The Last Call

Six hours and counting til free agency commences.

I wanted to trim the crop down to 10 and was able to whittle it down to 12. One of the guys at Canishoopus.com suggested some other good options and two of them are viable options that meet my basics. So while it's a bit of a failure with regard to getting down to 10, having as many options as possible can't hurt anything.

The list is:

• Harrison Barnes
• Ryan Anderson 
• Jordan Hill 
• DJ Augustin
• Jeremy Lin 
• Cleanthony Early 
• Kent Bazemore
• Ty Lawson 
• Randy Foye
• Nic Batum
• Marreese Speights 
• Dion Waiters 
• Courtney Lee 
• Marvin Williams

With the salary cap increase I can't get a handle on how this year's set of contracts will shake out. Joakim Noah's rumored deal with the Knicks is all the proof I need of that!

Top 10: 1 & 2

Okay, well I've finally come to the end of the pre - draft free agent ranking that I had.

Check back tomorrow for the revised list in consideration of KD3.

Top 10: 3 & 4

With the current construction of the team, the remaining four would actually be a mistake. I didn't think that the Wolves would take Dunn. I'm going to finish out the projection as I imagined it pre-draft and will reorganize in a total list the night before free agency opens.

The emphasis really has to be on three point shooting and defense. So take a look at how I thought the list would break down and then check back later this week for the reordered list.

The Top 10: 6 & 5

Well, the NBA draft wrapped last night and the Timberwolves walked away with Kris Dunn from Providence college. As I just addressed, he's very similar to Rubio which could be good for the team but if it results in a trade doesn't really help this team as much as it could have. Regardless of any trades the team enacts, the team's weaknesses remain the same, though on paper the team is better defensively at this moment.

We are terrible on the offensive end behind the line. So whoever they sign a couple weeks from now, they better be able to huck the rock at a 40% clip from three, minimum. Playing defense is good and will endure a player to the coach, but get that triple in play!

In unfortunately clown like fashion, the next two guys have never hit 40% from three. The first is a swing 2/3 that would be a nice addition to the bench. The other guy has been lauded on 9-noon, and would seem to be a quality two way player with bench and starter potential.

So here we go!

It's Dunn, or is it?

Not gonna bury the lead on this one, last night the Timberwolves drafted Kris Dunn with the fifth pick in the NBA draft.
As I've been constructing my free agent board point guard has been and will be well covered. Not to beat around the bush, but I don't like this pick. Dunn may be a fine NBA point guard for a long time but as someone over at Canishoopus.com commented last night, this smells like a guy trying to get his own players in, regardless of who is already on the team.
I don't consider Ricky Rubio to be an untouchable piece on this team but the team was far better when he was on the court in comparison to Andre Miller or Tyus Jones. Dunn has many of the same characteristics of Rubio, which is good in many ways but also that he is another point guard with a weak offensive game. With the current construction of the team from last season, the top six guys - including Rubio averaged 80 points. That's a good start. Maybe Dunn will average another 10 points, which would bring us to 90. If Rubio is traded though because of the similarity, that brings up back down to 80.
So that's a net value of zero.
The last lottery pick that we will hopefully have for a long time should not result in a net gain of zero.
I wanted Buddy Heild and his sweet stroke from three. I think he has best in draft potential and we blew the pick.
But Tom Thibodeau and Scott Layden made a different call. I'm still fired up about it and New Orleans is now my second favorite team in the association. Kris Dunn is a Timberwolf. Simply put, it's done.

Or is it?

Decade Draftcap

Over the last 10 years the Timberwolves have selected 32 players in the draft. Some of the picks have been home runs but most of the picks have been ok to down right terrible. I tried to take a straw poll over at www.canishoopus.com of the worst pick that the team has made and the biggest miss as well but was unsuccessful.

So I'm just going to take a stab at it myself. Let me know if you think I'm way off after I wrap it.

For those who even have to wonder, KAT has already proved to be the best pick made by the team over the last decade. Just stay healthy big man, stay HEALTHY.

Anyway's, lets get on with the negativity.

The New Cleveland

Before I even begin, whether Cleveland wins the NBA championship tonight or not I don't think they are actually going to be replaced because of the general incompetence of the Browns and long history of misfortune for the Cavs and Indians. Yet a championship would take them off the list of pro sports championship droughts.

