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Minnesota Timberwolves 113 – New Orleans Hornets 102

December 15, 2012 by
Photo Credit: Associated Press

Photo Credit: Associated Press

The Timberwolves visited Cajun Country on Friday night and walked away with their third straight win putting the team at 11-9 on the season.  The team has successfully treaded water despite all of the injuries in the first quarter of the season and is expected to announce that Boy Wonder, Ricky Rubio will make his return on Saturday night against the Mavericks.

If it were not for a career high in points from Austin Rivers, this game wouldn’t have been very close (or good).  This seems to be a product of my questioning his ability and pointing to his struggles in the game preview.  One would think I would have learned my lesson by now.  In any case, here’s how the Wolves put away the Hornets in New Orleans Friday night.

Due to Malcolm Lee’s injury, the Pups were forced into a new starting lineup, opening up with Ridnour, Shved, Kirilenko, Love, and Pekovic.  While Shved has been the team’s best performing SG this season, I wholeheartedly agree with Adelman’s decision to keep him in the sixth man role and as a closer at the end of the game.  That said, desperate times call for “desperate” measures.  The Hornets opened up with Greivis Vasquez, Austin Rivers, Al-Farouq Aminu, Ryan Anderson, and Robin Lopez.  This past year’s number one pick, Anthony Davis, continues to come off the bench for the Hornets as he rehabs his ankle.

The game got off to a slow start with the Hornets holding a 13-12 lead going into the first TO of the game, with more than six minutes gone by in the quarter.  Kirilenko opened up the game with a nice pass to Ridnour for an easy layup and then made his own baseline cut for an easy basket.  Pekovic had a few easy baskets as well as the Wolves were dominating the paint.

At the end of the first quarter, the Wolves held a 28-23 lead.  The homer in me would point out said domination in the paint.  The pessimist would mention the Wolves’ struggles from beyond the arc across the entire roster.  The highlight of the quarter was actually seeing Greivis Vasquez stand in the way of Pekovic coming down the court and trying to give him an elbow.  Pek turns around to see who it is, just shakes his head and dismisses the kid.  That was hysterical.

The Pups opened up the 2nd quarter and extended the lead to as many as 9 points, largely led by the second unit, including the efforts of JJ Barea.  Barea hit a couple buckets and threw a beautiful lob to Derrick Williams.  However, while this was happening, Austin Rivers started heating up for the Hornets.  His performance was aided by Adelman’s need to play the dreaded Ridnour/Barea backcourt.

At the half, the Wolves and Hornets were tied at 50.  Here are a few halftime thoughts through my Wolves lens:

  • Since the publishing of the Yahoo! Article with Woj, Kevin Love has been abysmal.  He missed entirely too many chip shots in the first half.  Please make this end stat.
  • The Wolves need Rubio to avoid the Ridnour/Barea backcourt.  He and Shved can play with these two to have more size on the court.
  • Pek and AK47 picked up Love’s slack big time.

The Wolves opened up the 3rd quarter with the same five that started the game.  The same could be said for the Hornets.  The Hornets opened up the quarter with the first 5 points, but Luke Ridnour ended the run with a 3 pointer.  That seemingly woke up the Wolves who started to push the ball a bit and led to a 9-2 run.  For the next few minutes, the teams went back and forth, including some impressive play from Greivis Vasquez, who had a double-double halfway through the 3rd quarter; just another Wolves game where the opposing PG lights things up on the offensive end.

With a few minutes to go in the quarter, the Hornets broadcast finally announced that Josh Howard was back in the locker room and was questionable to return.  Less than five minutes (in real time) passed and the Hornets sideline reporter came back to announce that Howard hyper-extended his knee and would not return.  Seriously?!  What did this team do to somebody’s family to deserve this?

In the final minutes of the 3rd quarter, the Pups went on a little bit of a run to build an 82-73 lead going into the 4th quarter.  This was largely due to the play of AK47, Shved, and Pekovic.  It was looking like the Wolves were going to be able to pull away with this one, as they should, despite the strong efforts of Vasquez and Rivers for the Hornets.

Instead of pulling away in the early minutes of the 4th quarter, the Wolves let the Hornets stick around maintaining a lead that was within striking distance.  The Wolves second unit was pretty underwhelming in the second half, including the first six minutes of the 4th.  Thankfully, AK47 was around for the Wolves tonight as he continued to cut to the rim for easy baskets and rebound the ball.

