Monday, July 30, 2007

Thoughts on Garnett and The Mystery Player Revealed

As I am writing this, Kevin Garnett technically is still a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves, however we all know that will more then likely not be the case soon. Although it is nearly impossible to separate Kevin Garnett from the Minnesota Timberwolves in your mind, it has become a reality and the time has come to find out which fans are Kevin Garnett fans and which fans are Minnesota Timberwolves fans.

With the reported deal, the Timberwolves will certainly be in “rebuilding mode.” They are admitting that they failed and it is time to get young and try to establish a good core of players who could develop on the court together at this level, as well as develop chemistry together on the court. Certainly most fans are not thrilled with the idea of watching this team struggle as they grow and try to form an identity after Garnett was the identity of the franchise for over a decade, but it is time.

Certainly unscientific, here is a breakdown of the stats of the main players reported to be coming to Minnesota, compared to Kevin Garnett’s statistics from last season…


Al Jefferson
16.0 ppg / 11.0 rpg / 1.3 apg / 1.5 bpg / 0.7 spg

Gerald Green
10.4 ppg / 2.6 rpg / 1.0 apg / 0.3 bpg / 0.5 spg

Ryan Gomes
12.1 ppg / 5.6 rpg / 1.6 apg / 0.2 bpg / 0.7 spg

Sebastian Telfair
6.1 ppg / 1.4 rpg / 2.8 apg / 0.1 bpg / 0.6 spg

TOTALS
44.6 ppg / 20.6 rpg / 6.7 apg / 2.1 bpg / 2.5 spg

KG
22.4 ppg / 12.8 rpg / 4.1 apg / 1.7 bpg / 1.2 spg


With the influx of youth that apparently will now make up the roster of the Timberwolves, there are a few more moves that must be made. Ricky Davis and Mark Blount are not the veteran “leaders” you would want to influence the younger players. When I sat down with Davis in March, an answer he gave rubbed me the wrong way, seemingly showing a true glimpse of the player…

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SL: There are many fans out there who believe that it may be in the best interest of the team to start Rashad McCants and have you come in as the sixth man, a role in which you've thrived in the past. Is that something that, if asked, you would be willing to do?

RD: I'm always willing to do something nice, but that was something that I was better at in my younger days. I'm going to be a starter and I'm going to stay a starter, so we'll just keep it like that. It's different when you go to another team where they have guys who have established themselves in the league already and maybe become like a (Jerry) Stackhouse. He comes off the bench and does what he does, but I'm here to play all the minutes. I'm going to play all of the minutes and make the team better.

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Earlier in March, I had an interesting run-in with one of the Wolves players and wrote an article in which I left the player unnamed. That article is below…

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I have a certain routine before each Timberwolves game. After making a visit to the visitor’s locker room to spend a few moments with, on this night, the Utah Jazz players, I then immediately spend the rest of the time allotted in Minnesota’s locker room. I do so to get some sense as to whether or not the team is focused, tired, loose and relaxed or whatever mindset they might be in before tip off.

It really is amazing the things you can predict will happen in the game by spending that small window of time with the players. By this incredibly unscientific method of watching body language and mood, this Minnesota team plays their best basketball when they have an edge to them, almost as if they have the mentality of “us vs. the world.” At the start of the 2006-07 season, that was the locker room attitude before nearly every game, but has disappeared the past few weeks.

This game was over before it started.

Upon entering the Minnesota locker room, I arrived to an empty room. Not one player was there watching film on the Jazz, stretching, reading scouting reports on Utah, etc. As I stood there completely alone, watching tape of Utah’s great game against Memphis the other night, one Wolves player finally made an appearance.

At this time I have decided to leave the player unnamed, but wanted to point out for my readers the level of immaturity that this team has and how “checked out,” looking forward to their long summer off as they do not seem interested in the slightest in making a playoff appearance.

This unnamed player bounced into the locker room with a spring in his step, singing and generally in a great mood. As I do have somewhat of a relationship with this player, I said “Man, you seem to be in a good mood.”

