KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS – Page 8 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Communist China Can Boast about Wolves Player

Posted on August 20, 2023August 20, 2023 by David Shama

The Timberwolves will have five players participating in the FIBA World Cup that begins play this week. From a political perspective, the name jumping out is Kyle Anderson who has become a Chinese citizen and is expected to play for China’s national team starting Saturday against Serbia in the Philippines.

Anthony Edwards will play for the United States, Karl-Anthony Towns for the Dominican Republic, Rudy Gobert for France, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker for Canada. But Anderson has chosen Communist China—America’s No. 1 adversary and a nation with a long-term ambition to achieve global dominance.

But why?

Anderson is 29 and has nine years of NBA experience. He was born in New Jersey and attended college at UCLA, and he has been intrigued by China for a while. His maternal great grandfather was Chinese and family history is important to Anderson who visited the country a few years ago with his mother where they met relatives.

Using the connection with his great grandfather, Anderson was eligible to become a Chinese citizen and represent that nation on its FIBA team. He has adopted the name Li Kai’er.

U.S. law allows for dual citizenship. It’s not clear whether Anderson is renouncing his American citizenship but that seems unlikely with his lucrative NBA career. Giving up American citizenship is generally considered irrevocable and could cause issues with entry back into the United States. Anderson will earn $9.2 million playing in the NBA next season, per ESPN.com, while players reportedly earn a pittance competing for the FIBA World Cup.

What Anderson has done seems disrespectful at worst, and naïve at best. The Chinese Communist Party and its propagandists will utilize Anderson’s basketball participation and citizenship to its advantage. The party knows how to use sports to enhance its image and take the focus off its abuses including human rights, biological threats, spying and corporate theft in America, military armament, intimidation of Taiwan, and support of despots at home and internationally.

A former NBA authority, speaking anonymously to Sports Headliners about Anderson’s alliance with China, described it as a “horrible idea for his future.” How Anderson will be perceived by some Americans in the years ahead will include his confirmed loyalty to China by becoming a citizen in that tyrannical country.

The authority suggested Anderson’s China connection could become a distraction as he plays out the remainder of his career. NBA teams and locker rooms don’t need distractions and franchises have choices as to who fits on their teams. “Those considerations are on top (in addition) of talent,” the former insider said.

The source isn’t suggesting Anderson will be blacklisted but his Chinese connection is now part of who he is and will “hang over him.” The public and employers have a right to wonder how Anderson might be manipulated and used by a mega adversary of the free world.

The NBA and China have long held a business relationship. The large Chinese market has been a target for the league’s development of fans and revenues. But always lurking in the background, the authority said, is the realization of what the Chinese Communist Party is and represents.

Anderson was acquired by the Timberwolves last summer in a free agent signing. Playing mostly as a key reserve, the 6-6 small forward averaged 9.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists. He is known for his all-around skills, unselfish play and being a good teammate.

Anderson’s profile now, though, includes more than basketball and he apparently is enthused with his citizenship decision. “Hello, fans in China, this is Li Kai’er. I’m so happy to announce I will be representing China in the World Cup. Really proud and honored to wear the Team China jersey,” Anderson said in a video posted on his Weibo account.

Timberwolves leadership didn’t respond to interview requests by Sports Headliners. In today’s individual rights environment NBA players have considerable freedom to do as they please during the offseason.

Worth Noting

Ivan Pace, the promising Vikings free agent rookie linebacker is only 5-foot-10, and must prove his pass defense abilities, but he is impressive in the preseason. He was responsible for play calls in last night’s game with the Titans.

Not only do the Vikings stay at the Omni Vikings Lakes during training camp but so, too, do the Titans and Cardinals when they are in Eagan this month for joint practices. The hotel is part of the Vikings Lakes complex that includes the TCO Performance Center which is still considered state-of-the-art in the NFL.

Jack Gibbens, the former Gophers linebacker who started two games for the Titans last year, got the nickname “doctor” from his head coach Mike Vrabel. Why did Gibbens get that tag last year as a rookie? He’s “Dr. Gibby” because he is smart.

The August 31 Minnesota-Nebraska game at Huntington Bank Stadium (capacity 50,805) will sell out soon. The Gophers figure to be about a seven-point favorite against the Cornhuskers.

