the game, to go with three other clutch jumpers he nailed in the fourth quarter of this and the Clips game. Since Blount likes the right block and key more than KG, who feasts on the left block, and since Foye is a terror penetrating off his right hand, shouldn't Minnesota run more high pick and rolls with Foye and Blount? Or with those two is that a turnover waiting to happen?

Terrible free throw shooting really hurt the Wolves tonight. Eight misses in their first 13 attempts, including three clangs by KG and two apiece by the rooks, Smith and Foye.

More ammunition for a Foye-James backcourt: the tandem was plus-4 in the measly 1:44 they were paired late in the third quarter.

Finally, Pat Reusse's Sunday column about hoops apathy here in town, coupled with my week-long break for a family celebration elsewhere in the country, might have some wondering about my appetite for this season. If so, rest assured that I retain my hopeless jones for pro basketball, and will be delivering treys after at least half and probably about 3/4 of the games on the schedule from here on out. Sincere thanks to Steven and David for what I thought was stellar work in my absence.

Posted by Britt Robson at November 28, 2006 12:03 AM | Comments (8)

 

The Three Pointer: The Best Quarter Not Seen

Filed under: Timberwolves

By Stephen Litel
Special to City Pages
SPMSportsInc.com

1. The return of Sam I Am
Last night's game against the Los Angeles Clippers marked the return of former Timberwolf and friend of Kevin Garnett Sam Cassell. With the current state of the Timberwolves, one cannot help but look at Cassell and wonder "what if." What would have happened if Cassell had not been injured in the Western Conference Finals? What would have happened if Cassell's contract was longer than it had been while in Minnesota, so none of the talk of contract extensions would have had to taken place? Unfortunately, the answers to those questions will never be known and we must move on.

Prior to Saturday night's game, Cassell was raving about Garnett yet had to take a shot at the Timberwolves organization one last time. "He (Garnett) is definitely one of the top five power forwards to play the game of basketball. No doubt about it. I've played with two Hall of Famers in career in Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. If they played 45 minutes the night before and we had practice the next day, they weren't going to play too much in practice. Kevin's a guy who will never take a night or practice off and in today's basketball that is unbelievable."

Cassell seemed unable to resist when he continued with "Hopefully, Kevin will be remembered as a player who won a championship, but, you know, here it's difficult. He's never had the personnel or guys with him to win a championship except for when we won the division and went to the Western Conference Finals."

Once the game started, Cassell seemed determined to torch his old team. By halftime he had 20 points and ended the game with 31 points, 8 assists and 4 rebounds. Through three quarters, it seemed as if Sam I Am had led his team to a sure-fire victory until Randy Foye had the breakout quarter of his short NBA career.

2. Randy Foye's amazing fourth quarter
Minnesota fans who were not in attendance at the Target Center missed quite a show from rookie Randy Foye as this game was not televised. The validation of acquiring the rights to Foye on Draft night was made in spectacular fashion in the fourth quarter.

Entering the fourth quarter, Foye had only played 5 ½ minutes, scoring a single point. Foye had approached Coach Casey and asked "Give me the pick and roll" as he thought he saw something there in which he could exploit. Casey took the gamble on his young rookie and it paid off.

After Justin Reed stood in and took a charge from the Clippers' Corey Maggette which led to a Foye three point shot, the rookie then scored another two point basket and stole the ball, leading to a free throw for Reed. After this stretch, Foye grew up before our eyes and took over the game. With Cassell hitting a three pointer to stretch Los Angeles' lead to 94-88, Foye calmly brought the ball up the court and drilled a three pointer of his own, going toe to toe with Cassell, which brought the Target Center crowd to a deafening level of sound.

From that point on, the Timberwolves were energized and were able to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat, to use an over-used statement. Foye in the fourth quarter alone scored 14 points, adding two assists to lead Minnesota to 35 fourth quarter points and the eventual victory.

Credit this victory to Randy Foye's energy in the fourth quarter and to Coach Casey for allowing the rookie the opportunity to show what he is capable of accomplishing when given the chance.

3. Being 0.500 now is great, but...
After fighting back to the 0.500 mark after what could have been a devastating shot by Peja Stojakovic to drop Minnesota to 3-6, the Wolves will now have the most challenging week of their still young season.

Minnesota will now take their 6-6 record to Texas to play a back to back against the Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets. Dallas, after losing in the NBA Finals last season, will head into their matchup with the Wolves with an 8-4 record, highlighted by a great win against division rival San Antonio in the Spurs' building. Houston will also enter their game with Minnesota holding an 8-4 record. Yao Ming is having the best season of his career with 26.3 ppg and 10.6 rpg, respectively and should be a tough matchup for Minnesota.

Returning home on Friday, the Wolves will host their own division rival in the Denver Nuggets. Minnesota has already won a game against the Nuggets in Denver this season, so Carmelo Anthony and company should be looking for some payback.

After this three game stretch of games against quality opponents, we should know more about this team and how good they really are.

Posted by Corey Anderson at November 26, 2006 8:55 AM | Comments (9)

 

The Three Pointer: Polishing off the turkeys

Filed under: Timberwolves

By David Brauer

1. A look into the funhouse mirror. Tonight was a romp for the Wolves, playing a Knicks team with many of Minnesota's faults and fewer of their strengths. There won't be many games this season when Minnesota fans witness a backcourt with even worse defensive skills than our own Davis, James and Hudson in Marbury, Francis and Crawford. Simply put, if Davis and James couldn't take it to the rack on these clowns, we'd all need daily doses of tryptophan to mellow our pain. The Wolves best D was their O; hitting over 60 percent of their first-half shots, they neatly nullified the Knicks' potentially potent transition game and forced New York to think. This proved to be fatal for the Knicks. Both squads lack anything resembling a "pure" point, but Isiah Thomas delivered a nicely timed (for us) mindfuck to Stephon Marbury two days ago by pulling Steph two minutes into the second half for a turnover; in tonight's first half, Marbury was as tentative as I've ever seen, unwilling to take open J's left by James and passing on drives he once finished. (Poorly, too - Steph had 5 turnovers to just 3 assists.) The bigger, meaner but no less perplexing version of Eddie Griffin, Eddie Curry, got Mark Blount in foul trouble early but was deftly tamed by Mark Madsen, who, even if Curry blitzed him for a couple of dunks in the second half, did the job in the first half when the game was decided. (Watching the Dance Master closely tonight in the first half, I got a whiff of his Jazz-like sneakily dirty play - OK, since it's Mark, let's call it rascally - when he twice shoved Curry hard in the back away from the basket to take him out of a play. That Curry did nothing in return speaks volumes.)

