Minnesota Sports Forum

monsterpile made me do this... blame him.

1. Rashad McCants. I began posting online specifically because I had no other outlet to complain about how his game was stealing a bit of my soul every time I watched him play. I hated everything about his play on the court. I would by lying if I said I didn't miss the passion for basketball he helped me find. After a mini-hiatus of NBA apathy... Steve Nash and Rashad McCants brought me back to the NBA as a "lifer"... in very different ways.

others... in no particular order:

Ndudi Ebi. Oh, what could have been. Chosen for what I can assume for ONE performance where he gamely was overmatched by Lebron James on the AAU circuit... he was a terrible player. Not NBA quality. Getting cut from the D-League multiple times was proof of that. But check out his stats sometime. Because of one magical night in the last game of the season vs. the soon-to-be league champions who were mailing it in... Ebi will go down on the stat sheets as an "average" NBA player. He went for 18 that night on 8 - 14 shooting as both teams were looking on with pure amusement as this gangly, awkward, unskilled athletic kid teetered between made shots and flailed misses.

JR Rider. It's no coincidence that the franchise immediately improved when he was jettisoned for next to nothing. A selfish lout who never came close to being a team player. Nothing can match him stealing from the mall and then kicking/accosting(?) the pregnant security guard. Nice touch Isiah.

Darko Milicic. I remember the arguments. And I remember my reply... "He's not doing anything different here than he did elsewhere. Eventually, teams ditch him for a reason. Just wait..."

Troy Hudson. Not a bad guy. And not a bad player. But I was going to go insane if I had to watch him pull up for a 21 footer off the pick-and-roll one more time. I'm not sure, but I think he did that 3,974 times... compared to 2 passes to the roller. (To be fair, those might have been errant shot attempts.)

Eddie Griffin. Feels weird ripping a guy with such demons, which cost him his life. Let's just go with this... He was a tall, rangy 6'10" shot blocker... who shot 38.7%, then 35.1%, then 25.9% in his three seasons. Yet, he loved shooting 3 pointers. WHY?

Eric Riley. Who? I sneaked into the Michigan "Fab 5" Final Four practice. Webber. Howard. Rose. Et al. But I only remember watching one guy on the team. Eric Riley. The 7'0" center who missed multiple layups/dunks in a row (seriously) in the warm-up line at the beginning of practice. Not only did that guy play 15 mpg on a two-time national title contender, he made more than 1.3M in the NBA. As a 6'0" white PG... Eric Riley made me realize how "unfair" basketball was sometimes. I hate him for that.

Ryan Hollins. What a horrible season that summarizes the brutal Kahn/Rambis regime perfectly. Those two thought it was better to start Darko AND Ryan Hollins over Kevin Love. The 7-foot Hollins averaged 6.1 rebounds per 36 minutes that season. JUST a hair above the number of fouls he committed (5.9).

Wes Johnson. The only NBA wing I know of who never averaged 17 ppg at any level... even high school. No wonder he was smiling all the time.

Kevin Ollie. Nothing inherently wrong with the guy. He wasn't a bad person. Nor the worst player. But he was brought in at age 36 to START at PG. He was a journeyman backup his entire career for a reason. He just became the scapegoat with my frustration toward the Wolves at the time.

EDIT:
Ricky Davis. Rashad McCants didn't learn to be selfish without a true mentor. One season with this guy was all he needed. (REMOVE Kevin Ollie. He was a victim of circumstance more than anything else.)

EDIT:
Mike James. 20 ppg scorer in Toronto. Signed his "big" NBA contract with Minnesota. Promptly saw his production (and effort) cut in half. Selfish player who stopped caring after getting paid. (REMOVE Mahorn... who was just wiser than the rest of us were in trying to stay away from this ill-fated franchise.)

Michael Beasley. Selfish player. His 27 point explosions were never worth it. And despite repeated claims by some... never more than a mirage. Just like at every other stop in his NBA career.

Rich Mahorn. Was it an omen that the Wolves first pick in the expansion draft refused to play here? Maybe.



[note: i know i have more than 10. dammit. i knew this would happen. fine. take off ollie and beasley or maybe smiling wes.]

