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Minnesota Timberwolves
2007-08 Record: 22-60
Cool 2007 Stat: Al Jefferson was only the 2nd Wolves player (KG, the man he was traded for, was first) to average 21 points and 11 rebounds in a season. KG was the same age (23), when he got his first as well.
Anticipated Starting Five
PG- Randy Foye
SG- Mike Miller
SF- Ryan Gomes
PF- Kevin Love
C- Al Jefferson
Bench: Rashad McCants, Corey Brewer, Sebastian Telfair, Craig Smith, Rodney Carney
Biggest Strength – Inside – Outside Scoring
Al Jefferson has become an all-star caliber big man scoring and rebounding with the best while playing out of position as the center. The addition of Mike Miller and to a lesser degree Rodney Carney (if he shoots the way he did post All-Star break last season – 38%) will help bolster their 21st ranked three-point shooting. Miller also stabilizes the Wolves perimeter scoring that was pretty inconsistent between Rashad McCants, Marco Jaric and Kirk Snyder flip-flopping as starters and Randy Foye only playing 39 games. Now, Miller solidifies the starting shooting guard position with McCants being an explosive scorer off the bench. Foye is the starting point guard. And time will tell if Kevin Love can be a versatile inside-outside scorer at power forward the way he was at UCLA.
Biggest Weakness – Defense
27th in the NBA in field goal percentage defense says it all. This team can’t defend. In the front court they lack size. Al Jefferson is a stud on offense, but he is weak defensively in both help and individual situations. I think Kevin Love will get abused by power forwards at this level. I am just not confident he can guard the bigger guys inside or quicker guys on the perimeter. But I do think he is a solid player and worker who could surprise me in this area. I love the acquisition of Mike Miller, but he doesn’t help on the defensive end either. Unless Randy Wittman can get these young guys to commit on the defensive end, they will only take a small step in the winning direction.
Key Player in ’08- Randy Foye
This team has a lot of good, young pieces. You’ve got a superstar PF in Al Jefferson, one of the best shooters and secondary scorers in the league in Mike Miller, and a bunch of young up-and-comers. The only thing missing is consistent guard play. Randy Foye is capable of providing that for the team but has been injured too much to show it. During the 10 games the Wolves had in April last year, Foye averaged 18.5 points, 5.2 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game. I know he can keep that up for an entire season, and if he stays healthy, the Wolves will have a lot of options for defenses to worry about.
Their Thaddeus (exciting player 22 or under) – Corey Brewer, 22
Brewer was one of my favorite players in last year’s draft. I thought he was going to be the second coming of Tayshaun Prince. He still may be, but he didn’t show it last year. He played 23 minutes a game but only shot 37% from the floor. Those who saw him in college know that he is a much better shooter than that. He played slightly better as the season wore on, but he’s going to have to make a pretty big improvement this year to start meeting expectations.
Pete’s 2008 Outlook: 3rd place, Northwest division / 8th place, Western conference /15th place, NBA
OK, hear me out. Every year I try to pick a young team that I think could make a big leap if everything goes right. Last year, I picked the Hawks, this year, I’m going with Wolves. They will be a vastly improved team, and here’s why: A healthy Foye for the whole season, a legit 2nd option in Mike Miller, a post player to run their offense through in Kevin Love, improved young players in Jefferson, McCants, Brewer and Telfair and the return of underrated role players Ryan Gomes and Craig Smith. Even if they don’t live up to my lofty expectations, the Wolves are an up-and-coming team to keep an eye on.
Dannie’s 2008 Outlook: 4th place, Northwest division / 12th place, Western conference /24th place, NBA
I like the move for Mike Miller, a proven player in this league, to pair with Al Jefferson. Carney will be a good role player as well. But in order for the Timberwolves to meet Pete’s lofty expectations of being the 8th playoff team they will need their three great college players: Randy Foye, Corey Brewer and Kevin Love to play just as well (together) in the NBA. In the case of Corey Brewer, that has yet to be seen. I have always thought Randy Foye would turn out to be a solid NBA point guard. And I think everyone besides Kevin McHale is unsure of how good Kevin Love will be. Regardless, I really like the players on this team, and they are finally moving in the right direction.
Philly Connection: Randy Foye
Foye came into Villanova with the best recruiting class in recent history along with Jason Fraser, Allan Ray and Curtis Sumpter. While Fraser and Sumpter battled injuries throughout their careers, Foye exceeded expectations and became the Big East POY and a 1st team All-American in 2006. He was an exceptional all-around player and is in the top-30 all-time for Villanova in every notable category (8th in points, 11th in assists, 27th in rebounds, 5th in steals and 17th in blocks).
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Nice assessment Dannie & Pete. Maybe it is just me, but when I think of the Minnesota Timberwolves, I still think of Kevin Garnett. He was the face of that franchise and he looks and acts like a Timberwolf– always “hungry like a wolf” (Duran Duran). When he won the championship last season, it was nice of him though to say, “This one’s for Minnesota!!”
It’s funny what happened to Minnesota since the 03-04 season, when Sprewell started bickering about his contract that was when the Timberwolves tumbled and collapsed to becoming one of the worst teams the last couple of years. They got rid of Garnett, Cassell, Saunders, all because a guy could not afford to feed his family. Wow!
