May 2008
Monthly Archive
Finishing Third in a Two Horse Race
“The third pick goes to….the Minnesota Timberwolves.” [David Stern smiles smugly]. “The second pick goes to [big market] the Miami Heat. That means the number one pick goes to [big market] the Chicago Bulls. Congratulations.”
I’m just shocked Memphis or Minnesota didn’t get the #1 and #2 overall picks. Chicago had something like a 1.7% chance of getting a top two pick. Honestly, when it was known they moved up, they couldn’t have moved to third?
My heart was racing when it came down to three teams. For a minute or two I actually believed basketball could be relevant in Minnesota again.
What was I thinking? Good things just don’t happen to the Wolves. They will pick third. Right now, I’d pick OJ Mayo. I’m not sure picking third or sixth is a big difference this year. I guess we’ll hear more in the next 30+ days.
Kevin McFale, PLEASE do not take a 7’0″ center from Stanford that you can “groom” in this guard oriented league. Please do not make the few Timberwolves fans remaining hear the name “Lopez” in the same sentence as “Minnesota.” We have had a long enough list of centers that have not worked out here.
Reminder: Spencer, Longley, Nesterovic, Grant
Hibachi vs. DeShawn Stevenson
This is an older clip of a shooting contest between Gilbert Arenas (Hibachi) vs. DeShawn Stevenson. If you have 10 minutes, watch this. Gilbert Arenas shoots one handed and makes 76 / 100 three pointers. DeShawn Stevenson goes second while Arenas tries to distract him. DeShawn Stevenson needs to go 10 for his last 10 to win. He makes the first five, then misses. He just walks off the court. He made 71 / 96. This is “office safe” to watch.
Beasley vs. Rose
DaLoot 15 May 2008 | : Uncategorized
A few weeks ago it looked like Michael Beasley was the consensus #1 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. Now, it sounds like Derrick Rose is making a push. Check out the “draft expert” links to the right. Chad Ford from ESPN wrote a column saying there are seven lottery teams that would probably take Beasley and seven that would probably take Rose (Ford’s article).
Wolves / Grizzlies Coin Flip
tommcinerney 14 May 2008 | : NBA
In the history of the Minnesota Timberwolves, they have never moved up in the draft lottery. They have always picked in the spot determined by their record or moved down because of the lottery. The worst scenario was when the Wolves had the worst record in the league and instead of drafting first (Shaq) or second (Mourning), the Wolves drafted third (Laettner).
In 2008, the Wolves and Grizzlies tied with 22-60 records. A couple of weeks ago the Wolves won the coin flip and will get the third best chances in the lottery. The Grizzlies will get the fourth best chances. At first, you may think this doesn’t really matter. There are two reasons it could matter.
1. If the lottery goes as planned, the Wolves will have the third pick and the Grizzlies will have the fourth pick (definitely not as nice as having the #1 or #2 pick this year).
2. Last year the Timberwolves and Trailblazers tied with the sixth worst records in the league at 32-50. Portland won the coin flip and then proceded to win the lottery getting the #1 overall pick in the draft.
Since good things just don’t happen to the Wolves, I fully expect the Grizzlies, with the fourth best chances of winning the lottery, to move into the #1 or #2 slots. We’ll find out May 20th when the NBA Draft Lottery is held.
