The Whole Effein Show- Preview Of Al Jefferson And The Timberwolves.

Hello everyone and welcome to the first edition of the whole effein' show! My name is Nicholas Host and I am here to talk about the Wolves and interact with all of you. Enjoy it, let the show begin.

 

The 2008-09 NBA season for the Minnesota Timberwolves is a show-me year for all those who make the roster. Management knows how important it will be for those who play better with Jefferson and Foye and to see what a good performing rotation will amount to. That said lets run thru the roster and see where I think some bright spots will be and where the improvement will need to come from in the time to come.

 

The starting roster appears to be set with Randy Foye, Mike Miller, Ryan Gomes, Kevin Love, and Al Jefferson. Obviously; their are plenty of candidates to start on the Wolves bench who have really high potentials for varying reasons, most of which are outside of their own control. The early part of the season will be figuring out if Love and Jefferson provide enough defense to play them together for 28+ minutes per game. Randy Foye's playmaking ability is another huge factor in determining if Ryan Gomes remains in the starting roster. If Foye does struggle making an impact from the point, look for him to slide to the off-guard position and the team inserting Sebastian Telfair in the starting lineup. 

 

There's a whole gaggle of mediocre players at the end of the roster who have the potential of being left off the 15-Man roster. Among them: Kevin Ollie, David Harrison, Rafael Araujo, Chris Richard, Calvin Booth, Brian Cardinal, and Blake Ahearn. 4 of the 7 need to walk. I expect Ollie, Harrison, and Cardinal to make the roster. Cardinal is a huge contract filler and might be too valuable for the Wolves to rid themselves of that contract. David Harrison is a lot younger and more talented than Richard, Araujo, and Booth. Booth does have the guaranteed contract, but it's expiring and he's a huge liability on the court for anything other than help defense.

 

Bright Spots

 

Al Jefferson- How can you not start with 1 of the 5 players who averaged 20 PPG and 10 RPG last season? Their was an early scare in camp when Big Al got his knee rolled up on, but he seems to be fine after a good performance in the first exhibition game for the Wolves. Can he improve his help defense while being the primary center? I think so.

 

Randy Foye- He was very productive in the last 2 ½ months of the season last season. He has to stay healthy, though; it's not known how much of the length of injury time was the Wolves being cautious or Foye's actual recovery time. Whatever the reason, it's imperative for him to remain in the lineup and show the Wolves didn't make a mistake by wanting him instead of the more established Brandon Roy. 

 

Mike Miller- He's a guy who loves to shoot the three and rebound on the defensive end of the court. The Wolves don't have enough talent or quality gameplay to neglect him of doing what he does best. He will get plenty of opportunities to shoot the rock and rebound missed shots, which should mean he turns a season that should give him plenty of sunshine in the bright spot portion of this article.

 

Muddled Middle

 

Kevin Love, Sebastian Telfair, Ryan Gomes, Rashad McCants, Craig Smith- The main reason why I coupled all of these players together is because you pretty much know what you're going to receive from these players. All of them have high ceilings of performance but lack the ability to make themselves stars because of the lack of consistency in their respective games. Obviously the jury is still out on McCants, especially now that he is two years removed from his Micro-Fracture surgery. Same with Kevin Love, I think his overall performance is more contingent upon Al Jefferson's ability to play the center. Nevertheless, I don't view Love and Jefferson as a great match for playing opposite one another. 

 

Low Spots

 

Corey Brewer- Is their another wing player who is less confident taking a shot beyond 4 feet in the NBA? He can obviously defend the perimeter; but his name is Corey Brewer not Trenton Hassell. It's looking more and more that the Wolves drafted someone who peaked offensively in college.

 

Jason Collins- A golf cart accident? 50% from the free throw line? Offensive liability? Ugh. Granted, he could prove to be the best option to play alongside Al Jefferson but there is so little to like about him all the way around. Good thing he has a manageable contract.... whoops!

 

Players 12-15- Yes.... all of them. The Wolves completely whiffed on bringing in Shaun Livingston because they didn't want to give him some extra bling-blang. The logic behind it baffles me! Why would you not pay someone a little extra for the potential of having a big starting point guard for the next 10 years? Oh well. Enough about those who aren't there; lets talk about the ones who will be... Ok I'm good, anyone else want to read more about them? 

 

Expectation: 29-53 4th in the Northwest Division.

 

Bold Prediction: Kevin McHale will relieve a lot of his basketball operations duties to the much more suited and liked Fred Hoiberg.