Forget about the Love injury for a minute and check out these links below for previews on central division teams. And a friendly reminder to check out our preview posted earlier this week if you missed it. 

Chicago Bulls: BlogABull.com

Cleveland Cavaliers: Fear The Sword | Waiting For Next Year

Detroit Pistons: DetroitBadBoys

Indiana Pacers: Indy Cornrows

Milwaukee Bucks: Brew Hoop

That is all.

Check out the latest TimberTrolls video posted this afternoon and maybe that will cheer you up.

Derrick Williams. Your time is now, son.

Why is it always the Wolves?

Not much more to add at this point.

Discuss.

New season coming!

Seeing that the match of topic was a preseason game against something called Maccabi Haifa, there is only so much constructive analysis to pontificate on.  Half of the fun of attending this game was just being back in Target Center, and everything that goes along with it.  Since there were less fans in attendance tonight than will be gracing the Target Center for a women’s basketball game tomorrow night, it was a no brainer to move down to the 4^th row across from the Wolves bench for maximum viewing pleasure.  From these seats I was able to watch the game, but more importantly study a half-living Sid Hartman, longingly gaze at a dapper Ricky Rubio, eagerly stare at the KAHNman himself, watch Tubby Smith get harassed by fans young and old, and spend too much time examining Kevin Williams’ mom’s hairdo, which happens to be the same exact hairstyle that Big Worm rocks in the movie Friday.

Onto the game…

Despite having hairless armpits, it is awesome to have Andrei Kirilenko on our side.  He seems to have a great command on the game, making countless crafty passes with ease, spacing the floor, and generally leading like a professional.  He really seems engaged with the team and already appears to be emerging as a leader of sorts.  KAHNman backed into this one perfectly, despite the AK47 signing actually being Plan V on his offseason options chart.  Even a broken clock is wrong twice a day, and getting AK47 instead of Batum looks like it may end up being a huge blessing in disguise.

Dante Cunningham > Lou Amundson.  Granted, Stonehands Lou only played 5 minutes tonight, but I would rather generalize to prove a point.  Dante is Lou, except younger, more athletic, with better hands, more offensive repertoire, and more upside.  I hope to see Dante playing over Lou this year, and am prepared to make an overly big deal of it should it not turn out to be the case.

Speaking of irrational conclusions, SHVED!  What a STUD.  Euroflair for the win!  I love the way this dude moves, shoots, drives, acts…he’s like the new Marko, but with more athleticism, upside, and scoring prowess.  It still bothers me that he took Your Guy McCants’ number though.

Big Pecker looks like a beast out there this year.  Dude is more cut, more tatted, more confident, and in better shape.  Did I mention that I have Tyrannasorous Pex as a $10 keeper in my Western Conference Only High Stakes Keeper Auction Fantasy Basketball League this year?  Hyped.

Derrick Williams.  I am not going to be negative tonight.  It’s just the preseason.  Adlfkjasfdka;d.  Moving on…

Brandon Roy, Kevin Love, and Lowtop Luke (I can’t believe a select few NBA players still wear low-top sneakers) all looked just fine.  It is the preseason – there is really nothing more to add here.

Oh, I almost forgot this…Chase Budinger just casually threw down a between the legs dunk during warm-ups.  I’ve never seen one of those in warm-ups before, ever.  Much less from a white guy with blonde facial hair.  Do your thing Chase.  Speaking of skin tone, at one point in the 3^rd quarter, a guy from Russia was our darkest player out there.  Think about that for a minute.  Unprecedented.

And finally, there was no SILENT ABABU sighting tonight.  I will save my tears, as the mute one is clearly saving his energy and theatrics for the regular season, and I can wait.  This is going to be a fun season, Wolves fans.  Things are looking up.

The annual tradition continues. Each year TWB participates in a league-wide blog preview purge creatively designed to boost blog traffic provide a daily/weekly dose of NBA for all 30 teams. These are the weekly links you have seen the past few weeks posted here. Today is the day we look at Alexey Shved and the Wolves.

CLICK "READ MORE" TO CONTINUE READING. 

I wasn't able to catch the game Saturday night in which the Wolves improved their pre-season record to 2-1, by defeating the Chicago Bulls 82-75. Just looking at the boxscore quickly, a few things stick out:

• Holy crap Carlos Loozer sucks. On top of that, he plays below-average defense and is getting paid a bazillion dollars per year. It would be a real shame if the Bulls lost the infinitely better all-around player in Taj Gibson, because they couldn't move/trade/dump/amnesty Loozer. 
• HOLY FREAKIN CRAP MARKO JARIC IS BAAAAACK!!!  He only had two steals and two fouls in ten whopping minutes, but he's back in the NBA nonetheless. And the world is a better place.
• The Peksecutioner had 16 points and 17 boards! Wow. Epic huge STUD.
• Looks like Roy and SHVED also had pretty sweet boxscores, so that's nice to see.
• Hey Derrick Williams... what the hell happened? Following up your 25 point game by shooting an O-fer on eight shots? And only 2 points? That's discouraging.
• 69 total fouls in the game? How is that even possible?!? Good grief, talk about the refs screwing the pace of the game. That's a foul every 41 seconds of game time!  Absurd.

