Category: Timberwolves

The Spurs lost on national television last night to the Thunder in game four of the Western Conference playoffs.  The best of seven games series will send the winner to the NBA Finals against the Eastern Conference playoff champion.

The Spurs are tied in their series with the Thunder and despite playing with an “elderly roster” might advance to the finals for a second consecutive season.  The Spurs’ franchise is dramatically dissimilar to the Timberwolves.

The success of the Spurs and failures of the Wolves is a tale told in numbers and about people.  The Spurs have been in the playoffs for 17 consecutive seasons.  The Timberwolves haven’t been to the postseason since 2004.

The Timberwolves’ first season in the NBA was 1989-1990.  Since then the franchise has only once advanced to the conference finals.  That was in 2004 and was preceded by seven years of first round playoff exits.  During the period from 1999-2014 the Spurs won four NBA titles.  The most recent championship was in 2007, but last year the Spurs led the Heat 3-2 in the finals only to lose the last two games.

The Spurs’ “Big Three” consists of power forward Tim Duncan, 39, shooting guard Manu Ginobili, 36, and point guard Tony Parker, 32.  Duncan was on the first Spurs title team in 1999 with superstar center David Robinson, long ago retired.  Despite becoming an elite team after that first title the Spurs kept excelling in the draft and on the court.  Ginobili was a second round choice, the 57th player selected in the draft.  Parker was the team’s No. 21 pick in the first round.

But the Spurs’ draft expertise hardly stops there.  The Spurs have accepted for years that their “Big Three” is aging and with declining skills the remaining roster had to step up.  The club’s personnel decision makers, starting with coach Gregg Popovich, have built a deep roster with players possessing complementary skills and a team-first approach.

The starters include 22-year-old small forward Kawhi Leonard, a rising star with rare athleticism and a pair of the largest hands in the NBA.  The Spurs found Leonard available in the 2011 draft after 14 other players were taken ahead of him in the first round including Derrick Williams who the Timberwolves selected with the No. 2 selection.

Starting center Tiago Splitter was the No. 28 pick in the first round of the 2007 draft.  Along with Splitter, Duncan, Leonard and Parker, the Spurs have shooting guard Danny Green as their fifth starter.  Another late first round or second round pick?  Nope.  The Spurs acquired Green after the Cavaliers gave up on him.

The Spurs have been committed to finding players with varied approaches including high interest in players from other nations.  Nine players on the roster are from foreign countries including key reserves Ginobili, small forward Marco Belinelli, forward-center Boris Diaw and and guard Paddy Mills.

Popovich is an extraordinary teacher and motivator. He’s been exerting his will over the Spurs franchise for 18 seasons.  How good is he at passing judgment on personnel, developing players, and making the right moves during practices and games?  Good enough to be the longest tenured coach with one franchise in not only the NBA, but also the NFL, NHL and MLB.  Meanwhile, the Wolves have gone through five coaches since Popovich took over the Spurs.

Starting to get the idea the Spurs are extraordinary at finding and developing talent despite rarely having a lottery pick, or even late mid-round pick?  Now compare the Spurs with the Timberwolves who have owned six top 10 picks in the draft since 2008, and in 2009 even had four selections during the first round.  The results?  Not a single winning season during that time period and only two lottery draft choices remain on the roster, power forward Kevin Love and point guard Ricky Rubio.

Since Love joined the team for the 2008-2009 season, the Wolves haven’t even been close to a .500 season record except for 2013-2014 when the club finished 40-42. According to numerous reports, Love is so frustrated with losing he wants to be traded.  While the Wolves’ All-Star wants out, the Spurs’ “Big Three” have stayed so long in San Antonio they are legends and their careers aren’t over.

The Spurs almost defy logic with their success and are searching this spring for another NBA title.  The Wolves are occupied with other searches like trying to figure out either how to keep Love (he becomes an unrestricted free agent next year) or score big by trading him for draft choices and players.  And apparently trying to find a coach after Grizzlies’ coach Dave Joerger said he will stay in Memphis instead of coming home to Minnesota, his native state.

Decisions about Love and the new coach will be led by Flip Saunders, the Wolves’ second year president of basketball operations.  Down in San Antonio things aren’t in such disarray.  Not only has Popovich been around a long time but general manager R.C. Buford has been with the Spurs since 1994.  This spring he was named NBA Executive of the Year.  It’s been a good spring for rewards because Popovich was named NBA Coach of the Year (twice in the last three seasons).

The Spurs? Remarkable.

The Wolves? Not so remarkable.

Will the next Timberwolves coach be Flip Saunders, Fred Hoiberg or George Karl?

Speculation continues that Saunders, now the team’s president of basketball operations, wants to coach, too.  Why both jobs?  Because he enjoys coaching, and maybe at age 59 he wants his legacy to be more than being fired in each of his previous NBA head coaching stops.

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor is on record preferring to have Saunders in the front office with another individual coaching.  Taylor told Sports Headliners awhile ago front office executives have long term views and coaches make decisions based on what’s best now.  He wants both outlooks for his franchise that hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2004.

