Wolves Updates 9/25
by SG on Sep 25, 2010 1:47 AM CDT
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PrintWolves training camp starts today in Mankato, Love wants to bring Team USA experience to the Wolves, Beasley entertains at media day, Flynn to miss at least first week of season, Johnson hampered by hamstring injury and more
From Chad Courrier/Free Press:
Taylor’s team begins a five-day training camp with two practices today at Minnesota State’s Bresnan Arena. The team practices twice each day — they are not open to the public — before holding a scrimmage Wednesday night. Training camp starts a month early because the team will make a preseason trip to Europe.
Taylor plans to attend the practices, getting to know some of the new players. His team will make appearances around town over the next five days as he hopes to connect with the community as he rebuilds the franchise.
"We’re taking some risks, and that part is exciting," Taylor said. "Winning is important. I’m a fan, and I want to win. If there’s a game I think we should win and we don’t, it’s very upsetting."
From the Timberwolves:
The Minnesota Timberwolves today signed unrestricted free agents Maurice Ager, Jason Hart, DerMarr Johnson and John Thomas, finalizing the training camp roster at 18 players.
From Jonah Ballow's twitter feed:
Kevin Love just told me he will be on twitter in 1 month & you can quote him #Twolves
From Jerry Zgoda/Star Tribune:
Love averaged 5.7 points and 4.9 rebounds in nearly 9 minutes a game off the bench for a reconfigured American national team that went undefeated with youngsters Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose leading the way.
"That whole experience was tremendous for me," he said. "Hopefully, I'll bring that same attitude to this team."
He returned to the Wolves for Friday's annual media day looking fit and promising to parlay his winning international experience and "positive energy" he accumulated into an upcoming season where he will lead more and complain less about his playing time and role.
From Ray Richardson/Pioneer Press:
Any traces of a tense battle between Love and Beasley might have disappeared during informal scrimmages the past two weeks at the Wolves' practice facility at Target Center. Several scrimmages showcased Love and Beasley playing together up front. Beasley quickly put to rest any notions that he and Love would have trouble coexisting on the floor. Similar concerns about Love and Al Jefferson ultimately led the Wolves to trade Jefferson to Utah.
"If you had been in the gym the past two weeks, you wouldn't be asking that question," Beasley said of his pairing with Love.
"Me and Kevin play together just fine."
From Kent Youngblood/Star Tribune:
Fans, expect Beasley to be entertaining, both on the court and in interviews. I already like this guy. He showed up Friday refusing to back down from earlier statements that the team can contend for a title. Call it brash, but I call it fun. Here is a short list of entertaining quotes from his short media session:
1. When asked if coming here was a fresh start: "I don’t want a fresh start. Everything that has happened in my life made me what I am."
2. On whether he has a chip on his shoulder (the short answer: yes): "Always. I feel some people have counted me out." Beasley noted his averages of 15 or so points and six rebounds from last year weren’t bad, but promised more. "We’re going to have fun this year. I have a lot of motivation built up. Not against a particular team or person, but I think a lot of people think I can’t play basketball." Beasley said he hopes to prove those folks wrong.
From Jerry Zgoda's twitter feed:
New #Timberwolves F Michael Beasley when asked how good Miami will be: "I don't know. I haven't got back from the future yet."
From Ray Richardson/Pioneer Press:
Timberwolves point guard Jonny Flynn will miss at least the first week of the season while recovering from hip surgery in July, Wolves president of basketball operations David Kahn said Friday.
Flynn, who participated in the Wolves' media day activities Friday, is recovering from a labral tear in his left hip, a cartilage that connects the hip joint. He suffered the injury in the final week of last season as a rookie and aggravated his hip while competing with the Wolves' summer league team. Flynn underwent surgery July 27 at the Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colo.
"I'm going back out there with Jonny on Oct. 18 when he's re-evaluated," Kahn said. "We'll know more then, but Jonny is progressing well."
From the Associated Press:
Rookie forward Wes Johnson has been hampered by a hamstring injury for most of the summer. Johnson was hurt in July and aggravated the injury earlier this month.
Coach Kurt Rambis says Johnson will likely be limited to one practice a day early in training camp, which begins on Saturday.
From Jerry Zgoda/Star Tribune:
• Assistant coach Bill Laimbeer traveled to Serbia, worked out center Darko Milicic for two weeks this month and filed daily reports back to the office. Milicic said he has lost 10 pounds since last season.