Kevin Ollie is on my "favorite" list.

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:Kevin Ollie is on my "favorite" list.

Yeah, I edited him already. I can't believe I forgot about the 2008 team. See above.

Thanks Abe I mostly enjoyed the list.

[Good edits especially Ricky Davis he was so maddening]

I will add

Will Avery. I happened to watch his only good game against Atlanta when Brandon had the Flu. Other than that he was essentially worthless. He has gone on to be a poster boy for coming out too early. He should really be the poster boy for how some guys just aren't any good when the get to the NBA.

I didn't enjoy watching Derrick Williams. He just didn't have much redeeming qualities about him either. He was the franchise's highest draft pick of all time and he wasn't that good. I held out hope he could become a solid starter partly because I didn't think the Wolves could get anything too significant back for him but never really liked his game.

Never really hated any Wolves. I always wanted them to succeed. But my list of least favorite are as follows.

1. Randy Breuer - Did this hairy animal have any business still being on an NBA team?
2. Darrick Martin - I remember constantly arguing with my cousin who had some strange hard on for this guy.
3. Kevin Love - The whining, over and over. Nothing I dislike worse in sports than whiners.
4. Felton Spencer- Fu Mchale Nothing much more to say here
5. Paul Grant - FU Mchale
6. Sean Rooks - FU Mchale
7. Sam Mitchell - Love the man, like the coach, but the player was mediocre at best. He always made shots with a man in his face and would miss when he was left wide open.
8. Donyell Marshall - FU Mchale
9. Rashad McCants - Fu Mchale
10. Randy Foye - Fu Mchale

thedoper wrote:Never really hated any Wolves. I always wanted them to succeed. But my list of least favorite are as follows.

1. Randy Breuer - Did this hairy animal have any business still being on an NBA team?
2. Darrick Martin - I remember constantly arguing with my cousin who had some strange hard on for this guy.
3. Kevin Love - The whining, over and over. Nothing I dislike worse in sports than whiners.
4. Felton Spencer- Fu Mchale Nothing much more to say here
5. Paul Grant - FU Mchale
6. Sean Rooks - FU Mchale
7. Sam Mitchell - Love the man, like the coach, but the player was mediocre at best. He always made shots with a man in his face and would miss when he was left wide open.
8. Donyell Marshall - FU Mchale
9. Rashad McCants - Fu Mchale
10. Randy Foye - Fu Mchale

Apparently, you really really dislike Kevin McHale. You're even blaming him for players he never traded for/drafted, including Felton Spencer, Donyell Marshall and Sean Rooks...

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

thedoper wrote:Never really hated any Wolves. I always wanted them to succeed. But my list of least favorite are as follows.

1. Randy Breuer - Did this hairy animal have any business still being on an NBA team?
2. Darrick Martin - I remember constantly arguing with my cousin who had some strange hard on for this guy.
3. Kevin Love - The whining, over and over. Nothing I dislike worse in sports than whiners.
4. Felton Spencer- Fu Mchale Nothing much more to say here
5. Paul Grant - FU Mchale
6. Sean Rooks - FU Mchale
7. Sam Mitchell - Love the man, like the coach, but the player was mediocre at best. He always made shots with a man in his face and would miss when he was left wide open.
8. Donyell Marshall - FU Mchale
9. Rashad McCants - Fu Mchale
10. Randy Foye - Fu Mchale

I get that you dislike Kevin McHale. But why are you blaming him for Felton Spencer, Donyell Marshall and Sean Rooks?

He didn't draft/trade for those guys.

Oh you're right. My trauma in those years runs deep. My bad.

Fortunately this list is much shorter for me than the favorites list. I'm not including guys who were just bad...that's not their fault (unless it is). I'm only including guys I truly disliked.

1) Starbury
2) Kevin Love
3) Christian Laettner
3) Rick Mahorn
5) Darko


Did I miss any other jerks?

Anthony Peeler, aka Satan.

Or is that just me?

Joe Smith. Not a bad player or a bad guy but he COST us 3-4 1st round draft picks with that under the table contract.

Of course we signed him back legally a year later using the full mid level exception.