Timberwolves – Page 51 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Big Ten West Division Signals Potential

Posted on May 19, 2020May 19, 2020 by David Shama

It’s looking like the football Gophers could intensify their rivalries with Wisconsin and Iowa in coming years. While it’s unknown when Big Ten football will start its 2020 season, the three programs are having impressive offseason recruiting results after being bunched at the top of the West Division standings in 2019.

Minnesota’s 2021 recruiting class is currently ranked No. 8 nationally by 247Sports, the often quoted college football authority. The Gophers have 16 high school players who have verbally committed to coach P.J. Fleck, including five four-star players.

Iowa’s class is ranked No. 10 and the Hawkeyes have 15 commits, with three of them four-stars. Wisconsin is No. 18 with three four-star commits among its 10 player total.

Recruiting rankings will reshuffle a lot between now and Signing Day in December. Yet the early and impressive ranking of the three programs makes a statement about Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin.

The Gophers are expected to have about four or five more scholarships available for the 2021 class. That means about 75 percent of the class is already in place. If things hold, Fleck will have the most four-stars since he came to Minnesota in January of 2017.

With the momentum of 2019’s 11-2 team record and breakthrough season, and the recruiting success of this winter and spring, Minnesota could add more four-star players to its class of 2021. Five-star recruits are rare but a possibility for Minnesota.

The Gophers, Hawkeyes and Badgers are recruiting various states including nearby Illinois. The University of Illinois program has fallen on hard times, causing state players to have reservations about joining the Illini who have heavily turned to the transfer portal for help.

Five of Minnesota’s 15 players in the 2021 recruiting class are from Illinois, including three four-star commits. So far this year Iowa has two players from Illinois, including a four-star offensive tackle, and the Badgers have one Illinois native.

Last season Minnesota had a 7-2 Big Ten record, tied for best in the West Division with the Badgers. Iowa was right behind at 6-3. All three programs were in the top 15 teams in the final Associated Press national rankings. The Gophers had an impressive bowl win over SEC power Auburn, the Hawkeyes beat USC by 25 points and the Badgers had a one-point loss to Pac-12 power Oregon.

Both Wisconsin and Iowa have consistently fielded winning teams for decades. That isn’t likely to change as long as the present leaders of those programs remain in place. It’s up to Fleck and the Gophers to match that consistency and even exceed it on a path to excellence.

There’s still plenty for Minnesota to prove but each of Fleck’s teams have outdone their predecessors. That’s an encouraging sign, along with the 2021 recruiting and how it appears the Gophers are not only upgrading the talent pool, but building roster depth.

There may be no better example of the latter than the vital quarterback position. The bluebloods of college football didn’t want Kentucky native Tanner Morgan when he was in high school, but Fleck saw his potential. Now looking at his redshirt junior season, Morgan is forecast as an early round NFL Draft choice in 2021. Morgan’s replacement could be redshirt sophomore Zack Annexstad who at one time beat out Morgan as the starter. The QB roster also includes two redshirt scholarship freshmen and 2021 pledge Athan Kaliakmanis, who is one of Minnesota’s four-star commits from Illinois.

In the future the Gophers must contend with not only facing Iowa and Wisconsin, but also Northwestern led by Pat Fitzgerald—a master of getting more from less at the Big Ten’s only private school and a place where fan support is sometimes buried in apathy. Nebraska, with perhaps the Big Ten’s most passionate fan-base, could come alive after two disappointing seasons under state native and head coach Scott Frost, who has recruiting ties not only to his home state but also to Florida. Purdue, too, has potential led by offensive guru and head coach Jeff Brohm.

The Big Ten West has long been a step-child to the Big Ten East Division but the gap could be closing. If Minnesota, and say Nebraska, become annual dynamos, and Iowa and Wisconsin stay strong, look out for the “Wild West.”

Worth Noting

Former Gophers basketball player and assistant coach Al Nuness praised the news yesterday that Minneapolis native Jeff Mailhot is joining coach Richard Pitino’s staff at Minnesota. Mailhot has a detailed resume of college and high school coaching including at Hopkins where he worked for head man Ken Novak, who probably has produced more Division I standouts than any coach in state history. Nuness knows both Mailhot and Novak, and said the two have a close relationship. “That’s a great hire,” Nuness said.

