Author: Britt Robson

Great pick of the Diamondbacks, eh? Compassionate readers for the most part decided to withhold their “what are you thinking!?” comments on me picking against a team that had lost once in a month and clearly have some scintillating mojo warped right into their wheelhouse. Here’s my excuse, and confession: I have seen Brandon Webb pitch three or four times in the past couple years and been mightily impressed every time. So I ignored the Rockies’ success against him, both at Coors (where, as one commenter pointed out, the movement on his pitches flattens in the thin air) and Bank One. And I underestimated the Rockies’ no-name starting rotation, conceding the fine year of Francis but not understanding that the mojo had even affected Josh Fogg (!), who hadn’t compiled an ERA of under 4.64 nor a WHIP under 1.45 in the past five seasons for the Pirates and Rockies.

Here’s the confession: As one who believes one’s religion to be a literally sacred thing, best cherished internally and practiced by example instead of screed, I blanched and then was annoyed at the big “we’re gonna be a Christian team” push that the Rockies (or perhaps just an overzealous media) embarked upon last season. I don’t mind clean-cut, upstanding, high-character, whatever you want to call it, but when a religious agenda get put into the games I watch, even obliquely, I react negatively. It’s bad enough that politics are already suffused with it. And then there’s the Coors family and their wonderful politics (Google it if you want, I’m not going further on it right now) putting their name on the ballpark as a final sour note. So, despite the fact that the D-Backs have their own baggage–they borrowed, from the league no less, their way to their only championship while the rival Giants were building a stadium with private funding–I went with Arizona.

Which is all a way of saying when you let non-sports-related emotions get in the way of your picks (as opposed to your rooting interest), you’re asking for a dunce cap. I’m wearing mine now. And no, having the Indians-Red Sox shape up in a manner much as I predicted, at least thus far, doesn’t compensate.

On a much more pleasant topic, I heartily agree with frequent reader/commenter Andy B that the performance by Adrian Peterson Sunday immediate turned future Vikings games into must-see TV. It was among the handful of marvelous, spectacular displays of man-among-boys I’ve ever witnessed on a football field. I am old enough to remember Gayle Sayers going off for something like five or six touchdowns when I was a little boy, and this had the same spendid aura, this very real notion that he could take it to the house every time he touched the ball.

That said, I am probably in the minority in agreeing with Chilly’s decision to essentially split the running back duties between Peterson and Chester Taylor. It makes sense for a lot of reasons. First and foremost, as I noted one of the first times I wrote about Peterson earlier in the season, the guy runs in a manner that courts injury, and you can’t change it without limiting his natural intuition and runner’s identity. But you can minimize the injury risk a bit AND soften up the defenses by giving the ball to a very capable and bruising back like Taylor a fair bit. Lost in the shuffle of Peterson’s glory was Taylor’s respectable 83 yards on the ground in half-time duty. Plus I like the idea of putting Taylor and Peterson in the same backfield more than occasionally, to give the aging and contact-heavy Tony Richardson a blow and force defenses stacked up against the run to worry about Chester up the gut enough to give Peterson a split-second more glimmer on the outside, which, as we saw, is all he needs. Finally, if you are going to keep Peterson returning kickoffs (something I don’t think is wise, because that is where his upright running style faces the greatest injury threat), you want Taylor to feel like more than simply Peterson’s stand-in.

I’ve ripped the expensive left side of the Vikings’ line a fair bit, but have to hat-tip them on this game. Nearly all of Peterson’s breakaway runs from scrimmage came behind McKinnie-Hutch-Birk. The coaching staff clearly worked profitably during the bye week to iron out whatever was ailing this lumbering crew–and no, I don’t think McKinnie’s bout of the flu explains all of it by any stretch–and for the first time since they came together, they blocked the way they were supposed to for most of a football game.

I say most because any die-hard Vikings fan (don’t look at me) has to be chagrined at the way a 1-3 ballclub essentially thought they had the game in the bag and rolled over late in the fourth quarter, on the road against the defending NFC champs, no less, on Sunday. Those final two offensive series, where even Peterson’s stupendous talent stood no chance against the onslaught, were pitiful, and displayed a lack of heart and killer instinct that augurs for a miserable second half of the season regardless of Peterson’s gifts. And the play where Hester blew past Dwight Smith on what was a blatant “prevent defense” situation–WTF?

