Hey Chris,
just a few personal things going on right now. Aging parents and
obligations. Life is good. I hope things are well with you and with
school.

The Wolves trade of Wally Szczerbiak this past week will be an
interesting one to see play out.
I know why they did it, and I completely understand that Dwayne Casey
wants this team to be active, aggressive defensively, play fast and
run the floor. With the way the contracts were structured, they
really had no choice but to deal Wally to someone IF..... they REALLY
had to make the trade.
That's a big IF.
What they got was a better center (Mark Blount has more talent and
will score some, WHEN he's interested in playing).
A more athletic, solid defense playing, shooting guard in Ricky Davis
(he won't shoot like Wally and he'll take nights off about every 6-7
games).
A small forward in Justin Reed with a great attitude who is
athletic.... but isn't going to do much offensively for you. (A Role
player at his best)
Finally, most importantly, the real key to this trade is Marcus
Banks. He came out of college as a lottery pick with the reputation
of being explosive and talented as a point guard. He can defend. The
rap on him is he doesn't have a great feel for the game at the NBA
level and plays (offensively and passing the ball) inconsistently.
For this trade to be a positive, he has to turn into a player for us.
Otherwise, we simply added a salary (Mark Blount) that affects us for
4 more years. Why do that when Kandi comes off the books when his
contract ends after this year? AND you gave up another 1st round pick
to do the trade??!!?
This whole deal started with just Kandi going to Boston for Blount.
It blew up from there to include the other players mentioned after
the two bad losses last week.
I love Kevin McHale, but if this trade proves to be a negative for
our squad or simply treading water for our Wolves, he's going to be
gone. Glen will support him publicly, but he'll be looking hard at
further changes in the organization. It may simply involve a more
direct personel role for Rex Chapman (beyond what he's currently
doing). That would fit Glen's style.
It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Don't be surprised by this:
IF the team fails to make the playoffs, KG asked respectfully
directly to Glen Taylor to be traded.
He has a second home in LA.
I could see that being his choice.
Regards,
JC