10/27 Sacramento @ Minnesota 7:00

[Calinks]

You guys are nuts if you think Cousins will just be some run if the mil player. This isn't freaking Jaron Collins or Michael Olowokandi out there. The kid is very skilled. I see him as a 14 and 8 at worst and I really think he will be better than that. He can pass, play in the post, hit outside shots, and finish around the rim. He has way more skills than your average rookie bigman.

[younggunsmn]

I was super impressed with the way ridnour ran the team, the gap between him and telfair was huge. If only he could defend. Ridnour deserves all the backup mins when Flynn returns.

This team clearly has no defensive identity or trust in one another. The effort was good, but the defensive game plan was just plain awful to give up that many points, free throws, and offensive rebounds to an evans-less kings team. Johnson and Darko were the only ones who really seemed to be able to defend their men consistently, and Darko was not good at all on the glass.
I thought Beasley's d got alot better as the game went along, and he pulled down some big rebounds in the 2nd half. The kings really seemed to attack Tolliver in the 4th, and he won some and lost some, but landry killing us on the glass cost us the game.

[B Calrissian]

Let me preface this rant by saying that I love Kevin Love, and am pulling for him to reach his potential as much as anyone....

Love hit a couple 3's and grabbed a lot of rebounds in the first half. Other than that, he was TERRIBLE. Rambis did exactly what he should have done, and it was for Love's own good. If Love wants to be a leader on this team, or on any team in the future, playing the way he did tonight is unacceptable. Its fine to have a bad shooting night, but to act as lazy as I do on a Sunday afternoon, for the entire game, is unacceptable. One way or the other, Love is going to have a huge impact on this team this year. Whether or not it is a positive or negative impact is entirely between his ears. He can walk the walk and have the attitude of a leader, or he can singlehandedly ruin the chemistry on this team. Tolliver said it all in his post-game interview, saying that it is scrappy games like this when you find out a lot about your teammates, find out who is really willing to fight for you. I don't think he was taking a shot at Love, but Tolliver walked the walk out there and earned the minutes he got. Love showed that he wasn't at all willing to fight for his teammates. I don't know how long it will take Rambis to pound this lesson through Kevin's head, but he's going to keep on trying, and for his sake I hope Kevin learns that lesson soon. Until he learns that lesson he will never be the best player, or a leader, on this team or any other.
On the other hand, Its just one game. Maybe all his talk of a professional attitude this offseason is true, and maybe he just had a bad game and knew it, and had no problem with Rambis benching him in favor of Tolliver. But he has to prove that to us, or this will be a long season. If he returns to his old antics of sulking around like a 5 year old when things get tough, Tolliver may get more minutes than him all season long. Kevin owes all of us more than that, and I for one feel personally offended when he acts like this, and I imagine his teammates feel the same way.

Dig deep Kevin, stay patient Kurt.

I agree everything you said and enjoyed reading your post. I don't see how anyone that has watched the Wolves since Love was drafted can disagree.

[SacTown Kings]

Yeah Ridnour looked like steve nash out there. And I thought Wes looked pretty bad at first but after he became a little more comfortable he looked pretty damn good, very athletic. That dunk was pretty sick. DMC didn't have a spectacular game so I can see why some say he wasn't impressive. But 14pts/7/4 in 27 min on 50%fg and making some key plays down the stretch while playing with 5 fouls is sort of impressive isnt it? But yeah I agree he still needs to work on his conditioning. Anyways it was a fun game could of gone either way.

[stiles21]

4) What is wrong with our rotation?

The players in The Wolves rotation is really the biggest problem.

[cpfsf]

Yeah Ridnour looked like steve nash out there. And I thought Wes looked pretty bad at first but after he became a little more comfortable he looked pretty damn good, very athletic. That dunk was pretty sick. DMC didn't have a spectacular game so I can see why some say he wasn't impressive. But 14pts/7/4 in 27 min on 50%fg and making some key plays down the stretch while playing with 5 fouls is sort of impressive isnt it? But yeah I agree he still needs to work on his conditioning. Anyways it was a fun game could of gone either way.

There's a reason I snagged Cousins on my fantasy team (really early I might add). That guy is going to rebound, score, and make most of his shots.

[eyeteeth]

The Wolves have this habit of leaving guys on the other team wide open and then leaping at them when they get the ball. Usually this looks ridiculous and results in an open jumper or and open jumper +1. They've done this for a while now, and I had hoped it would be done with. Guess not.

Wes J and Tolliver looked great. KLove missed easy buckets and sulked when he got benched for the hot hand. DMC was impressive on the floor, he has some real basketball skills; however he was obviously sulky as advertised on the court. If that's how he plays in game one, he's gonna have a full blown temper tantrum before December ends, and refs tend to remember things like that. Darko looked good, Pek needs to be an offensive priority when he's in there. Ridnour was great, can JFlynn PLEASE get healthy so I never have to see Telfair on the court as a Wolf again?

