On April 12th 2011, Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune made Wolves President of Operations David Kahn—a checklist of what he (Zgoda) feels need to be done this offseason for the Wolves to be successful in the future.  Below you can find the original link to the article, but today we’re going to look at Zgoda’s five checkpoints and see how David Kahn has done/is doing.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wolves/119742374.html

1. DETERMINE COACH KURT RAMBIS’ FUTURE—Well, let’s see, this article was written almost 4 months ago and we still do have affirmation on the future of Rambis.  However—the situation with Rambis is, the Wolves are keeping him through the lockout, simply because it’ll be much cheaper than firing Kurt—negotiating a buyout—and hiring a new coach.  David Kahn, however, should’ve had this situation resolved in the month of April OR May!  It’s dragged on, and it’ll keep dragging on! (0/1)
2. SIGN RICKY RUBIO—David Kahn finally got his man.  After two years of visits, persuasion and coaxing, Ricky Rubio is finally going to play for the Minnesota Timberwolves and he’s certainly created a lot of hype and buzz—but can he live up to those expectations?  It may take a while to find out as the NBA Lockout could wipe out part of OR the entire NBA season!  (1/2)
3. PURSUE VETERAN LEADERSHIP—Zgoda mentions the Wolves trying to acquire Steve Nash from the Phoenix Suns.  I think we know the Suns aren’t going to trade their former MVP for anyone on the Wolves roster and he’s extremely ‘tight’ in that organization, if he wants out—the Suns are going to ask him where he’d be willing to go—guaranteed Minnesota wouldn’t be on that short list.  However, with the Lockout, free agency hasn’t been able to begin and as such it makes it quite difficult for the Wolves to pursue veterans for their squad with that going on.  However, the Wolves have acquired one new piece.  Big man Brad Miller was sent to Minnesota in a draft night deal that sent Jonny Flynn to Houston.  Kahn did acquire on veteran, however, this isn’t the all-star center he was back in his Sac-Town days and he’s nearing the end of his career, with some injuries the past few, I’ll go out on a limb here and say he won’t contribute much. (1.25/3)
4. WAIT—Zgoda is pleading for Kahn to wait to sign Kevin Love to an extension until after a new labor agreement is reached.  Well, good news, the labor agreement is being negotiated right now and it’d be impossible for the Wolves to offer Love an extension—so Kahn wins this one, however it’ll be a matter of how much he pays Love—what he’s offered, when it comes time.  Zgoda also says WAIT on offering Anthony Randolph and Michael Beasley extensions, until they get another year to ‘prove their worth’.  (2.25/4)
5. SAY GOODBYE—to PG Jonny Flynn.  Zgoda—AND EVERYONE ELSE—knew that Jonny Flynn wouldn’t be back with Minnesota as they’ve been looking to trade him ever since the weeks leading up to the NBA Trade Deadline, earlier this year.  Jonny Flynn has been traded to the Houston Rockets and there’s a chance he may be traded again (once the new labor agreement is negotiated).  (3.25/5)

Not to bad Mr. Kahn 3.25/5 and we still have plenty of offseason left.  However, the way you’ve handled this coaching decision and the way you’ve treated Kurt Rambis (no matter how many games we lost with him the last two seasons) is simply inexcusable!  Many people would say—too bad Kahn won’t fire himself, another couple slipups like this and hopefully Glen Taylor will show him the door.  Until then, we’re stuck with him (really though, the ONLY reason I don’t like him is because of the way he’s dealt with Kurt Rambis—I can’t imagine having a guy like that (someone who loves to have his “hand on the button”) be my boss).

Thanks for reading and remember to stay tuned all year round for your up-to-date TWolves news, information and updates.  GO WOLVES!

Tomorrow night the Minnesota Timberwolves will be at the Prudential Center to face the New Jersey Nets.  This will be their second and last meeting of the season.  The first/other was a 103-88 Timberwolves victory at the Target Center (before of course Deron Williams became a Net).

After tomorrow night’s game the Timberwolves have just 4 more games as their season winds down and they head for a high lottery pick.  The Nets, will finish out their season, without a playoff berth and they won’t have a high lottery pick, since they traded it to Utah along with Devin Harris and Derrick Favors for Deron Williams at the Trade Deadline.

The T’Wolves will again be without All-Star forward Kevin Love and starting center Darko Milicic for tomorrow’s game, as both didn’t travel because of groin (Love) and knee (Darko) injuries. Against the Memphis Grizzlies the Wolves went with a smaller more athletic lineup featuring G: Ridnour, Ellington F: Johnson, Beasley C: Pekovic, that was a “rough” game and I wouldn’t be surprised if Coach Rambis changed the starting lineup again for the game.  Either way; Tolliver, Randolph, Pekovic & Beasley will pick up the minutes in Love/Darko’s absence.

The Minnesota Timberwolves will need a big performance/output from forward Michael Beasley if they’re going to have a chance of winning against this Nets team.  Furthermore, if Johnson can jump out of his offensive slump and put some points on the board, the Wolves would have a good chance of competing with these Nets.

The Nets will be led by All-Star point guard Deron Williams, who is currently nursing an injured wrist, but will most likely give it a go tomorrow night.  Brook Lopez will also be a big contributor against a weak(ened) Wolves frontcourt and should have a good game.

The Nets will be without Kris Humphries who is currently listed as day-to-day with an ankle injury.  Quinton Ross (a former reserve guard for the Nets) was waived last week after it was reported that his injured back would keep him out for the season.  He wasn’t going to be resigned at the end of the year as his contract expired this season, so the Nets waived him.

Tipoff is set for 6pmCT tomorrow night at the Prudential Center.  A full-gameday recap can be found on this site following the final horn.  As per usual, thanks for reading and GO WOLVES!

According to a report from the Pioneer Press, it appears as though, they’ve received word from Rubio’s family that he will indeed join the Wolves for next season, that is, if there’s a season.

The FC Barcelona point, has been reluctant to join the Wolves in Minnesota, stating that he would rather play for a team on the East Coast like, say, the New York Knicks, that way he can be closer to his family.

If Rubio does indeed decide to join the T’Wolves, that will be an issue, once again, at the point guard.  The Wolves signed 29-year-old Luke Ridnour to a 4-year contract last summer.  They also have the proceeding pick from the ‘09 Draft to Rubio-Jonny Flynn and lastly, seldom-used Sebastian Telfair.  The Timberwolves were active at the NBA Trade Deadline, trying to move Jonny Flynn, however they couldn’t find any takers or any suitable offers.  I’d expect Telfair to leave through free agency this year and Jonny Flynn be moved elsewhere, possibly bringing in another wing player.

Kevin Love has said in the past, that he met Rubio this summer while Love was representing Team USA, since then, Love texts Ricky once every couple of months, just to check in and try to convince him to come to Minnesota, so they can get this thing going!

With word of this coming earlier today, fans are already dreaming of a starting lineup featuring something like this, next year: PG: Rubio, SG: Johnson, SF: Beasley, PF: Love and C: Randolph.  And that is even before the Wolves get their high lottery pick in the ‘11 Draft, I wouldn’t be surprised if Kahn decided to shift a few other pieces around this offseason.

The Timberwolves will face the Chicago Bulls tomorrow at the Target Center.  Tipoff is set for 7pmCT and a full-gameday preview can be found on a previous post, a full-gameday recap can be found following the final horn.  As always, thanks for reading and GO WOLVES!