Timberwolves – Page 55 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

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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Zimmer Gets Idea Guy in Dom Capers

Posted on February 11, 2020February 11, 2020 by David Shama

A Tuesday notes column starting with Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer who spoke to reporters on a conference call this morning.

Zimmer hired Dom Capers, with 32 years of NFL coaching experience, as his senior defensive advisor this week. It had been on Zimmer’s mind since late last season to add someone like Capers whose experiences include being an NFL head coach and defensive coordinator.

“We’ve been running this defense for a long, long time and I just thought it would be good to get some new, fresh ideas,” said Zimmer who has been leading the Vikings for six seasons.

Zimmer has long been known as a high IQ defensive mind, and even as head coach been involved with the details of the Viking defense. The defense, though, had more issues last season than anyone liked including a sometimes leaky pass defense.

Capers will be counted on for help. “He’s always been a guy that has been very innovative in the pressure package of his defenses,” Zimmer said.

Zimmer doesn’t see himself being any more or less involved with the defense than in the past. He has new co-defensive coordinators in son Adam Zimmer and Andre Patterson. Zimmer said he may call defensive plays but the decision will be made as the Vikings work through the spring and months that follow.

Gary Kubiak, a senior offensive advisor and assistant head coach last season, is now the new offensive coordinator. He has won a Super Bowl as a head coach and has 24 years of coaching experience.

Zimmer was “relieved” after the playoffs when Kubiak agreed to succeed Kevin Stefanski as offensive coordinator. “I thought he (Kubiak) did an outstanding job last year and I anticipate it will be even better (in 2020),” Zimmer said.

Zimmer expects some changes with the offense next season but said “the majority” of it will remain the same.

Faced with a salary cap problem this offseason, it seems plausible Vikings management will consider cutting loose some or all of the following: cornerbacks Xavier Rhodes and Trae Waynes, defensive linemen Linval Joseph and Everson Griffen, and offensive lineman Riley Reiff.

Perhaps also in the mix of juggling numbers could be asking quarterback Kirk Cousins to restructure the final year of his $84 million contract over a longer period.

With the recent trades of center Gorgui Dieng and forward Andrew Wiggins, only center Karl-Anthony Towns remains with the Timberwolves from the promising 2015-2016 roster the late Flip Saunders put in place. The Wolves former president had several young players in the group beyond Dieng, Towns and Wiggins—including Nemanja Bjelica, Tyus Jones, Zach LaVine and Shabazz Muhammad.

Eye-opener: The low-key Wiggins playing with the Warriors now and max-voltage competitor Draymond Green.

That was former Timberwolves coach Randy Wittman who convinced legendary Indiana Hoosiers coach Bobby Knight to return last weekend to Assembly Hall in Bloomington after a 20-year absence, per the Indystar.com.

Forbes.com writer John Perrotto yesterday described best-case and worst-case scenarios for the 2020 Twins season.

Best: “(Josh) Donaldson, (Nelson) Cruz and the rest of the Bomba Squad hit home runs in bunches again in 2020, and the Twins ride those power bats to another division title, overcoming a suspect rotation.”

Worst: “The rotation becomes a mess as (Homer) Bailey breaks down before spring training ends, (Rich) Hill is slow to recover from surgery, and (Kenta) Maeda doesn’t adjust well to switching leagues.”

Maeda, acquired this week from the Dodgers, was 10-8 with a 4.04 ERA last year. The 31-year-old likely emerges as Minnesota’s No. 3 starter and his presence could put the Twins second only to the Yankees among American League teams in preseason power rankings of MLB clubs.

Twins president Dave St. Peter told Sports Headliners he would like to see the club draw around 2.5 million fans to Target Field this year. The franchise attracted 2,294,152 last season, ranking No. 15 among 30 MLB clubs, per Espn.com

Look for big changes coming in major league baseball in the next several years including a pitch clock to speed up the game. The average MLB game took over three hours and overall attendance declined in 2019.

The first Twins spring training game on Fox Sports North will be a 12:05 p.m. start February 23 from Fort Myers against the Blue Jays.

Did anyone else notice the Timberwolves and basketball Gophers announced home game attendances of over 10,000 and 11,000 respectively when they played head-to-head last week? The Wolves rank last in NBA attendance while the Gophers haven’t sold out a game all season and didn’t even come close to filling 14,625 seat Williams Arena on February 5 despite playing border rival Wisconsin.

