Timberwolves – Page 69 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Wolves Can Adjust on James Harden

Posted on April 17, 2018April 17, 2018 by David Shama

A Tuesday notes column with predictions on the Wolves and Wild, plus voices in support of youth football, items on MLB and the Twins, and more.

An NBA authority with decades of experience in the league has suggestions on how the Timberwolves can defend the Rockets’ James Harden who scorched them for 44 points on 15 of 26 shooting including 7 of 12 three pointers in his team’s Game One playoff win Sunday night.

“First thing I’d do is pick up full court (defensively on the Rockets)—not to steal the ball but to use up clock,” said the source who didn’t want his name identified.

The strategy is to take time off the 24-second shot clock, perhaps forcing the Rockets to use eight seconds or so to move the ball into the front court while eliminating time for Harden and the Rockets to set up their offense, including extra ball movement or dribbling. “He’s a hell of a player and great shooter,” the authority said of Harden who led the NBA in points per game during the regular season at 30.4.

Another suggestion is overplaying Harden to either his right or left, forcing him to move in the direction determined by the Wolves defender. As a strategy, other Wolves defenders stay alert to helping on Harden and with two men on him the superstar point guard may give up the ball to teammates or force a difficult shot. The source said this can also eliminate fouling and sending Harden to the free throw line (nine attempts, seven made, most of any player Sunday).

The Rockets had the best regular season record in the NBA, while the Wolves qualified in the last game for the eighth and final playoff position in the Western Conference. Although there is minimal optimism about the Wolves’ chances against Houston, the Sports Headliners source thinks the best of seven series could go to the final game with the Rockets winning.

“They’re (the Wolves) better than their season record. …They have good young talent and are well coached,” the source said.

A Wild win tonight at home against the Jets evens the series at 2-2. A hockey source, who before the playoffs predicted Minnesota will lose in six games, described tonight’s matchup as a “momentum game.” A Wild win could mean Minnesota goes seven games against the Jets but a loss puts the team down 3-1 in the series and headed back to Winnipeg for Friday night’s game.

Give the Wild credit for showing fight Sunday night at the Xcel Energy Center. Not only was Minnesota down 2-0 in the series but fell behind 1-0 in the game. “The Jets tried to play physical but the Wild didn’t back down,” said the source.

The most interesting angle tonight could be if Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck—after being pulled during Sunday night’s 6-2 loss—plays with confidence. That was his first ever road playoff game.

The Wild probably generated $2 million or more from revenues at Sunday night’s home game, and projects to do the same tonight.

Bob Motzko (photo courtesy of Minnesota Athletic Communications)

Bob Motzko, named the Golden Gophers’ new hockey coach in late March, hasn’t announced who will be on his staff. He will do the “Let’s Play Hockey” call tonight before the Wild-Jets game.

There were legislative initiatives earlier this year in the states of Illinois and New York that would ban tackle football for children younger than 12—citing concerns over head injuries. From Hollywood to Hoboken, much has been said and written about the dangers of head injuries from football, a sport under attack in America.

Supporters, though, point to information showing other activities, including cheerleading, have caused more head injuries among youth. They also talk about the virtues and lessons learned from what many educators regard as the ultimate team sport.

The Minnesota Football Coaches Association and Minnesota State High School League are promoting an event May 5 at Mounds View High School called the Minnesota Football Summit. The purpose is to “develop a plan for short and long range action steps to benefit youth and high school participants and programs throughout Minnesota.” Youth and prep football coaches, and athletic directors, are encouraged to attend. More at Mnfootballcoaches.com.

Former Viking and St. Paul native Matt Birk, now a consultant for the NFL, told Sports Headliners that the Illinois and New York initiatives have failed. He believes “states can find bigger things they can focus on.” He speaks from experiences in high school, college and the pros when supporting his sport.

“Football is such a great game,” Birk said. “It has so much to offer young people. We don’t need to make any apologies.

“Of course we’re always going to try to make it better and safer. …I think it’s just fine for the most part the way it is. We need to make sure people know that the reason why you play football is because it’s great for the overall development of kids. You can learn a lot of things that will serve you well for the rest of your life.”

Birk has a nine-year-old son who played tackle football for the first time last fall. “He had a great time. He loves football. He loves being out there with his friends.”

Birk said his eight-year-old son asks almost every day if he can play football when he turns nine. The answer will be yes because Birk sees it as his responsibility to encourage kids to participate in activities they are enthusiastic about.

