Howlin' T-Wolf

Introduction and Rules can be found here.

Congrats to Memyworld who knew the answer to yesterday’s question which was 23, 45, 12 and 9. Jordan was forced to wear 12 for one game when his jersey was stolen from the locker-room (I have an old Sam Vincent basketball card with Jordan in the background wearing the #12 jersey) and few people remember the Olympic team number. Well done!

Today’s question is a two-parter:

What team do the Wolves have the worst record against all time and which team do they have the best record against all-time?

Please post your answers in the comments section.

Yesterday’s Introduction and Rules

Conrats go out to Z who posted the correct answer with Joe Smith, Michael Olowakandi, and Darko Millic as the 3 Timberwolves players with 3 of the 6 worst wins produced numbers for #1 and #2 picks from 1988 to 2004. Olowakandi actually carries a ridiculously bad -3.0, Darko is at 0 and Joe Smith is at 8.1. (The other 3 were Rik Smits – 4.3, Danny Ferry – 0.4, and Jay Williams – 1.0)

Today’s question:

A little non-Timberwolves trivia for you and one of my all-time favorite NBA trivia questions:

What jersey numbers has Michael Jordan worn in his professional basketball career?

Want a reason to celebrate amidst one of the worst runs in Timberwolves franchise history?!?!? I’ve got free stuff to give away! The contest is for a copy of the new book Stumbling on Wins,  by Dave Berri and Martin Schmidt, authors of The Wages of Wins.  Like my fellow bloggers in the TrueHoop Network I not only received my own advanced copy but 5 to giveaway to Howlin’ T-Wolf readers. There are at least 5 of you left reading about the Wolves right? Well if not I’m sure those who missed out elsewhere in the Network will mosey on over here to try and win one.

To make it a little more fun we’ll have one question per day this week and the first person to answer correctly in the comments will win.

Monday’s question:

Since the Timberwolves inaugural season in 1988 until 2004 (the cut off being for players with at least 5 years of experience) the Wolves have had on their roster at one time or another 3 of the worst 6 players, in terms of wins produced, that were drafted with either the #1 or #2 pick in the draft. Who are those 3 players?

Also, if you don’t win here this week, don’t worry. On Berri’s personal blog (The Wages of Wins Journal), he’s got links to all of the contests which include all of the TrueHoop Network blogs. They will be running their own contests/giveaways so be sure to go check them out as well.

Also if you still don’t win he is offering a free 2,000 word article to anyone who purchases the book this week (4/12-4/18). Simply forward a copy of your dated receipt to StumblingonWins@Gmail.com.  A PDF version of the article will be forwarded to your inbox.  You can purchase the book at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Borders, and FT PRess.

Good Luck!

Heard this before? The Wolves barely show up and drop another two games over the weekend. Highlights included being beat by a reeling playoff team and a should have been playoff team without their best star player. The latter also includes a rookie backcourt (Collison+Thornton), that most Wolves fans wouldn’t think twice about trading their own (Flynn + Ellington) for, doing just about anything they wanted to against the T-pups.

“Notable” happenings:

• Jefferson played potentially the worst game of his career. If he needs to be with his family I am all about that. But coming back and taking minutes from Love to play the way he did wasn’t worth it.
• Rambis got thrown out of the Hornets game. Can you say too little to late? This just a few games after they were talking about how he learned as a player it never really pays to argue with the officials.
• Brian Cardinal, yes the recently returned Brian Cardinal, led the Wolves in assists last night with 3. On the other side rookie Darren Collison had 11. By the way that was in just 12 minutes of play before he fouled out.
• Not a single Wolves player had a positive +/- last night.
• In the Lakers game Darko was +7 in 39 minutes. Which means the 9 he was on the bench the Wolves were -18. Legit center anyone?

At halftime Mike McCollow said the Wolves need to trade whatever it takes to get a superstar. I couldn’t agree more. The easiest way? Get the 1st or second pick in the draft. The hard way? There is no other way really. The Wolves don’t even have the collective assets, especially with how bad they played down the stretch, to convince anyone remotely close to superstar level to sign here even for big bucks. And no team is going to take an Al Jefferson/Jonny Flynn pu pu platter at this point in return for anyone resembling a “superstar.” Unfortunately Wolves fans it’s a top 2 pick or bust.

