Something about the cycles of the moon and the lives wolves lead. The waxing. The waning. Alphas and omegas. All metaphorical. All anecdotal. All one hundred percent pure gibberish. Anyway, the nights grew long and dark this preseason in the greater north woods and that is a fact. Something about a disgruntled shooting guard and a trade that fell apart.
Jimmy Butler may or may not finish the season as a Minnesota Timberwolf. Heck, he still may not start the season in Minnesota. Regardless of whether he leaves now or then or sometime in between, he will bid adieu to the Mississippi’s headwaters come July. Maybe he will go to Miami. Maybe he will end up in Brooklyn or Los Angeles. Maybe he will travel nude to a planet not far from here (but also quite far from here) and ponder life on a planet where only basketball matters. Maybe he was never a wolf, never one of us, but a coyote come to feed on the young. Whatever, he’s serious and nothing else matters, except maybe for the details in his contract now or then or sometime in between.
Meanwhile, Tom Thibodeau, head coach of the Minnesota Bull Wolves, continues to collect players from another age, as if he were a full grown Andy from Pixar’s Toy Story franchise. Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler are his Woody and Buzz. Luol Deng is a slinky dog and his childhood forever suspended as if encased by a snow globe in the greater north woods. Seriously, though, man, let it go. No need to ruin whatever potential the roster still holds by literally dredging up the past, especially as the space between potential and what is grows ever smaller and less discernible.
Here’s what that roster looks like.