Statistical Breakdown:
Time: Tuesday 6 p.m. CST
Place: Wachovia Center
PHI home record: 8-16
MIN road record: 4-21
PHI record v. Western Conf: 9-14
MIN record v. Eastern conf: 6-11
PHI PPG: 97.6 (24th)
MIN PPG: 98.2 (21st)
MEM opponents PPG: 99.8 (17th)
MIN opponents PPG: 106.6 (28th)
PHI RPG: 41.7 (19th)
MIN RPG: 43.9 (3rd)
PHI RPG Diff: 0.8 (12th)
MIN RPG Diff: 0.8 (12th)
PHI AST/TO: 20.3/13.7
MIN AST/TO: 19.7/15.4
PHI FG%: 45.3% (21st)
MIN FG%: 44.7% (23rd)
PHI opponents FG%: 46.7% (22nd)
MIN opponents FG%: 47.3% (26th)
PHI 3PT%: 35.1% (18th)
MIN 3PT%: 32.9 (27th)
PHI FT%: 77.1% (12th)
MIN FT%: 74.5% (20th)
Last meeting: MIN 108-103
My prediction: MIN 105-97
NBA 2K10 Simulation: PHI 95-92

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In a recent interview with the AP G.M. David Kahn stated he will not trade any of his core players prior to the deadline (to include Big Al, Kevin Love, Jonny Flynn, and Ricky Rubio) linked

I admire Kahn for this. I like the fact he is attempting to give these young players time to learn the system and possibly flourish. In fact it is starting to pay dividends. The Wolves have won 13 games total including 4 straight. The trade deadline is Feb 18th. Before the 18th Minnesota have four games (against 76ers, Bobcats, Pistons, and Wizards) to re-evaluate where they are as a franchise. Three of those four games are against not so good teams thus giving them a chance to win at least two but possibly all four games. If they win 3 or even all four of those games Kahn might want to think about adding a major piece.

Yes you won’t be able to make the playoffs but they can improve now, still get a lottery pick, and set them up to hopefully make a playoff run as early as next season. Now if this is just a lucky streak (which is completely possible) then play it out, don’t make a move, and hopefully draft Turner or Wall. But if they are truly turning the corner adding a swingman the caliber of Iguodala, Gay, or Butler could place this team on the fast track to success. I guess all you can do right now is take the wait and see approach.

Name:Elias Harris Pos: SF
Ht: 6′7″ Wt: 225
College: Gonzaga Class: Fr.

Strengths: Finishes in traffic with the best of them. Very good back to the basket game. Extremely athletic with very good feet. Plays very good perimeter defense. Uses his length to his advantage and is very physical. Improving midrange game. Very good foot speed.

Weaknesses: Despite clearly being a three he is forced to play the four for the Zags. This leads to a lack of experience handling the ball and creating his own shot. Those are his two biggest weaknesses. Other than that, he also struggles from the line because of his poor form (very quick release and almost one handed). He has a slightly awkward shooting form. He also needs to recognize who he needs to pick up on defense quicker after a switch as well as while in a zone (ironically he defends the pick and roll very well though). Slightly older than other Freshman prospects. Relies too much on his athleticism rather than boxing out properly when rebounding.

Outlook: Harris is a rising star and if he can continue to improve he will be a multiple time all star.

Comparable: Danny Granger

DWW’s Big Board
1. Evan Turner
2. Wes Johnson
3. Greg Monroe
4. Elias Harris
5. Cole Aldrich

In the past 4 games the T-Wolves have beat their opponents by an average of 112.25 to 99.5. These numbers are up from the 97 points per game the Wolves were scoring (an increase of 15.25 points) and the 107.2 points per game they were surrendering to opponents (a decrease of 7.7 points). Their rebounds per contest increased (durinf the streak) from 43.9 to 45.25 (a difference of 1.35 rebounds). Their rebound diff duing the streak saw drastic improvement, up from 0.5 to 7.25. Now if you dig deeper into those numbers you’ll see they are a false truth. Minnesota outrebounded New York 58-36 including 16 offensive rebounds. That is an aberration. Subtracting that game you’ll see Minnesota rebounds decreased from a 43.9 average (pre-streak) to 41.0 (during the streak). Yet their opponents 4.73 less rebounds and their rebound diff increased from 0.5 to 2.33. How could that happen? Much better shooting.

