Even professional basketball players can take some quality shopping advice once in awhile. “I was just trying to teach him how to shop for girls,” said Kassidy of Jonny Flynn. Kassidy, 12, was one of several school-age children who received the gift of a $500 shopping spree at Target. The kids were selected by the Minnesota Adoption Resource Network.
“We look forward to this every year,” stated MARN representative Lorenzo Davis. “The Timberwolves do such a wonderful job of not only playing well but also supporting the community and supporting kids that are needing adoptive families.” All of the kids involved in the Holiday Shopping are currently part of Minnesota’s waiting children, which means that they are all without permanent homes, most of them in a foster care situation.
Can they? Well …
“They’ll get better together as time goes by,” Wolves coach Kurt Rambis said, “but when you compete against some of the elite teams, basically they’re both power forwards. And you could argue they’re on the small side of power forwards. They don’t have the height or the length or athleticism that a lot of power forwards have in this league.”
2009-10 payroll: $64.3 million
Projected 2010-11 payroll: $37.9 million
• VP’s Take: The only “seller” not worth discussing — they have almost $23 million in expiring contracts to play with, but it would be crazy for them to add 2010-11 payroll when they aren’t going anywhere and have made it VERY clear that they don’t care for two years. Word on the street is that they won’t even discuss Rubio trades with other teams. That’s amazing. Look, there is no bigger Rubio fan than me. But he’s not a sure thing. This isn’t like waiting for Larry Bird to finish his 1978-79 Indiana State season … and even worse, it’s two seasons and potentially three. If you’re a floundering NBA doormat struggling to generate revenue, and you just spent the past 10 years proving to your fan base that they shouldn’t have faith in the decision-making for the team, can you really play the “Just Be Patient” card?