Timberwolves 2011-2012

[Scott M]

And Barrera has been huge of late and who-ever said that was a bad pick-up please amend those comments...

I'll happily eat my crow. I believe I said, "Can we amnesty Barea?" He is a specialty player with no defense, that much is true. Given how this team ran a pick and roll coming into the season, it was completely defensible. Even more defensible was the fact that the Wolves did nothing about the shooting guard spot and elected to put more money and roster space into point guards after drafting 4 PGs in the 2009 draft. They knew what they have in Ellington, Johnson, Webster, etc. Or they should have known. To me as a fan, it's staggering that Johnson hasn't gotten better but the organization should have known. I guess you could pay me 6 figures and I would dang sure find out.

Wouldn't Barea's money have been better utilized in a FA SG? Old man T-Mac, Redd, talk Peja into another year, Mike Dunleavy, J. Rich, Jamal Crawford, Sasha Vujacic? You could argue no one wants to come to Minnesota, especially not knowing what Rubio would become. I don't know if those players' deals are comparable to Barea's but I think we'd be a tough playoff out with a solid 2 guard. But then again, I was assuming Ridnour would start and Rubio would spell him and average 6-8 points and 6-8 assists. I didn't expect Rubio to play as well as he has, which highlights that lack of a 2 guard.

[ozzie]

JJ can stop flopping like a panzi all the time...no one is buying it and it hurts him when the other PG actually does push off on him. JJ is growing on me more but I am not completely sold on him yet. he likes to shoot the ball alot.

[PierBridge]

Amendment accepted...

I wish we could have signed Kobe Bryant too.... I was just looking at it from a depth and common sense business standpoint at the guard position. I thought his energy and experience would help immensely. To bad he got hurt and it appears he's not totally healthy yet based on some of his movement on the court.

I just don't see anything and particularly anything that would make us Wolves fans happy happening at the 2 guard position this year.

[schmitty3]

JJ can stop flopping like a panzi all the time...no one is buying it and it hurts him when the other PG actually does push off on him. JJ is growing on me more but I am not completely sold on him yet. he likes to shoot the ball alot.

He's been getting that call almost every time. Only time I saw where he didn't get it was last night when CP3 made him look silly. Other than that he has been able to force a lot of offensive fouls with that craft play. I agree though sometimes he does like to do too much on his own, and shoot inside with the 7 footers.

[ozzie]

you haven't been paying close enough attention to it then. Even before the All-Star break Jim Peterson was mentioning that the officials watch tape on players and players gain a name for doing certain things and JJ is definatly known as a flopper. Jim Peterson even was saying how JJ has to stop doing that so much as it is starting to hurt him way more than help him or his team. JJ does and will get the call here and there but he fakes it and gives way too much room to the guy he was guarding and they have been capitilizing way more often then not. I like his play if he just sticks his head in there more and when they push him he needs to fight through it and he will get more calls then flopping.

[schmitty3]

LOL Jim Peterson was just raving about how when Barea does that it ISN'T a flop. He was talking about how it is a great move he didn't know Barea had. And how he is small enough to get into the ballhandlers chest, and aggravate them.

[PierBridge]

Peterson did mention in the telecast last night that JJ has to stop doing the flop stuff so much.

He also praised him for playing great basketball of late!

[mrklean]

gotta rebound against the suns ugly game

[Scott K]

That was a terrible game! We just dont play the Lakers very good at all. We need to get a win tonight, because after that we go back home and play LA all over again.

[schmitty3]

That sure was ugly. I was questioning Addleman's line ups at bit their. Gotta wonder why Tolliver and Randolph all of sudden get big minutes when we finally get back in the game. Barea was the reason we were only 6 down at half time and then he didn't play at all in the second half. Derick Williams also sat that whole time LA was making the run.

[Scott K]

JJ injured his ankle, which I am assuminng is the reason he wasnt in much in the second half.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

That sure was ugly. I was questioning Addleman's line ups at bit their. Gotta wonder why Tolliver and Randolph all of sudden get big minutes when we finally get back in the game. Barea was the reason we were only 6 down at half time and then he didn't play at all in the second half. Derick Williams also sat that whole time LA was making the run.

Im guessing addleman was trying to keep some of the guys fresh cuz the wolves play AGAIN tonight against a team that was resting and waiting for them..... NICE schedule Stern!

Addleman was probably figuring a loss regardless without Love playing

[mrklean]

that was my thought, the suns have struggled this year and if they can come out of this trip 2-1 thats pretty good

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

Well, looks like the keeping guys fresh strategy did not work....

