Timberwolves – Page 2 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Vikings Reserve QB Roster Battles Command Attention

Posted on August 10, 2025August 10, 2025 by David Shama

Enjoy a Sunday notes column.

J.J. McCarthy is rock solid as the Viking starting quarterback but better believe the jockeying for status behind him is a competitive situation.

McCarthy played briefly in the first quarter of Saturday’s opening preseason game, a 20-10 win over the Texans in Minneapolis. Head coach Kevin O’Connell indicated after the game he was more than satisfied with how his 22-year-old leader ran the offense.

Before the first quarter was over Sam Howell relieved McCarthy. Then later in the game the Vikings turned to another veteran, Brett Rypien, before having rookie Max Brosmer finish up.

Howell completed 11 of 13 passes for 105 yards. Rypien was 1 of 4 for six yards while Brosmer, 5 of 8 for 47 yards, threw the lone Minnesota touchdown pass of the game.

O’Connell thought Brosmer “did a pretty darn good job coming in…and putting the ball in the end zone there.” Brosmer had a 118.2 rating, the highest of the Viking quarterbacks.

Minnesota may decide to keep Brosmer on the 53-man roster to start the season. Whether it’s been FCS New Hampshire, the Big Ten Golden Gophers or the Vikings, the likeable and football savvy Brosmer attracts admirers. Don’t be surprised if the eventual QB roster looks like this: No. 1 McCarthy, No. 2 Howell and Brosmer No. 3, with Rypien cut from the team.

If the Vikings don’t place Brosmer on their roster they take a major risk of another team picking him up.

McCarthy said this about Brosmer earlier in training camp: “Max is the man. Just super detail oriented, works his butt off. I can’t say enough good things about that guy. He is just an awesome human being. …”

Ben Solak, writing for ESPN earlier this month, ranked the Vikings coaching staff No. 1 among the 32 NFL teams. Solak’s approach was to evaluate not only the head coach, but also analyze offensive and defensive coordinators. He is especially an admirer of O’Connell and defensive coordinator Brian Flores.

“O’Connell has easily leaped into that utmost echelon of offensive designers, and Flores remains the cream of the defensive crop,” Solak wrote. “There are always little things to wonder about– scheming for a rookie is different from scheming for a veteran, even if that veteran had never been successful elsewhere — but there is no doubt that O’Connell & Co. elevate players more than any other coaching staff in football.”

David Hale, writing recently for ESPN.com on college football, placed the football Gophers among five under the radar teams who may exceed expectations. “Not counting the 2020 COVID-19 season, Minnesota is one of just 15 teams to win 60 percent of its Power 5 games. That’s more impressive than it sounds. It’s better than Washington, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Miami and Texas A&M.

“The Gophers enter 2025 with a ton of intriguing options led by Koi Perich and Darius Taylor, and while the schedule includes road trips to Ohio State and Oregon, there’s certainly a path for P.J. Fleck to get Minnesota back to the 10-win plateau (last achieved in 2019).”

The Twins try to win their three-game series at home today against the Royals who Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli has a 60-42 career record against. That’s his most victories over any team.

University of St. Thomas Athletic Director Phil Esten will be joined by head men’s basketball coach Johnny Tauer and men’s hockey coach Rico Blasi at a meeting of the Capital Club at Mendakota Country Club on August 27. They will discuss UST’s transition from DIII to DI, the new campus arena, NIL and potential competition with the Gophers. More information about the club is available from Patrick Klinger, patrick@agilemarketingco.com.

Twin Cities Business has honored Patrick as one of 25 Notable Marketing Leaders for 2025 for his work on behalf of clients.

Tomorrow, August 11, will be the 22^nd anniversary of Herb Brooks’ death in a car accident. The legendary hockey coach’s gravesite at Roseville’s Roselawn Cemetery is frequently visited by admirers who remember his extraordinary career that included the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” at the Olympics.

Former Viking and NFL Hall of Famer John Randle will be the celebrity golfer tomorrow at the Ben & Adith Miller Golf Classic benefitting the Winona Health Foundation. The event will be at the Cedar Valley Golf Course in Winona.

Former Hopkins superstar Paige Bueckers is a huge favorite to win WNBA Rookie of the Year honors. Playing for the Dallas Wings (8-23 record), Bueckers is averaging 18.6 points per game, 5.4 assists and 4.1 rebounds from her guard position.

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Ready for a Top 25 List for The Last Six Months of 2025?

