Timberwolves basketball. Are there any words in the Twin Cities sports market that have inspired more “meh?” Well, I decided it was time to get out of that mindset and try to look for positive things to talk about. Granted, Minnesota sports teams don’t make it easy to find optimism, but it’s got to be worth trying, right?
One of the most positive things I can think of off the floor is Glen Taylor has a sale agreement in place for the team. Reports says Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore are taking a little bit more of a hands-on approach to running Timberwolves basketball. Even though Taylor is said to still have the final say, it’s good to know that new ideas are forthcoming for the franchise.
I’m actually paying a little attention this year to the upcoming Timberwolves basketball season. Enjoying a bit of optimism.
The new schedule is out, and as I look at the returning players from last year, I’m finding a little more interest than I have in years. The starting five next year might actually be pretty decent. Look, I’m not predicting a march to the NBA finals, nor am I even predicting a playoff spot. I’d be happy with a legitimate run at a .500 win-loss mark. That’s how low my expectations are for Minnesota basketball after the last 20-plus years.
When the Timberwolves run this lineup next season it’s gonna be spooky
D’Angelo Russell Patrick Beverley Malik Beasley Anthony Edwards Karl-Anthony Towns
This starting lineup has a little more promise than we’ve seen in years.
I haven’t had much chance to research the young man the Wolves drafted out of Europe last year, but I am interested to see what the kid can bring to Timberwolves basketball. Of course, this is the one kid that I’m really excited to watch play ball next season.
I wasn’t happy they drafted Anthony Edwards at number one overall. Couldn’t be happier to admit I was wrong and am starting to love this kid.
So, to find out more about the upcoming season, I tracked down Evan with The Daily Wolves fan page on Twitter. We had a lot of basketball notes to get through.
Blogging. What’s it all about? Every time I sit down to
write a blog post, I freeze. Writer’s block is not something that happens to me
very often, but in this case, I’m not sure what’s interesting enough in my life
and the lives of others around me to write about.
Blogging about sports is a good place to start. Watching the Timberwolves play the Miami Heat and realizing just what a dull and uninteresting franchise they are. Notice I didn’t use the words “professional sports” in front of the word “franchise.” I’m honestly not sure they qualify. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a team revamp virtually their entire roster and not reap any kind of rewards.
Is Karl-Anthony Towns the right guy to lead the Timberwolves for the next several years? Great offense. LOUSY defense. Doesn’t appear to think he commits fouls at all.. and hurts the team with his constant bellyaching. (Photo from onlinegambling.com)
I suppose I need to give them time. We’ve already given them
decades and gotten a couple of good seasons for all of our patience. Where have
you gone, KG? Can I ask an honest question? As good as the big KAT is, IS he
the right guy to lead this franchise into the future? Fantastic offensive
talent. Lousy and disinterested on the defensive end. This is a team that
cannot play a lick of defense. Great to score 137 points, unless you give up
140 to the opposition. It’s still a loss.
The NFL Combine is in full swing and I couldn’t be more blasé to the whole thing. Why am I so uninspired about the Vikings and their potential future draft choices? What direction is this franchise going in and how are they going to disappoint their fans next? I mentioned this in an earlier post, but I think it bears repeating; WHY do you want to be a running team first and spend so damn much on a quarterback and two wide receivers? I’m getting a bit of a mixed message here.
Still trying to figure out the direction of this franchise, especially with the head coach and general manager going into the last year of their contracts. (Photo from bleacherreport.com)
By the way, isn’t the NFL a passing league now? And if that’s
the case, does Zimmer’s insistence on running the ball mean the game has passed
him by a little bit? Not saying it has or it hasn’t. Just reading the tea
leaves here.
On to other topics. What’s up with the coronavirus outbreak? Have you seen the hysteria surrounding the “Pandemic?” I’ve been looking behind the headlines and am finding out that the coronavirus fatality rate appears to be three percent. My South Dakota/Minnesota math tells me that 97 percent of the people who are infected appear to actually survive? If that is the case, WHY are we hearing about a “global epidemic” in every major news outlet, making it sound like the second coming of the plague? What don’t I know about this?
