Not so this season. While there are a couple glaring needs, several of the pieces are in place already.

Kevin Love is the franchise, and Ricky Rubio is his first officer. They are the two main cornerstones to build around. Also, this season was a revelation for center Nikola Pekovic. That’s a solid trio of elite-to-emerging-elite players.

Darko Milicic’s time in Minnesota is over. The Wolves would be better off luring injury-prone center Greg Oden to the Gopher state to reboot his career, so long as the contract for his services is protected in case his injury tendency continues. At worst, he backs up Pekovic when he’s healthy and rides pine when he’s not, which he might be able to do at a cheaper price than Pekovic. At best, he rebuilds his career and vies with Pekovic for floor time.

It’s becoming clear that Michael Beasley isn’t fitting into Adelman’s system, so the best thing to do would be to package him up in a trade and attempt to acquire a very solid point guard who can keep the team from falling apart if Rubio gets injured again.

The small forward and shooting guard positions are the team’s biggest needs, and O.J. Mayo is a free agent, as is Jamal Crawford. The Wolves should make every effort to sign both of them. Then, perhaps they could draft Royce White out of Iowa State in the middle of the first round, where they are positioned with Utah’s pick.

That would result in a line-up that looks something like this:

C: Nikola Pekovic
PF: Kevin Love
SF: Derrick Williams
SG: O.J. Mayo
PG: Ricky Rubio

Key back-ups with starter potential: Jamal Crawford, Greg Oden, J.J. Barea, Wes Johnson, Royce White.

With a lineup like that, the Wolves might be ready for a solid run, and at least slightly less devastated if the injury bug bites hard again next season.

I mean, forget about finding chocolate gifts for your grandpa, Minnesota fans; a winning Wolves team will make ol’ gray-hair happy as a clam.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has passed notice on to Minnesota lawmakers that this is the make-or-break year to get a deal done. After over a decade of flirtations, the Vikings have outlived their Metrodome lease and are no longer bound to the facility. It’s either commit to a new stadium, or watch the NFL wave bye-bye to the Gopher state, just as the NBA and NHL before them have done.

Of course, there’s a crucial difference; the NBA and NHL were able to expand and return to the state, whereas the NFL is as big as it probably wants to get for the foreseeable future. If Minnesota loses the NFL, it won’t return for at least a full generation, if ever.

So will the GOP and DFL see reason long enough to get something positive done for the state, and secure Minnesota’s football tradition?

Hopes are fading fast.

Before that, he was an associate AD at North Carolina, so his bonafides are as solid as they come; especially in basketball. Teague lead an effort to fundraise for a new VCU basketball practice facility, a want high on current men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith’s wish-list since he was hired.

And Teague approves of Jerry Kill, even though VCU has no football program. Perhaps it’s debatable whether the Gophers still do, as well.

It’s a changing of the guard, certainly; if he can retain Smith’s services, he’ll have done the bare minimum. If he can find a way to turn Minnesota football into a winner, he’ll go down in history as the greatest Gophers AD ever to serve in the position. That’s the sort of Elixir that will have the Gophers marching band sounding extra-sharp.

While stability has long been a hallmark of the Twins during their up years and their down years, the team has lost some of its stability when owner Carl Pohlad passed away a while back. While the team remains with the Pohlad family, something seems to be missing.

Perhaps it’s the lineup’s shape that’s the problem; few modern baseball players are in as good a shape as athletes in other sports. Fans of the 1980s Twins teams will remember that Hall of Famers Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek both sported sizable bellies for their day. Perhaps some improved cardio is called for? (See Apidextra customer reviews here).

Who knows? But something’s not working right now.

Wilf’s airplane has been seen in the Los Angeles area recently, fueling speculation he’s ready to line up buyers who would move the team to LA. Los Angeles has been without an NFL team for 17 years, since 1995, in the event a deal does not get done in Minnesota.

Maybe the Wilfs need to buy some nice gifts for all their season ticket-holders, like briefcases for men, to mobilize them to lobby their elected officials to get a deal done already, before the state loses its third pro-sports franchise in Minnesota history.

The others include the NBA Minnesota Lakers (also in Los Angeles) and the Minnesota North Stars (now Dallas Stars). Minnesota nearly lost the Timberwolves in the early 1990s, only to be saved by Glen Taylor.

