(Skip this post if you want to avoid my mini-rant)
Speaking of PatBev, I was listening to the Athletic’s podcast about him going to the Lakers, and they said he “made the best out of ending up in Minnesota.”
I am really getting frustrated by this constant narrative by national media about how going to Minnesota is like being sent to a gulag in Siberia. Beverley asked for a trade to Minnesota where he’s have more opportunity, and Memphis obliged him. I listened to his interview on Wolves Weekly, and he had nothing but great things to say about Minnesota, like how anxious as a midwesterner he was to get back from a NY trip to get back to MIN. He stepped up when we faltered early in the season, and helped get each player to specify what his role was to the team. He didn’t have to do that. He liked playing for Finch that allowed him to expand his game (and he was pretty good as a ball handler in the pick and roll), after so many seasons in LAC and HOU where he was expected to stand outside and shoot three’s. He set a personal goal to get the Wolves to the playoffs, and I believe his hard work and leadership was critical for that to happen. And later, after he’d been traded, he still had kind words for Minnesota, how we had treated him fairly and given him that $13 mil extension.
Anyway, Beverley never felt like he was sentenced to the gulag of Minnesota. I remember in ESPN’s first interview with Anthony Edwards, their opening question was about buying a heavy coat! That’s what they think MIN is. I hope that more playoff success this year can start to turn around decades of disrespect that Minnesota gets from the national media.