An Open Letter to the Timberwolves
Written by Conner on December 16, 2008 | Permalink
Posted in: Sports
Fan Retention
Minnesota Timberwolves
600 First Avenue North
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing this letter to inform you that I am putting your team on probation. I considered resigning from your fan base, but I’m unwilling to take such a drastic step without giving you a chance to fix things. This probationary period will last for six months. At the end of that period, your progress will be reviewed and appropriate action taken.
I hope that by putting you on probation you will work to remedy this situation so I do not need to take further action. At the beginning of the season, I had hoped that this step would not be necessary. I fully support the Mayo for Love trade, and believe it was the right move. Getting rid of Marko Jaric and obtaining Mike Miller makes giving up a dynamic scorer like Mayo worth it, especially since Love appears to be a solid contributor. Unfortunately, that appears to be the only positive step taken during the off-season.
The following is a list of some of the grievances I have with your organization.
- Your continued employment of Kevin McHale. This is grievance number one and needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Since he has been GM of the Timberwolves, a comedy of errors as persisted that has led to very little success for the Wolves, and a championship for the Boston Celtics. Some of the errors include the secret deal with Joe Smith and trading Roy for Foye. I acknowledge your attempt to remedy this situation by moving McHale to head coach, but keeping him employed with the team any longer will be grounds for my possible resignation as a fan.
- Player motivation - This came to the forefront last night after the team lost to the Sacramento Kings on the day they fired their head coach. The Kings are not a good team, and after changing coaches, they should have been vulnerable. Instead, our team once again failed to play an entire game.
- Wasting Kevin Garnett’s prime - Your failure to provide Kevin Garnett with what was needed to win over the course of his career in Minnesota is a breach of contract with all fans. Anyone who followed the team during Garnett’s career could have told you he could not win a championship on his own. You needed to sign or draft someone who possessed a killer instinct that could score down the stretch. You nearly figured it out in 03-04 when you signed Sprewell and Cassell, but the team failed to capitalize. Though I had to support trading Garnett to the Celtics, the move was only necessary because you failed to provide Garnett with support. This move might have been avoided with a little foresight.
- Scouting Ineptitude - Over the course of your 20 seasons, this team has made bad personnel decisions after bad personnel decision. These decision include the following: Trading Ray Allen for Stephon Marbury, trading Brandon Roy for Randy Foye, trading Marbury for Terrell Brandon, losing five draft picks for Joe Smith, numerous draft busts recently headlined by Rashad McCants. I understand that you cannot be perfect when making deals and signing players, but in 20 seasons you need to get it right more than a handful of times.
- Player training - I know that the players are responsible for improving in the off season, but the team has a responsibility to provide them with support and direction. It is apparent to me that this is lacking. This year’s example is Al Jefferson and his lack of improvement on defense. His defense last year was such a liability that at times I wished he would sit on the bench regardless of how great a scorer he is. We heard reports all summer that he would improve, but nothing on the court supports this. This is just one of many cases of the lack of development from Wolves players, and is something that must be addressed.
During this six-month period, I will continue to follow the team, but I will also be scouting other teams, looking for one that is more worthy of my support. I am hopeful that you will show signs of progress and allow me to continue my role with the team. I will be sending bi-monthly reports on your progress, and hope you considers my suggestions.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you have any questions or wish to contact me for any reason, please do so by email, at conner[AT]connermccall[DOT]com
Sincerely
Conner McCall
Wittman sacked, McHale next?
Written by Conner on December 8, 2008 | Permalink
Posted in: Sports
The Timberwolves fired their head coach this morning. This was a move that I hoped for since three weeks into the season. Wittman never really seemed to figure out his team. Whether they can compete at a high level is really hard to determine, but in my opinion, they are talented and should be able to at least look competitive against teams like the Clippers. Read more…
Foye Shows Up (T’Wolves Box Score Observations)
Written by Conner on November 24, 2008 | Permalink
Posted in: Sports
Last night is the kind of night I expected out of this years Timberwolves. I didn’t get to watch the game, in fact I completely forgot about it until I got into my car and the game was on the Fan. I listened to about 3/4 of the third quarter and the first few minutes of the fourth before I headed into the Orchestra (which was wonderful).
