Timberwolves – Page 52 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Vikings Could Draft St. John’s Tackle

Posted on March 20, 2020March 20, 2020 by David Shama

Enjoy a Friday notes column referencing the Minnesota Vikings upcoming draft, regular season and playoff predictions for the Minnesota Twins, and more.

The Vikings’ offseason campaign to upgrade the offensive line could include a draft eligible player from inside the state’s borders. St. John’s left tackle Ben Bartch has earned praise in the months leading up to the April NFL Draft despite playing Division III football.

Pete Najarian, the former Gopher linebacker who has been an ESPN college football analyst, has a son who attends St. John’s. Najarian has watched Bartch’s career as the Oregon native has transitioned from a tight end to tackle while dramatically increasing his weight to about 310 pounds. Despite an impressive NFL Scouting Combine performance this winter, Najarian told Sports Headliners a lot of observers “don’t really understand how good he is.”

Najarian believes the 6-foot-6 Bartch, who could play tackle or guard in the NFL, might be drafted in the fourth round. “He’s athletic as heck,” Najarian said.

Najarian is also a fan of Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts who he thinks the Vikings should pursue, perhaps in the second round. The Vikings don’t have an athletic quarterback with the skill-set of Hurts who also was a star at Alabama. The 6-foot-1, 220-pound Hurts ran a 4:59 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine.

“…I think he could be a quarterback not too dissimilar to a Dak Prescott, or some of the other quarterbacks that are considered dual-threats including Lamar Jackson,” Najarian said. “I think he is somewhere in that category, and his combine numbers say a lot about how fast and big he really is.”

Najarian, best known as a financial whiz on television, played for the NFL’s Tampa Bucs, who have acquired 42-year-old quarterback Tom Brady. The team is known for its offensive talent, but not at quarterback. Last season the Bucs had a 7-9 record. Najarian believes the arrival of Brady, considered by many to be the NFL’s greatest quarterback of all time, transforms the Bucs into Super Bowl contenders.

“I think he’s that good,” Najarian said. “I think he still has the ability to play at a high enough level—probably not the highest level he ever played at—but a higher level than most quarterbacks in the NFL still. So it gives Tampa what they have been missing, which is somebody secure at the quarterback position.”

Sports Illustrated’s spring baseball issue predicts the Twins, who won 101 games last season and became American League Central Division champs, will again finish ahead of the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals. The Twins will have a 93-69 regular season record but will lose their AL Division series to the Houston Astros (will they cheat?), according to S.I.

S.I. points out the Twins hit an MLB record 307 home runs but at least as impressive was that the pitching staff struck out a franchise record 1,463 batters. “The dingers got the attention last year, but the biggest change was the embrace of modern approaches under new pitching coach (Wes) Johnson,” the magazine said.

The publication forecasts the New York Yankees will defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.

Yesterday the website BetOnline.com gave Minnesota the third best odds to win the American League playoffs, and sixth best chance of any MLB club to win the World Series.

Former Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, now the Tigers’ skipper, saw his team lose 114 games last season and could be on track for a similar total in 2020. While the Twins had nine players slug more than 20 home runs, no Tiger hit more than 15 last season.

Former Twins infielders C.J. Cron and Jonathan Schoop, now with the Tigers, hit 25 and 23 respectively last season.

It will be interesting to see if former Timberwolves player and coach Sam Mitchell, who resigned from his assistant’s position with the Memphis Tigers about a year ago, gets back into coaching. Mitchell, 56, now has both NBA and college coaching experience.

Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle speaks to the CORES lunch group Thursday, May 14 at the Bloomington Event Center, 1114 American Blvd. More information is available by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net.

The retirement celebration for prep football coaching legend Ron Stolski has been moved from April 4 to June 13 at Cragun’s Legacy Clubhouse in Brainerd. He coached football in Minnesota for 58 years, including the last 45 at Brainerd.

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Timberwolves Owner Sets Tone for 2021

Posted on March 6, 2020March 6, 2020 by David Shama

The Timberwolves, with a 19-42 record, haven’t met the early season expectations of owner Glen Taylor who believed his team would make the 2020 playoffs as one of the NBA’s lower seeds. Instead, they have endured a 13-game losing streak this winter and won just four of their last 24 games.

Ryan Saunders, 33, had never been an NBA or college head coach prior to being named Tom Thibodeau’s replacement to lead the Wolves in January of 2019. He was interim head coach before being named permanently to the position in May of last year. His career record is 36-67 and Minnesota will finish the season in April with one of the NBA’s most dismal totals of wins and losses.

In a telephone interview with Sports Headliners yesterday, Taylor was asked about Saunders’ future. “I think he will be back (next season) for sure,” Taylor said.