I’m going to wait until the season is “officially over” at then end of this week after the last 3 games to start breaking down everything in review and looking forward, but Phil Miller of the Star Tribune got the offseason started with David Kahn talking about a lot of change on the horizon.

Wolves season in review: Boss promises big changes | StarTribune.com.

From the beginning, Timberwolves boss David Kahn and coach Kurt Rambis called this nearly finished season one devoted to player evaluation and development, concepts that also mean few expectations and little pressure.

All that is about to change.

Still aimed at tying the worst record in franchise history, the Wolves head toward a summer in which they possess three first-round draft picks, hefty salary-cap space and a roster that includes nary a player untouchable for a trade, except perhaps the rights to European prospect Ricky Rubio.

Among the things they’ve learned during these past six months: They lack a game-saving star player and also need a traditionally sized center on a team previously built around undersized power forwards Al Jefferson and Kevin Love.

Hired 11 months ago, Kahn immediately embarked on what he called a 17-month process to transform the franchise. He started by trading away player after player last summer to improve draft positioning and clear cap space.

The maneuvering presented what he now calls an obviously incomplete team that produced the league’s second-worst record and nearly a 20 percent chance of winning the No. 1 overall pick in the June draft.

The clock is ticking.

“Those 17 months expire in September,” Kahn said. “I can assure you the ballclub will be measurably different by then. It will. Obviously, we’ll have to demonstrate some significant progress next season, whether you want to define that by wins and losses or other measurements.”

Be sure to click and read the whole thing.

What are your thoughts on Kahn’s assessment?

Things you need to know about the Wolves most recent loss:

• Big Al didn’t play. If he had the Wolves might have played just a little better.
• Anthony Tolliver dropped 34 points. He made it look easy. Wait who is Anthony Tolliver you ask? Exactly.
• Stephen Curry made me cry. He should be a Timberwolf. There is no if’s and’s or but’s to it. The funniest part? Kahn mentioned Flynn’s leadership and defense. I saw way more of it from Curry tonight who finished with a career high 7 steals to go along with a ho-hum 27, 14, and 8 on 12-22 shooting and 3-5 from behind the arc. Curry should be a Wolf and will probably end up haunting us in a similar way as Roy did to Foye.
• The Wolves want this season to be over just as much as us fans do. You can see it in their effort and body language.
• The Wolves defense was so bad I have no idea why it even became a 4 point game at one point in the last 2 minutes. The Warriors must have gotten bored with making all their shots or something after they made 80% of them in the 2nd quarter.

Now for a bit of good news: 1) Evan Turner and John Wall are in the draft and 2) The Wolves will for sure have 3 first round picks in this summer’s draft as Charlotte clinched a playoff spot tonight and will not finish in the top 12 (which is how much the pick was protected). The Wolves will have their own, the Bobcats and the Jazz. I can’t wait.

Well Howlers, last night we saw the third game in a row that Wolves were overmatched by a more athletic and skilled basketball team. First it was the Bobcats with their 3-headed monster of athleticism of Stephen Jackson, Gerald Wallace, and Tyrus Thomas. Then it was Dwight Howard and the never ending group of specialists the Magic have put together with Ryan Anderson and J.J Redick being the shooters off the bench that hurt the Wolves the most. And finally last night we had the Suns amazingly good pick-and-roll game featuring Amare Stoudemire tearing through the Wolves front line along with Channing Frye bombing away from the 3-point line (5-10) to the point that it didn’t matter Jefferson and Love combined for 42 points and 38 rebounds.

So what do we know after the last 3 outings and even more broadly over this horrendous 16 game losing streak? How bad is bad?

Last night’s loss, even with the Wolves amazing third quarter that somehow cut a 22 point Suns halftime lead all the way down to 1, showed that the Wolves just can’t shoot the basketball at the level it takes to win games in the NBA. 45%/30%/70% just don’t cut it in this league. Looking at the numbers from last night:

• 10 missed free throws on 37 attempts (Hollins 0-2, Brewer 3-8, and Jefferson 7-10), 73%
• 12 missed 3’s on 16 attempts, 25%
• 57! missed 2’s on 94 attempts, 39%

We still have no idea what it going with the rotations and the minutes being distributed by Coach Rambis.