Thoughtful fans will respond that the O-line broke down because the Bears knew the Vikes would run the ball and stacked everyone to stop it. True: the one pass play that was attempted, a slant over the middle to Wade, was there for the taking except that Tavaris Jackson threw the ball behind Wade and nearly created an interception. But that pass, as well as Jackson’s less than stellar 9-22 pass completion-attempts log, indicates why the Vikes aren’t going to be making a playoff push any time soon. A one-dimensional offense, even when that dimension is gilded by the likes of Peterson, doesn’t cut it, even in the woeful NFC. And that’s not even talking about the horrid pass defense. No matter: Even if the Vikes get thumped 41-17 by Dallas on Sunday, the chance to watch AP roam will put me in front of the set.

Last, and least, we have the Timberwolves. Thanks to AK for the super-secret decoder link to a voice that will actually describe what this dinged up ballclub is doing during tonight’s game, because my search for a connection last night came up nada. And fittingly so. Of all the things that could have happened during this preseason, a pile of nagging injuries is among the worst, as it retards the crucial winnowing process and will inevitably make the losers of the playing time competition believe that the circumstances were unfair to their cause in some way shape or form. It also provides a ready-made excuse for what will almost certainly be a shakey start to the regular season.

From last night’s boxscore, the preseason comments of Coach Wittman regarding the non-exclusivity of Randy Foye at the point, and the performance we’ve seen thus far from Foye and Sebastian Telfair, it appears as if Marko Jaric is going to get a fair amount of time running the offense this season. On that score, it is illuminating to revisit my interview with Wolves owner Glen Taylor last season with respect to Jaric. I can’t remember whether any of this made it into print or even the longer online edition last season. In any case, it implies that Jaric was misused as a point guard two seasons ago and, by the almost unanimous opinion of those including Randy Wittman, is better suited to play the two or three. Now, granted, much of Taylor’s talk is about Marko having trouble with quicker point guards, particularly on defense. But unless Foye can stay with the lightning bugs and bear the scoring load at off-guard, it seems like Marko’s fragile confidence, referred to by Taylor, may be destined to take another hit. Bottom line, lack of a classic point guard to provide a steadying influence remains the largest of the Wolves’ many problems heading into this season.

Here is the relevant part of my Glen Taylor interview, conducted in mid-October of 2006, with respect to Jaric.

Britt Robson: Well if I remember Casey was emphasizing a defensive identity for the team right after he was hired and that was clearly thought to be Jaric’s strength.

Glen Taylor: Yeah. And I would just say that they sold me. I had seen him play before and I didn’t see quite what they saw. But they were saying, “Gee the guy is 6-7 and he can play all these positions and do all these things and boy wait until the fans see him” and all this type of stuff. Here’s what I would say on that, what I would say to our fans. Let us see what happens this year–[he’s talking about the 06-07 season here] and judge that. Because whatever we did last year, we really messed up. And actually there is a player who comes and talks to me, so I can tell you what I know about him. Number one he was really eager to come here. He would do anything the coach asked of him. I don’t know that he wanted to play point guard nor did he think he should be playing that, but he never, this is just a guy who won’t back off and if he is told to do that, he does that. I think, as we all saw, he got exposed. The opponents realized that, “If we put a little fast guy in there, it kills their whole defense.” Because we built a defense around pushing guys certain ways and we put a guard in who couldn’t do that, so all of a sudden Garnett’s got to do it differently and Trenton’s got to do it differently and so no one is doing their job anymore. So not only does it kill your defense but there is a breakdown in the players because the players in a defensive mode have to trust each other. You lose a little trust in a guy and pretty soon you start questioning the guy and all of a sudden that whole thing started to break down. Now talking to Marko and kind of asking him—after the fact, you know?—he said, “You know, I came in, I didn’t say anything, I was willing to do it. I’m going to go back and look at it.” He said, “I worked so hard that summer. I came here so enthused starting out. And it was just like I hit a wall.” He said, “It had never happened to me before but I just hit a wall. I am tearing after these guards and my mind was like just trying to keep up with it. I had never been there before.” So he said he thinks that probably playing all summer and then being so enthused and then he hit that wall and I think we all saw it. He was going good and then all of a sudden the coaches and the players were like…

BR: There was a lot of pressure on him.