• Corey Brewer just got back from L.A., where he has a part in a short film by actor Terrence Howard about a 1959 game pitting an all-black team against an all-white one. "Got lucky enough to be in it," he said.
From Jon Krawczynski/AP Sports:
No trades or signings for an executive who has gained a reputation as a wheeler and a dealer in his relatively short time in charge. No extensive quotes on the Internet or in newspapers for the former reporter who was always approachable. And no more radio interviews since he got into a little hot water in July for some comments he made on the air about new forward Michael Beasley's past drug use.
The transition from the spotlight to the shadows has been part of his plan all along, Kahn said on Friday at the team's media day, a telltale sign that some sense of stability was finally being established in one of the league's most unstable franchises.
"I hope I can start to recede even further," Kahn said. "When you're in my position, the time to be seen is when times are not healthy yet. It's an attempt to take the pressure off the players and coaches.
From Steve Aschburner/NBA.com:
So how do you think Michael Beasley is going to do with a fresh start this season? "Kaaaahhhhnnnn!" Any chance Ricky Rubio is playing for these guys before 2012? "Kaaaahhhhnnnn!" How much salary-cap space will Minnesota have next offseason? "Kaaaahhhhnnnn!" Then the two geniuses nod knowingly at each other, giggle and part ways, content with their analysis.
What this catchphrase dismissal fails to acknowledge -- unless maybe it's some reverse, roast-style tribute -- is that A) it is Kahn's plan, no one else's, and B) he and the team will rise or fall with it. OK, maybe not fall -- there is little downside left when a team goes 15-67 in what, by most quantifiable and qualitative standards, was the worst of the franchise's 21 seasons. But if Kahn's first 15 months -- during which he made 15 trades, by the way -- don't translate soon into visible and real improvements on the court at Target Center, we can expect more of the same.
Until he and the catchphrase go the way of "Where's the beef?"
"I'm spending very little time on blogs these days," Kahn said in a phone interview Wednesday.
From Charley Walters/Pioneer Press:
Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor is local sports' wealthiest owner, according to Forbes' new valuations, at $2.2 billion.
Taylor ranks tied for No. 164 on the financial magazine's 400 wealthiest Americans list. Taylor is wealthier than Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones ($2 billion, tied for No. 182).
There are few teams in the NBA that are as hard to predict as the Minnesota Timberwolves. Sources close to the team tell HOOPSWORLD that internally there is a broad range of expectations for the 2010-11 season. Some believe they'll be just as bad as last year, while others think compiling 35 wins is a realistic expectation. When a team has had as many changes as the Timberwolves have had, it's simply impossible to accurately predict what the team will look like when they're 15 or 20 games into the regular season and things start to come together.
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IMDB doesn't seem to have a listing for the movie Corey was shooting.
Their only “filming” listing for Terrence Howard is something called On the Road: “A young man sets out to travel the roads and railways of America.” He’s not the director of that one either.
Tennessee State won a National NAIA championship in 1957, ’58, and ’59. The first time the all-white competition was heavily favored…. Is this movie going to be about their third win, or is the news item off by a couple of years? Some other game?
Corey could be a character actor type in a historical basketball movie, for sure. If you could stop him smiling for a few seconds at a time, anyway.
(While scrounging for this I found a book [Minnesota Hoops] talking about barnstorming games between the Globetrotters and local all-white Minnesota teams back in the 1930s.)
Every real thought on every real subject knocks the wind out of somebody or other. – OWH
Saving Ryan's Privates?
With Derek Fisher as Ryan. Saw it last saeson.
"Silence is golden but duct tape is silver." ---Anon.
They said "short film"
and those can be pretty hard to track down, especially since it probably hasn’t been released yet.
No autopsy, no foul.
Youngblood said he was just "reading a script" for it in yesterday's Strib blog.
Still, lots of the time imdb will have stuff that never even reaches production.
I’m real curious about what game they’re talking about. Basketball doesn’t talk enough about its history for me. (Baseball mythologizes its by contrast. Why when we talk about breaking color barriers in sports does the story always seem to start with Jackie Robinson?)
Every real thought on every real subject knocks the wind out of somebody or other. – OWH
Couple reasons
A) Jackie Robinson faced a lot of public scrutiny and the entire career he had was very public. B) He was also a great baseball player and greatness doesn’t tend to get overlooked. (Even though, I’m with you on the first “black” baseball player bit. First, there were the Negro Leagues. Second, in the white Major Leagues, Robinson wasn’t the first. He just was the first black player in the 20th century in the white MLB.)
