From the Coach's Desk

[Myles Nelson]

Injuries happen. All the time, to all kinds of people. Some of them are minor, like Dirk's middle finger sprain, and some of them are major, like Rudy Gay's shoulder injury. Some are career threatening, like Yao's foot issues, and some of them can be rushed back through, like Udonis Haslem's foot sprain.

However, mine ruined my career. I was a heralded point guard out of USC, known for my court vision and play-making ability. I led the Pac-10 in assists every year, and even led the Trojans to the Final Four in my junior season. I was drafted fourth overall in 1996 by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Alongside KG, we had some great years. I led the league in assists a few times, but it wasn't until I developed a deadly jumper in 02, and after we got deadly scorer Latrell Sprewell in 03, we became serious title contenders. Although we came close, WCF in 03, losing in the Finals in 04 to the Pistons, attitude problems and age forced Sprewell to retire, and in the beginning of the 05 season I tore my ACL and was done for the year. I rehabbed and came back in the middle of the 06 season, only to tear the same ACL in the playoffs that year. I knew I was done, and after 10 seasons in the NBA, I retired. KG knew he was screwed, and asked to be traded, and the Timberwolves have sucked ever since. They signed me on right after my injury to be a "guards" coach, and a year later I got a full-time assistant coaching job on Coach McHale's staff.

In the summer of 2011, the Timberwolves fired failed Kurt Rambis, and searched no further than one of their own assistants to take his spot. They hired me, the 37 year old, 5 years removed from playing, assistant coach. Not 15 years earlier did I get drafted by the Wolves, and now I'll be coaching them.

[K.J.]

For a split second, I thought that you were indeed Stephen Marbury, as he was drafted fourth by the Bucks in 1996 but traded to the Timberwolves!

[Myles Nelson]

LOL. No, I did no homework at all. I kinda just made everything up. Screw Marbury lol

[Myles Nelson]

As the assistant for the Wolves the last couple of years, I knew the roster pretty well. I'm not highly impressed with it, but there are a few bright spots. Here's the roster as it stands pre-draft and pre-free agency.

Ramon Sessions is a mediocre ball handler, but good outside shooter who is, at best, a serviceable backup. I'd prefer not to use him much, but I don't think I have much of a choice.

Jonny Flynn isn't much better of a ball handler, but a much better scorer and defender, has more discipline and intelligence, and is also more athletic. He's definitely an upgrade over Sessions, and much younger too, so he'll have some value on this team. If he can learn to take care of the ball, he'll be just fine.

Corey Brewer is a tireless defender, a spot up shooter, and an occasional slasher. He'll be used mostly to wear out the other team's best wing scorer, as he is long (at 6'9", he's got quite the wingspan) and quick, and can disrupt almost any shot. Offensively, he did manage 13 points per game last season, but they were an inefficient 13. He'll probably settle more into a Bruce Bowen-like role.

Wayne Ellington is the other half to Brewer, the Yin to his Yang as it were. Ellington can't stay in front of anyone, but boy can he shoot. He'd score in bunches if I'd let him play, but his defense will probably keep him chained to the bench. Besides, the only thing he really has in his offensive repertoire is a pull up jumper.

Ryan Gomes is a decent all around player. He really is just okay at everything, not too good at any one thing, but that's just fine. He can defend alright, can crash the boards, hit a jumper, and even post up occasionally. The one thing he can't really do is handle the rock, but he won't be asked to most of the time.

Kevin Love is one of the two players on this team that I hold in high regard. Love is probably one of the better rebounders in the league, if not one of the best. He's got great court vision, is a good passer, can score decently and has good defensive fundamentals. He's a double double machine, and that's always a plus.

Al Jefferson is the other player that I truly like. Jefferson is the scorer on this team, the go-to guy. He'll post up and score in bunches. His rebounding is solid, obviously not as good as Love's, though his defense is just as good. Jefferson and Love make quite the tandem down low, and offensively especially, Jefferson is really dangerous.

I don't have much say in the organization, but I hope we get some legitimate wings as right now I'm starting Brewer and Gomes, and some post depth. We only have 7 players on roster, and a top 5 pick, so hopefully we get some real talent.

[Tim Moungey]

Ramon Sessions is a bad man. You should get rid of him.

