Miller’s ankle no worse this morning
Posted on December 4th, 2008 – 12:13 PMBy Jerry Zgoda
Like Xrays taken during Wednesday night’s game, an MRI of Mike Miller’s injured right ankle done this morning proved negative.
Miller, getting treatment on that ankle while watching this morning’s practice at Amway Arena, said he awoke with the ankle stiff but not swollen and said he’d test it Friday night in New Jersey against the Nets.
“I got lucky,” he said of an injury that looked a lot worse than it apparently is.
Miller said the sprain was a little high up in the ankle, but wasn’t the dreaded “high ankle sprain.”
66 Responses to "Miller’s ankle no worse this morning"
It’s a good thing the Wolves can go six or seven deep off the bench as Jim Petersen would say.
Finally some good news for the Wolves. Now if we could just find a taker for McCants.
any word on that deal to charlotte? anything to get mccants out of here…
this makes it so foye should get his shot at the 2, where he belongs. he can occasionaly play the point, but telfair and ollie can run the offense better
and friggen play carney already. he’s good i know it, he just needs to show it
If we don’t give away McCants, he’ll be gone after the year unless we match an offer for him. Hopefully they give him a lot of burn and he does well so he can have some value…but at that point we’ll probably just sign him to a 4 year 40 million dollar deal.
Carney blows. More lost than Marko on offense and more ill advised shots than 10 McCants ! Doesn’t get to the rim !
[…] On the Wolves – […]
You know whats really going to hurt about this last draft is that point guards like Westbrook, Eric Gordon and DJ Augustin also look like studs.
Good thing we have Foye to ease the pain
ECTF - Eric Gordon is an undersized shooting guard…a shoot first (awesome jump shot FYI) guy.
I think this years crop of PGs will be the best in awhile. I’ve been reading for 5-6 months that this is the year of the PG.
I hope your right Swannie. We could use a real PG. Foye could be a solid 2.
As long as you hear either
“With the #2-#5 pick in the 2009 NBA Draft the Minnesota Timberwolves pick ______”
A) Ricky Rubio
or
B) Stephen Curry
We’ll be ok. We already picked up the option on Foye for next year, after that he’ll probably get a small contract for the 6th man role or be gone. Hopefully…but all the above is unlikely…one of the 3 moves will be wrong.
Swan
Realistically there are only 2 or 3 legit NBA PG prospects though. Other than Rubio and Jennings there isn’t that top of the line PG prospect. Guys like Lawson, Collison, Curry, and Mills all have big time question marks. There is some depth in the draft at PG but if they aren’t drafted with the Wolves first pick they are a complete crap shoot.
I’d rather trade one of the late first round picks for a guy like Raymond Felton. With Felton you know what you are getting. He isn’t going to be an All Star but he is a very serviceable starting PG in the NBA.
The Wolves are so bad they really need to draft the best player available that isn’t a PF but with that being said PG and C are there biggest needs. Unfortunately the only Centers being discussed that high are Thabeet and Mullins and I personally wasn’t impressed by Mullens when watching him the other night. Thabeet isn’t a bad fit because he plays defense and rebounds but he would provide almost no offense.
[…] Mike Miller’s MRI on his ankle came back negative. Which is positive for the fans of the T-Wolves, but negative for their […]
Is Felton available? What is his contract status? Foye is obviously a 2 guard and Ollie starting the point at his age is just hard to watch. Bring on Rubio I guess, isn’t Curry a 2 guard?
Isnt it a bitch that the best player available is Blake Griffin? Another damn PF? Our luck would be to get the #1 pick, pass on Grifin because we have Tubby Love.
I think the two top players, if they come out, are going to be Griffin and Rubio. Felton is available if you believe the rumors that are out there.
Moose - Curry is running the point this year…average 30 & 7. I had the same reservations as you, thinking he was too small to play the Sg, thankfully he is running the show now.
Pointless - Hopefully we’ll get the #1 and another top 5 pick with one of our other picks. Then you draft Blake and Rubio & Curry. Stockpile talent Portland style.
Wow Swan you really have no idea what you are talking about.
