Le Basketbawl

Darko Milicic may have finally found an NBA coach who appreciates the talents he has; the question now becomes is it too late to save the European born player from leaving the NBA this summer? Back in December Darko said that he had grown too frustrated with life in the NBA after playing seven seasons and would head back to Europe next season. Milicic felt he had been deceived during his stint in the NBA starting with the Detroit Pistons who drafted him with the second pick in the 2003 NBA Draft.

This season Milicic started out the season with “MY BOYS” the New York Knicks and had once again become a forgotten man. “Mlive.com” sat down with the big man in December and asked him if he thought that the Pistons had lied to him during his time with the team. Milicic responded “Yes, they did. “They lie to everybody. It’s the NBA. The NBA, all around the league, same (stuff). ‘Your chance is going to come.’ All that kind of (stuff). (Forget) that! I’ve got enough of that kind of stuff, so I decided I’m going to Europe. I don’t know why they took me with the second pick if you’re not going to play me. I never understood that, you know. I was happy being the second pick and all that kind of stuff, but I never knew what I got myself into. I never knew I was coming here not to play. Nobody was telling me anything.”

He told reporters that he was resigned to going back home and playing next season in the Euro-League. Milicic said “I’ve got to be real. There is no team in the league that is going to give me the chance that I’m looking for. My only chance is back in Europe. I’m going to do that. I want to be happy. I want to play.”

Darko was traded from the Knicks on February 18, to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Brian Cardinal. New York waived Cardinal but T-Wolves head coach Kurt Rambis is quite impressed with Milicic. He thinks that the big man has a huge upside. Rambis told the “Star Tribune“ that Darko is a multi-talented guy. The Timberwolves bench boss said “We’re seeing glimpses of tremendous potential for him and for us. He made a pass to Ramon Sessions that Ramon wasn’t even looking for, probably assuming there was no way Darko was going to get him the basketball. He has such tremendous vision and passing capabilities. We really haven’t seen an exorbitant amount of what he can do scoring, but it’s there. It’s just starting to poke out. That’s why we’re doing things in practice to encourage him to not only pass the basketball but also look for his own opportunities.”

New York Vinnie believes that Milicic has gotten a raw deal by the NBA and hopes that the big man will change his mind about going back home. New York Vinnie thinks it would be a shame that just when Darko may have found the right situation he would still leave. Life works in mysterious ways; hopefully this will lead to a beneficial relationship for all involved.

New York Vinnie was about to come out here and tell you that Minnesota Timberwolves Team President is possibly the stupidest most incompetent man in this Great Nation of ours and possibly the entire Free World. However New York Vinnie then realized that there is a man that is even more stupid and more incompetent than Kahn and that would be the man who hired him Minnesota Timberwolves Majority Team Owner Glen Taylor.

Maybe New York Vinnie watched too many medical TV shows growing up but this phrase keeps running through my head. David Kahn is just a Frickin Symptom it is Glen Taylor that is the Frickin Disease. Glen Taylor has taken a team that once captured the hearts of people from the state of Minnesota and burned it to the Frickin ground. David Kahn is just doing a whole bunch of nothing in trying to rebuild the team.

The “Associated Press” reported Monday night that a deal that the Timberwolves sent out a press release on never went down. The T-Wolves had issued a press release that they had acquired veteran shooting guard Devin Brown from the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for journeyman point guard Jason Hart.

There was only one problem; the Frickin trade was never made! So Minnesota then had to Frickin scramble and worked  out a trade with the Phoenix Suns and got forward Alando Tucker  and a second round pick in next June’s NBA Draft for Hart.

Here is the press release that the Timberwolves sent out on the trade that never happened. Kahn wrote “Jason has been the consummate professional during his time with us, but it was a rare opportunity to add a proven player with 3-point shooting capabilities that will help our offense. Devin should be a nice addition to our team defensively, as well. He has a reputation as a tough kid and hard-nosed defender.”

Brown would have been a nice addition to the Timberwolves as the veteran has played in 24 games for the Hornets and is averaging 10 points per  game and is shooting 41% from three point range. Now Tucker has played in 11 games for the Suns this season and has averaged 3.9 points per game and is shooting 14% from three point range. Just a tad different in the bottom line.

Here is the press release that Kahn issued after picking up Tucker. Kahn wrote “I want to thank Jason Hart for being a consummate professional with us. This was a very hard trade to make precisely because Jason has been so helpful to our team both on and off the court. We wish him well. We are eager to have Alando join us this week. Everything we know about him is that he is a hardworking young man who has not had the opportunity for significant playing time. Finally, this was an opportunity for us to acquire a second-round pick in next year’s draft which is another asset for our team.”

What a Frickin bunch of Crapolla and this Frickin moron still has a Frickin job! The reason that he does is the PUD he works for is a bigger Frickin Imbecile! Kahn is like Frickin the Bizarro version of King Midas; everything he touches turns to Crapolla.