GT: And then he lost confidence in himself and everyone lost confidence in him. And so then you say, “Gee, you gave a number one draft choice and Cassell, for this guy?”

BR: And you signed him to an expensive long-term deal.

GT: Yup, a long term deal. So came this summer, I started out with the assumption that they are going to say, “Can we trade him?” But as it came around I didn’t have one guy on our staff who said that’s what you should do. The coach [Casey] went out and brought Randy [Wittman] in, and so we asked Randy, because we was a neutral guy [for not being with the team last year], and he said, “You just used him wrong. He’s a nice player. I think you should keep him.” So I was going along, and I, I didn’t think we had to trade him, but I thought that’s what they would say to me. And nobody says trade him. They all say, we used him wrong. Rob Babcock comes back this year after being with another team. And we asked him, What do you think? And he says, “Well you guys used him wrong.” Everybody just said, He’s a different type player. I wouldn’t get rid of him. Okay. He’s tradeable. So first of all you say, had we made a mistake, we could have traded him this summer. There are other teams that see the value in him and would take his contract. So that surprised me. So all of a sudden it is like, “Okay, let’s bring him to camp and let’s see what happens.” I think the injury to Rashad [McCants] also slowed us down a little and made us say, “Wait a minute. What do we have here? Let’s not trade a guy.” So I think at this point in time, I think—I understand our fans and everybody saying, “Gee Kevin, you went out there and did this on this guy.” And if you just did it on what he has done up to today, I can see why people would say, “Kevin, big mistake on your part.” But what I am saying to you, is I see all that. But I now have some information where a lot of people have said, give it another year to make that judgment. So I am saying that on Kevin because I’ve seen that type of stuff happen on other players where you can look back and say, gosh that was a bad year. And right now we could be really critical. And that’s where I’m at, that right now it looks like it was a terrible trade. But I watched [Jaric] the week they were in Mankato and I’ve seen what he’s been doing since then. He is playing altogether differently than he was last year; he’s very aggressive in scoring and he’s really coming off a 2 or 3 guy [a shooting guard or small forward] so he is against bigger guys and he has found out he is quicker than them and that he can get to the [foul] line. Now can he continue that for the entire season? I know he has a slender body, but he appears to be a strong individual. I know we saw him last year when he lost confidence but I’m saying when you are talking to him, even last year when he had lost confidence, you don’t feel like you are talking to a guy that is depressed or whatever. He is pretty reasonable about saying things like, “I’ve never been here before. I can dig myself out but I am physically tired and even worse, I am mentally tired.” He said things that I understand.

It is going to be a looong season for the Minnesota Timberwolves. This is not surprising, of course. Nor is it as disheartening as it might have been watching a team without much future upside try to overachieve its way into a bottom-rung playoff spot. No, this is a team with definite long range potential–no guarantees on how much it will be fulfilled–that will be out of the playoff race by Valentine’s Day at the latest.

If that sounds like too much of a snap judgment based on a single 92-81 loss in an early October exhibition game, well, then, you didn’t see the game. The sobering reality is that, without belittling the chance for improvement, the Wolves are offering spirited competitions between the inept and the clueless for key positions on the court, without any way of distinguishing between growing pains and permanently rude comeuppances. The team’s most versatile, talented, experienced, and heady player would require an identity transplant and a fat, anti-rebuilding contract to still be here next year. Most of the people in the large batch of hot young talent that has gotten visionary fans excited have revealed disfiguring flaws in their games–the odds of them becoming overvalued mediocrities are just as good as them becoming solid core starters, let alone stars.

Alright, let’s stop speaking in generalities. The play of Randy Foye at the point probably will make or break more games this season than any other single factor. Today, Coach Randy Wittman started Sebastian Telfair instead of Foye, and benched Foye for the rest of the game right after the Celtics stole his casual second-quarter pass to the sideline–a rudimentary, let’s-set-up-the-offense double wrist-flick–for his third turnover in less than eight minutes of action. Perhaps Foye is dinged up (I haven’t read anyone’s account of the game), or perhaps Wittman is sending a loud message very early that half-assed execution won’t be tolerated. Either way, it is a lousy start for Foye, expected to be one of the two or three essential building blocks for the franchise.