1. If we drafted Stephen Curry in the Top 5 I’d shoot myself.
2. It’s impossible for us to have 2 Top 5 picks. We have Utah, Philly, and Boston’s picks and they all have protections on them. Not like it matters anyways, the Utah and Boston picks will be late 1st round and the Philly pick could be mid-1st if we get lucky.
“Hopefully we’ll get the #1 and another top 5 pick with one of our other picks.”
Maybe Garnett Allen and Pierce will all get killed in a car wreck and Bostons pick drops to #4 and we get it? Thats the only way thats gonna happen. All the others are protected. Only Bostons pick could turn into a top 5.
HAHAHAHA,
Wow you have no idea what you’re talking about. The Philly pick IS the Utah pick. I think you ment to say Utah, MIAMI and Boston.
Pointless - What are the protections on the other 2-3 picks ?
Hahaha - Yeah picking a guy like Curry who can get his shot off with great frequency and score from the PG position is not what we need. My bad.
Pointless - Why would it be so bad to have a slew of bigs ? Griffin, Jefferson, Smith, Love, the Russian…wouldn’t be so bad. Although, we don’t have much luck with PF’s named Griffin… 
Griffin, Jefferson, Love and Smith are all “bigs” that aren’t terribly big.
It doesn’t matter who you have if they feel they have no chance of winning. You have no chance of winning with Wittless, McFail, McWouldn’t and Foybles. How many games is Jefferson going to pout before pride kicks in????
Change can happen, just witness the style the gophers played with the other night. Run and HUSTLE please!!!!
I love it how we’re already talking about the draft in early December. Yikes!
Telfair has shown nothing (that I have seen) that demonstrates he can run the offense well this year. I’m not a Foye apologist, but even with all of his areas where he needs to improve he is still our best starting PG option on the current roster, IMO.
I was at the Orlando game last night and I have to say pauly is right. Jefferson never took the ball strong. Craig Smith entered the game late and came with power. Love, with his outsdie shooting, should be running the pick and roll with bigs gaurding him. You have to question the coaching for not making this happen.
Ok so Pointless, did you watch/pay attention to NBA around the time of the lockout? I’ll go ahead answer for you: clearly not as much as you think you did. Yes the Howard, and Country contract were some of worst of that era. But Big Dog’s rookie $86 million contract was worse, and the precursor to KG’s “this ain’t about the money” big money deal. And more importantly,the season following his (KG’s) signing that deal (’97-’98), every soon-to-be FA was saying “I want KG money.”
I can think of 3 who said exactly that.
Whether they deserved it or not is not the issue (the market bears what it can). The issue is that suddenly every FA star (super or not) wanted a baseline of $100 million. And if you think ownership/management didn’t put the hard cap on the table because of that, you’re very much mistaken. Now repeat after me: KG’s contract lead directly to the lockout.
Was it the only reason? ofc not. Was it the main reason? Obviously not. Was it the brick that broke the camel’s back? Yes, yes it was.
As for rest, well you didn’t really read my post. KG’s contract made sense at the time. I didn’t know a single Wolves fan that wasn’t at least okay with it; we were happy to keep the best Wolf ever in town (because after only 2 seasons he was already that).
The s@#ty part (as I said in my last post) is that if Steph & Googs would’ve stayed sky was the limit. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, and instead we pissed away 5 seasons before getting 1 shot at a title, and nothing but ruin since. So yes snakebit.
Now run along and Wiki some stats, and facts and then tell me more about the history of team that I’ve followed since Isiah couldn’t spell his name.
I coached basketball in Indiana and Minnesota for over thirty years before retiring a few years ago. I attended the Wolves game on Wed. in Orlando, the first Wolve’s game I’ve seen this year. I live in Florida in the winter now, but remain a die hard Wolves fan. Here’s my take on this team, for what it’s worth:
On the positive side I was impressed with Love. He has a bright future. I thought he demonstrated some skills and played with intensity and energy. He’s also a banger–I “love” bangers, not afraid to mix it up on the boards. In short, he played like a man; the highest praise I can give a player.
