Hungry Like the Wolf

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PG

Yai-guo Yu: A Chinese point guard with a pass first mentality and great court vision.

Herbert Xavier: A Frenchman who has gained international fame for his quickness and flashy game.

SG

Donald Greer: Scored 33 points per game in college, an excellent volume scorer with good isolation moves, limited on defense.

Emeka Wilson: A sharp shooting guard that might fall all the way into the Timberwolves laps, we can only hope.


SF

Abdullah Selaniki: A Turkish national with an incredibly explosive first step.

Ron Moreland: The College player of the year an excellent athlete an an academic all-American.

PF

Zvota Kralj: This Serbian has played well in Europe and showed a coveted and refined low post game.

Mike Barnes: A powerful PF out of LSU he can dominate opponents using strength and he can even stretch the floor a little with a jump shot he has been developing.

C

Arthur Jones: A young and Raw Center for which there are many unknowns, he will be a project but he could be a great player in this league.

Nir Cohen: Out of Israel Cohen rounds off one of the strongest international classes to ever appear in the draft. Cohen dominated very weak competition in Israel but some believe he is the best center in the draft.

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1. Suns
2. Rockets
3. Mavericks
4. Cavaliers
5. Minnesota!(From Boston) Boston did worse than expected this year and we lucked out.
6. Lakers
7. Pistons
8. Raptors
9. Hawks
10. Trailblazers
11. Celtics
12. Jazz
13. Thunder
14. Wizards

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1. Ron Moreland
2. Jai-guo Yu
3. Herbert Xavier
4. Abdullah Sellaniki
5. Donnell Greer

Greer scored 33 PPG in college and was expected to go 2nd or 3rd so we took him. Don't quite know what to do with him at this point however.

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So remember when I traded Emeka Howard whom I drafted No. 20 in the draft, well I traded him to Boston who was an aging but still good team at the time. Boston needed a future point guard and Emeka Howard had a lot of promise. Howard wasn't going to play much for me so I traded him for what I thought would be a pick in the 17-20 range. Which was still a good deal considering I drafted Emeka Howard at 20. Well Boston had a horrendous season their whole roster imploded on them and while Emeka Howard is showing progress getting his numbers up in limited playing time for Boston, I ended up with the 5th pick. This is not a situation I tended to be in although it was very favorable.

So then I see that the draft class is not very deep but there are a few keepers, one of them being Donnell Greer who was a huge scorer in college and is very popular. I don't even work the guy out assuming he is going to go 2nd or 3rd, hell maybe even first. So I check out the the foreign bigs and PGs that are plentiful in the draft. I hope to get Zivota Kralj a Serbian my scouts think will be superstar in the future. When the time comes to draft to my surprise Greer is on the board, I have to take him for his value.

Now that I have a chance to look at Greer I see he is an absolute stud, he not the greatest athlete but he has a legendary shot, a high basketball IQ and crafty isolation moves. Greer is also very weak on defense. Although Greer is an inch taller and is longer than McDermott he is still not a good defender, he may be even worse than McDermott. Greer would be excellent size for a PG but he doesn't have the ball handling ability that a player like Sandler has. I have committed 4 more years to McDermott and his contract is kind of expense. Obviously the most prudent financial move would be to move McDermott to make room for Greer since Greer is on a rookie contract but I really don't want to mess with the team's chemistry too much as they went all the way to the finals last season.

The ownership wants me to shed 3.5 million off the salary. This probably means trading either Amir Johnson or Gravis Vasquez for a second round pick to a team that is under the salary cap. I also recently signed an extension for Pekovic to remain with the team but it is a few million less than the one he has now as I signed him to a very long contract that will stretch far beyond his prime(which he has basically surpassed already.) So here is my dilemma. McDermott is not the most popular locker room character and is actually at odds with a few teammates but he is a veteran and will get the job done better than Greer will. With a few of my players either ending their prime or ending their contracts I need to field the best team possible for the next one or two years. I also need to get Greer the most playing time I possibly can to develop him so that I can be comfortable getting rid of McDermott in one or two years. I don't want to cut or trade Wesley Matthews as he is the only two guard I have that can defend, so I am making the unanimously unpopular decision of sending Greer to the D-League for his first year.

