Howlin' T-Wolf

Well that was quick and quite unfortunate. Hours after finally returning to something resembling his old form on the low block for the Wolves against the Portland Trailblazers Saturday night, Al Jefferson was arrested on suspicion of fourth degree DWI and will be suspended by the Timberwolves for the next two games without pay. Jefferson has already written an apology to the organization and to Timberwolves fans.

Personally I do and I do not understand how this type of thing happens. On the one side, being the already settled down married guy I don’t go out on the town late at night a lot, it’s just not my scene. But being around a lot of my fellow single 20 somethings at work that enjoy the party and nightlife scene I know a lot of people who do have a lot of fun going out and I hear all the stories. Unfortunately it always includes alcohol. The problem as always and that everyone knows (but maybe doesn’t admit all the time) is that alcohol impairs your judgment and causes even responsible people to act irresponsible. It’s plain and simple. Add that with a talented person like Al who gets paid millions of dollars for performing on the basketball court and I can see why he might incorrectly think it was ok to drive home on Saturday night. He probably thought he could handle it. People like Al who get paid big money and are told that “they are the man” all the time can as a result rely on their abilities to a fault. Al did so Saturday night and as David Kahn said thankfully no one was hurt as a result of his poor judgment.

On the flipside in this day and age of NBA player entourages, 1) how does he not have someone (to be) around so this doesn’t happen and 2) why not just call a cab, limo, helicopter or whatever might tickle his fancy to help him get home. He’s now out 300k from his suspension and with that money he could have probably even chartered a jet home to Mississippi for the night. Heck didn’t the Wolves even hire Darrick Martin to be there wherever, whenever, 24/7 assistant coach to help with player development? That would have been an easy, no questions asked call. Silly it wasn’t made.

On a team who’s only retired jersey is the direct result of a player’s tragic death at the hands of an overly intoxicated driver, you would think better judgment would have been shown by a guy with as good a character as Al has.

That being said a lot of very good people have made mistakes as big and bigger than Al did last night and changed for the better from it. Again thankfully no one was hurt and here’s to Al learning from his mistake and next time making the right call. The Wolves need him to and us fans need him to too.