FanPost

"Winning" Character and Talent - Wolves missing both!!

The wolves are missing what I will call "winning character" as well as talent.  The bigger issue is talent, but I'm not sure you can win a championship without the tough mindedness shown by "winning character". 

We all talk about the talent the wolves need to add, two long wings who can shoot, another athletic big who can block shots, a point guard who can facilitate (though we think we have this stashed in Europe), deeper bench etc. 

Do the wolves have CHARACTER as a team? They have one form of character.  They support each other on the court and off,  no one complains about playing time, they work hard and listen to their coach.  You can see these things when the wolves are down by 20 points and still mostly working hard on the court. You don't see players sniping at each other, even with all of the losing. Even when players lose playing time they support each other. I would call the type of character we do have, "NICE GUY CHARACTER".  Our guys are the type to  help the opponent up when they knock him down. 

But there is a 2nd form of character necessary to win Championships.  I call it "WINNING CHARACTER".  It DEMANDS RESPECT and REQUIRES TOUGH MINDEDNESS!  Its the type of character delivers hard fouls, that INTIMIDATES OPPONENTS!  It GETS IN OPPONENTS HEADS! 

What players have exhibited "Winning Character"? Kevin McHale when he clotheslined Rambis in that championship series against the Lakers. KG was a master at this. Never letting an opponent make a shot after a whistle and trash talking to get in opponents heads.  I saw  a great example by Artest when he was on the Pacers against the Celtics in the playoffs. When the ref's weren't looking, Pierce was dribbling the ball and Artest pulled down Pierces shorts down to his knees and nothing was called and I swear Pierce spent the rest of that series with his hands near the top of his shorts to make sure it didn't happen again. Obviously this hurt Pierce's effectiveness in the series. 

So do the wolves have any players who can be tough minded like this? In a word no! The last who was close was Cardinal who would deliver hard fouls.  Now we are a team of "nice guys". 

With guys like Laimbeer and Rambis as coaches, who could both be tough minded when they played, the wolves should be aware of this need. I hope when we bring in our next group of players we have a few who can "mix it up". 

Red Auerbach used to preach, when a guy took  a charge on you, you step on his chest on the way by. That every foul be a hard foul, to get your money's worth. 

Its that type of winning attitude that we need. 

How about it Kahn?