• Kevin Love is still coming off the bench but last night led the team in minutes played.
• We still haven’t seen Jonny Flynn run the offense like Ramon Sessions does.
• We’ve seen Darko be a potentially integral piece for the Wolves on the front line but only at the cost of keeping Jefferson and Love off the floor together. On the other hand those minutes were Ryan Hollins’ before so at least Darko is an improvement.
• Ellington has played pretty well and been a bright spot in terms of shooting, but still can’t crack the starting line-up.
• Brewer’s shooting has improved but he isn’t playing or shooting the way he did WAY back when the Wolves won 4 in a row.

The triangle offense is being run correctly about 4-5 times a game. Sometimes less. Last night I saw Love and Sessions hook up for a great pinch post cut and pass for a lay-up that was nice. I just wish I wasn’t shocked to see it. I think the Wolves have sufficiently proven that the triangle offense cannot be run with two pick and roll point guards, a non-passing low post specialist, and a group of spotty outside shooters. The Wolves will either have to get rid of the system (my preference) and switch to say a pick and roll based offense similar to what we saw the Suns running last night OR just about gut this team this summer in exchange for personnel that can play in the triangle. It will be interesting to see which way Kahn and Rambis goes. My guess is they will go for the latter, assuming they get decent value for the Wolves’ “assets.”

On the other side of the ball the Wolves have shown they simply are not athletic enough to defend NBA teams. As good as Love and Jefferson can be as rebounding and low-post scoring specialists, they do not have the athleticism to defend most NBA front-lines. Those that will point to the two’s great play last night will need to go back and watch Love grab more than half of those rebounds while only battling Grant Hill or Jared Dudley down low. Not to mention it’s always a shock to see the Wolves rotate on the perimeter on defense.

So how bad is bad? Well it’s pretty bad. The Wolves will need to find a way to pull themselves together and win one more game of the last 8 to not finish with the lowest win total in franchise history. If it doesn’t come Wednesday night against the Kings I really don’t know where they’re going to get it.

BTW for those that didn’t see it, John Hollinger’s Per Diem (ESPN Insider) last Friday covered the Wolves’ futility and brought up just about everything we’ve been seeing from our team. Terrible rotations, mis-fit personnel in the trinagle, calling into question Flynn and Sessions over Curry and Lawson, not having anyone on the wing that can create their own shot, and much more. If you’re wondering if anyone in the national media noticed just how bad the Wolves are, Hollinger proves the answer is clearly yes.

In lieu of Friday’s Lakers recap and last nights against the Raptors let’s look at a few of the positives from the Wolves last two games.

