So, I'm not hearing good things about the Wolves on draft night.
123 thoughts on “June 28, 2013: Draft Class”
Since I don't really follow basketball much, I was trying to read up a little on the Wolves draft choices. This article contains the following line about Shabazz Muhammed:
But there's no questioning his talent.
The Timberwolves have their own _elmon!
So, yeah, the mock drafts were not even close to being right, but I will point out that SI had them taking Shabazz, albeit at 9.
At least we can enjoy Kevin Love's farewell tour next year.
Has anyone here had a sudden problem develop with their throwing motion? I went out to softball practice last night and developed the yips. I either throw the ball straight into the ground or I release it too early in overcompensation. I've never had an issue throwing a ball. It's a pretty disconcerting feeling.
*looks up from clipboard*
<best doctor voice>
I fear it's Jonesitis.
< /best doctor voice>
But seriously, that's weird. I bet you're just in your own head. Bunches of studies have shown that things like throwing a ball or free throws are best done an an automatic level without much thought. I don't know how exactly to overcome it, but I think start by throwing a nerf ball into the trash can from like 5 feet and just work back as you get more comfortable.
Steve Blass disease.
Rick Ankiel disease.
Chuck Knoblauch disease.
I can't speak from personal experience because I've never been able to throw straight.
That's been going on for me since I transitioned from baseball to softball - just can't find a good release point.
My advice is similar to Mags except that I use bucket of junk softballs and throw at the backstop. Start at 10 feet and try to repeatedly hit the same 3'x3' square a half-dozen times, move back 10 feet and repeat. At about 2nd base, I try to increase velocity and maintain accuracy - then I play catch with someone in the same manner.
This works pretty well and, to his point, as it becomes more "automatic" I get more accurate...I also play a lot of outfield so I worry less about pin-point accuracy.
I'd also suggest different arm angles -- it's not like you're pitching or anything. Toss some sidearm for a while, and mix it up.
I had to change my arm angle due to elbow pain after throwing hard. I used to be sidearm, now I'm trying to stay with the directly over-the-top approach.
It's definitely made me work on accuracy, since it's not easy adjusting after 30 years of throwing one way, but completely worth it to not have to ice my arm after playing a couple games.
I save sidearm strictly for warm ups, and for across infield throws -- usually only the in-a-hurry ones, otherwise I try to keep stuff up at 1 o'clock, especially long throws. I also have an accurate behind-the-back throw, but that's exclusively for warm ups 😉
Heh. I tried to throw it sidearm and the result was far worse. Seriously, kinda concerning.
Back to basics, then. No full follow-through, just leave your hand/fingers pointing where you are throwing, and have your release point near the end of your throw. Not much power in doing that, but it's a start.
It might not be your arm or release. When I coach kids, when they are having trouble throwing it accurately, more often than not, it is their feet that aren't set right. Make sure you are balanced and you are stepping in the direction you are throwing. Also, don't lob it over there. Let it go and watch where your hand ends up if you still aren't throwing accurately.
There's no way in hell I'll get it right, but the value of exchanging 5 minutes of my time which is essentially free vs. a potential $5.6M is worth a go.
Sounds like fun. I did a Quick Pick and then modified a few before saving. I cut-n-pasted to a Word doc so I can keep a running tally in case the KC game gets slow. Looks like potential WGOM bragging rights on the line
OOoh, a WGOM contest sounds like fun. I'll run it if you want. If everyone can copy/paste their picks into a document and email me at acm006 [at g mail] (psst, those are zeroes) I'll make up a spreadsheet.
sent from my work address.
Ooh, I entered, but will go back and find my entry.
The disappointment of not getting KCP aside, that draft night was awesome. It was unpredictable, there were trades galore, David Stern was great, Bill Simmons got into a pissing match with Doc Rivers... Awe. Some.
2013-14 season?
Can't. Wait.
And hey, at least Charlotte is more embarassing.
Michael Jordan apparently knows nothing about basketball. Somewhere, Jerry Krause is laughing his head off.
Ted Williams was a terrible manager. Sometimes the all-time greats don't know how to live among the merely good and draft/coach them.
I've always felt that the best managers aren't the ones for which things came naturally, but the ones that had to work to get where they were. Don't ask me to explain Gardy, though.
Jerry West: all-time great player, all-time great GM.
An exception that proves the rule? I don't know, but Larry Bird seems to be pretty good at being a front office dude.
Being a player and being a GM requires two different skill sets, for sure. Rare is the guy that has both. The thing about Jordan, though, was that as a player, he was so openly disdainful of Jerry Krause, who it must be said, did a pretty good job of putting together players around Jordan*. It appears that Krause was a lot better at his job than Jordan ever knew, but unless he completely lacking in self-awareness, he must know it now.
*He did not, however, draft Jordan. He just acquired every other player on those championship teams besides Jordan.
Well, you're talking front office, and that's not to say that a gifted athlete might not also have a business acumen, like you say. I'm talking primarily from a managing/coaching aspect.
Slightly different, but I think that the same sentiments apply. Managing is different skill set from playing.
Joe Torre was an exception. Frank Robinson.
