Skip: You guys. You lollygag the ball around the infield. You lollygag your way down to first. You lollygag in and out of the dugout. You know what that makes you? Larry!
Larry: Lollygaggers!
Skip: Lollygaggers.
— “Bull Durham”
Rick Adelman didn’t exactly quote “Bull Durham” when talking about his Timberwolves team through four preseason games, but he came pretty close.
Adelman is frustrated with the way Minnesota is approaching the preseason, particularly the last couple of games, and was clear about it to the Star Tribune (hat tip Eye on Basketball)“They’ve got to figure out what they want to do as a team,” Adelman said. “I just told them, ‘What kind of season do you want?’ That’s really up to us to make what we want. They’ve got to figure out what they want to do as a team….
“I don’t understand,” he said. “Like I told them afterward, we’ve played two games here at home and we’re acting like we’re just going through the motions. We aren’t the San Antonio Spurs and we aren’t Miami. We act like we have plenty of time.”
Lollygaggers.
Minnesota has the talent to be a playoff team in the West, what Adelman is demanding of them is some professionalism. Seems pretty fair to me. That said, this is not on Adelman. Ultimately this really falls to Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio and anyone else considered a leader of this team. They have to set the tone. Now, not try to flip the switch in January.
The Timberwolves have a week off between preseason games, we’ll see how they come out of it.