I find this funny……….sports

A couple years ago I posted about the major sports teams in town. Well at the time I gave the Timberwolves the respect they deserved….I ignored them. So a couple guys come on here and rip me saying the Wolves are a major sport, lots of people follow them, lots of people go to games, blah,blah blah.

Fast forward to THIS WEEK and the Wolves get the #1 pick in the Covid draft and not a word. Nothing, zip, nada. They are a franchise that is propped up by the corporate ticket sales and the TV contract. Nobody (or very few) ever actually buys a ticket and very few even care. I suspect they could pack up and leave town (maybe they already have ) and it would be a couple months before anybody noticed. In fact a person could probably argue they are the #5 team in town falling behind the soccer team over in St. Paul.

Disagree here. When the timberpuppys had Garnett the fans were there. It takes a star and well run franchise to define fan interest. Look at Milwacky. They have the greatest player in the world and fan interest couldnt be higher. Winning breeds fan interest. Winning takes star players.

that team with Garnett, Marbury and Sprewell were fun to watch. but its been one disaster after another since then. i think they will start getting better soon. there young and have new leadership.

i will watch them but i dont set my schedule around it.

glenn57 wrote:

that team with Garnett, Marbury and Sprewell were fun to watch. but its been one disaster after another since then. i think they will start getting better soon. there young and have new leadership.

i will watch them but i dont set my schedule around it.

Seems even the glory years are distorted. Spree never played with KG and Marbury.

I love basketball and played alot growing up and in college. My wife played D1. we go to many HS and college games with our boys. Cannot stomach the pro game. Only reason we watch is because our teenager is a fan. we wait til black Friday and buy half price tickets to take them to one game a year. Fun in the arena, just can’t stand the style of play.

It’ll be interesting to see if the Freak stays in Milwaukee. I think the only way stars will stay here is if they are foreign born. Dallas is doing it right for a non major basketball market. IMO

Giannis isn’t staying in Milwaukee unless they get to the finals. Anything short of that and he’s gone. Many think he would sign a 1+1 contract to stay with a player option as the biggest stars have done often. This would’ve made sense pre-Covid. Now major sports may see their first reduced salary cap/s in years to come.

The NBA has to get a handle on the big market teams taking any and every star to play with other stars. There are about 6-8 teams in the league that matter, and the rest are either losing or grooming talent to leave.

Been watching highlights of the top college prospects and checking on the trwde gossip at least twice a day since the lottery. I think your major flawed premise here is that because no one posted about it on IDO its not true.

On the contrary, right now IS the “hay day” for HS basketball for MN and WI. Real NBA talent is right here. Jalen Suggs, Chet Holmgren, Tyler Herro, Jalen Johnson, Micheal Foster and Patrick Baldwin will all be bonifide NBA players if not All-Stars.

And not one will be a Gopher or Badger.

Dutchboy wrote:

Nobody (or very few) ever actually buys a ticket and very few even care.

Well, I cannot speak for nobody but I can say that yes…when I lived in Minneapolis I’d buy tickets using my own money a handful of times each season.

I’m not the biggest NBA fan but I do follow and truly enjoyed the atmosphere and watching live games at Target Center.

They commonly offered ticket deals of some sort which made attending the more affordable compared to the other pro sports. Of course any savings I would spend on beer.

Probably you weren’t paying attention either when they had Jimmy Butler a couple years ago making their playoff push, sellouts had finally returned to Target Center.

So…obviously there are more than you think who actually care.

Basketball? Did you just call Basketball a sport? MEH
No single league scrapes the bottom of the Barrel like Basketball.
It should be renamed BuddyBall.
The players decide which friend will best help me win. Has nothing to do with developing a team.
Go back to the street ball pickup games and leave.

Dutchboy wrote:

A couple years ago I posted about the major sports teams in town. Well at the time I gave the Timberwolves the respect they deserved….I ignored them. So a couple guys come on here and rip me saying the Wolves are a major sport, lots of people follow them, lots of people go to games, blah,blah blah.

Fast forward to THIS WEEK and the Wolves get the #1 pick in the Covid draft and not a word. Nothing, zip, nada. They are a franchise that is propped up by the corporate ticket sales and the TV contract. Nobody (or very few) ever actually buys a ticket and very few even care. I suspect they could pack up and leave town (maybe they already have ) and it would be a couple months before anybody noticed. In fact a person could probably argue they are the #5 team in town falling behind the soccer team over in St. Paul.

Couldn’t agree more. I almost posted the same thing after the draft. The wolves have 0 chance of ever winning a title unless they get lucky and draft a player like the bucks have and even then they still only have a slight chance to do something before the player leaves. There other chance would be in Seattle. I went to one game last year because I had to for work. I have been to high school games with more fans.

