“The Cleveland Outcasts”

(January 23rd 2016) By: Ira Barasch

Minnesota hasn't been every sports player's ideal landing spot for a while now. The cold and dreary weather seemed to mimic the way their sports team would lose year after year. Recently though there has been an awakening in the land of 10,000 lakes. The Vikings have been on the upswing lately, the Twin's have legitimate young talent, and even the Wild have had some bite to them, yet the Wolves have the most interesting situation. The sheer amount of talent on the team is incredible from, Andrew Wiggins slowly realizing his potential, Karl Anthony-Towns having a fantastic start to his rookie year, Ricky Rubio staying healthy and playing like the superstar point guard he was hoped to be, Zach Levine, Shabbaz Muhammad and more. The presence of their greatest hero, Kevin Garnett is felt with the intensity that is brought nightly. Yet since the unfortunate death of Flip Saunders, they have struggled to find the right coach in Sam Mitchell. This kind of talent needs more of a push then what is being given. So why not get some fresh blood? And in the coincidence of the day there just happens to be a new head coach on the market. This very head coach has an unusual connection to the Wolves, specifically that of Andrew Wiggins.

David Blatt has had a couple of hard days, he was ousted by his job, after starting 30 – 11 this season (and 83 0f 40 overall), by his star player and his own assistant head coach. Blatt was brought in and  told he would have a young team to coach up in his style of play which has young championships overseas. Although once LeBron decided to come back, Blatt's world crumbled. Andrew Wiggins, his prized draft pick at #1 was off too Minnesota with former #1 pick Anthony Bennet and in came Kevin Love. Love is an incredible player but didn't mesh well with his new teammates, Blatt found himself in the title hunt and a public feud with his newly returned icon in LeBron and on top of it all, his point guard and newly acquired power forward, Kevin Love, was injured. His tenure in Cleveland has been uncomfortable to watch to say the least, and it has thankfully ended right when a young inexperienced team could use an experienced coach.

The reunion for Blatt and Wiggins could potentially be explosive.

Blatt's many years coaching overseas could be a great stepping stone, but more so could the now newly formed chip on his shoulder, an identical problem as that of the other Cleveland outcast Wiggins. They were both brought in at the same time to the same team in desperate need of a new start, and both forced out by the same player. It was originally the plan for these 2 to be player and coach, to combine the untapped potential of Wiggins with the knowledge of Blatt. This feels too much like destiny to let it pass.