As it stands, Cleveland has the third longest drought (52 years). Ottawa dwarfs that with an 89 year drought and San Diego has a 53 year drought. The difference, and I think it's significant, is the number of pro teams that the cities has.

Ottawa has the Senators but no other big time pro sports teams. San Diego has the Chargers and Padres. Cleveland has the Cavs, Browns and Indians, no other team on the list between Cleveland and Minnesota has that many and obviously Minnesota has all four. Yet hasn't had a championship in 25 years. That's 100 years of seasons. Ugggghhhh yuck. Why did Brett have to throw across his body. Why did AP have to fumble so much. Dang it 09.

Now I get that the Lynx have been awesome over the last 5+ years and I've given them due and will do so again before the summer is out. But the WNBA is probably not in the top 10 of sports in this country (that would be including college sports) so I really don't want to lean on that as the drought defeater.

There's more too it that I'll get to after the break.

The Top 10: 8 & 7

Well, as the Finals are on the verge of reaching game seven, it's time to keep going through my list of potential Timberwolf free agents. You can find number's nine and ten by going to the main page of the blog.

Thanks for taking a look. Let me know what you think!

The Top 10: 10 & 9

8 days ahead of the NBA draft and 16 from the opening of free agency so it's time to talk additions to the team for next season.

The possibility of trading #5 and/or some of the players looms over the process but I'm not in favor that, at least as far as the pick goes. Dumping Rudez, Prince, Pek and Payne would all be acceptable first steps. I'm on the fence as far as Garnett and Bjelica being on the team goes. The remaining eight could loosely be considered the current core of the team, though that may be a stretch for Jones and Greg Smith.

The best teams are able to go 10 or even 12 players deep, as needed. That's a gap of at least two but as many as six players. Even if the team were to add six to the eight player core there would be one open spot on the roster, not a bad possibility, just a fact.

I hope that one of those six is Buddy Heild, via the draft. It's also quite possible that a second round pick or undrafted free agent gets brought into the fold but that's extremely speculative so I'm going to dispense with that possibility as of now.

There is a list of more then 150 free agents to be on NBA.com. I'm going to try to whittle that list down to the ten players I'd most like to see added.

After scanning through the list, I identified 12 players. Obviously that's two more then 10 but I'll put the also rans before I jump in.

None of these guys will merit anywhere close to max contracts because it's not too early to start planning for the eventual big money that some of our guys are going to get in a few years.

#12: Jordan Hill

I would like any forward that the Wolves sign to be a passable three point shooter, which Jordan Hill has not been during his career. In spite of that, on a one or two year deal, worth like three million per year he would be a decent addition to the bench. 

#11: DJ Augustin

Not the best point guard of the bunch, but would probably be signed for a reasonable contract, is an experienced player to help Tyus develop and could serve as the backup in the interim. Didn't find out any info regarding his play on both ends but guys who aren't at least passable on defense don't usually make it at the pro level for eight years.  A two or three year contract at four million per year would be a good addition. 

The Runner up

For those of you who reading this I think it's fair to say that you are true basketball fans. You're reading about the Timberwolves in mid June so I don't think it's a stretch. This isn't only for true fans but will hopefully at least be of much interest to those who are.

In one particular way the Wolves have found themselves to be the runner up as a result of the decisions of a certain NBA elite player. And yes I say decision intentionally because it's the one and only Lebron James.

For some reason I've never heard this angle taken by fans of our local team, but it's certainly possible I missed it. If that's the case, hit me with the link to that post or posts!

How has our favorite ball squad been the runner up to his choices? It may be obvious but since I don't want to assume too heavily on hardcore fandom I will lay out plain. Sorry to those of you who have already connected the dots, but thanks for stopping by and please check back soon!

Anyways, let's get on with it!

An Ode to Champions - Minn SoDak

I would like to list out all the teams and individuals who won at all the levels of every sport in Minnesota, but fact is that the list is too extensive.

The results for the South Dakota championships weren't posted on the High school association website. It's disappointing that they don't recognize the winners but it is South Dakota so it's not really a surprise.