2. Missing persons report. The TV guys gave Ricky Davis the MVP for his 21-point, 7 assist night. So what if he did that watch-the-ball-forget-the-man thing all night on defense? The Knicks couldn't get the ball to the open man - 11 assists, just 3 in the first half - and they sure as heck couldn't shoot. With Craig Smith's emergence solidified (tonight's crossover-dunk was a highlight-reel special and will edge him into national consciousness, and he made a couple of other swell dribbling plays), tonight's pleasant surprise was Marko Jaric like you've always dreamed he could be: a savvy yet confident shooter (yes, yes, the team never trailed by less than 12 in the second half, but still) and a mixed-breed bulldog-whippet disrupting Knick plays in the backcourt and baseline. (Beaten on a screen for Crawford in the second half, he nearly got a clean block from behind on pure hustle.) He was, quite simply the only defensive guard in the game. There aren't many teams as clueless as the Knicks, so I'm skeptical that this is a portent, but it was nice to see Marko display his range of swingman talents when the matchup allowed. He deserved this one.

3. A defensive shutout. As gratifying as the night's repast was, the most amazing stat may have been Knicks forward Quentin Richardson's zero shots from the field. This is another opportunity to laud Trenton Hassell, who, in a flip of his starting backcourt, was 0-for-4 from the field, but impenetrable defensively. But before you give Hassell too much credit, note that Richardson was 0-for-9 and 2-for-10 in his last two games. You could argue the Q saved his team some pain by simply not shooting. Be it a longer-term funk or Hassellvirus, Richardson's C.O. status left Marbury with one fewer option; I don't think I've ever felt sorry for Steph since he left here, but tonight, he looked beaten so soundly I'll admit a little twinge. Then it passed.

Posted by Corey Anderson at November 23, 2006 8:43 AM | Comments (3)

 

And from the "Holy Sh*t" Dept: Morneau wins MVP

Filed under: Twins

I honestly didn't see this coming. And, frankly, I'm not sure he deserved it. But after posting baseball's best batting average (.362) and knocking in the AL's most runs (92) from June 8 on, 25-year-old Justin Morneau was deemed the league's most valuable player by a jury of sportswriters today, many of whom aren't even from Minnesota.

Morneau's big challenger for the title was, of course, Derek Jeter. The Yankees captain and perennial bridesmaid came in second with 12 first-place and 14 second-place votes, good for 306 total points, compared to Morneau's line of 15/8/320. Joe Mauer and Johan Santana also finished in the top 7, with Santana even pulling in one first-place vote. Combined with Santana's Cy Young award, the Twins look--on paper, at least--like the most dominant team in baseball, if not all of sport. Which makes it, y'know, kind of infuriating that they failed to win a single post-season game.

Way to go, Morny. And better luck next year, Derek. If you're itching to revisit the Twins remarkably weird 2006 season (and after watching the Vikes the last couple weeks, who wouldn't?) check out our Sept. 20 cover story.

Posted by Chuck Terhark at November 21, 2006 2:58 PM | Comments (8)

 

The Three Pointer: This One Hurts

Filed under: Timberwolves

By Stephen Litel
Special to City Pages
SPMSportsInc.com

1. The rotation is so close to being complete
Coach Dwane Casey has the correct players in his nine man rotation. Kevin Garnett, Mike James, Ricky Davis, Mark Blount, Craig Smith, Randy Foye, Trenton Hassell, Troy Hudson and Marko Jaric with Justin Reed and Mark Madsen the odd men out. However, with one simple change to this lineup Coach Casey could energize the fans and, more importantly, this now 3-6 team. Inserting Randy Foye into the starting lineup and placing Ricky Davis into the sixth man role would make a drastic change to this team while at the same time helping the team in the long run.

In the second quarter against the Hornets, Foye was simply dominating the game without scoring the basketball. He was making the correct decisions for the situations he was placed in, breaking down the defense with his speedy first step and dished out six assists. Simply put, this team plays their best basketball when Foye is on the court. Although he has still to light it up by scoring the basketball himself, his maturity and court savvy are things that need to be utilized.

Mentioned in yesterday's Three Pointer, Ricky Davis could then come off the bench and dominate the second teams of the opposition. Also, with Foye starting the game between the lines rather than on the bench, Mike James could, at times, shift over to the shooting guard spot. James has not come as advertised as of yet, but sliding over to this role should allow for more open shots with Foye's ability to find the open man. Something drastic needs to happen soon, so how about letting a rookie help a veteran get on track?

2. The focus is just not there
Watch this team closely when they are in the huddle. Kevin Garnett, Randy Foye and Craig Smith are the only players seemingly hanging on what Coach Casey is trying to communicate to the team. Other than the two players named, everyone else is doing their own thing.

Although fans love it, Mark Madsen is always speaking to spectators while Mark Blount is chatting with Troy Hudson. Trenton Hassell is working on his bum knee while Ricky Davis is dancing to the music filling the Target Center. Mike James sits back in his chair and zones out while Marko Jaric is zoned out.

Honestly, I do not know why this has not been addressed before now. Maybe, just maybe, execution would be sharper if this team was focused.

3. Going waaaaaaaaaaay out on a limb
As of Sunday, November 19, 2006, I am picking Craig Smith, the second round pick of Minnesota for the Rookie of the Year. Yeah, you heard me. Not Randy Foye, not Brandon Roy, but Craig Smith.

Going into the Hornets game, Smith ranks fourth among rookies in scoring at 8.8 ppg behind Adam Morrison of the Charlotte Bobcats (14.9 ppg), Brandon Roy of the Portland Trailblazers (11.6 ppg) and LaMarcus Aldridge, also of the Portland Trailblazers (10.5 ppg). The telling stat here is that Smith is averaging only 16.8 minutes per game, compared to Morrison's 33.9, Roy's 27.3 and Aldridge's 23.5. Smith is more productive per minute than the rookies ahead of him.

In the rebounding department, Smith ranks fifth at 4.5 rebounds per game, trailing Atlanta's Shelden Williams (6.7 rpg), LaMarcus Aldridge (6.2 rpg), Boston's Leon Powe (5.7 rpg) and Memphis' Rudy Gay (4.6). As Craig Smith is getting more comfortable in the NBA, his rebounding numbers continue to improve, collecting 8, 10 and 10, respectively.

Most telling is Smith's efficiency rating in which, again, he ranks fourth at 10.0. In this category he trails the aforementioned Aldridge (16.8), Powe (10.3) and Roy (10.2). By the stats listed, it would seem as if LaMarcus Aldridge would be Smith's biggest competition for the award. However, how will Aldridge's playing time be effected when Joel Pryzbilla and Raef LaFrentz return? Craig Smith is needed on the Timberwolves due to their lack of big men.

It may be going way out on a limb, but I'm comfortable with my choice.

Posted by Corey Anderson at November 19, 2006 10:29 AM | Comments (17)

 

The Three Pointer: An Opportunity Lost

Filed under: Timberwolves

By Stephen Litel
Special to City Pages
SPMSportsInc.com

1. No rest for the weary
Against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers last night, Kevin Garnett looked tired. One can hardly blame him after carrying this franchise on his back for over a decade now, but, in this particular game, the fault lies with Coach Dwane Casey.

