Perhaps honeymooning Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor is sitting near the Great Wall in China today applauding vice president Kevin McHale for making two significant additions to the roster and praying that more improvements are coming. The billionaire from Mankato left for China earlier this week with new bride Becky and hopes that his basketball team is in the midst of multiple off-season moves to end a three year slide that has seen the Timberwolves miss the playoffs and lose money.
The trade on June 14 that brought Juwan Howard to the Timberwolves and last night’s choice of Corey Brewer as the team’s No. 1 pick in the NBA draft are good beginnings for a team that had a 32-50 record in 2006-2007 and was not pleasant to watch the last month of the season. Howard, a 34-year-old 13 season veteran, brings a reputation for scoring and locker room leadership. Yup, need that. Brewer, a 21-year-old from the University of Florida, is a high character and versatile 6-foot-9 athlete who can play shooting guard and small forward. He makes plays for teammates, scores and can defend point guards, shooting guards and small forwards. Lord, we need that, too.
But we need to ask the Almighty, not to mention McHale and the other Wolves’ personnel guys, for more help, too. The transition from loser to winner will take more than Howard, Brewer and a guy named Kevin Garnett.
Are the Wolves after a star player from another team as they look to make additional moves? “We’re after the five players who can play the best together that we can get,” Timberwolves president Chris Wright told Sports Headliners last night.
The Wolves are going to make additional changes, right? “I would not expect this franchise to look the way that it is today at the beginning of next season,” Wright answered. “It’s obvious that we have to consider doing something. The question is when you take a look at all the opportunities that are out there, what is the best opportunity for us? …”
Wright praised McHale for doing an “incredible job over the last four weeks” in his management of the potential Garnett trade, noting that the Timberwolves didn’t initiate transaction rumors but decided to listen to offers. “He (McHale) has set the bar for if we were to consider something, what it would be,” Wright said. “Kevin Garnett is the face of this franchise. He’s the consummate professional. He’s done everything that he can possibly do for this franchise here. We are not going to do anything that…harms our ability to be able to compete on that basketball court with him or without him. What Kevin McHale will do is analyze every opportunity and he will only do what he believes is in the best interest of making this team more competitive. …”