Another Wolves Writer Weighs in on Taylor

First, let's give Taylor's comments their tiny due. When Garnett was shut down with five games to go last season I don't think I was alone in believing it was at the instigation of team management rather than Garnett himself, despite comments from the front office and KG's agent, Andy Miller, that he was indeed hurt. The statements by Miller and Garnett in response to Taylor's latest charge clearly imply that it was KG who instigated his removal from the lineup, albeit because of legitimate injury rather than a desire to secure a better draft pick by diminishing the ballclub's chances of winning.

But for that miniscule drop of truthful satisfaction, what has Taylor wrought for himself and his franchise? When it comes to tanking, his comments reek of baldfaced hypocrisy. There hasn't been a more blatant example of trying to lose a game that impacted the number of lottery balls a team would receive than the finale of the 2005-06 season, a year before the KG absence that is the subject of Taylor's allegation.

During that game, versus Memphis, the Wolves *benched all their promising young players* down the stretch for the likes of scrubs such as Bracey Wright and Ronnie Dupree, allowed a Memphis opponent an uncontested layup in the waning seconds of regulation, and then had Mark Madsen chuck up seven three-pointers in a double-overtime loss. Mind you, this was all after the ballclub shelved both KG and Ricky Davis due to "injury." My column that night was entitled, "The One-Pointer: Wolves Disgrace Themselves."

Anyone who watched knew exactly what was happening. And now Glen Taylor has the gall to say "I don't like that so much" with respect to tanking, and then drop the anvil on Garnett?

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