Why am I still on social media? I was just perusing a short time ago and couldn’t believe how much the current president is being skewered over the coronavirus. And before you get snippy, I didn’t vote for him. If I blamed presidents I didn’t vote for as much as the current political left does, NOTHING would get done. Ever. Didn’t vote for Clinton either. I’d give my kingdom for a reliable third-party candidate or possibly a middle-of-the-road Democrat. The current list of Democratic presidential candidates are all bat-crap crazy. Not sure the incumbent is a great option either.
I really enjoyed social media when it was first ramping up.
After all, I’d just left full-time media for the first time in my adult life
and it was my only outlet to keep doing what I loved. I really don’t enjoy it
much anymore. Have we as a society ALWAYS been this spiteful and vindictive? Is
social media just a convenient outlet for all that vitriol we’ve been saving
up? Frankly, the behavior of grown adults on social media is the same thing we
all remember growing up during the turbulent teenage years.
Well, there you go. Almost 700 words later and I guess the writer’s block is gone? I do welcome comments when I’m done blogging. You don’t have to agree with me. Just don’t be a jerk about it. Let’s be adults and educate each other about the things we don’t know. Be willing to listen to other people’s point of view once in a while. You and I both might learn something. Think I’ll try this blogging thing again really soon.
Minnesota sports fans, the long-suffering bunch that we are, apparently have to suffer through another rough winter season of mediocrity. Actually, that word doesn’t apply to the “professional” basketball team. That’s just one big bucket of suck.
The Minnesota Wild have a lot of work to do to return to a team that can make a run in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Wild hockey. It’s not fantastic. Watching the Bruins school the Minnesota “professional” hockey team 4-0 after two periods of play. I shudder to think how much further ahead Boston would be if the Wild hadn’t blocked 10 shots through two periods. This team cannot score goals consistently enough to win.
But how do you go about finding good offense to add to the
roster with the salary cap situation and two contracts that are taking up more
of that cap than they should? Minnesota sports STARTS with hockey. We call
ourselves the “State of Hockey” for a reason, right?
What is it with Minnesota sports? The Wild are stuck in neutral and multiple games away from the playoffs. The Timberwolves aren’t even a blip on the sports radar in the Twin Cities. Oh my goodness, are they bad.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have a long way to go to be mildly interesting to watch. They’re not even a blip on the Twin Cities’ sports scene these days.
I know Gersson Rojas and Ryan Saunders have a plan that
involves a lot of threes. It’s an offense tailored to the modern NBA game. But
they don’t have players talented enough to play that system well. Isn’t that
like trying to force a square peg through a round hole? As a coach, don’t you
want to at least somewhat build your offense based on the skillset of your
current roster?
Minnesota sports confuse me, especially when it comes to the
professional football team. An 11-win season and the second round of the NFL
playoffs look good on paper. They beat precisely one team with a winning record,
and we were all impressed with that win in New Orleans. But then you don’t put
up any kind of a fight in San Francisco? It took me back to the Philadelphia
fiasco and the day the Vikings laid one of their biggest eggs in a long line of
said eggs. They didn’t show up at all when they had a chance to be the first
team in the NFL to HOST a Super Bowl in their home stadium.
I’d say there’s a pattern forming in which the Vikings aren’t prepared for their biggest games. Is that coaching or is that on the players?
The Minnesota Vikings confuse me. You want to run the ball but you paid the most offensive money to a quarterback who can’t run and two wide receivers? Mixed messages here.
I’m starting to sour on the purple. So, Mike Zimmer wants to
run the ball? Fine. Then WHY did you invest $84 million in a quarterback who
breaks when a defensive lineman gets within ten yards and put him behind an O
line that can’t block elite pass rushers? Why did we invest around $30 million
in two wide receivers? I’m seeing some mixed messages there. You tailor your
offense to play off the strengths of your roster, right?