Al Jefferson was obviously frustrated on both offense and defense. He couldn’t use his body effectively to control Howard so he used his hands, the best way I know of to get into foul trouble. He also whined whenever a foul was called. That’s the coach’s job (:-). Players should play, leave managing the refs to the coach. The bad news for Wolves fans is we will never win an NBA title with Al at center. The really good teams will all have an aircraft carrier controlling/clogging up the middle. We desparately need a center that can play strong defense and pass the ball on offense. Al’s position is strong forward. Don’t get me wrong, I like Al a lot, but center should not be his primary position.
Foye and McCants didn’t start playing until the game was over, figuratively speaking. As an ex-coach that kind of attitude made me steam. You don’t even have be good to play hard. They both have some talent, but seemed to coast–play–coast–play. They need to step foward, kick it up a couple of notches and pick up the considerable slack, both on offense and defense. In my opinion, Randy has to call their numbers more often to determine once and for all if they qualify to be part of this team’s future.
Another thing that really bothered me was the number of uncontested drives to the basket for easy layups by Orlando. I know I’m old-school, but if my boys let that happen there would be hell to pay. The intensity that a team plays defense will more often than not set the tone for how well they play offensively. “It all starts on defense.” You just plain can’t allow uncontested layups–period! The Wolves have to be much tougher, mentially and physically if they want to win in this league.
As an aside, I don’t know how many of you remember the first year Clem Haskins coached the Gophers. He inheritied almost no talent, but his team played their hearts out. It kinda reminds me of Tubby’s style of basketball. I’ve never seen a team play with as much intensity. They certainly won more games than they should have given their level of talent and it was fun watching them play–even when they lost, which was most of the time, because they gave 110% all the time.
Another positive, I appreciated Miller’s attitude. He got hurt, but tried to come back. He could play on my team.
The only other good news is the Wolves, if they continue to play like they did on Wed., will definitely be a lottery team this season. Unfortuantely Randy just doesn’t have enough tickets to win an with a handfull of exceptions he doesn’t have the toughness to win either.
I like what John said about the team, and it’s all interconnected, which makes our problems really simple and obvious to break down.
If you start at the bottom of what he said and work up, this is basically what you get:
We can’t stop drives to the hoop.
We can’t stop drives to the hoop because Al is a bad center.
Al is a bad center because he’s really a power forward.
But he can’t play power forward because Kevin Love is a power forward.
And that’s what it boils down to. Love and Jefferson are both 4s, and HAVE to be 4s to be effective. And there’s just no getting around that. If we had one or the other then we’d be OK, because as he noted and I’ve been saying, Love is a good player and will be a good player. But when paired together, they leave us woefully vulnerable defensively and with arguably the least athletic frontcourt in the NBA.
Also, as he noted, Foye and McCants didn’t really get going until the game was basically lost. Which, well, is pretty typical of Shad, but for Foye I think it’s yet another case of a player playing out of position. He’s just not a point guard and trying to be one confuses him to the point of making him ineffective. And defensively, he’s been terrible…smoked by Parker, smoked by Rondo, smoked by Billups and now smoked by freaking Courtney Lee.
That’s why I’ve been saying all season that fixing this team doesn’t start with a coaching change, it starts with a front office change which will lead to a roster change. The problem is the players. And not even that they’re bad, because I think if they were playing their natural positions, Foye and Love would be very good. But the way they’re being used and the way the roster as a whole is built is just pathetically inadequate, and I think we can all recite the problems with it by heart by now: unathletic, slow, no leadership, no defense. Direct reflections on our shortcoming specifically at point guard and center.
“I can think of 3 who said exactly that.”
So what? He got the biggest deal. Of course the players will look to KGs contract since it got the most ink. Dollar for dollar the worst deal for value was not KGs deal. Not even close. You made another good example in G. Robinson’s deal. KG brought something to the table. Those other guys robbed their franchises.
“KG’s contract lead directly to the lockout.”
You’re reaching. It’s a domino effect. KG was one Domino and in terms of value much less of an issue than guys like Reeves or Robinson getting paid what they did.
I don’t mind paying $100,000 for a Mercedes. I don’t like have to pay $85,000 for a Ford Taurus. See the difference?
“Was it the brick that broke the camel’s back? Yes, yes it was.”
Reeves was the Brick. Garnett was the straw.
“Now run along and Wiki some stats, and facts and then tell me more about the history of team that I’ve followed since Isiah couldn’t spell his name.”