Oh by the way I got yet another PF later in the draft and yet another center. Chris Culucko is the Center and although he is extremely raw I think he could eventually get heavy rotation minutes or even start after Anderson Varejao is gone. Wayne Willis is the other player he is 23 and ready to be a contributor, he can stretch the floor well for a PF and he can play fairly good defense. He makes Amir Johnson expendable.

So here goes nothing, this next season will be an interesting one the fans and management will be down my throat at any slip up the team has and win or not major changes are around the corner for this team.

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Donnell Greer was the offense for UCLA, with a quick release and a fearless attitude Greer led UCLA to the NCAA championship only to be defeated by Seton Hall led by Ron Moreland. Greer is known for taking and making shots from near half-court making off-balance jumpshots and weaving through traffic making contested lay-ups while double teamed and drawing the foul. He was a fan favorite for many of the teams that didn't draft him. Through his first two years at UCLA Greer made himself famous but this wasn't always the case.

Donnell Greer was born in Vallejo California and grew up in the East Bay. His father was a former track star and his mother played volleyball professionally. As Greer grew up his father was a personal fitness trainer and his mother worked for a pharmaceutical company. Even though Greer played wonderfully in high school only UCLA and CAL Berkeley offered him a basketball scholarship. At UCLA Greer worked to get a starting shot at SG and when he did he never looked back eventually being second on his team in scoring his freshman year. Greer is known for relentlessly practicing his shot. His father forced him to practice with a hoop that was smaller than a regulation NBA hoop growing up. At UCLA however his coach tweaked his shot to have a higher release point and when Greer returned his amazing shot was even better. Now as the leading scorer for UCLA Greer put together one of the most impressive string of games in the history of College basketball and got national acclaim even appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated with fellow standout Ron Moreland.

Confident and calculated in his interviews, Greer impressed front offices with his leadership abilities and intangible qualities that make a basketball player great. Greer however didn't do as well as many scouts had hoped on his athletic tests and it was apparent that Greer was not a natural point guard. When drafted by the Timberwolves Greer was all smiles and was thankful that he would get to start out his career with a winning team. Privately Greer was concerned about playing time since he was on a team that already had an all-star caliber guard.

Greer is a Christian and has been active in his local church in the East Bay since he was in high school, he is humble off the court but when he plays he has a lot of fire. Greer is not afraid of drawing contact and is good at drawing fouls. Greer has expressed interest in setting up a foundation to help refugees from North Africa make it safely to the United States, a cause that he campaigned for when he attended UCLA. Greer maintains that he would like to go back to school one day and finish his degree in economics at UCLA, Greer has also expressed interest in starting his own ministry wherever he signs his first large contract.

Greer already has a nickname "The Don" he was given this nickname by the UCLA announcers in his freshman year. Donnell has a twitter feed that he regularly uses where he mostly talks in neutral to praising language or talks glowingly about some place he just ate in. Greer known to other players as having a sense of humor but being very demanding of himself.

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Game 1 Minnesota 84 Wizards 69: Nino(my Russian backup PG had a good game and the team played great team defense.)

Game 2 Minnesota 117 Hornets 98: All eyes were on Greer but he had his second poor game in a row and Nino again stole the show with 30 points.

Game 3 Minnesota 104 San Antonio 115: Not a good game at all for Minnesota Smith tried to save the game having a stellar 21 points but that wasn't enough.

Game 4 Minnesota 115 Miami 97: Greer finally had a good game scoring 30 on 18 shots.

Game 5 Minnesota 114 Chicago 119: Greer scored 30 again in the loss but this time he took 26 shots to get to 30.

4-1(Great job)

I am hoping that this relatively poor performance by Greer will keep the fans at bay when I send him to the D-League to start the season.

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I will not be a player in this years free agency.

Marquee Free Agents include Marco Sharp, Marc Gasol and Wesley Johnson.

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Amir Johnson and Michael Philips traded to Detroit for Ryan Johnson and a 2nd round pick. This was really a salary dump for the ownership, we get a 3rd string SF and a second round pick for Amir Johnson who is a solid role player. Michael Philips is an expiring second round pick from a year ago, he rarely plays.