Ted Williams was actually a pretty decent manager at first.
New POBO, same old problems. This franchise is diseased, and the fish rots from the head. As long as Glen Taylor chooses not to take this seriously, and instead surrounds himself with his country club members, any success the team has will be by accident.
Despite our misgivings about Flip, and especially the way he was hired, we can be forgiven for engaging in some modicum of hope after the reign of Kahn. That hope, for me at least, was dashed last night in a draft where it looked like they could not mess it up, but still found a way.
Go Wolves.
If everybody's draft wish list is "Not Shabazz", and then that happens, people are bound to get a little grumpy. I know I was. It doesn't help that just a couple of months ago I watched the Vikings get everything they wanted in their draft, so I was used to that.
They may be overreacting quite a bit though. One article says he "should have been a second rounder at best". I don't think he was an incredible reach at 14. I just don't think the Wolves should have been at 14 to begin with.
This was my thought - but once KCP was gone, I did not know what to expect. I also think that Saunders being "candid" about the pick and "one of us" will allow him to avoid a lot of criticism from the casaul T-Wolves fan.
True followers of this club have to know that it had to be Shabazz. I mean, think about it. The Goofers couldn't find their ass with both hands last year, they limped into the tournament and then flat out embarrass Shabazz. Flip is a Goofer alum. He had to have seen that game. Of course he saw it. Of course he knew how terrible the Goofers were. Of course. They were so bad that they had to buy out Tubby. But, they handed it to Shabazz's UCLA team and he sucked hard.
They wanted KCP, who would have filled a huge need. In true T-Wolves fashion, he's taken off the board one pick before they get to choose. So, you go back and look at the results at the end of the season. They were two games better than Detroit and that included a win over Detroit late in the season AND a blowout win in the last game of the season against some schlubs from San Antonio. (Oh, and they blew San Antonio out twice in the last two months.) Always, always one spot short.
So, in a rational world, he's got to say, I'd rather trade out of the first round than take him. But, the Wolves don't live in a rational world. They live in a world of gross incompetence. They hired Flip, who's greatest claim to fame was that he was the coach when the Wolves had a top, what, 25 player of all time in his prime. His results in other situations are less flattering (and hey, they didn't exactly get to great heights when KG was the best player in the world). So, they take Shabazz as was their destiny. And apologize for it!
Embrace it. Embrace it. The combination of bad luck and ineptitude is almost unparalleled.
Lets also not forget that the Wolves once again, for the millionth straight time, failed to improve their lottery position.
Also, don't forget how awesome all those mid-range shots will be when Flip takes over as coach two thirds of the way through the year.
Ugh, seriously, Glen Taylor needs to just take the next offer for the team.
As a Wolves fan, it is easy for me to advocate this, but I still think they should base draft position off of the last time you made the playoffs. That way finishing one spot out of the playoffs is no worse than finishing last and teams have every incentive to play well during the year. I also think it'd be really hard to convince a team to tank if they're in contention for a playoff spot.
If you're trying to help hard luck teams improve, this definitely seems like a superior way to do it than the current system. Seems like there should then be a rule that if you get, like, three #1's in a row under that rule you are automatically required to fire anyone involved in roster decisions.
Yeah, not to mention that you would get some high picks on your way to getting the first #1 pick.
Actually, if you were really worried about teams getting a ton of #1s, you could set the rule such that the order was determined by the last time you made the playoffs OR the last time you picked first, whichever happened more recently. This would give a big incentive to the team picking first to improve immediately, since they would pick 14th at best the next year.
Yeah. As it is right now, a team fighting for a playoff spot has a choice of playing the No. 1 seed in the first round and having no chance at improving your draft position, or missing the playoffs and having a very small chance at the first pick. I guess the view would depend on how strong the No. 1 seed is, how well the teams are playing at the end of the season, and how good the expected top player available is.
I guess, right now, it doesn't seem to me that teams tank if they are close to a playoff spot at the end of the year, but some teams definitely tank if they are out of playoff contention early on. I probably make it out to be a bigger problem than it is, but it seems somewhat cruel to subject long-suffering fan bases to the lottery rather than eventually giving them the #1 pick.
Yeah, I like the idea of it being based on more than one season. A team could be good for a while and then get old, so it trades players away midseason to get better draft position and have plenty of room for signing free agents as well. With so few players on each team, an NBA team could transform itself quickly that way.
The most painful part of KCP was that apparently in a post-draft interview he seemed to be disappointed he wasn't going to the Wolves. Think about that. Not only did the player they want go one pick before them, for once that guy really wanted to be a Wolf. Awful.
(pssst, Boss... bullish is actually a term of optimism/positivity. the word you want is bearish.)
I used it ironically (I'm not just saying that).
Ha, gotcha. I've personally had to look it up about a hundred times to remember which is which, so I guess I like to imagine that it's difficult for everybody else too.
put a little money in the market, and bullish/bearish comes pretty naturally in a short while
Wall St. has a gigantic statue of a bull, so that's how I remember that's the good one. Even Wall St. wouldn't put a statue of the bad one out front.
Also Merrill Lynch's logo is a bull, but I tend to remember the statue first because I've seen it,
And you haven't seen Merrill Lynch's logo?