T-Wolves fans New York Vinnie feels your pain all too Frickin well as we have our own Frickin Einstein in “El Douche” James Dolan that owns the Knicks. So you may be Frickin miserable but you are not alone and it could be worse! You could be a Nets fan.

Try to imagine being born and raised in the lap of luxury; you live in a palatial mansion, you have maids and butlers and your life is sheer heaven on earth. But as we all do you reach a certain age and you want to go off and make it on your own. So you get a job and your first apartment; a tenement on Skid Row! All of a sudden all those luxuries you took for granted your entire life are no longer there. You now live in the real Frickin world and you have to deal with all the Crappola that the rest of us put up with.

New York Vinnie believes that those are the kind of thoughts that are running right now through Minnesota Timberwolves rookie head coach Kurt Rambis’s mind right about now a little less than a month into the  regular season. The only view Rambis has ever had of the NBA was from his perch with one of the elite teams in all of basketball the Los Angeles Lakers.

Rambis was a reserve player back in the eighties when the team was going through its “ShowTime” period. The last few years Rambis has been assistant coach on Phil Jackson’s staff going to the NBA Finals the last two years and winning the NBA Title last June. Now however Rambis has a totally different perspective on the NBA; instead of looking from the penthouse and looking down on the rest of the league Rambis is now in the basement.

Rambis for years has wanted to be the head coach of his own NBA team. Unfortunately he had to settle for something close being head coach of the T-Wolves. The Timberwolves are more like a pretty talented NBDL team rather than a true NBA squad. There is not an awful of of talent on the team to begin with and if you add in the injuries this team has had this year you end up with a blow mediocre team.

Right about now the rookie head coach is pretty ticked off at his team. Not because of the juries or the lack of talent; however he is upset about the lack of effort he is seeing from his squad.  The club lost its eleventh straight game Wednesday night to the Houston Rockets by a 97-84 margin.

After the game Rambis told the “St. Paul Pioneer Press” “We had chances to really jump on them in the first half, but we kept them in the game. There was no thrust to what we were doing offensively. A true professional brings it every night. It’s not my job to provide them with a Knute Rockne speech every game. It gets old. On a day like this, it was their job … their responsibility to be ready to play.”

Yo Kurt; New York Vinnie agrees with some of what you are saying but I also disagree with one thing you said. Yes by all means it is the players job and responsibility to be prepared and give everything they have while they they are out on the hardwood. But Kurt it is your job to give that motivating speech before every game. This is not a veteran team that knows what it is doing as the Lakers are. You My Man have a project on your hands.

New York Vinnie realizes there are two schools of thought on how to handle pro players. There is the camp that says that the pros are getting paid and that should be all the motivation they need. That once you reach the level of the NBA you should not need a head coach to get you pumped before a game. New York Vinnie is from  the other school of thought; in my mind that is the main job of a NBA head coach to get his team in the right frame of mind to give their utmost effort on the floor.

If all you are looking for is someone to diagram plays then there would not be a need for a head coach. You could have an offensive assistant and a defensive assistant do that. It is the job of the head coach to set the tone for the team, to motivate. The head coach is supposed to be the guy who knows who needs the kick in the behind and who needs the pat on the back. With a veteran team like the Lakers, the Celtics and the Spurs a head coach can let the team run itself. But not with a glorified expansion team like Minnesota.

So welcome to the real world Kurt and realize this is how it is for many teams in the NBA. But Kurt it is up to you this season to set the tone so next season they will not need a Knute Rockne  speech before every game

As much grief as New York Vinnie gives the Minnesota Timberwolves I have always said that they have a Frickin superstar in the making in their center Al Jefferson. He was the lynch-pin for the T-Wolves trading Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics two years ago. Jefferson was one of the few Frickin highlights of a pretty low year in Minnesota last season as he averaged 23.1 points, 11 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. Unfortunately the big man tore the ACL in his right knee and he had season ending surgery in February.

Jefferson not only has skills but he has smarts also; he lost 31 pounds in the off-season so there would be less weight for his recuperating knee to have to carry. Jefferson told the “Associated Press”  that he can feel the difference out on the court during the team’s early workout sessions. The center said “It felt real good. It’s more about my lungs than anything. My knee felt great. Felt good to be back out here with the team.”

Jefferson was informed that the T-Wolves are putting more of a run oriented offense than they have used in the past so he knew he had to drop the pounds. He told reporters “We want to run this year. They made that clear. When David Kahn came, he said that’s what he wants to do. When Kurt came, he said that’s what he wants to do. So I was like, ‘I better get with it or I might be benched.’ I know they’re not going to wait for me to get down there to post up. So I better get this weight off so they don’t leave me down there.”

That is the kind of attitude that seperates the great from the good.  Al Jefferson will be one of the keys in what ever success the Minnesota Timberwolves will have in the next few years.