While Garnett was struggling to hit a shot in the first half and with Craig Smith playing at the level we've nearly begun to expect from him, Casey rolled the dice. He allowed the often sleepy-looking Eddie Griffin an opportunity he hasn't had for awhile... Griffin was actually allowed to step foot onto the court against real competition. Not practice. Not shoot-around. Real competition. The gamble actually paid off for Coach Casey as it turned out to be one of those rare occasions in which Griffin resembled something close to an NBA player rather than Frankenstein on sedatives.

On these rare days when both Griffin's body and mind seem to be in the arena at the same time, Coach must be able to take advantage of it. In only the eighth game of the season, Garnett looks as if he needs a summer vacation. Yet, the Timberwolves star was on the court for 37 minutes, sitting down in the fourth quarter due to exhaustion and returning when the game was all but over. Griffin certainly cannot be counted on to give Garnett a breather every night, teasing Minnesota's team and fans with one good game followed by three bad ones, but when he decides to show up, use this gift and rest Garnett for crunch time.

2. Where was Foye?
Understanding that Trenton Hassell and Troy Hudson were having relatively productive evenings on the offensive end of the court, combining for 17 points on 7-13 shooting, this was a missed opportunity to get Foye important minutes against a quality opponent. In a game such as this where Ricky Davis shoots 2-10, scoring only 4 points, Foye needs to be the first guard off the bench. This point is amplified when Marko Jaric plays 20 minutes and scores a single point as well.

In the two regular season games in which Foye has been allowed 20+ minutes, he scored 12 and 13 points respectively. He has shown the ability to penetrate the defense and get to the foul line, putting pressure on the defense while spreading the floor for teammates. As Foye told me last week, he prefers to play the lead guard position and making the decisions for his teammates. This is an area where he excelled in college and needs the opportunity to hone these skills on the professional level.

Starting Foye in the backcourt alongside Mike James allows Ricky Davis the opportunity to be a team player and come off the bench. Remember, Davis nearly won the Sixth Man of the Year award a few years back. With the addition of Foye to the starting lineup allows Foye to play with the first team and develop at a faster pace while Davis can shoot his way out of his season-long slump dominating the second units of the opposition.

3. Give credit where credit is due
Mark Blount is quietly having a solid season. Going into the game with Cleveland, Blount's season stats were two points above his career scoring average and nearly two rebounds above as well. Yet, stats alone do not tell the entire story with Blount.

Blount has played solid team defense this season and is causing his fair share of missed shots. Most importantly, he actually looks motivated and engaged in playing basketball this season. Maybe that is due to Glen Taylor's comments in Britt Robson's flabbergasting interview with the team owner or due to his work with the retired navy seal during the off-season or a combination of the two, Blount should sit down with Eddie Griffin and discuss how to get yourself out of a career-long funk and how to overcome it.

Will Blount, or "Bliz" as Garnett calls him, ever be an All-Star? Absolutely not, but he is a great fit with Kevin Garnett and on this team that is all that matters. The two-man, high-low game that Garnett and Blount play sporadically is a thing of beauty. Now, if Minnesota could work a trade of one of the surplus of guards on this team for a big man who rebounds and intimidates inside, this team would be much improved.

Posted by Corey Anderson at November 18, 2006 7:46 AM | Comments (2)

 

From the Dept. of "Duh": Santana wins second Cy Young

Filed under: Twins

As expected, it wasn't even close. If winning the major-league Triple Crown doesn't automatically qualify you as the unanimous Cy Young winner, nothing does. It shoulda been three in a row, but hey, who's complaining.

In other Twins news:

For the second time in his career, Terry Ryan is baseball's Executive of the Year.

Gardenhire is runner-up to the Tigers' Jim Leyland for Manager of the Year.

And in actual news, Ryan is reportedly interested in 2002 NL RoY Jason Jennings of the Colorado Rockies. Jennings is a solid middle-road righty scheduled for free-agency in 2008. His $5.5 million option was picked up by Colorado this year, and in return for the 28-year-old, they'll want a young starter of the Baker/Perkins mold. The Twins need an innings-eater behind Santana, and with luck they'll only need him for one season, so this makes sense on the surface. What do you think?

Posted by Chuck Terhark at November 16, 2006 12:41 PM | Comments (3)

 

The Three-Pointer: A Necessary Refreshment

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Common purpose
Heading into tonight's wire-to-wire win over Portland, the Wolves were getting tossed about by one of those bouts of trepidation--call it a prelude to panic--where serious consequences like somebody getting fired or traded or benched are mulled over if not endlessly discussed. A four-game losing streak that offered no clues, directions, or much hope for the team's future was the cause. The ballclub needed to stem the negativity that pervaded the squad, and they did, in the best way possible; not by one or two spectacular individual performances, but with their most unified and completely performed effort of the still-young season.

Not a single player was horrible, and most of them were better than their numbers would suggest. For example, Mark Blount committed two fouls, grabbed only one rebound and was 2-2 FG in 5:38 of play in the first period. But in the first few minutes, Blount's defensive rotations were anticipatory and crisp, sealing off two drives to the hoop and anchoring a defense that didn't yield a field goal in the first 5 and half minutes of action (at which time Minnesota led 14-1). Blount was also taking Zach Randolph, the tougher of the two interior matchups (Kevin Garnett had Jamaal Magloire). Blount's final line was 7 points, four rebounds and four fouls in 16:37 deceptively good minutes of action.

Ricky Davis, Mike James, Trenton Hassell, and of course KG were likewise engaged and very very aggressive at both ends of the court. Portland was plainly struggling with its own rhythm, absent super rook Brandon Roy now in addition to Joel Pryzbilla and Darius Miles, but you don't get 50 rebounds and make 27 assists (versus 15 turnovers) without a majority of the squad filling their roles with a common purpose. It was a sign of faith in the future.

2. Garnett as primary dime-dropper
I enjoy watching this team so much more when most everything runs through KG. That's because Garnett not only makes the best decisions on the ballclub, but most every other element of his game is elevated when he is getting mucho touches as the waystation of the half-court setup. Take tonight's line: 20 points (on 6-15 FG and 8-11 FT), 7 assists, 13 rebounds, 3 steals, 5 blocks, 6 fouls (he was DQ'd with 1:10 left)and 4 turnovers. By comparison, Ricky Davis had 18 shots and but four assists (and played better, but not good, defense), and, like Mike James, frequently went to the hole for his points. Davis is capable of beautiful passes and bunches of assists, but he doesn't think like a point guard, in terms of keeping everybody involved and regulating the passing tempo at a pleasingly, almost hynotically, metronomic clip the way Garnett does it when he's on and in control. Tonight was the first time all year I've really seen him in that vintage mode. Oh, and in the 4th quarter he scored 11 points (next highest Wolf had 3)and led the team in boards, blocks and (tied) assists, plus executed a layup and a pretty assist immediately after the only two occasions after the first quarter that Portland cut the lead to single digits. In the locker room, he went out of his way to praise James, Davis, and Casey, the former two for being aggressive and the latter for utilizing his mismatches on Magloire (out on the perimeter) and rookie LaMarcus Aldridge (down in the paint).

