http://twolvesden.com/portal.php?article=0 Timberwolves Trimester Report Well, the Minnesota Timberwolves are a .500 basketball team and the Western Conference Finals team from a year ago is nowhere to be found. There have been many problems this year after the team started out pretty good in its first 23 games at 15-8. However, somewhere along the road there was a bump. Over the next 10 games, the Wolves struggled immensely, losing 8 of 10. Now with one-third of the season done, the Timberwolves are searching for some answers. Coach Saunders not coaching? With so many things going wrong thus far in the season, people have started to point fingers. Some of the finger pointing has gone in the direction of Coach Flip Saunders. Some claim he is not handling this team as he has handled others in the past. It seems as if guys on this team do not know their roles. Or other accounts have pointed in the direction of the lack of fundamentals such as boxing out on rebounds or not rotating to the ball. Mixing up the rotation Maybe some of the Wolves struggles are accounted to the starting lineup. Really the only person you could slate into the starting lineup is Kevin Garnett. After that there are 11 players who could be starting in the final four spots. Some of that goes on Saunders, but not all. Stay or Go? Some think that the Timberwolves have too much depth and scorers and the only way to get back on track is to make some moves via transaction. Some players rumored to leave are Wally Szczerbiak, Latrell Sprewell, Troy Hudson, and Sam Cassell to cities like New York, Cleveland, Chicago, New Orleans, and Boston. Wally has voiced that he would enjoy playing in the Big Apple and hinted at wanting a new contract. Other players hinting, or rather demanding a new contract towards the beginning of the season were Cassell and Sprewell, but those talks have been squashed. Troy Hudson?s agent has also voiced his input how Troy should be getting more minutes, which could also pose a problem in the locker room. The Quiet MVP The Minnesota Timberwolves drafted Kevin Garnett with the 5th pick in the 1995 NBA Draft and he hasn?t disappointed them. Now he finds himself in a disappointing situation. Many think Garnett could demand a trade if things get even worse. The reigning MVP has had a great year thus far and has himself right in the hunt for the MVP award along with LeBron James, Steve Nash and Amare Stoudamire. One thing is certain?if the Timberwolves don?t start to play better then KG won?t be the MVP this season.
The bottom line is that the Wolves are not a good basketball team and they are not playoff worthy. I think it's time to break up this team. They have ran its course. I am seeing so many problems with this team and tonight was the breaking point for me. I am not blaming this on Flip. Flip is fine with me. It's more on the players and some guys need to get out.
Quiet a good analysis, but let me point out some things: <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Flesh:</div><div class="quote_post">http://twolvesden.com/portal.php?article=0 Timberwolves Trimester Report Well, the Minnesota Timberwolves are a .500 basketball team and the Western Conference Finals team from a year ago is nowhere to be found. There have been many problems this year after the team started out pretty good in its first 23 games at 15-8. However, somewhere along the road there was a bump. Over the next 10 games, the Wolves struggled immensely, losing 8 of 10. Now with one-third of the season done, the Timberwolves are searching for some answers.</div> I hoped to read something about why they played so well at the beginning and what might have changed then. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Coach Saunders not coaching? With so many things going wrong thus far in the season, people have started to point fingers. Some of the finger pointing has gone in the direction of Coach Flip Saunders. Some claim he is not handling this team as he has handled others in the past. It seems as if guys on this team do not know their roles. Or other accounts have pointed in the direction of the lack of fundamentals such as boxing out on rebounds or not rotating to the ball. Mixing up the rotation Maybe some of the Wolves struggles are accounted to the starting lineup. Really the only person you could slate into the starting lineup is Kevin Garnett. After that there are 11 players who could be starting in the final four spots. Some of that goes on Saunders, but not all.</div> How cannot this be Saunders fault? He is the one who decides who is in the S5 and who is on the bench, he decides when a player plays. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Stay or Go? Some think that the Timberwolves have too much depth and scorers and the only way to get back on track is to make some moves via transaction. Some players rumored to leave are Wally Szczerbiak, Latrell Sprewell, Troy Hudson, and Sam Cassell to cities like New York, Cleveland, Chicago, New Orleans, and Boston. Wally has voiced that he would enjoy playing in the Big Apple and hinted at wanting a new contract. Other players hinting, or rather demanding a new contract towards the beginning of the season were Cassell and Sprewell, but those talks have been squashed. Troy Hudson?s agent has also voiced his input how Troy should be getting more minutes, which could also pose a problem in the locker room.</div> Depth is a problem as in Saunders doesn't know when to play which player. Depth is a problem as in some people want more playing time (but also a team chemistry problem), but depth isn't a problem when people want more money / a contract extension, this is a team chemistry thing. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Quiet MVP The Minnesota Timberwolves drafted Kevin Garnett with the 5th pick in the 1995 NBA Draft and he hasn?t disappointed them. Now he finds himself in a disappointing situation. Many think Garnett could demand a trade if things get even worse. The reigning MVP has had a great year thus far and has himself right in the hunt for the MVP award along with LeBron James, Steve Nash and Amare Stoudamire. One thing is certain?if the Timberwolves don?t start to play better then KG won?t be the MVP this season.</div> We are going to see a trade soon, I just don't know which players are involved, at the moment it really could be anybody except KG. If this team really goes back and starts a complete rebuilding which I think would be the best to do (they had their chance at winning a championship last year and couldn't do it, so why this year with nearly the same roster?), they should wait until they have their first round picks back (I don't know when this is actually happening). And then, everything is possible, from a complete overhaul with Saunders and McHale going, KG being traded, etc.p.p... to a very slow rebuilding (which I really would hate, make it quick).
Garnett will not get traded anytime soon, unless he pulls a Malone later in his career. We need to make some big trades, and they should involve Sprewell or Cassell, or both. The most appealing trade for me is with the Hornets involving Baron Davis. I think he should throw someone else in there and try to get Jamal Magloire with him. If that trade doesn't go through, we should still try to get Kurt Thomas from the Knicks.
