The Cole in my Stocking (Rube Rant)

Free Agency has been live for over 67 hours and the Timberwolves prize is....Cole Aldrich?!

I'm fine with the slow approach that they took because of some of the contracts that were getting handed our were obnoxious! Look no further than the money that Parsons got from Grizzlies and Mozgov got from the Lakers as evidence. Since yesterday afternoon the money's come back to sane amounts but still no news until a few hours ago.

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!

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!

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!

Breaking Through

For those of us who aren't "ball guys" this is a tough time to be a sports fan. The NFL is in a relative lull between the draft and the start of training camps, though there are off season workouts happening which can offer some small nuggets of information.

And while the NBA playoffs are still very much underway, since the Timberwolves are still in the midst of the playoff drought there is little in the way of local ties to it at present. 

Sure this is hockey country but the Wild got bounced in the first round of the NHL playoffs, which to my mind is a positive outcome because they were pretty awful and only got in by default. I haven't mentioned it yet, but it seems as though the coaching hire for the Wild is a good one so maybe the big team will start to represent well again in short order. Either way, good for them!

But as I said, if not a baseball fan this can be a rough time. I don't mind baseball. Going to the park and watching the game can be an enjoyable outing. The Twins are putrid though. I did my rant about it and am still as fired up when the topic is broached. I sincerely don't want anyone to go to Twins games so that the Pohlad's pocket books get hit and they feel pressure to pay out for some better players. Their payroll should be at around $120 million a year. Not the roughly $97 million that it reportedly is. I have to admit that I didn't think it would be that high but still could be better and spent more effectively. Ok I'm going to move on so that I don't go off on it again because that's not what this is about.

I say all that because this is very much the sports abyss. So between now and the start of Vikings training camp I'm going to do periodic abyss breakers. It should go without saying, but I will hit on any unique sports things that may happen during that time, in addition to the breakers. 

So first up is....

Going to come after the jump!

Streaking

Before I get started, thank you to any and all of you who have checked out my little slice of sportsdom over the last few days. I got my first post on here with 100+ views and it feels good. Alright, onto lottery talk!

The NBA draft lottery is just wrapping up and once again the Timberwolves did not move up in the NBA draft.  They could have picked lower then they will be but they also did not slide down even one pick. As slotted they received the fifth overall selection in the 2016 NBA draft.

Some people will be negative on the fact that we still haven't been able to jump up at all in the process, but get real people! Weird as it may seem, I didn't want to pick #1 and I don't think #2 would be that much better. I don't like Ben Simmons and am not convinced that Brandon Ingram would be an upgrade over Wiggins.

I was hoping for the third or fourth pick and while it's a little anti-climactic am content with selecting fifth.

Maybe it'll be for the best since it may have a reduced possibility of trade related foolishness. I hope that Thibs just takes the best shooting guard available but am too jaded by Minnesota history to consider it a certainty. Just don't trade down. Please!

There are pros and cons to both of the two top shooters in the draft and I'll get into that after the break. Here goes!

The Wolf is Turning

Less then 48 hours ahead of the 2016 NBA Draft Lottery and things just keep cranking up for our favorite 15.

To the surprise of no one who was actually paying attention Karl - Anthony Towns has reportedly gotten the Rookie of the Year for the season. Days after Stephen Curry just went unanimous for the MVP I'm curious how many votes KAT got for ROY. In any case, it's like breaking news that's only sort of breaking news.

He was the best rookie all year and only got better as the season progressed. It wasn't even really that close between him and Porzingis, even with KP playing in NYC and the East Coast bias. ESPN silently acknowledged it by not covering Porzingis much more then it did KAT, which is to say it gave like no coverage to either since it just generally tries to ignore Twin City teams.

It's been 12 months of history making for the Timberwolves which I'll hit on and more after a second.

The Opening Door

Down goes another team in the playoffs. The most shocking series so far has been the victory by OKC over the Spurs.

The most consistent and dominant team over the last 15 years may have finally reached the end of the run. With Timmy, Tony & Manu all in the waning days of their careers the chapter may be closing on their spectacular run. Yes, they have Kwahi. And they signed LaMarcus Aldridge to a big contract a year ago so they will probably continue to be a playoff team going forward but without the addition of another great player or two, the championship window may have just closed.

But where one thing closes, another opens.

Hello Mr. Thibodeau

We got our guy.

I wouldn't have minded Jeff van Gundy or Mark Jackson but from the first time I thought about Sam Mitchell not being with the team past game 82 I wanted TT. I wanted his attitude and I wanted his defensive mentality.

Listening to Paul Allen on the Fan recently he kept saying that defense is all about effort and I don't disagree with him but players want to play. I think, hope and want Thibs to bench players who won't put in the effort on both ends of the floor. Just consistently keeping teams to 100 points or less would be an improvement. That's not a lofty goal but would add at least 5 wins to the team next year.

We got our guy and the off season has just begun. 50 - 32. Lets go!

Closing Statement

144 - 109

Quick poll, who do you think scored which? Your options are the Timberwolves and the Pelicans.

Spoiler alert: The Timberwolves won

If this were the Wolves of old they would have folded like an origami flower but instead of enjoying a 50% increase in wins from last season and leave their games in the locker room they closed out with the best effort of the season and one of the best in the history of the franchise.

Shooting 65% with other 46% from 3 and 82% from the line. yeah, they were on fire.

The negatives will point to the fact that New Orleans is little more then a D-league team at this point but they hammered them in a way that they have not done all season and good to great teams win games emphatically that they are supposed to beat.

But as per usual, more after the jump

Farewell Jelly Beans

A great player's last game is tonight. It's been the talk for much and I don't feel like perpetuating it but since he is from the team formerly from the lakes it does fall within the local angle. Instead of saying anything of the player I'm going to go a different direction, see for yourself if you so please.

Draft Take

I had intended to do my first post about the NFL draft with it only a handful of weeks away but with March Madness in full effect I'm jumping that one and going to the NBA Draft.

It's presumptive and there's months before the draft order will even be established but that doesn't deter me from putting out there who I want the Timberwolves to take.

Here's a hint, they can shoot threes.

Unfortunately the Pups may only have one pick in the whole draft because of an earlier trade with Boston. Now I'd much rather them have a first round pick (which is top 12 protected) then second round picks this year and next year. Though I'd like the non guaranteed contract that the second round offers.

I looked into a few mock drafts and none of them had the second guy listed so I'm going to proceed with his portion like he'll be an undrafted player.