With just over a minute to go and the Wolves up by 16 points, Austin Rivers drove to the basket and Kevin Love got his right hand get tangled up with him.  This led to an immediate TO with Love walking right off the court.  I rewound the game just to make sure this actually happened.  It did.  So now the Wolves are losing two players per game apparently, with Howard and Love going out this evening.  Seriously?!?!

The final score was 113-102 with the Wolves pulling away in the final minutes again.  Similar to last Friday’s game against the Cavs, the Wolves took care of business against a team that they should beat.  I’m not even going to mention the injuries again … onward to the return of the Unicorn!

Three Stars of the Game:

  1. Nikola Pekovic
  2. Andrei Kirilenko
  3. Greivis Vasquez (15 points & 17 assists)
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Minnesota Timberwolves 108 – Denver Nuggets 105

December 12, 2012 by
Photo Credit: Hannah Foslien, The Associated Press

Photo Credit: Hannah Foslien, The Associated Press

Fresh off four days of rest, the Minnesota Timberwolves fought off a late game charge by the Denver Nuggets and watched as Ty Lawson’s potential game-tying three-pointer roll off the rim, giving the Wolves a 103-100 win at home. Tonight’s win put the Timberpups at 10-9, which gives them their best record through the first 19 games since the 2006-07 season.

Timberwolves-Nuggets Game Notes

Despite receiving negative publicity for his recent comments regarding his future with the Timberwolves, Kevin Love was greeted with cheers after his name was announced tonight. However, Love had what was probably his worst of the season tonight as he shot an ice-cold 3-17 from the field and was noticeably outplayed by backup Dante Cunningham. Playing a relatively short 31 minutes, Love scored just 8 points while grabbing 14 rebounds, all the while committing 2 turnovers and 5 personal fouls. From the get-go K-Love looked out of rhythm, as he began the game 0-6 while his matchup of Kenneth Faried scored 14 of the Nuggets first 27 points.

Kenneth Faried established himself early and got the better of the matchup against Kevin Love in the first half. Faried, the all-time rebounding leader in NCAA history, lived up to his nickname of “Manimal” by dominating the boards and relentlessly creating second-chance opportunities for himself and his teammates. Although still an unpolished scorer, the second-year pro plays with such an evident fire that his teammates feed off of, and he has been a big reason why Denver has been so effective at running the floor this season.

Coming into tonight’s contest, the Timberwolves were averaging just 71% from the free throw line as a team. However, free throw shooting was not an issue for the Pups as the sank 30 freebies on an impressive 37 trips to the charity stripe, which was good for 81% as a team. On the opposite end, the Nuggets struggled with their free throw shooting and converted on only 14 of their 24 chances.

This game was a tale of two halves in the paint, as the Nuggets were seemingly unstoppable in the lane in the first half. The Wolves made excellent adjustments nearing the end of the first half and into the break, and were able to effectively gain inside position mainly behind Nikola Pekovic. With Love clearly having an off-game, Pek ultimately became the team’s top option on the low block and he responded very well. Facing a very strong defensive frontcourt, Pek established himself on the offensive glass and showed off his soft touch around the rim.

Due to a strong defensive effort, the Pups caused the Nuggets to turn the ball over 19 times compared to only 13 by Minnesota. The Wolves recorded 11 steals as a team and did an excellent job of anticipating passes and getting hands into passing lanes.

Malcolm Lee got the start at SG tonight, but left the game late in the second quarter due to a hyperextended right knee. Lee was not able to return, and his status is questionable for the remaining 5 games in the next 8 days. In his place, Alexey Shved may very likely become the team’s new starting SG.

Despite being the constant focal point of ongoing trade rumors, Derrick Williams has continued to play hard and provided 13 solid minutes. D-Will continues to get very spotty minutes but refuses to complain, and for that I applaud his professionalism. In his short span on the floor, Williams scored 6 points (2-6 FG) and grabbed 1 rebound.

It was a tough decision, but I left Dante Cunningham off of tonight’s Three Stars. Regardless, “DC Hustle” provided production on both ends of the floor on a night where K-Love could not buy a basket. In 23 minutes, Cunningham recorded 12 points (5-5 FG), 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and only 1 turnover while bringing tremendous defense against Faried.

