Last Season:	33-49
Preview prediction:	42-40
Oddsmakers:	36-46

The focus of the latest 2006-07 Preview is Minnesota, which is coincidentally where I'm currently spending a long weekend. Superfan Lil Dice of I Heart KG posted the Timberwolves preview earlier today. Interestingly, she sees Kevin Garnett as not only the team's biggest strength but also its biggest weakness:

Garnett- Having the highest paid player in the league limits a team that needs improvement, especially when the team still owes a couple draft picks (what up, Boston and L.A.), has unwanted players with bad contracts, and is approaching the luxury cap threshold. It’s difficult to get KG all the help he needs with little to offer except the player himself.

Minnesota's future contract commitments are ugly given their record over the past 2 seasons—nearly as stifling as Golden State's. The bad contracts that Lil Dice is referring to presumably include Mark Blount, Troy Hudson, Marko Jaric, Trenton Hassell, and Mark Madsen. Combined, those 5 guys are making nearly $10 million more than KG over the next 3 seasons, plus another $29 million in 2009-10.

For an NBA club, it doesn't get much more embarrassing than getting busted by the NBA for an illegal Joe Smith contract, but the past 6 months for the Timberwolves have been arguably just as dubious as the summer of 2000:

• In the last game of the regular season, they shamelessly lost intentionally to the Grizzlies in order to save their 1st round draft pick. Lowlights included Mark Madsen attempting 7 3-pointers.
• Eddie Griffin was caught on film after crashing his SUV into a parked Suburban while drunk and masturbating.
• The team showcased Marcus Banks so much over the last two months of the season, they lost him to free agency after declaring him "the key to the Szczerbiak trade" (link via I Heart KG).
• Mark Madsen got stalked on his blog (link via End of the Bench), and for some reason he has recently added Google AdSense banners to his official site. Does a multi-millionaire really need to earn an extra $10/month for his blog?

Unfortunately for Minnesota fans, the team will need to stop the bleeding soon, or things will get a lot worse (trading KG) before they get better.