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Bet on Taylor Short-term to Remain in Control of Wolves

Posted on October 22, 2024October 22, 2024 by David Shama

The Timberwolves open their regular season schedule tonight against the Lakers in Los Angeles with ownership of the franchise expected to be resolved in the next few months. A source with extensive pro sports ownership experience, speaking on condition that his name not be published, predicted current owner Glen Taylor will retain control of the Wolves and Lynx after the early 2025 resolution—but that may not be true a year from now.

Taylor is in litigation with potential majority owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez. The dispute is about whether Lore and Rodriquez met the obligations of a drawn-out sales process that began in 2021. A three-person arbitration panel (based in Minnesota) is expected to rule on the majority ownership in November.

Even if the panel rules in favor of Lore and Rodriguez, there will need to be a sale approval by the NBA. There are two reasons why the source believes the league will favor Taylor’s continued control of the NBA and WNBA franchises.

One is the familiarity and relationships NBA’s owners have with Taylor. He has owned the Wolves since 1994 when he bought the franchise for a reported $88 million. He founded the Lynx in 1999. Taylor has served on the league’s Board of Governors and knows commissioner Adam Silver well. The Wolves and Lynx have been stable franchises financially over the decades, while questions have been raised about the financial wherewithal of Lore and Rodriguez who in June reportedly reached agreement with billionaire Michael Bloomberg to join their group.

The second factor, seemingly in Taylor’s favor, is the litigation involves the original agreed upon sale price of $1.5 billion. Since the time that figure was decided, the value of NBA franchises has more than doubled. League owners don’t want to set a precedent of below market value for franchises, knowing that impacts their businesses.

Taylor, 83, has been showing interest for years in moving on from ownership. “I can see him (eventually) selling 50 percent of the franchise to Bloomberg,” the source said.

In that scenario the sale amount would be a market price well over $3 billion for the two franchises. Bloomberg becomes the majority owner at say a controlling 51 percent, while Lore and Rodriguez could keep what’s believed to be their present 36 percent or they might be bought out at a considerable profit. Taylor might want and accept five or 10 percent ownership, joining other small owners who have been part of his group in the past.

Worth Noting

The Timberwolves finalized their 17-man roster late yesterday with the most notable change from a year ago the absence of forward-center Karl-Anthony Towns who had played with the club for nine seasons. The youngest player on the roster is 19-year-old first round rookie guard Rob Dillingham. The oldest Wolves are guard Mike Conley and forward Joe Ingles, both 37.

Towns, traded this fall to the Knicks, will play for his new team tonight against the World Champion Celtics. The game is part of a nationally televised doubleheader on TNT that also includes the Wolves-Lakers game. With forward Julius Randle and guard Donte DiVincenzo, the two former Knicks debuting for the Wolves, the doubleheader will be a focus of national interest.

The Wolves are title contenders along with multiple other teams including the Thunder whose star players include Minneapolis native Chet Holmgren. The 7-foot-1 power forward-center averaged 16.5 points and 7.9 rebounds last season, his first in the NBA. Holmgren, 22, could one day join a short list of native Minnesotans who played for the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team.

Burdette Haldorson, an Austin, Minnesota native, played collegiately at Colorado and was a member of the 1956 and 1960 gold medal winning American basketball teams.

Lou Nanne, who had successful back surgery in July, is ready to resume playing golf in Florida, his second home. He’s had two holes-in-one over the years, with the most recent last year in the sunshine state.

The Minnesota hockey icon, long respected in the local business community, told Sports Headliners he has no interest, or the intention of being part of a group to buy the Twins.

Nanne predicts a healthy Wild team will make the playoffs. “Love what (Filip) Gustavsson is doing,” he said about the Wild’s hot goalie who has helped the team to a 3-0-2 season start.

The Wild plays at the Panthers tonight, facing a team Minnesota swept in two games last season. Florida, the defending Stanley Cup champs, is Nanne’s pick to win the NHL again.

Kevin Sumlin is on the staff of the Maryland football team that plays the Golden Gophers in Minneapolis Saturday afternoon. The former Gopher assistant coach and head coach at Texas A & M and Arizona is associate head coach to Mike Locksley.

Minnesota, 4-3, is about a four-point favorite against the Terps who have the same record. This could be the last time the Gophers are favored in their remaining games, with matchups against Illinois, Rutgers, Penn State and Wisconsin remaining.

With membership in the University of Minnesota Alumni Association, alumni can save 25 percent on tickets for the Homecoming game against the Terps.