Obviously I've seen it, or I wouldn't have mentioned it. If I worked for Merrill Lynch, I might use that, but having seen and touched the bull statue makes that more forward in my mind.
Just giving you grief...
Yep, I use the big statue of the bull to remember, too.
Philo: like I'm gonna use logos to remember.
Do they drink Pepsi in South Korea? Was it invented there? No, because logos lie.
I <3 hugging bears!
So does Padre.
He is the bear.
YES.
Bears are cool.
Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes the bar eats you.
Harper brings up some good points about roster management and using the draft to open up cap space
If my math is correct here (and it’s 3am so it might not be), the Wolves saved roughly $3.8 million.
hopefully allowing for a Budinger resigning.
I hope he's right about Bazz and I think it makes sense to give them a season to see how it works, but drafting a conscienceless chucker is usually the wrong response to any situation.
You mean you don't want the second coming of Super Cool Beas?
That's exactly what I expect to happen, too.
At least Kahn only gave up a second-rounder for SCB.
My hope is a Bud resigning too.
drafting a conscienceless chucker is usually the wrong response to any situation.
Especially after the team recently had Beasley. Apparently, Flip was paying attention to other things during that time period.
Super Cool Bazz?
Ugh- I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
make the tat parlor reservation!
I agree with the focus on process, how do you end up where they did if there is a good process in place? The Wolves went from the #9 and 26 picks and ended up with #14, 21, and cash. Do the Wolves still need money to pay Kahn for going away?
It is hard to wash away the images of the complete pile Shabazz laid on the court in the tournament game against the Gophers. He reminded me of Austin Rivers heading into the draft, where the pre-college reputation was driving the perception. But hey, who doesn't want a sub-40% shooting guard that can average 6 ppg as a rookie?!?
I'm gonna be a bit more neutral on this whole thing. The "experts" obviously knew nothing about this draft, except that Otto Porter would go third. I don't particularly like Shabazz Muhammad, based largely on watching him suck in one game, but ....
Here are the last 10 guys drafted 14th:
2012: John Henson, Milwaukee. Played 13 min/g for a mediocre team as a rookie.
2011: Marcus Morris, Houston. Combined, he and his twin Markieff get starter minutes in Phoenix.
2010: Patrick Patterson, Houston. Solid, rotation guy.
2009: Earl Clark, Phoenix. Journeyman, with his 4th club in 4 years.
2008: Anthony Randolph, GS. Journeyman. 4 teams in 5 years.
2007: Al Thornton, Clippers. Productive player for 3 years. Out of the league since 2010-11.
2006: Ronnie Brewer, Utah. Had a couple productive years, but career looks about over at 27.
2005: Shaddy McCants, Minnesota. Le sigh.
2004: Kris Humphries, Utah. Useful player who had to grow into that role.
2003: Luke Ridnour, Seattle. Another useful player.
The point is that, while "good" players can be had at 14, the expectation should probably be "journeyman". And the Wolves got a guy at 14 that some mocks thought might be taken in the top 10.
So the real question is did the Wolves get sufficient value by trading down for two picks lower in the first round? By slot, I'd say "possibly". Given Flip's options, I'd say "probably." Even though I think Trey Burke is going to be a very good player in this league, while I doubt whether Muhammad and Dieng, combined, will ever be worth as much.
The twitters tell me that long-time Twins clubhouse attendant Wayne Hattaway had a stroke yesterday. He's apparently doing well, though, and hopes to be out of the hospital in a few days.
One other note: Longtime clubhouse attendant Wayne "Big Fella" Hattaway was taken to a hospital yesterday after feeling dizzy during the game, and he spent the night there. He's expected to be released today, however.
Hopefully, the Twitters just jumped the gun (that never happens, does it?) and it wasn't an actual stroke.
Twas the night before Gibson, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even Clete Thomas.
The jock straps were hung by the clubbies with care,
In hopes that Kyle Gibson soon would be there
Saturday's game will not be on TV in the Kansas City area.
The BTS spreadsheet is coming along. So far I have it where there's a master list of every player chosen that can be updated if/when they get a hit. That will automatically update everyone's picks and output the correct number of picks onto the leaderboard.
I haven't figured out how to auto-query GameDay data yet, so I may just update things manually. IF that turns out to be the case, I may open that up to crowdsourcing since were at 156 players selected and counting.
Also, the BTS contest closes at 5:05 Eastern/4:05 Central on MLB.com, so get your picks in. I'll give you until 6:00 Eastern to get your picks emailed to me.
I haven’t figured out how to auto-query GameDay data yet
All balls-in-play are stored in inning_hit.xml files. There are only so many games (I think there's an index for each day that Gameday uses), which will keep the number of files to parse manageable. Trivial to fetch and parse them in JavaScript, but you need to be able to map the MLBAM IDs to names. Fortunately, a Rosetta Stone for baseball ID systems exists, but I don't remember details (Ted Turocy was managing it last I recall).
I found the directory for all the .xml files earlier, but I haven't figured how to download them, parse them, then get the data into Google Drive all with as little
I just found the IMPORTXML command in Google Drive. I'm gonna see what I can make that do.