3. A few quick hits
Mark Madsen returned from injury for his first minutes of the season and quickly ascended over Griffin and Craig Smith as Blount's primary backup on the strength of his able jousting with Zach Randolph and others down low. Front line players should enjoy playign with Mad Dog, who (1)boxes out well and (2)contests for loose rebounds, (1)giving his teammates space and lanes to grab boards and (2) opportunities to belatedly join the scrum or have a ball bounce into their hands.

Nate McMillan gave Minnesota a gift with an extended rest of Randolph in the 4th period. Otherwise, KG might have fouled out sooner and Madsen would have been even more spent from his return to action.

When Blount was bowled over in the fourth quarter, KG ran from midcourt down to the paint to help him up. You can name the superstars on one hand who would do that for a teammate.

Great rebounding and the Wolves' "flow" offense remains a chicken-or-the-egg conundrum. Tonight they owned the glass, 14-3, and the scoreboard, 20-5 two-thirds of the way through the first period.

Casey said in the postgame press conference that the team emphasized ball movement and penetration, running drills that discouraged dribbling. It showed.

Finally, I will be heading out to celebrate my father's 80th birthday for a week on the east coast and will thus miss the next five Timberwolves games. Anyone interested in trying their hand at a trey after any of these tilts? If so, mention it along with your comment (I'll go in and edit it out) and we'll set up some sort of schedule. In case of duplications, frequent posters will get the nod. And, worst case scenario, we'll run open threads or continue comments from previous treys so the forum can continue. I'll have a laptop, but, alas, no TV access or NBA ticket, so anything I say will be flying blind.

Posted by Britt Robson at November 15, 2006 12:17 AM | Comments (22)

 

The Three-Pointer: Negative Momentum

Filed under: Timberwolves

Computer problems waylaid this trey 24 hours, but hopefully we're up in time for some spirited discussion before Tuesday night's contest against Portland.

1)Garnett outplayed
Lots and lots of things felt wrong about Saturday's loss to Orlando, a game that added to the grim and ominous vibe that is suddenly upon this franchise just a half-dozen games into the season. But perhaps the hardest part was the near-total dominance of manchild pivot man Dwight Howard in the game-deciding first quarter. With Mark Blount, Eddie Griffin, and Kevin Garnett all taking a crack at denying his will in the paint, Howard sank all six of his shots and grabbed nine boards en route to Orlando's 29-20 lead. It was reminiscent of Amare Stoudemire's first game at the Target Center, when the Phoenix rookie laid waste to a succession of Wolves' bigs with his strength-speed combo.

It should be noted that whenever KG isn't the best player on the floor during a particular game, the Wolves stand about an 80 percent chance of losing. That's a lot of pressure, especially when the alpha of the moment is nine and a half years younger. KG started well, banging down a couple of J's, tagging Tony Battie with a pair of early fouls, adding two steals, and moving the ball smartly in the half court offense. But Mike James missed at least two wide open looks KG provided, then Mark Blount was sent packing with his second foul on Howard, cuing Eddie Griffin for another sleepwalk, and leaving Garnett to defend Howard on three back-em-down hoops that seemed too casually smooth for any Minnesota fan's comfort. At the other end, KG was pressing, clanking jumpers from the top fo the key.

When the period was over, Howard had more boards than the entire Wolves' team, 9-7, including a 3-3 tie on their own glass. Coach Dwane Casey had played ten guys and all but Blount, and KG early, looked listless and forlorn. The second quarter saw the Magic lead balloon to 20 and the boo birds were out. The final, 109-98, in no way describes the gap between the two teams, which looked closer because a slew of boneheaded Orlando fouls enabled the Wolves to sink 16 free throws in 17 attempts in the 4th quarter alone.

2)An unbalanced roster
The inability of Griffin to contribute much of anything only exacerbates what any half-assed Wolves' fan surmised was the squad's biggest weakness heading into the season: a lack of quality bangers to help KG out. Casey has continued his annoying but understandable postgame interview practice of dissembling rather than dissing players who aren't getting the job done, heartily defending/damning Griffin by saying the potentially disadvantageous matchup with Darko Millicic kept his minutes down to 5:09, a time in which the Wolves were minus-7. "It's not about Eddie Griffin, it is about the Timberwolves," he coach replied.

Too true. The Magic outscored Minnesota by 25-4 in second chance points, put up a whopping 52 points in the paint and outrebounded Minnesota 46-28. Of that latter stat, Casey kept saying that the guards needed to crash down and get some boards. Fine: Davis and James totalled 2 rebounds (both of them by James) in a combined 73 minutes and 12 seconds of play. They also each shot 5-13 from the field. Davis had eight assists and got to the line 8 times, but still felt less valuable than Trenton Hassell, who made his only two shot attempts, grabbed three rebounds, and throttled Hedu Turkoglu, a 13 ppg scorer who went 1-9 FG for a measley two points. Hassell's minus-2 for the game was the second best on the team, behind Blount's plus-7, earned because he was the only guy who could reasonably contain Dwight Howard. And not to dismiss Mark Blount, because the guy deserves significant credit for turning his horrible attributes into mediocrities, but if he's your best low-post defender, your team is in jeopardy.

Let's get serious: the roster is way too top-heavy with mid-sized swingmen. Hassell, Davis, Marko Jaric, Randy Foye, and, when he returns, Rashad McCants, can't all be 20-30 minutes-per-game guys if the team is going to establish any kind of rhythm or identity. Foye can play a little point guard but still seems much better suited alongside James in the backcourt. Hassell will take the top mid-sized scorer, be he small forward or shooting guard. Every minute Ricky Davis plays deprives Foye of experience, KG of touches around a better team nucleus, and the entire squad of a cohesive defense. Who doesn't see this?

Meanwhile, the team is bereft of front-line studs to assist Garnett. Craig Smith is a nice story, but I'm not convinced his upside will ultimately guarantee him 15-20 minutes in an 8-9 man rotation on a quality team. Blount is the default starting center, and hustles, hits the open j and right now seems like a plus in terms of team chemistry. He's also easily overwhelmed in the low block, rebounds poorly and collects fouls and turnovers in bunches too frequently. Griffin is flailing. Although their temperaments seem totally different, Mark Madsen in the pivot is like Troy Hudson in the backcourt: a player whose unique if limited skills can either be a wonderful catalyst if the planets are alligned or a game-killer if not in sync. Vin Baker looks much better in a natty suit than a basketball uniform. I hate to promote or indulge in trade talk--it's pointless, as everyone but the folks in the front office working the phones is totally flying blind as to the possibilities and scenarios-- but some of these swing men have to be dealt for someone with a little size and creative moxie under the hoop.

3) Utah creating a sense of urgency
Given the depth of the strength in the Western Conference, I've generally felt that the Wolves best shot at the playoffs would come from winning the relatively weak Northwest Division. Well, the conference is still strong alright--Dallas and Phoenix are a combined 4-9 and you know that won't last--but Utah already looks like winning the Northwest will be tougher than bagging a 7 or 8 seed. The Jazz are 6-1, with both Boozer and Kililenko healthy at the same time for a change, point guard Deron Williams settled in as Sloan's Brain, and Mehmet Okur forcing big men to join him on the perimeter or be singed by the jumper. That leaves Boozer to operate down low, of course, where he is averaging 22 points and 12 boards per game. This looks like a 52-win team. Pray for pulled muscles and tight hamstrings.

