Given their best player, Anthony Edwards, is only 22-years-old, most media members and basketball fans across the country expect the Timberwolves to be a force in the West for many years to come. But the optimism doesn’t only surround Ant.

Karl-Anthony Towns is an All-NBA player and Rudy Gobert, no matter what Inside the NBA believes, is the best defensive player in the league. Throw in Mike Conley, Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid, Nickeil-Alexander Walker etc, etc, etc, and you have one of the best rosters in the league for at least the next year or two… right?

The 2023-24 Minnesota Timberwolves Experience

Relentless, connected team defense to force the steal, leading to the Anthony Edwards jaw-dropping highlight dunk pic.twitter.com/k7tkQ7Im0D

— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) April 29, 2024

Patrick Reusse says Minnesota Timberwolves are cooked

Wrong, says Patrick Reusse (Star Tribune). According to the three-legged turkey, himself, this Minnesota Timberwolves team is nothing more than a flash in the pan.

Not only does Reusse believe that the Wolves will again fall short of the NBA Finals next season, he thinks the 2023-24 team was as good as it gets. That they will not reach the West Finals again this decade. Not in 2025, 26, 27, 28 or 2029.

We have seen what might be the ultimate season for the Wolves, and it was much fun. They won 56 games, which was 10 above preseason projections, and that second-round playoff series with Denver will live for years with its outrageous twists.

I have rarely watched a sports event more surprising than the Game 2 blowout in Denver, until Game 6 arrived at Target Center. Up by 50!

Trouble is, the entire line being offered about this being a young team that had to go through the playoff wars one time to see what it takes to go further … that’s nonsense.

Patrick Reusse – Star Tribune

In other words, last season was just a one-night NBA Playoff stand for the Minnesota Timberwolves. All that talk about Anthony Edwards gaining playoff experience that he will use to get better next time? Ignore it, says Reusse.

Related: Lore, A-Rod Add New High Profile Billionaire to Timberwolves Ownership Group

Apparently, Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley are too old and KAT has been in the league for nine years. I don’t know what Karl’s nine seasons of service time has to do with why the Wolves can’t make it back to the West Finals, because Pat doesn’t explain that point any further.

The point guard is 37. Rudy isn’t going to get better. KAT’s been in the league for nine years. What we found out is: You need two Ants and a half-dozen other pieces to get a chance to play for an NBA title.

Patrick Reusse on why the Minnesota Timberwolves won’t return to West Finals by 2030 (Star Tribune)

Reusse really flexed his all-time great local sports mind when he noted that the Timberwolves need good players to win in the NBA, which he seems to suggest the Wolves don’t have? Also noteworthy: The Wolves are set to return every player from their 2023-24 roster, outside of maybe Kyle Anderson.

How much does the longtime Minnesota sports reporter and columnist doubt the Wolves’ future? He gives them a 15% chance, which more than anything, proves he struggles with math because that is super high, especially when you are trying to shit on a team, not raise them up.

Related: Timberwolves’ New Owners Exploring a ‘YES Network’ for Minnesota Sports

Out of the four major men’s professional sports teams in town, Reusse ranks only the Twins (95%) as having a higher “improbability rate” of winning a championship before the year 2030 than the Wolves (85%). He ranks both the Wild (80%) and Vikings (70%) as having a better chance at a parade down Hennepin Avenue than Ant & Co.

Patrick Reusse is off his rocker again

I’m gonna end this on a short note. Someone tell Reusse that he is essentially claiming Anthony Edwards will not grow into the face of the NBA and a top-3 superstar like most believe he will. This is basketball, not hockey or baseball.

You could argue that a transcendent QB in football means as much. But in no other sport can one truly transcendent talent raise up a team more than basketball, where only five players per team are on the floor at a time and only seven or eight of them see valuable minutes.

If Ant really is HIM, the Timberwolves will be the next team to win a championship in this town, unless another team gets lucky. But if you are putting percentages on it, Ant, by far, gives the Wolves the best odds.

