Wolves 2015-16: The Freshmen Class of '15

Alternate logo (2008-present) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After years of bad ping pong ball mojo and NBA draft picks that never really worked out, the Minnesota Timberwolves made the most of the first number one draft pick they've ever had.  They chose Karl-Anthony Towns of Kentucky to help lead them out of the NBA wilderness.

That wasn't the biggest surprise coach Flip Saunders (wearing his President of Basketball Operations hat) would pull off Thursday night, considering that every basketball pundit from ESPN on down predicted that the Wolves would take Towns.  No, the honor went to Tyus Jones, for whom the Wolves traded two second round draft picks to the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Oh, and Jones just happens to be from the Twin Cities suburb of Apple Valley.  How convenient.

Towns gives Minnesota something they've been sorely lacking--a 6'11 center who can play defense.  James is a 6'1 point guard, the kind the team doesn't need at this time because they already have Ricky Rubio.  But since Rubio hasn't made the impact the Wolves had hoped for because of injuries, Saunders must think that having Jones around might light a fire under Rubio if he doesn't get traded first.

Both Towns and Jones came from the "one and done" world that college basketball has become, leaving after their freshmen years to enter the NBA draft.  Towns was part of a Kentucky Wildcat team that went undefeated for nearly an entire season, until they lost to Wisconsin at the NCAA Men's Final Four in Indianapolis last spring.  The Badgers proceeded to lose the national championship game to Duke . . . and Tyus Jones.

While visions of playoffs and NBA championships dance in the heads of Wolves' fans, it should be noted that Karl-Anthony Towns and Tyus Jones are joining Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine as part of one of the youngest lineups in the league.  Meaning it should be quite awhile before they show any kind of progress, and by then they should feel confident enough to leave Minnesota and win their championships somewhere else.  Because that's how the Timberwolves roll--as a development team for the NBA's creme-de-la-creme.  And it's not in Minnesota.

Golden Warriors

Wizards v/s Warriors 03/02/11 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Golden State Warriors and their fans had been waiting 40 years for another chance at an NBA title.  The wait ended Tuesday night when the Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 105-97, winning their Finals series four games to two.

The Warriors had a big season, dominating the Western Conference with a 67-15 regular season record.  Novice coach and former TV analyst Steve Kerr got plenty of help from Stephen Curry (who scored 25 points in Game 6), Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala.  Their playoff run took them past the New Orleans Pelicans, Memphis Grizzlies and Houston Rockets.

As for the Cavs, their Eastern Conference playoffs went through the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks with minimal effort.

When LeBron James came back to Cleveland after his championship sojourn in Miami, he was expected to bring a title to a city that hasn't seen one in over 50 years.  He almost did it single-handedly, scoring a triple-double (32 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists) in Game 6.  Some said James should have been the playoff MVP, an honor that ultimately went to Iguodala.

James had to be a one-man team when Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love went out of the playoffs with injuries.  But you can't win championships when the starting lineup consists of one superstar and four other guys.

The San Francisco Bay Area now has two teams that have won pro sports championships in the past nine months, with the Giants winning baseball's World Series last October.  The Warriors seem likely to make a long run at the top with the talent they've got, provided they remain healthy.

Cleveland?  They're still waiting.

Blackhawks On The Six

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For the Chicago Blackhawks, their number this season was six.  They are an Original Six NHL franchise (though Keith Olbermann of ESPN disputes that) who have now won six Stanley Cups in its history, three of them in the past six years.

It took the Hawks six games to clear the final hurdle against the Tampa Bay Lightning, with a 2-0 win at United Center in Chicago to take the series four games to two.  Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith, who was named winner of the Conn Smythe trophy for being MVP of the playoffs, scored one goal each.

This was a tight series, with all but one game--the last one--being decided by one goal.   Corey Crawford of the Hawks and Ben Bishop of the Lightning were both solid in goal, though there were times when Bishop's on-ice behavior was so erratic that you wondered what was really going on with him.

Both teams' road to the finals were daunting, but no less doable.  The Blackhawks' Western Conference path went through the Nashville Predators, Minnesota Wild and Anaheim Ducks. (They benefited from not having to play the defending champion Los Angeles Kings, who missed the playoffs this year.)  Tampa Bay's Eastern Conference journey went through three of the Original Six teams--Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers.  They couldn't get past the fourth.

There's no reason why the Chicago Blackhawks can't go for a seventh Stanley Cup--or more.  The core players of Kane, Keith, Jonathan Toews and others, along with coach Joel Quenneville, are all signed up for the next few years.  So don't be surprised if Lord Stanley's Cup continues to take up residence in the Windy City for the rest of this decade.

Lynx 2015: Hiding In Plain Sight

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The Minnesota Lynx won their first two games of the 2015 WNBA season over the Tulsa Shock at home, and the Indiana Fever on the road.  With the NBA and NHL playoffs going on and the Twins playing better these days, most of you probably didn't notice.

The core regulars for the two-time league champions are all back:  Seimoine Augustus, Lindsay Whalen, Maya Moore and Rebekkah Brunson.  Janel McCarville is not.  She has chosen to take the season off to allow her body to heal after a grueling season of playing in Europe, or so the team says.

Unlike most professional athletes, women pro basketball players such as Augustus, Whalen and Moore play year-round not just in the WNBA and in international competitions like the Olympics, but overseas as well.  It's mainly because the WNBA is a summertime league that doesn't pay nearly as well as those in Europe or China.  The end result is that all that playing is bound to take a toll on their bodies, so the older these athletes get the more likely it is that they need time off.

Take the defending WNBA champion Phoenix Mercury, whose biggest star Diana Taurasi isn't playing this season because the Russian team she's contracted to for winter ball is paying her to sit out.  This may have been an understandable decision on Taurasi's part, but it doesn't make her or the WNBA look good.

Neither does domestic violence.  Brittney Griner of the Mercury is currently serving a seven-game suspension for an incident involving her and her married partner Glory Johnson, who just happens to play for the Shock.

The league's image has also taken a hit when the New York Liberty announced that Isiah Thomas has been brought in as president and part-owner.  Thomas, who has earned the everlasting enmity of Knicks fans for screwing up that franchise over the past few years, also happens to have had sexual harassment problems that make it hard for anyone to understand (beyond Liberty management) why he's the best choice to run a women's pro basketball team.

Back to the Lynx.  They may have won two titles, and are always a threat to win another with the collection of talent they've got.  But unless you buy a ticket to a game at Target Center, your chances of seeing them on TV are few and far between.

Fox Sports North currently holds the local TV rights to Lynx games.  Because the Twins take priority on the station during the summer, Lynx telecasts have to be scheduled on days when there's no baseball.   All others are either shown nationally on ESPN2 and NBA TV, or streaming live on the WNBA's website.

It's not as if FSN spends much money on covering the Lynx in the few games they do show.  The regular announcing crew of Marney Gellner and Lea B. Olson sometimes gives way to coverage provided by some of Fox Sports' other regional networks, even if the game is at home.

The Lynx are again the favorites to challenge for the WNBA title.  Our advice is to see this team as much as you possibly can, before age and time makes some of the players decide that taking a season off might be a good idea for them too.