April 8, 2010
April 6, 2010
Opinion Article
I was absent when we had worked on this before break.
As the Timberwolves’ season comes to an end, the fans are sitting back and watching the next move the coaching staff and owners will make. The Minnesota Timberwolves had a franchise player in Kevin Garnett. He was selling seats and averaged almost 19 points per game and had many MVP like seasons. He carried the Wolves throughout 12 years of play, but then the fans got something they never expect. The face of the Minnesota Timberwolves was traded to the Boston Celtics for Al Jefferson, Sebastian Telfair, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff, cash, and a First Round Pick from the Boston Celtics. The reasoning behind the trade was simple; it was time to start new and fresh. With a key player leaving the wolves and getting many young, new players, how would the Timberwolves be in upcoming years?
The year after Garnett was traded was a rough and bumpy one. The Wolves only won 21 games and lost 60 games, the first time ever since the 1994-1995 year, the last year the Wolves were minus Kevin Garnett. Also Al Jefferson, arguably what we traded KG for, was not living up to his expectations that the team and us as fans had hoped. Yes, I understand that you can’t magically fill Kevin Garnett’s shoes in one season, but if we had the 13 time All Star, or the MVP of the 2003 season, I would bet my life that the Timberwolves would have done better.
Not all of this is the players themselves’ fault, but also the management. I would arguer that the management of the Timberwolves could have been more…smart. The recruiting staff has done a very poor job to “restart” the Wolves organization again. With Al Jefferson still having his ups and downs and not being a “stable” player, and thin Cory Brewer playing and guarding guys with at least 30-40 pounds on him, this year’s team has fallen apart. I give the recruiting staff some credit for drafting the first player born in the 1990’s and trying to wrangle Spanish basketball sensation Ricky Rubio to try and play for the Wolves as a gimmick to sell tickets and have another franchise player that both men and young teenage girls especially jump for joy and go out and buy merchandise.
Besides Rubio, the Wolves had three other draft picks in the first round, so I assumed we had to get something good out of the deal, but instead we draft total three point guards in Rubio, Johnny Flynn out of Syracuse and Ty Lawson out of North Carolina, and a shooting guard out of Wayne Ellington from North Carolina as well. But the woes for the Timberwolves continued, and Ricky Rubio decided to stay and play for FC Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain and cannot play in the NBA until after the 2010-2011 season, and Ty Lawson was shortly traded after the draft to the Denver Nuggets.
The one problem that now faces the Minnesota Timberwolves is that they don’t have a franchise player that can sell seat, and you rarely have and actual “home-court” advantage at home because when people do come to the Timberwolves games, it is mostly to see the opposing team. And as I was walking in the skyway going to the annual Timberwolves/Suns game, (I lived in Arizona for eight years and am an avid Suns fan,) I came across a sign that had a quote on it that somebody commented on from the Wolves organization. “We’re not re-building. We’re re-re-re-re-re-re building,” it stated. So, let’s finish “re-building” the organization, and focus on getting some players that can win the Timberwolves some games.
As the Timberwolves’ season comes to an end, the fans are sitting back and watching the next move the coaching staff and owners will make. The Minnesota Timberwolves had a franchise player in Kevin Garnett. He was selling seats and averaged almost 19 points per game and had many MVP like seasons. He carried the Wolves throughout 12 years of play, but then the fans got something they never expect. The face of the Minnesota Timberwolves was traded to the Boston Celtics for Al Jefferson, Sebastian Telfair, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff, cash, and a First Round Pick from the Boston Celtics. The reasoning behind the trade was simple; it was time to start new and fresh. With a key player leaving the wolves and getting many young, new players, how would the Timberwolves be in upcoming years?
The year after Garnett was traded was a rough and bumpy one. The Wolves only won 21 games and lost 60 games, the first time ever since the 1994-1995 year, the last year the Wolves were minus Kevin Garnett. Also Al Jefferson, arguably what we traded KG for, was not living up to his expectations that the team and us as fans had hoped. Yes, I understand that you can’t magically fill Kevin Garnett’s shoes in one season, but if we had the 13 time All Star, or the MVP of the 2003 season, I would bet my life that the Timberwolves would have done better.
Not all of this is the players themselves’ fault, but also the management. I would arguer that the management of the Timberwolves could have been more…smart. The recruiting staff has done a very poor job to “restart” the Wolves organization again. With Al Jefferson still having his ups and downs and not being a “stable” player, and thin Cory Brewer playing and guarding guys with at least 30-40 pounds on him, this year’s team has fallen apart. I give the recruiting staff some credit for drafting the first player born in the 1990’s and trying to wrangle Spanish basketball sensation Ricky Rubio to try and play for the Wolves as a gimmick to sell tickets and have another franchise player that both men and young teenage girls especially jump for joy and go out and buy merchandise.
Besides Rubio, the Wolves had three other draft picks in the first round, so I assumed we had to get something good out of the deal, but instead we draft total three point guards in Rubio, Johnny Flynn out of Syracuse and Ty Lawson out of North Carolina, and a shooting guard out of Wayne Ellington from North Carolina as well. But the woes for the Timberwolves continued, and Ricky Rubio decided to stay and play for FC Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain and cannot play in the NBA until after the 2010-2011 season, and Ty Lawson was shortly traded after the draft to the Denver Nuggets.
The one problem that now faces the Minnesota Timberwolves is that they don’t have a franchise player that can sell seat, and you rarely have and actual “home-court” advantage at home because when people do come to the Timberwolves games, it is mostly to see the opposing team. And as I was walking in the skyway going to the annual Timberwolves/Suns game, (I lived in Arizona for eight years and am an avid Suns fan,) I came across a sign that had a quote on it that somebody commented on from the Wolves organization. “We’re not re-building. We’re re-re-re-re-re-re building,” it stated. So, let’s finish “re-building” the organization, and focus on getting some players that can win the Timberwolves some games.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)