Coming off a 22-60 season in the first year of the PGE (post-Garnett era), Timberwolves Vice President of Basketball Operations/Danny Ainge buddy/media whipping boy Kevin McHale stated that he expects the Wolves to win at least 20 more games in 2008-09.
That's an extremely lofty expectation, one which would put the Timberwolves right in the thick of the bottom half of the Western Conference playoff race. The unlikelihood of the prediction is enhanced by the fact that the Timberwolves have, arguably, the NBA's worst head coach in Randy Wittman.
Dwayne Casey was fired midway through the 2006-07 season, with Minnesota having "underachieved" with a 20-20 record. Wittman took over and guided the team to a 12-30 finish. He's posted a career coaching record of 96-192 (.333) with Cleveland and Minnesota.
Despite major coaching deficiencies, the Wolves' roster is much improved this year. The club shipped out underachieving, overpaid cancers Marko Jaric and Antoine Walker.
They brought in Kevin Love and three-point specialist Mike Miller in the controversial draft night trade which sent O.J. Mayo to Memphis. (Side note: Anyone else think the Grizzlies were so eager to trade the No. 5 pick so that the nickname for its best duo wouldn't be Gay/Love?)
They signed all their key free agents—Sebastian Telfair, Craig Smith, and Ryan Gomes—all of whom should be better with another year of experience.
You also have to figure Rashad McCants and Corey Brewer will also improve and mature with age.
But the real success or failure of the team lies squarely on the shoulders of Randy Foye. Fans have unleashed their fury on him, especially since the team traded Brandon Roy (an All-Star last season) for him while also passing over exciting youngster Rudy Gay on draft day.
However, when you evaluate Foye based on his own numbers, they suggest he could be primed for a breakout in year three. Many fans who bash Foye forget he too made the 2006-2007 All-Rookie First Team alongside Roy.
Foye's injury certainly was a blow to the club last season, as Foye missed the first 43 games for the season. The club went 14-25 in the 39 games he played in, a record that is hardly stellar but much improved from the 8-35 mark without him.
Foye, as to be expected, was rusty when he first returned. But he was able to settle into a nice groove in the final month of the year, averaging 18.4 points and 5.2 assists.
With Telfair as the team's only other point guard, Foye shoulders much of the expectations for the upcoming year. While it seems certain he will be able to get his points on a nightly basis, the team also needs him to step up his level of defense.
In a back court featuring defensive liabilities such as Miller and McCants, he must improve his on-ball defending against the opposing teams' floor generals. In addition, the burden will fall on him to find three-point shooter Miller behind the arc and feed the ball down low to Love and franchise cornerstone Al Jefferson in the post.
Foye certainly has the ability to still develop into a young star in this league. The sooner he does, the sooner the club will head back towards respectability, and the sooner the critics of the draft day trade will be silenced.
8 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment
Greg Haefner 11 months ago
That "Gay/Love" comment almost made me fall out of my chair laughing!
In all seriousness though, great article. Keep up the good work!
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Marin Perez 11 months ago
Still think the Love trade was a huge mistake. I love Love, and think he can be really effective in this league. But, Big Al needs to play the 4, and Love's not big enough to play the 5 or quick enough to play the 3.
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Andrew Ungvari 11 months ago
Kevin Love is the key to this team because they traded the guy most I think will win the Rookie of the Year award to get him. I'm a Bruin so you know I'm not lying when I tell you that they will regret trading a Trojan for a Bruin. I'm as big a Kevin Love fan as you'll ever meet but he's Sean May. He's not going to get away with all his head fakes in the NBA. Guys like KG (sorry) and Camby will just sit there and block every shot and laugh at him. Kevin Love is the kind of guy who should be coming off the bench for a good team. He's not the type of guy you try to build a franchise around.
I hope I'm wrong about Love. This team is years away from the playoffs so be patient. That's why the key to the season was whether or not they made the right pick in the draft.
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Quentin McCall 11 months ago
Nice overview of the team.
But how do you see Love and Al Jefferson fitting together? I like Love's game a lot but I don't see the combination working out...
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Andrew Koritz 11 months ago
thanks for the comments. i think love and jefferson will struggle defensively up front, which is definetly a concern. both players are going to have to find a way to step up and improve their defense. It also makes some of our defensive minded players like Corey Brewer more important on the team.
I'm not 100 percent sold on Mayo or Love, but I like the trade because I think Miller will really improve this team. Mayo seems like a lot of hype to me and will have trouble turning over the ball too much. I think Love inside and Miller outside will really open the floor for Foye and allow Randy to drive into the lane and excel.
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Harris Beringer 11 months ago
The Timberwolves' biggest problem last year was playing Corey Brewer. Based on my statistics, if they had not played Brewer or Madsen, they would have won about 7 more games.
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ripcityphil 11 months ago
Love gives the team a player who can draw defenders away from Al Jefferson with his shootiing ability. He will also battle 4 boards which get's them extra shots. His passing abiltiy will bring a few easy baskets too.
Love & Miler for OJ makes sense to me because next year's draft the Wolves will have the opportunity to grab DeRozan from USC who is better than OJ and he can play the 2 guard.
IMO - The next 2 drafts are really the key to the Wolves future.
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Daniel Damico 10 months ago
Good article - Foye is huge for the T'Wolves, but I also think Rashad McCants is big. The wolves have to decide how to use him and McCants has to accept it and play! He would be a great 6th man. But he has to make that choice.
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