Currently 26-39, the Wolves have suffered injuries to major stars in the past six weeks. On March 12, the Wolves won and Phoenix and moved to an overall record of 22-21 at the time, and looking good to secure their first playoff spot since the Kevin Garnett era.

But in that game, star rookie point guard Ricky Rubio when down with a serious knee injury that will keep him out until next season at least.

Since then, the Wolves have gone 4-18, a stretch that has included what became a season-ending concussion to Wolves All-Star Kevin Love, who went down April 11. The Wolves have only won one game without Love in the lineup.

While the Wolves are a bright, young team with a lot of promising talent, it’s clear further depth is needed, especially at the point guard position. While those behind Rubio are serviceable players, they just can’t take up the slack when he’s absent, and a playoff-level team starts playing like a lottery-team without him. Add Love’s absence, and the Wolves revert back to being one of the worst squads in the NBA, playing like undermount sinks without stoppers in the drain.

This season, the Wolves will have a chance to work some trades, let some players go, and sign some veteran talent. Don’t be surprised if there is as many as four new players on this squad next season, at least one of which will be a better back-up point guard.

Word is, Jamal Crawford may be interested. While not a point guard, he’d definitely improve the depth of the guard rotation and would bring some veteran experience to not only add scoring, but mentor Rubio and the team’s other young players.

After that, the Lakers will travel to Target Center on Friday, followed by New Orleans on Saturday.

If the Wolves can manage to win three of those four, that’d position them well to move up into the cusp of the playoffs. Can Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio and the rest manage it? It’s an important week for the Wolves, for sure. And it’s more exciting than an episode of The Biggest Loser, to be sure! (Read more about it here)

Scoring 42 points and 10 boards, Love was all over Portland media before, during and after the game. In the next week, the two teams will play twice more, before taking a long break leading up to the regular season’s series finale.

As a native Minnesotan now living in Portland, it’s a series that will leave me feeling good any way it ends. But do I enjoy the improvement of the Wolves this season? You bet.

Sure, it’ll be great for the Vikes and Minnesota to get the team in a new stadium anywhere. But moving the Vikings to their preferred Arden Hills site was by far the superior plan; now it appears the stadium they’ll end up with will be another Metrodome compromise project: done on the cheap and something no one likes… except Minneapolis politicians.

Don’t be surprised if the new stadium is little more than a generic steel building by the time they’re done futzing with it.

But will it happen?

The University of Minnesota has a new president in Eric Kaler. And he’s accepted the retirement papers of Joel Maturi. So the folks who brought Tubby to Minnesota are all gone, and Kaler’s made it clear he’ll leave the decision on a contract extension for Tubby to his new athletic director, who won’t be hired for a couple months.

By then, if Smith gets impatient, he could be calling a new university home. With only two years remaining on his contract, and no prohibitions against going elsewhere, Smith is free to leave; and you can bet people will be calling once March Madness is over. It’s happened every year. But this year, if he senses Kaler and the next A.D. are not inclined to keep him around, he could easily go … well, just about anywhere he wishes. He’s Tubby Smith.

That might suit the U of M just fine. After all, favorite son Flip Saunders has made no secret of his interest in the job Smith now holds, and a lot of alumni would prefer to see him in that spot, even though Smith’s a living legend at the college level, and Saunders has never helmed a college program.

Dark days ahead? Maybe.

Of course, Pekovic has earned minutes all season with his smart, powerful play. During Love’s absence, it was Pekovic to took Sacramento sensation DeMarcus Cousins on and schooled him, keeping the rookie center sensation in foul trouble and limiting his minutes… on the very evening before Cousins received a wave of hype for his dominant play. (Not quite so dominant when facing Pekovic.)

It could be argued that Pekovic has mattered more to the Wolves’ season this year than Lin has to the Knicks, and he’s made a case for himself being named the NBA’s most improved player of the year. So forget all the Lin-sanity yard signs; in Minnesota, they’re enjoying the Pekovic of the litter!

If Minnesota can win the Denver and Utah games, it would certainly help their cause in the Northwest Division battle. And speaking of that battle, the lockout-shortened season has led to some oddness in the mix.

For example, Minnesota has faced Houston, not a Northwest Division team, four times this season, compiling a record of 3-1 against them. Yet the Wolves have not yet faced the Portland Trailblazers even once. They will play the Blazers three times in seven days once March begins, then face them one final time in April.

Weird.