RealGM

The time for talk is over

Okay, not quite. Right after this long-winded letter. Because we do have a lot of good things to talk about.

Fourteen months ago we laid out a plan: First, we would become a running team that plays an exciting un-tempo style of basketball. Second, we would get younger in order to build a team that could improve together and compete for a number of years. Third, we would instill a culture of hard work throughout our organization. Fourth, transparency. We’ll always let you know exactly what’s going on, occasionally via long-winded letters.

That was our plan over a year ago and it hasn’t changed on iota. In the off-season we added young, athletic wind players Wesley Johnson, Martell Webster and Lazar Hayward. They join Jonny Flynn, Corey Brewer and Wayne Ellington as guys who can get up and down the floo quickly and shoot the ball from the perimeter. We re-signed Darko Milicic and added Nikola Pekovic, giving us two more up-tempo big men to run with one of the best outlet passers in the game, Kevin Love. We took advantage of our cap room to acquire a potential star in Michael Beasley, who was the number one prospect in his high school class of 2007 and averaged 26 points and 12 rebounds in his one college season. And finally, we added Luke Ridnour, a push-the-pace player who becomes the team’s elder statesman at the age of 29.

We now have more shooting, athleticism and depth at every position, which will make us a better team this season. So will we challenge for the NBA championship this year?

No likely.

Ouch. This honesty thing is a bit painful. But the reality is, we still need that one dominant player.

It’s possible that that player could already be on our roster. We have eight guys who were selected in the top seven picks of their respective drafts, and the average age of those players is 22. So the potential is there for someone to emerge. But in case that doesn’t happen, we’ll continue to manage our salary cap so that we have the flexibility to make that one move that can change a franchise.

We are confident, however, that this team will be exciting to watch. For the first time in years Wolves fans are going to fell like they’re missing out if they aren’t in the arena. So in addition to player development we’re working hard on fan development, starting with variable pricing and Flex Pack ticket packages that let you pick the games and seats that you want. The bottom line for fans is: We’re making it easier than ever for you to be part of our turnaround.

There’s been a lot of talk this off-season. The naysayers certainly have been vocal. And while we can understand a certain amount of skepticism, we know we’ve turned the corner. And we’re anxious to get after that first tipped ball so we can start to prove it.

Enough talk. It’s time to play.

Oh, wait. We forgot to talk about Rubio.

Next time.

We took advantage of our cap room to acquire a potential star in Michael Beasley, who was the number one prospect in his high school class of 2007 and averaged 26 points and 12 rebounds in his one college season.

Klomp wrote:

We took advantage of our cap room to acquire a potential star in Michael Beasley, who was the number one prospect in his high school class of 2007 and averaged 26 points and 12 rebounds in his one college season.

To me, that sounds like hes a starter. The only question is where...

Oh, and heres a link:

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/spor ... pt-13-2010

Klomp wrote:Isn't Rivals the number one scouting service though?

Breakdown777 wrote:What I don't understand is...why not just say "2nd overall pick". They were trying to be clever by bringing up something many don't know (but even more don't care about).

I wonder who wrote this. They sure do have a sence of humor.

Sure we are younger, more athletic, and better shooters. The thing that scares me about this team is that it's all new players again, with an impossible system (well, impossible for everyone but Darko apparently). This means tons of Turnovers and sloppy play, which leads to not much "exciting" offense. I'd rather see them score 40% of the time than see them make a spectacular play 10% of the time. Hopefully the new guys are smart enough to figure out the system quickly.

And no mention of Anthony Tolliver bums me out.

Klomp wrote:Isn't Rivals the number one scouting service though?

Klomp wrote: Oh yeah, I guess we lost Jefferson too....

We now have more shooting, athleticism and depth at every position, which will make us a better team this season. So will we challenge for the NBA championship this year?

No likely.

Ouch. This honesty thing is a bit painful. But the reality is, we still need that one dominant player.

dunkonu21 wrote:and i dont care if it's only three spots difference, being rated number 1 is different.

Devilzsidewalk wrote:I really hope those typos in the Fox link aren't printed in the newspapers

dunkonu21 wrote:and i dont care if it's only three spots difference, being rated number 1 is different.