HOWLS: BREAKING: Kevin Garnett will RETURN to Target Center on April 12!

0:00I have not been in Minnesota in probably 20 years. Bring us. Welcome to Fleet Grant House, a Minnesota Timberwolf's Lifestyle Podcast. All right. Happy twins home opener day, by the way, for a for all who celebrate. I know Declan's going to celebrate by going down their head of the Scornar twin show. Shortly, no place like there. There's no place like there. Certainly isn't any place like there. Before we get into a batch of feedback Friday and send Declan along the path here and some breaking Timberwolves, I guess call it organizational news, kind of the drop this morning. Shout out to butcher in the board in the North Loop jet. Right. This entire show has been there and butcher in the board in the North Loop. Absolutely fantastic. Why? Well, you got to experience it, right, gentlemen? Like when you go there and you share plates and you get

1:00the food there, it is absolutely outstanding. We're talking smoke meets. Heck, you know what? As far as drinks go, we're talking to craft beers. We're talking bourbon. We are talking a first class experience. In fact, if you have a party in anniversary, a birthday coming up and are looking for a place to celebrate it, I'm going to tell you right now, you're going to take the sports dad. You want to, if you're watching this right now, go to that QR code and book your reservation at butcher in the board because you are going to find out exactly what a great experience, the service to outstanding experience it for yourself, but you're in the board in the North Loop. And pretty close by not too far away and not too far away from Target Center element hotel in the North Loop as well. That's right. ScoreNorth.com slash element, and you know, maybe for a, you know, maybe a Jersey retirement or like a playoff game or something, you're looking for a place to stay coming into town or just making it a whole night in the North Loop at butcher in the board at bricks worth at all the great

2:01happening is around you can stay at the element hotel to steps away from Target Field and Target Center. And yeah, scoreNorth.com slash element will give you a 15% off a room rate. It's got free Wi-Fi. It has a business center. It's also a pet friendly hotel too. So go to scoreNorth.com slash element and you can save 15% off before we sent because Dex is going down on behalf of the scoreNorth twin show here. He's going down to cover opening day. But before we send you on your way here and get into some of the interesting news, you had brought up, I think it was a week ago on the podcast that so you're, your first born son's name is Sonny. And then you kind of joked about naming your next son bones. Yep. And you're getting some encouragement from the comment section from Aira Shane at 943, it says, you should go for it, man. I named my son, Garnet. That's awesome, which is incredible. If that's, if you have a son named Garnet as a first name, that is, that's bold.

3:01But you're just, you're getting some encouragement that it's okay to name your, maybe, I don't know, maybe you're leaning now more toward IO than bones for naming your second son. That's true. That's a good point. Yeah, I mean, I know you throughout the like caveat of you could just name them, you know, name them Judd, even whatever you want, but then you just nickname them bones early and it just sticks, right? Like you just, you just, you just nick you, and let's be honest. And Sonny's, Sonny's like in the 90th percentile for weight in his height and his, he did get his father's 99th percentile noggin, so his head's gigantic. But, but as you guys know, I'm a pretty slender, bony type of guy as it is. So there's a good chance this guy's going to be kind of bony and skinny and scrawny. So, but your brother's not, yeah. My brother's, my brother has my father's, you know, thick, beautiful jeans and I, I got mine. I got, I got my mother's uncles, my mother's brothers.

4:02Yeah, so I've got my, I've got my dad's brother's side of the family jeans because my dad was pretty skinny and my, my uncle was much broader, which I am. So like it's, it's a crap shoot, man. It's a crap shoot. You never know. Sonny's calling you bones as a kid. Is that what you know? Sonny could grow up to be just a strapping, just great athlete and you'll be like, where did that come from? Just make sure he throws left handed. Well, yeah, that's true. What, one more story from our late friend Jesse Pierce, because I'll never forget this. She, she, I don't know if she's met my brother in person. I think she did. And I remember her vividly going, that's your brother, huh? Yep, that, that's normally the reaction I get from all my female friends of, huh? Is that you guys marriage? Uh-huh, you guys, uh, I would never guess that's your brother. Yep, yep, that's normal reaction. I usually get from a lot of, a lot of my friends, yeah.