It wouldn’t be surprising if during the offseason the Gophers landed a center transfer in the portal allowing talented sophomore Greg Johnson from Prior Lake to switch back to guard where he played as a true freshman.

Happy 81^st birthday today to Minnesota sports icon Dick Jonckowski! His many honors include going into the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame last month.

On Thursday Harvey Mackay, the longtime Gophers and University of Minnesota supporter, celebrates his 92^nd birthday. Former Gophers football coach Lou Holtz writes the foreword in Mackay’s new book, You Haven’t Hit Your Peak Yet!

A communicator and motivator extraordinaire, Mackay is a leading inspirational speaker, syndicated newspaper columnist and seven-times New York Times best-selling author. Among his treasured experiences was playing golf at the U for legendary coach Les Bolstad.

A focus for the Vikings Thursday night in Los Angeles will be stopping Rams running back Kyren Williams. He has a rushing touchdown in nine consecutive games including two on Sunday in a 20-15 win over the Raiders.

In their win over the Vikings last Sunday, the Lions took advantage of missing linebacker Blake Cashman who was out with a toe injury. The Vikings need his tackling and steady presence in the middle of the field against the Rams and future opponents. His availability for Thursday night hasn’t been announced.

The 2-4 Rams and 5-1 Vikings are likely to see the return of star receivers who have been out with injuries—wide receiver Cooper Kupp for Los Angeles and tight end T.J. Hockenson for Minnesota.

The game will be televised nationally by Prime and seen locally on Fox 9.

Vikings superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson has 6,430 receiving yards since entering the NFL in 2020. He is chasing the league’s all-time leaders through five seasons. Only Terry Holt with 6,784 yards and former Viking Randy Moss, at 6,473, had more receiving yards in their first five seasons.

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What to Know After Viking Close Call in London Today

Posted on October 6, 2024October 6, 2024 by David Shama

Cheerio, London. The Vikings hung on to defeat the Jets today, 23-17, and keep their season record perfect at 5-0. Here’s what to know:

On a day when the offense was too often MIA, the defense and rookie kicker Will Reichard carried the crew.

QB Sam Darnold was off on his throws and the Minnesota running game went south after RB Aaron Jones had to leave the game in the first half with a right hip injury. Jones had seven carries for 29 yards rushing while Ty Chandler, his sub, ran 14 times for 30 yards.

Jones, who caught one pass for 24 yards, will ideally heal up during the bye week on the schedule that has the Vikings not playing again until October 20 in a NFC North showdown against the Lions. The Vikings aren’t even close to being as dynamic without the 29-year-old Jones who joined the team as a free agent last off-season.

Darnold, who threw one interception and completed 14 of 31 passes for 179 yards, faced a Jets defense that specializes in pass coverage. Jets head coach Robert Saleh, a defensive guru, had his team using schemes to not only challenge Darnold but provide sticky coverage on Viking receivers including superstar Justin Jefferson who was limited to six receptions despite frequent targets.

Kevin O’Connell image courtesy of Minnesota Vikings

After the game Minnesota head coach Kevin O’Connell said during his news conference heard on KFAN Radio in Minneapolis that his defense “was lights out” when picking up the team as needed. That was exemplified in the closing minutes of the game when the Jets, trailing 23-17, were driving for a potential winning score and extra point. Twice the Vikings put pressure on quarterback Aaron Rodgers before Minnesota corner Stephon Gilmore intercepted a game-ending throw near the Viking 10-yard line.

The Vikings defense, known for disguising its intentions, dominated the Jets in the first half (leading 17-7 at the break) before Rodgers had success with quick throws for short gains as New York scored three points in the third quarter and 10 in the fourth.

Still, the Vikings leave London giving up a total of 76 points in five games—an average of 15.2. That’s the best in the NFC.

The offense produced one touchdown with the defense being able to match that thanks to outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel’s 63-yard interception for a score in the first quarter. Reichard, the rookie kicker from Alabama, produced Minnesota’s first points of the game with a 54-yard field goal, then followed that up with field goals of 51 and 43 yards in the fourth quarter. For the season he is a perfect nine of nine.

It’s not too soon to speculate Reichard could turn out to be the franchise’s best kicker ever and was more than a smart move by Minnesota drafting him in the sixth round last spring.

No one, at least externally, saw the Vikings’ fast start to the season coming. And they’ve done it against two teams, the 49ers and Texans, who rank with the better clubs in the NFL.