Telfair exhibited very little court vision and a lack of confidence on the dribble–he’s a shield the ball with the body dribbler, meaning he often has his back to at least part of the court. The old coach Hubie Brown appropriately griped throughout the first half that the Wolves kept moving well without the ball but that no one was feeding the cutters. Telfair was a culprit, ditto Foye. Marko Jaric was clearly the best Wolves point guard on the floor today, but it was a game we’ve all seen many times before–great anticipation, quick hands, disruptive defense, good tempo-setting; and falls in love with risk, plays like a kamikaze, caffeinates instead of calms his teammates, and shoots 1-6 from the field.

Corey Brewer played like a rookie. Inexperience breeds incomprehension, forcing him to lose the top gear–that’s why they call it “getting up to speed.” He hustles on defense, is certainly coachable, and will probably learn when and how to penetrate. But he is a fair to poor shooter even when he has time to get his feet set and his aim straight; rush him and air balls will likely ensue. And his development is still well ahead of Gerald Green, who simplifies the concept of shot selection by jacking it up whenever possible. Rashad McCants was better than Brewer or Green and still committed a half-dozen glaring mistakes; it is just that he had more positives to balance them out. McCants has a clue; he’ll commit the smart foul when Paul Pierce is headed for a transition layup; make the extra interior pass for a teammate’s layup; and play the physical, mix-it-up style you want to see from everybody, not just the guys who are trying to stay out of the D League. But there is a question about McCants’s hops, folks. The drives to the hoop he made as a rook, almost inevitably drawing the foul, now can result in him getting lunched a fair bit, and more often creating a contact situation where maybe he was fouled and maybe he was stifled. The difference is small, but vital. McCants has lost the barrel chest he developed last year; a good sign, I think, in that he worked on his below the waist game instead having to resort to pumping iron this off-season. But those explosive first and second steps are compromised, and would thus really benefit from Shaddy being able to stick the jumper with some regularity. One game is a tad incomplete for a sample size, but Brewer is green and Green is, shall we say, in need of constant tutorials. McCants, who has been heavily coached by the likes of Roy Williams and Dwane Casey, could seize a good-sized role. But Brewer almost certainly will ripen with age and Green is a freak athlete–right now they’re both minor-league all-stars. If Shaddy can’t grab minutes now…

Want some good news? Ryan Gomes guarded the hell out of Paul Pierce, especially in the second half. Al Jefferson could be a stud in the low block if the Timberwolves made him the first option most of the time and then went to Plans B, C, and D based on how opponents adjusted to a diet of Jeff. That is, of course, if we knew somebody could consistently deliver him the ball. Theo Ratliff could be a nice backup center for 8-10 minutes a game before the Wolves cash in on his expiring $11 million contract. And Ricky Davis can be your classic stat-stuffer on a bad team, single-handedly bringing the squad back from 20 down up to 7 down, or so–Tony Campbell with a little more athletic mustard and relish. Last but not least, Mark Blount, DNP.

In this morning’s conference call from London, I asked Randy Wittman to describe his optimal scenario for Randy Foye. Does he want Foye to be his rock-ribbed point guard, or does he want him to slide over and play the two occasionally, be a combo guard?

“He is going to play both,” Witt replied. “No, not all of his minutes will be at the point because of all the problems he presents [for opponents] off the ball. So he’ll do both.” The coach noted that in the first exhibition game Foye played about half and half between the guard positions and implied that he’d like to see that continue.

When I followed up asking who that would deliver minutes for, Marko Jaric of Sebastian Telfair, Wittman said, “These guys are going to dictate who plays. But the opportunities are going to be there because I don’t want 35 minutes of Randy at the point.”

The PiPress’s Rick Alonzo remarked that that might be news to Foye, who seemed to emphasize that he would be pretty much only a point guard at the media day interviews. But Wittman essentially replied that Foye has foreknowledge of and is on board with the combo guard plan. “He wants to play off the ball some,” Wittman flatly stated, noting that he and Foye have talked about this.

