Timberwolves – Page 54 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

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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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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