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Minnesota Timberwolves Daily News
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Written by SG
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Friday, 21 November 2008 18:32 |
From Steve Aschburner/SI.com: Wolves rookie Kevin Love, born into a basketball family, has a real grasp of and respect for the game's roots. He mentioned Garnett the other day as the one NBA player he most would like to have on his team (Love must not have gotten the memo from the corporate office). "Everybody knows [he was here]. You can still kind of feel it," the rookie from UCLA said. "People talk about, KG did this and KG did that. I think it will always be like that. He was a great player, a sure-shot Hall of Famer, one of the top 15 or 20 players of all time."
Garnett also is a player known for some bully tactics, famously challenging and barking at younger opponents. Love would seem to be a perfect foil, in a Joel Przybilla sort of way. "I definitely think he's going to test me and knock me on my ass a couple of times," the Wolves forward said...
So what line does Al Jefferson have ready for K.G. this year?
Last season, the two yapped at each other at the foul line in a game at Boston. Later, he found out that the conversation got heated after Jefferson reminded the accomplished veteran that they shared something in common: Neither of them had an NBA championship ring.
In retrospect, oops…
Coming off a Thursday night home win over Detroit, the Boston Celtics won't hold a shootaround at Target Center this morning and the team said Garnett won't speak before before the 7 p.m. game against the Wolves.
The Wolves said some tickets still remain for tonight’s game against Kevin Garnett and the NBA-champion Boston Celtics. As of Thursday afternoon, the number was 2,000.
Wittman said guard Rashad McCants (back spasms) would be a game-time decision.
The obvious story line for tonight's game is Garnett's appearance back in Minnesota. Garnett is an emotional player and the Wolves can use the home crowd to their advantage to get the former MVP off his game early in the contest. At the power forward position, Garnett averages 16 points and nine rebounds a game and will either face Al Jefferson or Jason Collins. The 13-year veteran, Garnett, will look to put his stamp on the game with rebounding and defense, most likely on Jefferson. After leading the Wolves to the 2004 Western Conference finals and earning the league MVP in a Minnesota uniform, this is must-see action tonight at the Target Center, with the return of No. 21...oops...No. 5.
Rivers is wary of Minnesota, though no Celtics starter played more than Paul Pierce's 28 minutes last night.
"They're going to be a tough game for a lot of reasons," Rivers said...
"They broke their [eight-game losing] streak, so now they're going to play free again. I don't know if it's six games or seven games, [the Timberwolves] had leads going into the fourth quarter against very good teams. And then the Kevin Garnett factor - who knows where that's going to go? I wish I could tell you. I can't."
"Garnett jerseys sell more than what the Timberwolves have," said Mike Bruce, manager of NBA City Restaurant. "The Al Jefferson and Kevin Love [jersey sales] are doing very well. But Garnett is still the big sell. I don't think we have any of his old Timberwolves jerseys for sale. We sold out of those.
"We actually had to reorder [Garnett Celtics jerseys] for this season. The only thing that we are sold out of now is the Garnett T-shirts."
When told his Celtics jersey was still a hot seller in Minneapolis, Garnett chuckled before saying, "I can't even comment on that. I guess it's a compliment."
Jefferson is the only player who flourished in Minnesota since the deal and currently leads the team in points (22.6), rebounds (10.3) and field-goal percentage (52.2).
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Written by SG
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Friday, 21 November 2008 06:09 |
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Click here for the thread on tonight's game against the Celtics.
Previews of the game:
Kevin Garnett comes home tonight, to the court he ruled for 12 record-setting seasons to face the team that ultimately decided the best way to move forward was without him.
With an NBA championship ring and a 10-3 record, Garnett and the Boston Celtics clearly have gotten the better so far of the July 31, 2007, trade that sent him to Beantown. But the Timberwolves remain confident the trade will even out in the end.