Related: Beat Reporter Predicts Vikings Add 1st Round Pick in 2024 NFL Draft; Take QB of the Future

Instead, we’ve seen much of Minnesota sports media doing their best to run Kirk out of town all offseason. Imagine an entire local media infrastructure trying to run a top-10 quarterback out of an NFL town, while he is playing the best football of his career.

That’s what most media members in town have been doing for months. Mainstream names who have gone on the record with strong opinions that the Vikings should move on from Kirk include (just off the op of my head): Phil Mackey (SKOR North), Judd Zulgad (SKOR North), LaVelle E. Neal (Star Tribune), Patrick Reusse (Star Tribune) and Michael Rand (Star Tribune).

Star Tribune Veterans desperately want Kirk Cousins out of town

All of the above media personalities are veterans in this market. Patrick Reusse and Michael Rand are both long-time Star Tribune reporters who have been trying to write Cousins out of town for years, and that didn’t change on Monday during Rand’s ‘Daily Delivery’ podcast episode, which featured Reusse as his guest.

Rand’s show is posted every weekday morning. Some episodes are good, others not so much. Some are informative, others aren’t. But he’s been using both his podcast and his Star Tribune columns more often recently, to let everyone know just how much he wants the Minnesota Vikings to move on from Kirk Cousins. Monday’s episode was no different.

This time, Rand used the most talented QB in NFL history, Patrick Mahomes, as his main explainer for why the Vikings need to drop Kirk. Only Michael Rand knows about them, but apparently there are a bunch more Pat Mahomes (or at least Pat Mahomes’ lite-versions) out there just waiting for the Vikings to discover. If true, this information would have been nice to know a long time ago.

“[Patrick Mahomes] is exactly why everybody’s chasing a quarterback, in today’s game. It’s just one more reason why you can’t stay with [Kirk] Cousins anymore. You gotta try something else. You gotta see if you can find, if not your Mahomes, which is once in a generation, someone who is closer to that, that can help you win a game like that.”

Michael Rand – Daily Delivery Podcast (Star Tribune)

Most times these media members try talking their audiences into dumping Kirk Cousins, they contradict themselves without even realizing it. There’s a high level of comedy built into a local reporter saying the Vikings need to dump Cousins so they can pursue a QB more like Patrick Mahomes.

So Minnesota Vikings should dump Cousins because he isn’t Pat Mahomes?

I mean… is anybody going to tell Michael that dozens of 1st round QBs have been drafted since Patrick Mahomes entered the league and you could name with less than one hand how many are currently better than Kirk Cousins.

Of all people, you would think veteran reporters like Rand and Reusse, who covered Christian Ponder, Tavarus Jackson and Gus Frerotte as Vikings starting quarterbacks, would remember that this organization has been trying for two decades to find someone “closer to [Mahomes]” than what Kirk Cousins is, and they failed miserably.

Related: Vikings Insider Reveals Troubling Timeline for T.J. Hockenson Return from Knee Injury Next Season

That’s why they “settled” for Kirk in the first place, remember? So now that Cousins has finally transformed himself into an elite QB that his teammates love and who is clearly one of the best QB leaders in the league (a huge knock on him before 2022-23), these media members (and half of the fanbase) want to kick him to the curb? Make it make sense…

Reusse: ‘Ditch Cousins so he can prove he’s the Anti-Vax hero’…

But then, Patrick Reusse — the now senior columnist in the Twin Cities — stepped into the conversation and may have given away why media bias still plagues Kirk Cousins, even as his rise in popularity elsewhere continues to go through the roof.

After cheering on his colleague’s Cousins dismay for about 45 seconds (seriously, you could hear him in the background), Reusse said the quiet part of media’s problem with Kirk out loud.

“You and I are both on the, ‘that’s enough Kirk, thanks’ [bandwagon]. Go somewhere where you can win. Let’s see if you got it. You had a 13-4 team. You know, you had a couple pretty good teams here and it never happened. So go somewhere and prove it. Prove that you’re this phenom that anti-vaxxers think you are.”