They got the #1 pick?? I wonder if Laettner is still available?

Been a fan since 89. Nobody is interested in NBA here on a fishing forum so why bother. I follow the league a bit but mostly the wolves. You want to talk wolves, I can contribute.
Stern blackballed Taylor for decades since the under the table Joe Smith signing. He fixed multiple lotteries and didn’t even hide his tracks. He even went as far as recommending Taylor to hire David Kahn to run the team when he was unfit for that role. Contributing to another decade of ineptitude. Taylor is an aweful owner but the current GM he hired is his greatest signing yet! They should build him a statue for conning GS to take on that lazy bum Wiggins and his contract while getting DLo in return. He purged the previous roster in just one year and this team is one piece away from the playoffs. Word is Booker may be that piece? I trust Rosas will make the right move in October and will trade the pick for Booker or use it on one of the rookies?
Anthony Edwards
Obi Toppin
James Wiseman
One of those will go #1

NFL….every game I can
Twins
Wolves
UFC

Don’t follow the other sports or care to. I mean who watches soccer? I will rarely go to a game at any pro venue but I still watch and follow the happenings. Wolves will be making some noise in a year or 2.

I’ve often wondered what it would be like to be like San Antonio, where they had franchise level players and one of the top 3 coaches for 20 years. What would my attitude be like toward the NBA if we had that? Because we’ve had the opposite, we had 1 franchise type player in 30 years, couldn’t keep him, and can’t draft to save our lives. The list of poor draft choices by this team in 30 years would take up an entire page.

Someday maybe we’ll turn this around, like Milwaukee has recently, and maybe just maybe I’ll pay attention. But my attitude toward the NBA is defined by this urine poor product we’ve had in town!

I was very little, and barely remember, but I went to a few of the playoff games back in ’04 , including Western conf. finals game 1 vs the lakers. Great seats, got to high five the players hands as they ran to and from the court. I’ve been hooked since then. I dont watch every game but I follow the NBA and the team very closely. First time the Wolves have ever moved up in the lottery. Sadly, them jumping up in the lottery and then winning it was about as much of an emotional high I have gotten from one of my sports teams.

Twolves have been awful for years for many, many reasons. Taylor selling the team will only help. And no, they arent going anywhere. The city just dropped $75 mil into Target center renovations and reupped their contract with the stadium until 2035.

KAT and Dlo are a fine start to a decent team. This is one of the weaker drafts in recent memory, but I can still about guarantee theres a future HOFer in there somewhere. For the first time I can remember, the Wolves have someone leading the team that actually deserves trust in Rosas. I’m cautiously optimistic about where this team is headed.

There was a buzz around the team with Butler was around. There was a short buzz when the Twolves acquired Dlo right before this covid crap began, there will be another buzz when the Wolves start to compete in the next few years. More and more fans will continue to come out of hiding soon!

Don’t follow the other sports or care to. I mean who watches soccer? I will rarely go to a game at any pro venue but I still watch and follow the happenings. Wolves will be making some noise in a year or 2.

They have been saying that since 82..

Remember when they were going to make some noise with Thibs and Jimmy Butler. Well they mad a lot of noise just for all the wrong reasons. They rebuild every three years and sell the wait two to 3 years thing since they have been in Minnesota.
Maybe they get lucky someday and draft a Giannis in the middle of the round and he makes them relevant.

TBRO I wouldn’t hold your breath it only cost them 50 million to get out of the target center lease. If the new owner if Glenn ever sells is not keeping a team here just because the city put some money into the arena. Not saying they will for sure leave but because the city spent money on target center done mean squat to a new owner. The way Minneapolis is going not sure there will be a lot of folks from outside the city that are going to want to head down there anytime soon.

They are definitely the fourth sports team in this town and if you throw in the U of M teams they probably tumble even further down the list.

When buckets got here, they made the playoffs. His hard work ethic didn’t rub off on KAT and that lazy bum Wiggz. Just unloading that bloated contract, which Taylor gave him, is light at the end of the tunnel.
I am actually excited to see them play next season. There are more wolves fans than people think. It is just hard to get them excited about a roster full of bums. Same could be said about the Twins during Gardy’s last stand.
Selling the team is also a step in the right direction.