The response was jaw-dropping.

“Yeah, I’m loose and feeling good. I mean, what do I have to worry about? When’s the last time I had to work. I’ve never worked a day in my life.”

I just nodded my head, shocked at what was just stated. This player stood in front of me, who made more money by the time he was 25 then I will see in my entire life and, in essence, flaunted that fact. He had no gratitude for the situation he was blessed to be a part of by playing a game for a living and no respect for the game itself.

By showing the immaturity that he displayed, he spit in the face of his teammates, owner, fans and myself. This is the problem that pervades the Minnesota locker room. Most of the players do not show the commitment to winning that should be required of them, so why should we expect them to show any passion on the court?

The biggest problem I have with this is a simple question. Is the problem with the Minnesota Timberwolves that they have players such as this on their roster or is the problem that they have executives who bring these players to the Twin Cities?

The game, which was delayed by 30 minutes due to issues with the baskets, should have been forfeited at that time. The outcome was inevitable with attitudes like this coming from the home team.

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After that article was published, I received numerous emails from readers stating their guesses as to who the unnamed player was in the piece. What was interesting to me was that every player on the team was someone’s choice, other then rookies Randy Foye and Craig Smith. So, what does that say about the team?

I always answered those emails or message board posts with the response that I would not reveal the identity of the player until he was no longer a member of the team. However, with Garnett’s departure all but complete, the most important thing that Kevin McHale and company can do is rid themselves of veterans such as Davis and that unnamed player…who was indeed Mark Blount.

I decided to name Blount now to show how badly he and Davis need to be gone. If fans did not have enough reasons to want them gone, there is another.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow.... great article and thanks for revealing it, even though that idiot is still here. Blount was my number 1 guess, followed closely by Ricky D and Mike James.

Well... it's imperative we move Ricky D and Blount asap. They have no spot in our youth movement anyhow.

Unknown said...

RD was my first guess but Blount was my second, I've been saying that whether KG is on the team or not that RD and Blount needed to go because they both play when they want to.

At this point I don't see how you can rebuild with two potential cancers who aren't exactly role models and hard workers.

Anonymous said...

get over yourself Mr Litel, if anything Mr. Blount comments show that he does have an appreciation for the position he is in as opposed to being indifferent to it. I happen to have spent time with Mr. Blount and I can tell you that while he may be a different personality to be sure, he greatly appreciates his position in life and does not take it for granted, he took the hard road to get where he is, and by the time he was 25 I can guarantee you he had not made the amount of money you have him pegged for. Keep in mind he was a 2nd round pick that bounced around before he found a home. At the end of the day he's a human being like anyone else who was a part of a very bad situation nearing its completion and like anyone he would have been disapointed. Just because a jock sniffer like you steps into his world for 15 mins a night and thinks MAN IF THIS WAS ME I'D RUN THRU WALLS, doesnt mean he doesnt approach his profession any less seriously. His comments more then anything show he understands his blessing for what they are. You mentioned in the 1st part of your post in a negative way that you did not entered the locker room to see that there was no one in the main area, well with people like you crawling around ready to out the players in private moments dont you think if you were a player you'd stay in the training room too?

Stephen Litel said...

So, anonymous poster, what is your connection to Blount where you've had the opportunity to spend time with him?

If you are one to read my work regularly, you would find that numberous people consider me to be an "eternal optimist," always trying to find the good in these players where the other journalists do not.

As has been discussed ad nauseum in other forums, Blount's comments were not an appreciation for his position in life, but rather an indication of his immaturity.

Are you honestly trying to present an argument that Mark Blount is more about winning then about the money? No way. At what point in this season did Blount change his game, doing what needed to be done to better the team, instead of jacking up shots from the perimeter? That didn't happen.

I like Mark Blount quite a lot as a person. We chat quite frequently and many other journalists who cover the Timberwolves regularly have acknowledge that Blount is not one to open up like that with them. I appreciate his story about how he had to keep fighting and keep fighting to get to the position he is in today...I just wish he had that same fight now that he has arrived.