5:04And you would, yeah. Looks nothing like, like as far as his build. We sound, if you, we, we have, we, we sound alike. Like you know the way we talk. There's definitely, you could tell we're, we're brothers, if you like, we're blindfolded. I guess if that makes sense, but, uh, no, you would never guess us standing next to each other that we are funny, related. It's true, true, true. Liam will be making his debut. Brother Liam will be flaggerin' house podcast next week. So, all right, Dex, we're sending Dex off to the North Loop. Howls to, to go watch some cold baseball and we'll catch him next week on flaggerin' house here. But the big news, Judd, PR release sent out this morning. I love the wolves trying to take advantage of the, the twins being down and no one really, no one trying to, they literally sent a release out on twins home opener day and said, we'll just steal the new spotlight here today. Thank you very much. We are the Timberwolves. Kevin Garnett's coming back to target center. The Timberwolves announced that on April 12th, so in like a week and a half, team ambassador Kevin Garnett will make his first appearance

6:06at target center since 2018, as part of a fan appreciation night when the wolves host the Pelicans in the regular season finale. The most iconic player in franchise history returns to the twins cities for a special night, kicking off his long awaited reunification with the organization and following the announcement of his role as team ambassador. I'm gonna read you a little bit more because I think there's some relevant information in here. During the 2026-27 season, so next year the wolves will honor Garnett's enduring impact by raising his number 21 jersey into the rafters at target center with ceremony details to be announced at a later date. Garnett's return marks a milestone for the organization, signaling a new era of alignment, momentum and commitment to delivering best in class fan-focused experiences. Quote from Garnett, I can't wait to come home. Coming back for me is about what's next.

7:09I've spent time with Mark and Alex. You can feel the difference. The energy is real. The vision is real. They're building something that lasts with a team on the court that's hungry to win. I'm excited to be back in the building with the fans. Minnesota, let's go. And then Mark and Alex had a joint statement. And I can't tell if they were reading this together in sync both of their voices. But from Mark and Alex, Kevin Garnett has always represented the heart and intensity of this franchise. The energy he generates is unmistakable and welcoming him home to target center is a moment our fans have been eagerly anticipated. Your thoughts? Oh, I think this is great. I think it's great. And look, I mean, it's now been what, a couple of months probably since they announced that Garnett was back in the family. And so this is not a surprise. We didn't know exactly if and when this season, he would come back to a wolves game, a target center that is now official.

8:11The number retirement, I think they said at the time that it would be in the future, we now know and not surprisingly, it's next season. But I was thinking about this and like what the importance is. And I think it's this. And baseball, this is really big in baseball, but I think it's big in sports in general. You know, if you're a dad or mom right now and you grew up watching the wolves, and look, I know there were a lot of lean years, but there were some good times. Like there was a nice run there. And you grew up watching that team, like the first victory ever against the bulls at target center in 97 or something like that. And your kid now, your son or daughter loves Aunt, right? It's, if you tell them about Garnett, they're like, oh, cool. And they can go watch some of it, but I think it's very hard to sort of get feels things from the moment unless there's a real connection now. And so I think there's a big difference between saying, well, my aunt when I was eight or nine was KG. It's like the kids are like, oh, okay, cool. But he's gonna be back there now.

9:12His number's going to be retired. And if you take your son or daughter to a game, I gotta believe that if you're the parent, it's gonna be emotional, right? Cause like, this is a reflection of your childhood. And I think when your kid sees that, it changes things completely. And we can mock the wolves past as much as we want, but I think the link to your past in any sports incredibly important. And I think it's what sort of links the commonality between you passing on being a wolves fan and that kid might love aunt and you loved KG. So I actually think that this is a very important moment, not just from like it was embarrassing that KG was not in good graces and more importantly, vice versa. That's important too. But when you think about the past, right? Like you as a kid, you loved Garnett. I grew up on Garnett. Yeah, I grew up with that. And you like aunt now, but you're an adult. It's different. And I just think about sharing that and we're both not parents, but sharing that like with your kid and like becoming emotional when 21 goes up to the rafters.

