Sunday, June 17, 2012

S.O.T.T. - Minnesota Timberwolves

"Because anything a Desert Gorilla can do a Frozen Wolf can do better" - Mark Twain

Believe it or not, but the Timberwolves are a pretty good basketball team. Before they lost Ricky Rubio for the season with an ACL tear, they had a decent shot of winning the honor of losing to the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs. With a bonafide star in Kevin Love, a star-in-training in Ricky Rubio and the promise of Derrick Williams, this is a pretty good team.

Unfortunately, Rubio will be out for most (or all) of next year due to the ACL tear, and it is quite unlikely that JJ Barea or Luke Ridnour can lead the Wolves to the promised land. Assuming Rubio comes back better than ever, the Wolves are going to be looking to find the missing piece that gets them over the hump and into the playoffs.

They hoped that Wesley Johnson would be that player, but after two years it doesn’t look like the 2010 number four overall pick is up to the task. It is also clear that Martell Webster isn’t either, leaving the team with a hole at both shooting guard and small forward. With Rubio’s sublime passing ability (and Love’s underrated passing) this player doesn’t necessarily need to be a slasher, but with Love and Pekovic being suspect defenders they do need to defend the perimeter well. A good defender and spot-up shooter at the two or three looks like just what the Wolves need.

No comments:

Post a Comment