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The return of Steve Carlton

By VoxMediaUser71923
Presswire

In 1972 Steve Carlton had a very good year on a very bad team, going 27-10 for a team with a .372 winning percentage.

Last season, Kevin Love had a very good year on a very bad team, posting a .342 wp48 and 18.6 wins produced on a 17 win squad. It was something of a unique event.

This year, Mr. Love has found himself surrounded for decently long stretches by two players who, when not injured, have been able to produce at above average levels, and 2 or 3 more who have scratched at almost being average. Unamazingly, Love's production + 2 players worth of above average production = competent pro ball. Anything else is gravy. This isn't rocket science.

Unfortunately, Agape has recently lost the above average production of his two bearded buddies and he has once again been thrust back into a situation where his gigantic amounts of production are being surrounded by heaps and heaps and heaps of subpar basketball and the team has, unamazingly, reverted to an all-too-familiar form.

Earlier tonight Kevin Love became the first Timberwolf in franchise history to score over 50 points in a game. 16-27 from the floor, 7-10 from beyond the arc, 12-16 from the line. He added 14 rebounds and only 4 turnovers in 49 minutes of action. He was assisted by the following:

  • Starting shooting guard Wesley Johnson: 16 minutes, 1 shot attempted, 0 shots made, no ftas, 4 rebounds.
  • Starting Manna from Heaven center Darko Milicic: DNP-Twinkie
  • Brad Miller: 4 minutes and fewer points than a doe.
  • Non-Love starters' line: 9-28, 10 rebounds, 2 steals, 7 turnovers, 29 points.
  • Anthony Randolph: 1 minute of extremely long and very athletic non-scoring action.
  • Martell Webster: Barely outdid Wes with 4 points and 2 free throws attempted.
You want weirdness to go with your predictable bad production? JJ Barea had a triple-double. Anthony Tolliver went for 23. In a double overtime game, the Wolves rode the following players like beer donkeys, and I don't even know what in the hell that means: Love (49 min), Ridnour (48), JJ (47), Tolliver (44), and Wayne Bleeping Ellington (36). Point guards and power forwards!

I don't even know what to say at this point. What else is there to add? We're 3 years into the newer new rebuild and with Rubio and Pek out we are getting ultra-weird (and, let's be honest, that game was fun as hell to watch) remixes of 15 and 17 win seasons. I don't even think I have a feeling about this squad at the moment. They're just so Wolvesey at this point that...well, Love + 2 above...eh...should I be mad or worried or...(I'm so confused).

Although, the curious part of me wonders if we have entered a post-whiteout wormhole that has fundamentally upset the boundaries of Wolvesdom time and space. Is this really a remix? Did we depart or just fall asleep for a bit? Of this I am sure: If Kevin Love dyes his beard black and shaves it into a goatee, we will have truly met back up with the dark timeline, as Agape is once again playing by himself in the Dreamatorium.