Szczerbiak is acutely aware that KG is the top dog in virtually all aspects of the team (a fact Garnett reemphasized last year in a celebrated locker-room scuffle). And he has been deferential to a fault in the half-court offense; which is why it was heartening to see him finally commanding the ball (and KG willingly giving it to him) when he locked into a rhythm against the Knicks last week and poured in 20 points in the game's first 15 minutes. This was just one game after KG himself had gone off for 37 points in a win over Houston.
Brandon also is capable of scoring in bunches. And, coming off the bench, Peeler can rain down a flurry of long-range three-pointers that can rally or, when he's cold, doom the Wolves' offense. So it's hard not to wince when Smith starts launching his open jumpers. At least he's accurate enough to keep defenses honest, and--unlike Peeler or Billups--smart enough to give up the ball when the shots aren't falling. Even Woods has a surprisingly sure hand on jump shots straight on from the foul line--his pet spot. And because Saunders has emphasized efficiency and unselfishness in a pass-oriented framework, Minnesota will once again generate lots of assists and very few turnovers. The only thing missing from the Wolves' attack is a money-in-the-bank scorer down in the low post. Even so, the team could have one of the top three or four offenses in the league this year.
David Kern
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The abiding question is whether the new defensive wrinkles and shrewd player acquisitions can complement this nifty offense enough for the Wolves to finally get the monkey off their backs and progress past the first round of the playoffs. Right now, even an optimist would have to answer that with a big maybe.
It's quite possible that Minnesota could leapfrog over Phoenix, Portland, and Utah and stay ahead of Houston and the Los Angeles Clippers in the rugged Western Conference. But to gain home-court advantage in the playoffs, they will have to finish no worse than fourth in the conference standings, which means overtaking at least one very potent team from among the champion Lakers, San Antonio Spurs (which had the NBA's best regular season record last year), and the much-improved ball clubs in Dallas and Sacramento. In recent years the team has managed to avoid debilitating injuries to key players, but given the checkered history of Brandon's ankles and Szczerbiak's knees (not to mention Woods's vertebrae and Trent's knees), there's no assurance that luck will continue. And if KG gets hurt, all bets are off.
But why not look on the bright side? Unlike the frothing followers of the Vikings, Wolves fans haven't been spoiled into the sort of championship-or-bust mentality that almost ensures eternal anguish. Nor do they have to worry about a bunch of venal billionaires shutting down their franchise (at least not in the near future). Given the dolor cast by Sealy's death, the handwringing over the banishment of Smith, and the lost draft picks just a year ago, who would've thought the Wolves would be sitting this pretty right now? At the very least, it seems the treadmill is back on terra firma.