Posted by Britt Robson at November 12, 2006 6:05 PM | Comments (20)

 

The Three-Pointer: Crowning the Kings

Filed under: Timberwolves

A quick heads up before we start: I'll be doing election coverage Tuesday night and thus won't see the Lakers game until later and won't post a trey. Feel free to add comments about Tuesday to tonight's thread.

1) The Declining Role of Kevin Garnett
Some fans are already getting restless about coach Dwane Casey's substitution patterns, mostly stemming from the failure of the bench to deliver when subbed en masse against Portland the other night. That's not what I put at the top of my list of complaints against Casey, for at least two reasons. The first is that the season is still very young and the coach is right to explore options and combinations now--remember, it was a bold and fresh lineup that lifted the Wolves over Sacramento in the season opener. Besides, he's I happen to think he's given Mike James, Mark Blount, and Craig Smith just enough time to play themselves into a confident rhythm without sapping their energy and exposing their flaws. And I think his gingerly touch with Randy Foye is the right approach as Foye weathers the first growing pains of his pro acclimation.

The second reason is that I have a bigger problem with Casey's de-emphasis of Kevin Garnett as the fulcrum, waystation, and overall barometer of the team's halfcourt offense. The one aspect of the game where I pine for Flip Saunders is that crisp passing attack, specifically designed to not only get KG open midrange and low post shots, but also to let him survey the floor from the high or low post and burn defenses when they came with the double team.

Now Casey is emphasizing a "flow" offense that seeks to exploit the transition game whenever possible but not go beserk with it a la Phoenix and to a lesser extent Dallas. Fine, as far as it goes. But even when the club is in the halfcourt, Garnett's meaningful touches and the player-movement around him are both way down. This was particularly noticeable, and painful, in the rematch with Sacramento tonight, won by the Kings 93-81 in a game that wasn't that close. Remember how KG almost always had his best games against the Kings? Well, tonight, Brad Miller was down with an injury, meaning that Garnett and Mark Blount were primarily being guarded by Kenny Thomas and Sharif Abdur-Raheim, with Ron Artest moving up to power forward for shorter stints when he wasn't giving Ricky Davis fits at the 3. That should have been a recipe for Garnett to stuff the stat sheet.

KG did lead the team with 15 shots, but he never found a rhythm at either end of the court, and I think it is because he so rarely is put in a position to control the passing game and dictate the flow. He had one assist! And that gives him a grand total of seven assists in the first four games, versus ten turnovers.

I understand the logic, and the arguments against Flip's system: Settling for jump shots depresses your trips to the foul line and dooms you in the postseason. I notice that KG leads the team in free throw attempts (though the Wolves as a whole are still only averaging 20 FTA per game through their first four, and had but 14 against the Kings) and not only shot attempts, but shooting percentage. But he's sixth on the team in assists, a stat that would have been unthinkable even last year, but certainly looks like a trend this season. I don't think it is a coincidence that the Wolves are averaging over 19 turnovers a game, and have just a few more assists (81) than turnovers (77).

Yes, Mike James at his most effective is generally a shoot-first point guard, and Ricky Davis likes the ball in his hands too. Both are excellent passers. But in order for us all to tolerate this way-less fun offense Casey and company have installed, it has to work. And tonight, against favorable matchups for Garnett, there was precious little cohesion or sense of purpose.

2) More Griffin and less avis
Now I'll criticize the substitution pattern. I meant what I said above, and second-guessing the coach after four games is admittedly jerking the knee, but a pair of quibbles must be registered. Speaking of knee-jerk reactions, Eddie Griffin didn't get off the bench tonight, and I sincerely hope the coach or one of his assistants had a long conversation with Eddie explaining what the plans are for him. In my interview with Glen Taylor, the owner acknowledged that Griffin is fragile and needs to be bucked up. Losing patience with him so quickly, in Game Four, and refusing to try him out against Sacramento's undersized front line seems like a strategy that will do more harm than good. We'll see.

Second, while I don't begrudge Ricky Davis going 2-11 from the field and registering only two assists and five points--Artest has throttled a lot of superb players--there is absolutely no reason why Davis has to constantly screw up his team's defensive rotations with shoddy decision-making and an indifferent effort. Nor is there any reason why Casey--whose squad is stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey with swingmen--has to play Davis 31 minutes when he is being such a flagrant albatross. By my informal count of the play-by-play, Davis was minus-22 tonight, in a 12-point loss.

3) Silver linings
After more desultory play in his first stint and a half tonight, Randy Foye feasted on garbage time. Hopefully it will be enough to get him off the schneid.

Yes, Mark Blount had a nice little game, 11 points, ten boards and a pair of blocks, although it was not nearly as good as the way TV color man Jim Peterson described it. C'mon Pete, the guy is going against Sharif Abdur-Raheim! Still, credit the hustle and minimal boneheadedness.

Mike James has improved his offensive game in three straight outings after being benched in the fourth quarter of the home opener.

Posted by Britt Robson at November 7, 2006 3:59 AM | Comments (23)

 

The Three-Pointer: Disappointing Weekend Split

Filed under: Timberwolves

1) The Enigmatic Eddie G.
If you've been wondering where the second half of my Wolves season preview is, I've been busy eating my unwritten words recommending that Eddie Griffin start over Mark Blount at center. But the guy who prowed the paint like a tiger in the preseason, and has occasionally played with beguiling grace and prescience during his two years with Minnesota has again reverted back to the guy who seems to be operating in a more difficult reality than everyone else out on the basketball court.

I don't say this lightly, because Griffin could be battling clinical depression; a tenacious alcohol jones; an intense, perfectionistic fear of failure; or something equally dire. Or he could simply be chronically immature and undisciplined. I don't know, and while for reasons both humanitarian and aestethic I sincerely wish the best for him, the basketball fan and analyst in me knows that he needs to get his head straight if he is going to earn the millions of dollars he is being paid to help this team win.

Friday night against Denver, Eddie G. had trouble even holding on to the basketball. He physical and mental decisions were always either half a beat too fast or too slow. Fortunately, wunderkind banger Craig Smith stepped up with a monster night, including 20 points in 16 minutes of action, and Blount likewise had a solid game, enabling the Wolves to spring the upset in the Nuggets' home opener.

Tonight, Casey cut Griffin's minutes from 13 to 9 despite the fact that Portland was playing a front line that would have been neatly checkmated by a prime time Eddie G. performance. The Blazers' leviathan center Joel Przybilla was out with an injury and their backup leviathan Jamaal Magloire was moving like a painful old man, permitting layups left and right as the Wolves scooting to a 30-14 first quarter lead. Then Portland coach Nate McMillan deployed a whippet-quick front line of 6-7 small forward Martell Webster and 6-9 pogo stick Travis Outlaw alongside burly 6-9 power forward Zach Randolph, and Portland turned the momentum, and eventually the game, around. Outlaw, for whom Griffin is probably the best counter, finished with a team-high 18 points and a team-high 15 rebounds. The Wolves were a minus-16 during Eddie's time on the court, after going minus-15 playing Griffin in Friday's 3-point win.

