Not Just a Basketball Post

The Wolves play the Hornets tonight (in either New Orleans or Oklahoma City, but does anyone really care) and they need to win - if only to prove they can consitently beat bad teams. With Peja out for the Hornets, the Wolves have significantly more firepower than the Hornets.
Unfortunately, the Hornets have Chris Paul - and one of the Wolves biggest weaknesses is containing a good point guard. Good point guards usually do what they want against the Wolves, and Chris Paul is one of the best. Last time they played, the Wolves managed to hold Paul to 18 points, however, in the other meeting this season, Paul torched the wolves for 35 point on 12 for 18 shooting. There's no Stojakovic this time, so the Wolves have to take advantage of their offensive advantage.
David West is a solid post scorer, but Tyson Chandler is not going to be any threat offensively. I give our big men a huge advantage in this on - Mark Madsen should have a career day. Our backcourt is going to struggle: Mike James has been playing with an injured toe, and Randy Foye is not at the same level as Paul. Ricky Davis is our equivalent of Desmond Mason - call that matchup a draw.
The Wolves will win this one, but it will be closer than it should be, and Chris Paul will once again expose our backcourt deficiency. Rashad McCants made his return, and he'll be better in a few weeks, but he won't be ov much help tonight.


SIDE NOTE:
The new Yahoo! Sports page layout is horrible. It is extremely counterintuitive, and way too heavy on graphics and images. There was a reason it was the best sports page to find stats and scores - it was fast loading, simple, and had a clear and concise layout. Now it looks like a wannabe ESPN.com. Remember Friendster? Me neither, that site failed because they made the layout overly flashy, when users just wanted a simply way to connect. Look at Facebook: clear layout, simple, not graphics heavy, and users love it.
Yahoo has seriously fucked this one up. They fucked up Flickr with the new upload limits and registration requirements, and users are leaving as soon as their contract runs out. Yahoo used to be the best sports site, now because of a shitty design overhaul they are going to lose much of their userbase.



POST SIDE NOTE:
Props to the Twins for signing Morneau and Rincon to one-year deal, and Punto to a two year deal. If we can keep our team together until the new stadium is built, we will be the best team in the AL Central for many years (think '90s Braves, but with more World Series Championships).
The new stadium will be open in 2010. Once it opens the Twins will have enough revenue to keep their young players through 2010. Ages in 2010: Joe Mauer - 27 (entering prime years), Boof Bonser - 29 (prime), Jesse Crain - 29 (prime, possible our closer), Matt Garza - 27 (entering prime), Francisco Liriano 27 (entering prime), Johan Santan - 31 (prime, and he'll still have at least 5 great years in him), and of course Justin Morneau (prime).
If we can somehow sign these guys to contracts that will pay them mor e once we get our new stadium we will be fine.

-AF