Would Somebody Please Box Out?

So it appears that rumors of the Wolves return to glory were greatly exaggerated (by me mostly). The scouting report on the Wolves is out, and it says

"Crash the boards on offense as much as possible. The Wolves only have KG who can consistently rebound. And nobody on the team can start a fast break, so there's no downside in over-committing to the glass."

Sam started tonight, and for a change, the Wolves got off to a good start. As I had hoped, Sam's presence brought some balance back to the starting 5, and they were able to score some points early (Spree's hot start helped too). Unfortunately when he went out, Troy went in. I was really hoping that Carter would get the nod over Troy as our backup PG. Troy is basically the same as Sam, with two major differences that make him worse. 1) He isn't able to coordinate the offense as well; and 2) Instead of shooting ill-advised mid-range jumpers (that Sam makes often enough to make it forgivable), he has a tendency to launch 3-pointers from 5-feet behind the arc (which he doesn't make enough to make it forgivable).

I also would have liked to have seen more of John Thomas in this game. Dan Gadzuric and Joe Smith mercilessly muscling their way into the boards. His entire purpose out there could have been to keep at least one of them out of the paint after every shot. Don't worry about scoring. Don't worry about actually rebounding the ball yourself. Just make sure they don't get it.

During the second half, the cameras showed Sam and Spree sitting on the bench talking. Luckily for all of you, I'm an expert lip-reader and will transcribe their conversation for you.

Sam: Dude, you suck.
Spree: Suck my dick.
Sam: No, seriously dude, you suck.
Spree: I know dude.
Sam: I bet you wish you had taken that $9 million extension when they offered it to you, huh dude?
Spree: Sure do dude, nobody will offer me that kind of green now.
Sam: Don't worry dude, if you need to, you and your kids can come live with me. I still got a year left on my contract.
Spree: Kiss my ass mothafucka.

So, now that I've basically given up on the Wolves, here's a list of what they should do for the rest of the season. Unfortunately, they won't get a first round draft pick this year, so tanking and trying to make the lottery isn't going to help that much.

1. Don't trade Spree. I know I've been lobbying for us to trade him for a while, but that's when I still felt that the Wolves had a chance to win the championship this season. Trading him would like us with someone else who has a bloated contract and still has years left on it. If we're planning to compete in the future, we'd be better off just letting his contract run out and then using our funds to sign somebody who will actually help this team win next year.
2. Ditto for THud. His contract's not nearly as big, but we'd still likely have similar issues.
3. Trade Sam and Kandi if possible. Each of them still has a year left on their contracts, so getting rid of them for some young talent would be greatly beneficial. Sam will probably be useless by next season because he'll either be hurt, or his defense will have gotten so bad that it's no longer beneficial to have him on the court. Kandi--well--he's Kandi, need I say more?
   
4. Take Ndudi off the IR and put Kandi on it. Whatever injury we made up for Ndudi, we can just say he got over it and that Kandi somehow got it. As the only first-round pick the Wolves have had in the past 4 years, it's time to start developing him. Plus, he plays a position where the Wolves have been lacking depth anyway. I see no harm in trying to get him out there.

My prediction for tomorrow night's game: Suns 173, Wolves 128. Surprisingly, we'll be up by 20 at halftime, Nash will reaggrivate his injury and Stoudemire will get ejected, but we'll come out and get outscored 68-13 in the third quarter.