Okay, maybe this is surprising news, or maybe we should just take it with a boulder (instead of a grain) of salt, along the lines of Witt claiming that the Wolves will be a running team this season. Why am I skeptical? Because it means a much bigger role for either Jaric or Telfair, two players that have been relied upon fairly significantly to handle point guard duties in the past two years and have failed miserably. Because putting Foye at the two increases the swingman glut that continues to dog this roster. Witt today claimed that he wants Ryan Gomes to get as comfortable at the 3 as he was last year at the 4. So if you have Gomes playing some 3 and Foye playing some 2, both on a regular basis, that necessarily robs minutes from Davis/McCants/Green/Buckner.

As for the Wolves being a running team, the dirty little secret is that a transition game requires a quality ball distributor just as much as in the half-court game, and the Wolves, aside from the soon-to-be-departed Davis, are flat out of decent options there. Oh, and there is also this notion that all the Wolves’ need to crash the glass at both ends of the court, further retarding the running game. No, if the Wolves are smart, they’ll play a lot of dump and slash: Get the ball inside to Al Jefferson and otherwise rely on the slashing abilities of Foye, Davis, McCants, Green, and Brewer.

By the way, Witt also mentioned that a few players tweaked their ankles today in practice–Jefferson and Green and Telfair–and might be doubtful for the Celtic tilt tomorrow. A conspiracy theorist might opine that the Wolves don’t want the current talent differential of their big trade to be quite so obvious out on the hardwood, although you could also argue that they have nothing to lose except maybe a little face. Anyway, McCants as of now is healthy enough to play and Craig Smith might be able to go–he engaged in a full practice today–but the coach sounded dubious on that count.

On to the baseball playoffs. The first round was a real snooze. I called every series but of course was in deadline hell so nobody knew it (he mutters, kicking the ground). Now watch–I’ll blow the pick on both of these second round matchups, especially because I’m pretty confident of the winners, especially the ALCS.

The key to the Boston-Cleveland series is the lack of lefties in the Red Sox rotation. The two most influential bats in the Indians lineup, Sizemore and Hafner, are both righty mashers. Yes, I know the numbers rebut this: Hafner hit below the Mendoza line versus Boston this season (ditto Victor Martinez), and Sizemore was merely .250, with 11 Ks in 28 ABs. But I think both will come up big in the clutch. Schilling and Beckett have both proven to be big game pitchers, but Dice-K is shakey, and unless Boston can go right from Beckett-Schilling to Okajima and Papelbon, I’m not convinced that Timlin/Gagne/Delcarmen can hold down the fort. Ditto the lefty Lopez.

Meanwhile, Sabathia and Carmona are the best 1-2 in baseball right now, two bona fide aces. The only potential chink is the batting eyes of Youkilis-Ortiz-Manny-Drew: if Carmona nibbles too much and gets behind in the count, he’ll either get lucky and last only 5-6 innings because of his pitch count on the mistakes will result in runs. I also have a feeling Jake Westbrook has a hell of a game in him for this series. The guy lost quite a bit of time with injuries this season and thus should be fresher than usual, and he’s already gotten over that blip, the post-big contract jitters. Finally, Cleveland’s much maligned bullpen is better than Boston’s right now. Cleveland in six.

The other league features two very hot NL West ballclubs whose seasons are already a fabulous success regardless of whether they win another game or not. Because of that circumstance, the first game is even more important than usual, as one club may feel they remain on the side of the gods while the other shrugs and considers it a good run to get this far. This is particularly true if the Rockies snatch Game One on the road.

But I’m picking Arizona in 6 or 7 and the reason is Brandon Webb, the most unheralded great pitcher in the game today. Who knows that Webb is the reigning Cy Young Award winner? That he induces ground-outs as effectively as anyone in baseball right now? I think Webb is capable of a 3-0 series. Again, this prediction is based more on gut instinct than raw numbers. The Rockies have actually hit Webb very well this season, especially lefties Brad Hawpe and Kaz Matsui. Todd Helton less so this year, but in the past has murdered Webb. And Matt Holiday has posted decent numbers with a plus .800 OPS.