Meanwhile, Blount has by far the highest plus-minus total of any Timberwolf during the past two games. Since the whistle blew to start the regular season, he and Griffin have switched personae, with Blount suddenly not commiting all the stupid, uncoordinated fouls he took during the preseason, not forcing the action offensively underneath, hitting the open jumper when it's presented to him, and, most importantly, doing a nice job with help defense on his interior rotations.

In the last trey, I wrote that believing in Troy Hudson was, on balance, fool's gold, and since then Huddy has validated that sentiment with the pointless jitterbug cavorting and dunderheaded shot-selection many of us have come to expect. While less toxic, Blount is another player whose vices have typically outweighed his virtues. He has a proclivity for turnovers, is soft as bread pudding, and possesses a jammed radar for rebounds. But there is no question that Blount has been the Wolves' best answer in the pivot thus far this season. He could always stroke the jumper, as his game-clinching shot on Friday reinforced. But he's also playing smart--especially the shot selection and defensive rotations--and a little tougher on the boards, and both are a bit of a pleasant shock. Maybe Wolves' announcer Jim Peterson, a big booster of Blount's ever since the veteran center and his $8 million annual salary hit town, is right about him being "among the top half" of the centers in the NBA. But I've got a lot more skepticism to erase before I agree with him.

2)A tale of three rookies
Another brilliant suggestion for the starting lineup that I actually did write was pencilling in Randy Foye at shooting guard. Foye's play thus far explains the cliche, "getting his feet wet." He acts like the water is cold and a bit of a foreign sensation--not afraid, just very very tentative. He needs a bit of luck--a gift steal and breakaway lay-up, or nailing a three-pointer because the clock is about to expire--so he exhale and start to let his abundant talent take hold. Still, the evidence thus far hasn't been kind, and showed up in stark relief this weekend against the play of two other rooks--Wolves' second-round pick Craig Smith and Portland's Brandon Roy, the guy originally taken by Minnesota and swapped for Foye and some sweetening cash on draft night.

The quick second-guessers are probably howling about the mismatch in the Roy-Foye sweepstakes after the first week of their respective NBA careers. One wonders in particular what coach Dwane Casey is thinking. Casey clearly wanted Roy on draft night, was full of praise for the kid he saw play in both high school and college when he coached up in Seattle. But at the time the Wolves had a little hole at point guard, which the combo guard Foye could play better than Roy, who could be regarded at first glance as something of a Ricky Davis clone. Kevin McHale just as clearly wanted Foye, and owner Glen Taylor seemed really happy they landed Foye. I understand it. Not only is he a 1/2 swingman on a team laden with 2/3 swingmen like Roy, he's got some defensive moxie and likes to go to the hole on offense.

In other words, let's not flip out over Foye's slow start. Conversely, Foye lovers shouldn't deny that Brandon Roy is going to be very good, and already has been flipped the keys to the offense, as his isolation at the top of the key on Portland's final play tonight--he penetrated and dished to Juan Dixon for the winning bucket--demonstrated.

As for the third rook in this conversation, well, let's just say that after hearing that Casey compared Craig Smith to Bernard King and then Peterson offered up Wes Unseld as his facsimile, I'm old enough to have seen King and Unseld play, and to go all Lloyd Bentsen on that Quayle-like wisdom. I mean, I've really liked Craig Smith ever since I saw him hold his own under the boards against a blue-collar drudge like PJ Brown in the first home preseason tilt against the Bulls. The guy he reminds me of is Corliss Williamson, who is a far cry from Bernard King (a forward who once dropped 60 points on the New Jersey Nets) or Wes Unseld (the NBA MVP his rookie year in the league), but not bad territory for a second round draft pick.

There is a lot to like about Smith, most of all his intelligence. That includes his physical intelligence, his instinct for the game (a deficiency of Blount's), but also the way he absorbs information. Smith shows hard on the pick and roll (call him the anti-Kandi), can create space in the paint without obviously fouling, runs hard from foul line to foul line, and doesn't get discouraged by momentary embarrassment.

Unfortunately, it is possible that the monster 20-point effort Smith had on Friday will hinder his perspective for awhile, and with it his effectiveness. The great thing about Smith during the preseason is that he did all the little things, the screens and box-outs and rotations and footwork. But once the ball started going in the hole against Denver, the 6-7 oak from Boston College began concentrating on the big things, like getting that rock and offering up floaters that cascade through the hoop. The commitment to D, to sacrificing himself, to being the complement instead of the compliment, the appetizer instead of the entree, diminished ever so slightly. And who can blame him?

But the bottom line is that, despite his fabuloso 20 point night Friday, Smith was minus-3 in a Wolves' plus-3 win, and followed that up with a minus-15 tonight in the Wolves minus-2 loss--despite the fact that Casey, who is genuinely enamored with his play, is giving him minutes alongside Kevin Garnett instead of strictly subbing him in for KG. None of which is to knock Craig Smith, who deserves to be in the rotation, and has already proven he can burn opponents who double-team KG and don't keep a body on him in the half-court offense.

3)It is Ricky avis, who has everything but the D and needs to try harder
Sorry for that dreadful pun--it's late. Last year, I probably heaped as much scorn on Ricky Davis as any other Timberwolf once he arrived from Boston. Part of it was the way he took over distributing the ball in the offense, a role KG cherished and performed as well or better than Ricky. But a bigger part of it was his abysmal effort go guard anyone, which was particularly galling after we'd heard McHale laud his defensive prowess.

This year, Davis has said all the right things about needing to improve that aspect of his game. For three games in a row, that commitment hasn't been there. This indifference was most glaring as Andre Miller just toasted him with a bevy of open midrange jumpers on Friday, but has pretty much been a constant. Nobody gives up as many back-door layups as Davis, or so often lags on defense to the point where teammates make adjustments and throw the scheme out of kilter. This was a stud athlete, 6-7, in the chronological prime of his career.

But you already know this rant. What also needs to be said, is that in other facets of his game, Davis had a marvelous opening week of the season. Worries about how he would share the ball not only with KG, but new point guard Mike James, have been groundless, as Davis has willingly ceded the need to control the rock, even as his pinpoint passing--often shrewd, snap judgments that catch opponents unaware--has improved. And while he has a Troy Hudsonish penchant for silly shots if a couple have gone in, he is blending much more efficiently into the three-headed scoring thrust the Wolves are trying to establish with him, KG and James, than he did during all of last year.

Too bad he is such a lazy defender.

Posted by Britt Robson at November 5, 2006 1:02 AM | Comments (7)

 

It's Tommy John for Liriano

Filed under: Twins

The Star Tribune is reporting that Francisco Liriano will undergo Tommy John surgery on Monday. He received a fourth opinion on his bum left elbow today from Angels physician Dr. Lewis Yocum, known as baseball's best TJ surgeon, and it apparently wasn't good. Yocum will perform the operation; Liriano won't pitch again until 2008.

