Pay For Play Update!

Avery | Brand
| Ferry | Hill
| Laettner
| Lang | Langdon
| Maggette | McLeod
| Parks

The Timberwolves have some roster problems that they will have to resolve
before they advance much further. Though they have the wondrous Kevin Garnett,
the poster boy for early entry, and Terrell Brandon, they only have four guards,
and three play the same position -point.

They've also had some frontcourt problems this year, with injuries and
what-not,  and some of their big men are getting up there. Danny Schayes is
40, for instance, and  Dean Garrett is 33. Sam Mitchell, who is 6-7, is 36,
and Tom Hammonds is 32. Injuries have forced them to play Garnett at power
forward - not his natural position.

From the Timberwolves point of view it might make sense to bundle one of
their points and some other assets and trade them to a team deep in big men -
say the Trailblazers, with Rasheed Wallace and Brian Grant, or  maybe
making a deal with a Phoenix, who has a lot of solid athletes who might fit into
another weakness.

Almost certain to go in any deal would be either Jackson or Avery.  Weird things go into trade considerations, but
since Avery has now sat for 333 out of a possible 336 minutes of playing time,
he's not making a strong argument for himself, and a trade might be a really
good break.  Unless something changes, Brandon and Jackson  have all
the minutes at point pretty much locked up.

Avery is now at the point where a lot of young NBA players find themselves -
far removed from the elite, struggling for time, and realizing that they are in
a cut-throat environment which rewards absolutely nothing except results. 
That's not to suggest that college is not pressure packed - certainly the ACC is
- but college has a more leisurely pace and the coaches are more inclined to
instruct. In the NBA, either you get it or get out.  So far, the signs for
Avery aren't very positive.

Incidentally, there was a lot of criticism when Coach K said he wasn't in
favor of Avery's going, and when he went on to explain that Avery was taking a
gamble with very uncertain results, the general attitude was "so what, the
kid's going to be rich."  So far it looks like his advice/opinion was
precisely on the money, and if Avery is traded and still doesn't play, then his
career is in some jeopardy, at least perception wise. 

We'd love to see some of the guys in the media who slammed Krzyzewski 
revisit this, but it doesn't seem to likely, so we thought we'd mention it so it
wasn't overlooked.

Incidentally, while Maggette is in a much better situation than Avery, the
same criticism holds. Maggette, who is getting 16.5 minutes per game,  is
only shooting .419 percent, has shown almost no passing skills (0.4 apg), 1
steal, and one block.  His potential is immense, but he's not getting much
out of it right now.  He's at least playing, but not very well.

And coincidentally, Dean Smith was in Chicago and weighed
in on early entry and common sense.