http://www.sacbee.com/kings/story/321328.html
NBA Beat: T-wolves take new tack in rebuilding
By Scott Howard-Cooper - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Sunday, August 12, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C10
The Minnesota Timberwolves now at least have an acceptable explanation for being lottery bad, with franchise cornerstone Kevin Garnett now a Celtic and the youth movement officially under way in a new approach. In the same old explanation, Kevin McHale is running the personnel department.
If the Timberwolves can find optimism in finally being able to get on with the future, after years of trying to hold together something that didn't exist, it comes with the offset that McHale may have bought himself time by trading Garnett for prospects, draft picks and cap relief. Stop cheering, Boston.
The pressure of building around superstar Garnett has been replaced by the patience of waiting to see what develops from a lineup that could immediately include rookie swingman Corey Brewer, second-year guard Randy Foye and fourth-year power forward Al Jefferson, the headliner that came in return for KG. Even the coach, Randy Wittman, will be in his first full season with this group, having replaced Dwane Casey in January.
This isn't bottom, in other words, although they surely can see it from here. With massive reconstruction work ahead, owner Glen Taylor last week again stood behind McHale, the vice president of basketball operations and former local hero at the University of Minnesota, as the man to lead the climb back. Taylor presumably meant for the Timberwolves, not the Celtics.
McHale will just have to do it without the usual front-office power is all, a development built on three consecutive years of missing the playoffs and the last two seasons with a combined 55 wins.
"I think we've gone to, at least for now, more of a group concept," Taylor told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "I probably prefer that. That has worked better for me in my other businesses. I think if we move ahead, it won't be like, 'Kevin's vision.' It will be the group's vision."
The group being Taylor, McHale, general manager Jim Stack and assistant general managers Rob Babcock and Fred Hoiberg. McHale, for his part, called himself year-to-year in the job, the same thing he has always said, except that this time it's with angry villagers advancing and not necessarily his call anymore.
Or as Taylor said: "I think that's something that Kevin will have to sort out -- does he want to do it that way?' "
Not so Golden
Matt Barnes returned to the Warriors and to his other familiar location last week, begrudgingly taking a one-year deal in Golden State, missing out on the long-anticipated payoff and needing to prove himself all over again.
That last part is nothing new -- the former Del Campo High star has had six stops with five organizations, not counting being waived by two others before playing, since being drafted in 2002, along with stints in two minor leagues. He had yet to finish one season and start the next with the same team.
But this time was supposed to be different. He went from joining the Warriors at the start of training camp to making the team to breaking into the rotation to starting 23 times and averaging 15.1 points and 6.7 rebounds while a member of the opening lineup. He became a three-point threat in an important improvement and then a key to the electric playoff run, putting himself in position for the security of a long-term contract for the first time in his career.
By early August, though, the market had gone so dry that Barnes took the one year from the Warriors in hopes of matching or surpassing the improbable 2006-07 and cashing in for real next summer. It was his stated first choice for a location and it will not be on a journeyman's salary, a reported $3.5 million, but without the security for the future.
In the end, the thing that helped him springboard to the forefront, being a perfect match for Don Nelson's speedball in Oakland, may have hurt Barnes as a free agent, with some teams wondering if he was the byproduct of a unique system rather than an actual emerging talent.
For your thoughts
Proving that it is realistic in addition to nursing along an aging roster, the Heat did not give 36-year-old Penny Hardaway a guaranteed deal after being out of the league for nearly two years, but did add the former All-Star as a potential replacement for free-agent departure Eddie Jones in a deal that reportedly required the approval of Shaquille O'Neal.
Hardaway and O'Neal were teammates in another Florida city, Orlando. While they were never mistaken for best friends, the oft-reported feud didn't exist beyond an occasion dig from Shaq along the lines of his barbs of many others and was more the product of marketing people trying to grab a spotlight for their rising star. O'Neal's historic jump to the Lakers in 1996 was wrapped in much more animosity for the Magic front office and coach Brian Hill.
About the writer: The Bee's Scott Howard-Cooper can be reached at showard-cooper@ sacbee.com.