EvilCowtownInc: Screwin Suckaz over since 1985...... On Twitter
No mistakes in the tango, Donna. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....
Exactly on letter B) there.
Actually I think the Jackie R. mythology is partly a way of suggesting America’s “racial progress” graph would be a line with a steady positive slope over our history. We don’t like to recognize that race relations got worse after reconstruction until Woodrow Wilson presided over the official segregation of the Federal government; we want to think things just keep right on improving, gradually. If there were black baseball players in the late 19th century, playing as “Native Americans” or no, then things got worse in there; I don’t think we want to look that in the face. So Jackie Robinson becomes the one turning point.
In Boxing, people like Muhammad Ali knew where they were coming from. During Ali’s fights his corner guy sometimes would motivate him by calling out “Ghost in the house! Ghost in the house! Jack Johnson’s here! Ghost in the house!” Jack Johnson was a huge star, there was tons of attention on him. Maybe it just doesn’t make as nice a story when the guy’s getting harassed and arrested for fooling with white girls. But boxers knew their history. Joe Louis was very aware of Jack Johnson, too.
And basketball? Earlier interracial games, it seems like, and you have the great story of the Globetrotters.
Be fun to have Corey have a tiny part to play in one of those stories.
Every real thought on every real subject knocks the wind out of somebody or other. – OWH
Krawczynski strikes a fine balance, there
The transition from the spotlight to the shadows has been part of his plan all along, Kahn said on Friday at the team’s media day, a telltale sign that some sense of stability was finally being established in one of the league’s most unstable franchises.
“I hope I can start to recede even further,” Kahn said. "When you’re in my position, the time to be seen is when times are not healthy yet. It’s an attempt to take the pressure off the players and coaches.
He gives us Kahn’s explanation with just a touch, just a part-of-his-plan-all-along’s worth, of skepticism.
Either way I like that Kahn can explain it to himself that way. Though how talking openly about a player’s drug use is taking pressure off him is a bit nebulous….
Every real thought on every real subject knocks the wind out of somebody or other. – OWH
The master plan
If Beasley and Darko work out, he’s a genius. If they’re terrible, and Love gets ticked off and walks after coming of the bench for the league’s worst team, then we will not only hear, we will repeat “Kaaaahhhhnnnn!” for many years to come.
As much as he grates on me, I will be giddy if our team performs well enough for him to be a genius.
How about Laimbeer
working out Darko for two weeks in Serbia! I don’t think I knew that. That’s awesome – Darko could use a little Detroit Bad Boy in him, (but not his [Darko’s] old Detroit Bad Attitude).
"Styx might be the mullet of bands."
That is awesome...
that’s some real dedication, if Laimbeer was really out there for two weeks. I doubt that Darko has ever had anybody give him this much encouragement. Hope it works out.
And Laimbeer must be very familiar with Darko
Bill has been in Detroit, coaching, etc., so he would know Darko from his first few years with the Pistons — at least from watching him.
It is dead certain that Rambis would have asked Laimbeer about Darko, and if Bill thought Darko was a dud, he would certainly have said so. But if Bill thought Darko had promise, we would have seen the action that has transpired.
I’m guessing that Laimbeer has his rep on the line now as a supporter of Darko, and he wants to make sure it comes out right. So that is why he would have been eager to spend time with Darko this summer.
This is all good news to me.
very good news
Nothing would make me happier than to see the whole team playing with a chip on their shoulder.
No autopsy, no foul.
Have to admit
that I kind of chuckle when thinking about Laimbeer wandering around some town in Serbia for a couple of weeks. How many times do you think he smiled while over there – once? Twice? Who knows, perhaps he fit right in (are there lots of dour people in Serbia?)%
All kidding aside, I do find the image of this big guy who looks slightly oafish (and I don’t mean that in a mean way) wandering around trying different restaurants and trying to figure out where the local sites are. Do you suppose anyone there had any idea who he was?
"Styx might be the mullet of bands."
by biggity2bit on Sep 27, 2010 11:58 AM CDT up reply actions
Love this answer to a horribly cliched question:
When asked if coming here was a fresh start: ‘I don’t want a fresh start. Everything that has happened in my life made me what I am.’
I’ve got a hunch that Skittles will be in the MIP discussion this year (and a far more serious candidate than Brewer was last year).
Also, nice to see that Love and Beasley think they’ll be a solid on-court tandem. Hopefully Rambis agrees – imagine being able to start our best two players for once.