[shrink]

We got three picks next summer, MIN, MEM (top 14 protected), UTA (probably top 14 too).

All three lost.

Too soon?

[gensu3k1]

All you Rambis fans realize that there's no way Love re-signs here right?

But then again, Kahn and Rambis didn't think Love was a starting caliber player last year, so I guess they probably won't even want to sign him for market value.

[Klomp]

SC Top 10 coming up. Lets see if Wes breaks the ESPN curse on the Wolves.

[Breakdown777]

My thoughts (some repeats)-

Just like last year, SAC completely out-coached us...We are just as talented as they are, yet they seem to make all the correct moves/decisions, while Wolves fans are left scratching their heads.

Love needed to be in the game, and can we PLEASE not turn every single thread into the topic of K-Love's Maturity (listening to all the conspiracy theories about Rambis' player rearing techniques is so last year...let's have one thread and post anything related into that one).

1st NBA game impressions of Cousins-reminds me of Zach Randolph more than Al Jefferson does. (totally off-topic but OMG BLAKE GRIFFIN IS AMAZING!)

Pek and Kouf both looked pretty good. No complaints and I'm sure they'll only get better working with Lambier. Needed to go inside to Pek more, and run more pick/pop w/ Love, Tolliver, and Kouf.

Not to concerned with the wing play, as Webster is out and I think we'll look better with him back. Beasley will make a good alpha dog if/when he figures more of the system out.
Impressed with Tolliver, but not at Love's expense. (and NO ONE is allowed to do the KG pound on the floor thing in Target Centa....NO ONE. Send him the memo.) Apparently all it takes to win Rambis over is Jumping Jacks before the offensive crosses half court..take notes Love.

Same old Telfair. He, Wayne, and Luke did the hole jumper under 10 seconds PHX thing way too many times for my liking. At least wait for someone to be in rebounding position. Too much 1on1, which probably drove Rambis insane...but that happens often to a new team with new players.

Nobody posted "Cool hand Luke" when he nailed the clutch shot.

If Darko didn't get that T....we could have had multiple opportunities to go for the lead instead of the tie (making all those end-of-game quick 2's actually beneficial....seriously go for 3, i don't care how many 2's you get cuz they'll nail all the Free throws)

[Klomp]

SC Top 10 coming up. Lets see if Wes breaks the ESPN curse on the Wolves.

Tolliver broke it, not Wes

[theGreatRC]

^
The block?

[Klomp]

^
The block?

Yes. I believe it was around 7

[Klomp]

Game Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF_Xnn_D8ck

(That Brewer play at ~0:45. My bad, it wasn't the cheerleaders, it was the towelboys)

[re49gb_2gho32fp]

What a setback to lose vs SAC w/o Evans. Why did Darko play only 24minutes btw?

[Klomp]

"Who's arguing that?" Rambis said afterward when asked a question about why arguably his best player watched most of the fourth quarter and didn't have a point or rebound in the second half after reaching a double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds) by halftime.

A reporter replied that he was.

"That's your opinion," he said. "I thought Anthony was doing the things defensively that we need. It was nothing against Kevin. I thought A.T. was doing a good job. I thought that he was moving his feet well. He challenged shots. He blocked shots.

"Rather than turning it into a derogatory thing with Kevin, it's a complimentary thing toward A.T."

Love and Beasley left the team's locker room quickly after the loss, exiting before the room was open to reporters.

Tolliver remained and was asked if he thought Rambis had sent a message to the team by who he kept on the floor for defensive purposes when the game was decided.

"Absolutely," Tolliver said. "He has made it obvious to everybody that if you play hard, you're going to play. And if you play defense, you're going to play. I happened to be on the court when we got a team that decided to buckle down and get some stops.

"I know Coach is going to make decisions and we all have to live with it because he's the coach. The fact that he [Love] didn't play much in the fourth, that's something you can discuss with Coach. We know Kevin's going to be a big part of this team and we know he's going to be a big part of our success."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wolves/105923213.html

[Klomp]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9Fph1BO20k[/youtube]

[Guidus88]

Why only 23 minutes?

[Winsome Gerbil]

Guys, whatever Kevin Love's attitude, unless he is a full blown cancer you just can't lose him mentally or its going to be a looooong season. And especially not for an Anthony Tolliver. That's before you even get to discussing the possibility he might want to leave for greener pastures where they'll feature him in a couple of years.

Whatever the issues are, they have to be resolved, and reasonably soon. The rebuild is just set back so far if he checks out. You can't trade Big Al partially to feature a guy, and then end up losing that guy too. That's how rebuilds that are already going to take 5 years end up taking 10.