Birthdays: Gophers baseball coach John Anderson and 1991 Twins World Series star Jack Morris both turned 65 last Saturday. Jared Nuness, Al’s son and an assistant basketball coach at Baylor, is 41 today (May 19). Bud Grant, who coached the Vikings to four Super Bowls, will be 93 Wednesday.

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor made a savvy decision in 2014 when he decided to purchase the Star Tribune. The paper filed for bankruptcy in 2009 after struggling with debt and declining advertising revenue but has made a big comeback in recent years shifting part of its business strategy to digital subscriptions.

Ex-Chicago Bulls bad boy Dennis Rodman, who has been receiving plenty of attention in the 10-part ESPN series “The Last Dance,” once kicked cameraman Eugene Amos in the groin at a Target Center game against the Timberwolves. Amos litigated and received a $200,000 settlement.

The series, of course, focuses on Bulls superstar Michael Jordan who has been paid $1.3 billion by Nike since 1984, according to the May 7, Forbes Sports Money Playbook.

Although speculation about it has declined, if MLB begins its season with playing sites only in Arizona, Florida and Texas that will be a tax windfall for players. Arizona has a modest state income tax, while Florida and Texas have none at all.

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‘The Last Dance’ & Minnesota Connections

Posted on April 30, 2020April 30, 2020 by David Shama

For me there is a Minnesota connection to the story of the 1997-1998 Chicago Bulls team that is back in the news because of the “The Last Dance” series on ESPN that began April 19 with the first of 10 episodes.

So far the series portrays general manager Jerry Krause as the organization’s bad guy for telling the public before the season that Phil Jackson would be out as coach by the spring of 1998, and for taking a miserly stance on compensation for gifted forward Scottie Pippen. Indeed, Krause was a character. I learned that first-hand in the late 1980s when playing the lead role in arranging an exhibition game at Met Center with the Bulls featuring a young Michael Jordan who Larry Bird had already described as “god” in sneakers.

Krause was aloof that long ago night and certainly didn’t win any personality competitions. Near tipoff time in the basement of the Met he made it known the Bulls wouldn’t be taking the floor without a check for their exhibition game guarantee. The demand to show him the money first was unexpected because the Met was accustomed to settling with promoters after the event, but we paid up and the game went on as scheduled.

Not many viewers of “The Last Dance” know Krause’s early background. H was a part-time sportswriter for the Peoria Journal Star while in college at Bradley. Later he became both a pro basketball and baseball scout including for the MLB Chicago White Sox owned by Jerry Reinsdorf. In 1985 he became general manager of the Bulls, convincing Reinsdorf, who owned both Chicago teams, that he could excel in leading the NBA franchise that had never won a championship.

Krause, who died in 2017, was the team’s GM until 2003, playing a major role in the Bulls winning six NBA titles. A short roly-poly man who loved eating doughnuts and was disparagingly nicknamed “Crumbs,” Krause proved more than capable of the faith Reinsdorf placed in him. It was Krause at the top of the organizational pyramid who dealt with Jordan’s considerable talents and ego, and had to put the right supporting cast around him. The biggest piece Krause ever added was discovering Pippen at a small school, a prospect few knew about, but a player who developed into a superstar to complement Jordan. Jackson was a minor league basketball coach until Krause saw his potential and made him an assistant with the Bulls and later head coach.

While Krause receives criticism for some foolish decisions in banishing Jackson and not paying Pippen what he deserved, it seems the role of Reinsdorf is forgotten. Why was the owner silent when it seemed Krause went off the rails?

The fourth episode in the series shown last Sunday referenced assistant general manager Jim Stack. Later general manager of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Stack persuaded Krause to acquire bad boy Dennis Rodman. Krause listened and brought the erratic Rodman to Chicago where his rebounding and defense were the final piece needed for NBA titles in 1996, 1997 and 1998.