Patrick Reusse – Daily Delivery Podcast (Star Tribune)

Me personally, I’m hoping the Minnesota Vikings do not make any decisions this offseason based on a player’s vaccination status. I would prefer they base it on the best plan to win football games, both now and in the future.

But, that’s just me. I can’t speak for local media member staples like Patrick Reusse and Michael Rand. I’ll let those “gentlemen” speak for themselves.

PJ Fleck’s .623 (38-23) winning percentage is far and away the best the program has seen since Bernie Bierman retired, following the 1950 season (.716 | 93-35). In his 1.5 seasons at the helm, Tracy Claeys comes in 2nd, post Bierman (.529 | 19-11). Glenn Mason third (.529 | 64-57).

Haters Finding it Difficult to Hate

When PJ Fleck arrived in Dinkytown, full of catch phrases and bravado, he piled up just as many haters as he did followers. But those doubters are finding it more and more difficult to dislike PJ as time goes on.

Why? Because of the evidence piling up against them, only some of which is listed above. But since the day PJ was hired, there’s been one man leading the pitchfork mob against him.

History of Reusse vs Fleck

Patrick Reusse, long time writer at the Star Tribune and one of the most influential media members in the Twin Cities, has made his disgust for PJ Fleck well known, throughout the years. He dubbed Fleck “Turkey of the Year” in 2018, his yearly Thanksgiving Day column aimed at who Pat considers the worst person on the Minnesota sports season that year.

Column after column, tweet after tweet, after tweet after tweet; Patrick Reusse has spent most of his coverage of the Gophers over the past 5+ years, criticizing and/or poking fun at the eccentric Minnesota Gophers football coach.

It got so bad in 2018 that Heather Fleck, PJ’s wife, felt a need to respond on Twitter, something that is way out of the ordinary.

Why are you so negative and awful all the time??? What is your issue with a man that gives his ENTIRE life to making a program and young lives BETTER??? Maybe you should take a look at what he does for the community and for our youth before you slam him all the time.

— Heather Fleck (@hfleck10) April 19, 2018

Reusse Jumps in Boat, Grabs Oar

But there’s too much evidence, at this point, for even Patrick Reusse to deny what PJ Fleck has done with the Minnesota Gophers football program.

In a long rambling column (that will be featured in Thursday’s paper), mostly about the life and influence that U of M booster, Harvey Mackay, has had on the Minnesota sports scene since the 1970’s, Reusse finally admitted what most already know. Mackey is a friend of Patrick and fully endorses Fleck. That, Reusse claims, is what forced him to see the light.

Harvey and I had lunch last month. Around 80 minutes, and a much-needed sharpening of my listening skills.

Around 25% of the Harvey blitz was a full-fledged salute to P.J. Fleck, as he entered Season 6 as Gophers football coach.

“I’ve been around him; I’ve seen the way the players react to him,” Mackay said. “You watch him dive into those players and surf across them after a victory … the enthusiasm he has for the players and them for him is world-class.”

So, not hearing a future siren call from Notre Dame, as did your man Lou after only two seasons?

“P.J. loves it here, and he knows he can win here,” Mackay said. “We have a true star in this coach.”

OK, after the overwhelming start against chumps this season, and a solid chance to win Saturday at Michigan State, and with the Big Ten West crumbling as the Gophers rise, and in honor of the 90th birthday of my later-in-life friend Harvey, there’s a revised outlook for this fall. Here goes:

I’m buying P.J. Fleck.

Patrick Reusse (Star Tribune)

That final line you read above, was the finishing sentence to his column. The title was “Maybe it’s time I grab an oar”. Pat hiding Fleck’s praise at the end of his lengthy column shows just how difficult this was for him. We’ll see how long it lasts.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

I’m not one of those Gopher football fans that hates Patrick Reusse, the HOF Star Tribune columnist. We all know, he hates PJ Fleck, though.

