There’s something more grotesque than the new Timberwolves jerseys in Minnesota.  It’s the floor they play on.  What’s up with the two toned action that they have going on there now?  It looks like a Chevy Caprice got flattened so ten guys could play hoops on it.  It’s ugly and it sucks.  But the puzzling thing is that it didn’t always suck, which leads me to believe that someone within the organization thought it’d be a good idea to change it.  That person should be fired.

I don’t normally hate going off the beaten path when we talk about changing some stuff up.  Hell, the Boston Garden floor was the coolest thing ever.  But this?  This looks like we should break out some YMCA teams and play.  Don’t take this as a suggestion; take this as a demand.  Change the floor.

Of course, for every winner of the 2008 NBA Draft, there has to be corresponding losers. And there are certainly some losers when it comes to this edition of the NBA’s annual selection meeting.

New York Knicks: I’d be crazy not to start here with the Knicks’ selection of Danilo Gallinari. There is absolutely no doubt that this pick was influenced by Mike D’Antoni’s playing days in Italy with Gallinari’s father. D’Antoni clearly needed a stud PG at this spot with Stephon Marbury having no future in New York. Eric Gordon, D.J. Augustin or Jerryd Bayless would’ve all been good picks. Hell, even Brook Lopez would’ve been a better pick. Even if Gallinari pans out decently, it will take at least two or three years before he starts showing his worth. By then, who knows if D’Antoni is still around?

Milwaukee Bucks: So exactly what is the plan here, short-term and long-term? They just traded Bobby Simmons and Yi Jianlian, who possesses a game that management loves enough to trade him after just one season, for Richard Jefferson. The same RJ that has a huge contract that has three years left on it. And then they follow it up by drafting Joe Alexander, except Alexander plays at the same spot that RJ does, and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Being a UCLA alum and having seen Mbah a Moute in action many times, I love his defensive tenacity and nose for the ball, but I really don’t see where he’s going to fit in unless he plays as an undersized backup PF. Then there are the rumors about the Bucks no longer wanting Michael Redd, except that he has a long-term contract that pays him like a franchise player when he really isn’t close to being one. If there’s a plan in Milwaukee, I’d like to see it.

Sacramento Kings: When I heard Jason Thompson’s name called, I, and I’m sure a LOT of Kings fans, were saying, “Who???” The Kings are screaming for a PG with Beno Udrih being an unrestricted free agent and most likely going to get some stupidly huge contract that he doesn’t deserve. They definitely got shafted when Bayless got taken one pick before, but that doesn’t absolve management of picking a guy that was rated to go in the lower half of the 1^st round. And not just that, but they drafted Spencer Hawes the year before! Their second round picks of Sean Singletary and Patrick Ewing Jr. probably won’t make much of an impact, if any at all. This team overachieved last season with a roster that’s not particularly talented, and it’s going to be hard to sustain that kind of success without getting some talent in the draft. Taking Anthony Randolph here would’ve made more sense with his huge upside. For a fanbase that desperately needed some excitement, this did nothing but deflate them.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Kevin McHale made the right pick. Al Jefferson and O.J. Mayo was the perfect inside-outside combo for the Wolves for years to come. Then he remembered who he was, and had to screw it up. The post-draft eight-player trade sent Mayo, Marko Jaric, Antoine Walker and Greg Buckner to the Wolves for Kevin Love, Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal and Jason Collins. Why McHale made this deal, I have no idea. It doesn’t make the Wolves championship contenders. Love and Jefferson are both PFs, but someone’s going to have to play C and neither are defensive studs. It definitely doesn’t put butts in the seats. The locals probably would’ve been excited to see Mayo in action, but I doubt anyone’s going to rush out to see Love. They’re probably going to end up winning more games with these players when the they should blow a few years and stock up on talent. Then again, McHale runs the show here so he’d probably make another boneheaded move.

There are few times in sports where guys come along and look identical to a celebrity or another sports star.? I’ve likened Ravens safety Ed Reed to Snoop Dogg, Adam Eaton and Michael Barrett as one in the same, and now this one may take the cake.? Recently drafted Corey Brewer of the Minnesota Timberwolves is Buc Nasty.

Who is Buc Nasty?? He’s played by actor Charlie Murphy and is part of the famous group, the Player Haters, a skit from the Chappelle’s Show.? While Murphy is more famously known for his work with the Rick James and Prince skits, Buc Nasty has to be considered one of the funnest characters ever on the show.

The rest of the?league?should be on guard immediately.? Brewer will certainly be making an immediate impact for the Timberwolves and won’t be afraid to shove those gators up your ass and show you the inside of some style at the same time.? While he will play lock down defense and hit some clutch shots for the T-Wolves, you should also expect him to hate on some people.? Im talking about a diverse array of mark-ass marks, trick-ass marks, punk bitches, skip-skop skanks and scallywags, ho’s, heifers, heehaws, and hoolihoos both in the NBA and outside of it.