Rodman created another Minnesota link in a game against the Timberwolves at Target Center after he fell out of bounds near the baseline. A camera was pointed toward Rodman and he wasn’t pleased (to say the least)—and then he kicked the cameraman in the groin.

So far during “The Last Dance” series there has been no mention of the bad boy’s deed.

Worth Noting

Eric Musselman, who some Gophers fans wanted as head basketball coach a year ago, has the No. 6 ranked national recruiting class for 2020, according to 247Sports. Musselman, whose dad Bill Musselman coached the Gophers in the 1970s, finished his first season at Arkansas this winter after turning Nevada into a top 20 program.

Michigan, at No. 9, is the highest ranked Big Ten school in the rankings that with recruiting all but done at most schools won’t change much between now and next fall. Illinois is No. 14 nationally, and No. 2 in the Big Ten, Indiana No. 23 and No. 3, and Wisconsin is No. 24 and No. 4. The Wisconsin class includes two incoming freshmen from Minnesota, four-star Ben Carlson and three-star Steven Crowl.

The Gophers chose to scholarship just two freshmen for their 2020 class, Jamal Mashburn Jr. and Martice Mitchell. Both are four-star players, per 247, with the website ranking Minnesota’s recruiting class No. 59 in the nation and No. 8 in the Big Ten. Since becoming Minnesota’s head coach in 2014, Richard Pitino has struggled to land players from the state, with Amir Coffey and Daniel Oturu the only local four-star players to become Gophers.

Before the NFL Draft last week it looked like safety Antoine Winfield Jr. and tight end Thaddeus Moss could become part of a small group of sons of famous pro football dads that were selected in the same draft. Didn’t happen, though, because while the Gophers’ Winfield was chosen by Tampa Bay in the second round, LSU’s Moss wasn’t selected in the draft’s seven rounds and has signed with Washington as a free agent. Moss is the son of former Viking great Randy Moss.

After the draft, Betonline.ag made odds this week that seven other teams are more likely to win the NFC championship than the Vikings. The Saints, 49ers, Bucs, Cowboys, Eagles, Seahawks and Packers are all ahead of the Vikings.

The Ravens and 12 other teams had more favorable odds than the Vikings to win the 2021 Super Bowl.

The CORES meeting for Thursday, May 14 at the Bloomington Event Center, featuring Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle, has been cancelled. More information about CORES is available by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. (CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans).

It was 64 years ago last Friday that the American Association’s Minneapolis Millers opened the corn field-turned into a ballpark, Metropolitan Stadium. The facility was similar to Milwaukee’s County Stadium and was built to lure a MLB team to the area. The Washington Senators arrived after the 1960 AL season and became the Twins. Metropolitan Stadium cost less than $10 million to build and was financed through revenue bonds issued by Minneapolis, Bloomington and Richfield.

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More Kirk Cousins Trade Speculation

Posted on April 14, 2020April 14, 2020 by David Shama

Welcome to a Tuesday notes column with information to know on the Vikings, Gophers, Twins, Kevin Garnett and more.

Trade rumors have been associated with 31-year-old Kirk Cousins during his NFL career dating back to his years with the Washington Redskins. The most recent conjecture comes from website 12.Up that speculated yesterday on the benefits of the Houston Texans sending potential franchise quarterback Deshaun Watson to Minnesota in exchange for Cousins and draft choices.

The Vikings are salary cap challenged and have two first round picks in next week’s NFL Draft. Cousins received a two-year contract extension in March that reportedly not only pays him $66 million but waives the no-trade clause in his previous deal. Watson, 24, is being paid about $14 million total on a four-year rookie contract and is not eligible for a new deal until next year.

While Watson is a valued young QB, 12.Up describes Texans general manager Bill O’Brien as unpredictable and capable of trading the 2017 first round draft choice. Last month many observers found it inexplicable the Vikings were willing to extend Cousins when his contract had a year to go and his performance has been inconsistent. But could there have been a potential trade in the front office’s planning?

