Steve Aschburner considers new T-Wolves coach Kurt Rambis the "player to be named" in the "trade" that sent the Minneapolis Lakers to California, five decades ago:
To review: L.A. got the Lakers from Minneapolis, along with Elgin Baylor, the draft pick that became Jerry West, five preexisting NBA titles that it touts as its own, a genealogy that it can proudly trace back to the league's roots and the legend of George Mikan to provide context to Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O'Neal, not to mention one hydrologically suspect but alliteratively perfect nickname. Minnesota got back, finally, now, a guy known to most sports fans in the state as the guy Hibbing legend Kevin McHale clotheslined so productively in the 1984 NBA Finals, someone vaguely reminiscent -- with his surfer hair, '80s mustache and black horn-rimmed glasses -- of an extra in The Big LebowskiCoach Dude. I like that. Posted by Stephen Silver at August 11, 2009 11:59 PM