The NFL promotes co-ed flag football programs for ages 9-10 and 11-12, and 13-14 for boys, and 13-14 for girls. “Anything that gets kids involved with football is great,” Birk said. “There should be options for kids. If you want to play flag, they can play flag. If you want to play tackle, play tackle. …We have an obesity epidemic in this country. If kids want to do stuff, then gosh dang, we should find a way for them to do it.”

Birk said it would have been nice to see Case Keenum rewarded with a new and richer contract for his role in last season’s success, but the Vikings obviously identified new quarterback Kirk Cousins as an upgrade “which he may be.” The Vikings have a window of opportunity with a talented roster. “It seems like everything is there,” Birk said. “Kind of going all in right now to push for a Super Bowl run.”

A sports industry source was told the Twins, as the host team in the two-game Puerto Rico series against the Indians that starts tonight, are guaranteed by MLB the sum of their average Target Field game revenues. That figure could be about $1.3 million per game in Minneapolis, or for two games against the Indians in San Juan a total of $2.6 million, plus expenses.

Look for MLB to improve its April scheduling next year with northern teams likely to have fewer home dates the first two weeks of the month. Half of MLB’s 30 teams are either located in warm weather cities, or have domes.

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Gopher AD Makes Impact on Staff

Posted on April 15, 2018April 15, 2018 by David Shama

It will be two years ago next month that University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler hired Mark Coyle away from Syracuse to be the Golden Gophers Athletic Director. During his time at Minnesota Coyle has hired several new coaches including in the high profile sports of football, men’s hockey and women’s basketball.

The latest appointment is that of Lindsay Whalen to head the women’s basketball program, even though she has no previous coaching experience. Earlier this spring Coyle hired Bob Motzko as men’s hockey coach and in January of 2017 selected P.J. Fleck to lead the football team.

Mark Coyle (photo courtesy of Minnesota Athletic Communications)

It’s evident that when Coyle considers staff hires he places an emphasis on coaches with high potential to recruit skilled student-athletes. Coyle does so with good reason because there’s no doubt football and men’s hockey are significant businesses at the U, and women’s basketball could some day become the first women’s program in the Athletic Department to be profitable.

Coyle knows without talented recruits the Gophers can’t dream of and chase championships in the high profile and revenue producing sports that also includes his men’s basketball program. “No mule ever won the Kentucky Derby,” former Gopher national championship football coach Murray Warmath used to say about the importance of talent.

Whalen, 35, is young enough to relate to high school players and has the platform of still playing for the WNBA champion Lynx. As a recruiter, the competitive Whalen should be able to get into living rooms and make recruiting pitches to outstanding prospects that her U coaching predecessors could only fantasize about.

“Want to some day play women’s pro basketball?” Whalen can ask. “Well, I can show you how to get there.”

The Whalen resume sparkles with accomplishments including leading the Gophers as a player to the 2004 women’s Final Four and becoming one of the WNBA’s best point guards and consistent winners. It’s this kind of background that has Minnesotans enthralled and intrigued by what awaits the Gopher women’s program.

Among those watching is Jerry Noyce, the former Big Ten championship Gopher tennis coach and Minneapolis area business leader, and a man whose name was pushed at least twice to become Minnesota’s athletic director including as successor to the infamous Norwood Teague who resigned in 2015.

“I would not be surprised if Minnesota women’s basketball is able to compete on a very high level—with UConn, Notre Dame, Stanford and all of those teams,” Noyce said. “I would think that she (Whalen) will be able to up the recruiting even more (than it has been). Get more really top players…and I just think she’s going to build a culture of accomplishment that’s going to play well against anybody in the nation.”

Recruiting successfully starts in the state of Minnesota where Marlene Stollings, Whalen’s predecessor, drew criticism. “The next coach needs to make home state relationships and recruiting the first priority!,” a Minneapolis area educator wrote via
email to Sports Headliners after Stollings left for Texas Tech. In his view Stollings didn’t follow that advice and he believes any Gopher women’s basketball coach who effectively recruits even just the metro area will “build a real nice team.”

With the 37-year-old Fleck—the second youngest head coach in college football—Coyle has a skilled recruiter at using social media and TV to build awareness of himself and his program. Fleck understands the culture and speaks the language of teenagers. Coyle knew that when he hired the energetic coach away from Western Michigan where his success prompted reviews from the New York Times and Sports Illustrated.

In late December Fleck announced his 2018 recruiting class, the first group he and his staff had almost a full year to target. The Gophers publicists called the 2018 class the highest ranked ever for Minnesota in the Internet era.