Owner Glen Taylor and vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale said they feel as good today about that seven-for-one deal, which brought the Wolves center Al Jefferson, four other players and two future first-round draft choices, as the day they made it.
So much has happened since Kevin Garnett last played on Target Center’s floor.
For posterity’s sake, that was April 9, 2007, although nobody knew then he would never wear a Timberwolves uniform again after that 111-100 loss to Toronto.
He returns healthy tonight, nine months after he arrived injured with his new team and briefly said hello with a reverential bow before a game there last February...
Garnett disappeared to the back tunnels of Target Center, sitting the game out with an abdominal strain while his Celtics edged the Timberwolves.
"The things he did here, how can you not love him?" Timberwolves forward Al Jefferson said Thursday. "I watched him as a kid growing up in middle school and high school. The fans have every right to love him and respect him."
That Garnett did not play in his one and only game back in 'Sota, as he loves to call his former home, was a tremendous disappointment not only to the fans who paid to see him, but to the Timberwolves he left behind.
For the first time in his NBA career, Garnett will play in front of Minnesota fans as a visiting player when the Celtics make their annual visit to Minneapolis.
“Other than getting to sleep in my own bed, it should be cool,’’ said Garnett after helping the Celtics rout the Detroit Pistons, 98-80, on Thursday night at the TD Banknorth Garden. “It’s always good to go back and see my own personal friends in Minneapolis. It’s always good to see the fans and people.
“They’ve always been good to me. Other than that, it’s just another game, to be honest. I was locked in to tonight, and I’ll be locked in to tomorrow. It should be fun. It should be a lot of fun.’’
The coach will be on guard because of how intense Garnett was last year. It wasn’t until he actually walked out onto the floor for a pregame moment to acknowledge the crowd that anyone knew he’d leave the dressing room.
“He was very emotional,” said Rivers. “He was emotional, No. 1, because he couldn’t play, and you know how that was no fun. . . . And then just talking him into going out on the floor. He’s so keen to his teammates and he didn’t want to be the distraction.”
Wolves star center Al Jefferson insists tonight's game against his former team, Boston, "is just another game against another great team. We've got home-court advantage, and we'll try to take it to 'em."
Jefferson, who was traded in a deal for Garnett, has Garnett's old locker.
"Just like he's probably in my old locker right now," Jefferson said.
-Taylor, on the return of Garnett tonight at Target Center: "I'm sure he'll play with his usual energetic style, trying to beat us. It would be great for us to play our best game. And for sure, we haven't played our best game yet."
A Star Tribune reporter embedded within the Timberwolves organization filed this report after observing Wolves owner Glen Taylor's side of a phone conversation on Thursday night. Here's the transcript...
Briefly: A Wolves spokesman said as of early Thursday afternoon about 2,000 tickets remained for tonight's game against the Celtics, who played the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night in Boston.
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Written by SG
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Friday, 21 November 2008 06:08 |
Guard Rashad McCants, who left Wednesday's game in the second quarter because of back spasms, did not practice Thursday and his status is day to day.
"He didn't feel much better today than he was last night," Wittman said.
From the head coach on down, the mood at Timberwolves practice Thursday was noticeably upbeat. Finally protecting a lead after blowing so many will do that to a team.
"Well needed," coach Randy Wittman said a day after Wednesday's 102-96 victory over Philadelphia. "It's a more relaxed state of mind, but still very focused [Thursday], which was good to see. You can see the smiles on the faces and a little but more relaxed atmosphere."
Randy Wittman's coaching job is safe, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said.
"If I worried about the short term, and I looked at the economy and all my companies, if I based things on that, then I'd fire all my presidents because they had a bad month," Taylor said. "I've been through ups and downs. You've got to be patient. I think Randy has prepared (the players) well. We've just got to get them some confidence. They're still young."
Also from Walters:
Wittman has this season and next season remaining on a contract worth nearly $5 million. No shakeups are planned, Taylor said.