10:13And your kid sort of identifying the importance of that to you. So I think this goes beyond like the business of sports. I think that this is the, this is joining the past and the present in a way the wolves have been unable to with easily the most important player in franchise history for years now. Aside from that brief 2018, but he came back so quickly, flip-died, it went sideways. I mean, you ever watch like a romcom or like a romantic drama movie? And you know, there's like a guy who's burned in the candle, career, whatever. But they realize halfway through the movie or toward the end of the movie that none of this stuff matters unless I can be with the love of my life. Like I want to be able to share all these things with someone. Like why build up all of this wealth, these accolades and wealth and whatever if I can't share it with someone. And it kind of feels like the Timmerwolves

11:16are in that movie where they've built up this incredibly competitive and relevant franchise now on the court and off the court. I mean, Anthony Edwards has become one of the big stars of the NBA and they've gone to back-to-back Western Conference Finals. They're no longer a punchline as they were for 15 years between the first KG era and then when they finally got back to the playoffs. But then you look around Target Center even in the middle of a playoff run the last two years and you look up and it's like it's kind of barren in here, man. Like it's kind of, you know, you go back, go back home to your empty apartment or condo and there's nothing on the walls. There's no pictures of family or friends or whatever. It's like the only two banners that have been hanging are not to be callous to dead guys, you know, Malik Seely tragically passing away over 20 years ago and Flip Saunders tragically passing away.

12:17I mean, this organization has been around since the late 1980s and only one player we could debate at some point maybe Carl Anthony Townes, but only one player to this point has truly warranted being that link and that connection and that jersey up in the rafters. And the fact that he hasn't been in that arena since 2018, eight years ago is an incredible travesty and he plays a role in that too to some extent. I think it's like Glenn is well documented. We don't need to re-litigate how bad of an owner of Glenn is and we're all on the same page with Glenn. Sure, you know, I think the poke at Kevin would be, dude, it's less about Glenn and more about the fans and the city and the connection. So I poke at him a little bit for that. But this does feel like it closes this wound that's been there for the better part of two decades for sure the last decade. And it makes it feel like, all right, you're bringing together this iconic figure

13:19from Timberwolf's history, this is the love of your basketball life to make it feel like what you're building is more important, I guess, for the future. Yeah, and don't you think, too, though, like, if you are and there are certainly a lot of adults now that follow the wolves good or bad as a kid, don't you think that it's hard to sort of like link of when your kid, if you're a kid, if you had one, were to say, who was your aunt? And you're like, it's kind of going that, but he hasn't really been involved with the team for years now. And I also, and, you know, we've told the start before, watching that game against the Wizards when KG came back in what, 2018 or so as an older player, but that building target center, like you could feel the energy at the bar in Florida that we were in, you could feel it, like it popped off the screen. And that was one of the coolest, most organic, non like big games, not a playoff game, nothing like that. And it's like, this is fantastic. And then it was sort of just zap gone again.

14:19And so in KG, I mean, say what you want about KG, but he's got that, uh, that mossy in sort of personality. He like lights up a room. He lights up an arena. He lights up a stadium. And I just think all of this is very important towards sort of bridging a gap that's been, it's like the bridge between Timberwell's past and present has been missing. And yes, 100% and also, it was always this weird elephant in the room. When you watch like a Nick's game, there's all these former Nick's players that show up proudly to go Carmelo Anthony sitting courtside or whatever and like proudly supporting their organization that they feel connected to, even though they haven't won a championship since 1973, I want to say the next. Yeah, really. You know, you go to even like games around different smaller markets and whatnot. And there's, there's figures from that franchise as history that shows up. And once in a while, the wolves can coax like a Wally's Erbeac to come back. Or like a friend. And there's a Christian later. They brought back later. He was just. Yeah, right.

