OT: Are the Timberwolves the whitest team in decades?

[Rastapopoulos]

The Wolves could play an entire game with just honkies... and actually stand a chance:

C: Pekovic, Stiemsma
PF: Some guy.
SF: Kirilenko (he's more of a PF now, but he could do it.)
SG: Budinger, Shved
PG: Rubio, Ridnour, Barea

Is this intentional? Is this part of Kahn's Portland love - trying to recreate the whitest city?

They've ditched Beasley, Johnson, Ellington, Martell and Randolph. Is Derek Williams their only non-white player left? [Edit: apart from Brandon Roy, of course - somehow managed to forget him...]

 

[BlazerCaravan]

To placate Kevin Love, Khan is attempting to recreate a Lake Oswego 24hr Fitness group for Love to practice with.

 

[BrianFromWA]

To placate Kevin Love, Khan is attempting to recreate a Lake Oswego 24hr Fitness group for Love to practice with.

So they're going to sign Oden up before he's cleared to play??

 

[jlprk]

Our front line would take theirs.

C
Leonard, Meyers
Freeland, Joel

PF
Papanikolaou, Kostas
Printezis, Giorgos
Babbitt, Luke

SF
Claver, Victor
Pavlovic, Sasha

Edit: Unless they sign Przybilla.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

So they're going to sign Oden up before he's cleared to play??

You know Khan would, too.

 

[KingSpeed]

Some guy isn't white. And Budinger isn't a SG. The Jazz have had some very white teams in the past- Stockton, Hornacek, Keefe, Ostertag, Mark Eaton,

 

[THE HCP]

^Depends on what you consider white.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Some guy isn't white.

"Some guy" is Kevin Love.

And Budinger isn't a SG.

So play him at SF and start Shved. Shved and Rubio is going to be a fun combination to watch. Or do what they did last year and start Rubio and Barea together.

The Jazz have had some very white teams in the past- Stockton, Hornacek, Keefe, Ostertag, Mark Eaton,

Um, they never had Ostertag and Eaton at the same time, and even if they had, there's no way in hell they could've played them together. So that's essentially 3 players. Not so white. The Wolves have about 2 black players.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

^Depends on what you consider white.

Sorry HCP, "hispanic" is an ethnicity. Both you and Barea are lily white.

 

[<-=*PdX*=->]

They better watch out for team cracka killaz.

 

[KingSpeed]

"Some guy" is Kevin Love.



So play him at SF and start Shved. Shved and Rubio is going to be a fun combination to watch. Or do what they did last year and start Rubio and Barea together.



Um, they never had Ostertag and Eaton at the same time, and even if they had, there's no way in hell they could've played them together. So that's essentially 3 players. Not so white. The Wolves have about 2 black players.

I'm aware they didn't play together. I should've phrased it better. Showing the history of white players on the team. Kirilenko, Okur, and Hayward too.

 

[NOVoodoo]

I don't know about Minnesota's strategy, but it always seemed like it was Utah's strategy to bring in players that would be marketable to a mostly white SLC audience. It almost seemed like they were going out of their way to get white players, and if they brought in black players, they were usually lighter skinned or mixed, like Humphries, Boozer, and Williams.

Just look at their '08-09 team. Their best players were Williams (mixed), Okur, Kirilenko, and Boozer (light-skinned). Their first round pick that year was Kosta Koufos, and their gunners off the bench were Kyle Korver and Matt Harpring, with Kyrylo Fesenko playing sparingly off the bench.

Maybe I'm thinking too much into that one, but it just seems too coincidental for a team with maybe the whitest fanbase in the league.

I'm aware they didn't play together. I should've phrased it better. Showing the history of white players on the team. Kirilenko, Okur, and Hayward too.

Don't forget drafting Kanter 3rd overall, if he meets your criteria for what "white" is.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

What about the quadroons and octoroons?

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I'm aware they didn't play together. I should've phrased it better. Showing the history of white players on the team. Kirilenko, Okur, and Hayward too.

Yes: a few years ago a team with three prominent white rotation players would be considered "white". Which is why the Wolves, who have nine non-scrubs, including probably their top four players, are by far and away the whitest team in recent memory.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Why isn't Jimmy Chitwood on this team?

 

[e_blazer]

I heard Kahn has asked Brandon to get the Michael Jackson skin treatment.

 

[Boob-No-More]

The Pacers and Celtics have also had teams with a lot of white guys at times in the past few decades. And I doubt if it had much to do with their skin color. You don't pass on Larry Bird or Kevin McHale because they're white. And, has there ever been a better human victory cigar/head towel waver than Brain Scalabrine?