Gersson Rosas, the president of basketball operations, shook up the roster in February and added eight new players. Taylor believes the revised personnel will be a better fit for Saunders’ coaching style that includes a fast offensive pace and emphasis on three-point shots. The owner wants to see how the team looks next season after Saunders and his coaching staff have a summer and a training camp to prepare players.

“I think next year our expectations will be higher,” Taylor said. “We will expect results that are significantly better than what we’ve gotten his year. But I think we have to give him (Saunders) that chance.”

The coaching staff has new assistants this season and Taylor empathizes with them and Saunders because of all the work they invest with minimal results in wins and losses. “…But I haven’t seen them pout or I haven’t seen them be negative, or do any of those things,” Taylor said. “They always say good things about the players. They say they’re really proud of what they’re doing. They’ve said they like all the new guys that we’ve brought (in).”

The Wolves won three straight games to open the season last fall. Minnesota was 7-4 after the first 11 games but losing set in partially because star center Karl-Anthony Towns was absent. He has missed the last eight games with a wrist injury and earlier in the season was out with a knee injury. He has been available for only 35 of the team’s 61 games, while averaging a career-best 26.5 points and 10.8 rebounds.

There is speculation Towns is not committed to the Wolves organization, despite signing a five-year contract extension last September. He has been mentioned this winter in NBA trade rumors.

Taylor insists Towns is on board for the long term. Taylor said, “We talk about that. He just says, ‘You’re doing everything that I could ask for to enhance my ability to perform well, and therefore I want to stay with this team.’ ”

Towns and Taylor converse frequently. The owner said they have a relationship that dates back to the Wolves making Towns the No. 1 overall NBA draft choice in 2015. Taylor is friendly with not only Towns, but his family. Also, Taylor said Towns likes playing for Saunders, and is enthused about the revised roster that includes his friend D’Angelo Russell who joined the team in February. “He (Towns) wants to get out there (on court) really bad,” Taylor said.

Worth Noting

Forbes.com lists the 2020 value of the Timberwolves franchise at $1.375 billion, ranking No. 28 among 30 clubs. Taylor bought the franchise in 1994 for $88 million but is not pursuing someone to buy him out. His observation over the years is NBA franchises sell for more than their Forbes valuation.

Would he give up the club for $2 billion? “Yeah, I’ll take it,” he said with amusement.

Taylor has several limited partners in his ownership group and said a few might want to sell. He has accepted inquiries since January 1 from “some parties” interested in replacing existing investors.

Brian Dutcher, the Bloomington, Minnesota native who is coaching the San Diego State Aztecs to a 29-1 record, was the subject of a USA Today major feature yesterday.

Hockey authority Kevin Gorg believes the Wild’s Kevin Fiala can become a 40 to 50 goal per season scorer. The 23-year-old forward is having a late winter breakout performance including four goals last week. “He’s been amazing,” Gorg told Sports Headliners.

For 58 seasons Ron Stolski coached football in Minnesota, teaching his players about the game he loves and lessons in life. Stolski, who coached 45 years at Brainerd High School, leaves a prep football legacy in the state and will be honored at a retirement celebration April 4 at Cragun’s Legacy Clubhouse in Brainerd.

Also a longtime leader of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association, the 80-year-old Stolski has been a force in the campaign to make high school football in the state the best experience it can be for players and coaches. Whether it’s clinics, the All-Star Game, the Mr. Football Award or raising funds for cancer research, the Minneapolis native has been involved with varied impactful projects.

I have known Stolski for decades and I am grateful for his words of encouragement through the years. He will be remembered as one of the state’s longest tenured and winningest coaches with 389 career victories, but even more so for how he inspired and related to thousands of Minnesotans.

Rob Hunegs, owner of Twin Cities Sports Cards in Golden Valley, emailed that Yordan Alvarez (Astros), Bo Bichette (Blue Jays) and Gavin Lux (Dodgers) are hot rookies in the new Topps Series 1. Players from past decades are also in the series.

Dave Mona, the WCCO Radio “Sports Huddle” host, has been playing golf for more than 50 years and he shot the best round of his life recently, recording a 79 at the Westin Kierland Golf Club in Scottsdale.

Gophers fans have asked about featuring tight ends more in the team’s passing game. Coach P.J. Fleck said on last Sunday’s “Sports Huddle” the 2020 team has the tight end depth and talent to command more of the gameday playbook.

Phil Esten, St. Thomas athletic director, speaks to the Minnesota Breakfast group March 13 in Naples, Florida. Started 56 years ago by prominent Minnesotans vacationing in SW Florida, the group meets regularly during the winter and hears from Minnesota newsmakers in sports and other fields. Twins executives Dave St. Peter and Derek Falvey spoke February 21.