15:20Yeah, right. But it's been this weird elephant in the room that they've been building this thing for five years now. And they're one of the best hemes in the NBA. And they've been knocking on the door of the NBA finals. And the most front facing relevant figure in the history of the franchise doesn't even like show up for a game six. It's, it's just been, it's been weird energy in that way. So to clear that out. And I'm not saying he's going to be at every game. I'm sure they have some agreement with his ambassador deal where like we want you to show up once in a while. But this is such a great icebreaker. And him doing a couple things on the wolves YouTube channel and doing some content. It's all kind of a, it's a gradual way to break the ice here so that when he comes back, I love that they're doing it before the playoffs because not that there's any pressure, but like, all right, cool. Let's break the ice, make it less of a thing. And now if you want to show up kind of unannounced for like a game five against the Lakers in the first round, cool. Now it's like, and it's the pelicans normalize now.

16:21And it's the pelicans game, it's genius. Helikins are coming to town. Oh, and by the way, KG is going to be there. Oh, my tickets. And it's hardly like they're going to bring in some former teammates and whatnot. So it should be, it's good. They're finally, they're finally repairing this relationship that was one of the most embarrassing fractured relationships in all of modern day sports. I also don't think, and it ended poorly with KG. So I'm not trying to say it didn't. But I also don't think, I think there's a large faction of the fan base that doesn't sort of understand that era after he was drafted was a lot of fun. Like they made the playoffs what eight consecutive years now, they didn't get past the first round except for the one year that they went to the conference finals. But if you recall as a kid, that was a fun, like that was fun. Like that team was not seen as this bumbling group of they suck. That was seen as a team of, OK, you can't get past the first round, but they were competitive. KG was a fun player to watch.

17:21So the problem is, I think there's this, and I might be wrong. Correct me if you don't agree. I think there's this perception that because the wolves were so bad for so long there that they were just this bumbling group for years and years and years. And the reality is expansion franchise, terrible. OK, but they're an expansion team. They get KG's circa 96 or so. And they sort of take off and they're fun and they're really good and competitive. And they ran into some really good teams as well. But it almost feels like that got forgotten because one KG was estranged from the franchise. And two, they were awful for a long time. And I think it's going to be fun to relive those nights. I mean, we did a whole episode on the Bulls win in 97. Confetti's fallen. You know, and I know it, but it's Jordan and the Bulls and you finally beat them. That was cool. You know, there's running an NBA team or any professional sports team from an ownership level is hard.

18:22Obviously, there's so many different variables to account for. But it can be simplified. And you've got a narrow focus in some certain areas. And I think the two most important things, especially in the NBA are who is your brilliant head of basketball operations that can build a roster, look out into the future, navigate the confusing salary cap and just keep a competitive team on the court and keep options open like that. Because if you're not winning, it's hard to build anything in professional sports. So you need that head of basketball operations. Mark and Alex, before long before they took over a majority of their ownership, they went out and went big game hunting above and beyond what Glenn ever would have thought imaginable and double the guy's salary to come in here and help build this roster. Tim Connelly is 100% one of the best at that job in the NBA. He's maybe not like Pat Riley in his prime, but he's on that list.

19:23Check, okay? I think the other most important thing, it's a more vague kind of wide-ranging bin. But it's fan experience and making fans feel like, like giving fans what they want as a brand, as a team, as an organization and making sure that they have, like in the NFL, the Vikings give fans an amazing training camp experience and they give access and the facilities are like making your players and your fans happy and have a great experience. And for Kevin Garnett to just be weirdly estranged from the organization was such a huge part of that, I feel like it was a huge missing piece for a lot of fans. Glenn Taylor was terrible at both those things. He couldn't find people to run the basketball ops for more than five minutes without alienating people in the organization, et cetera. He never found a guy ever in 25 or 30 years, like Tim Connelly. And he does not deserve any credit for Tim Connelly

