Guest Post from Jimmy: the NCAA Tournament Genius

The following is a guest post from Jimmy, who destroyed the rest of us the the Wolves Rubes NCAA Tournament Challenge.  Congratulations Jimmy!  Check out his Vikings blog HERE.  You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter @submissioncp3.

Greetings WolvesRubes readers. I'd like to thank WolvesRubes for the opportunity to express a bit of my views on the current turmoil that is our Minnesota Timberwolves. Now we have ten games left. Three of which are against current sub-.500 teams, 4 games against bubble teams, with OKC, LAC and Indiana rounding out the top. So what does this all mean? That we need to beat those four bubble teams so that Utah can eek their way into the playoffs.

Let's hope this year's draft finds better results!

'What am I talking about?' you may be asking yourselves. The wolves are five games out with ten to play. The odds of making the playoffs the way we've been playing is abysmal. So what about the Jazz? You're a Wolves fan, why should you care if the Jazz make the playoffs? Well I'm here to inform that we are currently without a first round pick for the upcoming draft. A draft that was very appealing at the start of the season with so many kids staying for another year of college (Barnes, Sullinger, T-Jones) and now isn't as appealing as it was speculating all the guys staying and the one and dones this year. The point being that we don't have a 1st round pick as it was traded back in 2005 when we got Sam Cassell from the Clippers, but we could have one.

When we traded Al Jefferson to the Jazz we got Kosta Koufos and a first round draft pick. It was top-16 protected last year and this year is Top-14 protected. So as long as the Jazz make the playoffs we get their first round. Got it? 

Also this tid-bit of information came across my desk last night. The Wolves haven't won a game in April since April 8th, 2009 when we defeated the Golden State Warriors 105-97. We have a few more opportunities with the shortened season going deeper into April.

Speaking of the shortened season and one last thought. I have enjoyed immensely the turn around the Wolves have made. The playoffs would have been nice but winning more games than we had last season with 16 less games is awesome.

If you're a Vikings fan you can check out my Vikings blog mybloodrunspurple.blogspot.com. Again I'd like to thank WolvesRubes for the time and the plug and you kind readers for milling over my thoughts. I'm sure you'll find yourself cheering for Al Jefferson once again (at least for a short time.)

Follow Wolves Rubes on Twitter @wolvesrubes.

Wolves/Lakers - Beat the Streak

This past Tuesday, March 6th, marked my fifth anniversary.  Nope, not my wedding anniversary - that's not for a few more weeks.  Tuesday was the 5 year anniversary of the last time I saw my favorite basketball team beat the LA Lakers.  That night at Target Center, Ricky Davis was 2 assists shy of a triple-double (33 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists), KG poured in 26 and 17, Rashad McCants played 22 minutes off the bench, and Marko Jaric and Mark Blount started at the 2 and 5 respectively.  Kobe had his usual performance against the Wolves, scoring 40 points, 13 boards, and 8 assists.  Even Smush Parker scored 24 that night, but it wasn't enough as the Timberwolves outscored the Lakers 12-2 in the 2nd overtime to win 117-107.  It's been 17 straight Laker victories since that night.

This is what Kobe thought of Smush Parker.

Sit Back and Relax Mr. Kahn

As one of our most esteemed followers noted after last night's victory, I too am hoping I am not just reacting to one night's performance when I say this.  At this point, unless the Wolves are acquiring a 1st or 2nd scoring option before the trade deadline, I really hope no significant deals are done to disturb what's going on with this team right now.  Are the T'Wolves on a path toward the NBA Finals?  I think that is probably quite a stretch.  However, the type of player it would take to get to that level would take a trade piece with the names "Rubio" or "Love" on the back of the jersey to make that happen.

Future Timberwolves: Anthony Morrow?

According to Darren Wolfson of KSTP, the latest rumor out there involves the Timberwolves interest in New Jersey Nets guard Anthony Morrow.  In the same tweet Wolfson commented that the Nets did indeed plan on keeping him, but this rumor sure is intriguing.  After all, Morrow made 8 3-pointers and scored 42 points when the Wolves beat the Nets about a month ago.  That kind of shooter is right up the alley of the Wolves current needs.  Let's break down the numbers on Anthony Morrow.