MinnesotaSportsScene.com

While current rumors are hot that Garnett will go to the Lakers and pair up with Kobe Bryant or swim over to the Suns and bring Amare Stoudamire to the Wolves to play with Juwan Howard and company, Minnesota Pro Teams would still prefer to see Garnet go east rather than stay in the West.

Heck, send Garnett to the Pistons and reunite him with Flip Saunders!

There’s word that Chicago might still be interested in acquiring Garnett, even though it would be at a far lower price than they’d have offered a couple years ago. Still, Garnett to the Bulls would keep him from playing the Wolves more than twice a year in the regular season, and would bring some attractive young prospects, as well as a decent draft pick or two, to the Wolves.

Imagine a Wolves club with Ty Thomas, Luol Deng, and Chicago’s ninth-overall pick as well as their own seventh pick on Sunday, a combination that could bring both Yi Jianlian and Al Thornton to the Wolves, potentially. That would give the Garnett-less Wolves this kind of starting lineup:

PG Randy Foye
SG Rashad McCants
SF Luol Deng/Craig Smith
PF Ty Thomas/Al Thornton
C Yi Jianlian/Juwan Howard

Sounds interesting, at the least! That’d sell more season tickets than all the cheap pens in China!

After 12 years of incredible, above and beyond the call of duty loyalty, it appears that the Wolves are finally intent on trading 10-time all-star forward Kevin Garnett, with teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, the Phoenix Suns and possibly even the Chicago Bulls in the mix for the talented but now-in-his-30s superstar. Of course, if the Wolves were to do a little market research, they’d realize that Garnett isn’t the Kevin most Wolves fans want to see gone.

Considering his almost complete incompetence, it’s amazing that Kevin McHale may wind up being the man overseeing a deal that sends away the one undisputed franchise player Minnesota has ever had. And everyone fears that somehow, some way, McHale will find a way to give up even more first-round draft picks in the bargain, rather than acquiring them.

Any deal involving Garnett has to involve first-round draft picks, if for no other reason than McHale’s traded away so damn many of them. If the Wolves could pick up an extra lottery pick in this year’s incredibly-deep draft, as well as some solid players with short contracts, a Garnett trade could be made palatable to Minnesota fans. At this point, more than anything, anyone who loves Garnett as a player wants to see him somewhere where he can compete for an NBA title, even if it means it happens somewhere else.

And Timberwolves fans are also ready to see some youth and hope re-injected back into this lethargic franchise. With a couple picks in this year’s draft, the Wolves would be well on their way to filling out their roster of the future.

If the Wolves keep Craig Smith, Rashad McCants, and Randy Foye, as expected, adding a couple more impact youngsters like Al Thornton and Joakim Noah could form the basis of a solid young core of players. Even without Garnett, players like Mark Blount and Juwan Howard would add some veteran depth. And personally, I’d love to see the team trade off Ricky Davis, Marko Jaric, Troy Hudson and Trenton Hassell while they’re at it, so they can stockpile draft picks for the future, as well as this Thursday.

But with McHale at the wheel? Good luck… he’ll probably offer up all our draft picks through 2015, just to get Garnett off the cap.

Former Gophers WR Paris Hamilton was signed by the Minnesota Vikings to replace Randy Hymes, who was cut on Tuesday. While the move isn’t enough to make someone go crazy and buy child life insurance on their unborn children while still single or anything, it’s nice to see the Vikings making efforts to find young, unmined WR talent in the absence of any impressive veterans.

Sure, Paris Hamilton may not make Bobby Wade or Sidney Rice, but you have to think Troy Williamson is beginning to see the writing on the wall. One can only hope.

New Gophers mens hoops coach, the legendary Tubby Smith, announced his final staff recently. As quickly as a cash advance, his crew has come together to form what looks like it could be a recruiting powerhouse.

Joining Smith will be assistants Vince Taylor, Ron Jirsa and Saul Smith, Tubby’s son. They are joined by DBO Joe Esposito, rounding out a top-notch staff. It’ll still take time to turn around a 9-22 squad, but these guys are the best staff the U of M has had in decades; if Smith and company can’t get the job done, no one can.