Three Stars of the Game

  1. Nikola Pekovic: As I mentioned earlier, Pek did a fantastic job of establishing inside postion and attacking the offensive glass. What a great insurance policy the Wolves have for when K-Love is off, as Nikola drained 7 of his 10 FG attempts including shooting 8-8 from the free throw line on his way to 22 points and 11 rebounds. Pek was a game-high +8 on the court and even provided 2 blocked shots and 2 assists.
  2. JJ Barea: With Ty Lawson on the other end, Barea did a much better job keeping his body in front of Lawson than did Luke Ridnour. JJ was at his best tonight, finding holes in the Nuggets defense and shooting efficiently around the rim. With the game on the line, Barea effectively managed the game and even sunk clutch free throws down the stretch. Our favorite Puerto Rican ended the night with 17 points (6-12 FG), 8 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and only 1 turnover in 27 minutes.
  3. Andrei Kirilenko: Last but not least, AK-47 was a vital part of Minnesota’s success on the offensive end tonight and even provided a transition dunk which proved to be the dagger with only seconds to play. Despite missing both of his three-point attempts, Nuggets defenders did not sag off on Kirilenko, making his shot-fakes even more effective. AK sank all 6 of his free throws and finished with 18 points (6-12 FG), 4 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 assists, 1 block and 3 turnovers in a game-high 36 minutes for the Pups.

Good win for the Wolves, and they are set to take on the Hornets in New Orleans beginning around 7PM on Friday night. Still no word on Ricky Rubio, but many rumors are indicating he will make his season debut on Saturday when the Pups take on Dallas at the Target Center.

 

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Starting at Center, Number 16, Pau Gaasoollllll!?

December 6, 2012 by

Surprise surprise, rumors are swirling again that the Los Angeles Lakers are looking to move starting PF Pau Gasol. The 32 year old Spaniard is again the victim of the Lakers early season struggles. This season for the Lakers has been one of big dreams and mass blame. Early on it was Mike Brown, who in reality should never have been chosen over Rick Adelman in the first place. Brown got the quick axe and now it looks to be the once loved Lakers big man who is getting the LA “Death Stare”.

Thus far Gasol has registered a career low 12.6 PPG while shooting .420 percent from the floor. The rest of his game seems to be around his career average with 8.8 RPG and a respectable 3.5 APG. But with the unsatisfactory drop from his Laker average 18.4PPG, it is easy to put a target on the 7’0” big man. Unfortunately for Pau, his surroundings seem to be his downfall. He is on one of the most covered and decorated sports franchises of all time, playing with one of the greatest NBA players of all time and is once again paired with a post player who is taking Pau’s touches , looks, and space in the paint. Granted Pau can hit it from anywhere within 18 feet, he needs to be fed the ball down low. I don’t know if the Lakers forgot, but Pau Gasol has one of the best jump hooks in the league today, and not to mention he can do it with either hand! But so can Dwight Howard right………..?

To be honest, I’m shocked the pairing of Dwight and Pau has not worked yet. It seems like they would be a perfect fit, Dwight the freakishly athletic defensive center, and Pau the offensively versatile power forward who can spread the floor and pass with the best of them. To my disbelief, and the entire leagues, it’s not working. Even now with the offensive genius Mike D’Antoni calling the shots, the Lakers still aren’t producing. In my mind, waiting for Point Guard Steve Nash to come back and run the show would be a better idea than sending Pau packing. He was proven to be a top power forward in this league and he could (against popular belief) be effective with Nash running the D’Antoni’s system. Between the constant ridicule from the media, the call outs by Kobe and what seems to be a loss in confidence, maybe new scenery is what Pau needs to resuscitate his offense.

If any of you remember, last season there were trade rumors floating around the Timberpups were looking to acquire the Spanish big man. The Pups were said to have offered rookie Derrick Williams and Center Nikola Pekovic for Gasol. Last year, I would be all over this, pairing Pau with fellow countrymen Ricky Rubio! But with the impressive inside presence of PEK, and D Will starting to build an all-around game…no thanks. As much as Pau and Love could flourish together, they would be a soft interior defense. Pekovic and Williams are both young (at 26 and 21 respectively) and like the Lakers we are waiting for our flashy passing point guard to return form injury to lead the pack. Right now the chemistry on this team is the best I have seen in years from the Wolves. The Wolves have had their struggles early one, but between adapting to new players and the plethora of injuries we are looking to make a push. Although Pau seems to be a compatible with the Wolves, I would take Pekovic over Gasol all day. And seriously, would you want to be the person who had to tell Nikola Pekovic, the strongest man in the NBA, pack your bags.