Maybe it’s just me. Man, I used to schedule my Sundays around Vikings games. Now it’s kind of blasé. I’m sure I’ll keep watching but with much less interest than ever before. If you believe what you see on social media (be careful about that), I’m starting to wonder if the NFL might be looking for some new fans within 5 to 10 years?
Things like this are why I’m more interested in watching
college sports than a professional event. They’re still kids out there having
fun. The atmosphere is more upbeat as well.
Maybe I’m just mellowing in my middle age. Sports aren’t quite the be-all, end-all that they used to be. Is that normal as fans age?
Small Town Guy, Big City Thoughts, and a Throwback Thursday on the wrong day.
There’s a popular hashtag that regularly makes the rounds on social media. It’s #TBT, which stands for “Throwback Thursday.” Well, I had my very own Throwback Thursday last Saturday
Had a little bit of a flashback to my sports play-by-play days on Saturday. Went down to the Target Center in Minneapolis to watch some small-town basketball. Spring Grove (one of the teams my paper covers) was in town to take on LeRoy-Ostrander. A couple of times a season, small town teams come in and get to play in the Target Center while the Timberwolves are out of town. Kind of a season highlight for the kids and a lot of fun for moms and dads. It was also a nice throwback for me.
Cade Grinde attempts a free throw for the Spring Grove boys’ basketball team, who beat LeRoy-Ostrander on Saturday in a game played at Target Center in Minneapolis. (Photo by Chad Smith)
I’m still blown away by just how good the Target Center looks after renovations last year. I went and looked back at some pictures I took when Redwood Valley made the boys’ state basketball tournaments just to be sure, and I was right. That old dark wooden floor (that always looked like it hadn’t been waxed in years) made the atmosphere so dark and gloomy. The new wood floor down there, combined with the GIGANTIC overhead screens/scoreboards give the Target Center a modern-day feel. I like it. Now if we could just put a more successful franchise in there?
Here’s me courtside at the Target Center back in the day. As you can see, I’m waiting with breathless anticipation for a Redwood Valley Cardinals boys’ basketball game at the state tournament. (Photo by Miller Photography)
Is it seriously the end of January already? Wasn’t it just
Christmas like two weeks ago?
Thank the Good Lord that the government shutdown is (temporarily)
over. I really don’t care what your politics are. Our “leaders” are getting fat
and rich by keeping their hands in our collective cookie jar. How do they keep
getting elected?
For that matter, why is it a bad thing to want to secure the southern border? I’ve got a wife, daughter, and relatives I’d like to see kept safe. Anyone arguing against securing the southern border, while at the same time living behind a wall that surrounds their private residence (pick a politician), is an absolute hypocrite.
Thank goodness the government shutdown is at least temporarily over. Too many people got hurt in the process of scoring political points. (Photo from ijr.com)
I saw a headline today that said the Infernal Revenue
Service is going to need some time to get through the work backlog because of the
shutdown? Have THAT many people already submitted their tax returns? And does
that seem a little ominous for those of us still waiting for our W-2 forms?
Watching the Golden State Warriors play the Celtics in Boston tonight and got to thinking: Do they EVER call traveling in the NBA? I KNOW they don’t when James Harden is playing. If you doubt me, just watch the highlights. That step-back three he likes so much from the right wing (and never seems to miss)? I swear to you his feet shuffles and THEN he takes a step back. And watch The Beard when he drives to the basket. How many steps does he take between picking up the dribble and laying it in? You’ll be surprised. Take a look here. There’s a lot of discussion out there about this very topic 🙂
That’s all I have for now. I’m sitting here at home on a Saturday night, just before 9 p.m., and got to thinking that things have changed. This used to be PRIME TIME go out time back in the day. Now I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to make it successfully till ten o’clock. Can anyone else relate to advancing middle age as much as I can right now?
