Q&A with Canis Hoopus

What a cool night.  Tonight, the Suns Twitherain Nation will meet up at the Suns/Timberwolves game.  I’ll be there with my fiancee and my traditional Nash shirt/jersey.  Though I will be late coming from the Phoenix Convention Center.

I’m reminded of a “Tweet” from Phoenix Stan of Bright Side of the Sun that sums up all of my thoughts/questions…

Stan Tweets:  “Wonder what the tweet per minute rate will be @ Suns tweetup Fri. Everyone bringing their mobile tweeters? Will tweeple even talk w/ voice?”

For a preview of the game, I was lucky enough to secure a quick Q&A with ‘Stop-n-Pop’ of the awesome T-Wolves blog - Canis Hoopus.  Their blog is phenomenal.  I’m ordering all readers of this blog to check out this post by Stop-n-Pop about the potential off-season the Wolves could have (he’ll also touch on this in one of my questions).  Fantastic work.

Questions and answers below - be sure to read his answer about McHale which is classic.  For my response to their questions, click here.

Ben:  The Wolves had won 5 straight before losing by only 3 points to Miami.  What do you credit the most recent streak to?  Coaching?  Players?  Al Jefferson?

Canis Hoopus:  Surprisingly enough, Al Jefferson is pretty far down on the list of who this recent winning streak belongs to.  Don’t get me wrong, he has been playing well and this is still a team game, but the real stars of this turnaround are, in order, Randy Foye, Sebastian Telfair, Kevin Love, Rodney Carney, Ryan Gomes, Brian Cardinal, and Kevin McHale.  For the first time in his career as a Wolf, Al is playing on a team with a guy who is outperforming him (Foye).  At times he has stunted ball movement and his defense is, as always, subpar.  If anything, this team becomes better if he learns that 16/14 with solid ball movement and defense is better than 25/10 with matador action.  He needs to be less of a cornerstone than a supporting wall, if that makes any sense.  McHale has these guys playing loose and with confidence.  He may have been one of the worst front office personnel in all of professional sports but he has the makings of a pretty damn good NBA coach. The players really seem to respond to him and his motto of “games are for players and practices are for coaches” really seems to have hit home with this young group of guys.  I think Phoenix fans will be surprised to see that the Wolves are no longer a team that can be discounted for 3 quarters before their opponents turn on the jets and pull away in the 4th.  Of course, I have probably now jinxed the Wolves and this is exactly what will happen tonight in warm, warm Arizona (it’s -40 with the wind chill here in Minny as I write this).

Ben:  Talk about Kevin Love and his progress this season.  Is anyone calling for O.J. Mayo back?

Canis Hoopus:  There is still quite a contingent of fans who are upset about the Mayo trade but I think that even they would be hard pressed to say that Kevin Love isn’t a good player.  Most of the fuss with the Mayo trade had to do with two things: bad feelings from the Roy/Foye trade and Mayo’s incredible start.  Now that O.J.’s numbers are starting to come back to earth (while he is logging some pretty insane minutes for a rookie), Foye is establishing himself, and Love is starting to carve out a niche while improving at a fairly obvious clip, I think more and more people are comfortable with the deal.  Love has really come on of late.  Early this year he simply couldn’t finish near the rim.  In the past 3-4 weeks he has increased the number of passes he makes out of the deep-post, taken and made more mid-range jumpers, and finished well around the rim.  Over his last 5 games he is averaging 10.6 points and 11 rebounds (3.4 of them on the offensive end) in just over 22 minutes of action per game.  He is an absolute crowd-pleaser with his hustle and knack for the ball.  He is also developing his much-talked-about outlet passing to the NBA game, frequently getting the ball in the hands of a PG near 1/2 court with a running start.  If he continues to develop his mid-range jumper while keeping his current rebound rates, the Wolves drafted themselves an upper level front court player.  He’s a possession extending machine. The Suns’ big men will have to be on top of their rebounding games against Love.  He has the makings of an elite, elite Howard/Rodman-esque rebounder.  Seriously, if you’re in to rebounds, he’s the bee’s knees. 

Ben:  What do fans in Minnesota really think of Kevin McHale as a coach?

Canis Hoopus:  Have you ever had absinthe?  Even though you know the aftertaste sucks (seriously, it’s anise-flavored), and that you will likely have a hangover, you enjoy it while it lasts because it’s carefree and fun…even though it’s really no different than other high grade liquors in terms of what it brings to the table.  This team still is built on the backs of many a McHale blunder and many fans believe he will forever have the ear of owner Glen Taylor, but it’s hard to argue that he has them playing their best ball since the days of Dwane Casey and KG.  They just had their first 5 game win streak since December of 2005.  McHale ball is loose and open; there are a lot less sets and a whole lot more running.  It probably covers up many of the weaknesses of the assembled talent, thus allowing the front office to overvalue what they have and not do what needs to be done (cough…trade Mike Miller…cough) but it’s as much fun as we’ve had at the Target Center in a long, long time.  In the long run it probably will stunt the club and he’s probably not as good as someone like Flip Saunders or Sam Mitchell right now, but…well, we’ll just have to wait and see.

4.  How are the T-Wolves positioned long term?  Do you foresee any trades before the deadline?

Canis Hoopus:  If the Wolves are able to move Mike Miller (ideally with Brian Cardinal) before the trade deadline they will enter the off-season with up to four first rounders, two second rounders, between $15-20 million under the cap, and several very serviceable contracts that could be moved in a sign-and-trade.  Quite simply, they went from a roster with KG, Ricky Davis, Marc Blount, Greg Buckner, Marko Jaric, and other assorted nonsense to having tremendous flexibility on all fronts (draft, free agency, trade market) in less than 2 full calendar years.  With the way Miller has been performing this year (he hates to shoot the ball) I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility to see him traded to a team like the Cavs, Lakers, Blazers, or the Knicks; any team that could send back an expiring deal in exchange for a deal that ends before the big 2010 fiesta.  Beyond the draft and free agency, the Wolves have a fairly decent young core of Jefferson, Love, and Foye.  Hopefully, they can add a point guard and a SF in the off-season and we fans can look forward to a solid 5-8 year run in the playoffs. 

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