20:25beyond saying, oh, yeah, I guess you guys can go look for some people to run our basketball ops. He kind of made fun of them for even thinking that a guy like Tim Connelly would join the organization and he was wrong about that. So for Glenn to be whiffing so aggressively on both those things, fragmented relationship with the most important beloved figure in the NBA in Wolf's history and inability to find consistent, competitive basketball teams on the court. So Mark and Alex, maybe we'll run into some roadblocks on the path with them, but those guys have done a great job with the two most important things. Competitive basketball team, fan experience, bringing KG back into the full. So nice to meet you, man. Exactly. Exactly. Before we dive into some other stuff here, including Anthony Edwards, no longer being eligible for postseason awards. And a video that's going viral on social media here too,

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22:30dot com slash dealer. Shout out running aces as well. Just up 35 on the north edge of the Twin Cities, I started going to running aces in like 2009 when they were 2010. When they were a brand new poker room, it's become especially with the renovations. A one of a kind destination. Player friendly table games, live horse racing, a newly renovated sports bar and sports lounge area, a luxury hotel. And there's always fun things going on too. Bingo on Tuesday nights. They got $2 tacos, $6 marks on Wednesdays, trivia Thursdays, music mayhem on Fridays. And a great place to just go hang out with your friends and watch sports and get into some table games. Dollar a hand blackjack if you want back or at. Run aces.com running aces north edge of the Twin Cities. And one more shout out here. Victory tire on feedback Friday, flag and how's edition job. Absolutely, you know what folks? Victory tire, what they want to do their goal is not to have you come in for an oil change once

23:31or to have your car worked on once. No, no, no. What they want to do is they want you to become a lifetime customer because they want you to know that their personalized trust, where the inconsistent service is something that you're going to want to go back to time after time. Family owned business established right here in Minnesota back in 1997. They have an industry leading five year, 50,000 mile warranty on all new parts and labor. Schedule an appointment at any of their Twin Cities, 20 plus Twin Cities area locations. Just go to victory tire and auto.com. Tell them the sports dad sent you. And here's what you're going to get. $25 off an oil change. That's right, 25 bucks off. I just saying sports dad sent me victory tire and auto.com. 22 locations in the state quality work genuine care for all life's miles at victory tire and auto. Victory tire and auto.com is the website. So we haven't even touched the walls lost last night. They were feisty. No Anthony Edwards. They hung in there pretty close game until kind of right to the end.

24:32But it was a little surprising to even people that cover the team that Anthony Edwards was out, listed out with the same needless comfort, but also illness as well. Yeah, so the illness was the late ad of the injury report or the absence report. Yep. So just kind of kind of going through it with illness and that knee and they decided collectively that he wasn't going to play against the pistons, which whatever like in the grand scheme for seating purposes, you know, maybe they win that game. They're fighting with the rockets for that kind of five six seed battle here. Yep. It looks like they're destined now for the six seed with a few games left, in which case, they'd likely play the Lakers. We'll see. We'll see. Yeah, look at hamstring hamstring, that's a curve ball because hamstrings don't exactly heal quickly. Yeah, that's going to be super interesting if the wolves and Lakers play each other. But then you got aunt and Jayden dealing with knees and so who knows? Maybe you're just got a bunch of banged up dudes. But the bigger news with aunt missing last night's game

25:35is he is now no longer eligible to take. He's not going to get to 65 fully qualified games played, which means he's not eligible for postseason awards and like the all NBA first, second, third teams. Do you care that Anthony Edwards is going to play the fewest number of games of his career and is not eligible for postseason accolades? On the postseason accolades, no, not really. Don't really care much. The knee concerns me. But you know what's funny? So the lead put this in to try to get guys to play more games. Obviously, right? Because they're because there's incentives tied in if you're like first team all NBA, your second team, your MVP. And so they basically were saying, okay, you don't want to play in at least 65 games, then you're not going to be able to cash in on your bonuses. But here's my opinion, Phil. I think what the league did was the league expose something. The league exposed once again, the season's too damn long. The season's too long.

