KG & McCants Have Chemistry

KG & McCants Have Chemistry

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Rashad McCants drained a three-pointer, and the Wolves finally shrugged off their torpor and stirred the small crowd inside Target Center.

Down 16, the Wolves ran off 11 consecutive fourth-quarter points while using this lineup: Kevin Garnett. Marko Jaric. Troy Hudson. Eddie Griffin. McCants.

The Wolves started the game with this lineup: Garnett. Jaric. Trenton Hassell. Michael Olowokandi. Wally Szczerbiak.

Having attended two Wolves games this year -- one of them the ugly 93-84 loss to the Clippers on Tuesday night -- I'm way overdue on offering suggestions to the coach.

Here's one: Dwane Casey will need to accelerate the developmental phase of his first season, will need to make his starting lineup look more like the fivesome that led that 11-0 run.

Casey spent November playing carrot-and-stick with McCants, his pouty-faced, leotard-wearing rookie, and bringing Griffin and Hudson off the bench.

But for all of Casey's talk of defense, you've got to score in the NBA.

Casey is a patient, disciplined fellow, so don't expect immediate upheaval. But sometime after the new year, I would recommend this as the rotation that gives him the best chance of making the playoffs:

Start Hudson at point guard, Jaric at off guard, Szczerbiak at small forward, Garnett at power forward and Griffin at center.

You'll be undersized, but the alternative is playing Michael Olowokandi, which is always a prelude to disappointment, and relying on Jaric as your primary ballhandler, which makes my left eye twitch.

Cut your losses with Olowokandi as early as possible, and play the guys who produce.

Make McCants your sixth man, your Vinnie Johnson-style microwave. Although it's apparent Casey is waiting for McCants to establish himself in practice before rewarding him with minutes in games, McCants does seem to give an effort on defense in games.

Use Hassell as your defensive stopper, Mark Madsen as your backup center, Richie Frahm as your three-point specialist, and Anthony Carter as your backup point guard.

For this team to take advantage of opponents constantly double-teaming Garnett -- who had 29 points in another wonderful all-around performance Tuesday -- he'll need his teammates to hit open jumpers.

I asked Garnett what worked well during that 11-0 run. "When you've got that group, you've got McCants, who can hit that outside shot, and at the same time he can drive to the basket," Garnett said. "You've also got Eddie and myself who are primary defenders, trying to clog the hole up.

"[Hudson] gives us a little versatility. We're not so stagnant. For some reason, that group just works. We don't ask a lot of questions. We share the ball. When we have shots we shoot them, we encourage each other, we're vocal."

I don't know Garnett well enough to parse those comments, but they came shortly after Szczerbiak looked disgusted during his group interview and, when asked about getting only nine shots, shrugged, frowned and said, "I don't know."</div>

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<div class="quote_poster">Quoting deception:</div><div class="quote_post">well clearly kg and wally z don't have chemistry so maybe kg and mccants are the lesser of the two evils. there has always been those persisting rumours around kg that he don't play nice in the sandbox with white dudes, wonder if there is any truth to those rumours?</div>

First time I've heard this rumor. He loves playing with Mark Madsen, and he's about as "white" as you can get. I'm still trying to figure out how Mark Madsen played in LA all those years and never got a tan. Does SPF 1000 exist?