OK, Upload is biased on this one. We count Indiana Pacers play-by-play voice Mark Boyle among our friends, a relationship that goes back to the early 1980s, when I was doing a story about small-town Minnesota sports broadcasters and made public his salary. Think low five figures. Very low five figures.
Very, very low five figures. His boss was not amused.
Boyle -- a St. Louis Park High grad and the son of former Twins and North Stars broadcaster (and Ch. 11 sports director) Joe Boyle -- is now the radio voice of the Indiana Pacers, and just took a run at forecasting the 2012-13 NBA season.
If nothing else, you have to like his thoughts about the NBA Finals: "Oklahoma City Thunder over Miami Heat. I could watch these teams play a best-of-50 series and never grow bored. If that were to happen, I'd take the Thunder, 25 games to 24."
But he's in this space because of what he wrote about the Timberwolves under the heading of Western Conference playoff contenders, who are listed right below his picks of the Lakers, Thunder and Spurs as championship material in the conference.
The Wolves are on his list of six next-tier playoff contenders: Of them, he writes: "I find Minnesota to be the most compelling story. They will struggle until they get Mr. Love and Mr. Rubio back, and that could be fatal if it takes too much time. But when healthy, this is one of youngest, most entertaining outfits in The Association."
So if you're kind of excited about the upcoming season, you don't have to be self-conscious about it.
You can read the whole thing here.