26:36Let me go through the list of guys who are ineligible for postseason awards and it's sort of embarrassing. Like I think the league thought, oh guys, we'll meet the threshold, right? Let me go through the list of just star players who are not eligible for awards. And I think it's a reflection on the league as well. Obviously, Ant, Yannis, LeBron, Steph Curry, Cade Cunningham, Luka is at risk now and he probably will also fall short. The point, you know, I know that there's been talk, Joker has been at risk. Wamby has been at risk. I really, well, one is I think they're going to, I think they're going to abolish this. The players association hates it. I don't know that it served the purpose that they thought that it would. I think they thought a lot of these guys would play 65 games or more because of the rule. But I really think there's a discussion and the leagues not going to care. They're going to continue to play 82 games. But I think there's a real discussion about the season. It's just too damn long.

27:36And a lot of these guys are out for good reasons. Like this was not all rest. It's not like Cade Cunningham, screw this. I'm going to rest a lot of games. This was a lot of guys who were banged up because the season is so long and you have a lot of guys get hurt. And I think what this did was it shines a spotlight on that fact. And I really do think that there should be a conversation and a not just a basketball hockey as well, the length of regular seasons. I just, I get, it's a moneymaker and I get TV likes it. But you are asking athletes who are in great condition, but also are prone to breaking down. You're asking them not to break down and this rule is exposing the fact that that's impossible to avoid. Yeah, it's, first of all, like I don't care that Anthony Edwards is ineligible for postseason awards. The only thing that matters is at this point, championship, correct, credibility. Can he get a championship? And you know, if, if trying to grind through an illness

28:39and some need discomfort, winds up leading to long-term problems that wouldn't otherwise have manifested or wipes him out for like the first round, it's not worth it. I don't, whatever dude, like it's, yeah. Ideally, he's not a guy that misses game. I mean, he misses some games for legit reasons, but he's not like a load management type of guy. He's played at least 79 games in the three previous seasons. His first year in the league was a pandemic short and year. He played all 72. So he hasn't missed a lot of games. And I don't think he falls into the category of like the koais and some of these dudes, Joelle and Beat, I think is a combination of load management and he's just broken to. He's not, Anthony Edwards is not just because of him coming up short this year, does not fall into that category. So I don't care about that. But I do think, and you've touched on some of this, there is a broader discussion about the NBA. And the old heads would tell you, these guys are just weaker than we used to be.

29:39They don't love the game as much as we did and they don't care about the fans as much as we did. I saw some nugget that like for the, for the nationally televised games, because last night you had, you had, grainy was on the wolves game last night. And then they had the local telecast with Alan and Jim too. So you know, all these guys were doing the game on two different channels. But something like 30% of games have been missing a star player in the nationally televised windows. And again, the old heads would say, they don't take enough pride, they don't care enough about the product. But there is a scientific discussion to be had here. A, you've got more data and teams are saying, whoa, we have information that says, actually we should back up pump the brakes on some of these, on some of the workload. But you also have, and this is, this is my favorite part of the discussion. You have exponentially more three point shots being taken compared to like 30 years ago, which means every single offensive

30:41and defensive possession, specifically defensively, where you're rotating and trying to get out on shooters, you're traveling more distance, you're sprinting more, bursting more, and probably putting your ligaments and your body at just like more risk and a higher work rate than players were trying to defend 18 foot jump shots every possession back in 1997, back in 1988. I mean, dude, like back in the late 80s, early 90s, some of the best teams in the league, like the Celtics and the Lakers, were taking five or 10 threes per game. And now every team's taken 35, 43s per game. So the wear and tear on a basketball player's body is so different now compared to 30 years ago, that it does open up a discussion about how to proceed forward. And maybe the answer is stripping some games off the calendar, but I can guarantee you, owners are going to reject that notion. Right. I don't know, man.

