…If those wins are begotten by the Timberwolves young core.

Last night’s game was great to watch (even if it didn’t get my undivided attention), and I absolutely love seeing Al go for stretches like he did in the 4th quarter where he played good enough on the defensive end and was masterful offensively. That deflection, save, and then dunk by Brewer was the hustle play of the year and I certainly hope someone puts together a 2009-10 Brewer highlight reel on YouTube when the year is done, because he’s easily the most exciting player on the team when it comes to giving the casual fan what they want to see.

Rambis sticking with the rotation even when there were multiple points in the game where he could have gone away needs to be commended as well. I’m becoming more and more confident in his coaching ability (obviously since they’re on a 4 game winning streak).

Great win, great game. Next up is Philadelphia, I think Flynn and Sessions could see a good amount of minutes next to each other seeing that both have been playing well on this mini-streak and Philadelphia sometimes goes small. Not going to jinx the team… but I think most of you can read my mind on what I want to say.

and I have been SO impressed with this team. Kurt really knows what hes doing, and it seems as if the guys are getting the hang of the Triangle.

I think a key area they need to improve is the running down the floor and shooting right away. J-Fly did that a couple of times and so did Wilkins, but that can be fixed.

Other than that, I’m actaully excited to watch them on Tuesday. GO WOLVES!

Random Question: Anybody know when the Heat come to town? (Wade is my favorite player, so I like to go to the Heat games when they come. But I want the WOlves to win)

For me — and I expect to be roundly booed for my opinion — the Wolves will never be a title contender as long as Love and Jefferson are the team’s best two “big” men.

I’m rooting for Sessions over Flynn, but there may also be the consideration of needing Ramon to lead the “second unit”. With all the hype surrounding Jonny, I think folks too easily forget that he is 1) a rookie, 2) undersized, and 3) not that great of a shooter.

And I’m enjoying the gradual, but continual improvement of Hollins and Ellington.

Has anyone noticed that the focus of conversation has moved away from David Kahn? This is, in my mind, a sign of improvement in the Wolves as well.

And this winning streak concerns me, even though it’s been fun to watch.

Howard, LeBron, Kobe, Dirk, Pierce, Rose, Carmelo, Deron, Duncan, Durant, Wade, Roy. Almost every playoff team got their best player through the draft. True, not every one of them was a top 3 pick, but most of them were and we need all the help we can get when it comes to drafting.

I don’t just want good basketball, I want to contend for a title in my lifetime. We don’t have that “best player” yet, so I’ll be rooting for ping pong balls until then.

Sessions was great, last night. If he played like that consistently, I’d agree that he should start over Flynn. Hope he can keep that up. Also hope he learns how to shoot free throws. That pair of misses with a few minutes to go seemed like a back-breaker at the time.

That was a really impressive win — Memphis is a very good team, and played well, last night.

I want to win. Having the second worse pick doesn’t guarantee S#*t! Even when you get the number one pick you can end up with Oden (knee) or Olowakandi or some other crap. If you want a proven NBA player, trade for an Iguodala or hope Lebron loves the Land of 10000 lakes. Some scoring studs come out of the second round too (see Monta Ellis). I think we got lucky with Rubio, Corey seems to be turning in to a starting wing and Jefferson is nice PF/C. We need a defensive big and a number 1 scoring wing. I think with our assests we can get Turner or Johnson and use a later picks to get someone like Varnado or someone similar. Keep winning.

I don’t think Sessions has been consistent enough to take the starting spot from Flynn. Rambis may continue to start Flynn, but give more time to Sessions which is fine with me. Flynn is learning to contribute outside of scoring and when he’s playing with the starters he isn’t the primary scoring option, and thus isn’t forced into a purely scorer’s role… Long term I do see Flynn as a Ben Gordon/J. Terry type, but if he can add other skills to his game now, all the better…

The real newsbreaker to me is that Rambis is starting to show that he can coach. It’s been a long time since the wolves had a decent coach, (Casey). I’ve had reservations about Rambis, but his work has begun to pay dividends with the young players and the team.

I think there’s at least a little there. The 3 rookies they have coming off it (Thabeet, Young, Carroll) could be good in that role in the future. Who knows what the starting five will look like by then though, they’re not built for a long run, someone will have to replace Zack before they take this too far. Not to mention Rudy, possibly.

Hard to say about the ping pong balls vs wins debate, I definitely want to see a win everytime I tune in, but long term I’d love us to have the second best odds in the lottery. Life is difficult.

One of the other things that I think showing continual improvement, partic. in the latter half of the season would do is to provide a BIT of a launching pad going into next season that would need to happen regardless of our personnel moves. OKC didn’t have a great season last year, but they ended their season on enough of a promising note to provide a little bit of buzz going into this year. And I don’t think a similar level of competitiveness would go unnoticed by some free agents, Rubio, etc. So in a weird way it IS looking ahead to next year—just not with ping pong balls. Because you’re totally right, it’s all about changing the dominant lupine narrative, in baby steps.

i wuz der mayn! it wuz too thowed mayn! I wuz gone off de Jack D an de Kill mayn u alreddy know mayn i started crying almost when Love went down mayn it wuz too eery like Al lass year it might have been an exact year sicne dat i though fo show dis is de end uv de season for all purposes mayn but den he came back an i wuz like MAYNNN HOL UP dass dat boi K LOVE DE ANGRY WHOPPER MAYN ISS WONDERFUL!!!

dis game wuz exactly, and i mean EXACTLY, like de New Orleans game lass year. Big al kicked it out ta Foye for de dagger three, and Al put his arms in de air before he even shot it. it went in uv course and our wonderful january continued…

well mayn dis same thang happened wit K LOVE lass night. Al put his arms in de air, and February turnin inta lass years January. LESS GO MAYN I LOVE DE WOLVES MAYN HOL UP!!!!

here’s a little four-game-winning-streak present just for you.