PJ came in with his big personality and was rowing boats around campus. Many old-schoolers, especially Reusse, immediately wrote him off (literally). That’s ok, it’s just how old people are. Stubbornness from a world you remember more fondly, blurs your vision of what’s in the present.

The latest piece he just posted tonight, however, is just old-person stupidity.

The entire world is suffering, as coronavirus makes it’s rounds, and the University of Minnesota won’t avoid its wrath either. The best projections have them losing $10M in athletic revenue and the more dyer projections, which include losing a football season, have them topping $70M in lost revenue. Last year, they reported a profit of $130.5M total.

Universities like Minnesota, won’t just take that loss on the chin. They will try to recoup as much of it as possible. We just don’t know how much they will lose OR how they will try to recover.

Let’s hear Mr. Reusse’s grand idea…

The first $10 million cut in expenses should not come in low-revenue sports; it should come from football.

This is a university that exists through the residents of Minnesota. Those residents are men and women, football families and gymnastics families. There’s an obligation to continue to present valid sports opportunities for a wide spectrum of students.

It’s absurd FBS teams can offer 85 scholarships — with another 25 walk-ons for Power Five programs. That scholarship number should be 70 (or fewer), and with 90 bodies total.

It’s absurd P.J. Fleck came here making $1 million (with incentives) and, in his fourth season, he will be kicking off a new contract at $4.6 million.

Also absurd: The ever-growing football support staff; a $170 million athletic facility devoted largely to football, and a drain to the university’s more vital fundraising; and colleges footing the bill as the developmental arm of the NFL, the most profitable sports league in U.S. history.

Patrick Reusse – Star Tribune

I hate everything about what is written in these paragraphs above. The stupidity and socialism built into every sentence makes Karl Marx sick to his stomach.

“This is a University that exists through the residents of Minnesota.” 

I love how he’s willing to call out our football program and athletic department as these maniacal giants who want to eat up every dollar available and then shit on everyone while doing it…. 

But then, the University as a whole is some blessed idea that is “here for the people”. If you want to play martyr, it sure is easier when you get to pick your battles.

Also, the “residents of Minnesota” want a good football team. Think about how many lives are affected by Gopher football and then think about the same for other sports. Who’s affected in smaller sports?

The players? Their families? Maybe close friends?

If PJ Fleck leaves because he and his staff will be more supported at another school, how many people lose out then, while we return to the disgusting floor of the Big Ten? 

via GIPHY

The most hypocritical and stupid part of this whole piece, is Patrick Reusse’s fame. This is a man who has made his living, covering sports, especially football.

Without the sensational appetite of fans, to continue feeding college football (and other major sports) into a financial juggernaut, nobody would know who Patrick Reusse is and he certainly wouldn’t be paid to write about teams and coaches that he hates covering so much.

Here’s a little reality check for Reusse:

Nobody talks about, nor cares about, universities that are void of massive basketball and/or football programs. Thus, your athletic department can’t make money without success in those sports. 

What people want to throw their money at, is a FREE WORLD DECISION. If I throw my money at football, I don’t want you to turn around and spend that money on everything else, other than football. It’s also a terrible business decision, by whoever receives the money.

It took 60 years for the Gophers to re-establish successful on the football field. We now have beautiful facilities and one of the best coaches in the country… and that success is knocking on the door. Yet, Reusse (who has press passes to football games) wants to burn it all down, along with millions of future dollars for the University, not to mention the hearts and souls of our fanbase…

Why? Because Susie might not be able to leap in gymnastics again or because Billy might not get to kick a soccer ball into a net while nobody watches. Because, being an old-school social justice warrior is now more important than making sense? 

But hey, if that happened… at least Reusse could write a sarcastic article about how stupid fans are for caring so much and paying his salary. Totally worth it. I can’t wait for his Sunday morning column! I’ll bet it’s about U of M Men’s Swimming… and I bet the STrib will get billions of clicks on it.

via GIPHY

Eric Strack | Minnesota Free Market Fan