Stillwater-based Creative Charters has sold out its travel inventory for the Gophers game at North Carolina next month.

Byron Buxton, out of the Twins lineup with a right hamstring strain since August 1, still has a chance at playing in 100 games—something he has done one time in his nine-year career. He has been in 85 games and, if healthy, figures to play in most games when he soon returns.

MLB.com points out this morning that the Twins, with a 13.1 FanGraphs WAR, have the best starting pitching rotation in the majors. WAR means wins above replacement.

The Twins announced today they have switched right-handed relievers on the roster, sending Jordan Balazovic to the Saints and bringing up Oliver Ortega from St. Paul.

Minnesotan Eric Curry starts his 25^th year of basketball officiating this fall and again plans to work games in the Pac-12, Mountain West and Big Ten. His wife Kelly, a former top assistant on Lindsay Whalen’s staff with the Gophers, is out of coaching and working in business.

Minnesota Wild forward Matt Boldy, with a sponsor’s exemption, will play in the PGA Canada CRMC Championship at Cragun’s Resort August 31-September 3. The course is one of two at the popular Brainerd area resort renovated by Minnesota golf legend Tom Lehman.

Hannah Boraas, headed to Montana State after leading Alexandria to the 2023 Class AAA state golf tournament title, is a protégé of former Gopher men’s coach John Means.

Da Beauty League, the summer hockey league that features NHL and NCAA players at Braemar Arena in Edina, has its semi-finals Monday night and championship game Wednesday.

The Bloomington-based CORES lunch programs featuring prominent speakers, mostly from Minnesota sports, is seeking new leadership to continue. Anyone interested in learning more about the volunteer-based organization should email Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.

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Glen Taylor Filled Void in Starting the WNBA Lynx

Posted on June 13, 2023June 13, 2023 by David Shama

Sports Headliners interviewed Glen Taylor about various subjects including why he started the Minnesota Lynx, the Karl-Anthony Towns trade rumors and whether he incentivized president of basketball operations Tim Connelly to stay with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Lynx celebrated the franchise’s 25 seasons last weekend at two games in Minneapolis. Taylor, who founded the expansion franchise in 1998, has seen the highs and lows including four WNBA championships. Women’s basketball has increased in popularity in the new millennium and justified Taylor’s commitment to the league and his franchise.

“I did it (started the Lynx) because I just thought Minnesota was a leader in women’s issues, and certainly this was one area that I could control and wanted to get involved in. To me it was natural that we do it,“ Taylor said recently.

The Mankato-based billionaire kept a commitment to the Lynx with his head, heart and pocketbook. There have been championship seasons when the franchise made money, but Taylor said there were “more years that we lost a million dollars.”

Taylor recognized the Lynx as a startup business and has been willing to accept the financial losses. “I never really felt I wanted to get rid of it,” he said.

It’s been satisfying for Taylor and his wife Becky to not only have championship teams, but become acquainted with staff and players. “Becky and I are pretty close to all the people so it becomes a friendship,” he said.

A longtime attendee at home games of both the Lynx and Wolves, Taylor sometimes talks like the fan he is. He gets frustrated when his teams have defensive lapses and make turnovers. “When they play good, you’re so proud and happy but when they play poorly you know that they could do better, and it’s disappointing.”

Since the Wolves season ended in April with a first-round loss to the Nuggets rumors have persisted Towns will be traded. A two-time All-NBA player, he could potentially be traded for future first and second round draft picks and bolster Minnesota’s minimal inventory for upcoming drafts.

“We’re not looking (to trade Towns),” Taylor said. “We’re not trying to do it.”

Taylor added this regarding receptivity to a Towns trade discussion: “If somebody came…and offered you something ridiculous, but that’s not part of our plan.”

The plan, the owner said, is “basically to stay with the same guys we have.” That means keeping the “Twin Towers” of 7-foot forward-center Towns and 7-1 center Rudy Gobert, plus star shooting guard Anthony Edwards, defensive forward whiz Jaden McDaniels and veteran point guard Mike Conley.

Towns and Gobert already have deals paying them more than $30 million per season and in the near future Edwards, 21, and McDaniels, 22, will carry big price tags too. Taylor didn’t offer specifics on retaining that core of four but the subject has been addressed internally with the owner, Connelly and coach Chris Finch.

