Wolves and Lynx: Playing Catch-Up
By Stephen Litel
February 8th, 2009
As seems to be the case about once a season, “real life” comes first over the writing life. That was the case to begin 2009 for me, but I’m back and ready to continue to discuss the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx with all of you. Because I’ve been gone for a little while, let’s play a bit of catch-up.
What is going on with the Wolves?
As you know, the Wolves are much more entertaining and are winning at a much greater clip under Kevin McHale. Since he replaced Randy Wittman-whether by choice or not--Mac has succeeded in making the atmosphere around the team much more positive and has found a way to blend the players he put on the roster into a sometimes-cohesive unit. The players, engaged and excited in the change of pace, are more than willing to perform for their new head coach. Well, almost all of them.
Rashad McCants fell out of McHale’s rotation early and didn’t see the court for a long time. Given a small slice of opportunity against Atlanta earlier in the week, Shaddy performed relatively well. Whether or not that means he will slowly begin to reclaim minutes in the lineup remains to be seen, but he deserves credit for his performance when he was called upon. Personally, I believe Rodney Carney should continue to receive the time.
Recently, I’ve been working on a story on Al Jefferson for an upcoming Downtown Journal cover story. I’ve had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with Big Al on a few occasions for the piece, as well as with his teammates. I’ve also reached out to the Public Relations departments from other franchises to discuss the respect for Jefferson league-wide with their players and the response is great.
Through all of the intense focus on Jefferson recently, I still do not believe he was “snubbed” for the All-Star game. His numbers would justify a selection to the mid-season squad, but call me old school, I’m of the belief that players shouldn’t make the team if on a losing team. It hurts me to say that, as someone who has the opportunity to watch Big Al perform up close and personal on the regular, as well as spend brief periods of time with him. Yet, that is the old-school in me.
And, of course, Al Jefferson hurts his knee against New Orleans Sunday night with early information not giving much as to whether or not he’ll miss time. He seemed to be in a good amount of pain, stayed down for quite a while and was helped off the court. Hopefully, the big guy is going to be fine, otherwise, the rest of the season could be relatively pointless.
In the end, the Wolves are much more fun to watch and interact with as of late. The pessimists have every right to remain pessimistic because it is, in fact, the Minnesota Timberwolves. Toying with the emotions of fans is commonplace and it wouldn’t be a shock if they finished the 2008-09 season playing well and giving a small bit of hope for the future…and then return to a god-awful squad next year. From the inside, that doesn’t seem to be the case, but only time will tell.
What is going on with the Lynx?
Wow, Lynx fans, did you keep up with all the activity lately? That was an amazing amount of roster turnover in one day, but in the end, I believe this squad is going to continue to build off last year’s success.
Nicole Ohlde, Vanessa Hayden and Lindsey Harding are gone to Phoenix, Los Angeles and Washington respectively and Kelly Miller, Christi Thomas and LaToya Pringle will suit up for Minnesota this summer. Minnesota also added a couple of draft picks in the deals and, after reviewing the roster as it now stands, it seems as if nine of the eleven roster spots are set. With three picks in the draft and only two roster spots to fill, it feels as if there will be more moves on the horizon.
To me, the nine roster spots that are set in stone are those of Seimone Augustus, Candice Wiggins, Nicky Anosike, Anna DeForge, Noelle Quinn, Charde Houston, Christi Thomas, LaToya Pringle and Kelly Miller.
With those nine players, the Lynx already have a nice blend of veterans and youthful talent ready to achieve potential. Is this a roster that would compete for a WNBA championship? No, but with a few tweaks, they might. I’m curious to see if the Lynx would do something such as package the latter two picks in the draft to move up higher than the number four slot, but please understand that is my personal thought with no “inside information” to back that up.
However everything turns out leading up to the Lynx season and especially after the progression made in their development last year, this team has very few excuses not to challenge for a playoff berth in the summer of 2009. Year One of the Don Zierden era was evaluation, Year Two was Progress…and Year Three now needs to show some production.
I’m looking forward to seeing all of you Lynx fans again. This is that rough time of year for all of us who follow the team because it’s been awhile since we’ve seen the ladies…and it still feels like forever until they report for camp. Hang in there, Lynx fans.
Shameless plugs.
Recently, I began posting my game notes during Timberwolves games for Minnesota Score and I will continue to do so for each game I attend, which is a vast majority of them. I’m still playing with the format somewhat, so if you have ideas for what you would like to see during the games, send me a message. You can reach me at stephenlitel@hotmail.com.
Also, I’m all over Facebook now. I have my personal page and have also created a group entitled, “Stephen Litel’s Basketball Journal.” Essentially, this will be a home for all of my writing, as I do write for a number of different sites. If you’re a Facebook member, I’d love for you to join the group and interact with me, whether during a game or not. I’m always up for good conversation on our squads.
Ok, enough of the shameless plugs. It’s good to be back, it’s good to get up to date on both the teams and I look forward to chatting with you soon.
