Maturity of the Wolves

[theGreatRC]

Long Read. Please read if you are extremely bored at work or if you like reading long things, lol.


In the beginning of the year, the new-look wolves entered the practice facility as bunch of strangers to each other. 10 of the 15 wolves came from different cities and different cultures. Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Sebastian Telfair, Gerald Green and Theo Ratliff came to the Timberwolves after a season of disappointment, injuries and a franchise-high losing streak of 18 games. Antoine Walker and Michael Doleac came from exiting the playoffs early after a sweep from the young Chicago Bulls team, and Greg Buckner came from the storied team of the 06-07(Mavericks), a team that won 67 games, but ended up being on the other end of one of the biggest surprises in the playoffs.

The remaining Wolves; Rashad McCants, Randy Foye, Craig Smith and
Marko Jaric all had their share of stories. Rashad was coming into the season recovering from a knee surgery(microfracture) that many players do not come back from. Randy Foye had question marks on leadership, position on the court, and constant comparisons to his draft-day affiliate; Brandon Roy. Craig Smith became a diamond in the sand from the second-round, becoming consistent rookie that got his name slated on All-Second Rookie team. Marko Jaric was coming from a year of disappointment; requesting a trade mid-way through the year, but couldn't find a new home and came into this season hoping to relieve himself.

Strange new faces in the Wolves locker room; everyone there for their own personal achievements; statistics, contracts, higher trade value to send them to a new home. In the beginning of the season, the Wolves would compete for three quarters, only to come up short to the opposition; many say from inexperience or coaching. Those types of losses were considered "Improvement" by Wittman's standards, and while agreeable, consistently collapsing in the fourth quarter was seen from "Improvement" into question Marks. Where is this team going? Can the Timberwolves build around Al Jefferson; a power forward with good post moves, but lacks the ability to pass out of the double, or inability to play miraculous post defense. There was also their Point Guard situation which also raised suspicion on what they should do; Will Telfair stay out of trouble and become the gaurd every coach and media member sought him out to be? Will Foye just be another combo guard failing to be a "Point"?

"Losing" was the theme of the Timberwolves the first two months, becoming the League doormat to opposing teams, some calling it "Free Win" when the Minnesota ball club entered the opposing arena. The losing domino effected the rest of the players, the intensity sometimes faltered during quarters, giving up fast break points and resulting in blowouts from Houston to Los Angles. With a 4-34 record after the Nugget game, it was time for a change. "We should have won this game." Jefferson said to reporters; Winning was the word foreshadowed by Jefferson.

The Change

Coming into the Warriors arena, the Timberwolves still had a sour taste in their mouth from the close encounter with the Nuggets; questionable calls at the end and Iverson hitting daggers into the hearts of Wolves fans. From the get go, The guards set the tone early; pushing the tempo to the warriors as if to slap them in the face with a fancy chess move. "Your move" was the theme of the game, both teams impressive on offense, but the Wolves pulled away with a huge third quarter run holding a 10 point lead with 12 minutes left to go in this heart-pumping affair. Two Boston players saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Jefferson scored 15-21 points in the second half, constantly getting into the left block; the side on which he prefers to take his opponents into. The story of the game though was big Ryan Gomes. Down by one with a minute to go, Ryan drove the lane and was fouled with :54 seconds left on the timer. He calmly sunk two free-throws which ended as the game winner. Baron Davis attempted a three pointer which clanked off the rim harder than a Jason Collins dunk, and Marko Jaric played Simon says clanking his three off of the rim too. Refs calling Warrior ball, Baron drove the lane and missed the game winning layup, Al Harrington's tip resulted in the same miss. Both arms in the air, Al Jefferson let out a sigh of relief. "It should have been two in a row, we had a chance to beat Denver on their home court," said Al Jefferson.

"Maybe we

[C.lupus]

Nice write-up RC. Was this for a school essay?

The Wolves are definitely a different team right now. They lost last night not because Houston is a better team but because the Wolves are a younger team. They just made a couple youth mistakes and Houston had a veteran star that won it in the end. I'm really glad to see that they aren't comfortable settling for "moral victories" anymore. The pups have a bright future.

[theGreatRC]

Nice write-up RC. Was this for a school essay?

The Wolves are definitely a different team right now. They lost last night not because Houston is a better team but because the Wolves are a younger team. They just made a couple youth mistakes and Houston had a veteran star that won it in the end. I'm really glad to see that they aren't comfortable settling for "moral victories" anymore. The pups have a bright future.

I had to write about maturity; ironically the Wolves were maturing.

[karch34]

Very well done. Impressive.

[Varejao17]

I don't like to read long things but when I started I couldn't stop reading this... great read..

[Basti]

great read RC but I can recommend you to edit the 1st paragraph because this text is way too interesting to read it only when you're bored!

[4ho5ive]

I agree with everyone else that this was a fantastic write-up. It perfectly describes what was happening at the beginning of the season compared to the past few weeks of maturing and growing together.

Hopefully our young core of guys can grow and become even tighter of a unit, eventually growing into a dominant, winning unit.