Posted on July 10, 2025July 10, 2025 by David Shama

The calendar shows we’re halfway through the year and I am listing 25 things I am hoping for in the next six months.

Alert: recognizing the varied tastes of readers regarding humor, please note the word “wink” will be used to indicate anticipated levity. Feel welcome to use this as a prompt to laugh (howl?), like in the TV studio when a sign says: “APPLAUSE!”

Well, it’s already July 10 so best get to these 25 gems whether they be well-intended, sarcastic or funny.

1. The Timberwolves are bringing back 36-year-old Joe Ingles for another season at a reported $3.6 million to provide karma in the locker room and cheerleading from the bench. How cool would it be for the seldom used Ingles to have a double-digit scoring game playing in front of his autistic young son Jacob?

2. New Wolves owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez could have a “wandering eye” when it comes to keeping the team in Minneapolis. Hoping the replacement for Target Center will stay in the city rather than be built in the ‘burbs. The city is the economic hub of the region, and a new arena is vital to its future as a place where Minnesotans want to be.

3. Let’s hope when the 2025-2026 schedules come out, there are fewer same night home conflicts involving the Wolves, Wild and Golden Gophers men’s basketball than ever before. Also, we can do without those Gopher basketball games on the same Sundays the Vikings play.

4. A longshot, but how inspiring it would be to see all the NHL Russian hockey players join with North American-based past and present Ukrainian amateurs and pros in leading a public peace vigil to encourage an end to the brutal war that has saddened the world for years.

5. Wink: Wondering if Wild GM and woodworking enthusiast Bill Guerin might send me a table for outside grilling. Por favor, have the table on wheels, with a butcher block top, hooks and a beer bottle opener.

6. Wink 2: Hoping our area can attract an American Cornhole League franchise so we can move a step closer to having every kind of sports franchise under the sun.

7. Any chance Twins shortstop Carlos Correa, among the highest paid at his position in MLB, can hit like a $33 million player?

8. Fingers crossed that center fielder Byron Buxton plays a career high 140-plus games this season.

9. It will be a classy union if anticipated new Twins franchise buyers include Joe Mauer in the ownership and he becomes a prominent face of the franchise for decades to come.

10. Hoping for more games where the Twins use former manager Paul Molitor as the analyst on broadcasts. His insights are among the best in Twins broadcast history.

11. Get ready to applaud if the Vikings announce plans for statues outside U.S. Bank Stadium including one for legendary coach Harry Peter Grant. At the same time also commit to honoring the famed “Purple People Eaters” with a statue. That defensive line scared the deuce out of opposing offenses for about a decade and consisted mostly of Alan Page, Carl Eller, Jim Marshall and Gary Larsen.

12. The Gophers need to get into the statue-erecting business too outside of Huntington Bank Stadium. There are a lot of ultra worthy names to choose from starting with Bobby Bell, Bernie Bierman, Greg Eslinger, Paul Giel, Bronko Nagurski and Bruce Smith.

13. Shocking: 2016 Vikings No. 1 draft pick Laquon Treadwell, considered a consensus bust in Minnesota, has stayed in the NFL playing for five other teams including in two games with the Colts last season. But, no, he isn’t returning here in 2025.

14. Fingers crossed Jordan Addison doesn’t have a three-peat of summer driving incidents.

15. More fingers crossed: Quarterback Max Brosmer makes the Vikings’ 53-man roster or at least the practice squad.

16. Miracle: Vikings fans choose not to boo the snot out of first-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy when he screws up. And he will.

17. Miracle 2: the football Gophers win either at Oregon or Ohio State.

18. Happy Birthday, Reusse: Coach P.J. Fleck and the Gophers defeat Nebraska on Patrick Reusse’s 80^th birthday, October 17. (For the unaware: Google Reusse on Fleck.)

19. Networking: let’s get new Golden Gophers basketball coach Niko Medved together with Jim Dutcher, the 92-year-old wise man who was head coach of the 1982 Big Ten title team.

20. Bulletin board locker-room material: In the last 20 men’s basketball seasons the Gophers have one winning season in conference games, while neighboring rivals Wisconsin and Iowa have 17 and nine respectively.

21. Wink 3: Potential speaking invitations for yours truly? Nope. Don’t like speaking and no good at it. (Available, though, for a five-figure fee!)

22. Appropriate: The Lynx win the WNBA championship against the Liberty on a controversial call by the refs.

23. Appropriate 2: The Lynx acquire Minnesota native Paige Bueckers prior to next season.

24. Canterbury Park and Running Aces get dealt in on sports wagering when state legislation is finally approved.

25. And we all need to remember this quote from Samuel Johnson in the next six months and beyond: “The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.”