31:41But you could shorten the games. People have said, shorten the game. If you keep, you get to sell tickets for a shorter game. But if the goal of this 65 game threshold was to basically accuse guys of resting too much, I think we have found that's not the problem. I think we found what the problem is, they're hurt. Yeah. And how do you keep? And quite frankly, too, as a fan, OK, you played 82 games. There's a chance to what we just talked about. You're going to go into a Lakers Wolf's first round series, which should be really good, right? That should be a lot of fun. Ant-Hurt, Jaden Hurt, probably most importantly from a national TV perspective, Luca Hurt. Yeah. And he might not play. That's not good for the product. Like I understand you want to milk the product for all its worth, but at some point in time, and again, this is not just a basketball problem. At some point in time, you are stressing your players, including your best players, to a point where they break.

32:41And I think the solution is less clear to keep star players in basketball on the court. The solution is less clear for the NBA than it was for the NFL. The NFL was like, oh, we got quarterbacks. We're missing time. And Tom Brady just tore his ACL in week 1, 2008. What are we doing here? So they decided, A, from a TV product standpoint and a quality of game standpoint, we need quarterbacks. We need the top 20 quarterbacks to be as healthy as possible. So how can we influence that? And the answer wasn't like fewer games. Those are contact injuries for the most part. So they decided we're going to be more strict about what you can and can't do to a quarterback and around a quarterback. And there's still been some quarterback injuries. But in the NBA, a lot of it is like, it's like wearing tear stuff. It's knee inflammation. It's ankles. It's different things that it's not like, let's just create a rule to protect superstar players. So the solutions are a little more vague and difficult

33:44to come by. It does feel like in the winter sports, especially though, that they baseball as well, continue to expand playoffs. But they never take away from something else. So it's just like, we'll add another round of baseball playoffs. And we'll just start in March. It's like, OK, why don't you start in April 5th and eliminate some games? Basketball has played 82 games for a long, long time. But you know what they didn't do when they started? The playoffs didn't go for months. Yeah, so. Yeah, no, it's a really nuanced layered discussion. But it is a major problem for the NBA. The NBA is sifting through a bunch of different problems. All about the money. The Benjamin. Give you one more here. It's a bunch of people are tweeting this video to us. I don't know if you've seen this floating around social media. But it's from a TikTok account, step up sports. And it's going viral on Twitter, reposted by Mo39i, who

34:48said, I checked this guy's account. And he nailed the 2023, 24, and 25 NBA champions with this video formula. So you tell me, do you believe this? Do you believe that this step up sports is an NBA champion soothsayer? So he lists throughout this minute and a half. It's like these eliminator qualifiers, where he's trying to narrow down who the NBA champion is going to be for 2026. And he goes through like the trends of X amount of champions have been, have had a top 10 points per game scorer or rebound around their team. And the Timberwolves remain intact after that round of eliminations is Anthony Edwards, the top 10 score. And then he uses another eliminator that the championship teams usually have a debatable top 10 player, which is more of a nebulous one.

35:48And then the next eliminator is that the team, or I'm sorry, that they have a player who is top 10 in 3 point percentage, or maybe it's team. Either way, wolves are good. Team top 12 defensive rating. And the next, the fifth eliminator is the team must be top 10 in field goal percentage. And he goes through those five. And there is one team left in the NBA that checks all of those boxes. And at the end of the video, he says the Minnesota Timberwolves will be 2026 NBA champions. Do you trust step up sports on TikTok? Did we check the step up sports was correct about the past three predictions on that? Mo 39 I certainly did on Twitter. I have not yet. OK, I have not seen this. I have not seen this. Very interesting. People are tagging us on this. People are tagging us. Very interesting.