I can't get this to work, and OpenOffice doesn't have an importXML function in it. Unless you can pull something outta your ass, looks like I"m gonna update these manually.
I'm just as curious about who actually plays, let alone who hits.
We should give bonus points for a pinch hit, or XBH, etc.
Yeah. I figured it would be hard to get all 57 players at-bats, let alone hits. Maybe bonus for getting every player at least 1 AB to make it theoretically possible to get the jackpot.
Unfortunately, we bought them a new amethyst hangar, so they're not going anywhere.
I wonder which team is wants Glen Perkins? (tweet from yesterday)
Buster Olney @Buster_ESPN
If the Twins ever made Glen Perkins available in the trade market, there would be a major bidding war.
...
Glen Perkins is a dominant left-handed closer. His contract also augments his value: will make $2.5m, $3.75m, $3.75m, $4.5 team option 2016.
seems a bit weird for Olney to float out the name Glen Perkins. Maybe Im just paranoid and also dont want the Twins to trade him.
A local guy? I think he's safe.
If the return is right, I'll take the trade. Seems like closers can often garner a greater return than relief pitchers are generally worth. At least, Bill Smith gave me that impression.
Well, that's the thing. I'm not particularly anxious to trade Perkins, but the question always is "What can you get for him?" I certainly wouldn't trade him just to trade him, but if you can get enough for him, you do it.
Oh yeah. It seems like most relievers are replaced fairly easily. Perkins definitely doesn't fall into that class. The idea of a bidding war seems tempting though. Not since Santana have we been on this end of one...
Didn't exactly work that great, though. The Twins should be contenders by at least Perkins' final year of a very affordable contract. The Twins need to be blown away by an offer. I doubt they would want to trade away an All-Star level player that is a local kid, either. He's also popular for his online presence and his willingness to do mid-game interviews, etc.
At most, Santana elicited a bidding skirmish. Certainly nothing close to a war.
It was irony.
Jeez, I'm just not hitting on this stuff today, am I?
Don't blame yourself. Some of us are just struggling with irony recognition today.
I think it would have to be a big return, but sure, everyone has a price. Perkins is a valuable relief pitcher and that's a very team-friendly contract.
2. Miguel Sano, 3B, Minnesota Twins: The only player with power similar to Gallo's is Sano, a highly touted prospect, a movie star and now co-headliner of the most fortunate organization around: the Twins. They bumped Sano up to Double-A recently, and with Trevor Plouffe nobody's idea of an effective defensive third baseman, Sano should arrive early next season. Watch his: Swing's leverage. From toe-tap to extension, Sano uses his hips as well as any hitter in the minor leagues.
1. Byron Buxton, CF, Minnesota Twins: He hits home runs. He makes diving catches. He runs to first base in under four seconds from the right side. He is the most exciting man at the Futures Game. And Buxton, the No. 2 pick in last season's draft, has claimed one other title, too: best prospect in baseball. Watch his: Everything. Just everything.
If you want in on the BTS contest, you have 3 minutes to email me. Current players:
AMR
Rhu_Ru
DPWY
SoCal
Philo
MagUidhir
Beau
Freealonzo
I got hits from my two White Sox already and both my Indians!
So I signed up to do this. Not only did I not get my list to you in time, I only selected 56. Ugggggggh. In the unlikely event I went 56/56, I'd throw up.
Have been doing (too much) travel last four weeks. Ugh.
Time to check in here for an anecdote.
I was in Minny four weeks ago. Had a rental, but NBBW took it back because she had some work meetings. So I took out the 4Runner at Scandia to clear out the carbon, run some errands.
Was kinda running hard, so I figured maybe the gas was iffy. I took it to get some fresh gas.
Am in Hugo re-fueling, when a Wash. Cty trooper pulls up.
He: Hey Fella.
Me: Yeah?
He: Your tags are a couple of years old.
Me: (Gulp) Oh, God. ( I explain I live in CT, wanted to get some fresh gas, etc.).
He: (Looking at my black T-shirt, which displays NY Trooper Duathlon headline plus logo of NY Troopers). Yeah, you might want to get that taken care of.
Me: Will do, right away.
Last week I did the Police Triathlon in Carmel, NY. Their T-shirt is even better: Police Triathlon - Detective Badge.
Woo, Washington county.
yep - this for sure. also, scandia/hugo close to my new digs...gimme a heads-up next time.
Mos def!
I have lots of speed limit respect for the roads around Hugo. Troopers galore, and I think a local cop patrols the stretch from 61 to Olinda Trail on County Rd 4.
Jazz night at the local pizzeria. 100+ degrees. Only one of the sax players (not the Girl) got light-headed and almost fainted. On the plus side, said pizzeria was selling this for $3 per PITCHER because they were "trying to get rid of it". I obliged. It was much better than "okay," particularly at that price point.
weather forecast is for the middle-100s for the next week. Woo hoo. Good thing I hydrated.
I like the Displayed for educational use only; do not reuse.
That was such a complete beatdown, it was almost hard to watch. Almost.
