New Timberwolves swingman Kirk Snyder knows he won’t have endless opportunities to make it in the NBA.
 
He said his difficult first pro season in Utah was
the result of his immaturity. And after bouncing around the league,
he’s determined to make the most of his stint in Minnesota, however
long it lasts. He has the rest of the season to impress the coaches and
front office.
 
"There’s basically no ifs, ands or buts about it,"
Snyder said after Saturday’s practice, his first with the Wolves since
he was acquired in a trade Thursday with Houston that sent Gerald Green
to the Rockets. "It’s basically a showcase for myself."
 
 
 
With the Wolves Snyder will primarily play small forward. Coach Randy Wittman said Snyder will have a chance to show what he can do, but it is a position at which a lot of players are vying for playing time.
 
But Wittman said Snyder’s ability to play defense could earn him some time.
 
Also from Youngblood:
Wittman didn’t know whether Snyder would be ready to make his Wolves
debut today against Dallas. Snyder, meanwhile, is trying to make
arrangements to bring his wife and two young sons to the Twin Cities
from Houston.
 
   
 
 
"We’re going to get a good pick," said Hoiberg, who recently returned
from a long scouting trip in Europe. "If the ping-pong balls fell where
the records are, we’d have the second pick of the draft behind Miami,
and then we’ve also got Miami’s second-round pick [from a trade].
 
"So, right now we would have No. 2, No. 31 and No. 32. So, we’re going to get good players at those positions."
 
 
 
 
If there is a coach out there who would be an excellent candidate for the Indiana basketball job, it would be Mike Montgomery.  Having played for "Monty" as everyone calls him, I can tell you that his knowledge of the game is vast and he knows how to run a team… 
 
 
 

"I’m sick. I’m sick,” Walker said when asked about the trading
deadline that had just passed, his bags left unpacked, his locker
unemptied. "It’s disheartening. I want to play a lot, and it’s obvious
I’m not a part of the future here.”
 

Walker, still owed the balance of his $8.3 million salary for this
season and another $9.1 million for 2008-09, won’t be cut and doesn’t
sound amenable to a buyout, even if the Wolves were inclined. "I’m not
willing to give up a lot of money,” he said.
 
 
 
Now that the careers of forgotten NBA players Aaron McKie and Keith Van
Horn have been resurrected in ink and parchment only, who’s next?
 
Latrell Sprewell? Sam Mitchell? Randy Wittman or Kevin McHale?
 
"For 4 million bucks, I might be able to get off the couch," McHale said.
 
 
  
 
Previews of today’s game against Dallas:
 
 
Click here for the forum’s game thread 
 
 
 
The Wolves hoped they had told Jason Kidd good riddance for this season
after he came within one assist and one point of his 100th career
triple double in New Jersey’s 92-88 victory over the Wolves in the
Meadowlands just 12 days ago.
 
“Yes, I did say that,” Wittman said Saturday when somebody mentioned he
had hoped that Nets game was the last time his team had to face the
veteran point guard who’s a triple threat every time he plays. “You
don’t have to go back and look it up. I did say that. And I shouldn’t
have said that.”
 
 
 
 
Two competitive cousins banging into each other on
the blacktop of their uncle’s driveway, driving to the hoop, dunking
and daring. … Only something bad could happen, he figured.
 
"They started to play some one-on-one," Rudy said
about his son, Marlins center fielder Cameron Maybin, and his nephew,
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Rashad McCants. "The next thing you know,
they’re above the rim."
 
Maybin dunked first. McCants, coming off an
All-America season at North Carolina, wasn’t about to be shown up by
his baseball-playing cousin, so he threw one down.
 
 
 
 
Trenton Hassell can also be added to the following list from Charley Walters/Pioneer Press:
Five former Timberwolves – Donyell Marshall, Wally Szczerbiak, Joe Smith, Bobby Jackson and Mike James – were traded before last week’s NBA deadline.