I would be surprised to see this become anything more than a common NBA trade rumor. Both teams are feeling the pressure to win now, LA because they have created another trending super team, and the Wolves from the fear that All Star Power Forward Kevin Love will bolt once his contract has expired. Regardless, it’s going to be a chore for the Lakers to move Pau with $19 Million due this year and next year. All I can say is, KAAAHHNNNN NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

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Preview: Timberwolves Begin Two Game Road Trip Against 76ers

December 4, 2012 by

Timberpups Game Preview

Evan Turner was once the Timberwolves most coveted player on 2010 NBA Draft night.

The 7-8 Minnesota Timberwolves will begin a two-game road trip against the 10-7 Philadelphia 76ers tonight, and will not yet witness Ricky Rubio’s highly anticipated season debut for at least two games. Although cleared to play, Rubio has had less than a full week of practice time as he returns from a torn ACL suffered in March.

The 76ers are 3-1 in their past four games led by up-and-comers Jrue Holiday and Thaddeus Young, and have played well as a team despite the highly-publicized absence of offseason acquisition Andrew Bynum. Bynum has been unable to play this season due to recurring knee problems, and recently gained negative publicity for injuring his knee bowling (yes, bowling). Last season’s Western Conference All-Star starting center remains without a timetable for return, and it appears that the gamble that Philly made by giving up All-Star Andre Igoudala and promising young prospects Nikola Vucevic and Moe Harkless may have been a bad one.

The Wolves will once again be without starting SF Andrei Kirilenko, which will mark the third straight game the oft-injured forward will miss due to back spasms. On the court Kirilenko has been everything Minnesota expected and more, and the Pups will greatly miss his defense in what could have been a favorable matchup against fellow tweener-forward Thaddeus Young.

Not too long ago, the Wolves drew the 4th overall selection in the 2010 NBA Draft and witnessed coveted prospect Evan Turner go to the 76ers second overall while the Timberwolves were left with the scraps that turned out to be mega draft-bust Wesley Johnson. Nearly two years later, Johnson is already off the Wolves team riding the bench in Phoenix, while Turner has continued to show glimpses of becoming a nice piece to a young and talented 76ers core. While inconsistent at times, Turner is beginning to find his groove averaging 14.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 4.1 assists in nearly 35 minutes per game. With Igoudala gone, the 6-foot-7 SG was called on to take on much increased responsibility and production, and he has done that so far this season.

The Pups will need to rely heavily on the services of Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic if they are to take one in Philly. The strength and grit of the Timberwolves frontcourt is clearly the team’s competitive advantage, as they are able to establish inside position and attack the offensive boards as well as any PF-C combination in the NBA. When considering how poorly the Wolves have shot from outside this season, they are a much more efficient team offensively when running the offense through the post and kicking out when faced with double-teams.

The game kicks off at 6:00 PM and will be broadcasted on local TV. Here is my prediction for the Three Stars of the Game:

  1. Kevin Love
  2. Nikola Pekovic
  3. Jrue Holiday
Filed Under: Game Previews Tagged With: , ,

Preview: Minnesota Timberwolves Host Charlotte Bobcats

November 14, 2012 by

Setting the stage

The Minnesota Timberwolves return home to the Target Center to face Michael Jordan’s Charlotte Bobcats.  Despite the rash of injuries, the Twolves split its two road games and are 5-2 on the season.  The Bobcats won Tuesday night against Wizards and are a surprising 3-3 on the year.  The Pups need to take advantage of the Bobcats playing in the second half of a back to back and win a game that, frankly, should be won.

The Wolves will be without Barea, Pekovic, and Roy tonight.  Talk about making this game more difficult than it needs to be.  In an earlier draft of this preview, I had figured Pek would be playing and considered this game more or less “a lock”.  Now?  Not so much.  Team Russia has continued to fill in admirably through the loss of each player over the past week, as has Ridnour and Cunningham.  However, this team has to play each of those four big minutes and that might have some long term damage if this injury bug lasts much longer.  Stiemsma gets the start tonight at the center spot, coming off a rough two game stretch in which he played sparingly and was held scoreless.

Charlotte comes in off a win vs. the Wizards, with rookie Michael Kidd-Gilchrist putting up some impressive numbers over his last couple of games.  MKG had a 25 & 12 evening against Dallas several nights ago, and followed that up with 15 & 8 last night vs. Washington.  The other watch-out for the Bobcats is at the combo guard position, with Kemba Walker, Ramon Sessions, and Ben Gordon really being the only legitimate threats on the roster.  Note that Gordon missed Tuesday’s game for a family emergency and it is unclear if he is making the trip to Minnesota.  At the same time, the local Bobcats team reported during Tuesday’s game that Kemba Walker was a little under the weather.  We’ll see if that has any impact on his performance Wednesday night – as he didn’t have much of a problem against Washington, playing 35 minutes and putting up 17 points.

