July 29th, 2009 by Dusty Rychart

Since arriving on July 11th, 2009 there hasn’t been any wasted time or taking it slow getting into shape. I think the hardest part about the pre-season is getting back into shape and the only way to do this is by pushing your body to the limit and building up your conditioning. For me days are like this: 7 am wake up, get to the gym about 745am, on court shooting around by 8-810 am, practice starts 830, practice ends around 11, hour off to ice down, shower and eat before weights at about noon, 130 weights ends, 230 individuals starts 330-4 individuals end and home by 430 or 5. Might not seem like much but let me tell you it is.

Our imports arrive later this week or early next as Julien “Skip” Mills and Rich Melzer join the team. I don’t know anything about Skip but Rich is from Minnesota and I know him well. He is 6’8″ athletic and long and should fit in nice with us. He is a all around good guy that just wants to win. He should provide some nice high lights during the season and Skip by sound of it is pretty athletic himself. With the addition of those two we are shaping up alright and if we can gel as one I think we will be tough. Fearny is defensive minded and wants us to play hard every second we are out on the court and if everyone buys into his philosophy it should produce wins.

I haven’t been apart of many teams that didn’t buy into the coaches ways but those teams are not fun to play on. When guys all buy into the system and play for one then its the most fun anyone can really have playing ball. The little things are what seperates the winners from losers especially in professional sports. Time will tell if we have what it takes to do some damage this year.

I’m not sure how the 40 minute games are going to play out but it should allow for teams to play harder because of the less time. Games should be close and exciting or they could go the opposite way and be slow and boring. The league this year looks like more of a small mans league than in years before so it could be fast pace up and down. Looking forward to it.

I’m just pumped that I finally have my internet running. woo who!

Follow me on Twitter dusty_rychart – during the season I will be giving away from tickets and more.

July 29th, 2009 by Dusty Rychart

Stepping away from traditional wedding entrances this wedding party spices it up. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0

July 22nd, 2009 by Dusty Rychart

Well its been about a week since I arrived in Cairns and started getting back into shape.  The lifting weights and individuals is enjoyable.  I was happy with everything until I looked at the schedule for this week and it said BEEP Test on Tuesday. I’ve managed to escape the beep test for 23 + years and thought that I was never going to meet her ever but I was wrong. Tuesday was “D” day and I wasn’t looking forward to it at all.  I’ve never done the beep test so from what I was told it wasn’t the original beep test.  We started off on level 10 and had to sustain that for 7 min for big men and 9 min for guards.  I am proud to say that I wasn’t the first to drop but I only lasted about 5 minutes.  Not sure what the beep test has to do with basketball but it will test how hard you can push yourself to make the times.

The whole team is here now and we start on court practice on Thursday so that should be good.  Still waiting on who the imports will be.  Kind of weird thinking that there are still two imports to come. I so used to being one of those imports and now I’m not.  I guess I will see what it feels like from the other side of the fence.  If we can get two quality hard working imports I think we will have a decent team and surprise a lot of people.

Finally moved into the apartment the other day and I do have to say that it feels like I am on vacation rather than here for a purpose. 5 pools and a Bali theme court yerd pool area and I can escape for the day.  The only problem that I am having is getting foxtel and the internet hooked up as it seems telstra and foxtel have troubles when it comes to servicing smaller towns.  You would think they would make it easier rather than harder for someone that wants to purchase their products.  Pay me 10 million per year and I could figure something out lol.

That is all that I have so until next time

follow me on twitter dusty_rychart

July 22nd, 2009 by Dusty Rychart

I recently went home for a few weeks to attend weddings and visit friends and family plus a few pics of Meg and I’s move to Cairns. It’s been a long few weeks of travel but finally have settled in and ready to get this season rolling minus anymore beep tests.

July 18th, 2009 by Dusty Rychart

I arrived I. Cairns last Saturday thinking that I was in alright shape but found out quickly I was far from it. Monday I had an individual workout with Fearny and it’s safe to say I was fatigued 10 Minutes Into the workout. My lungs were on fire. It’s always like his when you start getting into shape again but no matter how many times you been through it nothing gets eAsier about the process. I’m not getting sore thanks to Usana essentials and anti-oxidents so that’s a plus.

This morning I just got back from a 30 minute run/sprint on the esplanade with Byron and Gary. It was a beautiful day but no matter how nice it was I couldn’t block the burnig feeling that was going through my legs and lungs. I’ve never had to run for 30 minutes in my life and it was gettig the best of me but I managed to get er done.

