August 3, 2005

Trading Twins To Timberwolves

See, I just don't get it.

Is there something inherently wrong with sports in this state? I don't mean to whine or complain that we're abused, but I just want a piece of the pie. I just want to feel that '91 Twins feeling again. I just want to be proud.

The Wolves have once again sat on their hands in the free agency scramble. I'm not saying there have been a lot of big moves (yesterday's huge trade not withstanding), but they haven't done one thing yet. Free agents are settling in their places, and the Wolves are missing opportunities to get better. I mean, we resigned Mark Madsen, and that's really cool, but something else has to happen. We can't just go from Spree to McCants and hope that it's a major upgrade. Because that team sucked last year. And I didn't like watching them play basketball.

I believe the Wolves can be a good team. With what they have right now, and a good coach, they can go back to the playoffs. Last year, the problem was that they seemed to think just by lacing up the sneaks that they were guaranteed to win the game. The apathy just spread throughout the team, and guys like Eddie Griffin cannot be energy guys. Madsen and Fred were hurt for extended periods of time, and those are the true energy guys. So, they failed - horribly. And now? They've basically just re-tread the team from last year, subtracting Spree (we can hope) and adding McCants. Somehow, I doubt Nikolai T------vili or Bracey Wright are going to make a big impact this year. They will be good, and lord knows that if their attitude is in the right place, that will improve the team by leaps and bounds, but they won't be MV3 good. Those days are over.

The worst part about all this is that the team is being run by Deadzo (Kevin McHale). Deadzo has basically fallen ass-backwards into his "good moves". Drafting KG? Yes, that was quite a good move. As a matter of fact, KG singlehandedly has saved this franchise, has made it fun to watch, has attracted basketball to Minnesota. He is god, and nobody can question that, because when you question god, he can do whatever he wants to you, because he's god. And that's KG. But drafting Wally? Yes, I suppose that was a moderately good selection. But don't forget about the guys drafted just after Wally: Rip Hamilton, Shawn Marion, Andre Miller, and Jason Terry. But hey, at least he didn't draft Trajan Langdon. He was last seen launching 3s for the Arkansas RimRockers (go Hogs!). Getting back to the point though, what about trading for Spree and Sam? Well, he traded Joe Smith to Milwaukee for Sam and Big Swerve, which actually worked out well for both teams. Milwaukee was falling all over themselves to dump Sam, and getting Joe Smith was a big plus. I mean, he's not great, and his balls aren't nearly as big as Sam's (few are), but it still worked out well for both sides. So it's not like Deadzo really flexed any trading skills with that move. And then the Spree deal? Shit, we had Terrell Brandon, who is a salary cap's best friend, because you get him and you free up about 20 million for the next season. And Atlanta desperately wanted the cap room. And New York wanted Spree out because the owner was very stupid (even stupider than Deadzo!). So it worked out and we got Spree, but not because Deadzo did anything out of the ordinary. We were sitting on Terrell "Gold" Brandon's contract, which we could've turned into anything. Spree worked out well, but it wasn't the trade of the century.

I guess I write this mostly because the Twins just sat by and watched the trading deadline pass without making a move, which is frustrating because they know exactly what their problem is. The Wolves don't have the same financial problems as the Twins, but on the other side of that, they can't really identify their major problems. So they probably feel like it's too early to make a move. Hopefully, if things are similar to last year, they'll pull the trigger and trade away some commodities, like Sam and Kandi. And maybe they'll be able to trade Wally to New York, because I'm sure Isaiah would be willing to make that move. In fact, Isaiah is probably willing to trade one dollar for 3 shiny quarters.

(psst, he's stupid)

So here's to another inactive offseason, and hopefully, Kevin Garnett can score 50 points a game. Because that would be pretty cool.

1 comment:

Jake MacDonald said...

Yeah, it's pretty funny how McHale has survived on one great decision. Of course drafting KG was a huge gamble that happened to pay off - huge. I mean, "signing" Joe Smith to a $10 Mil a year contract, but then getting caught being stupid was probably as big of a gamble, but as we all know, that didn't turn out as well. Idiot. Wally was a good pick, as good as any player available - again, not Langdan. I mean, I can give him credit for the Donyell Marshall for Tom Gugliotta deal, except they let Googs leave because he hated Stephon (of course luck had our back there, what with Tom's whole bad leg thing). Then, because they were trying to suck Goog's dick last minute, they lost Terry Porter to San Antonio. Nice work boneheads. What we DO know about The-Man-Who-Looks-A-Little-Too-Much-Like-Frankenstein is that he's no Jerry West - basketball genius. But on the other side of things, he's not Isaiah Thomas - Stupid, dumb, stupid, idiot. Nobody else is that dumb.