Posted by Chuck Terhark at November 3, 2006 3:52 PM | Comments (5)

 

The Three-Pointer: Crunch-Time Tenacity

Filed under: Timberwolves

1)Casey opts for defense when it matters most
After the first three quarters of play in the 2006-07 season, the ridiculous, angering stat was that Kevin Garnett had the fewest shot attempts (7) and yet more field goals (7) than anyone in the Wolves' starting lineup. The team had just completed a putrid third quarter in which it committed seven turnovers and allowed nine offensive rebounds, turning a two-point halftime lead into a two-point disadvantage. Anyone who remembered last year's succession of crunch time chokes could only hope the team would at least contend long enough to put itself in a position to cough up another one.

It didn't help when Coach Dwane Casey rested KG with promising but raw rookie Craig Smith and had Troy Hudson running the point with Eddie Griffin on the low block as the 4th period began. I'd watched Hudson and Griffin cave into each other's dysfunctions during a preseason game in Moline ten days ago: Huddy incapable of dishing a proactive pass and so dumping it to Eddie, who, naturally, turned around and jacked it up. They blew through a fairly good lead in a loss to Indiana that night.

Yup, twice in three minutes the ball swung to Eddie, resulting in a blocked shot and a clanked shot. With the Wolves down 3 with 8:47 to go, Casey called timeout. And what he did next deserves a tip of the cap.

KG in for Eddie Griffin. Trenton Hassell in for Ricky Davis. Now during most of the preseason, and presumably for the regular season, the plan is for KG and Craig Smith to be power forwards, and for Trenton Hassell and Marko Jaric to be small forwards. The lineup Casey was going with probably never saw any time together in preseason: the four above-mentioned forwards and T-Hud. All but Huddy have proven themselves to be ace, reliable defenders.

Over the next three minutes, that makeshift lineup forced four straight turnovers, sending the Wolves on an 8-0 run that put them in front for good. When Smith fouled out, Mark Blount replaced him, hindering the D a tad (the Kings committed just two more turnovers and scored 12 points in the remaining 5:53), but by then the Kings were frustrated, Bibby got tossed for a pair of technicals that KG converted into free throws, and the Wolves won going away, 92-83. The activity of Jaric, Hassell, and KG together was superb.

Mike James and his four turnovers in 24 minutes, plus spotty defense, never got off the bench in the 4th quarter. Ricky Davis, who actually played well within the offense and had some hustle movements on D in the first half before reverting to his defensive shortcomings in the third period, sat the final 8:47. Ditto Eddie Griffin, who must learn that a missed jumper is as good (or bad) as a travelling call or dribbling the ball off his foot. Good messages sent all the way around--and, not coincidentally, no el foldo in the 4th period.

2)The Huddy Rollercoaster
I'm not going to lie to you: I think putting faith in Troy Hudson is, on balance, fool's gold. But the slate is wiped clean for a new season and these three-pointers frequently are meant to frame single games, so I'm going to tell you that tonight's Huddy Rollercoaster was mostly an enjoyable ride.

Yeah, we all knew that when Huddy banged home two jumpers 35 seconds apart in the second period that wild horses and four open teammates perched on each other's shoulders standing next to the hoop wouldn't prevent him from jacking up another bomb, just to see if he was "hot." And, as mentioned before, it is highly advisable that Huddy be surrounded by plenty of bail-out options in case opposing defenses think to press him on the perimeter and force him to pass to a reflexive gunner who draws iron like Eddie G. In fact, T-Hud needs to play 99 percent of the time with KG, who was the de facto point guard during Huddy's primary season as a Wolves' starter, who genuinely likes Huddy and the way his perimeter shooting opens things up in the paint, and who is the solver of most anything that ails anybody on a basketball court.

But enough sarcasm. Because Troy Hudson worked hard on defense, and, like the Human Torch yelling "flame on!" stroked a 25-foot trey off a KG feed 20 seconds after Garnett entered the game in the 4th quarter, and went on to wrack up 11 points with only one turnover during that final 8:37 of the game. Nice job Huddy.

3) Heroic co-captains
Bet you didn't know that Trenton Hassell was named a co-captain of the team alongside KG for this season. Naturally it is something of a secret, like most everything good associated with Unsung #23, the Yeoman, who had the unenviable task of laying a body on the brick shithouse known as Ron Artest for most of the game. Generally, Hassell is renowned for his work on the gazelles, the Ray Allens, Kobe Bryants and Paul Pierces. Artest is a horse. And in the second half, Artest went 1-6 from the field in both the 3rd and 4th quarters, with Hassell logging a total of 20:26 minutes in those periods. When Hassell gets three fewer points than Artest on 14 fewer shot attempts, the odds are very good that the Wolves will triumph. So it was tonight.

Last but never least, let me offer my first tribute to Kevin Garnett. I don't think he's ever going to consistently surf the incredible crest of that MVP season and the one before it that was at least just as good. And I wouldn't want to bet my mortgage on how everything will work out between KG and the Wolves over the next six months to six years. But within this immaculate team game, there are individual players who just fill you with admiration, in between flooding you with excitement. Sure, we can all spend time comparing KG to two or three years ago and speculating on where he'll be two or three years from now; but there are glorious memories to be minted, right now, from the greatest athlete in the history of Minnesota sports.

They don't let KG wheel and deal in the half-court sets nearly as frequently anymore (more on that when it costs them ballgames), so he was limited to three assists tonight and all of them were gems. In the first quarter, he zipped a pass from the high post down to Blount undernearth, a replica of the KG-to-Rasho interior dish in Rasho's final year here, which Blount converted with a nice, contorted arch of his back as his banked in the layup. Then, as KG was wheeling on the right block, he saw Jaric crashing from the top of the key on the left side and fed him perfectly for another layup. The third was the confidence booster for Huddy in the final stanza.

There has been plenty of talk from local writers and columnists about KG not taking over games and not being a crunch time player. Someday I'll dig out the stats that show his crunch time timidity and ineptitude to be an urban myth. But what I want to focus on here is, how many other superstars pulling down $22 million and who hadn't missed in 15 shot attempts (seven from the field, eight at the line) would have set Huddy up so well--wide open, feet set, knowing Mike James is the big new face in the season opener--rather than spinning and taking the triple-team to the hole? When it was over, KG had a game-high 24 points on a measley nine shots (exhausted, he missed the last two), a game-high 12 rebounds, and a game-high 3 blocks. Take the stats for granted, but if you can't appreciate the joyful visual spectacle of this man's game, you deserve to be subjected to a week's worth of Bachmann and Wetterling ads.

Posted by Britt Robson at November 1, 2006 11:26 PM | Comments (17)

 

Hang Time: Wolves Season Preview, Part I

Filed under: Timberwolves

The season opener is upon us and I won't be able to deliver an entire preview by this evening's tilt with the Kings. But here's the first part, which, including the Taylor interview and a three-pointer on the opener later tonight, will keep everyone sated until I can finish up. Thanks for your patience.

