Camp to open without Big Al
Posted on September 18th, 2008 – 11:59 AMBy Jerry Zgoda
Al Jefferson will miss the opening days, and perhaps the opening weeks, of training camp after he mildly sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee while playing with teammates on Tuesday at Target Center.
The team said he is expected to be sidelined two to three weeks. Camp begins Sept. 30 in Mankato and the first preseason game is October 6.
Jefferson went down in obvious pain after colliding with a teammate during a pre-training camp game and at first the worst was feared. “It was a relief when we found out it was a mild sprain,” Wolves assistant GM Fred Hoiberg said.
Jefferson, Mike Miller, Randy Foye and the team’s brass, including Randy Wittman, went to Chicago last week to work out Shaun Livingston. Hoiberg refused to comment much on the matter Wednesday, but the Wolves appear to be still intrigued and interested, even though it’s possible Livingston might not be ready to play until mid-season.
Expect D League guard Blake Ahearn, from the Wolves’ Vegas summer-league team, to be on the training-camp roster and they’ll probably sign another big man to have another body for camp now that Jefferson and Jason Collins will be out for awhile.
And just FYI: Love on Wednesday shot an ESPN commercial with Stuart Scott, Mark Jackson and Dwyane Wade that will sell the network’s NBA coverage. Love’s role: The Rookie.



