Tip Off!
The NBA season started last night with two games, and tonight the rest of the league, including the Wolves, kicked off. Minnesota used depth and an odd PG rotation featuring Troy Hudson over Mike James to beat Sacramento tonight. Kevin Garnett is 12-0 in home openers for his Wolves career. It was a good win, especially for a team needing to distance itself as much as possible from last year's 33-49 debacle.
On paper there doesn't appear to be much to get excited about with this Wolves team, but I am excited nonetheless. First, I get to spend another season watching KG play. Second, there is legitimate young talent on the roster in Randy Foye. Third, the team really has nowhere to go but up after last season. The coach has another year of experience, they have upgraded at the PG position, and they finally appear to have a legit banger in Craig Smith, their second-round pick from Boston College. But even if none of that existed I'm first and foremost a Wolves fan, true blue, and every season starts fresh with dreams of an extended playoff run. They are 1-0 as of right now, but they have a tough road stretch coming up with 4 games in five nights. We'll see how it goes, but the added depth should serve them well.
Of course, the arrival of the NBA also signals the start of my fantasy basketball league. I'm not sure how many years we've been at it now, but I think we are approaching 10. I'm fortunate to have belonged to a baseball and basketball league that have tremendous longevity, commeraderie, and competition. Fantasy sports is either one of those things you understand or you don't, but suffice it to say the actual discourse about the leagues is only a small part of the attraction.
One of the highlights of the beginning of the season are the team names people choose. The basketball league tends to gravitate to topical political humor, and teams may go through four or five names in a season. Most websites allow inclusion of pictures as team logos, so you might have a team named "The Liberators" which features a picture of Dick Cheney holding a giant rifle. Other past favorites include the "Hirsute Skin Flutes" and "Unintelligent Design".
Last year I went with the "Caballers", inspired by the shocking news reports that Dick Cheney, Rummy, and Satan were essentially running a military cabal in the White House. I thought that was a clever name, but despite that my team still suffered a playoff upset for the second year in a row. This year I was going to go with the "Macacas", but felt that was too obvious. Instead, I reached back to my favorite part of the Mel Gibson meltdown and came up with the "Sugar Tits Express". I love my logo, but the name still doesn't feel quite right. I guess I'm still searching, but I'm confident the world will provide me something useful to work with in the days to come. (On the baseball side, names are much more static. And, since the team names traditionally are supposed to be a play on your name, I'm certain nothing can ever top the Hennessee Valley Authority.)
As for the actual roster, my team is bringing back Jamal Crawford, Devin Harris and Nate (Dogg) Robinson all at very reasonable prices. It doesn't exactly scream "dynasty", but as the bottom of the roster goes I feel very good about them. When combined with my robust home-grown analytical tools, preturnatural feel for the NBA and familiarity with our draft process, my head is swelling to hydrocephalic proportions.
10:13:35 PM 
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