If former Hopkins star Zeke Nnaji, now a 6-foot-11 freshman force for Arizona, had joined the Gophers to play with 6-foot-10 sophomore Daniel Oturu, Minnesota would have its best “Twin Towers” since Kevin McHale and Mychal Thompson played together in the late 1970s.

In its 2020 NBA mock draft yesterday, Nbadraft.net projected Oturu going No. 8 to the Wizards in the first round, and Nnaji being taken at No. 16 by the Nets.

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How Do Wilfs React to Viking Loss?

Posted on January 12, 2020January 12, 2020 by David Shama

What is Vikings ownership thinking today after Saturday’s embarrassing 27-10 loss to the 49ers that knocked its team out of the playoffs?

The Vikings won their opening playoff game January 5 with an impressive win over the Saints. In advance of that game, team president and owner Mark Wilf issued a statement of confidence in coach Mike Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman who have contracts only through this year. The Wilf ownership made clear it had “every intent” of retaining the two in the future.

Owner Zygi Wilf has been on record about his vision to see the team in the Super Bowl. The Wilfs have owned the franchise since 2005 without realizing their dream. Spielman has been a leader in formulating player personnel decisions since 2006 and had full authority since 2012. Zimmer has been head coach since 2014, making the playoffs three times and winning two NFC North titles with a Spielman produced roster led by a number of outstanding players.

Sometimes votes of confidence don’t last long. If the Wilfs decided in the coming weeks to move on from Spielman and Zimmer they would appease a mob of critics who want a change. Fans are hot after yesterday’s game that saw the Vikings look out coached, while generating just seven first downs and not able to match the aggression of the 49ers.

Fans can act passionately, even irrationally. Owners need to be more cautious. Despite their “warts” like a leaky offensive line that never seems to completely get repaired, the Vikings aren’t a broken team like so many in the NFL. Spielman and Zimmer are good at what they do. They are also high character leaders.

The question the Wilfs have to answer is whether those two give the Vikings the best chance of fielding an elite team? With that question comes another: If and when the owners want to make a change, can they identify the leadership that will take the Vikings to the next level?

Worth Noting

Former Vikings linebacker Ben Leber talking on KFAN Radio after yesterday’s game with the 49ers: “They Mike Tyson punched us in the face. That was about it.”

Jerry Burns, head coach of the 1987 Vikings team that won its first two playoff games in 1988 including against the 49ers on the road, turns 93 January 24 and still lives in the Minneapolis area.

While Target Field seating capacity for baseball is 38,544, a hockey insider told Sports Headliners 34,000 seats will be available for the 2021 NHL Winter Classic next January at the downtown Minneapolis ballpark. He predicted it will be several weeks before tickets go on sale, with Minnesota Wild season ticket holders having priority. He also said NHL representatives were in town last week to look at the outdoor venue that will match the Wild against an as yet unannounced opponent.

The Wild has lost four of its last five games and is near the bottom in the Western Conference’s Central Division. The Wild also trails division rivals in goals, and the team’s lack of scoring could result in the franchise missing the playoffs for a second consecutive year.

If that results in a coaching change, might South St. Paul native Phil Housley be the successor to Bruce Boudreau? Housley, an assistant coach with the Phoenix Coyotes, is friends with new Wild general manager Bill Guerin.

The guess here is the Twins won’t make the highest offer to free agent third baseman Josh Donaldson and he will sign with another team.

The Twins’ starting infield for their season opener March 26 in Oakland could be: Miguel Sano, first base; Luis Arraez, second base; Jorge Polanco, shortstop; Marwin Gonzalez, third base.

In 2021 that infield could look like this: Sano, first base; Polanco, second base, Royce Lewis, shortstop; and Arraez, third base.

Quoting Dick Jonckowski at the January 9 CORES luncheon in Bloomington: “If baseball is a religion, we should be in good shape with (Dave) St. Peter heading the Twins.”

March 17 will be the release date for Game Used, the book about longtime Twins TV broadcaster Dick Bremer. Author Jim Bruton said Bremer will do book signings in southwest Florida during Twins spring training.

Announced attendance for the Timberwolves home game Thursday night was 13,720 but a source said about 6,000 fans were in Target Center. Celebrities in the crowd included Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck and Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph.

Tracy Claeys resigned during the season last fall as Washington State’s defensive coordinator and is now the linebackers coach at Virginia Tech. If not for that resignation, the former Gophers head coach might be positioned as an internal candidate for the head job at WSU which opened up last week when Mike Leach left for Mississippi State.

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