Everybody seemed to love it. It wasn’t the most biting piece of satire we’ve ever seen, but for the typically benign offerings that NBA team promotional arms are usually forced into making in order not to offend, the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Kevin Love-less promo video in anticipation of his return to Minnesota as a Cleveland Cavalier was a cut above.
If you haven’t seen it, watch:
Yes, the return of Mike Miller – a former Timberwolf who spent just one disappointing season in Minnesota on a lottery-bound team, a current Cavalier that barely plays for Cleveland and (sadly) plays poorly when he does see time.
Kevin Love even thought the video was “hilarious,” and it and the (relatively mild) boos didn’t seem to trip the Cavalier forward as he worked his way to 14 points and 17 rebounds in his winning return to Minnesota.
Timberwolves coach and president Flip Saunders? He was a little haughtier, in his reaction. From Chris Haynes at Northeast Ohio Media Group:
"I didn't know about it," Saunders said. "I didn't approve of it. I think as an organization, we should be above that. We have to acknowledge that Kevin, when he was here, he was a great player for us. He was an All-Star, won an Olympic gold medal, did a lot of positive things.”
Oh, come off it Flip.
It was a joke. Everyone knew it was a joke last Thursday, two full days before Love came to town. The video wasn’t met to deny Love’s accomplishments as a member of the Timberwolves in the slightest, as anyone with a smartphone and Wikipedia know-how can look those up in an instant from inside the Target Center, as your team goes down by 16 points.
If anything, the video was meant to diffuse any potential rancor between Timberwolves fans and Love, falling in line with earlier (funny, silly, understanding) fan reaction to the trade that Love forced, sending the former All-Star to Cleveland last summer.
A trade that netted the Timberwolves Andrew Wiggins, who basically matched LeBron James (LeBron James on a very good night, mind you) play for play on Saturday. At age 20. The kid is a stud, and Minnesota’s future should be bright.
Undaunted, Saunders went on:
"Last year at this time, everyone was patting themselves on the back for helping him get selected as a starter in the All-Star Game. And for us to not to acknowledge that and go the other way, I think it was hypocritical. As I had to address some of the people and I just told them that as an organization, that's not the direction we want to go."
Flip, the same (well-respected, and rightfully so, in NBA circles) promotional crew that sent out those cool ‘Bruise Brothers’ LPs to NBA coaches and media in the hopes of voting Love onto the All-Star squad can be the same ones that put together a cheeky clip designed to help everyone forget that the Timberwolves owed the NBA’s worst record heading into Saturday night, a record that dipped to 8-39 following the loss to Love’s Cavaliers.
Saunders was told that Love found the video “hilarious,” but he remained undeterred:
"It doesn't matter if he thinks it's funny," Saunders said. "You have to decide what you want to do as an organization. Would San Antonio do that? No. They wouldn't do that. Our players didn't like it. They have to play against him too. They don't like it. It just doesn't set the right message and if you're here and then you leave, all of a sudden it's not.
"Was it funny? Maybe people thought it was funny. For me it wasn't. I had to deal with three and half, four hours the last two days having people calling me and talking about it while I'm trying to prepare for games. Maybe you think it's OK. That's up to you. You can look at it that way, but I don't look at it that way. As someone running an organization and has to go out and recruit players and to get those player. He may have thought it was funny, but I know deep down in his heart no one likes it. No one would like that. It's human nature."
Flip Saunders, you’re worried about not being able to recruit free agents because of that video?
Flip Saunders, I can pretty much guarantee you that just about any potential future Timberwolves All-Star found that video funny and didn’t see it as disrespectful to Love in the slightest. Jokes are funny because they rely on premises that are absurd, and the idea that Timberwolves fans should be gearing for a return game against Mike Miller (who has returned to Minnesota twice since being traded from the Timberwolves in 2009) instead of a standout like Kevin Love is the absurdity behind the joke.
Flip Saunders, you know what potential free agents might not like?
You going on record to call Kevin Love duplicitous, pointing out that even though Love said he thought the video was “hilarious” that “deep down in his heart” Love didn’t like it. That Love was lying. Or, worse, humorless.
Like you’re being, here.
You want to recruit players? Build a good team. Don’t waste money on Kevin Martin. Don’t send Philadelphia a draft pick for Thaddeus Young. Great players want to play with great players. Kevin Love didn’t force a trade to Cleveland because he’s best buds with LeBron James or because Cleveland is half a degree warmer than Minneapolis during the winter. He did it because he could win there, something he couldn’t do in Minnesota mostly because of the incompetent work of your predecessor, Flip.
The core in Minnesota is enviable. Wiggins is going to be a star. Zach LaVine (despite early struggles), Shabazz Muhammad (despite struggling last season) and Gorgui Dieng are all fantastic talents. Anthony Bennett could someday figure it out. Ricky Rubio, whom the Wolves were 2-2 with this season, returns on Monday evening. On top of that Minnesota will likely have the best odds at the top overall lottery pick in this year’s NBA draft.
Complaining about a funny video makes Flip Saunders look terribly out of touch. A promotional team is supposed to come up with content that doesn’t seem stale or safe, rendering a franchise worth hundreds of millions of dollars accessible and inviting to the eyes of the common fan. The Wolves’ promotional squad did their job here.
Now it’s Flip Saunders’ time to do his job, and get Minnesota back in the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
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from Yahoo Sports http://ift.tt/1EBrUbr
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