Jeremy: Can't... think... clearly...

Yesterday, before we knew that the Ron Artest trade to Sacto had fallen through, Jeff sent me an email saying things like "good thing we didn't need Ron-Ron," and talking about how frustrating things are as a Timberwolves fan right now. I couldn't agree more.
I've tried to sit down and write about the Wolves at least 3 or 4 times in the past week and everytime I try to do it I just get so frustrated that I have to stop. But I think the Pistons game last night proves so clearly that this team, this franchise as a whole, has absolutely no business being anywhere near the conversation when it comes to championship teams, and right now I'm not even sure they deserve to be mentioned in the list of possible playoff teams.
So I guess it's time to spew...
The Wolves played fantastic basketball in the first half last night... as the Pistons coasted. The second half told the story: if the Pistons aren't the favorite to win the NBA Championship, then I don't know who is.
The conversation has come up many times about the possibility of KG not being a Timberwolf next year and I have avoided that conversation at all costs. I can't even think about KG playing basketball with another uniform on. He's my favorite athlete of all time and it's not even close. He embodies everything that is good about sports, while consciously working against everything that is wrong with sports. He's a team-first guy, he makes everyone around him better, he makes an impact in absolutely all aspects of the game, he doesn't have a shoe contract with behemoth Nike, he is active in the community, he is charitable throughout the country, he doesn't speak badly about his teammates or his coach in public, he respects the history of the game, he takes winning and losing personally, he puts winning above personal stats, he's loyal, and he works his tail off every single night. I get a little bit sick to my stomach just thinking about seeing KG playing for another team.
Having said that, if KG does decide to leave, I can't blame him. Kevin McHale has given KG no reason to believe that he's willing to do whatever it takes to put the pieces in place around KG to win a championship, and Boss Taylor has given KG no reason to believe that he doesn't put all of his trust in McHale. I don't want to see KG leave town, but given all of the factors in place, I wouldn't blame him one bit if he did.
I heard an interview with Flip Saunders on the radio Monday night where Flip was talking about how Glen Taylor called him after last season, just a few months after Flip had been fired from the Wolves, and Taylor asked Flip if he'd be willing to come back and coach the Wolves. This was the first time that I had heard this had happened and it absolutely blew me away. Making a call like that to Flip absolutely wreaks of Taylor second guessing what had happened, and perhaps wondering if McHale should have been the one to go instead. I hope that's what was going on, because McHale should have been the one to go. And good for Flip Saunders for saying no and for landing in the best job in the NBA with the Pistons. I hope the Pistons win the championship, and I hope that in the process he tells us what he really thinks of Kevin McHale.
There are far too many problems over the years with this franchise to even list. But let's take a look back...
Letting Gugliotta go for a song.
Not getting enough in return for Marbury.
Drafting...
Donyell Marshall
Isiah Junior J.R. Rider
Chrisitan Laettner
Will Avery
Ndudi Ebi
Igor Rakocevic (what?)
Rick Rickert
Blake Stepp (who?)
Letting Chauncey Billups go (yeah, we didn't need him).
McHale deciding to coach the team for half a season.
Signing Joe Smith to multiple illegal contracts.
The Flip Saunders firing.
And let's go ahead and add "making Kevin McHale the GM" to the list.

Not pretty.
A note on Wally Szczerbiak. If anybody still thinks that Wally is good enough to be the second scoring option on a competative team... let's remember that Wally is currently our second scoring option, and not only that, but he's having the best season of his career. We are 19-20, we are third in the worst division in basketball, and we are not competative. Any questions?