[paceman]

Tired legs at the end cost them. Lots of open look shots hitting the front of the rim. Classic signs of being tired.....

[SledNeck]

heres a few pics from my first wolves game in a long time and my son's first wolves game ever

awesome seats. Right behind the wolves tv guys. It was sweet cause we could watch their tv screen and see the replays during the game

[PierBridge]

Awesome Team Sled~

[fishersofmen]

Really like the view of the court in that last pic.....well done sir.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

K love just workin out on the blazers!!!! what a game... anybody see Joel "im a goon" Pryzabilla stand on top of Rubio and get T'd up? What a clown boxer! Then K love dunked on him the next play and he was promptly on the bench with a towel on his head for the rest of the game... what a classic goon!

Bout time we get off the schnide against the blazers... 16 in a row? their not even that good.

[Scott K]

Maybe now that the Wolves schooled them, they will decide to trade us Batum

I have to admit, I tried watching the game last night, but everytime I turned on the game, they would blow the lead they had. So I would change the channel, and check back a half hour later, just to see them up again, then blow the lead. I figured, I was bad luck, so I didnt watch the rest of the game. I checked out the score this morning, and seen the scores, and realized, I was their bad luck

[ozzie]

well I am glad you changed your channel cause I didn't and it was a fun game to watch. Hopefully Webster can have more consistant games like that...Back to .500 and now we get a 4 home games this week Clippers, Blazers, Lakers, and Hornets....maybe we can finally take out the Lakers and get 3 wins out of these 4 home games. I think they will have a hard time beating the Clippers for the third time but who knows. Go Wolves!!

[Scott K]

It is nice to see the Wolves point spread for tonight, Wolves picked by 3.

Looks like were starting to get a little respect.

After beating the Blazers the other night, all the TrailBlazer players were venting, saying this was their lowest point, to lose to the Timberwolves at home even. LOL, I guess they havent heard, we arent the Wolves of yesteryear! I think we have surprised a few teams this year, Houston, Sac, Clippers, Dallas. I just hope we can continue our "LUCK" and take care of the Clippers again tonight.

[Juan Grande]

Love finally broke out of his shooting slump. I would love it if Webster would run with the starting SG job.

[Scott K]

Love finally broke out of his shooting slump. I would love it if Webster would run with the starting SG job.

He had a good game, but I dont think you can expect that out of him even on an irregular basis. If the Wolves dont find trade for a good wingman, I would like to see Martell in the starting line up, and sit Luke down, and have Williams splitting time with Wes on the 3. But I dont think we will see Williams playing 3 at all this year, barring any big injuries.

I would like to see these lines out there

Rubio

Webster

Williams

Love

Pek

Or on the smaller teams, play Love at center, Williams at the 4, and Wes at the 3 for a defense stopper, Webster at 2, Rubio at point.

If we dont find a wing player before the deadline, I think they will bring Lee back from the d league and have him playing 15-20 minutes at 2.

[mrklean]

gonna be a real test tonight i hope they can pull it out, people are taking them serious finally

[schmitty3]

Marc Stein seems to be taking the Wolves seriously. He has them ranked 9th in the NBA. Maybe a litle too seriously.

http://espn.go.com/nba/powerrankings

[ozzie]

I was going to say the "experts" have them rated pretty high on the power rankings, but we know what we currently have...a team that is around a .500 club and is missing a legit 2 guard from being a more serious contender. Martell may have it in him if he get completely healthy and can put his back issues in the past. Even with a 2 guard they still would need at least 1 or 2 more decent players to come off the bench that can score here and there and not look so lazy at times like Beasley did on Saturday!!

Malcolm Lee will not see much time if any in the NBA this year unless we are out of the playoff push and there are injuries to deal with. And I don't think the Twolves can surprise teams anymore as the league should know by now that they are a scrappy team that will make you work for a win and if you let them hang around they will beat you. I just love game days....Go Wolves!!!

[SledNeck]

Martell is the hardest working player on the wolves.

Pek is playing sloppy lately

[SledNeck]

Marc Stein seems to be taking the Wolves seriously. He has them ranked 9th in the NBA. Maybe a litle too seriously.

http://espn.go.com/nba/powerrankings

The difference between the wolves this year and the last few years is that this year the wolves can play with any team in the NBA

[Scott K]

The reason they are ranked so high, with a .500 team is we are better then all but a couple teams in the east, and we have been beating the top teams in the West. We have the hardest schedule, and we will get a few easier games later in the season, to gain some momentum and climb in the standings.