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VOTW – Wesley Johnson Pre-Draft Workout

May 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment

In the spirit of yesterday’s NBA Lottery and the continued lack of luck on the Timberwolves side during said event, let’s take a look back to one of the most painful memories in franchise history. Yes, you read that correctly. I truly believe Wes Johnson to be one of the top three to five misses in franchise history. This is not an irrational decision to talk about more recent events as “the worst” or anything like that. Boy Scouts salute, I wholeheartedly believe that drafting Wes Johnson was an AWFUL decision of somewhat epic proportions.

Take a look at this video, courtesy of Canis Hoopus. Exactly what did David Kahn and company see in this workout to rave about Wes? I stopped counting the number of times I heard a clang on the rim just a minute or two in. He missed five of his first six in the tape and JB decides to move to another spot on the floor. This would be hysterical if he wasn’t drafted weeks later by the same team. To be fair, Wes did get “hot” at that next spot on the floor … but, you do realize this is shooting open jumpers without anyone in his face, right? Where is the Chairman, Yi Jianlian, when you need him for a workout?

The interview with Wes goes right into how he will be able to adjust to the NBA from a defensive standpoint, given his time at Syracuse. This wouldn’t be painfully infuriating if we had not taken Jonny Flynn a year prior and saw similar struggles.

The video then cuts to David Kahn’s interview with the media, where he first gives Jerry Zgoda a good ribbing – although some of Jerry’s questions later on get him back (Flynn vs. Curry). Kahn immediately goes into an excuse for some of the struggles in the workout (his toe). You typically don’t need to make excuses for the players you invite to tryouts. Some doozies from Kahn’s interview: “He has a beautiful stroke”, “He clearly can run”, “He can help us with that (shooting) almost immediately”. Do I even need to follow-up on any of those comments?

Try to enjoy this and remember, things will get better for this franchise. Someday …

Filed Under: Video of the Week Tagged With: ,

Minnesota Timberwolves 83, Phoenix Suns 84

February 27, 2013 by

DerrickGame Summary

The Timberwolves kicked off a three game road trip on Tuesday night in Phoenix.  Both teams came into the game well under .500 and fans are already thinking about what is the next step to bring each franchise back to the playoffs.  I think it is safe to say that the Pups are significantly closer to those aspirations, but Tuesday night’s performance didn’t help the minds (or hearts) of either fan base.  Here is how the night transpired.

There were no changes to the Wolves starting lineup – Rubio, Ridnour, Kirilenko, Williams, and Pekovic.  The Suns opened up with Goran Dragic, Jared Dudley, PJ Tucker, Luis Scola, and Marcin Gortat.

In the early stages of the game, the Wolves and Suns both struggled to make baskets and the Wolves managed to turn the ball over a few too many times.  Going into the first timeout/break in the game the Suns held a 10-6 lead through 6+ minutes.  Dr. James Naismith likely rolled over in his grave given the performance for the entire 12 minutes of the 1st quarter.  At the end of the 1st, the Suns held a 16-15 lead.

The Suns put together a 10-0 run but it could have, and should have been, much worse.  Through 18 minutes of the game, the Wolves had 21 points.  Seriously.  They were shooting sub-30%, turning the ball over, and being outrebounded 25-17 going into the TV timeout with under 6 minutes to go in the half.

Rather than belabor this any further, the Suns held a 47-33 lead at halftime.  Here are a few halftime thoughts through my Wolves lens:

  • Mentioned this on Twitter, but if the Wolves continue to lose more often than not, does that make Adelman more or less likely to return next season?
  • Derrick Williams was the only bright spot, with 13 & 6 in the 1st half
  • Finally – 33 points?  Seriously?

Coming out to start the 3rd quarter, Alexey Shved was in the starting lineup replacing Andrei Kirilenko.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t Adelman trying to tweak the lineup to cause a spark, it was due to another injury.  AK47 suffered a calf strain and was deemed out for the rest of the game.  We’ll see the severity of the injury in the coming days and if Andrei will miss any more time.

The 3rd quarter itself was more of the same from the Wolves and Suns.  The Pups won the quarter 18-11 (ugh) and were only down 58-51 going into the final frame.  Derrick Williams remained the only Pup worth talking about, but he was also shooting 3-10 from the FT line through three quarters.  That said, he already posted a double-double, with 18 & 10 through three.

After starting out very slow in the 4th quarter, the Wolves went on a 7-0 run to cut the Suns lead to 6 points.  Pekovic started to come to life in the 4th quarter as well, quietly moving into double-double range.  The Wolves were met with a healthy dose of Wesley Johnson, who hit several three pointers, as well as a few baskets in/around the paint.