You can get 10% service connected for tinnitis which there is no test for. Just tell 'em your ears are ringing and it's practically automatic.
When I worked at the VA, the most fraud we saw was for PTSD. The biggest tipoff is when people talk about flashbacks, which are extremely rare. I interviewed one guy who seemed to be telling me his symptoms from a script.
Since I don't really follow basketball much, I was trying to read up a little on the Wolves draft choices. This article contains the following line about Shabazz Muhammed:
The Timberwolves have their own _elmon!
So, yeah, the mock drafts were not even close to being right, but I will point out that SI had them taking Shabazz, albeit at 9.
At least we can enjoy Kevin Love's farewell tour next year.
This Gif made me laugh out loud.
Has anyone here had a sudden problem develop with their throwing motion? I went out to softball practice last night and developed the yips. I either throw the ball straight into the ground or I release it too early in overcompensation. I've never had an issue throwing a ball. It's a pretty disconcerting feeling.
*looks up from clipboard*
<best doctor voice>
I fear it's Jonesitis.
< /best doctor voice>
But seriously, that's weird. I bet you're just in your own head. Bunches of studies have shown that things like throwing a ball or free throws are best done an an automatic level without much thought. I don't know how exactly to overcome it, but I think start by throwing a nerf ball into the trash can from like 5 feet and just work back as you get more comfortable.
Steve Blass disease.
Rick Ankiel disease.
Chuck Knoblauch disease.
I can't speak from personal experience because I've never been able to throw straight.
That's been going on for me since I transitioned from baseball to softball - just can't find a good release point.
My advice is similar to Mags except that I use bucket of junk softballs and throw at the backstop. Start at 10 feet and try to repeatedly hit the same 3'x3' square a half-dozen times, move back 10 feet and repeat. At about 2nd base, I try to increase velocity and maintain accuracy - then I play catch with someone in the same manner.
This works pretty well and, to his point, as it becomes more "automatic" I get more accurate...I also play a lot of outfield so I worry less about pin-point accuracy.
I'd also suggest different arm angles -- it's not like you're pitching or anything. Toss some sidearm for a while, and mix it up.
I had to change my arm angle due to elbow pain after throwing hard. I used to be sidearm, now I'm trying to stay with the directly over-the-top approach.
It's definitely made me work on accuracy, since it's not easy adjusting after 30 years of throwing one way, but completely worth it to not have to ice my arm after playing a couple games.
I save sidearm strictly for warm ups, and for across infield throws -- usually only the in-a-hurry ones, otherwise I try to keep stuff up at 1 o'clock, especially long throws. I also have an accurate behind-the-back throw, but that's exclusively for warm ups 😉
Heh. I tried to throw it sidearm and the result was far worse. Seriously, kinda concerning.
Back to basics, then. No full follow-through, just leave your hand/fingers pointing where you are throwing, and have your release point near the end of your throw. Not much power in doing that, but it's a start.
It might not be your arm or release. When I coach kids, when they are having trouble throwing it accurately, more often than not, it is their feet that aren't set right. Make sure you are balanced and you are stepping in the direction you are throwing. Also, don't lob it over there. Let it go and watch where your hand ends up if you still aren't throwing accurately.
New Beat the Streak game - Today only, pick 57 players to get a hit. If they all do, you win $5.6M.
There's no way in hell I'll get it right, but the value of exchanging 5 minutes of my time which is essentially free vs. a potential $5.6M is worth a go.
Sounds like fun. I did a Quick Pick and then modified a few before saving. I cut-n-pasted to a Word doc so I can keep a running tally in case the KC game gets slow. Looks like potential WGOM bragging rights on the line
OOoh, a WGOM contest sounds like fun. I'll run it if you want. If everyone can copy/paste their picks into a document and email me at acm006 [at g mail] (psst, those are zeroes) I'll make up a spreadsheet.
sent from my work address.
Ooh, I entered, but will go back and find my entry.
The disappointment of not getting KCP aside, that draft night was awesome. It was unpredictable, there were trades galore, David Stern was great, Bill Simmons got into a pissing match with Doc Rivers... Awe. Some.
2013-14 season?
Can't. Wait.
And hey, at least Charlotte is more embarassing.
Michael Jordan apparently knows nothing about basketball. Somewhere, Jerry Krause is laughing his head off.
Ted Williams was a terrible manager. Sometimes the all-time greats don't know how to live among the merely good and draft/coach them.
I've always felt that the best managers aren't the ones for which things came naturally, but the ones that had to work to get where they were. Don't ask me to explain Gardy, though.
Jerry West: all-time great player, all-time great GM.
An exception that proves the rule? I don't know, but Larry Bird seems to be pretty good at being a front office dude.
Being a player and being a GM requires two different skill sets, for sure. Rare is the guy that has both. The thing about Jordan, though, was that as a player, he was so openly disdainful of Jerry Krause, who it must be said, did a pretty good job of putting together players around Jordan*. It appears that Krause was a lot better at his job than Jordan ever knew, but unless he completely lacking in self-awareness, he must know it now.
*He did not, however, draft Jordan. He just acquired every other player on those championship teams besides Jordan.