At 57, Motzko is old enough to be Fleck’s, or Whalen’s dad. That doesn’t mean he isn’t expected to recruit with passion and bring blue chip players to Dinkytown. Motzko spent 13 seasons building St. Cloud State into a nationally prominent program and along the way developed recruiting savvy and relationships including with state of Minnesota prep coaches.

Gopher hockey is tradition-rich and the state is loaded with talented high schoolers, but Minnesota hasn’t won a national title since 2003. This year the Gophers didn’t even qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Coyle and everyone else knows Minnesota can do much better.

“This should be a top four program nationally,” said a college hockey authority who asked that his name not be used. “It’s the best job in the country to recruit to.”

If Coyle is spot-on in his coaching hires of Motzko, Whalen and Fleck, the Gophers are on their way to better days on the ice, court and field because of upgrades in their athletes.

Worth Noting

Just speculation but it might be the only way five-star basketball recruit Matthew Hurt from Rochester John Marshall will end up as a Gopher in 2019 is if Minnesota coach Richard Pitino could convince Hurt’s father, Richard, to join his staff as an assistant coach. Richard has been active in high school and AAU coaching for years, and also groomed his son Michael, a Gopher junior next season. Pitino has a staff opening with the departure of another Minnesota native, Ben Johnson to Xavier.

Look for the Timberwolves to alternate Jimmy Butler, Andrew Wiggins and perhaps others in guarding James Harden tonight. The Wolves, in the postseason for the first time since 2004, open the playoffs in Houston against a Rockets team with the NBA’s best regular season record, and led by Harden who averages over 30 points per game and is a favorite for the MVP Award.

The Wolves’ final regular season game last week on Fox Sports North Plus was the highest-rated ever for the NBA team on the regional sports network, generating a 7.5 household rating in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. In this market, 17,300 households represent one rating point. The peak rating during Wednesday night’s game at Target Center was 13.1—meaning over 226,000 households watched the dramatic finish of the Wolves’ win that earned the eighth and final playoff position in the Western Conference. (The previous record rating was 6.5 on April 14, 2004.)

For the season, the Wolves had a 2.6 average household rating on Fox Sports, a 78 percent increase in viewership over 2016-2017, and the highest since 2011-12.

Glen Mason on the Big Ten Network replay of the Gopher spring football game talking about Tyler Johnson who had two touchdown catches: “He’s as good as any wide receiver in the Big Ten.”

Quoting an email from former Gopher football player Jim Brunzell about his impressions of the game: “This team, barring injuries, should be much improved from last year’s squad!”

The Gophers, 5-7 last year, open their season August 30 at home against New Mexico State. The U won’t have the Vikings playing their final preseason game a couple of miles away at U.S. Bank Stadium, as happened in 2017 for the Gophers’ first game. The Vikings will be at Tennessee on August 30 as they close their exhibition season.

Maybe a planner in the Twins’ promotional department was clairvoyant about this spring’s wintry start. Yesterday’s snowstorm cancelled Minnesota’s home game with the White Sox where the first 10,000 fans in attendance were to receive a free Plaid Flap Cap.

The Gopher Big Ten champion baseball teams of 1968-69-70 will have a reunion on May 11-12 with social gatherings planned. Players from those teams will be introduced before the May 12 home game against Michigan State at Siebert Field. Gregg Wong, who was the public address announcer and official scorer for the teams, and Stew Thornley, the bat boy years ago, have also been invited to participate in the celebration.

Minnesota hockey legend Neal Broten will sign memorabilia including hockey cards and sticks (for various fees) on Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. as part of the Triple Crown Sports Collectibles show at Southtown Center in Bloomington. Show hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tickets are available for the August 2 Camden’s Concert at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. Jimmy Fortune, the former tenor of the Statler Brothers, is the guest artist for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation benefit named after Dave and Linda Mona’s grandson. The previous eight concerts raised almost $500,000, according to the Facebook page for Camden’s Concert.

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Twins Likely to Avoid Final 4 Conflict

Posted on April 3, 2018April 4, 2018 by David Shama

A Tuesday notes column leading off with Twins news.

The Twins have requested they not be scheduled for home games at Target Field during the April 6-8, 2019 Final Four in Minneapolis. Club president Dave St. Peter said after consulting with Final Four organizers and considering potential issues with hotel rooms, traffic and other concerns the Twins have requested that Major League Baseball schedule the team on the road during that early period in April.

The club has yet to receive the 2019 MLB schedule but it sounds like their request will be honored. “It will be very likely that we will be on the road during the Final Four next year,” St. Peter told Sports Headliners yesterday.