Anyway, soon people will get used to seeing and hearing Al Jefferson, one of the seven items acquired in the Kevin Garnett trade in the 2007 offseason.
Greatest strength(s):
-Post up plays
-Strength
-Target Center (young teams play better at home!!)
-Added some perimeter shooters
-No pressure!!
-Plenty of trade chips!!
Greatest weakness(es):
-Kevin McHale (great player, bad GM)
-Perimeter shooting
-Youth
-Road woes
-Double teams
What will be interesting is to see how Randy Wittman does in his 3rd year. Another thing is Rashad McCants– can he control his anger and channel it to something better on the court. He has potential, but must lose that temper of his.
Also, without Minnesota, the Celtics and the Sixers could be powerhouses in their division and contenders in the East.
In the summer of 07, the Timberwolves traded Garnett to the Celtics for five players and two picks.
In the summer of 08, the Timberwolves acquired Carney, Booth, and a first round pick from the Sixers. That move helped clear space for the Sixers, which resulted in us getting Elton Brand. (THANK YOU MINNY!!!!)
This team has great potential, but they are not the Portland Trailblazers, someday they will past the Denver Nuggets for 3rd in the Northwest Division. Also, we don’t know what the Utah Jazz are going to do in the 09 offseason. Their main goal is to not have the Oklahoma City Thunder in their 4th place position in the NW.
With that said, the Timberwolves will be 4th in the Northwest Division, 14th in the West!!
(On a side note, the Sixers will be (2-0) against the Timberwolves. The game at the Target Center will be a close one, but the Sixers can squeak by now that we have Elton Brand in the post and some additional perimeter shooters.)
Excuse the interruption, but guessing from just-in financial transaction news, Sixers will be playing in Citigroup Center this season … or FDIC Arena … or “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime” Dome.
Pete,
I find it odd that you say they have “a post player to run their offense through in Kevin Love.”
Kevin Love may be a lot of things, but I highly doubt he will be 1/3 the post scorer of Al jefferson(currently) at age 19? 20?
Having said that, I like Minnesota. I feel as though you may be underestimating their complete and utter inability to guard anyone over 6-8 though since Love and Jefferson are both likely to be abused on the defensive side of the ball this year. I would be very surprised if they won say 38 games. 30 games seems more likely to me. If they didn’t have Mike Miller, I would say 25 would be quite an accomplishment.
Joe -
I was referring to Love’s passing ability actually.
He has some good moves down low, but is an EXCELLENT passer, a la Yao Ming. He and Jefferson down low will give Mike Miller a lot of open shots. And since this isn’t the 2004 Olympics, he’ll probably make them.
I just realize that it will soon be October, so we better get going with these team evaluations. Where is everybody? But, hey I’m definitely looking forward to the Phils-Brewers series!! Can you smell it? – the pumpkin pie, the crisp air, the golden-orange leaves, October is the best time for sports to start!!
Dannie, Joe – you guys make a good point about them not being able to defend, but I have a counter and I’d like to know what you thought – couldn’t they just play an NBA-type 3-2 zone? Why would it work/not work? It won’t win them the title, but it would win them more games than trying to play teams straight up man-to-man.
Also, doesn’t playing two skilled power forwards give you some sort of advantage over a frontcourt like the Sixers’ consisting of a defensive center and a workhorse PF. For example, given that you have two frontcourt guys who could both score, Minnesota would have an easier time creating frontcourt mismatches than the Sixers because they have 2 options while the Sixers only have one – if you get Sammy on Randy Foye, I don’t think Sammy could do much with that except shoot a jumper over him.
BTW, I don’t know if anyone read it, a while ago Bill Simmons had a funny comment about the Mayo-Love trade along the lines of: “The worst part about the trade is that we were deprived of the Gay-Love era in Memphis.”
don’t worry Rob, we have a schedule
Zack – Yes I saw those Bill Simmons comments – funny. I actually went back and read most of his past NBA draft articles too they progressively get funnier.
As for the 3-2 zone thought. I say maybe it could work, but I actually believe playing zone defense is harder than man-to-man. And if you are starting with marginal to weak defenders it makes it even worse. Guys get lazy in zone and I can see that happening with Jefferson and possibly Love. I have a personal bias though – I hate zone. And I especially hate it when teams are not primarily zone teams because they just seem to get lazy when they go to it from playing man-to-man. Teams like Cuse and the Chaney’s Temple squads were great because that was there primary defense. I don’t think any NBA team could play zone as their primary defense.
There are mismatches for every team. I think the advantages they might have won’t be enough to make up for their disadvantage on defense. I also don’t think you are giving Sammy enough credit in the specific situation you stated. Sammy against a 6-foot guard is a win for the Sixers a very high % of the time in my eyes.
According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Timberwolves are going to sign Kevin Ollie for veteran prescence.
Role-modeling (and a few minutes here and there) is about all he provides at this point in his career. Solid person, marginal talent, tough, heady long-time contributor to variety of organizations. I’m an Ollie fan but am surprised he’s still at the party. If any team could learn from him, it’s young Timberwolves, I guess. Has the makings of a coach if he chooses that route eventually (remember Cheeks was pretty quiet too in his playing days).