Anyone know what is going on with the Wolves these days? They have a very talented roster but their play has been VERY underwhelming! I mean if people felt the Rockets were underachievers this year, I would say the Wolves have been just as much. Is the Sprewell/Cassell contract situations really that much of a distraction? Or is it the Hudson/Wally complaining for more minutes another problem? Perhaps they are just "coasting" through the regular season as some good teams tend to do. Anyone have any ideas?
A recent blurb in ESPN the magazine (or was it The Sporting News?) mentioned how the T-Wolves have an abundance of riches, with minutes spread out over many players (too much depth?) I'm too lazy to go check. But the contract situations of Sam Cassell and Latrell "I-Can't-Feed-my-Family-With-7-Million-A-Year-That's-an-Insulting-Offer-Despite-my-Advanced-Basketball-Age" Sprewell have to be a distraction.
LMAO........I've never EVER heard anyone else call him that. My older brother(big Knicks fan) has always called him that Sam I Am's clutch shots in the '94 Finals........that is classic. on a side note.....I have several friends who are HUGE t'Wolves fans. And my roomate is a Wolves fan. So I LOVE to see the WOLVES suck. I'd like to see EG play better, just cause it's a great story, and I live near Philly (where EG is from).
Then you haven't been around here much. You should try and dig up the old Alien vs. Predator thread in here (Cassel vs. Sprewell).
lol......that's even funnier. Usually I just posted on Rockets stuff, but I'm to slow, someone usually says my opionion before I can even log on. Only recently have I been reading the NBA page, and I've been watching a lot more NBA games since then too.
It now seems pretty obvious that Spree and Sam were playing out of their minds with the sole intention of getting paid. Now that that hasn't happened, they just don't have the same intensity.
Cassell and Sprewell age ridiculously fast over the past season. Cassell in 03-04: 19.8 ppg 7.8 apg Cassell in 04-05: 14.8 ppg 5.9 apg Sprewell in 03-04: 16.8 ppg 3.8 rpg 3.5 apg Sprewell in 04-05: 12.3 ppg 2.6 rpg 1.8 apg The Wolves just showed the biggest problem with relying on aging players to play big parts of your team. You're always risking those players just falling off the map in terms of production.
i bet they're glad they didn't ship out sczerbiak last season. because once these guys are gone, it'll be back to the ole Wally and KG show all over again.
At least T-wolves were smart not to sign the 3-year $14M per extension to some over-the-hill role player so he can feed his family... How embarassing is that? That's more than $1M per point he put up. Geeeee....
They were not smart just lucky. They actually offered Spree a 3-year $30M contract extension. Can you imagine that? Luckily for the them, Spree called it an insult.
Greedy and stupid Spree . Right now I don't know anyone in the league will offer him more than 2years' MLE
I think the problem with the Wolves is defense or the lack of it. They have not stopped anyone. The reason maybe the same as what faced Houston earlier: old age and team speed. Cassel, Sprewell, Szczerbiak, Kandi/ E. Johnson are just slow these days.
Spree and Cassell wanted those extensions because they knew for a fact that they'd never hope to earn them with their play. I suspect Spree has been dogging it to at least a degree. I'm certain Sam is running out of time, especially after his hip breakdown last year. I was telling people last year that the Wolves were better without Wally and Kandi (Hudson.....coin flip) than they'd be with them. Those two are team-second guys that play questionable D and start to drag their feet if plays aren't called for them during the game. I don't think they're coasting as much as the team does not have the unity or focus that it had last year. I fully expect this team to be blown up over the summer. They've been trying to deal Wally for years (ugly contract), and I can't see Sprewell staying. Sam or Troy could likely go as well. Evan
Yes. He's a master of initiating the offense from the high post. The reason he needs the help is that he's not a guy that takes over games with his scoring like Duncan or Shaq can. He's picked up his low post game big time in the past couple of years, but he's always needed a strongarm big man and shooters around him for the team to be fully effective (which we saw last year). Having clutch guys like Sam to close out games is a key for KG. Duncan and the others do it themselves. Evan