“I mean that’s one of the things we talked (about) with Tim and Chris when they were here. We’ve gone over all of that, what are our options and how we might do it and stuff like that. So, I think we’re ready.”

Taylor told Sports Headliners last month Connelly had contacted him and made it clear he wasn’t leaving to head the basketball operations with the Wizards, the organization that gave him his start in the NBA. A year ago the Wolves brought Connelly to Minneapolis with a lucrative contract and Taylor said no further incentive was provided for him to keep his commitment here.

When Connelly was making the front office player personnel decisions for the Nuggets from 2013 to 2022, he acquired foundational players Nikola Jovic and Jamal Murray who led the team to its first ever NBA championship last night. The Wolves had competitive moments in their playoff series against the Nuggets who eliminated Minnesota in five games. The Wolves managed one win but lost three games by a combined 21 points. Taylor said the series performance by his team leaves him feeling “fairly good about” next season.

The Nuggets played a Heat team in the NBA Finals partially built by the genius of president Pat Riley, defeating Miami 4-1 in the best of seven series. His ability to judge talent is evidenced by seven players on the Heat roster who were undrafted by NBA teams.

Taylor refers to Riley as a “guru” in judging talent and understanding how to run a team. The two men have communicated in the past, but Taylor wouldn’t report what he learned from Riley who has been a leader of great teams with the Lakers, Knicks and Heat.

“I talked to him and he’s really interesting because he’s kind of the type of guy that’s willing to help you, even though I am…his competition,” Taylor said.

Taylor is transitioning from majority owner of the Wolves and Lynx to having a minority stake. New owners Mar Lore and Alex Rodriguez are expected to address the playing home of the teams, Target Center. The facility opened in 1990 and although it has since been renovated, the building will be a future issue. NBA commissioner Adam Silver has made it clear expectations are high for facilities of all 30 league teams.

“I just think that as everybody would know, that sometime in the future we as the team, or the city, are going to have to face that issue,” Taylor said.

Taylor has national and international businesses in varied fields. His career and successes are being chronicled in a new video being produced internally for employee audiences.

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Chris Finch Grades Wolves Season B-

Posted on May 28, 2023 by David Shama

Offseason speculation about Chris Finch’s job security is a topic among media and fans after the head coach’s Timberwolves fell short of expectations last season. The Wolves won four fewer games than they did during the 2021-2022 season and struggled to qualify for the playoffs. Then the Nuggets defeated the Wolves in an opening round postseason series, winning four games to one.

Next fall Finch starts his third full season as the team’s head coach. During a telephone interview with Sports Headliners, the likeable Finch was asked if he feels mounting pressure.

“There’s pressure all the time to win,” Finch said. “I want to win every game. I want to keep growing our program here. I don’t feel any more or less pressure than I did when I first got here—which was the pressure to prove ourselves every day.

“These paths are not linear. You don’t always go from 42 to 44, to 46, 48 and 50 (wins). But I think it’s a tremendous accomplishment that this team was able to get into the playoffs for back-to-back seasons for the first time in many, many years (since 2004).

“I think if I was grading this team, I would give it overall a B-. Our young players got better, we finished with a winning record (42-40). We played in a ton of meaningful games. We had chances to…maybe finish a little higher, win a few more games, maybe go a little further in the playoffs if things broke a different direction for us.

“But we gotta now win those little battles. We gotta mature across the board. There are a lot of little things we gotta do to try and improve our performances. But we feel like we’re set up pretty well going forward. We’re certainly not satisfied with where we are, but we also don’t feel we’re a million miles away from where we want to be, either.”

There’s conjecture the Wolves front office will do little in the offseason to change the makeup of the roster. The idea being to stay the course, mostly because star forward-center Karl-Anthony Towns missed 53 games and his absence never allowed a full look at the “Twin Towers” experiment with the 7-foot Towns and 7-1 center Rudy Gobert.

Finch, though, isn’t necessarily predicting status quo. “We love our core. We still believe in our core but we’re always looking to add to that whatever way makes sense. …”

Finch refers to this time of year as “the Super Bowl” for the front offices of NBA teams. Executives like Wolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly are making evaluations about not only their teams but the June NBA draft, and the trade and free agency markets.