As a result of the two complications I'm doing this as one post.

What I have to say is this, to each and every champion, congratulations. Let the hard work that you put in, and the results, be a stepping stone into your future. Enjoy the success but make sure you keep working hard at whatever you choose to do down the road.

Coach Speak

The Minnesota sports teams have had an array of coaches over the years. Some of them were pitiful, some excellent. I think that the current lot of coaches is as good as there has ever been in this area.

Bruce Boudreau
Mike Zimmer
Tom Thibodeau
Cheryl Reeve

I'm not a hockey fan so I'm going to give my take on Boudreau first. Much to my chagrin the NHL season still hasn't even wrapped so making any postulations about a new coach is premature and foolish but reflecting on his past work may point toward future results. He's been the head coach for
the Washington Capitals and the Anaheim Ducks. Every year he's been in charge have resulted in his team's having a winning record. That's an impressive statistic on it's own but within that is one that is most impressive. In 2011 he was fired by the Capitals 21 games into the season. He had a 12 and nine record but there must have been extenuating circumstances which resulted in his release. It seems that it was only a problem with Caps and not with him because in-season the Ducks hired him as their head man. With no off season or training camp he was able to guide the Ducks to a 27 - 23 record. Not the most impressive win loss ever but when adding in those details its a good showing of who he has been and hopefully who he will continue to be for the hockey lovers out there.

But on to the other three now

Fast Break

So there have been some big local news breaks over the past couple days but none of them merit a post alone so I'm gonna go with a quick wrap on everything.

• The Lynx are undefeated. 7 - 0 with more double digit wins then single digit victories. This is what champions do. Great job ladies!

• Rumor has it the Timberwolves will pursue Joakim Noah from the Bulls. That's not especially surprising since he played very well under Thibs during the Bulls recent run of success. I'm not sure he has longevity or athleticism to merit a starting roll type contract for the pups but his experience will probably deride that to some degree if he signs here.

• A few days ago Vegas put out odds on every NBA's team chance to win the 2017 championship. The local five were eleventh. A team that hasn't made the playoffs since I was frosh in high school is in the top 11!!!! There are only four Western Conference teams above them. It's unbelievable! Fairness in facts, they're tied with three other West teams so as not to mislead. Do I think they're a contender? No. But Vegas gets these things wrong so rarely. Even they're putting money on our squad making the playoffs!

An Ode to Champions - North Dakota

I'm digging deep into my bag of abyss breakers right now, but that makes it an ideal time to recognize the many champions from the state of North Dakota. I'll start with the female sports then male afterward.

• Volleyball
• Class A - Bismarck Century
• Class B - LaMoure
• Track & Field
• Class A - Fargo Davies
• Class B - Hazen
• Tennis
• Team - West Fargo Sheyenne
• Class A - Shaelyn Johnson, Grand Forks Red River
• Class B - Maddie Anderson/Maddie Johnson, Grand Forks Red River. Anderson won consecutive champions in the doubles
• Swimming & Diving
• Bismarck Century
• Softball
• Class A - West Fargo; That continues a streak of 19 championships. Wow
• Class B - Kindred - Richland
• Soccer
• Bismarck Century
• Hockey
• Bismarck 
• Gymnastics
• Dickinson
• Golf
• Class A
• Not announced
• Class B
• Team - South Border
• Individual - Emily St. Aubin, South Border
• Cross Country
• Class A
• Team - Bismarck High
• Individual - Mattie Shirley-Fairbairn, Bismarck High
• Class B
• Team - Hillsboro/Central Valley (Fifth consecutive championship)
• Individual - Kate Fox, Southern McLean (Washburn/Wilton/Wing)
• Basketball
• Class A - Shanley (Third consecutive championship)
• Class B - Shiloh Christian

A draft recap

As we continue to grind the through the weeks until Football is back I think it may be a good time to take a look back at one of the Vikings recent drafts and break down each pick. It takes a few years to have a real idea of what a team has gained or failed to do so, as has often been the case, so I'm going to take a look at the 2013 draft tonight.

I wish I could be positive about the class as a whole but it was not nearly as good as some of the drafts that have happened since and I want to be objective

Well let's begin, shall we?