Wolves Updates 8/11

Love and his teammates can form a super group after they get knocked out of World Championships in Quarterfinals

Yes… that’s the word I was looking for Kevin.

I like Love as a player, but I think he’s got some attitude issues and I predict it will cause major team chemistry problems. You’d think he and Rambis would get along, they’re both sort of California guys, they’re both slow white tall guys with high BB IQs, but I think their attitudes are too different. Rambis is old school, he believes in a team first philosophy, players have to earn their playing time, and players should respect coaches. He did his four years at college, barely got drafted, then got cut, then busted his butt to get back into the league and play only twenty minutes a game. But during that limited time he gave his full effort and did the dirty work. Despite that or perhaps because of it he’s probably one of the most famous bball players who averaged less than 20 minutes a game. He even has a ‘team’ named after him, the All-Rambis Team, composed of the hardest working guys who do the dirty work and don’t expect recognition for it.

Take Kevin Love. This guy left school early. That’s fine, but he’s got to realize that the NBA greats usually did four years and came out of college more fully rounded players and individuals. Then he made more money before his 20th birthday than Rambis did his whole career (I’m just guessing). Then he whines about ONLY getting 28 minutes a night (more than all but one of Rambis’ seasons) and not starting every game, even though there were more senior and more proven players in his immediate position. Just the fact that he says these kind of things to the media indicates that he’s looking out for himself and not the team. Then he says stuff like he’s the best rebounder in the league (in the best league in the world, i.e. best rebounder in the world?). This sense of entitlement from a young guy who has not proven himself in the league has got to rub Rambis the wrong way. While I think Rambis likes him, I think he wants to ‘break him’ or to at least get him to follow his system and ideals more, which is why he was benched more often than he felt he deserved. And I expect that will happen this year.

I’ll defer to people who watch more Wolves’ games, more intensely than I do and with a better all around basketball knowledge, but my opinion is that while Love certainly can hustle at times, he seems to be selective when he feels like doing so. I don’t think Rambis ever did that in a game. And ‘best rebounder in the world’? While I agree that rebounds are an important part of the game, if you focus solely on rebounds, aren’t you doing so at the expense of other aspects of the game, such as team defense? Do you think that could be why he got pulled more often than he felt he deserved?

Anyway, although I am closer in age to Love, I am closer in opinion to Rambis. I think Love’s attitude, especially after starring on the US international team, could really funk up what I think otherwise could be great chemistry. I hope they can find a compromise.

Someone needs to put the Kahn muzzle on this guy, and quick.

Kevin: Just. Shut. Up. Already.

and being openly candid and honest!

It’s hard to argue that the picture he paints isn’t accurate. The question is, will he be able to bring some of that “family atmosphere” from the USA Team back to the Wolves this season?

The Wolves situation is more primed for Love to have a huge impact this year. No senority issues, no incumbent player in his way, a coach that will now TRY to win and no hidden agendas from players in the final year of their contract.

The team tanked last year. Love seemed to have the toughest time dealing with playing on a team that was tanking. But how can you hold that against the guy?

I think that more than anything, Love has some lingering resentment over the Wolves pissing away his second season to try to up Big Al’s trade value. And I think that Love has some right to be upset considering the results.

This is my prime example of how people here at hoopus have ignorant bliss when It comes to Love. If any other player was saying this shit most of Hoopus would want that player traded ASP. why didn’t Sessions complain year when clearly he was the better point guard. why didn’t al Jefferson complain about the triangle I could go on and on but the simple fact is Love is Diva. He is building animosity among his teammates fast. What the team needs to do is start love boost up his stats and trade him at the deadline. The wolves don’t need another team cancer like Christian Laettner.

Laettner came in as a college star and felt entitled from the get-go. He hit “the shot”. He was on the original Dream Team, for crying out loud. Love is a bit of a different player, though both have high BB IQ’s. I think Love can be a more productive player than Laettner, but hasn’t had the opportunity yet. I do agree with posters who note how other players who have been good soldiers here (like Sessions, Gomes, Jefferson, etc) lost the support of Wolves staff and posters here until they finally were gone. The real culprit is the media loves Love, and media today is more enveloping than ever.

I think Love is talking about team issues beyond his personal struggles with playing time. When he compares team USA to the Wolves, he talks only about Team USA being a team atmoshpere, while the Wolves “a lot of new players…we had blown up that team.” It really seems like whatever probolem he had with his treatment, here he is talking about the treatment of all the players. The fact that no one was valued last year. He has talked more than once about the need to keep a nucleus and build at smoe point. This makes a ton of sense. With all the talk about player development, last year was about blowing the thing up. There was no commitment to any one player on that team, or even to winning. So what was the common goal pulling that team together? contrast that with the focused situation of team USA, where a bunch of athletes are brought together for their talents, and the primary goal is to build a team, to unite these diverse players and mesh them into a cohesive unit as quickly as possible. It would have to be a complete reversal from Love’s experience on the Wolves, even if coack K brought in Hollins to play ahead of Love in the tourney.

As far as the trade goes, I like Ariza to NO.

This year SHOULD be Love’s year. He should be extremely excited about this season to prove himself as the player he says/thinks he is. We obviously chose hime over big Al, so he should feel pretty appreciated by the wolves right now. He needs to realize he IS our star player, and needs to act like a leader of this young team. I honestly think this is a bad sign of things to come with Love.

Timing is right for him too…

Hell Corey Brewer could be the leader this year. Martell is a good call. Just got married, and in all his interviews he says how excited he is for a new chance. Looks like the whole team of lottery picks has something to prove. Especially Darko!!!!

I have no clue what to expect. Any of about 7 players are playing with a chip on their shoulder and could just blow up this year. Hope they all do…

The world knows we are the best at basketball but sometimes we get lazy and don’t play team ball like the rest of world. So there was no real redemption IMO.

Its good to see an argentina or a spain every once and a while, but USA basketball doesn’t have a rival yet. If the wolves come back to win 30 games this year I’ll be happy with that.

God what prejudice some of you have. The man didn’t say anything that wasn’t true your reading an awful lot between the lines.

and not a peep about ESPN dubbing the Wolves the worst team in the NBA next year by 9 games in the West and the worst team from the East is 7 games better than the Wolves. I am willing to accept that with rosters as they stand right now and barring major injuries, the Wolves will be the worst in the West. But not by that much. I don’t think that the Clippers, Warriors and Kings have seperated themselves that much and with the improvements to the Wolves roster they will get something closer to mid 20s for wins. .
The East is the really bunggled and botched effort by their 93 experts. I am guessing that they are taking it easy on Cleveland and not wanting to tell the truth for fear that it will seem like piling on. Cleveland has been through a lot with the loss of the King, but that is no reason to cut them slack in the preseason prediction. 30 wins with Mo Williams as the stud on the team! Are they serious? Cleveland could easily go from best record to worst record in a year. Not sure that the Raptors can win much more than 20 and the Nets need Harris to perform much better than last year to climb past 25 wins.
Between Cleveland, NJ and Toronto the Wolves will find themselves better than two of those teams and my guess is that Cleveland and Toronto will be those teams since I can’t see either picking up more than 20 wins.
And of course in their prediction on the Wolves they had to mention how baffled they are by the moves from Kahn.