The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

This is one of those treys where I just nod my head in agreement, while reading it. So, even though I have nothing to add or take issue with, I'll just repeat your point about leaving the second unit in too long, and leaving our best player (and best 4th Quarter scorer) on the bench until the last two minutes of the game.

It sort of goes against McHale's general coaching philosophy--rather than tinker and micromanage, he likes to say how he does his job in practice and the players get the games. This isn't directly on that point, but I'd like to think that part of his philosophy is riding your best horses in the 4th Quarter, even if they've been struggling and even if Brian Cardinal took two charges (the second of which was questionable--at best). It wasn't hard to predict that we'd eventually fall short without Al in there, and that's what happened. Although, if we don't make those terrible passes down the stretch, we might've been able to hold on, regardless.

Foye has been really fun to watch. The more that he builds confidence through his picturesque jumpshot and builds off it with dribble-drives to the cup, the better off he'll be. When he was playing point, he seemed to end up driving baseline all the time, and never quite knowing if or when to shoot. Everything looks easier to him when he bombs a few treys and builds off that rhythm.

I have a slightly different take. What I saw was a game where ball movement became paramount. The series of passes that Britt references that resulted in the Foye three was reminiscent of Phoenix in their best passing days. It actually took my breath away. Conversely, when Big Al got put in -- too tardily in the minds of some of you -- at the end of the game, was there a human being on the planet who doubted that he was going to try to back his player (or, all the players on the other team if they came over to double/triple/quadruple/quintuple him) down into the box and put up a shot? Obviously Miami had no such doubts, because they moved in and stripped him. Al may be our best player and our safest option, but he's also our most predictable option. From his look in the huddle, you sensed that he had made the decision to shoot before he even got back in the game. To my mind, it was kind of a "low post McCants" moment: the action was inevitable; only the outcome was in doubt.

McHale is up to something interesting here. He appears to be trying to show the guys how the game should be played by putting a team on the floor that plays in that fashion, even if the players are not the best on the team. It's like he's using a superb scout team to school his own best players. I think it has to do with teaching, not with punishing. Is it an issue of faulty game management? Perhaps, to an extent. But I think it is more an issue of Kevin loving the game as a team sport, and he is loathe to change things up when the team looks most like a team. And, sadly, this kind of diagonal slash with ball movement game is something that Al does not do well, nor does Bassy, whom I love, because he too often ends up making decisions under duress. Foye, on the other hand, is playing wonderfully under control right now. He is the straw that stirs the drink -- which is what he always claimed he should be. The question going forward is how to use Bassy's quickness and Foye's non-point guard catalytic abilities together.

So, to conclude: I see a style evolving; I see a team evolving. The best team players are not necessarily the best basketball players. The challenge for the rest of the year is to find a way to get the best ball players playing the best team ball. For my money, Al's offensive scrum at the end of the game was an indication that, at least in his case, we still have a ways to go.

Not much to add other than the echo that this game was a tale of two offenses. I don't fault McHale for keeping Al on the bench in the 4th - that second unit was moving the ball well on offense, and is just playing better team basketball. Al wasn't playing well - Miami's well-timed doubleteams were rushing his shot, in which case even Joel Anthony can defend you.

My take on Beasley was the same: I was excited every time he touched the ball on the wing because there was a good chance he'd do something dumb with the ball.

This is a winnable game if shots are falling, but more importantly, this product on the floor is far superior to what we were watching earlier in the season.

Is Mike Miller just putting too much pressure on himself? Rodney Carney has pass McCants on the pecking order and right now - he's pulling away from Miller.

Maybe the Wolves should think about moving him to save some cap space in case free-agent to be Rodney Carney - does play consistently well for the rest of the season and grows as a player. It's not inconceivable that that could happen and athletiscm is rare on this roster.

Wow. That McCants interview indicates that someone is incredibly delusional about Rashad's ability to play NBA level basketball. And dig how much of a locker room cheerleader he is. Oh my!

I found it interesting that he says that McHale has not been talking to him about what what McCants must do to get back on the court. Perhaps it indicates that McHale is trying to use some sort of weird passive aggression strategy to get Rashad to play better.

Personally, I gathered that Rashad is on McHale's permanent shit list.

*Jefferson needs to learn that stars do other things when not scoring. Taking charges, running the floor hard for easy buckets, and doggedly tracking down loose balls should not be beneath him.

*Foye is doing everything we could have possibly ever hoped for. This last 12 game stretch he is playing at what most would consider his ceiling when drafted out of 'Nova. Let's hope he keeps it up.

*I think Miller will come around eventually. It's Carney I don't trust. I love the energy and athleticism, but I question his ability to keep knocking down those long shots. He takes them a little too enthusiastically in my opinion.

*We desperately need to make Craig Smith obsolete and replace his minutes with a big man that moves Jeff over to PF part time. Varejao, Dalembert, and Brendan Haywood are veteran options via trade or free agency....Out of the draft, Cole Aldrich or Jerome Jordan might be had with the Miami pick, but both would require patience. I'd prefer we go the veteran route and focus our draft on guards and forwards with big upside.

Even in his worst slump, I'd prefer Mike Miller eight days a week over McCants. He isn't shooting the ball well or often enough, but I refuse to believe one of the best pure shooters in the game has forgotten how to shoot.

