Six Times in a Row...
Six Years that the Timberwolves have been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.
Then comes our chance for redemption - the offseason. We need to overhaul this team. No one's safe. We're going to be making deals like crazy. We're going to do the things that need to be done to get this team to the next level. We're going to....
...Be spectators instead of participants in the NBA Draft.
...Wave goodbye to Chauncey Billups as he heads to Detroit.
...Have our starting center request a trade to New York
...See a deal for Antonio Daniels slip by because of a stupid clause in a contract.
...Give Rodney Rogers a deal, only to have him go to New Jersey for less money.
...Not be able to work out a deal to get Andre Miller.
...Sign Ricky Davis to an offer sheet, and have it matched by the Cavaliers who get to keep him.
...Sign Rasho Nesterovic to a one-year deal, making him an urestricted free agent whom we may have to trade, or worse, lose and get nothing in return.
...Find out Terrell Brandon may never step foot on an NBA Court again.
Yeah, that's our chance for redemption all right. That's the few months that are going to turn this team around. That's the offseason that's going to make everything that I've wished for since I was nine come true...
That's the offseason that made me dread the upcoming NBA season. For the first time in twelve years, I wasn't looking forward to it. I wanted to go back to the days when KG and Steph were the next Stockton and Malone, before Brandon's sore knees, before the Joe Smith scandal, before Malik Sealy. Back to the days when being a Timberwolves fan was fun. Back when there was hope for better things. Instead I looked at a team who had quickly become the anti-Patriots. A team where wars in the locker room were fought, the coach was ignored, that actually had talent but couldn't focus it. And so I went where the grass was greener - New England. The Wolves were just a heartache, so why put myself through it for another 82 games? Keep track of the games, glance at the standings now and then, but don't set yourself up for another disappointment.
And then training camp started.
You ever watch "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"? You know that part at the end where Wonka starts yelling at Charlie and Grandpa Joe? "You Lose! Good day Sir!" And then Charlie puts the Everlasting Gobstopper on Wonka's desk.
Today Kevin Garnett came up to my desk and laid down his Everlasting Gobstopper.
"I'm ready. I can't even describe it. I feel like it's rookie season all over again, with the energy I have. You guys have been talking all that bull, so I'm ready to prove all you wrong. I'm here. Hey, when stuff got tight, when Steph [Marbury] left, I'm here. When we went through the draft pick [forfeitures], I'm here. When we got put out six years in a row, I'm here. I'm going to be here until they don't want me anymore. I'm 'Sota, man. This is where I live, 365 days. I'm here. Life is tough. You can't run from everything."
...So shines a good deed in a weary world...
The only thing that could have saved this team happened: Garnett is back. Finally. Kevin Garnett is finally back after two years. All the hurt, all the sorrow, all the pain is but a memory. He's finally moved on. There's no more mentor for him in Sam Mitchell. There's no more friend for him in Dean Garrett and Chauncey Billups. There's no more support from the Minnesota press. There's nothing left. Nothing left but himself. And now he's taken a look in the mirror and decided he doesn't like who he's been staring at, and it's time to change.
He can start October 30th.
That's the day when the lone wolf will lead his team on a journey to a place no other pack of Timberwolves have ever gone before: The Second Round, and Beyond.