A front office never knows what opportunities will be presented. That was exemplified in bold face last summer when the Wolves traded five players and four future first-round draft choices to acquire Gobert, who had been a perennial defensive and rebounding force for the Jazz.

Finch acknowledged that internally pre-trade discussion was “debated heavily” (as with any major transaction). The pros and cons were discussed. In the end, Finch said, “everyone was on board” with the deal including the ownership group of Glen Taylor, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez.

The results of the trade have been panned not just in Minnesota but around the country. The team often struggled to find cohesion and Gobert at times was part of the problem. There were more than a few moments when he played slow and awkwardly, particularly on offense where his shooting range and repertoire is limited. And near the basket his hands might fumble the basketball.

Gobert’s stats fell off from the previous season with the Jazz. Points per game declined from 15.6 to 13. 4; rebounds 14.7 to 11.6; blocks 2.1 to 1.4. The Wolves did move up in defensive rating in Gobert’s first season, going from No. 13 to No. 10. (Defensive rating is the number of points allowed per 100 possessions.)

Gobert, twice NBA Defensive Player of the Year during his career, joined the Wolves in training camp after playing extensively for France’s national team last summer. At times he looked liked a tired player trying to find his energy. Compounding Gobert’s introduction to the Wolves was Towns missing training camp sessions because of illness, and then early on in the season he suffered a severe quad strain forcing him to miss 53 games before returning when playoff time was near.

Gobert, Towns and teammates never had extensive time to mesh. “We never looked at it as like a one hit wonder or a one-year thing,” Finch said about the blockbuster trade. “We knew it was something that was going to be more transformative.

“It takes time, and you know when you get a chance to acquire a player of Rudy’s talent…(he) shores up a lot of the things that we had been weak at: rim protection, rebounding and anchoring a defense.

“You know we had a long thought (process) about putting a guy like this next to KAT. It’s just a matter of which one and who, and what type, and how do you do that. And you know when Rudy became available, I think it was something that we all were very excited about, and we remain excited now.”

Gobert turns 31 next month but Finch isn’t concerned about his big man’s age. He refers to Gobert as a “world class athlete” who is among the best players he has seen in taking care of his body.

“You look at Rudy, there’s not an ounce of fat on him,” Finch said. “He loves to play. He loves to compete. He does a great job of managing his workload. He’s always got himself into a position to be ready to play.

“We didn’t feel that there was going to be any kind of danger of being a significant drop-off in performance. Quite honestly…given all the (team) injuries…he played above and beyond what we thought we were going to require of him.”

A conversation with Finch prompts an interviewer to pick up on his genuineness and optimism. That comes through when the 53-year-old coach talks about next season and a fresh start with Towns and Gobert. The two bigs can play together on both ends of the court, he said, even though the offense often struggled last season.

“From a basketball skills point of view, we don’t see a reason why it shouldn’t work. Everyone’s got to make a little bit of sacrifice in certain things.”

Success can come from better floor spacing by all the players. Things will work when players, including Towns and Gobert, complement each other’s skills. Finch said there is no shortage of willingness with his “Twin Towers” to help each other and the team. The hope is that a full training camp and early season together will create more rhythm and cohesiveness in the offense. Things will look in synch instead of being discombobulated.

The Wolves hope to retain valued reserve and free agent Naz Reid. At 6-9 the forward-center adds to the roster of talented big men. And that size can be troublesome to foes. At the extreme, Finch could potentially use a zone defense with not only Towns and Gobert on the floor but Reid, too, and move small forward Jaden McDaniels (6-9) to guard alongside 6-4 Anthony Edwards.

After Towns returned to the lineup the Wolves used a zone defense, taking advantage of their length and size. “It was bothersome to our opponents,” Finch said. “You could see it.”

Zone used to be viewed as a junk defense in the NBA but not now. The Wolves are positioned to be among the teams to frequently use it. “We’re committed to play whatever it takes to build a great defense,” Finch said. “We’re certainly open to zone.”

With their “Twin Towers” the Wolves have cast themselves as different from most NBA teams who use smaller players in their starting lineups. The local NBA club isn’t trying to start any trends. The Wolves are just trying to be successful and think they can be.

“We gotta be good at what it is we’re trying to do, not just different,” Finch said.

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