Wolves limp to another loss against Denver
The Minnesota Timberwolves seem intent on wrapping up the most lottery balls in this summer’s NBA lottery, as they dropped something like their thirteenth straight game, this time against the Denver Nuggets, 105-130. The Wolves are playing without starters Kevin Love and Darko Milicic, so there’s some room for understanding why they lost. Again.
Still, the team needs to mature and show some potential for improvement in the last two games; Love has already expressed his desire to see coach Rambis return and for the Wolves management not to “blow up the team and start again” by cycling out eight players, as was done the last couple years. That would be as useful as a drawer full of cabinet knobs to an auto mechanic.
Of course, with the specter of an owner’s lockout and the possible loss of a season beginning this summer, who can say what will happen?
Barring the loss of a season, the Wolves may not need to blow the team up entirely, but some roster upgrades are still certainly in order.
The most notable need is point guard, and that could be solved luring Ricky Rubio away from his Euro league. A solid PG can turn around a struggling franchise, as Oklahoma City and Chicago proved this year. And finding a truly dominant center, or more help at SG/SF, wouldn’t hurt either, be it through the draft of free agency.
Another superstar – Rubio, perhaps – and a little more depth is all this team should need next season. Assuming next season starts on schedule next November, that is.
The possible lockout in the NBA is drawing a lot of questions on everyone’s mind. But the biggest question that is playing on the TWolves’ management’s mind is whether Rubio will finally decide to play with them. He hasn’t given any conclusive answers yet and so it further fuels the confusion but it will give the team a new surge of hope as they aim to reach a more competitive level in the league.