"Because they've done some really good things," Taylor said. "It's just been that fourth quarter. Is it just unlucky, or why do we do turnovers late in the game?"
“I’m harder on my point guards than anybody else,” Wittman said. “I demand more of them than anybody else. [Foye’s] an extension of me out there on the floor. The more I can sit there and watch the game, the better.”
That’s what Wittman demands of Foye.
“He’s a good kid, sometimes he’s almost too good of a kid,” Wittman said. “There’s got to be a time when you kick a teammate in the seat of his pants; there’s a time to be emotional. His personality doesn’t draw that right now. Ideally, you’d like your point guard to be that guy. You look at the Magic Johnsons and the Isiah Thomases and all the great point guards who had the ability to do that, their teams were pretty good.
But birthdays are piling up out West.
"A lot of the teams out West are maybe aging a little bit," said Minnesota forward Mark Madsen. "If you look at some of the key players on some of the teams that have been historically dominant, not everyone has 20- to 25-year-olds. They've got some guys in their 30s."
And so the Timberwolves 2008-2009 season has begun, and the product reflects the same thing that the coach conveyed on media day: no definition, and no air. The fortunate fact is that the Timberwolves have a good mix of talent. Yet if the leadership can't put the pieces together and move them in a positive direction then you end up with what they currently have: no definition, and no air.
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Written by SG
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Thursday, 20 November 2008 22:32 |
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Yes, owner Glen Taylor is disappointed with the Timberwolves' 2-8 start and their inability to close out games.
At the same time, he expressed confidence today that coach Randy Wittman and his staff can rectify the problem and deliver on the promise of a better season.
"I have confidence that he will find out what are the issues in the fourth quarter and make the needed changes and get by that," Taylor said. "I'm supporting him in that issue and hopefully that's the way it will fall out, you know, sooner than later. It is difficult, but I have confidence that we have the right coaching staff."
"It's just one more dread that you worry about, that you have to talk about and that you don't want your players to have to be thinking about,'' Taylor said. "My sense is, when you get to that year, what you find out is that a lot of players stay home. But there's so much talk. ... It's one of those things where, you as an owner, you're always talking about whether someone was going to want to sign Kevin. So you had to think about [re-signing] him early, which put on a little pressure. That is a concern of your fans -- are you going to keep a team together? It's on the player's mind. Some players don't want to be playing in the last year of their contract. Some do, but some don't. It is something that they keep talking about.''
Eventually, the rumor-mongers were right. Garnett did get traded. He wound up in Boston, winning his long-sought NBA championship at the first possible opportunity and, in essence, emboldening everyone on these types of (ahem) stories.
The Timberwolves have put some new sets into their offense for Mike Miller, who has been passing up too many shots of late, according to the coaches. With the best outside shooting percentage on the squad, Wittman wants him to be a little more unselfish. Look for some of that outside fireworks tonight against the Sixers and certainly against Boston, who with Garnett down low, are one of the best interior defensive teams in the league.
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Written by SG
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Thursday, 20 November 2008 22:04 |
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From Britt Robson/On The Ball:
In the locker room, Jefferson was talking about his attitude after the recent slew of final period fades, saying that he told himself at the beginning of the 4th that if the Wolves were in that situation again, "I'm going to take over." And he did. "I got it out to Mike and he had a big shot. Randy did a great job; he kept calling plays for me," Jefferson added, with a trace of irony or false humility. "We did a great job with the ball going through me."
Rashad McCants played less than seven minutes after he got hit and had to leave in the second quarter because of back spasms. That might have been the best thing the Wolves had going for them down the stretch; Wittman couldn’t be tempted to put him in there.
Minnesota shot 51.4 percent from the floor, the team’s best output of the season, and their defense was the key to erasing the early Sixers lead. For one night, the problems that had been plaguing them, lack of offense, sporadic defense and panic in close games down the stretch were gone. And the misery of the streak seemed to dissipate and float away like icy breath on this wintry night. Hopefully it is gone for good.