The rest of the guys should be arriving on Monday and team weights and practice starting middle of next week. Looking forward to this year and hope that we can gel as a team and do some things. Chemistry is such a huge part to how succesful a team can be but without it even the most talented team won’t win.
I aways think back to the 07 Bullets team and how loaded we were but t didn’t come together until the 6th game of the season when we were 3-3. Then we just meshed and strung off 21 in a row. It was all due to chemistry and without it we were just another talented team that wasn’t living up to expectations. We all know what we did that year and we went down as arguably the most DOMINANT team the NBL has ever seen.

Follow me on Twitter – Dusty_Rychart

I will have more things to say and post as the season progresses.

July 13th, 2009 by Dusty Rychart

Today is my first day as a Taipan and it is starting out with a workout then media finalized by finding a place to live. Updates will follow. Meanwhile u can follow me on Twitter @ dusty_rychart

July 12th, 2009 by Dusty Rychart

Follow me on Twitter – dusty_rychart
I will be giving away free tickets and much more during the season for both home and away games. Stay tuned

July 12th, 2009 by Dusty Rychart

It started at noon Tuesday in Minnesota as my dad and I left Grand Rapids for Minneaplois to begin my journey to Cairns. I didn’t realize that it would take 4 days to finally reach my destination. The 30 + hour flight to Brisbane was the hardest and most boring but thank the lord I was able to sleep the whole way. The drive from Brisbane to Cairns was not that bad and very beautiful just a long drive.

Good to be here and can’t wait to get things going.

July 7th, 2009 by Dusty Rychart

Been pondering on purchasing the iPhone and decided on the new iPhone 3gs. I couldn’t figure out what all the hype was about but now that I have one I can see why so many love the iPhone. I highly recommend getting one .
The only problem is will the 3gs work in Australia? I guess I will find out soon enough.

What are some cool apps ?

July 2nd, 2009 by Dusty Rychart

Over the years watching the Timberwolves draft nothing but future busts with the exception of Kevin Garnett you kind of lose hope that we will one day pick someone that can bring us back to the playoffs and losing in the 1st round. With this years 5th pick the T-Wolves selected Ricky Rubio of Spain. Not a bad choice at all but the kid doesn’t want to play in MN. This got me thinking to why so many players leave for less money and don’t want to come to MN at all. This goes back a few years when we had Tom Gugliotta. Yes as I said it was years ago and for some you might not even know who this guy is. He was our franchise guy for a few years and Guggs decided to test the free agent waters. We offered the guy $50 mil over x amount of years and the next closest was Phoenix at $30 mil. OK which one would take? I know I would take the $50m but good ole Tom opted to leave MN for AZ for $20m less just because he didn’t like the coldness of MN.

Now this is the problem that we have in MN since the departure of KG. No one wants to play in MN when they can have the sun and warmth of Texas, Cali, Florida and so. Plus the big city life that we can’t offer. Rubio must have been thinking “ah shit, not Minnesota” when he got drafted and now we wasted but yet another 1st round pick.

Another thing on my mind is why did we draft so many point guards? Unless we were planning on trading rubio for a small forward or just play 3 pg’s this year.

I think David Stern should make a reality show out of the draft so we the fans understand the thought process behind selections. Might be a slot open with TLC since Jon and Kate plus 8 are leaving at the end of the year.

Minnesota'a Franchise - Tommy G

Who we drafted over the years:

89: Pooh Richarson

89 2nd round: Doug West – Went on to become a decent player for the wolves.

90: Felton Spencer and Gerald Glass.  Glass who?

91: Luc Longley bust for wolves but great for MJ and the Bulls.

92: Christian Laettner nough said

93: Isaiah Rider eastbay funk dunk and thug

94: Donyell Marshall still in the league but not for the wolves

95: Kevin Garnett Greatest Wolves draft choice ever but I think it was by mistake because drafting high school kids back then was risky and unheard of and if this would have been 4 or 5 years later KG would’ve been #1. Luck was on our side.

96: Ray Allen traded to Bucks for Marbury what a mistake again. He we go again on our own and messing it up.

97: Paul Grant? exactly

98: Rasho Nesterovich

99: Wally Szczerbiak and William Avery

00: none

01: none

02: none

I think over these years when we had no 1st round picks is when McHale tried to pay Joe Smith under the table money so they could fit a couple of guys in the salary cap and yes we got caught and our 1st rounders were taken away.  Being a Timberwolves fan is painful.

03: Ndudi Ebi – High school kid that turned out to be the biggest bust.

04: none

05: Rashad McCants

06: Brandon Roy but we traded him away to Portland.

07: Corey Brewer

08: O.J. Mayo and yes you guessed it we traded him away for Mike Miller and Brian Cardinal and some others are you serious?

09: Ricky Rubio, Jon Flynn, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington

It aint easy being a Timberwolves fan. Here’s to hoping we get back to the promised land.