My anticipated answer to this rhetorical title is “probably not.”
Yes, I believe Wednesday evening’s season opener will probably draw well because all Jimmy Butler-related entertainment has drawn the past month. That intrigue will also likely spill over into the home opener on Friday evening, where the boos will rain at Target Center.
But then, my assumption is the intrigue trickles away. Unfortunately, the scarring nature of this Butler ordeal, if it is to linger, feels that it will come with a drop-off that only leaves a small fraction of fans engaged. You know, the ones who were intrigued by Luke Ridnour, and those who thought Alexey Shved might be something.
And that stinks.
I’m not here to tell you how to think. I want to — and will — acknowledge many of the reasons it feels justified for the fanbase to hold a grudge, but I also want to suggest reasons to persevere. My main rationale: I earnestly believe the game of basketball has so much to offer.
Namely, with helmets non-existent and only six or seven players really impacting the game, the NBA presents a unique product. An opportunity to intimately understand not only how a player is impacting the game but also the freedom to let the player impact you — the viewer. Of course, this impact can go multiple directions.
The exposure Timberwolves fans had to the spewing tenacity of Kevin Garnett allowed those who followed to endear him; to love what he represented so much that a fan may have even tried to emulate his chest pounding and fadeaway jumpers when they played hoops themselves.
But then, there is the other side: the maddening players who not only underwhelmed your hopes but worse, did so by seemingly not caring. Michael Olowakandi and Derrick Williams come to mind. (Andrew Wiggins is also approaching this territory in more recent memory.)
Regardless of one’s opinion on any player — positive or negative — in the 30 years of the Timberwolves existence, fans were able to form that opinion because they followed. This season, however, with the Wolves set to kick off the 2018-19 campaign in San Antonio on Wednesday night, the pulse I have on the situation is many are on the edge — ready to be done following.
This time, they feel more embarrassed than ever.
This is a 180-degree turn from a season ago when, for a brief minute there, maybe right after Christmas, it was almost cool to rock Wolves gear again. Kids were rolling up to the gym in their neon green jersey and hoopin’ like KAT; spinning like Wiggs; even screaming like Jimmy.
For me, this was a departure from my childhood where showing up in Wolves garb was cool only in its comic irony. Ooo, a Marko Jaric jersey. L.O.L., they’d say.
Back To The Dark Days?
This Butler drama has brought back this sentiment as, yet again, the Wolves are not cool. Worse: they’ve become a joke. As national media has had fun absorbing the soap opera from 10,000 feet — without paying an emotional or financial toll — many Wolves season ticket holders, the ones who were promised growth (#AllEyesNorth), are already regretting signing the dotted line on their increasingly expensive season ticket packages.
The fanbase seems to feel left in the dark about what the hell has actually been going on. Clarity beyond “we’re going to do what is best for the Timberwolves” has either been non-existent or feels faux in the lacking clarity.
While this cloak of ambiguity may very well eventually bring back a greater return for Butler in a trade, the opportunity cost of the weight on the fanbase does not feel as if it has been fully considered. Sure, toeing the fine line between doing what is best for the Timberwolves and for the fanbase is a tricky balance to run, but many feel the latter has not been considered.
Personally, it’s a bizarre feeling reporting on these events as one of the messengers between a coach/GM/owner who does not seem to want to communicate with the fanbase. (I’ve literally been the shot messenger on Twitter.) Truthfully, it feels as if my readers are hate-following this saga.
They ask:
What stupid crap came out of that dumpster fire today?
Another physical manifestation of the everything is fine meme? Awesome.
I hear you — readers and fans. And I acknowledge that you have plenty to be ticked about. Before requesting a collective deep breath, let’s go through some of it — starting at Media Day (Sept. 24) up through the final practice of the preseason (Oct. 16).
Recounting The Saga
- Layden publicly snaps at Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic — the most integral asset for anyone trying to follow an honest account of this saga — at media day when Krawczynski asks why the Wolves have been difficult to contact for prospective trade partners. “Oh, league sources said that,” mocked Layden.
- Thibodeau states, also at media day, that Butler’s trade demand on the 18th of September was the first time he had been made aware of Butler’s demands. Butler refutes this stating that he made his desires clear to Thibodeau four days after the season ended (April 29). Butler said to Rachel Nichols, “Thibs is very smart. He only hears what he wants to hear.”
- Reportedly, Towns would not sign his rookie contract extension until the Butler situation was resolved. This passive-aggressive manner of dealing contributed to a Molotov cocktail that perpetuated Butler’s desire to punk Towns on ESPN. Butler has acknowledged that Towns’ apprehension is part of the reason that things “are not fixed.”
- Butler also expressed frustration with the manner with which Wiggins dealt with the trade demand; notably requesting an explanation for why Wiggins’ brother Nick tweeted “Hallelujah” — and then deleted it — after Butler’s trade demand broke. I believe further maddening for the fanbase is Wiggins’ metaphorical putting on of his headphones so as to just ignore much of the noise. It’s emblematic of what Wiggins has done when the going gets tough on the actual basketball court: nothing.
- Outside of Taj Gibson stating that he felt struck by a “right hook” from the Butler news, everyone else in the Wolves locker room seems to want to dismiss the Butler absence as some sort of small ordeal. It’s just not to the fanbase. When asked after the final preseason game why the intensity levels of the team have been so inconsistent, Towns’ response was “I don’t know. If you find out let me know.” It’s not too much to acknowledge that these events are affecting the team’s identity.