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Wolves Find Point Guard, But Not Defense

Posted on February 13, 2020February 13, 2020 by David Shama

Enjoy a Thursday notes column starting with the revamped Timberwolves who have played three games since president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas shook up the roster last week with new player acquisitions.

D’Angelo Russell is the long sought answer at point guard. The former NBA All-Star has played in two games for Minnesota including last night’s loss to the Hornets. He scored 26 points with 11 assists, at times showing deft ball handling and passing.

While in the game, Russell was a +12 and he had only three turnovers. No teammate was even close to that efficiency, showing the importance of the player Rosas sent to the Warriors in exchange for the much less valuable Andrew Wiggins, who despite his considerable talent never caught on at any position for Minnesota including point guard.

An announced sellout crowd at Target Center was energized last night, particularly in the first half when the Wolves moved out to a 66-50 halftime lead. Late in the second quarter fans chanted: “Defense! Defense! Defense!” Nice try, but defense is not a strength for the 16-37 Wolves who are 1-15 in their last 16 games.

The Wolves gave up 65 points in the second half to the Hornets and their offense slowed down in a 115-108 loss. Similar story on Monday night in Toronto against the defending NBA champion Raptors. After leading 75-74 at halftime, the Wolves went on to lose 137-126. The Wolves entered last night’s game yielding 116 points per game, ranking No. 27 in the 30-team NBA, per Fox.com.

A veteran hockey insider puts the chances at “100 percent” the Wild will make another trade before the NHL’s February 24 deadline. He also told Sports Headliners the team is too inconsistent and predicted a “40 percent” likelihood the Wild makes the playoffs after missing out on the postseason in 2019.

The Wild traded veteran forward Jason Zucker to the Penguins this week and acquired forward Alex Galchenyuk, defenseman Calen Addison and a 2020 conditional draft choice. The source said the Penguins have been interested in Zucker, 28, for about a year and hope he will bolster their scoring.

It remains to be seen if the trade will increase the effort and consistency of Wild players with Minnesota GM Bill Guerin on record that more deals could be coming.

The hockey Gophers have a young roster and could be special in another year or two if they retain their outstanding freshman class and players like sophomore forward Sammy Walker. “No question they’re better than at the start of the season,” the insider said.

Still, he thinks the Gophers are too inexperienced to win the Big Ten and might miss the NCAA Tournament.

WCCO Radio “Sports Huddle” co-host Dave Mona speaks to the CORES lunch group Thursday, March 12 at the Bloomington Event Center, 1114 American Blvd. Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle speaks to the group May 14. More information is available by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. Reservations for the March program must be made by Monday, March 9. (CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans).

Minnehaha Academy’s Jalen Suggs could become the first prep athlete ever to win both the Minnesota Mr. Football and Mr. Basketball awards. Suggs won the former in December and looks like a favorite among the finalists for Mr. Basketball.

Isaiah Washington, the former Gopher point guard who transferred after last season, has started 13 of 18 games for Iona. He is the team’s third leading scorer at 10.4 points per game and leads in total assists.

R.J. White’s NFL mock draft for Cbssports.com on Tuesday had the Vikings selecting Gophers wide receiver Tyler Johnson in the third round with the team’s No. 25 selection. White refers to the Minneapolis native as an “intriguing slot option” for the Vikings when they use “three receiver packages.”

Quoting Mike Zimmer who is preparing for his seventh season as Vikings coach, and is the third longest tenured head man in franchise history after Bud Grant (18 seasons) and Dennis Green (13):

“We’ve been fortunate that we’ve played decent, but at the end of the day we’re looking forward, and we’re not trying to look back on the last seven years. We’ve still got a lot of things that we haven’t accomplished yet that we need to accomplish.”

Marc Trestman, the St. Louis Park native and former Gophers quarterback who coached Grey Cup champions in Canada, is the head coach and GM of the Tampa Bay Vipers in the new XFL spring league. His Vipers lost their opener last Sunday to the New York Guardians, 23-3.

The average XFL player earns $55,000 with marquee players possibly making up to $500,000, per a Reuters story three days ago quoting Fox Business.

Minneapolis area native Tim Herron, who recently turned 50, is making his Champions Tour debut this week at the Chubb Classic in Naples, Florida. Herron is seen on TV ads in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market for 2nd Swing.

Former Gophers tight end and pro wrestling start Jumpin’ Jim Brunzell is the latest guest on “Behind the Game,” the Twin Cities cable TV program co-hosted by Patrick Klinger and Bill Robertson. “Behind the Game” episodes can also be viewed on YouTube.

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