Well, you're talking front office, and that's not to say that a gifted athlete might not also have a business acumen, like you say. I'm talking primarily from a managing/coaching aspect.
Slightly different, but I think that the same sentiments apply. Managing is different skill set from playing.
Joe Torre was an exception. Frank Robinson.
Ted Williams was actually a pretty decent manager at first.
but could he manage in the dugout?
😛
Canis Hoopus is bullish:
If everybody's draft wish list is "Not Shabazz", and then that happens, people are bound to get a little grumpy. I know I was. It doesn't help that just a couple of months ago I watched the Vikings get everything they wanted in their draft, so I was used to that.
They may be overreacting quite a bit though. One article says he "should have been a second rounder at best". I don't think he was an incredible reach at 14. I just don't think the Wolves should have been at 14 to begin with.
This was my thought - but once KCP was gone, I did not know what to expect. I also think that Saunders being "candid" about the pick and "one of us" will allow him to avoid a lot of criticism from the casaul T-Wolves fan.
True followers of this club have to know that it had to be Shabazz. I mean, think about it. The Goofers couldn't find their ass with both hands last year, they limped into the tournament and then flat out embarrass Shabazz. Flip is a Goofer alum. He had to have seen that game. Of course he saw it. Of course he knew how terrible the Goofers were. Of course. They were so bad that they had to buy out Tubby. But, they handed it to Shabazz's UCLA team and he sucked hard.
They wanted KCP, who would have filled a huge need. In true T-Wolves fashion, he's taken off the board one pick before they get to choose. So, you go back and look at the results at the end of the season. They were two games better than Detroit and that included a win over Detroit late in the season AND a blowout win in the last game of the season against some schlubs from San Antonio. (Oh, and they blew San Antonio out twice in the last two months.) Always, always one spot short.
So, in a rational world, he's got to say, I'd rather trade out of the first round than take him. But, the Wolves don't live in a rational world. They live in a world of gross incompetence. They hired Flip, who's greatest claim to fame was that he was the coach when the Wolves had a top, what, 25 player of all time in his prime. His results in other situations are less flattering (and hey, they didn't exactly get to great heights when KG was the best player in the world). So, they take Shabazz as was their destiny. And apologize for it!
Embrace it. Embrace it. The combination of bad luck and ineptitude is almost unparalleled.
Lets also not forget that the Wolves once again, for the millionth straight time, failed to improve their lottery position.
Also, don't forget how awesome all those mid-range shots will be when Flip takes over as coach two thirds of the way through the year.
Ugh, seriously, Glen Taylor needs to just take the next offer for the team.
As a Wolves fan, it is easy for me to advocate this, but I still think they should base draft position off of the last time you made the playoffs. That way finishing one spot out of the playoffs is no worse than finishing last and teams have every incentive to play well during the year. I also think it'd be really hard to convince a team to tank if they're in contention for a playoff spot.
If you're trying to help hard luck teams improve, this definitely seems like a superior way to do it than the current system. Seems like there should then be a rule that if you get, like, three #1's in a row under that rule you are automatically required to fire anyone involved in roster decisions.
Yeah, not to mention that you would get some high picks on your way to getting the first #1 pick.
Actually, if you were really worried about teams getting a ton of #1s, you could set the rule such that the order was determined by the last time you made the playoffs OR the last time you picked first, whichever happened more recently. This would give a big incentive to the team picking first to improve immediately, since they would pick 14th at best the next year.
Yeah. As it is right now, a team fighting for a playoff spot has a choice of playing the No. 1 seed in the first round and having no chance at improving your draft position, or missing the playoffs and having a very small chance at the first pick. I guess the view would depend on how strong the No. 1 seed is, how well the teams are playing at the end of the season, and how good the expected top player available is.
I guess, right now, it doesn't seem to me that teams tank if they are close to a playoff spot at the end of the year, but some teams definitely tank if they are out of playoff contention early on. I probably make it out to be a bigger problem than it is, but it seems somewhat cruel to subject long-suffering fan bases to the lottery rather than eventually giving them the #1 pick.
Yeah, I like the idea of it being based on more than one season. A team could be good for a while and then get old, so it trades players away midseason to get better draft position and have plenty of room for signing free agents as well. With so few players on each team, an NBA team could transform itself quickly that way.
The most painful part of KCP was that apparently in a post-draft interview he seemed to be disappointed he wasn't going to the Wolves. Think about that. Not only did the player they want go one pick before them, for once that guy really wanted to be a Wolf. Awful.
(pssst, Boss... bullish is actually a term of optimism/positivity. the word you want is bearish.)
I used it ironically (I'm not just saying that).
Ha, gotcha. I've personally had to look it up about a hundred times to remember which is which, so I guess I like to imagine that it's difficult for everybody else too.
put a little money in the market, and bullish/bearish comes pretty naturally in a short while
Wall St. has a gigantic statue of a bull, so that's how I remember that's the good one. Even Wall St. wouldn't put a statue of the bad one out front.
Also Merrill Lynch's logo is a bull, but I tend to remember the statue first because I've seen it,
And you haven't seen Merrill Lynch's logo?