For those of you who like to skip to the end of the story, I believe the Minnesota Timberwolves will miss the playoffs for the third straight year. There will be more suspense over their playoff prospects than occurred last year, primarily because they will contend for first place in their weak divison until fairly late in the season.

Before anyone starts searching for the razor blades, remember, I'm the guy who incorrectly predicted the Wolves would make the playoffs last season. And although before then I was pretty accurate in my prognostications, my confidence in sizing up these post-Flip Saunders squads has been steadily on the wane the past two seasons.

Put simply, who and what are these Timberwolves? A defensive-oriented ballclub? A modified run and gun outfit? A team destined to live and mostly die on the merits of its superstar and his shoddy supporting cast? A ballclub in transition pretending to be oblivious to that fact? A squad without an identity? I'd answer yes to all of the above, and be more strongly affirmative on each succeeding question.

Right now the biggest wild card is new point guard Mike James. In what light do you want to look at James? He's a guy who pumped in more than 20 points per game for Toronto last season while nailing more than 44 percent of his treys, and dishing out more dimes than anyone of the Wolves registered. He's improved his points-per-games and his shooting percentage every season during his five-year career. But James is also a guy who took a long time getting established in the league--Ricky Davis is more than four years younger yet has played nearly 180 more NBA regular season games. At 31, James has never been a full-time starter on a playoff team. The Wolves overpaid (four years, $25 million) to get him because their resident superstar, Kevin Garnett, with visions of Sam Cassell dancing in his head, said an experienced point guard was his abiding priority request during this off-season and owner Glen Taylor obliged.

The clandestine rap on James was that he played selfishly, hindering an already moribund Toronto Raptors team, during his push for a new contract last season. That wasn't borne out during the Wolves' preseason, when, if anything, James passed up his own shot to a fault. He was continually alert for exploiting the explosiveness of Ricky Davis in transition, and took pains to set up KG in the half-court sets. On the other hand, his defense was spotty, and his shot was unreliable from both long range and when penetrating the lane.

Where there is this much evidence both pro and con, it seems most likely that James will do a workmanship job seasoned with enough highs and lows to tease the optimists and keep the rest of us equivocating. He'll almost certainly be an improvement over the hydra-headed point guard situation that sprung up last year, but won't be "money" like Cassell was two years ago, or even deliver the consistency of Terrell Brandon's best seasons in Minnesota. But it could also tilt either way. If James does indeed continue to blossom, sucking up his defense while demonstrating he can burn opponents with both his shot and his passing savvy, the Wolves could very well vanquish Denver and Utah and win the Northwest Division.

If James does a pratfall, however, things could get ugly in a hurry, because there are no good alternatives at the point, folks. Rookie Randy Foye has got a future that would put neon glow in any crystal ball, but he's not ready to be a starting NBA point guard--those who bemoaned the miscues and decision-making of Marcus Banks in the final two months of the season would endure that and worse watching Foye run the show. Troy Hudson? A very nice human being who may be even more pathetic the rare times he's healthy and apparently trying to enable others than he is during the more numerous times he's hobbled and making up lousy hip hop songs while sitting in the whirlpool. The notion of using spindly shooter Bracey Wright at the point has been predictibly discredited. And for those of you who took the off-season off, Marko Jaric is now a small forward instead of a very large and easily rattled point guard.

That's right, Foye, Hudson, Wright, and Jaric are all much better suited to be either "combo" guards or small forwards rather than pure point guards, meaning we can add them to the sizable pile of swingmen the Wolves have amassed. Right now, the starters at shooting guard and small forward are Ricky Davis and Trenton Hassell, respectively. And let's not forget last year's ultra-talented problem child, Rashad McCants, who is waylaid for at least half the season by a microfracture in his right knee, or the ever-hustling Lenin lookalike, Justin Reed, who would ply most of his sweat equity at small forward if the waiting line wasn't so long.

I'd start Hassell and Foye and bring Davis off the bench as a sixth man, followed closely by Jaric. Second-year coach Dwane Casey keeps claiming that defense is the first pillar in building a winning team identity, then not only starts Davis but gives him a leash as long as KG's. Davis is finally copping to the fact that he played horseshit defense most of last season, but the improvement was marginal in the preseason. On D, Davis seems the opposite of a team guy: He goes for steals that put him out of position, frequently suffers mental lapses that allow his man to break downcourt or penetrate into the lane without him, forcing his teammates to scramble and adjust. The guy's a fine scorer (albeit too fond of jacking up jumpers with more than 20 seconds on the shot clock) and a marvelous, though inconsistent, passer. He's also 6-7 and athletic, making it seem as if discipline is all he lacks to complement KG and Hassell as mobile, bulwalk defenders. And until he fosters that attitude, there are worse things than having a guy who flourished as a sixth man in Boston a couple of years ago being the first one off your bench.

Besides, there's no time like the present to begin scaling toward Foye's exciting upside. The most optimistic thing about the 2006-07 Wolves was the quality of their draft, with Foye and, in Craig Smith, the most promising second-rounder the team has chosen since Doug West. When Casey infers that Foye must sit because he's not up to speed defensively, he has it exactly backwards. Foye's defensive fundamentals already seem more developed than Davis's, and that should be rewarded with minutes, especially playing in a backcourt with the club's best ballhandler, reducing pressure in an area where he isn't quite ready for the NBA pace. Foye's jumper is also suspect. But the dude has a jones for getting to the rim, and the strength and savvy to draw fouls along the way. Yeah, he'll frequently get lunched, experiencing bruising growing pains. But on a team that has chronically had difficulty getting to the free throw line, Foye is a guy (a healthy McCants would be another) with the natural inclination to generate contact on drives to the hoop out of the half-court offense. That was also Davis's rep, but, like his defense, we didn't see it last season.

The biggest drawback of a Foye-James backcourt is obviously its diminutive size. Throw in Hassell and the 1-2-3 positions go 6-2, 6-4, and 6-5. If this is getting exploited early, Casey can respond with a pair of 6-7 swingmen, Davis and Jaric. Now that the Marko as point guard experiment has been officially deemed a disaster, we can hopefully appreciate his quick hands, shrewd sense of anticipation, rugged frame, and wide wingspan on defense. I'd pair him with Davis because they are complementary players. (Hassell complements everybody but he's got to sit some to mitigate all the aches and pains he acquires during the season.) The lesson of last season is that Jaric is valuable when he's put in a position to succeed enough to retain self-confidence. Davis will take some ball-handling and shot-taking pressure away from him even as Jaric helps cover Davis's defensive lapses.

Finally, don't count on Jaric to get you bundles of points. During the preseason he discovered it was much easier for him to drive on small forwards than quicker point guards, but scouting will catch up to that and force him to make outside shots, which ain't exactly Jaric's forte.

I'll delve into the Wolves frontcourt, coaching, and front office situation in Part II.

Posted by Britt Robson at November 1, 2006 10:45 AM | Comments (6)

 

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