I Dislike Your Favorite Team

A few days ago when the T-Wolves sent away Ricky Davis & Mark Blount to get Antoine Walker, Wayne Simien, and Michael Doleac this blog noted with some alarm that Kevin McHale said,

"We have some other stuff that we're probably going to do inside this deal."

That other stuff has at once proven to be anti-climatic and somewhat angrifying. The Wolves are going to be buying out Juwan Howard's contact, who apparently thought when he came to Minnesota, he was doing it to finish his career alongside Kevin Garnett. Howard would not have been happy here, and the best thing to do for him would be to buy out his contact. However, a little long term planning may have saved the Wolves a good chunk of change--why did they bring here in the first place? Just to give him a few million dollars and send him on his way?

Wayne Simien is also on his way out, according to the Star-Tribune. This gets the roster down to 15 players, and certainly establishes a youth movement in Minnesota. We can agree that's a good thing as last year's team, even with Garnett, was mediocre at best. But one does not get the feeling that a whole lot of this was planned in advance.

Especially since of the 15 players on the roster, only 10 were able to finish practice on Saturday, with a couple of important players sitting with nagging injuries. Coach Wittman said, "We started running out of bodies, which sounds funny." Yeah, that's fucking hilarious.

Star-Trib blogger/reporter Jerry Zgoda has been watching the team, and the single best news from him was probably this observation:

Al Jefferson, if he stays healthy and the Wolves can sign him to a long-term contract extension by Wednesday or next summer, will make the Kevin Garnett deal look lopsided within five years. He proved during the preseason — with a 17.9 point, 13.4 rebound, 31 minute average — that he’s the foundation of the team’s rebuilding.

Let's hope the Braintrust gets that contract done sooner than later.