Final cuts were made today. USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo announced the 12 NBA players who will represent the United States at the 2010 FIBA World Championship.
Named to the 12-man 2010 USA World Championship Team were: Chauncey Billups (Denver Nuggets); Tyson Chandler (Dallas Mavericks); Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors); Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder); Rudy Gay (Memphis Grizzlies); Eric Gordon (Los Angeles Clippers); Danny Granger (Indiana Pacers); Andre Iguodala (Philadelphia 76ers); Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves); Lamar Odom (Los Angeles Lakers); Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls); and Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder).
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Yesterday, I busted out my list of NBA off-season winners. Today, it is time to call-out the losers who either made terrible off-season decisions or fell short in their attempt to achieve their goals. This list features a former king and one of the most written about and hated people at The Sports Bank.
By: David Kay
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It’s another edition of The Sports Bank’s podcast, The Deposit. Your host, Paul Schmidt, attempts to keep Peter Christian in line, which is under any circumstances a difficult feat. But give him free reign on his least favorite topic, Minnesota Timberwolves’ GM David Kahn, and the results are kind of special!
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I really don’t know what to say about Minnesota Timberwolves GM David Kahn. My T’Wolves blogger Peter Christian has really said it all. On multiple occasions. Kahn is a moron when it comes to social judgment, and evaluating talent. Here’s an extension of that sentence in many more words and harsher prose.
I have to hand it to NBA TV’s Chris Webber, he really handled this incident with aplomb. It’s not every day that someone takes one of the biggest draft busts in NBA history, a player who has not produced ANYTHING at the professional level, despite being taken #2 overall in his draft class, and compares him to you.
When you happen to be somebody with a 14 year NBA career that featured six All-Star appearances. And you’ve been ranked in the top 75 players of all-time by Bill Simmons’ “The Book of Basketball.”
By Paul M. Banks
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Al Jefferson swapped for draft picks and a trade exception? Really?
(I should note that the working title of this post was a directive aimed at David Kahn to not so gently make love to himself)
Since the day David Kahn was hired as the President of the Minnesota Timberwolves I stated plainly and loudly that he was the wrong man for the job. All Kahn has done in the 14 months since taking the reigns is prove me completely and totally right. But this is no “I told you so” article. (Well, maybe a little)
By Peter Christian
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There are so many words out there that have already trashed the indefensible signing of Darko Milicic so I don’t really need to. I do, however, need to take more than a few Wolves fans to task for having more than questionable judgement. As much as I thought this ridiculous move by David Kahn would finally unite all of us against him, a quick peek through some Timberwolves message boards has shown me that there is far more work to be done.
by Peter Christian
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Only one team in the Western Conference received a grade lower than a C-. Can you guess which team it was? Read this article by Peter Christian for an in-depth absolute bashing (and deservedly so) of what David Kahn did for the Timberwolves. Click on the team name for individual player grades.
Check out my Eastern Conference grades.
Click here to see my NBA Draft Trades Analysis.
By: David Kay
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That headline might seem a bit harsh. It’s probably an understatement. If David Kahn was a movie he would be “Spiderman 3.” He had a huge opportunity to start this offseason with a bang to build a foundation for a team that needs to be wrapping it’s rebuild up, not continuing to deconstruct. In expected fashion, Kahn disappointed Timberwolves fans by giving them a night of scratching their heads, shaking their heads and screaming obscenities at his bad decisions.
By Peter Christian
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There were ten trades made on draft day with most of the movement coming in the late first round. ESPN does such a poor job of explaining what is going on that you might be confused as to who ended up where. Luckily, David Kay is here to break down all the trades.
By: David Kay
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As a Minnesota Timberwolves fan there is only one way to describe my emotions for the 2010 NBA Draft (or any NBA Draft for that matter): Paralyzing fear. A combination of perceived ineptitude in the current front office, proven incompetence in previous front offices and some of the worst luck in the league has left most Timberwolves fans terrified at simply hearing the phrase, “NBA Draft.”
By Peter Christian
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The John Wall Lott, er, NBA Draft Lottery has come and gone. The Washington Wizards won. Thirteen other teams didn’t. However, one team’s loss of the lottery hurts them more than any of the other 12 losers. The Minnesota Timberwolves NEEDED to get the first or the second pick. That necessity however, is, of course, why the Wolves had no chance at landing one of the top two picks in this year’s draft. Needless to say, landing the 4th pick in this year’s draft means certain doom for anyone who had hopes that this draft class was going to turn the franchise around.
by Peter Christian
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Here we go for all the marbles!!! The winner of our bracket of douchitude will be either…
…The Chicago Bears Media Relations Department (Banks Regional Champion)
or
…Minnesota Timberwolves GM David Kahn (Peter Christian Regional Champion)
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Semifinal One:
The “Leprecaun F#$%er” Luke Harangody (Kay Regional Champion)
VS.
