Secrets of the City

Timberwolves GM David Kahn recently wrote a letter to fans after his team lost nine games in a row. Here’s a link to the letter from Jerry Zgoda’s Wolves blog on the Strib’s website. Here’s a link to Deadspin making fun of the letter and the Wolves in general.

Kahn and the Wolves organization have taken an open and honest approach with fans this season, stressing that there is no expectation of making the playoffs and not sugarcoating the team’s ineptitude. At first I thought Kahn’s honestly was refreshing. But the more letters he writes and quotes he gives that continue to lower expectations, the more I wonder if he’s already desperate 11 games into his tenure.

Bottom line: No matter what Kahn says or writes, it’s difficult to appear competent when your team will be lucky to win more than 18 games. Perhaps we should just embrace his candor. Compare Kahn to Gophers football coach Tim Brewster. Would you rather have Brewster’s never-ending sales pitch or Kahn’s frankness about how his team sucks but they’re working to fix it?

Ricky Rubio, David Kahn, or Kurt Rambis won’t be able to save the Timberwolves if Al Jefferson isn’t able to fully recover from offseason ACL surgery. Much of the Wolves offseason chatter revolved around the Rubio soap opera and the hiring of Kahn and Rambis as GM and coach, respectively. Almost forgotten was the fact that Jefferson, the key asset in the Garnett trade, the main piece in the Wolves rebuilding project, and their best player was coming off major knee surgery. So far, Jefferson looks like he has a ways to go before he’s back to his old self. If he can’t find his old form soon, however, the Wolves could set a record for ineptitude.

Jefferson looked overmatched against Blazers center Greg Oden during another lopsided Wolves loss on Wednesday. Oden pushed Jefferson around for three quarters, throwing down dunks and tearing away rebounds from a befuddled Big Al. There’s no shame in being dominated by an elite NBA center, but Oden has been far from elite during his time in the league. If all was right in Wolves land, Jefferson would’ve looked like the franchise center on Wednesday, making Oden and his grizzly beard move laterally on defense and forcing him out of position (Guys with beards like Oden’s are supposed to be slow and plodding, right?). Instead, all Jefferson was able to do against the 21-year-old who could easily pass for 45 was throw up desperate looking quarter-hook shots that ricocheted off the rim.

Jefferson was averaging 23.1 points and 11 rebounds before the injury last season. Those numbers are down to 15.1 and 6.1 through nine games this season. Nobody expected the Wolves to resemble anything close to a contender in 2009-10. But the new coach, GM, Johnny Flynn, and Rubio tease at least provided a glimmer of hope. That hope is all but gone now. Don’t look for it to return any time soon if the team’s biggest asset continues to hobble around and looks broken down against the likes of Oden.

Suspended Minnesota Gopher Royce White is now under investigation for a laptop computer theft on campus last weekend. The freshman forward already faces misdemeanor theft and fifth-degree assault charges for allegedly shoplifting and shoving a security guard at a mall last month.

Teammate Devron Bostick was suspended for violating team rules. Forward Trevor Mbakwe is sidelined until his upcoming felony aggravated assault trial wraps up in Florida in December.

And in football, freshman defensive back Michael Carter was arrested and jailed early this month for underage drinking and obstruction of justice. Linebacker Gary Tinsley was arrested last month. And Cedric McKinley and Tim Dandridge received two-game suspensions for violations of team rules.

To top it off, the Gophers just don’t seem to be doing very well at all. Why the continual embarrassment?

The Gopher men’s basketball team won for the first time in 14 years in Madison with an amazing comeback after trailing by as many as 14 points in the second half. The Gopher women’s basketball team won for the first time ever at Ohio State, knocking off the #13 Buckeyes 59-56. If there ever was a winter when we needed a distraction, this is it, at the Gophers have stepped up.

*Obviously “miracle” is being used in a completely frivilous way that does not compare to say … a plane falling into an icy river and no one getting seriously hurt.

WCCO is reporting that the Timberwolves have fired Randy Wittman, as has been predicted for a while now.