Timberwolves – Page 60 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Timberwolves, Wild Need Draft Buzz

Posted on June 20, 2019June 23, 2019 by David Shama

The Timberwolves and Wild need to stir up excitement amongst their fan-bases during the next three days.

The Wolves have the No. 11 and No. 43 selections in Thursday’s NBA Draft that consists of two rounds. The Wild has eight selections, including the No. 12 overall, in the seven-round NHL Entry Draft that starts Friday evening and concludes Saturday.

Neither franchise made the playoffs last spring. Fan outlooks right now for next season can probably be fairly characterized as “ho-hum.”

A Twin Cities sports marketing authority, who didn’t want his name identified, has heard both the Wild and Wolves have concerns about season ticket renewals and new sales. The Wild needs box office buzz and hopes to obtain it in the free agent market this summer. NHL franchises, including the Wild, are more dependent on gate receipts than the NBA with its larger TV revenues. The Wolves have a superstar and ticket draw in All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns, but need more stellar personnel to become a factor in the talent-heavy NBA Western Conference.

The Wolves, according to the marketing authority, are interested in moving up in the draft and could offer the gifted but so far under-achieving Andrew Wiggins, who has played his first four NBA seasons in Minnesota but is still only 24 years old. Interestingly, this week Nbadraft.net’s mock draft had the Wolves using both their draft choices on small forwards, the same position Wiggins plays.

The website’s speculation Minnesota will draft North Carolina’s Nassir Little and Oregon’s Louis King could fit in with conjecture about parting with Wiggins. Taking Little and King would also make sense if the Wolves choose to play the 6-foot-8 Wiggins exclusively at shooting guard next season. The position switch could take advantage of his height against smaller defenders—posting up, or easily shooting over them.

This will be the Wolves’ first draft directed by new president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas. He is expected to shape and direct the organization in a strong manner, and there certainly could be major reshuffling of not only the roster but support positions, too.

This week Wild general manager Paul Fenton leads his second draft for Minnesota. The expectation is the Wild will be determined to add goal scorers in the draft and free agent market in the coming days and weeks, although there is some thought Minnesota might use its first draft choice on goalie Spencer Knight, a Connecticut native.

The club has many needs but probably should prioritize goal scorers in the draft who can contribute within a couple of years. Ideally, whoever Minnesota selects in the first round will cause some anticipation among fans who know fortunes can change quickly in the NHL—most commonly within a couple of years, but perhaps sooner.

That was substantiated dramatically by the Blues this year, who went from being one of the NHL’s worst teams to Stanley Cup champs within a matter of months.

Worth Noting

The Wild will hold a development camp for draft choices and other prospects in the organization from June 25-28 at its practice facility in downtown St. Paul. The June 25 and 27 practices (start at 9:20 a.m.) are open to the public with free admission at the TRIA Rink at Treasure Island Center.

Tom Reid’s Hockey City Pub in St. Paul is the Wild’s official viewing party location for the draft on Friday night. NBC Sports Network televises the first round beginning at 7 p.m.

Minnesota hockey legend Lou Nanne said yesterday on Dan Barreiro’s KFAN Radio show he would be cautious about trading Wild forward Jason Zucker, who he predicts will score 25 to 35 goals next season.

Sports Headliners is told Mike Modano, the retired NHL star who has joined the Wild as an executive advisor, is assisting the franchise with ticket and sponsorship sales.

The Timberwolves host a free draft party tonight from 6 to 9 p.m. at Cargo inside Target Center. Josh Okogie, last year’s No. 1 draft choice, is scheduled to attend. ESPN will televise the draft.

Canterbury Park holds its Mystic Lake Derby on Saturday, offering a $200,000 purse that is the largest of the season. The field includes filly Spectralight who was bred in Ireland and has raced exclusively in Italy, but is based now at Canterbury Park.

Former Golden Gopher great Bobby Bell, the two-time All-American tackle on Minnesota’s only Rose Bowl teams, turned 79 on Monday.

The average base player salary is $345,867 in soccer’s MLS, according to the Major League Soccer Players Association.

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Wolves Rosas Watch Offers Intrigue

Posted on June 6, 2019June 6, 2019 by David Shama

It’s going to be an interesting June and summer observing new Timberwolves president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas.

Rosas is on record about being aggressive and creative in running the Minnesota NBA franchise that has one playoff appearance since 2004. “One thing I’ll bring from Houston is we’re going to question the norm with everything that we do,” Rosas said at his news conference last month.

By reputation and appearance, Rosas is a confident and determined leader. “He thinks he is the smartest guy in the room,” said an NBA source who asked that his name not be used.

Northing wrong with being the “brightest bulb” in the organization, but that indicates Rosas is likely to have his imprint all over a franchise which again missed the playoffs in 2019. The source mentioned above and others believe Rosas, the former Houston Rockets vice president now in his first all-powerful assignment leading an NBA club, will be giving strong direction to everyone with the Wolves including 33-year-old head coach Ryan Saunders. It’s expected Rosas will have plenty to say about who are Saunders’ assistant coaches with vacancies already in place.