Saunders, if he wants to coach again, will have a sales job to do with Taylor.  He might get it done because Saunders is a persuasive guy, and although the Wolves, Pistons and Wizards all dismissed him, he knows how to coach.  It’s believed, too, Saunders could be effective in convincing All-Star forward Kevin Love to re-sign with the Wolves next year.

Hoiberg spent two seasons playing for the Wolves and four more as a front office executive before taking his first head coaching position in 2010 at Iowa State, his alma mater.  Hoiberg was well liked as a Wolves executive and the guess is Taylor is fond of him.

A Sports Headliners source believes Hoiberg is interested in the Wolves job.  There are several reasons this could be true, including the possibility he doesn’t care much for recruiting.  That’s no easy job at Iowa State, a school where Hoiberg has built his program by dodging potential problems with talented transfers who had alleged issues at other schools. Winning in Ames is no gimme and you wonder if he wants the dual role of recruiter and babysitter.

Iowa State loyalists want to believe Hoiberg—who grew up in Ames and is one of the state’s biggest heroes—will never leave his home town.  He might not leave for a college job but the NBA could be different.  If that’s not true, then why is his contractual buyout to leave for the pros reportedly $500,000 while the buyout for another college position is $2 million? Consider, too, recent Internet reports that had Hoiberg’s name linked to the Warriors job that was filled last week and the opening with the Knicks for head coach.

Hoiberg likes his team to play at a fast pace and that’s more doable in the NBA than in college.  He played with a 24 second shot clock in the NBA and wants to see the college shot clock go from 35 seconds to 18 seconds, according to Internet reports last week.

Lifestyle and security might lure the 41-year-old Hoiberg back to Minneapolis, too.  In Ames he’s a celebrity wherever he goes but in Minneapolis he and his family would enjoy much more privacy.  The Hoibergs might be Iowans but they have Minnesota roots, too, from their years in the state, and they still have a cabin in central Minnesota.

The Wolves could offer a contract that sets Hoiberg up for life.  A five-year $25 million deal, along with his NBA pension someday, would provide the personable coach with a lot of financial security.  He reportedly earns $2.6 million annually at Iowa State as part of a contract through 2023.

Hoiberg or any new Wolves coach will inherit a roster with multiple weaknesses that is not ready to make a deep playoff run, assuming the team can even qualify for the postseason next year.  Still, if Hoiberg got all that he could out of the Wolves during the next several seasons it would be a credit, not a blemish, to his coaching reputation.

As for Karl, he is 63 and is sixth among NBA coaches in all-time wins with 1,131.  He is friendly with Saunders and the two likely would work effectively together.  Karl is an advocate of up-tempo offense and sharing the basketball.  That’s a style, of course, players say makes the game fun but with Karl it won’t be an anything goes environment.  He will push players to play hard and nobody is advised to fall into disfavor.

Karl, who will demand plenty of his players defensively too, went through a difficult period a few years ago with head and neck cancer.  That illness and his age could make NBA teams with coaching openings perhaps think twice about him.

The search for the next Wolves coach has been quiet for a few weeks.  Taylor said by e-mail Saunders will pick the next coach but there’s no doubt the owner will have plenty of say, too.

Worth Noting

Taylor said in the same e-mail that despite other reports, he isn’t trying to sell his controlling interest in the Wolves.  He is open to inquiries about minority ownership.

The NBA Draft Lottery from New York is tomorrow night and ESPN will televise starting at 7 p.m. Minneapolis time.  Because of their 40-42 regular season record, the Wolves presently are assigned the No. 13 pick for the first round of the June 26 NBA Draft.  The Wolves are one of 14 teams in the lottery which determines the top three positions in the draft.  Minnesota has a 2.18% chance of obtaining a top-three slot in the draft.

The Wolves will have three second round selections in the June 26 draft—No. 40, 44 and 53.

Twins second baseman Brian Dozier is third in American League home runs with 11, second in stolen bases with 12 and first in runs scored with 40.

Yangervis Solarte, the 26-year-old Yankees rookie second baseman who is among the American League leaders in batting average, is from Venezuela and was in the Twins organization for several years until 2011.

Gophers football coach Jerry Kill again showed his remarkable generosity last week donating $100,000 to the Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota and $5,000 to the Bolder Options youth mentoring program.

Vikings rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater after being asked if he feels overwhelmed by the team playbook: “Not at all.  Me just being the guy that I am, everything comes easy to me. But at the same time it’s also a challenge to actually just get better each and everyday because the guys around you are continually getting better also.”

The Minute Men, the volunteer organization supporting Minnesota sports for more than 50 years, will honor the Mr. Lacrosse and Ms. Lacrosse winners at a noon banquet June 15 at the Crowne Plaza St. Paul-Riverfront Hotel.  Also on June 15 the organization will honor the Mr. Baseball and Ms. Softball winners at a 6 p.m. banquet at Jax Café.  More at Minnesotaminutemen.com.