NBA Beat: T-wolves take new tack in rebuilding
By Scott Howard-Cooper - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Sunday, August 12, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C10
The Minnesota Timberwolves now at least have an acceptable explanation for being lottery bad, with franchise cornerstone Kevin Garnett now a Celtic and the youth movement officially under way in a new approach. In the same old explanation, Kevin McHale is running the personnel department.
If the Timberwolves can find optimism in finally being able to get on with the future, after years of trying to hold together something that didn't exist, it comes with the offset that McHale may have bought himself time by trading Garnett for prospects, draft picks and cap relief. Stop cheering, Boston.
The pressure of building around superstar Garnett has been replaced by the patience of waiting to see what develops from a lineup that could immediately include rookie swingman Corey Brewer, second-year guard Randy Foye and fourth-year power forward Al Jefferson, the headliner that came in return for KG. Even the coach, Randy Wittman, will be in his first full season with this group, having replaced Dwane Casey in January.
This isn't bottom, in other words, although they surely can see it from here. With massive reconstruction work ahead, owner Glen Taylor last week again stood behind McHale, the vice president of basketball operations and former local hero at the University of Minnesota, as the man to lead the climb back. Taylor presumably meant for the Timberwolves, not the Celtics.
McHale will just have to do it without the usual front-office power is all, a development built on three consecutive years of missing the playoffs and the last two seasons with a combined 55 wins.
"I think we've gone to, at least for now, more of a group concept," Taylor told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "I probably prefer that. That has worked better for me in my other businesses. I think if we move ahead, it won't be like, 'Kevin's vision.' It will be the group's vision."
The group being Taylor, McHale, general manager Jim Stack and assistant general managers Rob Babcock and Fred Hoiberg. McHale, for his part, called himself year-to-year in the job, the same thing he has always said, except that this time it's with angry villagers advancing and not necessarily his call anymore.
Or as Taylor said: "I think that's something that Kevin will have to sort out -- does he want to do it that way?' "
Not so Golden
Matt Barnes returned to the Warriors and to his other familiar location last week, begrudgingly taking a one-year deal in Golden State, missing out on the long-anticipated payoff and needing to prove himself all over again.
That last part is nothing new -- the former Del Campo High star has had six stops with five organizations, not counting being waived by two others before playing, since being drafted in 2002, along with stints in two minor leagues. He had yet to finish one season and start the next with the same team.
But this time was supposed to be different. He went from joining the Warriors at the start of training camp to making the team to breaking into the rotation to starting 23 times and averaging 15.1 points and 6.7 rebounds while a member of the opening lineup. He became a three-point threat in an important improvement and then a key to the electric playoff run, putting himself in position for the security of a long-term contract for the first time in his career.
By early August, though, the market had gone so dry that Barnes took the one year from the Warriors in hopes of matching or surpassing the improbable 2006-07 and cashing in for real next summer. It was his stated first choice for a location and it will not be on a journeyman's salary, a reported $3.5 million, but without the security for the future.
In the end, the thing that helped him springboard to the forefront, being a perfect match for Don Nelson's speedball in Oakland, may have hurt Barnes as a free agent, with some teams wondering if he was the byproduct of a unique system rather than an actual emerging talent.
For your thoughts
Proving that it is realistic in addition to nursing along an aging roster, the Heat did not give 36-year-old Penny Hardaway a guaranteed deal after being out of the league for nearly two years, but did add the former All-Star as a potential replacement for free-agent departure Eddie Jones in a deal that reportedly required the approval of Shaquille O'Neal.
Hardaway and O'Neal were teammates in another Florida city, Orlando. While they were never mistaken for best friends, the oft-reported feud didn't exist beyond an occasion dig from Shaq along the lines of his barbs of many others and was more the product of marketing people trying to grab a spotlight for their rising star. O'Neal's historic jump to the Lakers in 1996 was wrapped in much more animosity for the Magic front office and coach Brian Hill.
About the writer: The Bee's Scott Howard-Cooper can be reached at showard-cooper@ sacbee.com.