New York Vinnie does not know if we will see pie fights and seltzer bottles on the bench for the Minnesota Timberwolves in the upcoming season; but I would not rule it out of the question. The “Minneapolis Star Tribune” is reporting that the T-Wolves now have the complete set of the “Three Stooges” as new head coach Kurt “Shemp” Rambis has hired two former NBA players  as assistant coaches. The paper is reporting that Rambis has hired former Detroit Pistons center Bill “Moe” Laimbeer and former Sacramento Kings head coach Reggie “Larry” Theus  as his assistant coaches for his first season as a head coach.

Laimbeer was the center for the “Bad Boys” Pistons in the eighties; if you were a Pistons fan he was the greatest. If you rooted for any other team however you most likely despised him. He had been the head coach and General Manager of the WNBA team the Detroit Shock until tthis past June when he resigned in order to pursue an NBA  position. Laimbeer led the women’s team to three titles in seven seasons.

Theus played in the NBA in the same era as Rambis and Laimbeer and had a decent NBA career. He was renowned as much for his looks as he was for his game; a favorite with the ladies and has done some acting work. Theus was dismissed as head coach of the Kings in the middle of last season.

Well it looks like the man with the Shemp Howard hair-style is going to be the new leader of the Stooges. But this time it is not the Three Stooges its  the Twelve Stooges as it appears that Kurt Rambis is going to be named the new coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The “St. Paul Pioneer Press” is reporting that Rambis is expected to be officially named head coach in a press conference that could be held this Tuesday.

Rambis is going to be going through some major Frickin culture shock with the Timberwolves. He leaves the NBA Champions for one of the worst Frickin teams in the NBA. But it is a head coach position and his first so it was not like Rambis was dealing from a position of strength if you get New York Vinnie’s drift. However Rambis My Man you are going to a team that has very few Frickin assets and a whole bunch of Frickin liabilities.

Minnesota Team Owner Glen Taylor told reporters he is excited to get Rambis on board. He said “Kurt, with his experience playing and coaching for a winning organization and working under people like Pat Riley, will bring a lot to our organization. In meeting with him and talking to him, I know he’s very excited about having an opportunity to help build his own team.”

Okay Rambis My Man this Taylor is not the most Frickin trust worthy guy in Pro Sports. Earlier this year Taylor said that if Kevin McHale wanted to come back as head coach the job was his.  Well that did not turn out to be the Frickin case as new Team President David Kahn fired McHale. So go into this position My Man knowing that the man you are working for is basically a lying Pud.

The Timberwolves won just 24 games this past season. With the way the roster currently looks they will not win that many games next season. So Rambis be prepared for a real long season. And always remember “Be Careful What You Wish For For Wishes Can Come True!”

Well stupidly it looks like the Minnesota Timberwolves are going to ignore New York Vinnie’s advice! Does not truly surprise me as the Frickin team is in the Frickin shape it is for a reason! It is run by a bunch of Frickin Puds! Now earlier this week New York Vinnie came up with a very innovative solution to their Frickin problems This Season T-Wolves Should Hold “Coach For A Game” Promtion!  

See no matter how you Frickin slice it the team will stink this coming season! This way you could have gotten some fans in your building as you would have a drawing before each home game to select the Coach for that game! However perhaps the concept was too out of the Frickin box for Minnesota as they have decided to hire a full time head coach.

According to the “Associated Press” the T-Wolves have decided it is going to be one of three guys.  Houston Rockets assistant coach Elston Turner, Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Kurt Rambis and ESPN Analyst Mark Jackson are the three men named to still be in the running for the position. Now sources close to the team say that it is Rambis who has the inside edge. However New York Vinnie does not agree with that assessment Rambis has a major Frickin barrier to over come if he ever wants a head coaching  job even with this sad bunch of Puds!

Rambis let New York Vinnie give you some advice My Man! It is time for you to change barbers because you need a Frickin makeover My Man. No team even the sorry Frickin Minnesota Timberwolves are going to hire a guy who still wears his Frickin hair like Shemp from the “Three Stooges!”

Yeah at one time New York Vinnie also wore his hair parted in the middle! However then 1980 came around and New York Vinnie at the age of 13 changed his Frickin hair-style! Guess what Rambis it is almost thirty Frickin years later and you still look like Shemp!

You could kind of understand it if Rambis was an assistant in Oklahoma City or Frickin Toronto. Those cities are not know for their Frickin fashion taste! But the Frickin Pud coaches in Los Angeles where all the Frickin “Pretty People” live! How come not one of them has taken Rambis aside and said dude I am taking you to my barber? Is he that much of a Frickin Geek?

So Kurt first thing in the morning go out and find yourself a new Frickin barber. If you truly don’t know anybody just contact your Old Pal New York Vinnie! My Uncle Sal has been cutting hair for 35 years and he is Smooth!