Tarvaris Jackson, who died in a car crash Sunday, is part of a legacy group of Viking African-American quarterbacks that began with Warren Moon in 1994. Jackson, a 2006 second round draft choice, played five seasons with Minnesota and started 20 games. Other African-American starting quarterbacks with the Vikings have included Randall Cunningham, Daunte Culpepper, Teddy Bridgewater and Donovan McNabb.

In next week’s NFL Draft, the Vikings don’t need a repeat of how things worked out in 2016. The only player remaining on the roster of seven selections from that draft is linebacker Kentrell Brothers. Among those who didn’t make an impact from the 2016 draft is the team’s overall No. 1 pick, wide receiver Laquon Treadwell.

The Gophers’ 2021 recruiting class has moved up to No. 18 in the latest 247Sports national rankings after the recent verbal commitment of four-star cornerback Steven Ortiz Jr. from Goodyear, Arizona. Minnesota beat out prominent programs for Ortiz, including Penn State, Oregon and Washington, according to an online story last Thursday from the Arizona Republic.

“I love the energy of the coaching staff,” Ortiz said in the article. “It’s a program on the rise.”

As of today the current bid via VSA Auctions for Kirby Puckett’s game six worn 1991 World Series jersey was $37,925. The bid on a 1987 World Series Puckett jersey was $12,650.

The auction was mentioned to Gregg Wong, the former Pioneer Press sportswriter who reported on the Twins and Puckett for years. Wong said Puckett is his “favorite athlete” he ever covered and he had many opportunities to ask for memorabilia but never did.

Wong, now a Twins gameday official scorer, received news yesterday from Major League Baseball. Official scorers will no longer be independent contractors but instead will be hourly paid employees.

The Twins, valued at $1.3 billion, rank No. 19 in Forbes.com’s annual valuation of MLB franchises posted last week. The Twins had an eight percent increase in valuation. The Yankees rank No. 1 with a valuation of $5 billion.

Twins Hall of Famer Rod Carew (Triumph Books) has an autobiography coming out May 12 about his struggles and successes including his heart transplant. “One Tough Out: Fighting Off Life’s Curveballs” will be promoted by the Twins, and club president Dave St. Peter describes the book as “a great read.”

The 74-year-old former seven-time American League batting champion is beloved by Minnesota baseball fans. “I think he can be a little bit misunderstood,” St. Peter said. “He’s not an outgoing, affable guy. He’s generally quite quiet. …He can be taken as moody, or something of that nature. The Rod Carew I know is very caring, very focused on how he can help other people. He’s very much in love with our game and the Twins’ organization. “

During the work stoppage of Major League Baseball Twins players and those in the farm system receive daily communications from franchise representatives like managers, coaches and trainers to check on their well being.

St. Peter on whether the coronavirus pandemic will allow MLB games to be played this summer: “I don’t know. I am hopeful.”

If there is a 2020 MLB season, players will have their salaries paid on a pro-rated basis.

Expectations are building already among Connecticut women’s basketball fans who are hoping Paige Bueckers from Hopkins can help the Huskies end a national championship drought dating back four years. Bueckers, the Gatorade National Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year, is so special Hopkins boys’ basketball coach Kenny Novak considers her the only girl that could have started for him. “She is the complete package,” Royals girls’ coach Brian Cosgriff said of his point guard.

Kevin Garnett, the former Timberwolves superstar headed for induction later this year into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, has for years wanted to own an NBA franchise and now is making his interest public to have a team in Seattle. Garnett might pull it off but he couldn’t have made too many friends among NBA powerbrokers with his recent rant against classy Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor.

Veteran hockey authority and sports journalist John Gilbert talking in an email about the 2020 Hobey Baker Award winner honoring the top player in college hockey: “Scott Perunovich (Hibbing native) has been the best reason to watch a hockey game at any level in Minnesota for the three years he’s played defense for the UMD Bulldogs. He made All America all three of his years before signing two weeks ago with the St. Louis Blues. The Hobey Baker Award is a fitting climax to his college career, because he not only was the best player in the NCHC and the country, but he also was the leading scorer in the NCHC—rare for a defenseman—and he could control the tempo of any game. …”

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