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I assigned Donnell Greer and Wayne Willis to the D-League, I have promise for these two players and I want to play them every day as well as compete for a championship with my current team. As soon as there is an injury and these guys can get regular minutes in the NBA I will be calling them back.

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The Timberwolves made it to the Finals last year and have huge expectations this year. The Timberwolves have been consistently good for the last four years and are now in the upper echelon of the West Coast. Known as the All-NBA 4th team because of a solid all-around roster with no clear super star. Here is their Roster.

PGs

Ronald Sandler: "The Bulldog" at 27 is probably as good as he ever will be and that is pretty good. A few years ago the Timberwolves traded Travis Tennell who was a model citizen, a solid point guard and a locker room leader to make room for Sandler, the Timberwolves have never regretted it. Sandler is shockingly efficient, he is an elite shooter from anywhere on the court, he also has good court vision and is a tenacious defender.

Per 36

PPG: 17
APG: 8.4
RPG: 2.5
TS% .591

Grevis Vasquez: A tall backup point guard that can also play SG and can shoot with the best of them, he isn't the floor general that Sandler is but he adds height and length to the team.

Nino Vakhivakhishvlli: Nino is a serviceable shooting specialist who needs vowels in his name, he gets pretty much only garbage time giving the other guards a rest.

SGs

David McDermott: McDermott is a scorer, he is the teams best isolation player he has a well rounded game offensively, but at 6'3" he isn't very big for his position and has never made the necessary adjustments to be a good defender. McDermott is 25 and just entering his prime.

PPG: 22.1
APG: 2.6
RPG: 3.6
TS% .557

Wesley Matthews: A defensive player that can also shoot, he is an integral part of this team, he works within the scope of the offense efficiently and has become a very good defender, while not spectacular as McDermott he is just as effective.

SFs

Shand-de Teoh: Teoh can play any position on the floor effectively, he has developed a great passing game to go along with strong rebounding and incredible defense. Teoh's only weakness is that he has yet to develop much of an offense besides catching the ball near the basket or hitting an open mid-range jump shot. Teoh's ineffective offense isn't a big problem for an otherwise good offensive team. Teoh is only 26 and his best years may be ahead of him.

PPG: 13.0
APG: 5.4
RPG: 6.2
TS% .501

Jeff Smith: Where Teoh is a physical defensive player and jack-of-all trades Smith is a finesse forward who can shoot from range and has a good touch all throughout the court. Smith's defense isn't terrible either, Smith has earned himself heavy rotation minutes and like Teoh can also play multiple positions effectively.

PFs

Nikola Pekovic: Pekovic has played excellently the last couple of years. Shockingly he has a desire to finish his career with Minnesota, he is 31 and is signed for five more years. His contract is very reasonable. With that being said Pekovic may start to decline as the normal peak for basketball players is starting to end for him. He is slightly injury and fatigue prone so he plays about 30 minutes a night, he is one of the most efficient offensive big men in the NBA.

Per 36 numbers

PPG: 18.1
APG: 1.5
RPG: 7.8
TS%: .633

Travis Waldman: Waldman made Amir Johnson expendable, he off-sets Pekovic's excellent post game with a diverse array of offensive moves. While not as efficient as Pekovic he stretches the floor, Waldman needs to work on his defense which is about league average, but could be better. Waldman plays a key role, if he continues to develop the Timberwolves have a good chance of winning a ton of games.

Cs

Anderson Varejao: The oldest starter on the team Varejao is a veteran who knows how to defend and rebound, he isn't asked to do much more than that and he likes it that way. Varejao knows his role and wants to win.

Per36

PPG: 11.5
APG: 1.8
RPG: 10.0
TS%: .582

Timothy Mozgov: Mozgov was just recently signed to a one year deal, he will provide defensive and rebounding off the bench, he is essentially an insurance option just in case Varejao or Pekovic go down with an injury, he is serviceable in Varejao's role.

Chris Culuko: A very young and raw Center that can score in the post and block shots, Culuko is going to watch a lot of games from the bench and study what the veteran bigs do right so he can become a player like them in the future.

The sky is the limit for this team, but I have criticisms already coming the fans are angry that I put Donnell Greer in the D-League although I did it basically to not harm David McDermott's fragile ego, which I need in tact if I want to win this year. Its this year or next that the Timberwolves will have the best chance to win a Championship.