He needs to be more selfish. Take a few contested shots. Not make that extra pass to Carney.

What he doesn't do is waste time trying to set up a one-on-ones. He rebounds,

drives the lane, hustles, takes some ball-handling pressure off Bassy and Foye and generally keeps the ball moving when he chooses not to shoot.

Bassy did not have one of his better games, though his offense is really coming along. The lack of assists does not trouble me as much as the 5 TOs because he was, with good reason, deferring to Foye most of the night. But the uptick in TOs surprises me.

Generally Bassy's increasingly aggressive, attacking style of play will result in more TOs, and that's a tradeoff I can live with as long as his passes are resulting in baskets that wouldn't have happened otherwise. (Nash has never had a stellar A/TO but Calderon whose team struggles to win 50% of its games has a ratio that's off the charts).

But Bassy's TOs tend come in bunches and at really bad times.

Last night on NBAtv after highlights of the game Chris Webber dropped this nugget of insight:
"Minnesota doesn't play as young and as bad as they really are."

As someone who has defended Shaddy in the past, that interview just showed that he needs medication more than anything else. Seriously, it was that delusional. This was my favorite passage:

SLAM: Do you feel like you’re a starter or a sixth man, what is it about the time you are getting that you’re struggling with?
RM: I mean, while I’ve been in the League, I haven’t had much time as a starter; although, we won a couple of games when I started. It’s just whatever situation you’re put in. I’ve often been put in the situation where I’m coming off the bench and being known as a reserve. I think that I can get more things being a starter because you play more minutes and you get a longer stretch of time. That longer stretch of time is where you can put a lot of points on the board, a lot of rebounds and assists. As a starter you get to play a complete game, that’s why all the All-Stars in the league do their thing, because they play complete games and a substantial amount of minutes.

SLAM: What’s the thing you’re most comfortable doing out on the floor?
RM: I definitely feel like handling the ball, not just to score the ball, but just be able to facilitate things and put other guys in the position to score. I’m not a true point guard and that’s not the position that I claim to play, but being like an off-guard who can handle the ball and drive, shoot and pass like a DWade, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Those guys are hard to stop because they have that triple threat like that, and that’s the kind of guy I think I am.

How self-unaware can one man possibly be? The guy has lost it.

I just re-read Dr K's "low post McCants" metaphor for Al Jefferson. Beauty! A pretty fair comparison, when I thought about it.

We can talk about all the other guys, but for the future of this team only three players matter: Al, Foye and Love.

I'm encouraged by Foye and Love. Over the past 12 games, Foye is averaging 20.6 points, 3.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds. More importantly, he looks much more comfortable in his new role. He also is starting to look like a go-to guy on the floor.

Since Love started consistently getting 20 minutes per game 9 games ago, he is averaging 10 points and 10 rebounds. He should be playing 30 minutes. The idea that Jefferson and Love can't play together is not backed by the numbers. Some of the Wolves best lineups feature Love-Jefferson, according to 82games.com.

Carney's reliability as a shooter is interesting.

His standing, catch-and-shoot shot looks very reliable - and all of his makes against the Heat were either of this variety or dunk/lay-ups.

However when he tries to take a jump shot off the move - whether it's a drive to the rim or a lateral step to clear the defense - bad things happen.

Admittedly, it's a pretty small sample size at the moment, but that seems to be the pattern.

Hey "H" - I like your thinking re that the Rhino would complement Shaq & Amare and thus might be a chip in a trade to get R.Lopez from PHO. But wasn't Dee Brown just released from the Suns? And Ollie can't help them much for awhile anyways.

Hello Britt. Great blog as always. I am writing on this page since it will get fewer views and I just have a few suggestions regarding your blog but I don't know what the private email line might be.
I was reading in the current post about Henry Abbott and True Hoop. You expressed that you are one of the few sports bloggers that can get paid and work independently of signing some bigass restrictive contract and be co-opted by the man.
I know that you are a good sports writer. You know that you are a good sports writer. It just seems that linking yourself to this little online magazine that keeps changing its name is thinking small. I don't mean to destroy a beautiful thing here but I think you are missing a real opportunity.
I visit quite a few web sites in my daily travels. Most of them are a little guy who just likes to write about something and does so consistently. He builds up an audience. He gets advertisers. And he becomes very successful. But in every case this guy got his own url and his own place to do so. It is not expensive to get your own website. It is not difficult to have someone make a basic sports blog structure.
I don't know what deal you have with this online magazine, but you have to realize that most of your money is going to them. And what do they really provide?
Your readers don't care if they go to "secrets of on the ball in the city.com' or "brittrobson.com". Honestly, we don't. We just click our bookmark every couple days and read the good stuff. You could be getting all the moola, or you could be splitting it with some well-meaning but niche operator.
And assuming that this undertaking did go well, you could branch out. Bring in some buddies to write guest columns. I'm sure you've got talented buddies who could use the work. Don't we all?
And then in a few years time, instead of people talking about this Henry Abbott's network, they would be talking about Britt Robson's network.
You might be asking yourself why does this dumbass give a rip about this? I am not sure. I guess I just see a real easy opportunity here. And I am afraid it is being passed by. Thanks for your time and my apologies for being so forward.