I Dislike Your Favorite Team

I've come to terms with the fact that Corey Brewer has been traded away from the Wolves, despite my rather desperate pleas for it to not happen.  And I understand that while I'm not entirely alone in my disappointment, I'm surely in the minority--I've heard stories of folks on Facebook comparing Brewer's departure to Nick Punto leaving the Twins--a comparison that makes me want to vomit on my fists and punch the people saying it.  Those people get vomit punches!*  I find myself much more upset over the departure of Corey Brewer than I was over Al Jefferson's trade.  After all, this was a guy that less than a year ago the Timberwolves franchise was touting as the Most Improved Player.  And I had beaten them to that point of view.

But I think I was always honest about Brewer's skills--he was and is and will continue to be frustratingly erratic.  He'll be brilliant for a half, borderline retarded for the other half.  He'll rip four steals, but turn over the ball in a half court set five times.  But no one could doubt his passion.  And I do get that the Wolves have Michael Beasley, Wes Johnson, and Martell Webster all playing the same swing spot, and it was a question of redundancy, as much as anything else.  I get all of that.

And I get that Anthony Randolph is here now, and every talking head in Minnesota is telling me that we've got a great new commodity with a high upside--he's 6' 11", with a 7' 3" wingspan!  He's Athletic!  No telling what his ceiling might be!  And he's been on the bench for a couple of games now, and even scored his first points as Timberwolf tonight, and I'm waiting for the look on his face to stop screaming, "If this team hadn't specifically asked for me, I could be playing with Amare and Carmelo."  It's been a week, and maybe Michael Beasley needs to take this kid (all of two years younger than Beasley) and remind him that Beasley was traded in a very similar fashion, and has found a way to be excited and engaged and engaging even though his old team is now one of the most dynamic, controversial, marketable, hated, loved teams in all of the NBA, and he's now on the Wolves. I'm not saying Randolph needs to remake his personality, but I've watched three games with him mostly on the bench, and I don't know if I've seen him once even clap when one of his new teammates sinks a basket.  Get on the trolley, Anthony.

In the meantime, I'm going to remind everyone just how fun Corey Brewer was on this team--on a horrible, horrible team, Brewer provided us with some of the best highlights this franchise has had in half a decade.  He will be missed, honestly.

Reminders:











*I could write a 2000 word treatise on how the Minnesota fan base, regardless of sport or team, is one of the most fickle, impossible to deal with, collective pain in the ass fan base in the world, and I don't know if I would have scratched the surface after those 2000 words.