Telfair: “I’m happy”
Posted on July 23rd, 2008 – 7:40 PMBy Jerry Zgoda
Free to sign with any team he pleased, Sebastian Telfair finalized a new three-year contract (two years, his option on the third) Wednesday that brought him back to the Timberwolves and a place he now calls “home.”
He signed presumably to be Randy Foye’s backup, a distinction that neither he nor Kevin McHale say matters.
“I’m going to come in and work to do whatever Coach Wittman needs me to do,” Telfair said at a Target Center news conference on Wednesday. “If that’s as a starter, I’ll definitely go out there and do what a starter does. If that’s a backup, I’m going to come off the bench and give us a spark.”
Said McHale: “I tell all the guys, you’re going to need eight, nine guys strong who are going to play meaningful minutes for you throughout the season. It’s all these guys goal to come in and be in that rotation. We fully anticipate Sebastian to be a full contributor to our team.”
McHale said he’d like to add a combo guard who can serve as a third point guard, but said he doesn’t currently consider it a pressing issue. He said he’d consider one of the team’s summer league guards — Blake Ahearn looked most like a combo guard from a group that included Drew Neitzel, Pooh Jeter and Bryce Taylor — for that spot when those players decide in the coming weeks whether they will play in Europe or the United States.
“Maybe we can try to get my little brother be that third guard,” Telfair said.
His brother, Ethan, is a 13-year-old point guard back in New York.
“He’s too young now,” Telfair said. “But maybe next year we can get him in the draft.”
McHale said he is making “headway” in negotiations with restricted free agent Ryan Gomes.
“I said I wanted to sign Sebastian, Ryan and Craig,” McHale said, referring to Misters Telfair, Gomes and Smith. “We’re two-thirds of the way there. But until the deal is done…”
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