But again, like I said I didn't see the game. However, long-time valued TWolves Blog forum member BonK DID indeed watch the game, and apparently quite closely. Hit up our TWB Forums to check out his post in the Official Wolves -vs- Bulls Game Thread, and/or all the other plethora of T-Wolves and NBA discussions that we've got going on every single day.

Here's what BonK had to say about the Wolves-Bulls game Saturday night:

I watched this game at high attention, after not seeing the squad for over 6 months. The refs really tried hard to make this game completely unenjoyable. And the boring Chicago announcers didn't help the cause either.

The Good:

Big Pecker was easily the STUD of the game. Why did he play 39 minutes?! Why didn't Steamer play in the 2nd half? Why did Kobe have to hit that raw? Tyranasaurus Pex looked awesome though. He is like a 98% post pass catcher, while Darko was like a 50% post pass catcher. Once he gets the ball in the down low it's 2 points for the good guys. As automatic as you can get in the league.

Roy looked just fine. Showed some range and played smart. I was giddy seeing him in that Wolves uni on the court for the 1st time.

SHVED! Make it rain! Euroflair!

D.C. - Cunningham was nice. Total blue collar/dirty work/insert your favorite cliche here player. Every team needs a guy like that on their bench. DC > Lou.

Ricky smiling in a suit behind the bench.

MARKO! Classic Marko game. Did he even take a single shot? His 5:00 shadow wasn't as deep as usual. I was disappointed we didn't get a vintage 3 point attempt with a foot on the line from him.

The Bad:

Lou. He really shot 2 for 8?! Man, it felt like 2 for 13. He had my dad chanting "Bring back Darko!". Which reminds me, Darko & Wes were both in our starting lineup at this time last year. Now they wouldn't even crack our top 10. That's progress. Back to the point though: Lou has zero touch.

The Caged Lion. Way to follow up your 25 point performance. DWill looked like garbage out there. But I will say he did look a LOT slimmer.

Budinger - He played 36 minutes? Dude I barely noticed him out there. And we needed offense.

Taj Gibson - I love hard, physical play as much as anybody. But I thought he was taking some very unnessecary hacks at people for a preseason game.

The Ugly:

K. Love as a no show because he slept with his elbow hanging off the bed. Not a good look. Way to show up for the fans. Diva.

The refs. NO FLOW to this game. That 2nd quarter was especially painful to watch.

JJ Barea. My scapegoat for the season. Will he make the 12 man roster once Rubio is back? Probably, but it's no guarantee. I can't wait until the first "Dress Malcolm Lee and sit JJ" debate that will occur on roughly January 5th.

Thanks for reading, and make sure to stop by again tomorrow to check out our T-Wolves 2012-13 Season Preview, as well as come discuss the Wolves vs. Haifa game tomorrow night!

TWB staff writer Jon Schweppe did a little Q&A for this week's #TWolvesDay, with Bloguin's fantastic NBA site Crossover Chronicles. They talked T-Wolves, the off-season, what we can expect for the upcoming season, and Roy (among other things.) So head on over to Crossover Chronicles to check out the article and interview!

Personally, I think we'll be one of the teams fighting for the 7th or 8th playoff spot in the West, if everything goes our way and we catch some lucky breaks this year. It's just going to be really tough with Ricky out for the first month or so (or maybe even longer?!?)  Hopefully his loss isn't insurmountable, and we don't dig ourselves too big of a hole early in the season. As we all know, the Wolves were only 5-20 last season down the stretch after Ricky got hurt.

Also, I've got a little bonus link here for everyone. Check out Hoops Manifesto as he previews the T-Wolves for the upcoming season. Hoops Manifesto has them ranked as the 12th best team for 2012-2013!

Last night the Wolves decimated a depleted Indiana team in the fine town of Fargo, North Dakota, sparking irrational exuberance throughout the midwest. While other teams are travelling to Spain, China, Germany, Fiji and Bora Bora, leave it Stern and company to "wink-wink, nudge-nudge" at the Wolves and send them to sunny....Fargo. 