Obviously I've seen it, or I wouldn't have mentioned it. If I worked for Merrill Lynch, I might use that, but having seen and touched the bull statue makes that more forward in my mind.
Just giving you grief...
Yep, I use the big statue of the bull to remember, too.
Philo: like I'm gonna use logos to remember.
Do they drink Pepsi in South Korea? Was it invented there? No, because logos lie.
I <3 hugging bears!
So does Padre.
He is the bear.
YES.
Bears are cool.
Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes the bar eats you.
One charges and the other hibernates.
I think apoplectic might be even more accurate.
Zach Harper at AWAW likes, although I think I disagree with just about everything he says in this one. (Maybe except for the stuff about Dieng, who I know nothing about.)
Harper brings up some good points about roster management and using the draft to open up cap space
hopefully allowing for a Budinger resigning.
I hope he's right about Bazz and I think it makes sense to give them a season to see how it works, but drafting a conscienceless chucker is usually the wrong response to any situation.
You mean you don't want the second coming of Super Cool Beas?
That's exactly what I expect to happen, too.
At least Kahn only gave up a second-rounder for SCB.
My hope is a Bud resigning too.
drafting a conscienceless chucker is usually the wrong response to any situation.
Especially after the team recently had Beasley. Apparently, Flip was paying attention to other things during that time period.
Super Cool Bazz?
Ugh- I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
make the tat parlor reservation!
I agree with the focus on process, how do you end up where they did if there is a good process in place? The Wolves went from the #9 and 26 picks and ended up with #14, 21, and cash. Do the Wolves still need money to pay Kahn for going away?
It is hard to wash away the images of the complete pile Shabazz laid on the court in the tournament game against the Gophers. He reminded me of Austin Rivers heading into the draft, where the pre-college reputation was driving the perception. But hey, who doesn't want a sub-40% shooting guard that can average 6 ppg as a rookie?!?
I'm gonna be a bit more neutral on this whole thing. The "experts" obviously knew nothing about this draft, except that Otto Porter would go third. I don't particularly like Shabazz Muhammad, based largely on watching him suck in one game, but ....
Here are the last 10 guys drafted 14th:
2012: John Henson, Milwaukee. Played 13 min/g for a mediocre team as a rookie.
2011: Marcus Morris, Houston. Combined, he and his twin Markieff get starter minutes in Phoenix.
2010: Patrick Patterson, Houston. Solid, rotation guy.
2009: Earl Clark, Phoenix. Journeyman, with his 4th club in 4 years.
2008: Anthony Randolph, GS. Journeyman. 4 teams in 5 years.
2007: Al Thornton, Clippers. Productive player for 3 years. Out of the league since 2010-11.
2006: Ronnie Brewer, Utah. Had a couple productive years, but career looks about over at 27.
2005: Shaddy McCants, Minnesota. Le sigh.
2004: Kris Humphries, Utah. Useful player who had to grow into that role.
2003: Luke Ridnour, Seattle. Another useful player.
The point is that, while "good" players can be had at 14, the expectation should probably be "journeyman". And the Wolves got a guy at 14 that some mocks thought might be taken in the top 10.
So the real question is did the Wolves get sufficient value by trading down for two picks lower in the first round? By slot, I'd say "possibly". Given Flip's options, I'd say "probably." Even though I think Trey Burke is going to be a very good player in this league, while I doubt whether Muhammad and Dieng, combined, will ever be worth as much.
Minnesota Twins Pitchers Proving that No Arm Surgery Is Minor.
Or: Minnesota Twins Pitchers Proving that No Arm Surgery Is Minor.
Thanks. Not sure what happened there.
The twitters tell me that long-time Twins clubhouse attendant Wayne Hattaway had a stroke yesterday. He's apparently doing well, though, and hopes to be out of the hospital in a few days.
as good an excuse as any to link back to this great Brad Zellar/City Pages piece on Hattaway.
From Phil Miller:
Hopefully, the Twitters just jumped the gun (that never happens, does it?) and it wasn't an actual stroke.
Whoa! KG and Pierce to be traded to the Nets.
The amount of luxury tax the Nets are going to be paying is hilarious.
jason kidd is coaching?
Whoa, what the? I didn't read the whole thing the first time I opened it. That's craziness.
I learned that last night on the draft coverage. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who missed that.
That was announced at the same time his retirement was announced right after the season was over.
Twas the Night Before Gibson
Saturday's game will not be on TV in the Kansas City area.
Boo.
John Sickles profile of Max Kepler
The BTS spreadsheet is coming along. So far I have it where there's a master list of every player chosen that can be updated if/when they get a hit. That will automatically update everyone's picks and output the correct number of picks onto the leaderboard.
I haven't figured out how to auto-query GameDay data yet, so I may just update things manually. IF that turns out to be the case, I may open that up to crowdsourcing since were at 156 players selected and counting.
Also, the BTS contest closes at 5:05 Eastern/4:05 Central on MLB.com, so get your picks in. I'll give you until 6:00 Eastern to get your picks emailed to me.