[Myles Nelson]

[SIZE="3"]2010 NBA DRAFT[/SIZE]

We go in holding the 4th pick. Wall and Turner will probably be gone before us, but we should be able to nab either Johnson, Favors or Cousins, all of which I'd be glad to have. Actually, if Wall or Turner fall to us, they'd be pretty nice too. With our 2nd round selection, I hope we just get some depth at any position. With a low 30s pick, we could get a steal, but worst case scenario, we get a role player who can at least do one thing well.

1. John Wall
2. Evan Turner
3. Wes Johnson

That leaves us with Favors or Cousins to choose from. Then again, knowing David Kahn, he might just pick Grevis Vasquez because he likes point guards so damn much.

4. Demarcus Cousins

A big, skilled center from Kentucky. I like the pick. Although he'll be behind Love and Jefferson, both Turner and Johnson were off the board and that means that the next big wings were Xavier Henry or Paul George, neither of whom are Top 5 talent. We wanted the best player available, and got him. As for his attitude problems? Please. I kept Latrell Sprewell in check. This guy is not as bad as Latrell.

5. Greg Monroe
6. Cole Aldrich
7. Derrick Favors

The Pistons must be ecstatic about Favors falling to them, since they could have done worse and picked Paul George.

8. Al-Farouq Aminu
9. Xavier Henry
10. Avery Bradley
11. Paul George
12. Ed Davis

Good luck to the Hornets and Grizzlies, who got stuck with George and Davis. They'll learn to hate these players.

13. Ekpe Udoh
14. Gordon Hayward
15. Patrick Patterson

In an odd move, the Rockets trade the 14th pick, Gordon Hayward, to the Bobcats for the 16th pick... straight up.

16. Terrico White

And they select White. Terrible move for the Rockets.

17. Eric Bledsoe
18. Luke Babbitt
19. James Anderson
20. Larry Sanders
21. Daniel Orton
22. Jordan Crawford
23.
24. Damion James

The Bulls trade James Johnson to the Bobcats for Gerald Henderson. Both players suck. Meh.

25. Quincy Pondexter
26. Gani Lawal
27. Magnum Rolle
28. Jeremy Lin
29. Stanley Robinson
30. Da'Sean Butler

32. Trevor Booker

The experts love this pick, calling it a huge steal. I guess we found our big man depth, as we just drafted two to backup Love and Jefferson.

Ryan Anderson of ORL was swapped for JaVale McGee of WAS. McGee is more defensive, more Tyson Chandler-lite whereas Anderson is more of a spot up big. I prefer McGee here.

The Celtics send Big Baby Davis to WAS for Nick Young. I like this trade for both teams, because the Wizards now have a hybrid bruiser/spot up big man and the Celtics have a legitimate scorer off the bench.

The Warriors trade Kelenna Azubuike and Radmanovic to the Hornets for David West. What a steal for GSW, as Radmanovic is just another big, slow European who can shoot a la Peja, whom the Hornets already have. Azubuike is a decent wing, but West is a former all-star and quality talent. The Warriors won big.

JJ Barea goes to the Rockets for Chuck Hayes. I guess the Rockets like loading up on mediocre point guards, as they add Barea and White to their roster this year. Mavs got themselves a good interior defender.

James Jones went from Miami to LA for Sasha Vucacic. The Lakers win, because they get a low-key shooter who won't make a fuss all the time for a high-strung shooter who can't shut up for two seconds.

Post-draft, looking at Booker and Cousins. Booker is kind of raw, has most of his value as a rebounder in the future. Cousins is much more polished, much more ready, a good scoring post who can rebound the hell out of the ball and play good defense as well. Cousins won't start, but he'll get minutes from day 1.

[Myles Nelson]

LOL Tim I have no say, unfortunately.

[K.J.]

Cousins is much more polished, much more ready, a good scoring post who can rebound the hell out of the ball and play good defense as well. Cousins won't start, but he'll get minutes from day 1.

Congratulations on getting Cousins. While Cousins lacks intangibles such as discipline, game intelligence and personality, he is the best big in the draft. In addition, during the season, you may wish to trade him for PF Griffin who has greater upsides.

