Another positive step in this move is that McHale has lost his General Manager position. Unfortunately, I don’t have many details regarding who will fill in for McHale or if the move to replace him as President was permanent or not.  Taylor sent out a letter to season ticket holders, but that didn’t contain many details.  My hope is that Fred Hoiberg takes over as GM.  He seems genuine to me and the type of guy who will admit when he makes a mistake, unlike McHale who just kept preaching patience to the fan base that ran out of patience five years ago.  I am frustrated with the fact that McHale is still with the team.  I honestly think this is a cop out by Taylor who seems to be putting personal feelings above the teams good.

That McHale turns things around as coach is a long shot.  He did take over in 04-05 and led them to a 19-12 final record, but if last season and the beginning of this season have been any indication, we can’t predict anything from the final 20 or so games.

Here is my advice to McHale (not that McHale takes advice, but he I can hope)

1. Quick playing music chairs with the linup – Choose a starting five and stick with them, teams need to gel, and this only happens with a set rotation.
2. Stop playing McCants and either trade him or let him go in free agency.  McCants is not going to be a contributer on a winning team, he’s a fun player to watch if you don’t like passing or defense.
3. Make Al Jefferson the center of attention 90% of the time.  This means he should play 38 minutes a game, and touch the ball nearly every time down the court.
4. After you accomplish #3 make him pass the ball out of the double and triple teams.
5. If a player isn’t willing to play defense for you, you bench him.  This is a priority above number 3 and if Jefferson continues playing lackdaisical D he shouldn’t be a starter anymore.
6. Quit – Honestly it would be better for everyone.

Start Voting Later

Generally voting for the All-Star game starts too early.  The NBA All-Star voting has already started and they have not played 10 games.  Voting should start at the halfway point from the beginning of the season to the All-Star Break.  For the NBA this would be right around the 20 game mark, for the MLB the 40 game mark, and in the NFL it wouldn’t start until week 11 or 12 because the playoffs need to be factored in.

Let Players and Coaches Vote

The All-Star games are supposed to be a popularity contest.  Unfortunately, this keeps some of the best talent in the games out of the league’s talent showcase.  Instead of having coaches choose just 1 or 2 players, let every player and every coach on each team cast a ballot.  These ballots should be weighed more than fan’s ballots.  Players are better judges of talent then fans, allowing them a say would allow fans to see the best players and give name recognition to deserving players that otherwise may be overlooked.

Change Up the Opponents

Get rid of East/West, North America/World, AL/NL, and AFC/NFC.  Do something unique every year.  U.S.A. vs. the World, Teams who made the playoffs vs. those that did not, players from high payroll teams vs. players from low payroll teams, animal mascots vs. others, the possibilities are endless.

Let the Fans Coach

How many more people would watch if they could vote for coaching decisions?  This would the most fun for football but other sports could join in the fun.  How cool would it be if you could vote for Manny Ramirez attempting a suicide squeeze in the 7th inning.  We have the technology for instant responses from an online audience, this would not be that hard to implement.

Shorten the Games/Change the Rules

Why do the All-Star games have to follow the regular season game format?  The Pro-Bowl should have 8-minute quarters and start every drive with a 1st and 5. The MLB All-Star game should start each inning with one out already on the scoreboard.  The NBA should eliminate traveling or add a four-point line.  No one tunes into an All-Star game to cheer for a team, they tune in to be entertained, make it entertaining.

Vote for the Score

Why isn’t a 450-foot home run worth more than one run?  Let the fans in attendance vote within 30 seconds of a play happening for the score a play deserves.  LeBron James makes a miraculous shot from behind the backboard; he gets 5 points.  Adrian Peterson walks into the end zone in behind his O-Line; reward him with 4 points.

I know none of these will ever happen; the leagues worry too much about tradition and playing it safe.  Still, with attendance and television ratings lagging, would it hurt to make the one meaningless game people watch fun?

Now don’t get me wrong this team shouldn’t be 6-1 but they should at least be 5-2 or 4-3.  The only loss that is excusable on a talent level is the loss to the Mavericks.  We can blame all the other losses on a poor start or an inability to finish games. We need to point a finger, unfortunately for Wittman it is pointed at him. Last night’s game made this clear to me.  Al Jefferson was shut out during the fourth quarter and the overtime.  Don Nelson came up with a strategy that kept the ball out of Jefferson’s hands.  It is up to the head coach to figure out how to adjust to the other team’s adjustments and Wittman appears unable to do this.

Another example from last night’s game is the fact that the Wolves tried to play an up-tempo game.  I knew from the moment they started trying to run the court things would go badly.  Golden State was the master of running up and down on teams last year, and even without Baron Davis, they are still good at it.  The Wolves are not masters of the up-tempo style but they do have one of the best low post scorers in the game.  Anyone with an ounce of common sense would have slowed the game down and pounded the ball into Al Jefferson.  Instead, the Wolves ran up and down the court, ended the first quarter tied and racked up seven fouls.  I actually went to bed at that point knowing they were going to lose.

I’m not sure who the Wolves should hire, maybe Fred Hoiberg would like to take the reins.  We need a coach who is a teacher with a defense first mindset.  The Wolves have plenty of offensive talent, where they are lacking is the defensive end.  The team has regressed defensively and we can safely say Randy Wittman is not the answer there.  We also need a coach who can make adjustments during games.  Tony Parker’s night and last night are both perfect examples that Wittman is unable to make those adjustments.  We need a new coach, and while we are at it let get a new GM.

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.