When he needed just a little more space, he traded Carney and Calvin Booth to the Minnesota Timberwolves, ostensibly for a second-round draft choice. He even agreed to continue to pay Booth's salary and about two-thirds of Carney's salary.
"It was kind of weird," Carney said. "I was sitting at home when [the Sixers] called and said I had been traded. I asked who I got traded for and they said they couldn't tell me. The way I look at it is, I got traded for them to get Brand. I got traded for money.
Kevin Ollie said the Timberwolves call themselves the "76ers of the Midwest."
When told of this before last night's loss to Minnesota, Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks laughed and said: "The 76ers of the Midwest, huh?"
A trio of former Sixers are on the Timberwolves' roster: Ollie, Calvin Booth and Rodney Carney.
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Written by SG
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Thursday, 20 November 2008 06:53 |
Of all the comments from Timberwolves players and coaches following Wednesday night’s 102-96 victory over the Sixers, which snapped a horrifying eight game losing streak, the best was the most succinct: “Winning is fun,” said Randy Foye. That is true. Is it possible to be glowing with relief? Foye was glowing with relief. The funny thing about all of the post-game banter was the retrospective positive interpretation put on the game, as if the Wolves’ emergence from their three-week nightmare of squandered leads was the result of some overnight change in the team’s performance...
Love went 2 for 6 and scored nine points Wednesday night.
Preparing for the impending arctic freeze presents another challenge for Love, who grew up in Oregon and spent last season in sunny southern California. He said he is still searching for winter gear to fit his 6-foot-10, 265-pound frame.
"I went to the North Face store the other day, and they didn't have anything that fit me," he said. "Either it wasn't long enough, the sleeves were six inches off my wrist, or the sleeves were too long and it came up past my belly button."
Collins attended Newell's camp during his first two seasons at Stanford. Love learned to use his body against his opponents by studying Newell's big-man instructional videotapes that Love's father, Stan, gave him. Wittman remembers Newell watching practice when Wittman played at Indiana under Knight, whom Newell mentored and coached.
"He was a great man," Collins said. "Going to his camps was a tremendous learning experience. They gave me a tremendous amount of confidence. The great thing about the Newell camp is there were players from the pro and the collegiate levels together. The list of players who went there is so long. You knew it was a special place."
Timberwolves coach Randy Wittman, asked how he's holding up emotionally after his team's poor start: "I sleep in a padded bedroom now."
When the 76ers play the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight, they'll see Rodney Carney and Calvin Booth on the other bench. They'll know that Minnesota also has one of their future first-round draft picks.
The Sixers only have a conditional second-round pick to show for that July trade.
Yet Sixers president and general manager Ed Stefanski loves the deal because it enabled him to clear enough salary cap space to sign free agent Elton Brand from the Clippers...
"Minnesota got what they wanted from us, and we got what we wanted," Stefanski said. "I'm happy for them, and I'm happy for us. Because of the cap situation, you have to make trades like that. For Minnesota, it was a very lucrative deal for them, but we had other issues."
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Written by SG
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Thursday, 20 November 2008 06:26 |
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Wolves record: 2-8
From Brian Murphy/Pioneer Press:
The Timberwolves' late-game meltdowns this season were so prevalent that their 11-point lead over the Philadelphia 76ers after three quarters Wednesday night wrought a sense of here-we-go-again doom.
Two Sebastian Telfair turnovers in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter prompted coach Randy Wittman to pound the scorer's table in disgust and call time out to smolder as the Target Center crowd groaned.
Instead of collapsing, the Wolves turned in their finest 12-minute effort of the still-young season to pull out a 102-96 victory that halted an eight-game losing streak.
Mike Miller buried a long three-pointer with 30.4 seconds remaining to blunt Philadelphia's comeback and allow the Wolves to taste victory for the first time in 21 days.