36:49I don't know if I buy it or not, but I'm very curious. Would it shock you if the Timberwolves won the championship this year? Shock me. Don't think it would not shock me. It would surprise me. They've had such an up and down inconsistent season. Suppose if they got hot and ant was at full strength and Jaden came back and Julius was good Julius and not shocked is probably too strong, because they are a good team. So shocked is probably one step farther than I would go. Would I be surprised? Definitely. Yeah, it's not. And the West is so tough too, just a firm. Yeah, I think I'm so conflicted because I think on paper, this is the best collection of talent the wolves have maybe ever had, one through like 10, one through 9. It's the most versatile they've been in terms of skill sets and combinations and things. But they also are grinding to be like the sixth seed

37:50in the Western conference. And they've yet to fully put everything together for Oklahoma City has figured out going back two or three years now how to tap into the best iteration of their team and the best like we can maintain a high level of play and a cohesive level of play if you're Oklahoma City. The wolves haven't. But if they do and they've done it more in the playoffs than they have in the regular season the last couple of years, I wouldn't be shocked if they won the championship. It's not likely, but and they're not going to be anywhere near favorites. But they're definitely like if there's a bubble of teams that can win a championship in the NBA this year. However many teams you think it is, unless your bubble is two and it's like OKC and San Antonio. If you expand that bubble to four or five, I think the wolves are one of those teams that can win a championship. If you expand it to six or eight, they absolutely are in that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I mean, so much of it in this case too, just because it's such a mercurial bunch

38:50depends on what wolves team and in particular what players you get, right? I mean, good Julius is a hell of a player. But we don't know, like he disappears at times. So like there's just, I, this is a wolves team. I guess I guess the, I agree, I'd be surprised if they won a championship, I would not be shocked. And I think they are a very good talented team. And because of their moves by Conley at the deadline, they are deep, which they certainly weren't two months ago. All of that being said, do, can I put my finger on like what the pulse is? Like is there a consistent pulse to this wolves team? My feeling is there's not. Yeah, yeah, they got to find one. They got to find one here in the next. It's going to be hard if they can't get jaded in an ant. You're going to have to kind of figure it out on the fly against teams that maybe are healthier. But I don't know, we'll see how much we trust to random Tic-Tac video two months from now. If Luke is out for the Lakers, sign me up for that first round matchup then.

39:53Honestly, sign me up either way. I don't think, I know that both teams have a similar defensive rating this season. But if both teams are locking it in for a playoff series, first of all, give me the wolves defense over the Lakers defense, fully locked in, give me the wolves defense. I agree with that. And I don't know, I know that Luca would be like the best offensive player in that series. But the way that the wolves clamped Austin Reeves last year and the different levers that they can pull, I don't know, like our guy Kilby came on flagger and housed earlier this week and kind of saying, ah, about the Lakers, that'd be kind of nervous. I'm not saying it's a sweet, but like, I think the wolves are a favorite in that series against the Lakers. My question on Austin Reeves is how much did he learn and grow from what happened against the wolves in the playoffs last year? Like there's a chance. But again, if Luke is out, now you've impacted their whole, like you're guarding, your assignments defensively become much, I would think simpler. Well, I mean, if Luke is out, you're winning that series in five games.

40:54That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. And it's funny, though, as a fan, if I could pick my series, cherry pick for fun, just to watch as a fan of basketball, we talked about this. I think the rockets would have been great fun. Or would be great fun. Those two teams, those two teams are very well matched. And I sense they truly despise each other, which is a great part of a playoffs series. Yeah, it's going to be, for first round, it's almost impossible for that to happen at this point. So the way that, because I'm with you, I'd love to see a seven game series with those two teams. If the standings held up right now, you'd have wolves, lakers, first round, rockets, nuggets, and then the only way that you could play the rockets is if, essentially, if the wolves knocked off the spurs in the second round, and the rockets knocked off the thunder, the only way that they would play is in the Western conference files. If the standings were as they are right now, right? So there's your plentiful feedback Friday episode here

42:00of Flagrin Howles. If you're new here and you're starved for down the stretch wolves content, welcome in, hit that subscribe button on the Flagrin Howles YouTube channel as we inch our way toward 9,000 subs. We just launched this YouTube channel less than a year ago. So thank you guys. And then you can help us out on Apple and Spotify too by giving us a five star rating and a positive review for the sports dad Judd. I'm Phil for producer Dex. We'll see you next time on Flagrin Howles.