No matter. It is the postseason and great pitchers rise to the occasion. Brandon Webb is a great pitcher. Meanwhile, Doug Davis (who had a nice comeback second half of the season) and Livan Hernandez should be able to pull out at least one and possible two games against the likes of Josh Fogg and Franklin Morales. Obviously, Colorado’s strength is in its offense and its bullpen, both of which are better than Arizona’s. The difference-maker will be Webb.

First of all, a hat tip to PiPress columnist Charlie Walters, who wrote the other day that Trenton was going to the Mavs, a rumor that, citing Shooter’s “spotty” reputation on such tidbits, I belittled.

Second, I don’t like the deal. Greg Buckner is about two inches shorter and three years older than Hassell, which, given that both are defensive specialists, is not a good sign. Buckner has a little more range on his jumper but is less accurate overall as a shooter. Probably most significantly, Buckner is nearly $2 million cheaper over the next three seasons, and I suppose if the Wolves are going with youth anyway, the vets on the bench can be discounted.

[Update: A smart reader just informed me that because Buckner’s third year is a team option and thus not guaranteed, Wolves could save up to $5.79 million in this deal.]

That said, Buckner was a quality defender in Denver who actually shot a little better (especially from the three point line) and defended a little worse than expected in Dallas. Along with money, I suspect this has its roots in the spat that occurred last spring, when Coach Wittman benched Hassell for a period of time and the relationship between the two was obviously strained.

Another thing: Buckner is not going to be able to get his stuff together and travel to Turkey at the drop of a hat. Thus he will be behind the curve when he does arrive for training camp.

To sum up, from the Wolves standpoint, losing Hassell saves some [make that potentially quite a bit of] money and loses a locker room leader from the bad old days at a time when they are trying to wipe the slate clean.

From my standpoint, Trenton Hassell was always a class act, a guy who would honestly answer questions with general good humor and became a crucial glue guy in the starting lineup almost from the moment he joined the team during the franchise’s best-ever season in 2003-04. Two years ago when he was asked to look for his shot more often, he posted a career best 9.2 ppg, but always said that defense was his priority and his meal ticket. I saw him less than nine hours ago, sought him out as I was leaving the Wolves’ media day, gave him a sympathetic kind-of “keep your chin up” sentence or two because we both knew he was on the outs with current braintrust. Then I wished him luck. And he got it, headed to a team that figures to go deep into the playoffs. Trenton Hassell will help grease that momentum.

It was the Wolves media day this afternoon and this exchange with Randy Foye was probably the most interesting conversation I had.

Who is the leader of this team? I asked Foye, point blank.

“I’ll take it,” Foye said instantly. “I am the leader. There is pressure in that but I like it. I don’t think there are a lot of people in their career get a chance to say, `I was the leader of an NBA team.’ That’s how I am approaching things and how people approach me. I am the leader.”

In the locker room as well as on the court how will your status as the leader change the way you behave? I asked.

“My motto is that you practice what you preach and you lead by example,” Foye answered. “If you are in the locker room goofing off before a game and someone else is watching and I’m supposed to be the leader, [they will think], well I can do that too. Well I might be able to go out on the court and perform, but that person who is goofing off, he can’t do it. So I am just going to come in with a straightforward attitude…my situation growing up, I am a natural born leader; I never was a follower of like anything. If someone said, Oh let’s go do this, if it didn’t feel right I wasn’t going to do it, even if he was my best friend.”

Third question: Who are you most looking forward to playing with this year?

Foye: “I am looking forward to definitely playing with Al. I’m looking forward to playing with Theo, because the way he’s playing, he blocks everything. I’m looking forward to playing with Corey, and with Gerald, just because I love lob passes, and I’m looking forward to playign with my boy Craig, my best friend. And I’m looking forward to playing with the guys I played with last year. And with Ryan Gomes, because I played against him in the Big East and I know how he likes the ball.”

Otherwise, Coach Wittman confirmed that Al Jefferson will likely be playing a lot of center, although he doesn’t want to wear him down defending against the bigger bangers in the league–Dampier of Dallas was specifically mentioned. And Witt did say that Marko Jaric will be given a look at point guard, and made it clear that Marko gets frustrated when he doesn’t get touches and that getting touches for Marko wasn’t something he went out of his way to do last season; the implication being that Marko doing some point time would kill two birds with one stone in that respect; make Marko happy and give the Wolves a vet at the point when Foye and presumably Telfair need a blow.

