"Kyle, where have you been."
Well, imaginary reader, first off, it's great to hear from you again.
You probably haven’t been waiting for any columns lately, because well, it’s been a pretty long time. But we are getting back to it. Not to use excuses (but that's exactly what I'm going to do), but Summer League, the NBA Draft and the free-agency has had us pretty busy here at the office.
A free-agency column would have been great, but it’s tough to examine the period without breaking any of the league’s moratorium rules. I love you guys and writing this column, but hey, someone’s got to pay the bills.
I’m going to introduce a new format to the column. Will it be a permanent thing? I don’t know. Will it last just this week? Possibly. I’m open to change. Will I never write another column until October? COMPLETELY POSSIBLE!
Each week (every Tuesday), I’ll discuss three NBA topics – one involving the Minnesota Timberwolves because you know, they sign my checks and again, someone has to pay the bills.
And then I will go into three non-basketball topics. While we live and breathe basketball each and every day at Timberwolves.com, we’ll try to get away from that a bit and get into some other discussions. I’ll take suggestions from the fine folks on Twitter. Yes, you too, Trolls. Even though this is how I feel about you most of the time:
Without further delay, let’s get into this week’s column.
Bennett Tearing It Up At Pan Am Games
Yes, I know it’s the Pan Am Games. When you look at, say, America’s roster. I mean, Anthony Randolph is on the team. This doesn’t exactly scream “GOLD MEDAL!” The team ended up taking bronze, which is certainly an achievement, but you can’t compare the competition to anything like the FIBA Championships or the Olympics. It’s like comparing apples to three-month old grapes that you left in the backseat of your 2004 Chevy Impala.
With that being said, Team Canada (the hosting country), took silver. Timberwolves fans probably noticed Anthony Bennett’s name on the roster. Many probably thought to themselves, “Okay, Anthony. Do well in this. Get your confidence back up. Training Camp is right around the corner.”
Bennett is a former No. 1 pick who hasn’t lived up to the hype. We know that. His first year in Cleveland was a disaster. After being traded to the Wolves, he showed glimpses, but injuries got in the way of his development. And now here we are heading into Year 3.
We shouldn’t read too much into this. Like I said, it’s the Pan Am Games. But Bennett’s performance over the course of five games was pretty impressive. The forward averaged 15.6 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. Against Team USA, Bennett finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds, nearly half of what Team USA hauled in (29).
Wolves fans are hopeful it's a sign of things to come and that Bennett can find his way into Flip Saudners' rotation.
You can check out all of Bennett’s stats by checking out the Pan Am website.
And if you want to write about his performance, don’t waste time by looking at the box scores, which would take at least 10 minutes. Instead just copy and paste it from Timberwolves.com.
[[{"fid":"40885","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"type":"media","attributes":{"class":"media-element file-default"}}]]
JK ESPN. Appreciate the love.
Becky Hammon The Head Coach?
I had a blast at Summer League. Was seven days five days too long to be in Las Vegas? Yep.
Things got so bad that I played the Titanic slot machine. How dumb can I be? NEVER BET ON THE TITANIC!
But we created tons of great content and got to watch basketball for a week. I mean, things could be worse.
My biggest regret? Not being able to chat with Becky Hammon on being the first female Summer League head coach. It was okay because a lot of other people were able to.
It was great to see her and the Spurs win Summer League. Is it a bit sad that we’re so excited for this? Probably. Someone coaching or doing whatever they want to shouldn’t have to end in an applause because of a person’s gender. Instead it should be because of a person’s accomplishments.
But here we are and Hammon certainly deserves an applause. There have been reports that steam is picking up for Hammon to land a head coaching gig in the near future, which would obviously be a huge step for women, the NBA, pro sports and our society as a whole.
Right now, she’s in a perfect place. The San Antonio Spurs have been a model franchise for a good part of the last 20 years.
The Spurs hired her for the right reasons. Not to sell tickets. Not to grab headlines. But to win basketball games.
What Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich told Tom Tolbert sums it up:
What Should We Expect From The Lakers?
By the looks of that, probably not much chemistry. I love how Lou Williams looks at Roy Hibbert for advice on how to answer without it being awkward. Which it was. And why does Hibbert look like he just saw the ghost of George Mikan?
This is a team that plans on playing Williams, Bryant, Nick Young, Jordan Clarkson and D’Angelo Russell for at least 15 minutes per game – one would think at least.
A reminder that there is only one ball, which might be a problem for these volume shooters.
Shots per game in 2014-15:
Williams: 11.6
Bryant: 20.4
Young: 11.3
Clarkson: 10.1
Russell (college stats): 14.7
Total: 68.1
The league average for shots in a game was 83.5 last season.
This is going to be fun and there’s a good chance Kobe seriously hurts someone. Swaggy P is the favorite.
Non-Basketball Thoughts
Vikings Training Camp
It seems like everyone is going in on the Vikings to make a big run in the NFC North this season. As a Minnesotan, I know that expectations are dangerous. I’m not sure what year it was, but ESPN’s Peter Gammons picked the Twins to win the World Series. The Twins didn’t make the playoffs that year.
I think Teddy Bridgewater is the real deal and obviously having Adrian Peterson back will help a ton. The biggest question mark, in my mind, will be the offensive line. Matt Kalil needs to have a solid season. I plan on heading down sometime next week to watch. I attended Minnesota State Universtiy-Mankato for four years and my neighbor for two of those years was Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen. A lot of wiffle ball was played. Best of luck to AT in camp.
Still waiting on that jersey, Adam.
Who Do The Twins Do Now?
I watched Tuesday night’s meltdown against the Pittsburgh Pirates. And wow. I might have chugged a beer right after the game to get the taste out of my mouth. Actually, I absolutely did that.
The Twins need another arm in the bullpen. Do they give up a top prospect for another arm? No. This wasn’t supposed to be the year the team was supposed to contend, but here we are and the Twins are slotted for the second wild card. For them to not be buyers at the deadline would be foolish.
The team could also use a shortstop, but if Terry Ryan and Paul Molitor still think Danny Santana is the future, it makes things tough.
The team would love to trade the 2015 Danny Santana for the 2014 Danny Santana.
Last season through July: 57-182, .313 BA, 4 HR, 12 2Bs, 22 RBI, 6 SB
This season through July: 54-247, .219 BA, 0 HR, 10 2Bs, 20 RBI, 7 SB
He’s struggling. Some of those stats don’t look far off from last year, but he’s had 65 more at bats. They’ve got to get him going.
Hometown Kid
I would to give a bit shout out to the St. Cloud Times and Mitchell Hansen for featuring me in their sports section on Saturday and Sunday. Not sure I deserve the attention. Hansen is one heck of a writer for his age (still in college) and he’s going places.
I mention my hometown of Cold Spring a few times. St. Cloud is about 15 minutes from Cold Spring and I actually used to be an intern at the paper in high school.
If you ever drive through Cold Spring on Highway 23, make sure you stop by The Side Bar & Grill, buy $20 worth of pull tabs and get a beer from Third Street Brewery. You won’t regret it.
Unless you don’t win. Then I guess you probably would regret it, huh? Maybe just stick with the beer, if you’re 21 that is.
That's all I've got for this week. As always, thanks for reading. Enjoy your week.