AHAHAHHAHAHHAHAH!!!!! Just a little self conscious aren’t we?
“I’m the biggest Wolves fan Grrrrrr!!!!!”
- Planetjake
I’m not sure Id be as proud of that as you are.
Think of it this way. What deal is worse for MLB? Silva getting 48 million or Santana getting $120 million?
You think Santana gets that deal if stiffs like Silva dont set the market first? Silva signed his crazy deal before Santana did.
Reeves got his deal before Garnett did. Giving a bum like Reeves $14 million a year means you HAVE to pay KG $20 million plus. You want to know who set the market it wasnt KG.
“Stu Jackson put a contract before Reeves, one that will pay him $65 million over six years. With a stroke of a pen–wham!–everyone else’s economics went haywire.
“When that contract hit,” says one Eastern Conference G.M., “everyone said, `Holy (bleep).’ A year and a half ago, the going rate for a great center was $4 million. Now you spend $11 million a year for a guy who’s a backup for most teams?”
Said another G.M.: “I don’t get shocked by much anymore, but even I said, Mhoa.” I can see a star getting that number, or a guy on the market. But there was no bidding for this guy.”
”
- The Sporting News 07/28/1997 (Pre Garnett Deal)
Oh thank God!
I haven’t been able to sleep since Wednesday.
Godspeed Miller….what’s his first name?
Oh, and how in the world can the posts for this team’s blog be so long?
They could all just say, “they suck” and I think everyone could agree.
Not everyone douche bag. Some people think there isnt anything to dislike about this squad and that they are poised for a huge leap in the future.
which explains your name.
You could also go by non-factor, no clue, ass clown, or K. McHale.
I’m sure under the current administration, they will achieve all of the glory that they have enjoyed in the past.
I have land for sale. We should talk.
Mr Douche Bag,
Im on your side. I was reffering to the faithful rubes who think this squad has a chance.
Sean - They all aren’t terribly big ? So ? Stockpile talent !
LOL El Doucho, that’s good stuff, keep it coming.
Pointless - What “chance” are you referring to ? Does anyone actually think this team had a chance for the playoffs this year ?
Chance of not sucking @ss.
Stockpiling identical talent is absurd. And we can’t trust McHale to make good moves to trade it for something else.
Haha. At least tonight we get to see Love and Lopez…and you’ll see why we didn’t pick that oaf. Had we drafted Lopez with the 3rd I’d be at the Target Center on a hunger strike until McHale was gone.
Sean - Portland did it ! Look at em now !
“and you’ll see why we didn’t pick that oaf. Had we drafted Lopez with the 3rd I’d be at the Target Center on a hunger strike until McHale was gone.”
You man a legit 7′ center who doesnt stuff himself at the rim?
What would be your basis for declaring Lopez an oaf? He’s putting up numbers comparable to Love on the offensive end and has been much better defensively than Love.
I bet Lopez stuffs Love twice and Love stuffs himself on the rim twice tonight.
Pointless - OAF ! He is a 7 footer…I’ll give you that. Legit ? No. Its the same guy who, with his brother alongside him, Love destroyed.
So whats a 7 footer who can’t defend or pass or play a pick n roll ? Brook Lopez ! Another one dimensional 7 footer. We need a guy who can do more than score.
Sean - Have you seen any of Lopez this year ?! I have. He stinks. Think a slower, lesser of a defender, less of an offensive player than Rasho.
“Pointless - OAF ! He is a 7 footer…I’ll give you that. Legit ? No. Its the same guy who, with his brother alongside him, Love destroyed.”
What was the logic when we drafted Love? He was a center right? You still buy that line? He ISNT a center.
Lopez IS a center and has been climbing up the rookie charts. Lopez makes sense on this roster. He rebounds and blocks shots. Love makes NO SENSE.
“So whats a 7 footer who can’t defend or pass or play a pick n roll ? Brook Lopez ! Another one dimensional 7 footer. We need a guy who can do more than score.”
Lopez is ahving a MUCH much better year defensivley than Love. You know it and I know it. You must be related to that tub.
I hope he gets his choclate milk drinking under control.
Lopez would have been a waste of pick. Love is a PF. Did I say he was center ? Nope. I Dig Love though.
