Minnesota Timberwolves: Shabazz Muhammad Shows Accountability

Jesse Johnson – USA Today Sports Images

In the middle of the summer when NBA news of any kind was at a premium, Minnesota Timberwolves rookie Shabazz Muhammad made pretty big waves at the mandatory rookie symposium when he was sent home early after violation of the rules of the camp, which he had learned and agreed to earlier in the day.

According to reports from the time of the incident, Muhammad’s offense at the rookie symposium was that he brought a female companion back to his hotel room late at night. Though that seems simple, it breaks the rules of the program which explicitly state that the players are not allowed to have any unapproved/unauthorized guests in their rooms at night.

At the time of the incident, it raised red flags to me about Muhammad. I realize that all he did was bring a girl back to his room, something that the majority of 20-year-olds in his situation would do. However, my issue with the incident was that he showed such a brazen lack of regard for the rules of the program, which didn’t mix well with his shaky past that includes lying about his age before attending UCLA.

At Wolves media day, though, Muhammad addressed the situation and, to be honest, made me feel less concerned about his future. According to an article from Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune, Muhammad said that he immediately reached out to new general manager Flip Saunders and the front office after the incident, apologizing for his actions and realizing he has to be smarter moving forward.

Obviously he needs to be smarter, but the fact that he took accountability for his actions and owned up to his mistakes to management really goes a long way. It made it seem more like he was a kid who made a mistake rather than a problem child with more problems destined to follow. For the Wolves, that has to be a much better feeling.

Cody Williams is a Senior Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20, add him on Google and like his Facebook page.