The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: Timberwolves (Re-Entry!).  OK, I don't know if a team that is in the off-season has ever claimed the top spot in a Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey, so this is a first.  And I'll be honest: I wasn't so high on the trade that sends Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and the draft pick that turned out to be Finnish big man (by way of Arizona) Lauri Markkanen to the Chicago Bulls for Jimmy Butler and the draft pick that became Creighton Center Justin Patton.  But after hearing what other people and experts think about it, I'm warming up to the notion that this was a lopsided trade in favor of the Woofs.

First of all, Patton is incidental in all of this.  (Also, I didn't know till I just looked it up that the T-Wolves sold off their second-round pick.  Wouldn't have mattered anyway.)  Butler's the big deal, for both sides, and this is a signal that the organization believes that they're one piece, a veteran piece, away from being the team to get their brains beaten in by the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.  He is everything the squad needs: A wing player who can defend, a guy who can create his shot from nothing as the clock is winding down, and a veteran presence that can finally instill some clutch guts in the young pups that blew more second-half leads than any other team in the league.

Tom Thibodeau had Butler as a player, and from all accounts, even though their relationship is combustible, Butler could play for Thibs in a way he never could (or would) under current Bulls Head Coach Fred Hoiberg.  Butler had to leave Chicago.  But he should have left last year, when the Bulls could have gotten him for more than what they got now.  No matter; Thibodeau now has his prized player on this team, and it appears as though he will make Butler the Alpha Dog on this team ... well, maybe co-Alpha with Karl-Anthony Towns ... and the other players will fall in line behind him.

The Starting Five now sets up nicely.  You have four shooters and a Point Guard who loves to pass in Ricky Rubio.  (By the way, trading Dunn squelches forever the feeling that Rubio will be traded before he starts the downside of his career.  The job was Dunn's to lose, and yet somehow he lost it just after his rookie year?  Harsh for a guy who did things "the right way" by staying in school all four years.)  Pairing Butler with a disrupter like Rubio strengthens the perimeter D, and Butler joining the team improves the D, period.  Finally, Thibodeau is probably going to give Butler the responsibility of making Andrew Wiggins a two-way player.

And that's where my doubts begin.  LaVine may have grown the most out of him, Wiggins and Towns, but he was thought to have the lowest ceiling.  However, this year it appeared as though, through taking on Point duties and trying to D up a little more, he demonstrated a willingness to be coached.  I don't see that yet in Wiggins.  For all of his offensive prowess, the Wolves might have a knucklehead in Wiggy who just wants to score, and in my opinion, I'd rather have a team/role player who'll do what you ask him to do instead of a glory boy who can pour in 30 a night by have a +/- in the negative double-digits.  Also, LaVine (and Dunn for that matter) are young, so this franchise is committed to accelerating the maturation of the team.  Guess I'm saying I wouldn't have been totally upset if it was Wiggins leaving and not LaVine.  Finally, I still think of Butler as a late-first-rounder who somehow blew up to be a superstar.  I still can't quite believe he is as good as everyone says he is.  Is he good enough to be the face of this team, like it or not?  Will he leave in 2019 after his relatively modest contract ends?

Nevertheless, LaVine is coming back from an ACL injury and Markkanen seems to be able to only post up on offense.  If the Timberwolves are thisclose to breaking through, well, this move probably is the one that'll take them back to the playoffs.  And if they did it for a song, well, that means these guys win the week.

(Aside: I believe that like the Bulls, the Blackhawks and the Bears also made trades the day of the draft of their respective sports.  What's the deal with Chicago teams dealing on Draft Day?)

#-2: Lynx (Last Week: -Infinity).  I get to put last week's survey, where are three playing local teams lost on Saturday, behind me.  And I put the Lynx in second.  They put their first loss of the year behind them by clobbering Washington Friday, 93-76.  Still waiting for their games vs. the Los Angeles Sparks; this week they host San Antonio (tonight, probably on a Pride-themed night) and visit Phoenix Friday.

#-3: United FC (Last Week: -Infinity).  They still haven't won a game on the road, but at least they're doing pretty well at home.  A win against Portland and a draw with Vancouver this screening week.  Could have been worse.

Both matches were entertaining.  The victory over the Timbers Wednesday featured dueling Own Goals and dueling Red Cards; Abu Danladi was sent off for pushing and shoving.  At least he left after he scored the game-winning tally off a Keystone Kops-like clearance by the Timbers Defense.  (Christian Ramirez scored the third one.)  Portland did not score from the run of play.  They, in fact, scored twice -- once on themselves (the Own Goal), the other on a Penalty Kick.  The Whitecaps also failed to score from the run of play; in the first half they got on the board off a PK resulting from a foul on Goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth after Kevin Venegas made a stupid back pass that Vancouver's Brek Shea (a USMNT mainstay) was going to fire on goal.  The 'Caps made it 2-0 just before the half on a header off a Free Kick.

I was resigned to a defeat last (Saturday) night, but give credit to the Loons -- they came back fired up and ready to play.  And in this match other players put the biscuit in the basket.  Francisco Calvo headed a one-hopper to pull one back (off an assist from Kevin Molina, who may be the MVP of this club), and then Miguel Ibarra slid the ball to Jerome Thiesson for a low one-timer through a thicket of Whitecap posts to tie the game.  It was target practice for MNUFC from there, but although they controlled the match from the start of the Second Half (and really the entire game; they out-possessed Vancouver, like, 77-23% in the First Half), they just couldn't complete the comeback.  So yeah, I bemoan their continuing inability to defend off set pieces, but unlike other people who point out that they still dig themselves into holes to start matches, I really like how they grind throughout the 90 minutes and have the ability to score in the run of play.  Those are qualities you look for in a good team.  And so, even though they technically tied last night, since they were behind and scored the last Goal of the match, I'll treat it as a win.  Sort of.

This week they play at Yankee Stadium against NYCFC.  That'll be the last roadie before they're at TCF Bank Stadium for the next five weeks.

#-4: Twins (Last Week: -Infinity).  And while Twin Cities fans have the new shine of United and the continuing excellence of the Lynx, don't forget about the Twins.  They had a rocky weekend home sweep at the hands of Cleveland, and they only finished this screening week at 4-2, but they're still hanging around with Cleveland at the top of the American League Central.  In fact, they're going for a three-game sweep at Jacobs Field right now.  What's most impressive about this series (BTW they lost Sunday to Cleveland and then took two-of-three against the White Sox at Target) is that they won on Friday and Saturday without either Ervin Santana or Jose Berrios taking the mound.  In fact, Adelberto Mejia's 5-0 win Friday was the first time this season a Twins Pitcher other than Erv or Jose went the distance without surrendering a run.  The Twinks are facing a good team, at their place, and by already winning the series they ensure that they'll be, at most, 2 1/2 games out of first place in the division.  And it's almost June.  I think things can only get better from here for this squad.  Watch this space.

This week will test this club, however; they're just beginning a massive roadtrip.  After finishing up in the Land, they play four in Boston and then visit Kansas City for four games for the weekend.