“Lopez makes sense on this roster.”
Hahaha, this is the same roster you says stinks. I don’t think THIS roster is going to be the roster we have in two years and Lopez would have been a wasted pick that we would have to have overpaid eventually.
“He stinks.”
Go to any NBA reporting agency and look at the press Lopez gets and what Love gets.
Look at some of the rankings by “experts”. Love has fallen off the lists. CNN has Lopez 3rd behind Mayo and Rose. Espn has him in 8th and Love in 12th. NBA.com has him in the top 10 and Love is OFF the list.
Of course these guys mean nothing but come on.
“Lopez would have been a waste of pick. Love is a PF. Did I say he was center ? Nope. I Dig Love though.”
What did we need another PF for????
The logic from the Wolves front office was Love will let Jefferson play his natural position, PF. Come on Lopez fits, Love doesnt.
“Hahaha, this is the same roster you says stinks. I don’t think THIS roster is going to be the roster we have in two years and Lopez would have been a wasted pick that we would have to have overpaid eventually.”
Lets go with this Logic. In the future where does Love fit in as a PF? Did we turn our 3rd draft pick into our future back up PF?
We needed a Center and we got Love. So are we going to run with a PG, SG, SF and 2 PFs????
Hey John, thanks for the breakdown. Please post more if you watch another game. Sorry for the mess in here. I don’t know why the kiddie trolls never have any 3rd grade multiplication homework to do.
Portland has a mix of players, not repeats. Aldridge is a talented offensive player. Pryzbilla is a good defender. Oden is a strong defender with an emerging offensive game. Channing Frye fills in capably. All of them have the right size for the position they play. Pryzbilla and Oden are legit 5s. Aldrdige and Frye are legit 4s, and Frye can credibly give you minutes at the 5.
Jefferson, Love and Smith are all offense-first players. All are undersized at the 5, but Jefferson can survive there. Smith is undersized at the 4. Griffin — were he picked — is in the same mold. He is an offense-first player who is too small to play the 5. We don’t need 4 of those types of players.
The Nets are a significantly better defensive team when Lopez is on the floor (by 7 points per 48 minutes).
The Wolves are a worse defensive team when Love is on the floor (by 3.7 points per 48 minutes).
On the Griffin debate, I think he might very well be a better player than Love or even Jefferson. But you’ve got to move at least one of Jefferson, Love, and Smith if you’re going pick him. There’s no room for all four here.
Pointless - We don’t need anything right NOW unless you’re trying to build this team to win right NOW.
This is where you and I are gonna disagree. I flat out think Lopez is an oaffy bum. I don’t like his game and I don’t want him on the team just because he is a 7 footer who can block a shot or two. I can wait a year or two until we find a better player than Lopez to play the center spot. B. Lopez isn’t getting these awesome help defensive blocks…they are lame standing under the rim blocks…you show me some tape of him getting some Cambyesque or D-Ho blocks and I’ll listen.
Thabeet would be better as he is more of a defensive guy and would allow Al more touches.
Why is a help defensive block more valuable than a straight-up blocked shot?
Sean - Because we don’t have any guards who can defend the perimeter ! 
“We don’t need anything right NOW unless you’re trying to build this team to win right NOW.”
Exactly, so where does Love play in the future? He’ll either be the back up behind Jefferson because we drafted or signed a center allowing Jefferson to move to PF. Or we didnt draft or sign a C and Love has to play it, something he’s too small to do.
Those are the options.
“I can wait a year or two until we find a better player than Lopez to play the center spot. ”
Meaning Jefferson moves to 4 and Love is the back up.
Pointless - Sure. Trading Jefferson is a possibility too. I just really really dislike Lopez.
Either way Love’s future on the Wolves is as a Backup 4 or a starting 5. Once again McHale has gotten a player who doesnt fit.
Why would Love start at the 5 instead of Jefferson if they are playing together? Would Love guard the PF?
McCants for Przybilla! Solves all center problems!
“Why would Love start at the 5 instead of Jefferson if they are playing together? Would Love guard the PF?”
Who would you rather have out of position?
Im of the opinion Id rather have my best player playing in the natural position than Love.