A surprise star of the game led the Wolves to a 102-96 victory, to snap an eight-game losing skid. “The Rhino” jumped off the bench for 21 points, a season-high. Craig Smith worked on both ends of the floor; defensively he battled Sixers star, Elton Brand.
"Craig Smith was huge off the bench tonight, coming in and giving us two halves that was probably the best he's played this year," Randy Wittman said.
"They were desperate,'' 76ers sixth man Willie Green said. "They had a sense of urgency all game long. They wanted it more than us. It was obvious.''
Six of Minnesota's defeats came by six points or fewer and with the Timberwolves ahead at some point in the fourth quarter. It looked to be going that way again against Philadelphia when Andre Iguodala's three-point play cut an 11-point lead to 92-91.
They were repelled because the Wolves played through their star, Al Jefferson, when it mattered most. Smith's energy -- and his 21 points off the bench, 13 before halftime -- brought the Wolves back from early deficits of 12-3 and 19-6.
But it was their determination -- and the insistence of Randy Foye, who returned to the starting point guard job for the first time since the season's fourth game -- to get Jefferson the ball that ensured they didn't go four more minutes down the stretch without a point, as they had done too often in an eight-game losing streak that matched last season's longest.
Randy Foye returned to the starting point guard spot tonight for the first time since the season’s fourth game. He replaced Sebastian Telfair, who has barely played in the last three games while Foye has shaken off his early-season malaise and has played better in recent days.
7 Minutes Rashad McCants played before leaving the game in the second quarter because of back spasms.
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Written by SG
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Wednesday, 19 November 2008 05:40 |
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The Wolves went through the usual motions today, allowing the media in to see a little bit of scrimmaging and then some after-practice individual work.
- Brian Cardinal and Mark Madsen did a good bit of running.
- Kevin Love worked on perimeter shooting.
- Corey Brewer, Ryan Gomes and Randy Foye did some quick pass, quick shoot work.
- Rashad McCants lifted weights.
Click here for the forum's thread for tonight's game against the Sixers.
Previews of the game:
The Wolves changed up their starting lineup at Denver, with center Jason Collins and forward Ryan Gomes opening in place of Kevin Love and Corey Brewer, but coach Randy Wittman wouldn’t say if that same group would start again Wednesday against Philadelphia.
“We’ll see,” he said. “We’ve got to see how everything keeps going. If we roll off eight in a row here, we’ll stick with it.”
NBA.com has Al Jefferson in its "Fave 5" for the week of Nov 10-17.
The Wolves are struggling, but Jefferson is shining ... and steaming. The losses have gotten to Minnesota's young star, causing him to voice his displeasure at his team's poor play. "We have to find a way for everybody to get on the same page and close out games," Jefferson told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. In other words, more Wolves need to start playing as well as Jefferson.
Miller is shooting 51.7 percent from the field and 42.4 percent from the three-point line, and as Wittman noted, "That's best by far from a perimeter standpoint of anybody we've got."
The problem is Miller has put up just 87 shots, which ranks fourth on the team behind not only center Al Jefferson (165) but also guards Randy Foye (113) and Rashad McCants (95).
Considering that six of the Wolves' eight losses have come by six or fewer points, two or three extra shots per night by Miller could make all the difference, but he said he's not going to change his style.
"I'm not going to force any shots," he said...
"We have to get Mike more than four shots, there's no question about that," coach Randy Wittman said. "And Mike's got to work to get more than four shots. Sometimes you get into turning down shots to make the extra pass. Mike does all the right things. [But] at times, he has to be a little selfish, too."
Even in watching replays of himself turning down shots, Miller says he believes if his options are limited it means other players are getting good shots instead.
That's commendable and all, but Miller was brought to Minnesota for his shooting touch, not his passing ability.