Randy Foye showed something last night, the question is can he keep it up. Fourteen assists is impressive, and if he can give us half of that most nights I think most fans would be happy. According to sources his teammates and coaches told him to be more aggressive. This is exactly what he needed to do, he has the tale Read more…
Let’s Fix the All-Star Games
Written by Conner on November 17, 2008 | Permalink
Posted in: Sports
I saw a post on another blog linking to the voting page for the NBA All-Star Game. I could not tell you the last time I voted for an All-Star game in any of the major sports let alone watched one from start to finish. Here are a few ideas to get fans engaged. Hey, this might even get non-fans to watch the game. Read more…
This post was tagged with: all-star games - Marketing - mlb - nba - nfl
Randy Wittman Needs to Go
Written by Conner on November 12, 2008 | Permalink
Posted in: Sports
I’m giving up, Randy Wittman is not going to be a successful head coach. I wanted to give him a chance, he came into an impossible situation, but after a 1-6 start, I am convinced he cannot produce a winning team. Read more…
Love or Mayo | Can Everyone Please Settle Down
Written by Conner on November 11, 2008 | Permalink
Posted in: Sports
I’ve seen a lot of people panicking over O.J. Mayo’s game last night. Suddenly Kevin Love is a nobody and Kevin McHale made another trading mistake. Can we all please calm down?
First let’s look at the situation. The Sun’s are not a good defensive team. In the last few weeks they have given up 23 points to Ramone Sessions. 23 points to Ben Gordon, and 23 points to both Danny Granger and T.J Ford. None of these players other than possibly the exception of Ben Gordon are high scoring players. If Mayo had scored 33 points against the Celtics I could see a legitimate reason for worry, but I think I could score a point or two against the Suns. Read more…
This post was tagged with: Kevin Love - nba - O.J. Mayo - stats - timberwolves
Mistakes, Love, and Trust Issues (T’Wolves Observations)
Written by Conner on November 6, 2008 | Permalink
Posted in: Sports
This is supposed to be a post about the Wolves but I have to mention Tony Parkers night. This man was amazing last night. I would rank his performance as one of the best I have ever seen, and that includes some of Michael Jordan’s best post-season performances. He willed the Spurs to victory yesterday and deserves every bit of credit. But let’s get back to the Wolves. Read more…
Why the Timberwolves will Win 35-40 Games
Written by Conner on October 29, 2008 | Permalink
Posted in: Sports
If you are a Timberwolves fan, you probably consider them an irrelevant NBA team. Due to Kevin McHale’s numerous mistakes as GM, the team was forced to trade away our biggest star, Kevin Garnett. McHale’s trade created a championship team, unfortunately it was for the Boston Celtics and not for our hometown team.
The Wolves won 22 Games last year, 17 of those game in the second half of the season. If you watched any of the games, you saw a remarkable improvement in play. This was mostly due to a vastly improved defensive game. In fact I think the team could have won 30-35 games last year if it wasn’t for poor outside shooting. Read more…
An opportunity lost-A great season played
Written by Conner on October 1, 2008 | Permalink
Posted in: Sports
The Twins season ended last night in a 1-0 game against our biggest rival, the Chicago White Sox. It was a game that the Twins couldn’t win. Neither team could get a hit, Chicago had 5, Twins 2, as both pitchers were phenomenal last night. The game came down to two plays, a play at the plate where A.J. tagged out Cuddyer to end the inning, and a one run blast from Jim Thome. It is games like this that highlight the Twins inability to hit home runs. We can generate 5-6 runs hitting singles and doubles, but when you can’t get the bat on the ball, you have to be able to bring everyone home on one mistake, even if everyone is just you. It was a great game though, and I have to give credit to the Sox, they didn’t let the sweep by us ruin their season, instead they went out and won three huge games in a row to make it to the playoffs. Read more…
This post was tagged with: baseball - rants - twins - white-sox
The Twins Do it Again
Written by Conner on September 25, 2008 | Permalink
Posted in: Sports
I’m currently in shock. Tonight’s game started out innocently enough, the Twins took a 1 run lead, and then things imploded. Slowey gets knocked around concluding with getting hit by a ball in the forearm, ending his night. His wild throw with that injured forearm ended up costing two runs. The White Sox were up 6-1, then suddenly chip, chip, chip, we were down by 1. Then Gomez and Span do their thing, and it was tied. Read more…
This post was tagged with: AL central - casilla - gomez - span - twins - white-sox