Good response, yeah.
A “straight shooter” tone, for sure.
Every real thought on every real subject knocks the wind out of somebody or other. – OWH
Milicic’s intensity emerged near the end of Saturday morning’s practice. All the players had to run extra wind sprints when Laimbeer announced that Milicic failed to touch one of the baselines before turning around to head back to the other end of the court.
Milicic was the last player to finish the extra sprints, prompting encouragement from teammates. Milicic thought the players were criticizing him and yelled a few obscenities as the players huddled to conclude the practice.
Forward Michael Beasley, who quickly has become one of the team’s more vocal players, reached out to Milicic to calm him down.
“It’s OK … we ran with you,” Beasley said.
Milicic insisted he touched the baseline, which led to his outburst.
“It’s part of camp,” he said. “The first day is always tough.”
I hope that means
Rambis is going to be unfair to them until they get the complaining out of their system. These new rules about talking back to the refs could win a few games for us if we’re polite while other teams jabber.
No autopsy, no foul.
Heh, heh, heh....Darko learning etiquette - - - that's rich...
"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."
Bill Laimbeer's still got it.
That guy could get under someone’s skin like nobody else. I wonder what he’s thinking on Darko, after their couple of weeks together ‘over there.’
Every real thought on every real subject knocks the wind out of somebody or other. – OWH
I loved Rambis' response
to a media question about whether ‘some players’ actually touched the baseline or not (with the implication that they did but were called out on it anyways). Rambis gets a twinkle in his eye, and after a long pause says that Laimbeer is an honest guy. When asked if Laimbeer has good eyesight Rambis immediately (while smiling) says ‘no’.
Maybe this is a motivational ploy by Laimbeer learned this summer, that Darko does better when he gets a little riled up. Maybe it’s not Pekovic who’s role it will be to get Darko fired up but Laimbeer’s!
"Styx might be the mullet of bands."
by biggity2bit on Sep 27, 2010 12:02 PM CDT up reply actions
Darko
Darko Milicic: Expectations still high on Darko in Minnesota
Darko Milicic – F/C – MIN – Sep. 25 – 11:57 pm et
Darko Milicic, who is expected to start for the Timberwolves at center, is 10 pounds lighter and appears to be in better shape coming into camp than he has been in the past.
“After all the years I didn’t play, it’s a very good feeling to have somebody expect a lot out of me,” he said. “I will try to do the best I can for this team.” Milicic is worth a fantasy pick this year simply because the Wolves are high on him. Yes, chances are he won’t live up to the hype, but if healthy and given the opportunity, he’ll at least block a lot of shots. Consider him a sleeper at center. Sep. 25 – 11:57 pm et
Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press
"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."
Quote, "Block a lot of shots"
Since 2005, among players with 20 minutes or more a game on the floor, Darko has the 4th best block percentage at 5.3%. (That’s a % of 2-pt attempts tried by the opposing team.) That’s a titch below his overall career number; the last couple of seasons he’s been well below that level, languishing on the bench and then being out of shape I guess, so it brought him down just a little.
The set of people who swat a high percentage of shot attempts is a mixed bag. Even when you cull the list to see only people who play a reasonable amount, there are still role players on there like Chris Anderson, whose defensive roles are fairly narrow. The top of whatever list you’re searching will have people like Alonzo Mounring, though. The other top names since ‘05, for those who don’t bother to follow the link: Birdman, Camby, Dalembert, (Darko), Josh Smith (man I’d enjoy watching Smith play here), Tyrus Thomas, Greg Oden, Kendrick Perkins…. Dwight Howard has been great the last couple of seasons (5.9 and 6.0%), but before that he wasn’t quite as much of an intimidating defender in terms of blocks.
Hardly a golden ticket, though. Here are the best of the best since 2000. In 05-06, splitting time between Detroit and Orlando, Darko blocked 7.8% of opponents’ shots. Career high! However, supposed bust Hasheem Thabeet, who can still be that defensive center if he stops fouling so much, blocked 7.7% last year as a rookie. Adonal Foyle also put in seasons at just below that level.
By time Darko has always shown reasonably well as a shot swatter. Even last season’s rate, which was still down with us, was enough for him to be 21st-best in the league in terms of blocks/minute. He was a smidge better than Emeka Okafor.
Every real thought on every real subject knocks the wind out of somebody or other. – OWH
by feral on Sep 26, 2010 9:53 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
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