M.V.W.

But one thing I thought throughout the start was that Love would start turning some of those closer losses into wins (Houston, Memphis, the Clippers 2x, maybe Milwaukee), especially after seeing how the loss of Smith and Miller coupled with his injury turned them into a minus-rebounding team. Thankfully a broken non-shooting hand is much easier to recover from and work around than a torn ACL (my guess is his start doesn’t curry any favor for Al with some fans like many on the Strib board). The schedule has eased since the road game in Denver (the Wolves are down to #11 in SOS on basketball-reference), which has also helped. As does the Wolves having confidence against Utah due to their two close losses here and their win there late in the year with no Al.

Al Jefferson is off in several areas statistically, and we do have almost 20 games to measure that by. The falloff is there in his bread and butter post scoring, and it’s there in his rebounding, and basically it’s there in everything but his assist percentage which has grown every year he’s been in the league and is up a bit more than usual now.

The barometer on both the Wolves’ and Jefferson’s season, though, is headed up at a nice moment, just when Love’s return gave us a shot in the arm. I’ll happily see the two of them compete for your M.V.W. title. More than happily.

not to love how Kevin plays

…“Al’s a #2 on a championship team, and Love’s a #4 guy.” Despite it only being two games, I think the Love effect is true and will be born out over the rest of the season. I just don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Wolves have looked the most consistent and efficient-like they actually know what they’re doing-in the two games Love has played. (Although there were indications, like the Denver game, that they were starting to put it together a little. Still, though, Love’s play appears to be THE catalyst that jumpstarts this team and gets other guys going).

Now depending on what championship squad you want to compare to DK’s comments may still hold true. But I think, as of this two game sample, we need to reassess those comments. Love isn’t a go-to offensive player, or defensive player, and he isn’t a huge mismatch, so he’ll never be a #1 guy, or maybe even a #2 guy. But he still maybe the most valuable guy on the team, if that makes any sense. I also think SnP’s point about what went missing when Al went down versus when Love went down is spot on. (Sidenote-does anyone else wonder if Al’s career will kind of end up like Zach Randolph’s, without being a cancer/headcase? Great stats but doesn’t exactly help the team? Al is a much better teammate, though.)

What I think is most interesting is that Al seems to be playing some of his best ball of the season now that Love is back. Perhaps some of the improvement is just natural recovery/return from injury stuff, but it’s interesting to me that Love may make Al better than Al makes Love. If I had to choose cornerstones for this franchise, I’d start with Love, figure out which of the three PGs is the one you want, and find a competent outside wing scorer/defender (speaking of which-Ronnier Brewer? Do want.) I like Al’s low post scoring, but at some point if you can get your wing star for the price of Al Jeff, do you do it? Is it easier to find a Reggie Evans type down low than it is to find your dynamic wing? Finally, is Kyle Korver going to be too expensive/one dimensional for this team next year?

This isn’t rocket science, and it was weird how people were hitting the panic button a week or two ago, when the Wolves were losing so badly with 80% Jefferson and no Kevin Love. We’ve got Love back, and Jefferson will slowly work back to being his old self.

Last year, when Big Al went down, we had won 11 of our last 20 games. Immediately after his injury, we went on a 1-12 stretch. 3 of our 7 wins without Big Al (7-25 record) came against lottery teams in the heart of tanking season. 2 came against playoff teams, neither of which as good as this year’s Denver Nuggets (Miami and Utah). Given how easy it is for bad teams to win some games in the last third of the NBA season, it was a pathetic performance that wasn’t worth watching.

I thought it was pretty noticeable that Jefferson’s 23.1 points, 11.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 0.8 steals and 1.7 blocks were crucial to the team’s chances at success. When we get that guy back, he and this improved Kevin Love should help us be an even-more competitive team.

I compared it to when the Twins traded A.J… I thought it was that good of a trade and it appears to be. Love was ridiculous last night and he spent large chunks of time on the bench, so we are only going to get better as he gets in the game more. What’s even better is OJ might (just hoping with my fingers and toes crossed) be forcing Gay out of Memphis and how sweet would he look in a Wolves uniform? That trade just keeps getting better and better.

Most importantly I don’t have to look at Marko and try to figure out how someone that looks like a fish and can’t play basketball can get a girl as hot as his… I sleep better at night since that trade

It’s already starting. The more we praise Love, the less we’re going to think of Big Al. And it’s fine to some extent, but lest we get carried away, consider the plight of teams like the Chicago Bulls or the Charlotte Bobcats. Even with a fair amount of talent along the wing, they are among the league’s worst in offensive efficiency because they can’t get any reliable offense from their big men. Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas/Taj Gibson can be positive impact players individually, but put them in the same offense and they kill you.

I personally don’t want to be one of those teams where neither starting big man can get you offense. It’s counter-intuitive, but I almost think shot volume is more crucial than scoring efficiency here. Two guys who can give you 10-12 points each on .600 TS% would seem nice, but that still leaves an absurdly high number of possessions for your wings to use up. For a team like Minnesota, with no LeBron, Wade, or Carmello on the horizon, I think we need Big Al. As one of only 6 NBA centers averaging more than 10 FGA per game, he’s a bit of a rare commodity. Most NBA rosters get the bulk of their post offense from the power forward position. For a unique player such as Kevin Love, who does so much for this team but can only really create offense as the defense gives it to him, and uniquely talented offensive center like Big Al is just as important to the overall success of the team.

Not the best, but the most important, if that makes any sense.

Think of it like how Ginobili is the key player for the Spurs even though Duncan is the best.

I was at the game last night, and Flynn looked fantastic. He controlled the offense without dominating the ball, and it looks like he’s getting more comfortable in that role. He even started to show some of his swagger, especially after his big third quarter dunk.

Corey basically looked like the player he appeared to be in preseason…having Love back and being out there in a lineup that can facilitate more fastbreak opportunities is going to do wonders for him. Because he often keys the defense at the top of the circle, he’s usually the first to run out on the break. He also looked a lot more solid in his shot selection, only taking jumpers when he was coming off screens and had time to get some space from his defender and set his feet.

He took over in the fourth. He just came in and was like “**** it, Ima shoot now”

would improve the team in two ways.
One was that one or two non-rotation players would again be on the bench rather than playing 20 MPG.
The other was that Love would increase the teams effort by getting the transition game going and also keeping games more competitive, both of which encourage hustle.