Well I guess that solves that one, eh tanat-0s? Or do you see Calvin Booth starting at center now?

After projecting Ryan Gomes & Craig Smith as the starting forwards less than 2 months ago, Rotoworld now says “Just another reason to “love” Kevin Love this year.”

Reason #7 why my Draft Guide will be superior: no flip-flopping!

2. Collins is long body that can play good man-to-man D, bang down low and take some place under the basket. I don’t care about his Roland rating, Wolves need that. Like, desperately.

4. I hope for that too, but Wittman isn’t known for his offensive schemes (or any schemes for this matter)

5. I say 10-15 minutes AT THE BEGGINING of the season. We will see from that.

7. I wrote: “I predict 10-15 minutes off the bench for Love to start a season and, if his body and play will react well to that, something like 25-30 min when the season progresses” and I stand by that statement. By the All-Star break I think his minutes will be closer to 25, yes and he will be unleashed after it, but first two months of the season? 20 minutes max, unless he actually is the second coming of Bill Walton.

1. As E pointed out, in 05, Shad was playing behind a then very good Wally.
2. In 06, he spent most of the time on the injured list due to a groin injury.
3. 07 was the 1st year he really had the chance to strut his stuff, the results?

15.3 pts, 1.7 3’s, 3.4 rebs, 2.5 assists, 44fg in 29min in 24 starts.

Not bad for someone who’s only 22 and just getting his first real chance to play in the league. I personally would like to see a lineup of Foye, Mccants, Miller, Love and Jefferson for the Wolves.

2. Jason Collins posted a PER of 3.4 last season and 3.0 the year before. His rookie year it was a semi-respectable 10.7. Collins played for 2 teams last year, and he had the WORST Roland Rating on BOTH teams (excluding guys who barely played):
http://www.82games.com/0708/0708MEM.HTM
http://www.82games.com/0708/0708NJN.HTM

He’s a below average rebounder and one of the worst offensive players in the league. Frankly, I don’t see what the Collins twins are good for besides interior toughness and 6 fouls. And I only compared Collins to Ervin Johnson for their lack of minutes, not their skills. Ervin could at least affect the game by blocking & altering shots, and I know he was a valuable piece.

3. Well, Love hasn’t played an NBA game yet, so I guess you’re right.

4. Minnesota isn’t going to be a great defensive team anyways, so they may as well try to outscore their opponents, and pairing Love & Al on offense will make up for their limitations on defense I believe.

5. Exactly! Which is why Gomes is going to get a lot of minutes at small forward and why there are minutes to be had for Love at the “4.” Isn’t that what we’re arguing? How many minutes Love is going to get. You say 10-15 and I say 28-30.

6. That’s a good point, but perhaps you’re overlooking Kevin McHale, who is in love with Kevin Love and I’m pretty sure will have some say in the distribution of minutes. His GM skills have been questioned numerous times in recent years, and now that he finally got “HIS GUY,” do you really think he’s going to let his team lose games once again while his top pick sits on the bench?

7. If you would like to re-visit this later, I will gladly wager that Love’s mpg average at the All-Star break will be closer to 29 than it is to 12.5.

So it’s no surprise that his minutes were limited as a rookie, but look who was in front of him that season! Wally Szczerbiak in the first half (Wally’s last really good year) and then Ricky Davis after the trade. They also had Trenton Hassell & Marko Jaric to give minutes to.

Love will have a much easier time earning minutes…

You really think Jason Collins is going to start? You mean kind of like how Ervin Johnson used to start for Minnesota, play the first 8 minutes, and then sit on the bench for the rest of the game?

OK, so that still leaves 136 frontcourt minutes, 36 of which will go to Jefferson. 100 left. Gomes is rock solid, right? So he’s gonna play a lot…let’s give him 32 minutes. 68 left.

I think Love’s minutes are dependent on what he brings to the table compared to:

A) Craig Smith and B) Corey Brewer.

Smith is a huge wide body who’s strong down low and great at creating space, right? Nice low post moves and an efficient scorer on the block. Okay defender, but clearly limited by his lack of length and hops.

Well, I dunno about you, but I think Love is ALL OF THOSE THINGS and MORE. He can match Craig’s strength and he’s a little bit taller. He can create space and score in the paint, but he can ALSO shoot outside. Way better court vision, much better high post player, and he should add a whole new dimension to their offense with his outlet passes and general basketball IQ. He’s supposed to be a tireless worker too, so if I’m coaching, Love has already moved ahead of Smith on the depth chart. I don’t see how Smith could get more minutes, so 28 for Love and 16 for Smith sounds right to me. 24 minutes left for Brewer…

Who is the perfect compliment to Love IMO. Long & skinny and can’t shoot, but can dribble, slash, play great D, and run the floor. I think Brewer will benefit from Love’s outlet passes more than anyone actually, because he’s a much better transition player than halfcourt.

So if I were coaching Minnesota, I would start Corey and Kevin at the forward spots, give Gomes a lot of minutes backing up both guys (but mostly Brewer), give Smith limited minutes off the bench, give Collins even more limited minutes backing up Al, Cardinal energizer minutes whenever I needed a spark, and Booth & Madsen garbage time.

At least, I think they have their best chance of winning by using that rotation, but perhaps Randy Wittman is sleeping as well…