Anyone berating the wolves because they have “no chance of ever winning a title” clearly doesn’t follow basketball. There are about 3 or 4 teams that have that honor each year and maybe 2 more new teams that look ready to ascend to that group and fail. Ultimately its rare that anyone other than those few dominant franchises wins a title. The NBA doesn’t enjoy the same level of parity that the NFL does and honestly its one of the major problems with the league. The issue is that unlike football where a whole team is needed to win, in basketball if you have a pair of dominant players you can beat the competition. And there are only about 15-20 such players in the world. Also in football it happens all the time in the playoffs that the worst team wins the match (see Packers). In basketball in a 5 or 7 game series the cream rises to the top

Fairweather fans, mostly.
Pretty simple.

crappie55369 wrote:

Anyone berating the wolves because they have “no chance of ever winning a title” clearly doesn’t follow basketball. There are about 3 or 4 teams that have that honor each year and maybe 2 more new teams that look ready to ascend to that group and fail. Ultimately its rare that anyone other than those few dominant franchises wins a title. The NBA doesn’t enjoy the same level of parity that the NFL does and honestly its one of the major problems with the league. The issue is that unlike football where a whole team is needed to win, in basketball if you have a pair of dominant players you can beat the competition. And there are only about 15-20 such players in the world. Also in football it happens all the time in the playoffs that the worst team wins the match (see Packers). In basketball in a 5 or 7 game series the cream rises to the top

I’d rather win as the worst team in the playoffs (see Packers) than lose as the best team (see vikings)….

crappie55369 wrote:

Anyone berating the wolves because they have “no chance of ever winning a title” clearly doesn’t follow basketball. There are about 3 or 4 teams that have that honor each year and maybe 2 more new teams that look ready to ascend to that group and fail. Ultimately its rare that anyone other than those few dominant franchises wins a title. The NBA doesn’t enjoy the same level of parity that the NFL does and honestly its one of the major problems with the league. The issue is that unlike football where a whole team is needed to win, in basketball if you have a pair of dominant players you can beat the competition. And there are only about 15-20 such players in the world. Also in football it happens all the time in the playoffs that the worst team wins the match (see Packers). In basketball in a 5 or 7 game series the cream rises to the top

Thanks for proving my point.

Ripjiggen wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>crappie55369 wrote:</div>
Anyone berating the wolves because they have “no chance of ever winning a title” clearly doesn’t follow basketball. There are about 3 or 4 teams that have that honor each year and maybe 2 more new teams that look ready to ascend to that group and fail. Ultimately its rare that anyone other than those few dominant franchises wins a title. The NBA doesn’t enjoy the same level of parity that the NFL does and honestly its one of the major problems with the league. The issue is that unlike football where a whole team is needed to win, in basketball if you have a pair of dominant players you can beat the competition. And there are only about 15-20 such players in the world. Also in football it happens all the time in the playoffs that the worst team wins the match (see Packers). In basketball in a 5 or 7 game series the cream rises to the top

Thanks for proving my point.

Idk if I would call another man’s opinion proof but sure. Btw the timberwolves didn’t become a franchise until 1989.

I meant 89…4 year old yelling at me kind of got distracted….

The NBA is completely geared toward positionless basketball. To be a true contender, you need a top 10 player in the league who plays multiple positions and at least one second tier all star to go with them. NBA draft picks have less and less value each year as it’s been increasingly proven you can win without depth but not without an All-NBA player or two. You have to find the one or two guys out of an entire draft class who will be more than role players if you aren’t a big time franchise (see Milwaukee).

If you don’t have one of these guys over the next couple years, you’re fighting a losing battle and are better off tanking:

LeBron
Giannis
Kawhi
Durant
Anthony Davis
Harden
Curry
Paul George
Doncic
Butler
Embiid
Tatum

KAT and Dlo are tier 2 and tier 3 all stars respectively. My gut tells me that’s never going to be better than a 6 or 7 seed in the West, but hopefully I’m wrong and more parity spreads through the league. The hard part about being an average NBA team is you rarely get to swing for a franchise saving star at the top of a draft.

greig john wrote:

Fairweather fans, mostly.
Pretty simple.

Kinda like the Vikings ..corporate buy out games.

Darren Wolfson was tweeting out some interesting numbers from Saturday. TV ratings from persons 25-54 saw the NBA destroying the NHL locally. He said that in his opinion there are more basketball fans in the cities than hockey fans. Twolves just havent put out a product worth watching to the casual fan in years.

Also a new suitor in talks with the Twolves. A former grizzly minority owner who sold his stake in ’18. Supposedly its been agreed upon that if the deal in finalized, he is required to keep the team in Minnesota. No idea how that would look in writing, though.

Keep in mind the NHL is playing in bubbles in other time zones. If the Wolves packed up and left I would never miss them. If the Wild packed up and left I would never miss them. If the Twins & Vikings left it would leave a hole in my day as I generally read about and follow both teams.

However with TV being what it is i’ll never set foot in another stadium unless it’s taking a grandkid to experience a professional game. If I need gameday action it will be college or high school. Everything in pro sports is just to fake and put on for me. Now with gambling coming to every venue it will only make it worse for me personally.

If others like a sport so be it.

Like all good reporters Wolfson reports what the team leaks and wants reported.

Timberwolves basketball talk on a fishing site?!

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