Other than the Jones injury today and worry about his health going forward, the Vikings have been fortunate with injuries. Before leaving for London last week tight end Johnny Mundt told Sports Headliners something Vikings fans will like:

“I just think we’re a special team. Got the right DNA of a championship team. As long as we can keep healthy and keep doing what we’re doing I think there’s a lot of positive things that we’ll achieve.”

Reeve Looks Like Hoops Genius Again

The Minnesota Lynx had a 19-21 regular season record in 2023 and were eliminated in a first-round playoff series. After that president of basketball operations and head coach Cheryl Reeve had a decision to make about the 2024 team, along with team owner Glen Taylor.

The choice was trying to build an immediate winner or have a 2024 record that would position the club for higher draft choices. “And together we decided we were going to go for the winning,” Taylor told Sports Headliners.

Minnesota finished the regular season at 30-10, the most victories in franchise history. The record was also the second best in the league, trailing only the 32-8 New York Liberty. As of today (Sunday), the No. 2 playoff seeded Lynx are up 2-1 in the best of five semifinals series against the Sun. The teams play in Connecticut today and if a fifth and deciding game is needed it will be Tuesday evening in Minneapolis.

A series win would send Minnesota to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2017 with a chance to win the franchise’s fifth league crown. All under Reeve who has a gift for identifying talent and coaching those players to success.

Reeve transformed the 2024 Lynx roster by signing key free agents Courtney Williams and Alanna Smith, re-signing forward Bridget Carleton, and trading for valued reserves Natisha Hiedeman and Myisha Hines-Allen. Minnesota led the league in assists per game (23.0) and three-point percentage (38.0%) with three players in the top 10 for three-point field goal percentage: Bridget Carleton (44.4), Cecilia Zandalasini (44.3) and Kayla McBride (40.7). Defensively, the Lynx held opponents to a 41% field goal percentage, best in the league.

Late last month the WNBA announced Reeve as the league’s Coach of the Year (fourth time) and Basketball Executive of the Year (second). She is the first coach in league history to receive the Coach of the Year Award four times and is only the second person to be selected for both awards in the same season.

Taylor hired Reeve in 2009, partly at the recommendation of Bill Laimbeer who was head coach of the WNBA’s Detroit Shock. Reeve was the team’s general manager and an assistant coach.

“She has asked in all these years to report directly to me which has been fine…and we work together I think very well, and she’s got real good results and so I am very supportive of her,” Taylor said.

Taylor said Reeve “is all business” when they talk which is fine with him because he appreciates the efficiency. Reeve is on a multi-year contract that reportedly pays her $700,000 annually. Taylor said she has never “threatened” to leave and the two have been able to agree on contracts. “I just talk to her, and we get it worked out.”

With more opportunities for women in men’s professional sports front offices, it’s not wild speculation to think Reeve could receive an NBA offer. Taylor said it hasn’t been that direct in their conversations, but he thinks Reeve has implied “she could do that if the opportunity came.”

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Looks Like a Star to be Born with Golden Gophers Basketball

Posted on September 27, 2024September 27, 2024 by David Shama

Enjoy a Friday notes column on various sports that even includes quotes from former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty.

The Golden Gophers men’s basketball team started official practices this week and insiders are confident the program has a special player in freshman point guard Isaac Asuma from Cherry, Minnesota.

If coach Ben Johnson didn’t have veteran guards, it’s likely Asuma would be in the starting lineup beginning with the first game on November 6 against Oral Roberts at Williams Arena. A four-star recruit by both Rivals.com and 247Sports, he was considered a top 100 player in the national high school class of 2024.

At 6-3 and about 200 pounds, Asuma has a Big Ten ready body with length and strength. He is also an unselfish playmaker with all-around physical and basketball skills that have caught the attention of observers since he arrived on the Minnesota campus earlier this year.

Isaac Asuma photo courtesy of University of Minnesota

Asuma’s willingness to learn, along with his friendly and outgoing personality, is the stuff of leadership. He has a poise and charisma often not seen in teenagers just out of high school.

Put it all together and it’s apparent why the attractive Asuma is referenced as a “stud.”

The team’s established star is senior Dawson Garcia who averaged 17.6 points per game. He is the leading Big Ten Conference scorer returning from last season. The 6-11 forward from Prior Lake High School was second team All-Big Ten last winter.