Assuming they became aware of the limitations of their big men, the Bobcats made a minor move on Tuesday, sending Matt Carroll to the Hornets for Hakim Warrick.  Warrick was inactive for Tuesday’s game and it remains to be seen when he will make his debut for his new team.  While certainly not a true PF, Warrick provides more overall talent for the Bobcats, who can consider playing small much more of the time.

While Charlotte is in the top 10 in scoring in the early part of the season at just under 100 ppg, they are near the bottom of the league in points allowed (~102 per game, down from ~107 before Tuesday’s game).  The Wolves have become one of the better defensive teams in the league with its offseason additions and I look forward to seeing the team control the tempo and flow of this game from the outset.

Player to watch

Derrick Williams – If there were ever a game that Derrick Williams should be expected to produce, this would be it.  DWill is coming off an embarrassing 12 minute, 2 point game on Monday in Dallas, despite the team being undermanned.  It is crystal clear that DWill has a short leash and easily gets into Adelman’s doghouse.  However, Charlotte lacks any semblance of strength at the PF spot.  Byron Mullens and Tyrus Thomas scream opportunity for Derrick to turn it up a few notches.

Match-up to watch

MKG vs. AK47.  I made it no surprise that I really wanted MKG in this year’s draft.  The signing of AK47 may put David Kahn in the running for Executive of the Year.  These guys are very similar, albeit in very different stages of their career.  They are about the same size, with Andrei being slightly taller/longer.  Both players do a little bit of everything for their teams, fill the box score, and are high character individuals in the locker room.  It will be interesting to see these two go at it, with the possibility of them shutting each other down and holding one another to single digit points for the night.

Predictions

The Pups need to win this one.  Not to straighten out their season, turn around momentum or anything like that.  The fact of the matter is, Charlotte is an inferior opponent and good teams beat inferior opponents – even if we are down to a nine man lineup.  Good grief …

Final score prediction: Minnesota 90 – Charlotte 86

Three stars of the game predictions:

  1. Derrick Williams
  2. Dante Cunningham
  3. Kemba Walker

Let’s go Wolves!

Filed Under: Game Previews Tagged With: , ,

Chase Budinger Out Three Months with Torn Meniscus

November 13, 2012 by

Associated Press – Nam Y. Huh

Three weeks into the NBA season and the Pups are having a rough go at it.  Not from a record standpoint, as the team remains near the top of Northwest Division, but on the injury front.  Here’s what the last week has presented to the Wolves and their fans.

Last Wednesday, JJ Barea mildly sprained his ankle while diving for a loose ball in the 4th quarter of a blow-out win vs. Orlando.  Why?  Even JJ doesn’t know why he did this, but he did and the injury forced him to miss the next three games.  JJ is currently listed as day to day this week.

In the next game against Indiana, Brandon Roy never came out of the locker room for the 2nd half.  It was later reported that Roy had soreness in his degenerative right knee.  Brandon has since missed the last two games because of the injury and is also listed as day to day.  It sounds like there is a very good chance of Roy being ready for Wednesday’s game vs. Charlotte.

The very next night in Chicago, Chase Budinger tore his meniscus in his knee and a timetable for his return will be announced after the surgery.  Woj is reporting this morning that the surgery was completed earlier today (by Dr. James Andrews …) and Budinger will likely miss up to three months.

Finally, in last night’s game against Dallas, Nikola Pekovic rolled his ankle and didn’t return to the game.  I don’t expect Pek to be out very long though.  Why?  Let’s let him answer those questions, “I didn’t hurt nothing, just a lot of pain” and “I don’t use crutches”.  Those were his quotes on the injury after the game.  If anyone in the NBA deserves a “beast mode” tag, it should go to Pek.

So, this brings up a few questions and thoughts.  What in the world did the franchise do to deserve this?  Haven’t the Wolves paid enough for all of the bad decisions made over the past twenty-something years?  What does this mean for the team in the short and long term?