In seriousness, Brewer was a great fit for the Wolves.? They’ve been in dire need of a guard who can play for a long time and Brewer, who will also play some small forward, will fit well with former Tarheel Rashad McCants.? Whether or not they trade Kevin Garnett will be something that will float around this team for a while, and whether or not what they get for Garnett will improve their team is yet to be seen.? GM Kevin McHale is a dumbass, we know that.? But picking Buc Nasty with the 7th overall pick wasn’t dumb at all.? It was haterific.

Kevin Garnett, one of the game’s brightest stars, knows all about playing for a loser. He’s gone through years of turmoil in Minnesota and has been linked in trades for the last couple of years. This year appears to be the year for Garnett to change uniforms. But he won’t be a Boston Celtic. According to KG’s agent, “The Big Ticket” has zero interest in moving to Beantown.

“The Boston trade isn’t happening,” Garnett’s agent, Andy Miller, told ESPN.com’s Chris Sheridan. “If a trade were to happen, that’s not a destination that we’re interested in pursuing.”

No shit? Few teams were worse than the 32-50 Timberwolves. But the Celtics were one of them, finishing a horrendous 24-58. There’s some young talent in Boston but a lot of it (Al Jefferson and the 5th overall pick) would have to leave town for Garnett to arrive. For a guy that desperately wants to win now, they’re not a very attractive destination for one of the game’s best players. However, Garnett has expressed a desire to be end up in Phoenix, which presents some fun scenarios.

Consider half of Garnett’s body is frozen up in Minnesota, you can see why he wants two things: A warm city and a championship contender. That sounds like Phoenix to me, though the words “warm” and “hell” are interchangeable with that city’s weather. However, the Timberwolves want Amare Stoudemire out of the deal. Phoenix would rather part with Shawn Marion, who already stated he doesn’t want to play for Minnesota. Sounds like typical NBA trade banter, meaning very little will get done anytime soon.

How can a team with one good player and zero trips to the NBA Finals have the best GM in all of sports? In the case of the Minnesota Timberwolves Kevin McHale, it’s apparently a real possibility. McHale was named the best GM in sports in a study done by Forbes. And in just one survey, Forbes has lost any credibility they ever had when it came to analyzing sports leadership.

The basis for the study is a couple of factors: Success (regular season and playoffs) and performance compared to their predeccesor. Here’s why McHale shouldn’t get this honor (or even be in the top 50). What the hell has Minnesota ever won? McHale’s sole accomplishment was drafting Kevin Garnett in 1995. Garnett has become one of the NBA’s best players but he’s also become a casualty for really awful leadership. He’s hardly ever had a supporting cast and when he did (2004), the Timberwolves were just two games away from the NBA Finals. That lasted one year, as Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell were soon out of town.

The Timberwolves played their first season in 1989. McHale took over as Director of Basketball Operations in 1995. His selection of Kevin Garnett was good. But Forbes has it all wrong. The Timberwolves were an expansion team with nowhere to go but up. In their first six seasons, their highest win total was 29. A corpse can improve that record if you give him enough time. I guess they forgot that secret bargain with Joe Smith, which eventually was discovered. It costed Minnesota three first round picks, $3.5 million, and it even lost McHale his job for a year. Kevin McHale laid the franchise on the line for Joe Smith. That’s a sign of idiocy, not the sign of being a good GM.

The Timberwolves are a franchise with one truly great player that’s getting the shaft. I will cheer for Kevin Garnett the day he’s out of Minnesota. He’s been knocked out of the playoffs in the first round seven straight years. McHale tried to put them over the top for a year and since then, he hasn’t even been back to the playoffs. When you look at stable management in the NBA, you look at the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons. You sure as hell don’t look at Kevin McHale’s Timberwolves.

A day after the Timberwolves dropped their fourth straight game, they fired coach Dwane Casey. Casey, who was only with the team for a year and a half, was only doing a satisfactory job in the eyes of management and generally struggled to make the ‘Wolves a consistent team.

In my opinion, this firing is a little premature. The ‘Wolves, who are 20-20, sit in the 8th seed in the Western Division Playoff picture. Can you blame Casey for struggling at times with this team? Better yet, shouldn’t he be getting a little more credit for the work that he did with that franchise? Outside of Kevin Garnett, this team doesn’t have much.

Trenton Hassell is a good defender, but can’t be counted on for offensive purposes. Ricky Davis has had his flashes of brilliance as has Mark Blount, but they too are athletes that need players around them to compliment their abilities (see Paul Pierce in Boston). Mike James has certainly not filled the expectations that he had when he signed the 4 year $23 million deal unless you consider 11.6 points a game to be good. In my opinion, the only constant on this team has been the Big Ticket. Garnett has been a stud for them this season and if it weren’t for the Godly seasons that Steve Nash and the German are putting together, he would be right in the mix of the MVP race.

Should Dwane Casey have been fired? Thats not my call to make. If it were up to me, however, I would have let him at least stick around until the All-Star break. I don’t know what Minnesota ownership’s expectations were coming into this season, but they’ve done pretty well according to mine. With the development of Randy Foye along side Garnett, I think it was just a tad bit early to pull the plug on Casey.