During the streak Minnesota shot 52.75% from the field. On the season the T-Wolves were shooting 44.0% from the field prior to the streak. Now considering the Jazz lead the league with a 49.3 FG% I doubt the Wolves can keep up their current pace. That being said I am hopeful they can continue to improve on their 44.7 FG%. Behind the arc Minnesota shot 47.75% during the streak. On the season (including the numbers from during the streak Minnesota has shot 32.9%. So why the increase in offensive productivity? Let’s dig deeper.

Minnesota has increased their ball movement while subsequently decreasing their turnovers. During the streak the Wolves averaged 26 assists and 13.75 turnovers. That is an almost 2-1 assist to turnover average for the whole team. This leads me to individuals who have raised their game. Jonny Flynn has led the ball movement charge with 7 assists v. 1.5 turnovers per contest during the streak while also shooting 42.8 3FG%. On the year Flynn’s Ast/TO is 4.4/2.8 while shooting 35% from 3. Currently Flynn is playing much better and giving the exact type of production Minnesota needs from its PG. Big Al has shown more flashes of bouncing back from his injury and being able to take a game over. While his overall numbers during the streak were just slight increases over his season numbers he took over two games; against Memphis Big Al dropped 16 in the 4th; against New York Big Al tallied 12 in the 4th and 16 of his 22 total in the 2nd half. Off the bench Kevin Love has averaged 16.75 points per game and 10.5 rebounds. Those are damn good numbers for a starter let alone a sixth man.

In conlusion, I believe Kurt Rambis is figuring out this roster and is finally placing players in the best situation to succeed. He has added more athleticism (Ryan Hollins) next to Big Al. He’s brought Love off the bench which gives the Wolves a threat outside of their starters, limits his minutes thus allowing him to be much more productive. As critical as I have been with allowing a rookie to run this offense, Jonny Flynn has been busting his butt to learn the offense and is starting to flourish. This is a tribute both to Rambis speeding up the offense (which plays to Jonny’s strength) and Flynn’s hardwork to attempt to act as a coach on the floor. Overall I really like the improvement I’ve seen in the past 4 games. Later today or early tomorrow we will talk about how this effects the trade deadline.

The first piece of business I want to get down to is a public apology. I want say I am deeply sorry to Eddie Johnson. I am not sure if he ever even read my original post but I accidentally called him “Fast” Eddie Johnson. I actually never read or heard the story of the Eddie Johnson/Fast Eddie Johnson mixup until just the other day. I was doing a little research on Eddie’s years in Phoenix compared to Kurt Rambis’s years there. I was skimming over some stuff on Eddie and caught several mentions of “Fast” Eddie Johnson. I kind of skimmed over the aritcle and mistakingly assigned the nickname Fast. For that I am deeply sorry.

Now onto the business of the Wolves. Big Al came up big late in the Wolves win over Memphis. The Timberwolves have now won 4 straight and have two more games before the All-Star break. If they finish the Pre-All Star half of the season on a six game win streak I think the Wolves need to seriously consider making a trade.

Why do I say this? Because they are clearly finally picking up Kurt’s system and Kurt is clearly figuring out this roster. With that in mind they might be playing themselves out of a top 3 pick. Well after Wall, Turner, and perhaps Whiteside it is anyone’s guess who will get drafted where. Knowing that I would aggressively go after someone like Andre Iguodala.

I hate to cut this article short but I just got home and the Super Bowl is coming on. So we will talk much more about the trade deadline, the win streak, and the draft starting tomorrow.