Be good or be gone. Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor told Sports Headliners recently that he has expectations about proper behavior by his players and also for team leadership. The Wolves, led by coach Randy Wittman, will trade or release players who aren’t team oriented, Taylor said.
Taylor, who traveled with the team over the weekend to training camp in Turkey, is anticipating a different locker room this season than in the past. “The last couple years we just put up with some behaviors we shouldn’t have,” Taylor said. “And if I had known about it, we probably wouldn’t have. …”
Asked to offer an example, Taylor said players were “degrading” others in the locker room. Years ago Wolves players like Sam Mitchell and Ervin Johnson would stop that kind of behavior, Taylor said. Although he wanted Kevin Garnett to be a verbal leader, the super star forward, now traded to Boston, didn’t fit the part.
“We just found out that wasn’t the type of leadership that K.G. had,” Taylor said. “I think a lot of people looked to him then, and by him not saying anything it almost like condones it. …It wasn’t what he meant but he just didn’t see it as his place or appropriate for him to step into that. So his type of leadership was I’ll go out on the floor and play hard, and you guys should play hard. …We found that out too late and then we didn’t have the other people (to assume leadership). …”
Taylor expects some of the leadership role to come from 34-year-old Juwan Howard, acquired during the off-season in a trade with Houston. After the Garnett trade, Howard asked to leave the Wolves for another team and that could still happen. Either way, Taylor has already told second year players Randy Foye and Craig Smith, along with Al Jefferson, a fourth year key player acquired in the Garnett trade, that they need to step up as a “collective” leadership group.
With past behavior problems and the fact the Wolves have eight players 24 or younger on the 17-man training camp roster,Taylor is going to be pro-active this month. On the overseas trip (the Wolves will play an exhibition game in Turkey and another in London) Taylor plans to meet individually or in small groups with all the players. His two topics will be community service and being team oriented. Taylor wants his players to be good citizens off the court, giving to the community with the many opportunities available to high profile pro athletes.
The Wolves owner also wants to “reinforce” a message from Wittman to be a solid teammate. “The importance of being a team member, and that we can’t say that in a meeting we’re going to be a team member and then go out on the floor and act somewhat different, be critical of other people, be selfish on the floor…,” Taylor said.
He also said the franchise’s long range goal is an NBA championship. This season is important, he explained, for determining who will become the team’s leaders and best players. It will be a process as the Wolves find out if Foye, Smith, Jefferson and whoever else are the ones they need to return this franchise to championship contention. Others who may emerge include Gerald Green, also acquired in the Boston trade, and No. 1 pick Corey Brewer.