[Myles Nelson]

Congratulations on getting Cousins. While Cousins lacks intangibles such as discipline, game intelligence and personality, he is the best big in the draft. In addition, during the season, you may wish to trade him for PF Griffin who has greater upsides.

As much as I wish I could, its David Kahn's decision to do that.

[Myles Nelson]

[SIZE="3"]Summer of 2010: Free Agency[/SIZE]

Actually, the Wolves made probably their biggest splash of the offseason before free agency even started. We finally bought out Ricky Rubio from overseas, and he'll join our team for the 2010-2011 season. This immediately makes Flynn or Sessions expendable, as I won't be using all three. I'm truly excited to be coaching this team now, with Rubio, Love, Jefferson and Cousins all on the team.

But everyone wants to know about the summer of LeDouche, so here we go.

Apparently in coach-only mode, it sims the entire free agency and doesn't stop. This sucks, I have to go into news and scroll through it. I think I'll do team-by-team this time. Notable signings only

Atlanta: Larry Hughes, 7 million for two years. Looks like he'll backup Jamal Crawford now that Johnson is gone.

Boston: Resigned Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, picked up Josh Howard, Earl Barron on what looks like a one year MLE, and Nate Rob for another part of that MLE, two years though.

Charlotte: Resigned Raymond Felton, also got Tyrus Thomas to accept their tender offer of 6 million.

Chicago Bulls: Got their backup PG with Luke Ridnour, also signed Wes Matthews to fill their SG hole, and Hakim Warrick and Amir Johnson as backup bigs.

Cleveland Cavaliers: Not only did they bring back the Big Diesel, but the King decided to resign with his old team. That's a major surprise.

Dallas Mavericks: Resigned Dirk to a max deal, also got Haywood and Will Bynum.

Denver Nuggets: They apparently needed a couple of shooters as they got Wally Szczerbiak and Channing Frye.

Golden State Warriors: Signed CJ Watson to a two year, 11 million dollar deal. I think that's overpaying but whatever.

Los Angeles Clippers: They had a ton of cap space, and with it they got: Travis Outlaw, Victor Claver, Von Wafer, Timofey Mozgov, and James Singleton. Ouch.

Los Angeles Lakers: They had much less cap space, but were able to get Flip Murray, Skip to My Lou, Mike Miller, Matt Bonner and Jason Williams. I guess they were serious about getting some PGs, but Miller was the real deal.

Memphis Grizzlies: Ronnie Brewer and Rudy Gay both signed 1 year tender offers with Memphis. We should have gone after Gay, but I think Gay knew Memphis was gonna keep him and he wants out. After this year, he's unrestricted.

Miami Heat: Another team with a ton of cap space. Let's see what they did with it: Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, Ben Wallace. Uh, guys? It's not 2005 anymore. They also got Luis Scola, Rasual Butler and Q Richardson. What a terrible free agency.

Milwaukee Bucks: I guess they wanted to get older and slower: Derek Fisher, Brad Miller, and Big Z.

New Jersey Nets: What else is new? The Russian got dangerous and signed D-Wade and Chris Bosh to max deals.

New York Knicks: Walsh tries to keep up even with Dolan still standing over his head, and gets Joe Johnson, Drew Gooden, and retains David Lee.

Phoenix Suns: Got Al Harrington for 4 years, 30 million. This team will still suck.

Sacramento Kings: Chris Duhon came to the capital of CA, but the real big name splash was Amar'e Stoudemire. Paired with Tyreke, the Kings could be playoff bound.

San Antonio Spurs: Exercised their rights on Tiago Splitter. We all know he's about to beast it.

Utah Jazz: This team got very, very lucky. They were able to resign Carlos Boozer to a 6 year, 88 million dollar deal. That's hardly 15M a season, with raises. Very lucky.

How did the Timberwolves fare? Here's our signings:

PF Mike Sweetney, 1 year, 1.7 million
SF Alonzo Gee, 1 year, 3.3 million
SF Dorell Wright, 2 years, 3.45 million

You've got to be kidding me. First of all, we're sitting on 13M in cap. We couldn't get a decent SG?? Second of all, how in the hell does Alonzo Gee have a higher per-year salary than Dorell Wright?

David Kahn sucks. But oh well. I'll make the best of what I got.