The Wolves have an NBA All-Star for the next 10 years in 23-year-old versatile center Karl-Anthony-Towns who impacts games at both ends of the floor. Despite a heavy payroll expected to pinch NBA salary cap restrictions, the rest of the team’s roster is nothing special and includes liabilities.

Rosas has personnel work to do starting with the June 20 NBA Draft where, other than center, the Wolves can benefit from selecting potential contributors in the first and second rounds. Rosas is known for his analytics background and maybe that experience will help him identify undervalued talent when the Wolves draft at No. 11 and No. 43 in the first and second rounds respectively.

Rosas’ expected aggressive style may result in draft night trades that could see his club changing positions in the selection process. Also, trades involving existing NBA players seem more than a possibility as the weeks progress from summer toward fall. It’s certainly plausible the club wants to move mediocre veterans Jeff Teague and Gorgui Dieng, who are among the more expensive players on the payroll.

After Towns, the Wolves have the most contract money tied up in 24-year-old Andrew Wiggins who was the first player chosen in the 2014 NBA Draft. Wiggins has been mostly disappointing during his Wolves career but the trade market might be too limited and club officials still too intrigued by his potential for Minnesota to give up on him this summer.

A smart move by coaches could be to give Wiggins a long look in training camp and early in the season at shooting guard. He has often been a small forward in his Wolves career but at 6-foot-8 and with superb athleticism, he might effectively exploit smaller defenders at shooting guard. The NBA mantra is take advantage of individual mismatches and the Wolves could be sitting on an opportunity with Wiggins who also needs to become more aggressive on the floor.

Almost six years ago the Dallas Mavericks hired Rosas as their general manager, reporting to the team’s head of basketball operations and owner. A few months later Rosas went back to the Rockets for reasons that are mostly unknown other than reportedly having differences with the Mavericks top decision makers.

This time there is no one above Rosas in the basketball department. Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor, one of the real gentlemen in the NBA, is most likely an easier guy to work for than flamboyant Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Still, the brief 2013 tenure of Rosas in Dallas just adds a bit of intrigue to the Rosas watch in Minneapolis this summer.

Worth Noting

A CBSsports.com article yesterday said an “advanced computer model” forecasts “under 9 wins” for the Vikings next season. The offensive line is seen as a major liability.

Timberwolves reserve forward Anthony Tolliver will be inducted into the Creighton University Athletics Hall of Fame August 24 in Omaha.

Mark Lundgren, the former Golden Valley football coach, remembers attending college at UMD when the Green Bay Packers trained there. After practice a crowd of young fans were waiting for the Packers players, hoping for autographs. Lundgren said a couple of the pricier Packers avoided the kids but not classy quarterback Bart Starr who spent about two hours greeting them and giving autographs. Starr, who died last month, was a hero’s hero—a great player, a better person.

University of Minnesota athletics director Mark Coyle, speaking at a Gopher fan event this week, said his program is No. 6 in the current Directors’ Cup standings that each academic year ranks the top performing NCAA sports programs across the country.

Talking at the same event, basketball coach Richard Pitino said the Gophers program hasn’t had a player drafted by the NBA since 2004. “We don’t want to be known for those records,” Pitino said.

Pitino is optimistic about his incoming recruiting class and said it’s been ranked as high as fourth best in the Big Ten. Among those getting attention is Isaiah Ihnen from Germany who is ranked a top 100 player. “I think if Isaiah were in the States he would probably be more like a top 50 recruit,” Pitino said. “That’s how talented he is.”

The Gophers have one more scholarship available for next season and speculation is it could go to North Texas transfer Ryan Woolridge, a guard who as a junior averaged 11.7 points, six rebounds and five assists last season. He would be expected to provide immediate impact next fall.

Paul Bunyan’s Axe was on display at the fan event held at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska. The Gopher football team defeated Wisconsin to win the rivalry trophy last fall for the first time since 2003. It was also Minnesota’s first victory in Madison since 1994.

The Badgers have been among the elite programs in the Big Ten for years and when Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck spoke to the crowd at the Arboretum he made a bold statement about the surprise win in Madison. “Because that game, in my opinion, set the entire tone for the next two, three decades of Gopher football,” said the 38-year-old coach whose team beat the Badgers 37-15 and then defeated Georgia Tech 34-10 in the Quick Lane Bowl.

Fleck has verbal commitments for future recruiting classes that he referenced in front of the fans including the 2021 group that lists 247Sports four-star quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis from Illinois. That three-man 2021 class has been ranked so far as No. 4 in the nation by 247Sports.

