Dr Lawyer Indian Chief Posts

Open-air sports fans. The details surrounding the NBA taking one of its exhibition games outside (as previously noted on the Fanhouse) have been finalized. The Phoenix Suns will be hosting the Denver Nuggets October 11 in Indian Wells, CA (just outside of Phoenix), as has been reported by the Arizona Republic.

The game will be played at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, which begs a few questions: Will talking be allowed during play? What exactly is the surface that they will be playing on: grass, clay, synthetic? My vote is for blacktop. Another concern is how they can be so sure that it won't rain (Weather.com is reporting showers in Indian Wells this Friday).

At any rate, I can't think of two better teams to go at it as god intended them to. Shaq, Nash, A.I., Carmelo, and Amare under the moonlight sounds like some serious fun.

With Rashad McCants trade rumors swirling around the Timberwolves message boards, it appears that Ol Shaddy is doing nothing to boost his trade value. Amid the Timberwolves' 92-86 loss to the Houston Rockets, McCants had a bit of a freakout toward the end of the first half. According to Britt Robson's immaculate Three-pointer blog:

With 4:37 left in the second period, Rashad McCants was whistled for a charge on one of those calls that could have legitimately gone either way. But McCants was pissed and complained to the officials as the Wolves called timeout. After this extended harangue, Wittman caught Shaddy's attention as he was headed toward the bench and harshly told him to get over to the sideline. McCants angrily threw his hand up in Wittman's direction, turned his head away and yelled something on the order of "get f***ed" as he went and sat down...

...When Houston subsequently called timeout, he stalked to the bench in high dudgeon, yelling and screaming, presumably at the injustice of not getting the ball. Dressed in street clothes, Theo Ratliff came over first and tried to console him, or at least get him to pipe down...Finally, Wittman turned to his right, glowered at McCants, and hollared, either "get out of here" or "get the f**k out of here," but in any case, the way McCants's shoulders kept moving, I assume he kept talking, until Wittman finally hollered again, "Shut up!" and then started to work on the upcoming play.

McCants has been a player who has been misunderstood throughout his career, often seen as a malcontent and garnering comparisons to everyone from J.R. Rider to Ron Artest. It's a shame that his mental tics seem to cloud his immense talent and that small episodes like this continue to taint the reputation of an otherwise great guy and teammate. Hopefully one day Shaddy will put it all together for the Wolves, or better yet he'll be dealt elsewhere to serve his ideal role as a Vinnie Johnson instant-offense type of guy on a contender.

That's right. Randy Foye, the fifth/sixth pick from the 2006 NBA draft was back in uniform last night as the Timberwolves took on the Chicago Bulls. That's one less built-in excuse for why the Timberwolves are so dreadful this year and one more shot of rocketfuel to the Fire-Randy-Wittman train. Foye, playing for the first time all season after being sidelined with an injured left knee, looked pretty solid, finishing with a steal, a couple of assists, and 11 points on 4-8 shooting in about 18 minutes of play.

Outside of Minnesota, the other main reason why Foye's return matters to the NBA is because of Brandon Roy's spectacular season. Kevin McHale fanatics will recall that on draft day, McHale traded Roy for Foye in a move that at the time was too soon to call. Ironically, it was Roy who had the reputation for being injury-prone. Now, um, Roy is looking like the best player taken in the entire draft and is, in the words of Bill Walton, "a future hall of famer." Nonetheless, with Foye back on the court, pundits will now have fair evidence to make their assessments of the deal.

Oh, by the way, the Timberwolves lost last night. But they'll have a rare chance to face Bulls tonight again (back-to-back) at the Target Center.

In preparing to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight, for the first time wearing a Celtics uniform, is a man on a mission, focused only on the game and emitting a discernable lack "feeling" about facing his former team. Now, I don't expect KG to get all teary-eyed over Minnesota, but I was surprised that this audio interview, courtesy of NBA.com and Celtics.com, suggests he couldn't care less. As members of the press prod him to give any proclamation of nostalgia, wistfulness, or any emotion whatsoever.