Because of the request to avoid the early April dates, the Twins’ 2019 regular season opening could begin at home outdoors in March. St. Peter said MLB teams may open the schedule on March 28. Since the opening of Target Field on 2010, the Twins have been scheduled at home to start the season just once.

St. Peter also said suspended starting shortstop Jorge Polanco is at the Twins’ complex in Fort Myers where he is playing in what’s called “extended spring training games.” Polanco and others in the Twins system who have yet to be assigned to a specific team in the minor leagues play against similar competition from other organizations.

St. Peter said Polanco, who is suspended for using a performance-enhancing substance, will play for one or more Twins minor league teams starting 20 days out from the end of his 80 game suspension.

Gophers 1968-1969 basketball captain Al Nuness arranged a trip in 2010 with cousins Tyus and Tre Jones to the Final Four in Indianapolis. At that time Tyus was in eighth grade and Tre was a grade schooler. Back then no one could have predicted the basketball success the Jones brothers have achieved eight years later.

Tre, a senior now at Apple Valley, was named the state’s Mr. Basketball last week and played in the prestigious McDonald’s All-American Game featuring the best prep players in the nation. Those are two honors Tyus earned in 2014. The Mr. Basketball Award dates back to the 1970s, and Tre and Tyus are the only brothers to win the award.

Tyus and Tre led Apple Valley to Class 4A state championships playing for the Eagles. Tyus was named the 2015 Final Four most outstanding player when Duke won the national championship and a few months later found himself on the roster of his hometown NBA Timberwolves. Next fall Tre joins a loaded with talent Duke team that could be consensus preseason favorites to win the 2019 Final Four in Minneapolis.

So it looks like Nuness, who took his young cousins to Indy eight years ago to inspire them, might be able to witness another headline moment in 2019. He saw in Indy how the two youngsters studied the Final Four players in 2010 and the trip certainly made an impression. “We went to practices and they wouldn’t leave,” Nuness has said.

Tyus, who turns 22 next month, is one of only six players who were on the Wolves’ roster in April of last year. The club has nine new players including injured forward Jimmy Butler who the Wolves hope will return soon from his knee surgery and at least be available for the playoffs if Minnesota can qualify.

The Wolves have sold out 15 games at Target Center this season, the most since 2003-2004 when they last qualified for the postseason.

The Pirates’ Jameson Taillon, who overcame testicular cancer last year, earned his first win this season after starting against the Twins yesterday. Taillon, 8-7 with a 4.44 ERA last season, was the second MLB overall draft choice in 2010 and debuted with the Pirates in 2016.

The Twins haven’t had success bringing over high profile players from Japan but it looks like a different story for the Angels and rookie pitcher-DH Shohei Ohtani. He won his MLB pitching debut Sunday against the Angels, showing off a 100-miles per hour fast ball, according to NBC Sports California who reported 240 Japanese media were at the game in Oakland against the A’s.

It’s a good guess former Gopher coach Tubby Smith’s salary at his new position with High Point University in North Carolina is paying him less than $200,000 annually. A financial report on athletics from the University for school year June 1, 2013 through May 31, 2014 listed head basketball coach Scott Cherry’s compensation at $89,601. The same report listed basketball revenues during that period at about $1.9 million and operating expenses of approximately $1.6 million.

Smith, who played at High Point, is at his third school since being fired by the Gophers in March of 2013. Smith earned seven-figure compensation while coaching at Minnesota, Texas Tech and Memphis where he was dismissed last month and reportedly received a settlement of over $9 million.

The Gophers are offering discounted season tickets for football and men’s basketball and hockey to U alums who have graduated within the last five years. Pricing per ticket is $199 for football, $249 for basketball and $399 for hockey.

Fans can scout Minnesota Wild unsigned draft picks Nicholas Boka (Michigan), Avery Peterson (UMD) and Nick Swaney (UMD) in the NCAA Frozen Four April 5-7 at Xcel Energy Center. UMD plays Ohio State in the first semifinal the evening of April 5, while Michigan meets Notre Dame in the other semifinal. Both games will be televised on ESPN2. The championship game the night of April 7 will be seen on ESPN.

The Wild, who qualified for the playoffs last night, are one of only two NHL teams (Pittsburgh is the other) that has made the postseason six consecutive years.

Gopher baseball coach John Anderson, who labels Indiana as the favorite for the Big Ten title but sees his team as a contender, speaks to the CORES lunch group May 10 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington, 1114 American Blvd. More information is available by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.

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