On February 6, the Miami Heat traded Shaquille O’Neal to the Phoenix Suns.  The Heat had the worst record in the NBA, 9-39, but the Timberwolves, 10-38, were a close second.  Today, with the 82 game NBA season almost at an end, the Heat are 13-64, the Wolves 19-57.

Although mathematically possible, no team is going to “catch” the Heat on their way to the worst record in the league.  The prize for fewest wins and most losses, of course, is that the Heat will have the greatest likelihood of lucking out in the upcoming NBA draft lottery.  That system determines the order of drafting in the annual NBA draft of college and foreign players, and the team with the poorest regular season record has the best odds of securing the No. 1 pick.

While the Wolves have been winning an occasional game (3-7 in their last 10), the Heat have been awful, winning just four games in two months (one in their last 10). Heat president and coach Pat Riley metaphorically posted a “gone fishing” sign when he sent O’Neal to Phoenix and later announced that with 21 games remaining in the season his other superstar, Dwayne Wade, wouldn’t play anymore because of a troublesome left knee.

The Wolves’ Antoine Walker played two seasons for Riley and was part of the 2006 NBA championship team.  He told Sports Headliners awhile ago he thinks Riley is trying to “salvage” something from this season by gaining the No. 1 pick.  He respects Riley, who has had five NBA championship teams, describing him as a great coach and shrewd evaluator of talent.

What puzzles Walker is why Riley radically changed the roster of the Heat so soon after having a title team.  Last summer the Heat moved on without veterans James Posey, Jason Kapono and Walker.  Then the trade of O’Neal and sidelining of Wade has left the Heat with a terrible team that includes former Wolves Ricky Davis, Mark Blount and Marcus Banks.

Walker said the Heat have to start from “scratch” beginning with the 2008 draft. “Having the No. 1 pick doesn’t necessarily make it happen, so it’s definitely going to be a rebuilding process,” Walker said.

The Wolves, meanwhile, have both stayed in the lottery race and shown some improvement on the court.  Right now the Wolves have the third worst record in the league.  They’re likely to be dealt one of the first half dozen picks via the draft lottery.  The Wolves, with one star in 23-year-old center Al Jefferson, have been evaluating several other young players who at times show promise and have produced a sporadic surge in better play since early March.

How ironic if the Wolves, already more talented than the Heat, out lucked the Heat in the draft lottery.

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While managing a Twins game last week, Ron Gardenhire received a text message from son Toby.  Toby inquired as to how long he should cook a steak on each side.  Toby, a minor leaguer in the Twins farm system, is living in his dad’s Florida home.

Although the Twins won only three of seven games on their opening home stand of the season, the pitching was surprisingly effective. Starters had a 3-4 record, with a 3.89 ERA.  In 44 innings they allowed 19 earned runs, 46 hits, struck out 21 and gave up only one walk.

A reader wrote to ask who succeeds Torii Hunter on the Twins as a team leader.  Michael Cuddyer is my guess.  He’s an outstanding person, respected on and off the field.  He gave teammates motivational t-shirts this spring.

Twins president Dave St. Peter is featured in the April issue of Twin Cities Business.  The story headline: “The Nicest Guy In Baseball.”

Those who thought the Gophers could hire in-demand basketball coach Tony Bennett of Washington State last year might have been wrong.  A source told Sports Headliners that Bennett, a Wisconsin native, was Indiana’s first choice for the Hoosiers’ job that opened up earlier this year.  The source reported Bennett said no to Indiana, as did another respected young coach, Sean Miller of Xavier.  Third choice and the man who took the job earlier this month replacing Kelvin Sampson was Marquette’s Tom Crean.  So if Bennett wouldn’t leave Washington State for Indiana with all of its recruiting advantages, then he probably wasn’t interested in the Gopher job either.

As of Sunday night, there were single seats left for each of the Wild’s four potential home Western Conference quarterfinal games. Tickets can be purchased at the Xcel Energy Center Box Office and at all Ticketmaster (www.ticketmaster.com) locations or by calling Ticketmaster at 651-989-5151.

Lou Nanne thinks the Stanley Cup playoffs will be competitive with several teams, including the Wild, possible candidates for the finals.  Goal tending is the key to the Wild’s chances, the former Minnesota North Stars president said.

Nanne plans to be on the state tournament hockey telecasts again next year.  It will be his 45^th year of providing commentary.

Nancy Lindahl, co-chair with husband John for TCF Bank Stadium fundraising, plans to visit every county in the state seeking donations for the new Gopher football stadium.  That project begins later this spring and Lindahl said fundraising is within $8 million of being completed for the facility that opens in September of next year.  Financing for the $288.5 million facility is coming from various sources including private donations.

The first brick in the new stadium will be placed today by Hilding Mortenson, a 100-year-old former brick layer.  He laid the first brick in Memorial Stadium in 1924.

Dave Mona said his new book, Beyond the Sports Huddle: Mona on Minnesota, will be sent to reviewers in July and available to the public later in the summer.  The co-host of WCCO Radio’s Sunday morning Sports Huddle program is finishing up a book devoted to interesting sports and other personalities he’s known.

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The Minnesota Wild, who have won six of their last nine games (three straight) and are in first place in the Northwest Division, must wait until Sunday to learn who they will play in the Stanley Cup playoffs.  Defenseman Keith Carney joined the Wild for the 2006-07 season and has played in 85 playoff games in his NHL career that began in 1991-92.  He told Sports Headliners recently that he likes the team’s recent play and mental approach.

There was a stretch in late February when the team lost a shootout game and then three straight in regulation.  There have been other times of frustration and coach Jacques Lemaire has been demanding of the team and individuals, sometimes in the newspapers.  Doesn’t matter, according to the 38-year-old Carney, who was asked about team chemistry.  “It’s very strong,” he said. “We get along well. You have to. You have to play hard for each other and we do that. On the ice you can see that guys are helping each other. …”

The Wild have a home game tomorrow (Thursday) night against Calgary and then close the regular season at Colorado on Sunday.  Carney, a defenseman, hopes for more results like the recent games that have sent the Wild into first place in the division and third place in the Western Conference with 95 points.

“We’re only positive at this point,” he said. “We know that we’re very close.  We can play with any team.  We’ve made that commitment to play our game, play hard defensively. …The guys are excited not only the way we’ve been playing lately but how we’ve had to play this last stretch to get ourselves the best possible playoff position. Those things are going to help us going into the playoffs.”

The Wild has a mix of experienced players like Carney and forward Brian Rolston (52 career playoff games) who play with younger talent such as defenseman Brent Burns (five playoff games) and forward James Sheppard (none).  Carney is “pretty optimistic” about the Wild’s playoff chances and not repeating last year’s first round playoff exit, praising the team’s defense, power play, penalty killing and goal tending.

“Experience is a big factor,” he said.  “We have a lot of older guys that have been in the post-season, that played many years in the league, and know what it takes.  And also the young guys that are gaining experience from last post-season.  Last year we didn’t get the result we wanted but we battled hard and we had a tough first round opponent in Anaheim.  The experience that the young guys gained from that will definitely bode well going into this post-season.”

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