I attended the game last night, skipping work to do so. We’ll see how that plays out, but as of now, I’d say it was totally worth it. Stuff I saw while I was there:

-What an atmosphere! There was a good turnout, and it felt like 2004 in there as the game intensified. Of course, like Stop-n-Pop said, it was a perfect game to get people excited: good defense but better offense, with the home team down early, staying tough, gradually chipping away at the lead, then finally taking it and winning late in the 4th. It’s infinitely more enjoyable to watch than the Dallas win, where we had the lead, then slowly choked it away over the course of 4th before recovering.

-I was able to sneak into seats a few rows behind the Wolves’ bench at halftime. The guys seemed happy, seemed like they liked each other.

-Al Jefferson doesn’t get nearly enough press for his fourth quarter prowess. We’re not involved in enough close fourth quarters to really have a proper stat for it that I can find, but anecdotally, it sure seems like Al is always there for tough buckets when we need them. I think clutchness is overrated as a whole (give me the player who gives my team a ten point lead through 3 quarters any day), but there is a certain value to being able to manufacture quality shots against set, aggressive defenses. Given the opportunity, Big Al gives us that offense better than any big man in the league.

-Rudy Gay had a great game, but he hit a lot of tough shots to do it. I could easily see him going 7-18 on those same shots. With his athleticism and skill, it’s a wonder he doesn’t go to the rim more. Looking at his shot chart, he had 2 shots at the rim, and the 16 were all from 12 feet or further. He also didn’t shoot a single free throw all game.

-If ever there were a way to quickly feel better about a player repeatedly hitting tough shots over his defender, hearing the public address announcer dejectedly say “Gay.” is it. Hilarious every time.

-O.J. Mayo played a decent game by the box score, but he was invisible watching it. The Trade is looking good.

-Sitting with a great view of the Grizzlies’ basket in the second half, there were some intense battles for rebounds off of Memphis misses. Props to our guys for holding the league’s leading OReb% team to roughly 2/3 of their average.

-Hollins might be regressing to the norm. A player who played as badly as he did leading up to these four games simply wasn’t going to sustain that kind of performance. He had the worst play of the game early in the first, when he crossed the halfcourt line late as the Wolves were setting up their offense, then inexplicably stood a full 5 feet behind the 3 point line at the top of the key waiting for a pass. Once he had the ball, he obviously had to pass it off, a pass which was telegraphed, stolen, and led to a dunk at the other end. Also, he can have all the shot-blocking skills in the world, but without good instincts on rotations, he’ll end up with just 4 blocks over 120 minutes, as he does over the last four games.

-All that said, I’m ok with Hollins and Flynn starting, as long as Sessions and Love are closing. We lose that Dallas game if Hollins doesn’t foul out. And we lose this game if Flynn doesn’t keep himself on the bench (for which he should be commended).

I went into this season prepared to see severe losing this season, followed be serious losing next season, as long as I saw players developing, team progress being made, and a front office plan that would benefit from a couple more high picks.

This season has progressed about as I expected, especially when Love started the season injured. They may start winning more, but I think it is likely they go about 13-19 the rest of the way. Let’s not forget, on this streak, they beat a couple bad teams, Dallas is struggling, and they caught Memphis on the road in the 2nd game of a back to back.

Anyway, I am nearing the point where I want them to turn the corner, rather than having the patience I mentioned earlier. A few reasons for that:

1. They were playing so poorly for a long stretch that (Rambis and/or Mgmt) were in danger of losing the players and what little fan support is left. That needs to be countered with at least a competitive end of the season. Also need to keep the competitive spirit alive for guys used to winning like Brewer.
2. I think they can be competitive the rest of the season while still getting the 5th or 6th pick in the draft. From there they have enough assets to move up if they think the franchise player is sitting there.
3. The key players (except maybe Flynn) have all progressed enough that I now think they can build a contender with one more good draft instead of two. Jefferson is back, Love has progressed, Rubio apparently is playing well in Europe, Pekovic is playing well and ready to join the NBA (to be traded based on Kahn’s recent comments), and Corey Brewer has progressed more than any of us would have dared predict in a pre-season post. Brewer won’t lead a team to a title, but I now believe that if he plays next to an all-around stud wing he can start for a contender. A lineup with Rubio, Brewer, (stud wing either drafted or traded for), and Jefferson is very compelling. Then having the 6th and 7th men being Love and Flynn is also legitimate on a contender. I now think the team has enough assets that if Kahn has a good summer they can build a contender without a high pick in 2011.

In short, play well the rest of this season, but not too well. Then hit the gas next season. Growing pains will limit their progress for another year or two, but the pieces are almost in place…time to move forward!

Didn’t five games ago Rambis came out and say that from now we are starting over. Meaning that Player Development time is done. Only the best playe and that is it, since then we have gone 4-1 and only 9 players have played, right?

Are all of the bench guys gone after this year? I’m thinking they were given an extended try out and now it is over. This is the team we are moving forward with.

I love that we are finally winning, If we can finish the season off on a winning note it HAS to make this summer much easier for Kahn to convince a top player to come and play for us. If we finish the season like we started it, there is no way a top player would come here but if we can show promise I think the odds are much more in our favor.

One think that I’m certain of is that, even though you might be ahead on the development curve, wouldn’t swap our team with theirs for sure. It just feels we’ll get there and well .. don’t think will (to the finals that is)