As someone who caught the 1980's-esque camera feed supported by radio commentary (which featured a sponsorship from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute...you can't make this stuff up), it was simply outstanding to catch some Wolves ball again. It was somewhat possible to make out the blurry figures of Roy, Kirilenko, Budinger, Shved and the other new faces all making positive contributions on their first official nights as Timberwolves players. All in all, the game was what you would expect: fairly ugly all around. The first few pre-season games typically feature several boneheaded plays as the team rehearses for the real deal. Not to worry. The polish will settle in as the month goes on. Unless JJ continues to start.

From a team standpoint, what stood out the most was the addition of a single attribute: ballhandling. This team is no longer a 1950's era, pass and catch and shoot team. There are ballhandlers throughout the guard and wing spots. Even Budinger (who looked quite good in general, might I add, even getting a 4 point play in the first half) showed he can put the ball on the floor. The Wes Johnson era is over (although he WOULD put up 18 points in his Sun's debut, in a loss of course). Roy, while maybe not as explosive as his former self, showed he still has the ability to score at the NBA level. While going scoreless, Shved already showed he may be a better decision maker at the point than JJ Barea. Stiemsma had a sick block. AK47 was active and annoying. Pek was mobile. Love was rusty. The Wolves won. Again, while it was the first pre-season game, it was great to see the squad. They will go at it again with Indy tomorrow night, playing a game at the International Falls, Minnesota VFW Post 2948.

Rather than go into specific player reviews, I'll post a solid, humorous review forum member DaddyFatSax posted in our forums last night. As always, feel free to join the discussion this season. Here are his thoughts:

I watched the first half intermittently and most of the second half (save the first 5 minutes of the 3rd quarter. I had an emergency after eating some greasy thai food earlier).

Barea is even pissed during preseason games.

Adelman still be rockin them turtle necks.

Shved officially looks like Vujabitch. This must change.

Roy Hibbert was either not trying or out of shape.

Kevin Love, Barea, and Pek - just feeling the team out. They seem like their usual selves. Love was going half speed (since he's out of shape) but fine, clearly...same as a month ago in the Olympics.

Barea picked up where he left off at the end of the season, playing unusually well...

Pek looks like a giant sized version of Maurice Jones Drew. He is definitely more cut than last year. Sometimes you see what you want to see but I don't think he looked like he was just lumbering down the lane, he was a bit more fluid, maybe.

AK looks the same as a month ago in the Olympics...Andre Iguodala-esque.

C-Bud looks like he's still in Houston. Very comfortable handling the rock, probably had the best game on the team, but against Indy's backups...so that's ok though.

Derrick Williams...yup. Same guy. So, I watched the Celtics preseason game and sure enough, just like he claimed to be doing in practice, Jeff Green slashed to the hoop like crazy, using preseason as practice for an expanded role and the heir apparent to Pierce. Derrick Williams claimed the same thing...and shot a bunch of jump shots. I think I saw him slash once. Why not practice this stuff? Ugh. Derrick Williams for Darrell Arthur, broken leg and all. I'm going to propose absurd, random proposals until he plays like an adult.

Shveddy looks like Vujabitch, plays more like Rubio. Passing was awesome, shot was fine. I think he even blocked two shots. I can't imagine what will happen when he plays a thick wing like Kobe, Iggy, or Corey Brewer...They are going to toss his little ass around. But between the players that this game mattered for - Shved, Williams, and Roy - He impressed the most. But he did help Paul George up off the floor. The Wolves are trying to start a rivalry with this team Shved. Stare his ass down! Step over him! Step ON him! Don't help him up! fyckin team full of nice guys. Bunch of guys Flash likes and shit the Daddy don't like.

Steimsma - throwing shots, hacking people, being mean.

Cunninghamd and Lou - can't finish Shveddy dimes. Pissing me off.

Roy..? I don't know. He looks healthy so far. Looks effective. Can he be a role player? Man, I have no idea how to read him...

Pretty much as expected. Easy to shine against Pacers scrubs. I think they'll play the starters and try on Friday. A better test.

Lastly, here is a link to some post game video interviews from Adelman, Love and Roy.

The Pacific Division went through some major shake ups this offseason.  Below you can find the best insight and speculation for the new look Lakers, Clippers, Warriors, Kings and Suns.

Golden State Warriors: Golden State of Mind

Los Angeles Clippers: Clips Nation | Gunnerz!

Los Angeles Lakers: Silver Screen and Roll | Hardwood Hype

Phoenix Suns: Bright Side of the Sun | ValleyoftheSuns

Sacramento Kings: Sactown Royalty

The NBA season is near! Be sure to check out the below links which each preview an Atlantic Division team. TWB will post its contribution in mid-October.

Atlantic Division

Boston Celtics: CelticsBlog | Celtics Green | CLNS Radio

Brooklyn Nets: Nets Daily | Baller Mind Frame | Atlantic Twine

New York Knicks: Posting and Toasting

Philadelphia 76ers: Liberty Ballers

Toronto Raptors: Raptors HQ