In the final two minutes, the Wolves were able to take a 76-75 lead.  After Rubio hit one of two FT’s, the Suns were able to tie the game up with a running layup by Gortat.  Rubio then proceeded to air-ball a mid-range jumper to put the game into overtime, which is exactly what the NBA and its fans didn’t need from these two teams.

The overtime period was more of the same from both teams; bad shooting, a lack of scoring, and turnovers.  Ricky Rubio looked completely gassed and Adelman pulled him for the final few minutes.  With time running down, Alexey Shved drove to the rim and missed a layup that would have given the Wolves the lead (and likely win).  The Suns escape with an 84-83 win after outscoring (or surviving) the Wolves 7-6 in OT.

Keys of the Game

  • Shooting – While the Suns were equally as bad, the Wolves shot 31-90 FG’s, including 5-19 from 3PT range and were 16-25 from the FT line.  Dear lord.
  • Bench play – Aside from JJ Barea – and you should probably account for all of his negatives here too – the Suns bench was widely superior Tuesday night, with Wes Johnson, Markieff Morris, and Jermaine O’Neal all with double digit points.

Three Stars of the Game

  1. Jermaine O’Neal – Seriously, I mean who else does this go to?  A double-double from a 60 year old NBA player deserves to be recognized.  My only other option was “(Leave blank)”.
  2. Derrick Williams – 21 & 12 and another relatively solid outing for DWill.
  3. Wesley Johnson – Arguably the worst 1st round pick in the Timberwolves history, Johnson managed to have a career night with 14 points and 9 rebounds off the Suns bench.  Of course he did.
Filed Under: Game Recaps Tagged With: , ,

Preview: Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Phoenix Suns, 2/26/13

February 26, 2013 by

wesjohnson_michaelbeasley

Setting the stage:

Oh what could have been with Mr. Beasley and Mr. Johnson on the Timberwolves, right folks?  (Crickets)

The Timberwolves travel to Phoenix to take on the Suns Tuesday night for the second time this season.  Back on 12/29, the Wolves handed the Suns a 111-107 loss, with the former Pups doing virtually nothing on their return the Target Center.  Beasley shot a woeful 1-8 from the field in 10 minutes and Johnson received another DNP-CD.

Since taking over for Alvin Gentry, it looks like Lindsey Hunter has come to realize just how bad these two players are.  Hunter took over on January 18th and has given both players a few opportunities to play heavier minutes.  In Phoenix’s most recent games, both players have been given limited opportunity to see the floor.

The Suns come into the game losers of three straight, which has dropped their season record to 18-39.  If this game were being played in April, we would be talking about who is tanking more unfortunately.  The Wolves come into Tuesday’s game off of a gut-wrenching loss to the Warriors on Sunday afternoon.  The Pups had every opportunity to win the game but found a way to lose, 100-99, with Luke Ridnour missing a floating jumper around the rim as the buzzer sounded.  That loss put the team at 1-2 since the All Star break and dropped their record to 20-33 on the season.  Despite the loss, the optimist in me would like to point out the overall performances of Ricky Rubio and Derrick Williams.  While both failed to make one or two plays down the stretch (and they were crucial) the duo put together very solid performances and are the main reasons worth tracking how or what the Wolves do the rest of the way this season.

Player to watch:

Jared Dudley – Timberwolves fans have been eyeing up Dudley for some time now, as a player that would be a great cog in the machine here in Minnesota.  While Jared has been inconsistent in February, Timberwolves fans might want to brace themselves for a breakout performance.  Dudley put up an 18 point, 8 rebound, 5 assist game back in late December and we should probably expect more of the same, given the lack of size the Wolves have to match up against Jared on the defensive end.

Match-up to watch:

Nikola Pekovic vs. Marcin Gortat.  The big men in the paint are the premiere match-up for the evening, as both men are quite the load in the paint.  Pekovic dominated the earlier meeting, putting up a 28 & 11 performance, and holding Gortat to 9 & 3.  Pekovic has had a nice month of February if you throw out the performance this past Friday night in OKC.  Even with that clunker, he’s averaged 15.8 ppg and 9.5 rpg over the course of the month.

Predictions:

Nothing excites me about this Suns team and I almost wish that I wasn’t responsible for covering this game.  OK, I do wish that actually.  Given the way the Wolves have been playing since the break, and even though it isn’t producing wins, I expect them to pull this one out on the road.

Final score prediction: Twolves 106, Suns 99

Three stars of the game predictions:

  1. Ricky Rubio
  2. Derrick Williams
  3. Jared Dudley

Let’s go Wolves!

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