• For the first time all season Jonny Flynn appears to be playing without the leash Rambis has kept so tight all season. He’s going to the hoop (8-10 from the line last night) and it’s effective. Only problem is now the Wolves’ offense is a three-headed monster which is trying to push the ball up court fast, and then either a) running some form of the triangle, b) iso posting Jefferson (or whoever happens to be posting up) and c) letting Jonny create. The problem with option c is that no one is used to playing this way. Love and Jefferson each missed a dime from Flynn off a drive, and Love missed an easy lay-up after a great pass from his as well. Not to mention no one seems to know which of the 3 to run. Flynn is good at creating but he still has his “rookie” moments taking a few bad shots or failing to get the ball to Jefferson when he’s been doing work.
• On that topic, getting the ball to Jefferson, it still baffles me that this team won’t at least get him a touch every time down the floor when he’s in the game (9-16 last night, 7-15 friday) and playing well. A lot of this lands on Flynn’s shoulders but not all. Numerous times Gomes or Brewer took the ball on the wing and went to Love at the high/pinch-post.
• Darko. For those of you that have watched the last two games, were you thinking the same thing I was thinking? Darko Millic if the Wolves can just convince him to stay on this side of the pond next year, is going to soon be the Wolves best all-time center. Yes that’s right, ALL-TIME. Go ahead try and pick one who was better. Don’t say Jefferson because we all know he’s a power forward. Yes Darko freaking Millic has the chance to be the Wolves best all-time center. What I still can’t figure out: why the heck wasn’t he playing in New York? Must have gotten off on the wrong foot with D’Antoni or something. All I know is I am happy he’s a Wolf. Blocking shots, making smart passes, hitting lefty hooks in the post, dropping 20 footers, and using his legit size to rebound the ball. I couldn’t expect more from a starting center.
• Wayne Ellington. Could we get this guy a start? Knocking down shots and playing solid defense. Ellington has shown that he works well at the 2 and I still would like to see him start next to Flynn with Brewer at the 3. Gomes is better at the 4 anyway.
• Did anyone see that the Wolves were tied in the Lakers game at 66 and also just before halftime with the Raptors at 45. Small, moral victories right?
• At the end of last night’s game we were once again shown that Rambis is not very good with the clipboard at drawing up plays for the team. I know it hasn’t been needed much but he better start working at it if we’re going to win close ones down the road.
• I should also note that Corey Brewer’s impressive 33 game streak of games with at least one 3-pointer ended on Friday in LA. For a guy who once had one of the worst NBA Hot Spot charts that I posted back in November and who I asked to just stop shooting, he’s come a heckva long way. Props to you Corey, keep shooting it.
• Anybody missing Ryan Hollins? Yea me neither.
• Kevin Love didn’t have a stellar game last night but he did on Friday in LA. It’s clear though with Darko playing well recently that even with a legit center the Jefferson-Love combo still isn’t solved. I will be shocked if one isn’t traded this summer. It just feels like neither of them can maximize their potential on the same team. What say you on this subject?
• Next up the Bobcats who play in Washington tonight and are coming off 2 losses to the Hawks and Heat. Could the Wolves steal a win? If not the good news is all signs point to us getting their 1st rounder this June. See there’s always a silver lining somewhere.

Ok so maybe it wasn’t so funny that the Wolves gave up the most points by an NBA team all year. But in reality the “lighter” side of this season hasn’t showed itself at all in the last 17 games while the Wolves have tallied a 1-17 record with a lone win in Miami during that span. Needless to say it’s been the dog days of being a Wolves fan. It hasn’t been this bad since oh probably back in the Isaiah “J.R” Rider days before the Wolves drafted Kevin Garnett. It’s a tough, tough place to be as a Wolves fan right now. I’m not going to sit here and sugarcoat it even though part of me wants to tell you all about the bright future the Wolves still have with their assets and this coming offseason. The other part of me wants to rant and complain about all the frustrating things the Wolves did that got them here and second guess the decisions they made that put them in this hole. But what I don’t really feel like talking about is what the Wolves have been doing on the court. It’s been bad. Really bad. Like cover your eyes before they are permanently damaged by the sight of it bad. The Wolves have nothing good going for them. Nothing on offense, nothing on defense. They don’t even have a single player that has been playing well. Even Kevin Love is playing awful right now. The Suns game was just the epitome of the awfulness that the Wolves have been showing on the court over the last month and a half. In any case I’m going to try and break down this awfulness and see if the Wolves have any light at the end of the tunnel and what the steps might be to get there, even still in this increasingly frustrating season.

Al Jefferson is far from the 20/10 machine he was last year. The one good thing that can be said about last year’s team was at the very least the dump it in to Big Al strategy at least produced some points and made Al a valuable player on this team. Lately the team will watch him go 4-4 to start the game and then decide he’s done touching it and start chucking jumpers. Would it be too much to ask for them to keep going to him until the other team tries to stop him? Step #1 for the Wolves to get out of this slump is to start going to there “go-to” man on offense.

Jonny Flynn is neither a triangle offense point guard or even a “system” point guard. It’s time that Kurt Rambis and the coaching staff come to terms with this reality. If Jonny Flynn is going to be your starting point guard then you better give him an offense he can actually use. Let this team run the pick and roll on the weak side if Jefferson can’t go to work. Let Jonny run it with Gomes and play the pick and pop. Let him have Ellington on the weak side wing to kick it too off of his drive. Let Flynn run the high pick and roll with Love at the top of the key. Let him run it with Darko at the high post. The funniest part about this is that Gomes, Love and Darko are all very good at this play. Why not let Jonny go to work? I truly believe the triangle can be run in the NBA without necessarily needing a Jordan or a Kobe. But it can’t be run by Jonny Flynn. Nor Ramon Sessions for that matter. Step #2 is running the right offense for this team and it could not be clearer that means running the pick and roll with an uptempo pace.

