Avalanche over at Basketball Forum posted this:

President Chris White announced on Tuesday there will be a new Jersey and Logo design around draft day.

But a quick Google News search didn't give me anything. Anyone else hear this? Have a link? Let us know in the comments.

Moreover, who's Chris White? I don't recall ever hearing that name in reference to the Wolves, nor is he mentioned on their site. Am I taking crazy pills or is Avalanche blowing smoke?

There were two items that I intentionally glossed over in my Rashad McCants/Randy Foye Death Match post: a comparison of rookie-to-injury seasons and age. With no further delay, let's dive into the former.

In his injury season (06-07), Shaddy played in all of 37 games for the Wolves. In yet another one of their too-close-to-believe-that-the-front-office-really-drafted-them-in-consecutive-years moments, Mr. Fourth Quarter Foye is on tap to play in 39 games during his injury campaign. In other words, we have a good and consistent sample size with this comparison and it is a pretty damn decent tool to use when discussing each players' relative merits.

Good Lord. I go from 6-8 inches of rain in Little Rock to 6-8 inches of snow upon returning to Minnesota. While I'm getting tired of winter, I'm glad to be back in Minnesota. As much as I love the mid-south (Ms. Stop-n-Pop is an Okie and yours truly has lived in Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Texas), it was nice to get out of a hotel and back into my own bed. That being said, I already miss the BBQ and the sweet tea. Come on Minnesota, rise up to the culinary challenge and produce a regional cuisine greater than the Juicy Lucy!!!

Anywho, thanks to League Pass on line I was able to catch most of the Wolves games during my time down south. I also had the chance to catch the Celts in Memphis. Rather than sit here and give you a lame overview of the last 5-6 games, I'd like to write a bit about the impending Rashad McCants/Randy Foye death match.

In case you didn't already know, you can scalp GREAT tickets to Timberwolves games these days. Skyner and I got $100 face tickets for $25 a pop; and that's including my negotiation-screwup fee.

The best summary I can give this game is that we looked solid overall, shaky at times, and then blew it in the 4th quarter. And it bear's mentioning that it was against a Northwest Division rival that we should expect to see quite often in the next 5 years.

Two bright spots (especially when scoping the box score were Rashad McCants and Craig Smith off the bench. Both played very productive games. Shaddy had a couple bonehead plays, but 85% of the time he was not the chucking, lax defender I had expected tonight. So, for that, I owe Dying To Be Loved a good deal of credit.

For all that has been said about Al Jefferson’s inability to handle legit 5’s, make no mistake about it: against Houston, Big Al stuck it to the Western Conference’s starting All Star center. From drawing him away from the hoop for 12-16 foot push shots to destroying him down low with a bunch of Dream Shakes, Al was the best center on the court and it wasn’t really close.

Keeping with Big Al, one of the most heartening things to see during the broadcast was an interview with Jim Peterson during the 3rd where he talked about not falling in love with the mid-range game and working on finishing with his left hand. The guy knows what he needs to do to improve and he’s working hard at it. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

OK, on to the main event. The Wolves downright sucked with Rashad McCants and Randy Foye on the court together. It’s not just that the offense came to a grinding halt when these two shoot-first guards manned the perimeter, but that they turned Target Center into Matador Central, holding up the red sheets while their marks blazed right to the rim. The worst offense of the night came at about 7:30 to go in the 4th when Shaddy not only stepped aside to further open up a clear lane to the bucket, but he made a half-assed attempt to foul the man on the drive resulting in a 3 point play and a 10 point Rocket lead. While he did manage to get a hand in T-Mac’s face on his go-ahead jumper, Shaddy was lulled to sleep at the top of the key before failing to fight his way over a screen on McGrady’s back-breaking 3-ball.

One of my favorite drills with my 10-year old girls basketball team is to have our 2 forwards line up on the blocks, have the point drive the lane, kick it out to the corner while being replaced at the top of the key with a rotating wing player (one of the block players replaces the wing player), and then rotate the ball all the way around via the 3 point line to the other corner for the open shot. It’s a simple drill that fosters spacing, movement, and passing on the offensive end. While I’m sure that conditioning has just a little bit to do with his inability to showcase his quickness, I’m not really sure that Randy Foye’s grasp of the point position is any more advanced than drive-and-kick or passing the ball around the perimeter. I obviously don’t break down film or work with world class ballers, but can someone please tell me what would lead the Wolves front office or coaching staff to believe that this guy can run a major league team? Look, basketball isn’t rocket science. It’s not football; a sport where offensive linemen are graded in Monday film sessions and there’s often too much going on for the average fan to comprehend on the TV. Basketball is 5-on-5 action where there is no room to hide the clichéd “little things” from fans who pay attention. I’ll give the guy the benefit of the doubt and I think he has a chance to work out at the 2, but I see absolutely zero evidence that Foye will be able to run the point with as much proficiency as a fellow perimeter Wolves player 2 years his junior. Speaking of whom…

The Wolves were fully functional with Sebastian Telfair doing his best Steve Nash impression: driving the lane, dishing and hitting the mid-range jumpers that were given to him. Folks, this is another game that shows just what Bassy can do when he foregoes the 3 and uses his speed and quickness to break down the opposing perimeter defense. (That being said, he missed a key mid-range jumper in the last minute.) Anyway, Bassy ended up with 12 assists to 0 turnovers and only 1 3-point attempt. Against the Bulls, he went for 10 assists and 2 turnovers with only 1 3-point attempt.

Keeping with the positives, the Wolves squad that took the floor last night at Target Center was a completely different team than the one who lost by 30 to the Tracy McGrady-less Rockets just 2 weeks ago. The defense is stinger, the players more confident, and no one is getting pushed around. Revisiting the McHale Ratio, I think it is safe to say that the KG trade has netted the Wolves 3 legit NBA players: Big Al, Gomes, and Bassy. If you throw in 1 or 2 solid draft picks and the FO does something constructive with Ratliff’s deal, you can start talking about this being a lopsided deal for the home team.

That’s about enough for now.

Until later.