Al Jefferson was impressive. It wasn’t clear to me whether he requested it or it was given to him by management, but he will be ensconced in KG’s locker space, a circumstance that he responded to with a nice blend of “I’m honored” and “I’m not the least bit intimidated.” When I asked him why his game took such a big jump last year, he essentially replied that it was the first time he really dedicated himself to working hard and getting himself ready to go, even with the injuries. And when I asked if he felt the Wolves needed to prove something to him just as much as he needed to prove something to management, he said being traded for Kevin Garnett was proof enough on management’s commitment. When another person asked about re-upping his contract, rumored to be in the works, he demurred and said he’s just concentrating on playing ball.

Gerald Green offered nothing but platitudes to a variety of questions, which doesn’t mean anything about how he’ll play on the court but also offers zero insight into what makes him tick.

The Wolves head out to Turkey and won’t be back for a couple of weeks. By then, the sifting of the roster will have begun. It is a shame, though perhaps financially understandable in these lean times for journalism, that neither the Strib nor the PiPress are sending their beat writer along.

The media were invited to Champs for a little lunch and hunch three days before the official media day this coming Friday. Coach Randy Wittman and VP Kevin McHale leaned against tables in the front of the room and took questions from about two dozen media folk. Here’s what I gleaned from the 45 minute affair.

* McHale likes this team a lot better than the past two or three because they are young, teachable and will play the way he has always wanted the Wolves to play. Today he and Wittman talked about the need to get to the free throw line and pound the offensive glass. McHale likened rebounding to a running game in football, a crucial fundamental that separates the contenders from the pretenders.

* Don’t be surprised to see Al Jefferson play some center this season. Not surprisingly, Jefferson is one of the reasons for McHale’s upbeat demeanor. Comparing AJ and KG, McHale said, “Kevin was a freak of nature. Al is more of a prototypical low post player; he wants to bang you…We haven’t ever had a smashmouth guy, someone who will put his shoulder down and get to the rim…Al doesn’t shoot the same way twice, he just does what it takes to put the ball in the hole…if you’re making shots from twenty feet away, the [opposing] coach will tell you to get a hand up in his face, if you’re making shots from three feet away the coach says we need to double-team. That opens things up.”

So why might AJ play the 5? Because McHale also loves Craig Smith and Ryan Gomes. McHale on Smith: “He’s a matchup nightmare, a unique guy…in our league if you’re odd and give [opponents]something people don’t see [you have an advantage]. He’s got strength and quickness…he can be a really good player in our league for a long time.” As for Gomes, McHale calls him a banger too (one of his favorite compliments) and then flat out says “I love what I see out of Ryan Gomes.”

* Wittman is directly comparing this Wolves squad to the Chicago Bulls of two and three years ago. “We’ve got eight guys under 24 years of age. Hopefully two and a half or three of them will step up and become all star caliber playhers. That’s what Chicago has gone through…they had three guys who emerged and they were able to trade Chandler and Curry and now they are very competitive…we’re looking for a similar thing.” Later, when it came to the unhappiness of Juwan Howard, Witt didn’t deny Juwan was bummed about the KG trade, but appropriately said the reasons they wanted Howard around are just as relevant pre- and post-KG. “Howard should look at what PJ Brown did with Chicago,” Witt continued, noting that he played the good teammate, the veteran glue guy, “and now he has his choice to play with Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio…” Translation: We’re not trading your ass this year but if you’re a solid presence on the court and in the locker room, we’ll see if we can send you someplace you might pick up a ring next year.

* Wittman is not using youth as an excuse for a poor record this season. He points out that Jefferson, Gomes, Green and Telfair are all in their 3rd or 4th year and that Foye and Smith “had good years last year and didn’t back down…so it is not like we have eight guys who just came out of high school…we have the ability to compete in this league…with the talent we do possess we are going to win some games.”

Then McHale chimed in that sometimes young guys get too competitive with members of their own team, become too preoccupied with surmounting a teammate and then struggle, rather than coming together once the rotation is sorted out. While there is truth to this, it is also serving notice that there will be some tough winnowing out and some promising youngsters who think they deserve more time are going to be logging a lot of bench sitting. “You can’t play 10, 11, 12 guys. You’re really only going to play 8, 9 guys,” McHale declares.