In the short term, this of course adds up to awful news for the team, who are already missing their two cornerstones until mid-December (in a best case scenario).  The team must make do without five guys in what would be Adelman’s regular rotation and adds pressure to the few remaining willing and able wings on the roster.  Everyone will need to step up, but allow me to be a bit pessimistic for the next few paragraphs.

Andrei Kirilenko has been an absolute blessing thus far this season.  He has done a little bit of everything.  However, he will now need to carry a larger burden of the scoring.  Will he be able to do this?  How will his body hold up given the presumed extra minutes he’s going to receive?  Only time will tell.

Derrick Williams has been wildly inconsistent to start the season, which isn’t too much of a surprise.  However, DWill has to step up.  He cannot produce one night and lay an egg the next.  Quite frankly, I don’t have high hopes here and it doesn’t feel or look like Adelman does either right now.

Alexey Shved has provided solid minutes from his backup, rotational spot.  How, or can he match up with starting two guards in the league?  Will his flaws become more visible and problematic for the team with increased minutes and playing more against starters?

Can the team get net-positive results from Malcolm Lee and/or Will Conroy?  Is it even fair to set these expectations?  In Monday’s game in Dallas, Lee got the starting nod and didn’t look great, but made enough plays to warrant more time there if/when needed, which would also allow Shved to come off the bench in a 6th man role.

Longer term, this puts another caveat into this season’s goal of making the playoffs.  There will likely be added pressure on the team come January/February to start winning at a greater percentage in order to make it to the playoffs as the team’s cornerstones return.  Roy and Budinger’s injuries are big question marks that may (more likely, will) have an impact throughout the year, but the others should be back sooner rather than later.  At this point, I believe the team will need to tread water for the rest of November.  The team plays every other day this week through Friday (including last night’s win in Dallas), and are then off until next Wednesday, which may be a small blessing in an otherwise crazy start to the season.

Let’s focus on Chase Budinger’s injury for a second, as JJ Barea should return soon and Brandon Roy’s knee injuries are well documented and should now be expected to be an on again, off again item for much of this season.  In a limited amount of games, Budinger had already proven to be a valuable commodity for the Wolves.

At the time of the injury, Chase was the second leading scorer on the team at 11.8ppg.  He was also throwing in 3.5rpg and 1spg.  Most importantly, Chase was clearly option 1A or 1B on shooting from three point range, depending on how you feel about Luke Ridnour.  At the same time, it looked like he was getting more and more acclimated to his teammates and building confidence in his own game.  So naturally, the injury had to occur now.

While very cliché, the healthy Pups that remain on the floor are going to have to collectively make up for these missing points and the outside shooting that Chase was providing.  A few guys – particularly Roy upon his return and Shved – will need to quickly find their outside jumpers that have been missing so far this season.  The team’s PG’s are also going to have to become more effective jump shooters as well and do a better job at spacing the floor.

Naturally, another option would be for the team to go out and sign another player.  However, the Wolves have virtually no flexibility with the cap and only have the veteran’s minimum to offer.  Who could this go to?  Here’s a very short list of player’s available that I would consider: Mickael Pietrus, Josh Howard, and/or Ryan Gomes.  If you really want to drive yourself crazy, we can talk about expediting Troy Hudson’s comeback to the NBA.  (Let’s not)

Net/net, the injuries have continued to mount for the Wolves, but I have to say that in watching the past handful of games, this year’s roster is light years ahead of last year’s squad.  Their ability to overcome deficits and the injuries to Love and Rubio have been highly commendable.  However, we are certainly teetering on the edge of the cliff of not being able to make up for all of the injuries this team is enduring.

Here’s to a speedy recovery to all of the Wolves and to a healthy 2013!  (Please?!)

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Timberwolves September 2012 in Review

October 2, 2012 by

Another month gone, and another month closer to the start of the Minnesota Timberwolves 2012-13 season. We began the month of September by analyzing the rumors behind the Timberwolves then-apparent interest in free agent knucklehead Andray Blatche, who ultimately failed to receive a contract offer from Minnesota and ended up signing a deal to play for the Brooklyn Nets.

Along with Blatche, former Sacramento King center Hassan Whiteside received interest from Minnesota and was even flown to Minneapolis for a private workout with the team. However, Whiteside too did not receive a contract offer from the club as Minnesota instead signed veteran PF-C Lou Amundson, who most recently played for Indiana last season. The signing of Amundson spelled the end of contract negotiations between Anthony Tolliver and the Pups, and Tolliver instead signed a veteran minimum deal to play for the Atlanta Hawks.
[Read more...]

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