Just as I recieved the pick of the Minnesota Timberwolves, and
their co-GM's:
Kevin Hansen
ESPN announced that they were sold and are being moved to New Orleans.
Anyway with the 4th pick in the 1994 Usenet Draft, the Minnesota
Timberwolves select:
Donyell Marshall, SF, 6-9, Connecticut
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TEAM STATUS:
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The Timberwolves finished a dismal 20-62 during the 93-94 campaign.
Expectations were high after a 19-63 year the previous season and the
addition of Isaiah 'J.R.' Rider with the 5th pick in last year's
draft. The team was going to have a full training camp with Head
Coach Sidney Lowe and would no doubt show great signs of improvement.
Then reality struck: the Timberwolves only had 3 players who could
really help the team and very few times did all three show up at the
same time for a game or put in more than 24 minutes worth of quality
playing time.
Christian Laettner, Rider, and Doug West were the only three players
who played like the deserved to be in the NBA for more than a few
minutes at a time. They finished 1-2-3 in scoring. Laettner led the
team in rebounding and blocks, and was second in assists. Rider was
3rd in rebounding (2nd in offensive rebounding) and 4th in steals.
West was 2nd in FG% and 3rd in FT%.
TEAM NEEDS: ----------- All this team needs is 9 more NBA quality
players.
Power Forward ------------- Laettner split his time between PF and
center last year, but he is the only true PF that they have. Marlon
Maxey, Tellis Frank, and Stacey King filled in at times and could give
spurts of solid play, but anything else was asking too much.
Laettner had some of the same problems last year as he did his rookie
season, mostly attitude problems. He shot his mouth off at a coach
for getting down on a player (we don't know for sure if Christian was
right). He also shot his mouth off at his teammates when he felt they
weren't giving 100% (we saw enough games to know he WAS right).
Neither of these situations could be unexpected from a player who lost
more games in each of his first two seasons than he had in all of his
prior basketball experience.
Christian again had a few run-ins with officials, but also seemed to
learn that silence is the best policy. He even started getting a few
calls to go his way during the season.
Small Forward ------------- Doug West was the most effective player at
this position, but he was playing out of position. This was the first
year that Doug did not raise his scoring average, which dropped by 4.5
ppg. His FG % also dropped by 3%. Doug also played hurt most of the
season and completely missed 10 games. This caused him to average
only 30 minutes a game.
Thurl Bailey was the next best SF. He played well with a .511 FG% and
7.4 ppg in 16.5 minutes per game. Thurl also made his feelings public
about how the team was playing and how many players were being used.
This may have hurt his relationship with Sidney Lowe (a college
teammate). We don't think Thurl will be around next year mostly due
to his $1 million salary.
We almost forgot about Chuck Person and we wish we could. Chuck has
said in not so many words that he doesn't want to be here any more and
we don't think many people would shed a tear to see him go. He has
the ability to hit some clutch three-point shots, but he takes just as
many ill-advised three-point shots. During the middle of the season
he was used as a sixth man and seemed to perform well, but in the true
Chuck Person fashion, complained about his minutes. The Wolves would
due well to buyout his contract over the summer (or better yet have
Chuck buyout his own contract if he thinks anyone is will pay him
$2.16 million per year) and spent it on a draft pick.
Shooting Guard -------------- Rider was the man. On draft night he
promised to win the Slam Dunk Championship, and he held true to his
word. Other than that and many other outstanding dunks during the
season, this may have been a disapointing year for the former Running
Rebel. Like Laettner, J.R. has not had to suffer through many losing
seasons. He had a small attitude problem that caused him to pull
himself from a game when he felt he wasn't playing up to par. At the
end of the season, it seemed as if he were just putting in his
minutes.
Rider probably has the most potential of any of the Timberwolves.
Somewhat surprisingly for rookie, he seemed to know when make the
flashy play and when to do the Right Thing. He is capable of making
the big defensive play, as exhibited by his tremendous block against
Patrick Ewing in January. His passing was a pleasant surprise.
While some of J.R.'s attitude problems spilled over onto the court,
his biggest problems were off-court. He does need to grow up a bit
and get used to the NBA way of life.
Center ------ There are none. Luc Longley (a.k.a. backup center for
an Eastern conferenece semi-finalist) and Felton Spencer (a.k.a.
starting center for a Western conference semi- finalist) were the only
two centers the team ever had, and they were traded for Stacey King
and Mike Brown.