Indiana always seems to have more than their share of white bigs (Foster, Hanasbrough, Fesenko, McRoberts and now Plumlee). Again, I don't think it's intentional. None of those guys were lottery picks and when you're picking in the bottom half of the first round, you have to take what you can get. Not a lot of great bigs of any color available at 26.

BNM

 

[crandc]

Voodoo, it's not you imagination. There have been actual studies (there have been studies on everything!). Teams want to win but most coaches play maybe 7-8 guys major minutes. So for those top 7 or 8 a team will go for talent. The Jazz were hardly going to dump Karl Malone, obviously. It's how they fill out the roster - and teams in "whiter" cities tend to fill out rosters with more white players. And if a team is not expecting to win much they are more likely to be "whiter" - we won't win but at least the locals will like our guys is the rationale.

 

[Boob-No-More]

None of those guys were lottery picks and when you're picking in the bottom half of the first round, you have to take what you can get. Not a lot of great bigs of any color available at 26.

BNM

Correction: Hansbrough was a lottery pick, - the last lottery pick at 13. But, other than DeJuan Blair, who slipped into the second round due to injury concerns, there weren't any better bigs picked after Hansbrough in the 2009 NBA draft.

BNM

 

[Twobit]

Maybe I'm thinking too much into that one, but it just seems too coincidental for a team with maybe the whitest fanbase in the league.

Maybe you were unaware that Portland is whiter than Salt Lake City and Oregon is almost whiter than Utah. And, Portland/Oregon is much whiter than Minneapolis/Minnesota. Statistically speaking. Maybe the Blazers need to look into appeasing their dominate white culture too and sign some more white guys.

 

[Mediocre Man]

After moving to Houston, I realize how incredibly white Portland is. It's ridiculous. God I miss Portland

 

[Boob-No-More]

Voodoo, it's not you imagination. There have been actual studies (there have been studies on everything!). Teams want to win but most coaches play maybe 7-8 guys major minutes. So for those top 7 or 8 a team will go for talent. The Jazz were hardly going to dump Karl Malone, obviously. It's how they fill out the roster - and teams in "whiter" cities tend to fill out rosters with more white players. And if a team is not expecting to win much they are more likely to be "whiter" - we won't win but at least the locals will like our guys is the rationale.

It would be interesting to see a study of how many of these white guys performed well enough to justify their draft position. Were there any significantly better non-white players taken after them? Obviously guys like Bird and Stockton justified their draft positions. In fact, in hindsight, both should have been taken higher. Kevin Love certainly seems to have been a good value at no. 5 (has more WS than anyone else from his draft class, including Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook). Rubio also looks much better than Jonny Flynn (who was also taken by the Wolves one pick later).

I think, in general, teams reach for big white stiffs, mostly because there is always a shortage of good big men of any race. Mediocre (and I'm being kind) big men, regardless of race (Hasheem Thabeet, Patrick O'Bryant, Kwame Brown, Darko Milicic, etc.) always seem to get drafted too high and paid too much.

BNM

 

[julius]

Maybe you were unaware that Portland is whiter than Salt Lake City and Oregon is almost whiter than Utah. And, Portland/Oregon is much whiter than Minneapolis/Minnesota. Statistically speaking. Maybe the Blazers need to look into appeasing their dominate white culture too and sign some more white guys.

hello trolls! welcome back! we had missed you after they re-signed Batum.

 

[illmatic99]

Shved is Nic's age. His game seems much more refined. I was thoroughly impressed with him yesterday.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Shved is Nic's age. His game seems much more refined. I was thoroughly impressed with him yesterday.

I was too, but GB is terrible, especially their guards. I will be interested to see him against France, Spain, US, Argentina, etc

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Maybe you were unaware that Portland is whiter than Salt Lake City and Oregon is almost whiter than Utah. And, Portland/Oregon is much whiter than Minneapolis/Minnesota. Statistically speaking. Maybe the Blazers need to look into appeasing their dominate white culture too and sign some more white guys.

Nah, it would be easier to just keep the team as is and burn the occasional cross at halftime.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Nah, it would be easier to just keep the team as is and burn the occasional cross at halftime.

Hell, 40 miles down the road, and we're probably still hanging people from trees

 

[SheedSoNasty]

Hell, 40 miles down the road, and we're probably still hanging people from trees

That classic reference couldn't have been used in a better way.

 

[crandc]

Earlier on the Blazers were one of the "white" teams. That is no longer the case.

Yeah, when I lived in Portland I was used to it, but I'd travel to Oakland or Detroit or NYC and it hit me how pale Portland is.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I live in Flint, Michigan. Beat that.