Speaking of Ramon, can we get him some more playing time and can we let him run the pick and roll too? He used it in Milwaukee to dish out 24 assists on a team that wasn’t all that much better than this one. He also used it drop 40+ points taking it to the rack and getting to the free throw line. Jonny Flynn has shown he is nowhere near the “elite” NBA defender David Kahn thought he could become. Instead Ramon has shown himself to be the premier backcourt defender. As a result step #3 would be for him to get the lion’s share of the minutes at point guard.

Damien Wilkins is not the answer at small forward. Neither is Ryan Gomes. Gomes is the perfect backup power forward that can come in and score as a stretch 4. The answer for the Wolves at small forward is currently playing shooting guard. Yes Corey Brewer needs to move to the 3. Why? Because the only other effective wing is Wayne Ellington and he’s coming off the bench. Step #4 is getting the rotations right. Rambis needs to start Ellington with Flynn and Brewer. And while we’re on the topic of small forward, it would be great if they just permanently moved Sasha Pavlovic to the inactive list.

Last but not least step #5. Maybe the most important step to see some improvement and win a few of their last 24 games. Play defense. Talk on defense. Learn how to actually: 1) Rotate on the perimeter after helping, 2) close-out on shooters before they get off an open look, and 3) take charges instead of trying to block shots.

These #5 steps seem simple enough. The biggest problem over the last 20 something games is that the Wolves have honestly been regressing instead of showing improvement. In my humble Timberwolves blogger opinion the coaching staff needs to take a cold, hard look at their personnel and be honest about what they can and can’t do on the basketball court. Because right now all I’ve been seeing lately is what they can’t and as a fan of this basketball team it’s not even worth watching. I don’t care about the wins so much as they are doing good things and showing improvement. If they can do that they’ll be worth watching and that’s all a fan can ask for from a team that is rebuilding.

From Marc Stein’s Weekend Dime: Games to watch – ESPN.

Q: Obviously your team is starting over, but how do you evaluate this first season individually?

A: I put a lot of pressure on myself to try to bring the best out of my teammates. As a point guard I like to judge myself by winning and when I judge myself like that the year isn’t going too well.

Q: That seems a little harsh, doesn’t it, considering you’re running the triangle offense for the first time?

A: It’s tough. It’s like learning a foreign language. You sit in class and you think you’ve got it and then there’s one verb you left out or something and you pronounce it the wrong way. It’s definitely difficult. It’s new to all of us, but definitely tough for me because I have to make sure everybody’s on the same page.

Q: What kind of grasp do you have on the triangle at this point?

A: I would say I’m at a C right now. … It’s really tough doing something your whole life and then switching. It’s been a humbling experience. But I think I’m making strides. There’s so many different wrinkles [in the offense]. I don’t think we’ve really even scratched the surface.

Q: I would think the fact that you had to learn a new offense on the fly would make you prouder of what you’ve achieved in your first season.

A: I think so. I don’t think any other rookie is in a position like this. You look at a lot of the top rookies and they have a tremendous amount of freedom. They can go out and really almost do whatever they want. But Kurt [Rambis] is really teaching me the game of basketball. He’s teaching me how to play in a system. And if you look at all the great point guards in this league, they know how to run a system and they can play pick-and-roll basketball. I already know how to play pick-and-roll basketball. Now I’m learning how to run a system.

Q: Who would get your Rookie of the Year vote and how disappointed are you that you’re not getting much consideration?

A: Tyreke Evans. Has to be [Rookie of the Year]. He’s averaging 20 points a game in the NBA as a rookie. … I don’t think I’m doing as much as all the rookies that are mentioned [for Rookie of the Year]. I’m just looking forward to getting better with time.

and…

One addendum to the Jonny Flynn chat in Box 2: Flynn admits that he hasn’t been closely tracking Ricky Rubio’s work with Spanish giants Barcelona this season.

The last time they spoke? Draft night.

Flynn, though, insists that he has never approached his bosses to ask for more insight into why the Wolves drafted point guards with the No. 5 and No. 6 picks in the 2009 draft.

“I was just happy to be picked that high in the draft,” Flynn said.