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Glen Taylor Received More for Sale Than Reported $1.5 Billion

Posted on July 5, 2025July 5, 2025 by David Shama

Glen Taylor told Sports Headliners in a phone interview this week he received more than the previously reported $1.5 billion for selling the NBA Timberwolves and WNBA Lynx. That figure was reported by media outlets late last month when news of the NBA approving the sale of the franchises happened.

Taylor said the transfer of ownership to a group headed by Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez was finalized on June 25. Asked if the settlement price was $1.5 billion, Taylor said: “The answer is no but I am not going to get into it.”

Then he said the final figure “ended up to be on the plus-side of that ($1.5 billion).”

Estimates are the Wolves alone are worth at least double that figure. However, when Taylor and Lore and Rodriguez first agreed to a sale back in 2021 the $1.5 billion was the price settled on.

Taylor, the Mankato-based billionaire, was originally going to maintain a 20 percent share of the Wolves after the new owners took control. Asked about owning a small portion of the franchise now, he said: “No, they decided they didn’t want to and that was fine with me. The option was up to them.”

The four-year process in selling the franchises became contentious last year when Taylor disputed whether Lore and Rodriguez had met the deadline to become majority owners. He said the franchises were no longer for sale, and that led to litigation. A ruling earlier this year by an arbitration panel awarded the franchises to the Lore and Rodriguez group that also includes Michael Bloomberg, whose estimated net worth of over $100 billion makes him one of the world’s richest individuals.

The dispute involved hard feelings and cost tens of millions of dollars in legal fees but Taylor said now Lore and Rodriguez have been “cordial” toward him. “We wish them well,” Taylor added. “I’ve already talked to them and…told them that if I can be of assistance to them they should feel comfortable in calling me and talking with me. So, we’ll see if they do that.”

Taylor, 84 and long troubled by back pain, was joined in the sales process that began four years ago by his wife Becky. They are both big fans of the Wolves and Lynx. Taylor bought the Wolves in 1994 from original owners Marv Wolfenson and Harvey Ratner. He started the Lynx as an expansion franchise in 1999. Taylor owns various businesses including the Star Tribune. His Taylor Corporation is one of the largest privately held companies in the country.

What are his feelings now that his role is that of a fan? “I actually feel good. I think it was the right thing to do. You just look at all the things I am committed to. And now with my back (problem) and all that stuff. I think it was fine (the way things turned out).

“Since we signed (the deal) we’ve gone to…Lynx games. We still love to watch those women. We both feel really good on it. We haven’t done any travelling or anything, but we will.”

The Wolves and Lynx’s home arena, Target Center, is the second oldest facility in the NBA. It’s no secret the new owners want to replace the city of Minneapolis owned facility that opened in 1990. Not known, though, is that Taylor had research done regarding a possible new home for the teams.

Taylor didn’t want to say much about a new arena, positioning that as the role now of the new owners but he did offer this: “We had done quite a bit of work on it already so I’d just a soon kind of stay away (from discussing more.) I don’t know if they will use that. I think they will use some of that work that we had previously done.”

Location and financing of a new building will stir a lot of conversations and emotions. You can be sure Minneapolis supporters are agitated about talk the teams will leave for the suburbs. A site fight for a new Minnesota stadium or arena can be nasty and so, too, would public financing.

A privately financed facility avoids a lot of problems. “Yes, and I think that’s one of the things that they’re looking at,” Taylor said.

What kind of owners does he think the new group will be? “Well, I think they’re going to have to learn this market because they’re both from out East. I think things are different (than) the eastern markets.

“So, I think they have to spend some time and look at the sponsors and look at what people pay for tickets and all that stuff. There’s just a lot learning experience. I am sure they’ll do that.”

The Wolves have made the Western Conference Finals the last two years. The Lynx played for the WNBA title last year and could win the championship later this year. Fan expectations for both franchises will remain high under new leadership.

The two teams have not only of late excelled on the court, but finances are noteworthy also, Taylor said. “I feel proud and good about that,” he said about the status of the franchises.

What does Taylor believe his legacy will be for owning the two franchises for more than 25 years? “I think it will always be the same thing. That Glen Taylor kept them in Minnesota.”

Taylor’s name has been linked to being a possible buyer of the Twins but when asked about owning another local franchise he said “at my age I don’t think it would be good to get involved with another team.”

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