One thing this past season proved is that it’s rock-stupid for the Wolves to carry eight guards to fill two positions and then only have four big men to split between SF, PF and C.

So rumors coming out of Target Center are promising; it’s believed that the Wolves are looking hard at grads coming out of national champion Florida. Either Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer or Al Horford will become Timberwolves, unless all three are off the board already at the seven-spot.

If all three are gone, the Wolves will still “go big” with players like Creighton’s Anthony Tolliver, Louisiana State’s Glen Davis, Providence’s Herbert Hill, and Florida’s Chris Richard. Some might still be there in the second round, of course, but don’t be surprised if Minnesota drafts for the front court with both of their picks, this year. None of these guys are good fits for kids bedding.

If that happens, look for Trenton Hassel to join Mike James on his way out of the door at Target Center. And good riddance! Too many guards and too few big men is a terrible way to balance a roster.

If the Pioneer Press is to be believed, the long-awaited, much-anticipated house-cleaning has begun at Timberwolves HQ. No, team president Kevin McHale is still team president. Unfortunately.

Instead, I’m speaking of the much-needed balancing of the roster and unloading of long, spendy guard contracts. At last!

According to the article, the trade appears to be a good one that could cause some fans to go crazy and wear their Wiley X stuff.

The Wolves will send disappointing PG Mike James to the Houston Rockets in exchange for veteran big man, PF/C Juwan Howard. The trade isn’t official as I write this, so there are no details announced, but this could help beef up Minnesota’s front court. Howard is aging and only started a handful more than 30 games last season in Houston, but he’s coming to a team with only four players covering three positions, so his arrival should transform into some playing time.

Now all we have to worry about is how many future first-round draft picks McHale gave away THIS time…

Today, Friday, Twins catcher Joe Mauer will officially return to the team off the 15-day disabled list. That will come as good news to Twins fans, as Mauer has missed way more than 15 days with a strained quadriceps muscle… it was actually 29 games. When healthy and active, Mauer has been hitting .359 this season.

The Twins thus far are 29-29 on the season, a full seven games behind AL Central-leading Cleveland. Replacement C Mike Redmond has been no slouch in relief, hitting .301, but with 10 fewer games and 41 fewer at-bats, Mauer has scored more runs (18) than Redmond (12), and their other stats are closer than they ought to be for a 10-game difference.

I’m not saying Redmond isn’t fit to change Mauer’s water bottle filter or anything like that; but the Twins will certainly welcome Mauer back. With Mauer, the Twins were above .500 and without him they’ve only treaded water to stay at .500.

More than his stats, however, is what Mauer means to the Twins; along with Justin Morneau, the Twins are Mauer’s team. The M&M Boys are the clubhouse leaders of the squad and his return is certain to lift the team back into contention for the AL Central lead by not only his contributions but the inspiration his leadership will provide.

They are a tandem that put together some of the best Vikings rosters on record, including four SuperBowl squads for the purple and gold in the 1970s. But this week the reign of Frank Gilliam and Paul Wiggin, both Vikings staffers almost from the birth of the franchise, came to an end.

Rick Spielman, Vikings VP of player personnel, announced changes to the Vikings personnel department on Thursday. Treating the longtime NFL vets like discount furniture, both were invited to stay on with the club as advisory personnel but without official titles or standing in the personnel department.

Gilliam has already decided to leave, while Wiggin is still considering his options.

George Paton takes over as the director of player personnel, a position formerly held by Scott Studwell, who played his pro ball with the Vikings before joining the team’s staff. Studwell remains on board with the team as the college director.

Scott Kuhn is another new face at Winter Park, stepping in as a pro scout. While the Vikings gave the changes a positive spin, it’s a sad day in Vikingland to see these two long-time vets kicked to the curb with little ceremony.

Let’s hope this new crew can be successful enough at their job of assembling championship-caliber talent that soon the sting of Wiggin and Gilliam leaving the team will be eased by improved on-field results.