"You spent 12 years of your life [in Minnesota]. Do you miss it at all?" one reporter asks.

"I'm happy where I'm at I'm happy with my current situation. I'm so locked in to what we're trying to do here, I haven't even thought about that."

Again, I don't expect KG to express longing for the tundra in which he endured over a decade of near-hits and misses, front office blunders, only one great playoff run, and a revolving door of sidekicks from Joe Smith to Malik Sealy, to Wally Szczerbiak, to Terrell Brandon, to Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell. But 12 years is still 12 years in which a teenage "Da Kid" became "Big Ticket," one of the elder statesmen of the league. I guess I expected *something,* but that's KG's way. The reception should be interesting when KG comes to Minnesota on February 8.

That's right. It's Rick Fox's time to shine on the big screen, in the new Tyler Perry vehicle, Meet the Browns (Thanks to Masur and iwatchstuff for the link). Among the many amazing things in this trailer (Madea sighting!), it manages to include the triple crown of inspirational music: Jill Scott - Golden, (some horribly bastardized version of) The Five Stairsteps' "Ooh Child," and Chaka Khan's "Through the Fire." I'm smelling Oscar. Check around 2:10 for the dramatic turn of phrase!

Yes folks, after procuring their second road win in 56 days and their sixth win overall after beating the Golden State Warriors by a mere point last night, the Timberwolves are inching toward history--history to demolish the 1972-73 Philadelphia Sixers' worst ever 9-73 record. The Wolves celebrated like they won the Stanley Cup, with an aura of cheer surrounding the locker room

"Man, it feels good," said point guard Sebastian Telfair, smiling in his locker room chair after the game. "It feels so good to win I don't even need no Tylenol right now."

And in the spirit of positivity, let me give you a few reasons why the Timberwolves season has nowhere to go but up:

1. As the Star Tribune article points out, nine times the Wolves have led or been tied going into the fourth quarter and have lost. This time they toughed it out and avoided the Warriors' late surge. This is a sign of growth from this young team.

2. Ryan Gomes is putting in solid minutes at the 3-spot, averaging 16.6 points and 6.7 rebounds in January, completely camoflauging the fact that Kevin McHale drafted a glorified Ndudi Ebi (Corey Brewer) with the 7th pick in the draft.

3. Gerald Green will boost team morale by winning the all-star dunk contest. One of the little known David Stern conspiracies is that for the past few years, he has ensured that the dunk contest winner comes from the worst team in the league at the time: Josh Smith (Hawks), Nate Robinson (Knicks), Gerald Green (Celtics), and now...Gerald Green.

Ain't no stopping them now.

Now I generally don't get my NBA insight from Sam Smith, but as someone who attended Saturday night's game against the Pistons, I have to agree with his assessment that the performance of Joakim Noah--who provided a hugely energetic shot-blocking/rebounding/be-everywhere-at-once effort down the stretch--may signal that the Bulls might want to go a different direction.

I am still an advocate of Wallace as a Bull, as he still possesses far more playoff experience than any of the current rugrats, and despite recent flare-ups with Noah and others, he dictates a certain sense of authority. Wallace, like Scott Skiles, served the purpose of pushing the Bulls to that "next" tier. On the other hand, as a starter, Wallace is sapping a certain amount of energy from a hungry still-defensive-minded team with solid young rebounders like Noah and Tyrus Thomas. Would Wallace ever accept diminished minutes, much less a bench role? Hardly.

Smith tosses out one of his famous fantasy GM deals of Wallace to the Lakers for Kwame Brown and Vlad Radmanovic, which is preposterous though fun to think about for both teams. There is a chance that contenders may want to take a hard look at Wallace as reinforcements for dealing with KG, Duncan, Stoudemire, etc. during the playoffs. But the fact remains, Wallace and his $28.5 Million left are solidly the property of the Bulls right now. And as "Take a Critical Look at Pau Gasol Day" arrives once again, as Chicago faces Memphis tonight, the Bulls are going to have to make some serious frontcourt decisions if they want to make it back to the playoffs.