A scenario Johnson, his staff and Gophers fans want to see is for Asuma to stick around for a couple of years at Minnesota and play with Cretin-Derham Hall senior Tommy Ahneman. The 6-foot-10 center’s improvement has attracted the attention of major college programs including Notre Dame where he is scheduled to visit this coming weekend. Last season’s North Dakota Gatorade Player of the Year is a big target for the Gophers.

Asuma and Garcia are two of seven native Minnesotans on the Gopher roster. Women’s basketball coach Dawn Plitzuweit has 12 natives of the state.

The death last month of former Gopher assistant basketball coach Jimmy Williams reminded Minnesota sports fan Bob Klas of a Williams one liner when he was Minnesota’s interim head coach in 1986. Williams quipped: “I’m one of just two people who coaches in an arena that’s named after him.” (The other facility being the Dean E. Smith Center at North Carolina).

Eric Curry, the well-known Minneapolis area college basketball referee, plans to work 65-70 games this coming season with assignments in the Atlantic 10, Big 12, Missouri Valley and West Coast Conferences.

In the last 12 months news has surfaced about replacing Target Center and also costly renovations to improve Xcel Energy Center. The Timberwolves, if they emerge from an ownership dispute being led by Marc Lore and Alex Rodriquez, apparently have interest in building a new facility in the Farmers Market area in downtown Minneapolis.

Public financing for a new Wolves arena will be difficult to secure including from a Minneapolis city council that seems most interested in grassroots and common folk agendas. “…If Minneapolis doesn’t want it, I would predict there could be more than one or more other cities that would like to bid for it, or try to get involved with the new Timberwolves stadium,” former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty told Sports Headliners. “So they’re going to have competition, I would think, if they are interested.”

Pawlenty was supportive of Minnesota’s professional sports facilities concerns as governor. He is a sports fan and values the quality of life component sports contributes to the lives of Minnesotans.

Asked about the idea of building a new multipurpose arena in Bloomington near the Mall of America for both the Wild and Wolves, Pawlenty defended the importance of Xcel and Target Center to their cities.

“With the exception of the Xcel Center, there’s not a lot of positive things happening in downtown St. Paul. In fact, a lot of negative things happening. If the Wild were to leave and not exist, I think that would present an existential threat to further threat(en) downtown St. Paul.

“So I gotta believe the St. Paul city and St. Paul legislative representatives would fight very hard to keep the Xcel Center or its future version in St. Paul. And I think the same would be true for Minneapolis.”

If the amazing Lynx make the WNBA Finals, they will have an October 18 Target Center conflict with the Timberwolves preseason game scheduled with the Nuggets that evening. The Wolves game would shift to October 17, per a local insider.

The Vikings annual game in Green Bay often prompts memories of former Pioneer Press sportswriter Don Riley who for decades wrote a pot-stirring column called “The Eye Opener.” Riley, who died in 2015 at age 92, loved to provoke the Packers and their fans.

“I never mention them as Green Bay. I just said the capital B Bushers,” Riley told Sports Headliners in 2011. He was then long retired after leaving the newspaper in 1987, with a “fan club” that included Packers fans in western Wisconsin who he insulted at banquets by suggesting they be searched for stolen silverware before leaving the facility.

Riley chose the term “Bushers” because it was “derogatory” without picking on one individual. However, he did take an occasional shot at someone including legendary coach Vince Lombardi whose wife wanted him fired from the St. Paul newspaper. “Vince told her to lay off because he’s selling tickets for us,” Riley said.

Riley built much of his controversial column’s success on bashing the Packers and Green Bay. He wrote that Green Bay had the “world’s largest toilet paper factories” and once boasted that if the Vikings didn’t beat the Pack he would push a peanut with his nose from Appleton to Green Bay. The Vikings lost, Riley never pushed the peanut, and the Green Bay newspaper accused him of having no guts.

No Minnesota sports figure is under more fire than Twins manager Rocco Baldelli who has had a front row look at his team’s depressing late season collapse. From critical emails to chants at Target Field calling for his ouster, he is a likely scapegoat for a team that in August looked like a safe bet to make the playoffs and now is a long shot.

The opinion here is it’s 65-35 Baldelli returns for the 2025 season. His staff? Perhaps 80 percent probability there will be changes.

The Lindenwood football program went Division I in 2022, one year after St. Thomas did so. Lindenwood, located in St. Charles, Missouri, defeated the Tommies 64-0 at home on September 21. The Lions come to Minneapolis to play the Gophers on September 18, 2027.

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