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National Football Magazine: U ‘Dangerous’

Posted on May 23, 2019May 23, 2019 by David Shama

When it comes to offseason college football predictions, some things never seem to change like forecasts Alabama and Clemson will play for the national championship, or Ohio State will again wear the Big Ten crown. But there is variable and contrary chatter during the winter and spring including about the Golden Gophers program.

In early January Sporting News placed Minnesota No. 25 in a (how could you be earlier?) rankings of America’s best college teams for 2019. This week a few web searches of more recent top 25 national rankings produced no such good news for Gophers fans.

Sporting News’ post-spring practice listing of April 29 had Nebraska No. 25, Northwestern 24th and Wisconsin 21st but didn’t include the Gophers in the rankings. Pro Football Focus and Athlon came out with top 25 rankings Tuesday, but again Goldy was absent.

My research did discover a “nugget” that will please Gopher optimists. Athlon’s college football magazine, now on newsstands, includes an article by algorithm specialist Bill Connelly. He includes Minnesota among six national “Teams on the Rise” after deciphering data such as efficiency, explosiveness, field position, finishing drives and turnovers. He references the Gophers’ lack of consistency last season (Minnesota played in only two of 13 games decided by a touchdown or less) but concludes his write-up with these words: “This team will be dangerous.”

Read most anybody who offers a detailed preview on the Gophers, including Connelly, and be prepared to hear about inconsistency, including at the quarterback position last season. The Gophers played two freshmen there last year, Zack Annexstad and Tanner Morgan. Athlon includes Minnesota in a two-page spread titled “QB Battles” and predicts Annexstad will win the job because he is “the better pure passer.”

Both Athlon and Street & Smith’s college football magazines forecast the Gophers will finish fifth in the Big Ten’s seven-team West Division—perhaps the most unpredictable division in the country. The two publications say Nebraska will win what is expected to be a close race to play for the Big Ten championship against Ohio State from the East Division.

Street & Smith’s predicts Purdue will finish second in the West, while Athlon has the Boilermakers sixth behind Minnesota. S&M sees Iowa finishing sixth, while Athlon projects the Hawkeyes placing second in the Big Ten. (More evidence of how crystal balling varies and changes during the offseason.)

The Gophers, after an awful early season Big Ten performance, closed fast in 2018 by impressively winning two of their final three league games. Then they soundly defeated (34-10) a capable Georgia Tech team in the Quick Lane Bowl to finish 7-6 overall, 3-6 in conference games.

Among the most inexperienced teams in the country last year, the Gophers are loaded with key returnees on both offense and defense. There is also more talent to work with than Minnesota coaches have been accustomed to having. The quality of the finish last season is countered, though, by the poor performance earlier in the season, and the contrasting results have forced college football authorities to be a bit inconsistent and cautious in their outlooks about the Gophers.

Both magazines have Minnesota senior wide receiver Tyler Johnson on their regionally produced covers. S&M tabs JD Spielman, the Eden Prairie alum, former lacrosse player, and speedy receiver and returner for Nebraska, as the Big Ten’s best athlete. Athlon includes the Gophers’ Carter Coughlin, another Eden Prairie alum, on the line of its third-team All-American defense.

Worth Noting

Golden Gophers coach P.J. Fleck likes to recruit players with ties to the program like Coughlin whose dad and grandfather played for Minnesota. Maybe he will take a look at Gracen Bell, a tight end at Lee’s Summit North in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. He is the grandson of legendary Gophers lineman Bobby Bell, a two-time All-American and perhaps the greatest player in University of Minnesota history.

Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins and Texans defensive end J.J. Watt are drawing praise this month for commencement speeches at their alma maters, Michigan State and Wisconsin respectively.

If new Timberwolves president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas wants the inside word on Ricky Rubio, he can probably get it from Jazz boss Dennis Lindsey. Rosas and Lindsey worked together with the Rockets before being hired to work for the Wolves and Jazz respectively.

Rubio is a free agent who the Wolves traded to the Jazz in 2017 and it seems possible he could end up back in Minneapolis. His name is being conjectured with multiple NBA destinations, and the Wolves might like to replace the point guard he was traded for, Jeff Teague.

It doesn’t hurt the fan popularity of the successful Gophers softball team that 10 of the 14 players on the roster are Minnesota natives. Among the Minnesotans is pitcher Sydney Smith, who joined the Gophers after transferring from LSU, Minnesota’s opponent starting Friday at 4 p.m. in Minneapolis for a NCAA Super Regional matchup. Smith, who while pitching at Maple Grove High School was 54-1, figures to offer some insights to her coaches about the Tigers who will be in a town for the best of three series.

All-session chair backs for the Super Regional at Sage Cowles Stadium are priced at $40, with bench seating at $35 and $30. Standing room is also $30. ESPN2 televises Friday’s game.

Ex-Pioneer Press sportswriter Gregg Wong and former Washburn High School three-sports star Gerry Clark play in the Tzatskees band Saturday night June 1 at the Eagles Club in southeast Minneapolis.

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