Nocturnal Me
Every time the end of a term rolls around, the same thing happens to me. I end up staying up later than normal, in order to finish all my work. Of course, after fall term there is a rather lengthy break in which I have no real duties. Being the night person that I am, and already having had my sleep schedule screwed over, this generally leads to me staying up extraordinarily late.
After a couple weeks of break, it had become commonplace for me to go to bed between 5 and 6 AM. When school starts up again, I'll have responsibilities in the morning, which unfortunately means that I'll have to get myself back into a schedule that more closely resembles that of a normal Minnesotan. To get myself back on that sort of schedule, I'm left with one of two options.
This year I'm trying to do things a little more gradually, and right now I'm trying to finish up Step 1, which is to make myself completely nocturnal. I've been going to bed between 9 and 10 AM and waking up at around 5 PM. Doing this gives one a very weird perspective on the world. Yesterday, I got up, had Pizza for breakfast while watching Simpsons reruns, then went for a morning jog at about 8 PM.
Yesterday night/morning, I was on my way to get McDonald's breakfast for dinner, and I hopped into the car just in time to hear the morning show guys discussing the loss to the Lakers (See, you knew this would turn to the Timberwolves at some point). First off, it was bizarre to hear them call it "last night's game". Wasn't that just a few hours ago?
After ranting about the Wolves for a while and suggesting that they bring the likes of John Stockton, Pooh Richardson, and some guy I didn't even know out of retirement, they actually gave what I thought was the best reason I've heard for the Timberwolves struggles so far. Last year, there was always a good balance between offensive and defensive minded players on the court. This year, the Wolves just have too many scores out there all the time.
For whatever reason, I've more or less neglected to discuss the fact that the Wolves defense hasn't been good this season. This year, they're giving up 97.2 points per game, WAY up from the 89.1 they gave up last season. Their offense is up as well (99.4 ppg vs. 94.5 last year), but this isn't as dramatic a difference. Since the Wolves now have 8 scorers on the court at all times, it's not particularly beneficial, because there are only so many shots to go around, but once we get to the other end of the court, there just isn't anybody there to play defense.
What might help the Wolves most of all, is the ability to actually stop other teams from scoring occasionally. This could be done in a number of ways. First, we could start Hasell instead of Spree or Wally. This would be an immediate solution, and would help to balance out our offense and defense again.
Also, the Wolves are probably going to have to consider a trade at some point. I'd say the most logical person to get rid of, would be Spree.
Wally's name is always out there, but I'd prefer holding onto him since he's still young and has been more valuable than Spree this season.
Sam's name has also been out there, but I'm not sold on trading him, given the inconsistencies of Troy this season. It might be worth trading him if we did it in a deal for Jason Kidd, but I can't think of another situation in which it might be ok to trade him.
The trade deadline is in about a month (I think?) and if things don't take a dramatic turn in the next week or so, I'd expect the Wolves to try and start working on a deal. Keep your ears open, because the rumors are gonna start flying.
After a couple weeks of break, it had become commonplace for me to go to bed between 5 and 6 AM. When school starts up again, I'll have responsibilities in the morning, which unfortunately means that I'll have to get myself back into a schedule that more closely resembles that of a normal Minnesotan. To get myself back on that sort of schedule, I'm left with one of two options.
- Start setting my alarm and deprive myself of sleep for a couple days.
- Try and make it all the way around so that I effectively lose a day in the normal sense.
This year I'm trying to do things a little more gradually, and right now I'm trying to finish up Step 1, which is to make myself completely nocturnal. I've been going to bed between 9 and 10 AM and waking up at around 5 PM. Doing this gives one a very weird perspective on the world. Yesterday, I got up, had Pizza for breakfast while watching Simpsons reruns, then went for a morning jog at about 8 PM.
Yesterday night/morning, I was on my way to get McDonald's breakfast for dinner, and I hopped into the car just in time to hear the morning show guys discussing the loss to the Lakers (See, you knew this would turn to the Timberwolves at some point). First off, it was bizarre to hear them call it "last night's game". Wasn't that just a few hours ago?
After ranting about the Wolves for a while and suggesting that they bring the likes of John Stockton, Pooh Richardson, and some guy I didn't even know out of retirement, they actually gave what I thought was the best reason I've heard for the Timberwolves struggles so far. Last year, there was always a good balance between offensive and defensive minded players on the court. This year, the Wolves just have too many scores out there all the time.
For whatever reason, I've more or less neglected to discuss the fact that the Wolves defense hasn't been good this season. This year, they're giving up 97.2 points per game, WAY up from the 89.1 they gave up last season. Their offense is up as well (99.4 ppg vs. 94.5 last year), but this isn't as dramatic a difference. Since the Wolves now have 8 scorers on the court at all times, it's not particularly beneficial, because there are only so many shots to go around, but once we get to the other end of the court, there just isn't anybody there to play defense.
What might help the Wolves most of all, is the ability to actually stop other teams from scoring occasionally. This could be done in a number of ways. First, we could start Hasell instead of Spree or Wally. This would be an immediate solution, and would help to balance out our offense and defense again.
Also, the Wolves are probably going to have to consider a trade at some point. I'd say the most logical person to get rid of, would be Spree.
Wally's name is always out there, but I'd prefer holding onto him since he's still young and has been more valuable than Spree this season.
Sam's name has also been out there, but I'm not sold on trading him, given the inconsistencies of Troy this season. It might be worth trading him if we did it in a deal for Jason Kidd, but I can't think of another situation in which it might be ok to trade him.
The trade deadline is in about a month (I think?) and if things don't take a dramatic turn in the next week or so, I'd expect the Wolves to try and start working on a deal. Keep your ears open, because the rumors are gonna start flying.
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