Most teams do not have the luxury of featuring a player that averages 22 points and 10 rebounds a game. Al Jefferson is an extremely talented big man that rarely receives the type of national recognition he deserves. The center averages more points than Dwight Howard, Carlos Boozer, and LaMarcus Aldridge. Jefferson also hauls down more rebounds per game than perennial all-stars: Tim Duncan, Chris Bosh, Kevin Garnett, and Amare Stoudemire. On his way to a career season, Jefferson shoots 51 percent from the field and just under 80 percent from the free throw line.
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Written by SG
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Tuesday, 18 November 2008 21:24 |
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The Minnesota Lynx today announced the team has hired Jim Petersen as an assistant coach. Petersen will join assistant coaches Jennifer Gillom and Ed Prohofsky on head coach Don Zierden's staff. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
And how do the attendance numbers break out? Check the numbers...
Six additional teams have seen positive attendance changes: Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves(only +33 per game), New Jersey Nets and Washington Wizards.
When you are playing in games to the end or even overtime, you are doing something right. Look at the differential in points for and against for the Wolves (an average of -5.0 points that includes one bad loss and a win) and you see they have been in seven of the eight games they have lost. Other teams with one win on the season are losing by an average of 10 and 14 points per game. Too many losses by that margin might be unwatchable.
Then again, when you lose all those close games, you are not snake bit; clearly you are doing something wrong if you don’t finish on top once in awhile.
Fun Fact: Since the start of last season, Kevin Garnett has 34 double-doubles. Al Jefferson has 61.
Fun Fact 2: Since the start of last season, Kevin Garnett’s Celtics have won 75 games. Al Jefferson’s Wolves have won 23.
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Written by SG
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Tuesday, 18 November 2008 06:33 |
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The Wolves didn't practice Monday after playing back-to-back games Saturday and Sunday. They will practice today in preparation for a tough four-game stretch before Thanksgiving that includes home games Wednesday against Elton Brand and Philadelphia and Friday against Kevin Garnett and the NBA champion Boston Celtics. The Wolves travel Sunday to Detroit and are back home Nov. 26 against Phoenix.
Wittman is 35-98 (.263) as coach of the Wolves and 97-200 (.327) including Cleveland. That's the fourth-poorest winning percentage in NBA history for a coach with 290-plus games.
This woebegone operation needs credibility. Firing Wittman and replacing him with Fred Hoiberg as coach offers none. Firing Wittman and continuing to cede all personnel power to McHale offers none.
It's time for Taylor to call Medina and make this offer to a coach with a .597 winning percentage in the NBA: Flip, you come back as coach...
Center Al Jefferson remains the team's best player, but his season averages of 22.3 points and 10.6 rebounds aren't much different than last year's final figures of 21.0 and 11.1.
Rookie forward Kevin Love has had an up-and-down first month, from a 20-point, eight-rebound effort at Sacramento to an 0-for-7 shooting performance the following night at Portland.
Shooting guard Mike Miller, the other player brought in to ease Jefferson's burden, has attempted more than 10 shots in just three games and topped 20 points only once, scoring 25 in a 129-125 double-overtime loss to San Antonio.
Taylor had sanctioned free agent Joe Smith’s secret side deal eight years ago, a clandestine contract that would cost the Wolves three future first-round draft picks and a $3.5 million fine. Taylor didn’t just show his dishonesty by cheating on the salary cap, but his incompetence for doing so with a player whose talent never justified the risk.
The owners cheered David Stern’s harsh punishment. They condemned Taylor as a crook. And then, three weeks ago, Stern would celebrate Taylor’s choice as chairman with a you-have-to-be-kidding declaration that his selection would “ensure the same high standards” of his predecessor.
The sad-sack Timberwolves can't do anything right, but it hasn't affected the bottom line: Forbes said last year that the team's value remained flat, but ranked 22nd out of 30 teams in the NBA. Owner Glen Taylor had a good year, too: At $3.3 billion, he was No. 123 among the 400 richest.
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