Minnesota Timberwolves GM David Kahn (PC Regional)
CAST YOUR VOTE BELOW
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By: David Kay
Antawn Jamison to Cleveland. Darko to Minnesota. One fan base is thinking trophy, the other remains tortured.
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By Jake McCormick
Synopsis:
Two words: Total domination.
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by Peter Christian
thecallouts@gmail.com
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We’ve traveled the journey of naming Call-Outs each week, to nominating the worst offenders of the year, paring down the nominees to semi-finalists and finalists and finally we are at the moment of truth. The announcement of the 1st Annual Call-Out of the Year Award (naming rights are currently in negotiations). We don’t have the budget of the Downtown Athletic Club to fly our finalists to sit on stage as we read their accomplishments so I’ll just tell you who the finalists are (or if you want to read them click here): Tiger Woods, Rick Reilly, the NHL and David Kahn.
We also don’t have a budget for a boring commercial break so we’ll get right to it….
The winner of the Kevin McHale Memorial (we got the negotiations done just in time) Call-Out of the Year Award is:
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By: Andy Weise
The first thing you try to do is at least establish that the guy had to be on the team for two full seasons. Not necessarily that he played all two full seasons but that was on the roster for at least two years. So good-bye Ricky Davis, you probably would have gotten a nod for the second team. It’s amazing how much turnover there constantly is within this franchise.
1st Team:
Coach: Flip Saunders – Fired when he supposedly lost the team, he went on to find success with an already built for winning team in Detroit and now has landed with the Washington Wizards. Saunders really developed a great relationship with Kevin Garnett as they grew together in the NBA from the mid 90′s until 2005. Saunders is the only coach to this date that has taken the Wolves into the playoffs.
PG: Sam Cassell – Cassell only spent two years in Minnesota but his first year in 2003-2004 helped Minnesota not only past the first round of the playoffs but also into the Western Conference Finals. As an all-star that year, he had the highest average of points per game during his career and gave the Wolves the deadly clutch shooter that had always needed. While the Wolves have had good point guard names in Marbury, Brandon and Billups, Cassell achieved the most success in his short stint. The other hard part about Cassell is he’ll be remembered as part of the [More …]
By Andy Weise and Jake McCormick
AW: The border battles for Minnesota and Wisconsin never stop. After another fantastic Vikings-Packers game last Sunday, it’s time we turn our attention to the next legendary battle between the two states. OK, this battle might not receive 1/100th of the attention the Vikings/Packers game got but it will feature two rebuilding teams in the NBA.
My ‘Sconnie counterpart Jake McCormick and I will try to impress our readers with our great NBA minds. I’ve been trying for years to get Jake more into the NBA and I think he would be if the Bucks became a team worth watching, unfortunately it’s been awhile since that has happened.
There is some reason for excitement for both franchises though: rookie point guards Jonny Flynn and Brandon Jennings. These two are already capturing attention just a week into their first years and are getting plenty of opportunities to learn on the job with a bad team. Both teams desperately need these guys to pan out after plenty of disappointment with losing season.
Jake, what’s the feeling in Milwaukee with the Bucks? I remember seeing plenty of upset people on a realgm.com forum after the Bucks failed to match the offer sheet to Ramon Sessions, who is now Flynn’s backup point guard. Letting Charlie Villanueva walk away and trading Richard Jefferson for expirings can’t get a fan base completely excited when Michael Redd’s monster contract sits on the books for possibly another two and [More …]
The basketball season began last night and five Western Conference squads opened up their season. Houston, Dallas and the L.A. Clippers began the year in the L column while the defending champion L.A. Lakers and Portland got started on the right foot against conference foes.
Will the Lakers be accepting another ring during next season’s opener? Can the Trailblazers take the next step toward being a top team in the conference? Are the Clippers really going to be good?
TSB blogger Andy Weise breaks down the Western Conference for you, dear readers, before the season moves into full swing.
By Andy Weise
1. Lakers (61-66 wins) – Could the Lakers really improve after winning a title? The biggest news of the offseason had to be when the Lakers signed Ron Artest and still kept Lamar Odom. While Trevor Ariza basically switched spots with Artest, keeping Odom was the important piece after big money was already tied into Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. The Lakers are basically the same team minus the Artest/Ariza swap but guys like Derek Fisher aren’t getting any younger. Everyone always said Kobe couldn’t win a ring without Shaq but what about without Fisher? Fisher runs Phil Jackson’s offense and provides the right piece that allows this team to go deep into the playoffs. Think about this, since 2001 only one time has Fisher and the Lakers (he didn’t play in Los Angeles from 2005-2007) not made it to the [More …]