Neither King nor Brown are really capable of playing as a center in
the NBA, although Brown is capable of being the only NBA player to
shatter a backbaord with a free throw.
King played surprising well, but was lost for the season due to injury
before his contributions could truly be measured. In any event, he is
certainly more suited to the PF spot than the center spot. The Big
Brown Bear has no legs (I saw him trying to walk up some stairs at
training camp - it was painful to watch), but is all heart. He gives
it all he's got, but what he's got just isn't enough.
Between King and Brown the Wolves got about 15-20 quality minutes at
center. The remaining minutes were filled by one of the two when they
were not playing well or by Marlon Maxey or Laettner. Unfortunately,
as was the case last season, Laettner remains the best center that the
Wolves have.
Point Guard ----------- This is the one position that has failed the
Wolves the most. Micheal William and Chris Smith shared the job last
year. Although Micheal led the team in assits (he fell in the NBA's
ranks), he is selfish and many times passed up an open player to take
poor shots. He refused to play hurt, opting to sit out not for the
good of the team but for the good of his stats. He needs to go if the
Wolves are ever going to get out of the post-season lottery.
The problem with this lies in the fact that GM Jack McCloskey loves
Williams. He was the one who pulled off the Richardson/Mitchell for
Williams/Person trade two summers ago and has refused to admit that
this was a bad decision.
Chris Smith did a solid job when he got to play for Williams. The
team appeared to run better while Smith was at the point. He is the
anti-Williams, passing up the open shot to distribute the ball.
Chris' big problem is that he is inexperienced and is still learning
the point guard role after having been a shooting guard in college.
Others ------ There were a few faceless players who filled in the
minutes on this CBA-caliber team last year. Maxey's only shot is a
dunk from within three feet of the basket. Frank did an adequate job
filling in for Laettner and was capable of playing tough defense, but
we would have got the same or better results from kepping Bob McCann,
who was last year's Tellis Frank. (Bob played in Italy this past
season; look for him to hit the NBA summer camps again this year.)
Dookie Brian Davis was primarily used as a defensive specialist in the
last 30 seconds of a quarter, and when he did get an extended amount
of playing time he tried to dunk the ball on most every opportunity
that he had.
Stanley Jackson (the only Timberwolf to ever be suspended by the
league) may have set an unofficial league record for number of times
having been put on and taken off the injured list (with a sprined
wrist). Other than that, his 70+ minutes were unremarkable.
OUR SELECTION ------------- Once again, we get to pick the (n+1)st
player in an n-player draft. Sigh. At this spot, the choice is
really between Marshall and Juwan Howard. By taking Marshall, we
really went with what seems to be the general concensus, although the
SF spot is one that needs filling on this team. Howard might have the
more polished game at this point, and is more of a low-post player,
with a general attitude that could fit well on this team. Without
doing the interviews and the workouts, its pretty much a coin-toss.
The Wolves real need is for a true center who is a strong low-post
player OR for a legitimite point guard. Unfortunately, there are none
of the former worth taking with a #4 pick, and Jason Kidd is already
taken.
IF WE RAN THE TEAM ------------------ We would keep Laettner, Rider,
West, and Smith, add Marshall, and start over with some free agents (a
la Denver). We would buy out Person's contract, try to get anything
for Williams and look for a diamond in the rough at pick #30 (second
round).
We would also like to get a more experienced head coach. Sidney is
not really a bad head coach, but he doesn't have the experience to
coach such a young team. We would like to have Duke Head Coach Mike
Krzyzewski, but don't know if he could be swayed to take the job.
Failing that, we would look for an experienced "teaching" coach who
knows the game and could handle the personalities (a la Chuck Daly).
What the Timberwolves WILL do: ------------------------------
Its hard enough to predict under normal circumstances. Not knowing
where the team will be located or who the new ownership will be makes
it pretty near impossible. Jack and Sid both gave an indication that
they are probably looking at Marshall or Howard with the #4 pick,
although Jack indicated he would certainly try to trade up (fat
chance) and would consider trading down, to get a first round pick and
a veteran player for the #4 pick. Of course, if Jack stays, Micheal
will stay (sigh). If they can free up Chuck's $$$, look for the
Woofies to try to snag a free agent, although my guess is that would
be a tough sell unless they go after a "rehab" project like Brian
Williams.
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