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The sports content mill, inside which things other people said become grist for new content, can be tedious. While it is mostly just a low-stakes game of “telephone” we often lose intent and nuance with every step along the aggregation trail.
Nonetheless, some opinions count more than others — and are worth amplifying as long as we can avoid distorting.
I felt that way after listening to a recent segment of the Ticket & The Truth podcast, featuring (as you might know if you follow nicknames) former teammates Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.
The duo got going on the Timberwolves, starting around the 22 minute mark and lasting for a good eight minutes after that.
As I talked about on Friday’s Daily Delivery podcast, Garnett’s words carry a certain amount of weight. And in listening to him talk about the Wolves with depth and passion, it’s clear he still cares about the franchise, the state and the future.
The dialogue started with Pierce saying (and not delicately) that the Wolves messed up by not including KG in their new ownership group when he was interested a couple years ago.
Even though he has plenty of personal history, Garnett mostly took the high road — looking forward by complimenting Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez and praising their vision for not just the franchise but what it means to the city.
Regarding basketball matters, Garnett had an interesting take about Kyle Anderson, the do-it-all forward who was integral to the Wolves’ success this season. Garnett thought the Wolves leaned too heavily on Anderson at times and put him in positions where he was less likely to succeed.
Both Pierce and Garnett continued to mention Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns as superstars the Wolves need to build around. Garnett doesn’t like the lineup with two big men. Pierce wants the Wolves to move away from Rudy Gobert — a tall order considering the price they paid to get him a year ago.
These are all just opinions, of course, but they carry some weight considering the stature of the players, the complicated offseason ahead and the connection Garnett still obviously feels to Minnesota.
Here are four more things to know today:
*Todd McShay’s 2024 NFL mock draft is already out (yes, really. And yes, he always does this. And no, he doesn’t really like to do it). The ESPN draft guru imagines the Vikings will be picking 20th and that they will take Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy.
The who and the what are largely irrelevant at this point, but two things are good to remember:
Because the Vikings didn’t spend a high pick on Kirk Cousins’ successor this year, we will be talking about QB speculation for many, many months now — either until Cousins signs an extension or the Vikings go a different route.
The other thing of note: Cousins elicits a lot of different opinions, but even his detractors would note that he has a “high floor” and that the Vikings should at least be near .500 this season. Picking in the mid-to-high-teens or low 20s is a likely outcome in 2024 after a 2023 season with Cousins at QB — making it harder to draft his successor.
*It’s tough to make too much of one game out of 162 in an MLB season, but the Twins pulling out Thursday’s game in extra innings while walking an intentional walk tightrope felt, at least, important.
*Perhaps the most interesting name on Sarah McLellan’s look at the potential roster moves for the Wild this offseason is the first one alphabetically: Calen Addison. He seemed like a young defenseman on the rise, but he lost his playing time late in the year. What is his role as he heads to restricted free agency?
*Here’s that survey about Major League Soccer analytics that Jon Marthaler referenced on Friday’s podcast. It’s, um, not great for Minnesota United.
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