- Derrick Rose has acknowledged a lack of identity in the squad. After Monday’s practice Rose said, “I mean we got room for growth. We don’t even have an identity of how we’re going to play offensively and defensively.” However, what is frustrating about Rose’s commentary is that he parallels these difficulties to “shit” the Chicago Bulls went through when he was there. Maybe there was stuff that stayed under wraps in Chicago but, still, this is different.
- But maybe everyone in the locker room is parroting Thibodeau’s edict. Numerous times in this process, Thibodeau has said: “in the NBA every team has something during the course of the season.” This misses the mark similar to the way in which Rose’s commentary does. The Spurs lost their starting point guard to a torn ACL. That is something. All this in Minnesota is something altogether different. If the players in the locker room are, in fact, miming the Thibodeau mantra and it eventually becomes proven that the coach and team president does not have “what is best for the Timberwolves franchise” at heart then the player’s reputations become besmirched as compliant in the mutiny.
- The most fatal potential blow of this whole ordeal is the alienation of Towns. Butler has made Towns look Charmin soft in all of this and the non-confrontational 22-year-old Towns just doesn’t really have it in himself to be defensive. Yes, Towns is under contract through 2023-24 so he’s not going anywhere. No, he’s not requesting a trade. But if this team is to be a title contender sometime between this season and 2024, Towns is the catalyst. Why not embolden him as said catalyst? Every domino that falls against Towns drops his ceiling, and thus the franchise’s. Through this all, Butler has picked up the domino board and thrown it at KAT. Thibodeau’s response? “Confrontation is OK.”
- Before the final preseason game in Milwaukee, Thibodeau was asked if he has any disciplinary policies for players publicly criticizing teammates. His response was, “I don’t really know what you’re talking about.” Pressed, by referencing Butler’s public condemnation of Towns and Wiggins during his interview with ESPN, Thibodeau rebutted by saying, “Well, and again it’s how you view how you want to pick and choose what people say. So I’m not gonna comment on any of that. Because [Jimmy has] also praised a lot of guys and that never gets reported.”
- This deserves a bullet to itself: Blind and unwavering support of Butler from Thibodeau. It’s almost impossible to imagine Thibodeau acknowledging fault on Butler’s part for anything short of an actual crime.
The crazy part of this list is that it is an abridged version. There’s so much more the fanbase can be frustrated with. One thing I often ponder: How is this all affecting Josh Okogie? You know, the one thing Minnesota fans seem excited about these days.
What To Do Next?
So yes, frustrations are warranted and then some. But should fans give up?
I joked the other day on Twitter that the most Minnesotan thing ever would be for those with tickets to the season opener to just passive-aggressively not show up. But I think this would actually be a mistake. I say, make your qualms known. I see your comments in tweets and the emails I receive, let them be known to those with the power in the situation. But do it within intention. And critically, only do it if you are willing to not give up.
This is still the best game. While I know this feels like the last straw in what has been one of the most onerous and draining dramas ever, you’ve done this before.
Yeah, it hurt when Stephon left before the KG and Marbury tandem ever really had a shot. KG being traded hurt even more. The Kahn era was also, of course, nails on the chalkboard. And we never got to see Ricky maestro anything that mattered. That all stunk, but you stuck with it.
This too shall pass.
If you can’t do it for the still promising future that comes with Towns, just do it for basketball. Remember: Minnesota is not Seattle, but it could be.
Push Forth
A short personal story about the Chicago Cubs. I grew up a Cubs fan. Sammy Sosa, Mark Grace and Ryne Sandberg were my idols. I watched them suck throughout the entirety of my childhood. Countless hours watching them and listening to Harry Caray on WGN pepper many of my young memories. However, as I grew older, I became increasingly frustrated with the Chicago organization. I came to realize that it was managerial ineptitude — not bad luck — that had led to the years of losing. But I, like many other Cubs fans, kept watching those lovable losers. I paid for MLB TV after I went to college and no longer had access to the Cubs on cable. And in the end, it was all worth it.
Almost exactly two years ago, I trekked down to Chicago for the weekend of Games 3 through 5 of the 2016 World Series — the first championship games in Wrigleyville in 71 years.
Of course, I could not afford tickets that were going for thousands of dollars just for even standing room only but thought watching from a bar in Wrigleyville would more than suffice. At the bar I stumbled upon the afternoon of Game 3, I met a kind older man who had made a similar journey from the south that I had made from the north. We shared stories of our fandom; our first games at Wrigley; the critical roles our respective grandfathers had played in our connection to the team; etc.
After a few hours at the bar, the elderly man’s nephew joined us. The two would be attending the game together. He was eager to introduce me to his nephew and I was excited to chop it up with another fan. We shared beverages and it was all smiles until the two departed for the game as I prepared to belly up at the bar.
Not a half hour later, the two returned informing me they had something for me. Sure enough, it was two tickets, lower level, along the first base line. I can’t imagine the price of those tickets.
I don’t know, maybe this was just the luckiest moment of my life. But I choose to take something more from it. Something I can apply to the Timberwolves. I choose to believe good things come to those who wait. For me, with the Cubs, waiting made all the difference.
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