* Given that view, my early handicapping would put minutes in for, in order, Jefferson, Foye, Davis, Smith, Brewer, and Gomes, with Jaric, Hassell, McCants, Blount, Green and Telfair on the bubble.

* Why is McCants downgraded? Strictly my interpretation, reading between the lines, but even when Wittman was talking about Shaddy in positive terms, there wasn’t a lot of enthusiasm and conviction behind it. Maybe it was because it was the first question of the afternoon and everyone was still getting warmed up, but there was just something tepid, to the point where Witt followed one sentence by conceding, “I didn’t see him his rookie year.” Yes he said some nice things about McCants, noting that his injury is “night and day from last year…he’s back to 100 percent…we finished near the bottom of the league in free throw attempts and he can help that…he’s been here all summer so [if he falls off] it won’t be for lack of effort…” But then McHale jumped in and claimed that McCants still doesn’t have that “crazy hop up,” adding that God puts people together best the first time and it is hard to come all the way back after such a significant injury.

* When someone mentioned that Davis could be a key to the season, Wittman replied that the “different things that went on last year can’t happen,” quickly amending it to mean he was addressing that to all the Wolves’ players, but it certainly wasn’t mere coincidence that the sentiment was raised in sync with RD. “We don’t have to put up with that this season, we’ve got 16 players,” Wittman reiterated. We’ll see.

* Asked about trades, McHale was less enthusiastic about it then when I posed the same question three weeks ago. But some guys may be looking to leave before too long. For example, McHale is truly excited about Gomes. And he genuinely is pleased with the opportunity to have drafted Brewer. So where is the world does Trenton Hassell fit on this team? He wasn’t mentioned by either Wittman or McHale; ditto Mark Blount.

The Kansas City Chiefs will be fortunate to win five games this season. And at the rate they are going, so will the Minnesota Vikings. Yesterday’s flop was the kind of tone-setter that evaporates a team’s fan base in a hurry. Other media folks who pay more attention, and are certainly more passionate, about the Vikes than I am, have already pointed out the silliness of keeping their only offensive weapon on the sidelines during their last possession. But where is the widespread umbrage over the absolutely pathetic performance of Bryant McKinnie, who was alternately manhandled and blown through by defensive end Jared Allen?

Allen’s line wasn’t too shabby–Eight tackles, two sacks, two pass deflections, three quarterback hurries and a forced fumble. He was without question the dominant player of the game, mostly at McKinnie’s expense. And when the Chiefs went to the primo pass rush late in the 4th quarter, Allen was moved inside, opposite Steve Hutchinson. Put simply, the Vikes once again got mashed at one of their precious few areas of supposed strength on offense. And, to bring this full circle, had McKinnie and Hutchinson not been so bedeviled by the heat (I’m offering up that excuse anyway), perhaps Coach Childress might have deigned to play Peterson even if he was a tad deficient in pass protection.

For the second week in a row, Cedric Griffin also got burned, once on the Chiefs touchdown and once when he missed a tackle that otherwise would have forced a punt and saved points. With Antoine Winfield having another strong game (even saving a potential touchdown by Drummond on a punt return), opponents will continue to flame Griffin until he improves or gets replaced.

I know this is beginning to sound like a rerun of my last Vikings diatribe, but that’s because the troubling problems are becoming chronic. To wit, the horrible, horrible receiving corps. Yes, the tight end Shiancoe had a really nice day, and caught that TD pass from Mewelde Moore plain as day. He’s got good hands and length–he’s no Kleinsasser. But the wideouts don’t get separation and don’t catch well in traffic–assuming the ballclub had a QB who could deliver the ball are the rate occasions they were open. And assuming the offensive line allowed the QB time to survey the field….

You get the drift. Brad Childress is threatening to become a trivia question destined to stump Vikings die-hards around about 2019. As in who was the coach in 2006 and 2007?

PS–for all you Wolves fans. I’ll throw something up sometime tomorrow or Wednesday after Tuesday afternoon luncheon with team officials.