I haven’t figured out how to auto-query GameDay data yet
All balls-in-play are stored in inning_hit.xml files. There are only so many games (I think there's an index for each day that Gameday uses), which will keep the number of files to parse manageable. Trivial to fetch and parse them in JavaScript, but you need to be able to map the MLBAM IDs to names. Fortunately, a Rosetta Stone for baseball ID systems exists, but I don't remember details (Ted Turocy was managing it last I recall).
I found the directory for all the .xml files earlier, but I haven't figured how to download them, parse them, then get the data into Google Drive all with as little
I just found the IMPORTXML command in Google Drive. I'm gonna see what I can make that do.
I can't get this to work, and OpenOffice doesn't have an importXML function in it. Unless you can pull something outta your ass, looks like I"m gonna update these manually.
I'm just as curious about who actually plays, let alone who hits.
We should give bonus points for a pinch hit, or XBH, etc.
Yeah. I figured it would be hard to get all 57 players at-bats, let alone hits. Maybe bonus for getting every player at least 1 AB to make it theoretically possible to get the jackpot.
You can check starting lineups here.
Go Vikes!
Unfortunately, we bought them a new amethyst hangar, so they're not going anywhere.
I wonder which team is wants Glen Perkins? (tweet from yesterday)
...
seems a bit weird for Olney to float out the name Glen Perkins. Maybe Im just paranoid and also dont want the Twins to trade him.
A local guy? I think he's safe.
If the return is right, I'll take the trade. Seems like closers can often garner a greater return than relief pitchers are generally worth. At least, Bill Smith gave me that impression.
Well, that's the thing. I'm not particularly anxious to trade Perkins, but the question always is "What can you get for him?" I certainly wouldn't trade him just to trade him, but if you can get enough for him, you do it.
Oh yeah. It seems like most relievers are replaced fairly easily. Perkins definitely doesn't fall into that class. The idea of a bidding war seems tempting though. Not since Santana have we been on this end of one...
Didn't exactly work that great, though. The Twins should be contenders by at least Perkins' final year of a very affordable contract. The Twins need to be blown away by an offer. I doubt they would want to trade away an All-Star level player that is a local kid, either. He's also popular for his online presence and his willingness to do mid-game interviews, etc.
At most, Santana elicited a bidding skirmish. Certainly nothing close to a war.
It was irony.
Jeez, I'm just not hitting on this stuff today, am I?
Don't blame yourself. Some of us are just struggling with irony recognition today.
Alanis Morissette likes this.
Sure. But I've whiffed more than twice now.
I think it would have to be a big return, but sure, everyone has a price. Perkins is a valuable relief pitcher and that's a very team-friendly contract.
Jeff Passan ranks Buxton and Sano as the two most exciting players to watch at the Futures Game.
If you want in on the BTS contest, you have 3 minutes to email me. Current players:
AMR
Rhu_Ru
DPWY
SoCal
Philo
MagUidhir
Beau
Freealonzo
I got hits from my two White Sox already and both my Indians!
You are out to a roaring lead. BTS specific post here
So I signed up to do this. Not only did I not get my list to you in time, I only selected 56. Ugggggggh. In the unlikely event I went 56/56, I'd throw up.
Have been doing (too much) travel last four weeks. Ugh.
Time to check in here for an anecdote.
I was in Minny four weeks ago. Had a rental, but NBBW took it back because she had some work meetings. So I took out the 4Runner at Scandia to clear out the carbon, run some errands.
Was kinda running hard, so I figured maybe the gas was iffy. I took it to get some fresh gas.
Am in Hugo re-fueling, when a Wash. Cty trooper pulls up.
He: Hey Fella.
Me: Yeah?
He: Your tags are a couple of years old.
Me: (Gulp) Oh, God. ( I explain I live in CT, wanted to get some fresh gas, etc.).
He: (Looking at my black T-shirt, which displays NY Trooper Duathlon headline plus logo of NY Troopers). Yeah, you might want to get that taken care of.
Me: Will do, right away.
Last week I did the Police Triathlon in Carmel, NY. Their T-shirt is even better: Police Triathlon - Detective Badge.
Woo, Washington county.
yep - this for sure. also, scandia/hugo close to my new digs...gimme a heads-up next time.
Mos def!
I have lots of speed limit respect for the roads around Hugo. Troopers galore, and I think a local cop patrols the stretch from 61 to Olinda Trail on County Rd 4.
Jazz night at the local pizzeria. 100+ degrees. Only one of the sax players (not the Girl) got light-headed and almost fainted. On the plus side, said pizzeria was selling this for $3 per PITCHER because they were "trying to get rid of it". I obliged. It was much better than "okay," particularly at that price point.
weather forecast is for the middle-100s for the next week. Woo hoo. Good thing I hydrated.
I like the Displayed for educational use only; do not reuse.
fair use!
BOOM.
Tammy Duckworth sacks "disabled" veteran.
That was such a complete beatdown, it was almost hard to watch. Almost.
You can get 10% service connected for tinnitis which there is no test for. Just tell 'em your ears are ringing and it's practically automatic.
When I worked at the VA, the most fraud we saw was for PTSD. The biggest tipoff is when people talk about flashbacks, which are extremely rare. I interviewed one guy who seemed to be telling me his symptoms from a script.