So after the Timberwolves ended their third straight season out of the playoffs, there's apparently... much discontent on the team! According to Sid Hartman, several players on the squad are unhappy- and might not want to return!
If only it were that simple. Thanks to GM For Life Kevin McHale's years of mismanagement, and the league's awful salary cap/guaranteed contracts structure, they've got about six bad contracts that they're stuck with for years in the future. Another Strib columnist, Patrick Reusse, gets to the bottom of the problem:
The guess is here that the conversations actually went more like this:Well, the upshot is, the Wolves did bad enough this year that they get to keep their own draft pick (rather than give it to the Clippers), and finished with the 6th-worst record, which gives them a shot at Oden/Durant, not to mention the likelihood of getting a very good player. Good thing they have Forbes magazine's Best Executive in Sports to make the pick. Posted by Stephen Silver at April 21, 2007 06:26 PMMcHale to rival GM: "We have Mark Blount with three years and $22 million remaining on his contract, Troy Hudson with three years and $19 million remaining, Marko Jaric with four years and $27 million remaining, Mike James with three years and $18 million remaining, Trenton Hassell with three years and $13 million remaining, Mark Madsen with three years and $7.9 million remaining and Justin Reed with two years and $3 million remaining.
"Which one of these noble veterans could I interest you in?"
Rival GM to McHale: "Have you gone completely out of your mind, Kevin? You have roughly $110 million worth of Charmin-like softness, bad rap music, unreliability, bricklaying, overrated defense, towel waving and wasted energy, and you want me to take some of this off your hands?
"Don't' call me again and mention any of those names, or I'm going to file a grievance against you with the commissioner's office for reverse tampering."
Funny how their best accomplishment of the season was the year ending losing streak. You have to respect a team that has the heart to dig deep and pull out a series of big losses when so much was on the line.
Posted by: Freddy at April 21, 2007 09:13 PM