Second, last nights box score looks good, but if you compare season stats Love actually looks better.  Mayo is averaging over 39 minutes per game.  During those 39 minutes he is averaging 21 points, 1.4 steals, 5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.9 turnovers, and shooting 45 percent from the floor.  Kevin Love is playing about half as much as Mayo, at around 25 minutes per game.  Also, he came off the bench for the first five games.  Love is averaging 10.2 points,  1 block, 1.5 assists, 1.2 turnovers, 6.7 rebounds, and and shooting 43 percent from the floor.  Here is a quick table for comparison.

As you can see Love is barely being outscored by Mayo, his rebound total is much better, and his assist to turnover ratio of 1.2 is  better than Mayo’s at .83.

Now I’m sure someone somewhere will say that if Jefferson just had Mayo alongside him, the Wolves would be on their way to a championship.  Just remember that we already have a guard who can score 30 points per game in Rashad McCants, and I know I don’t want to see him on the floor for 39 minutes per game.

So let’s all just take a deep breath and remember there is a lot more to basketball than just putting the ball through the hoop.

Kevin Love is the real deal.  Kevin Love just hustles, hustles, and hustles some more.  Love played solid defense against Tim Duncan, grabbed rebounds and had a phenomenal game.  I haven’t seen any other rookies play yet, but I have a hard time believing that they have had an impact on their teams like Love.

Our defensive rotation is awful.  Parker didn’t just score 50+ points because he was that hot, he was open all night long.  If the Wolves don’t fix their pick and roll defense we may as well not even play against teams with point guards who can shoot.  The Timberwolves one on one defense was ok though which is a good sign.

Al Jefferson doesn’t trust his teammates yet.  He went up against double teams a few too many times for my liking.  He also faded from contact in the fourth quarter and in overtime.  That is concerning to me.

Kevin Love scored a go-ahead basket with less than a minute remaining.  He’s the real deal Wolves fans.  O.J. Mayo may score 26 points a game during his career, but Love will average 20-7-5 and will block shots, get steals, and chase down loose balls all night long.

The Target Center’s new court is rockin’.

Cory Brewer will be defensive player of the year in 2-3 years.  He makes little mistakes that cost him, but if his teammates are figure out how to defend a pick and roll with him he will be able to shut down almost any guard or forward in the league.

Rashad McCants should not be allowed on the court.  He got embarrassed on the defensive end and completely missed a wide open teammate on at least one occasion.  Let’s trade him now for whatever we can get.

The Wolves play like a young team.  Too many little mistakes that kept the Spurs in it.  Passes picked off and players left wide open.

The Wolves have been hitting free throws well the last two games, I’m guessing Randy Whitman focused a ton of time on that after the first games showing.

FSN North needs to change either the size of the info box or the font.  When it’s hard to tell if a number is a 6 or an 8 your font choice sucks.  I don’t care if it looks fine in HD, they need to test it on regular television sets first.

The Timberwolves need to ask me to go one on one against Foye for an hour or so.  He’s playing so tight right now it’s no wonder he keeps making mistakes and missing shots.  He needs a confidence booster.

Game MVP: Tony Parker, Wolves MVP: Al Jefferson with a nod to Kevin Love, Least Valuable Player: Rashad McCants, Hustle Players of the game:  Kevin Love, Mike Miller, and Cory Brewer

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.

There is currently some debate on whether Kevin Love will be able to contribute immediately.  I haven’t been able to watch him since Summer League, but if those games are any indication, I think he will be able to.  His lines in the pre-season have been below mediocre, but he did pull down 10 boards in the last game.  I think Love will be okay, and if he gets to see time along side Al Jefferson things will only get better. Of course it could take 20-25 games for him to get comfortable with the pace of the regular season, but he’ll figure it out, he’s a smart player and will be a good fit for this team.

Of course no Wolves conversation is complete without discussing the main piece of the Kevin Garnett trade. Al Jefferson is one of the best young players in the game and he is only going to get better.  Last you he put up some very good numbers.  There is one thing to consider about Jefferson which makes me think he will really improve this year.  Remember that he went straight from high-school to the NBA.  He was one of the last players to do this.  His draft class of 2005 was one year after LaBron James was drafted.  James has become a perennial All-Star, but did take a few year to fully develop.  Considering that Jefferson is a forward, and it isn’t unusual for big men to take longer to develop in the NBA than guards, he could be poised for a break out year.

The Wolves also are getting a healthy Foye back.  Now everyone knows McHale got caught flat-footed in the Roy-Foye trade, but Foye isn’t a bad player.  If he stays healthy he should be able to start 82 games this year.  He is going to have to learn on the job, but the additional of two veteran guards in Ollie and Mike Miller should help.  Foye has a great jumper, and with the offense running through Jefferson his passing won’t be a liability. If he can put up 19 points and 7 assists per night we can consider this season a success for Foye.

Cory Brewers’ jumper is another reason for hope.  He appears to have worked on it all summer and this has definitely paid dividends.  His range and accuracy seemed much better than last year.  He even appears to have a three point shot.  If Brewer is no longer a liability on the offensive end, he will get more minutes and will be able to defend the star forward and shooting guards in the league.  Getting Brewer’s defense for 35-38 minutes a game instead of 22 would be a huge benefit.

If our core has improved and the additions of Love and Miller can contribute, we can consider this off season a success. We’ve added an additional outside threat in Miller which should help Jefferson immensely. McCants, Foye, and Love also have great range, so when the three of them are in the game Jefferson has all sorts of target to hit out of the double team.

That is where the biggest improvement comes in. We got rid of the slow, poor shooting, and expensive Marko Jaric, and added Miller who has always been a terrific shooter. The Wolves outside shooting was our biggest liability last year during the second half. If we can make some three pointers and keep the defense honest against Jefferson, we’ll reach my prediction of 35-40 games. I’ll looking forward to tonight’s game as the Timberwolves rebuilding period hits it’s stride.