Saturday update
Posted on December 13th, 2008 – 2:34 PMBy Brian Stensaas
The Wolves are soon to be L.A. bound, where Jerry Zgoda awaits to cover tomorrow’s game against the Lakers. Before shipping off today, the Wolves went through a long, spirited practice. Or, at least it sounded spirited; the media is not allowed inside until the very end. So all we get is the soothing sounds of whistles and bouncing basketballs and the occasional, um, outburst from a player.
One thing that is evident, even from just watching players cool down: someone needs to buy Kevin Love a big shiny balloon or a puppy or something to cheer him up. Maybe getting back to L.A. today will do it; get back to his college roots and churn up some competitive fire. In any case, this kid is down right now. I almost felt bad asking him about the team’s struggles, because I didn’t want to add to his glum nature. But, alas, a reporter’s gotta do what a reporter’s gotta do 
And to Love’s credit, he didn’t dodge any question. He’s very open and honest about how much he’s reeling right now.
Nice moment between Love and Kevin McHale today. Mac sat him down and had a little chat about how he missed a lot of shots as a player, too. To which Love responded, “But you made a lot more than you missed, huh?” Love obviously got McHale’s point that everyone - even hall of famers - go through bad stretches.
Of course, Love then participated in an impromptu rotating one-on-one session in the paint with Al Jefferson, Jason Collins and Mark Madsen and - well, let’s just say Love didn’t fare too well. Oy.
What else …. McHale once again cringed at using Mike Miller as much as he did last night with that still-sore right ankle. His reaction after looking at the stat sheet a second time late last night and seeing 33 minutes for Miller? “Yikes!”
Miller, though, got through practice fine today and will play tomorrow. Perhaps just not as much.
Finally, your quote of the day courtesy of McHale: “That’s higher education on higher education right there … that’s higher education on Mississippi” — While watching Collins (Stanford) and Madsen (Stanford), and Collins and Jefferson (Prentiss HS) playing one-on-one, respectively.
14 Responses to "Saturday update"
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Sheesh, K-Love is grabbing a dozen rebounds per game or giving the team extra possessions. I know he is a scorer too but come on K-Love you are in your second month in the league.
How about we get Brandon Jennings next year to cheer up Mr Love?
thanks Brian…good job this past week…sort of nice to get a different view on the wolves…not that I don’t love Jerry’s take…anyway…good luck T-Wolves!!
…deciding whether to watch the Vikes or tune in on league pass to the Miami-Memphis game to check out the backcourt the Wolves drafted this summer.
On Love:
-He’s going to get used to the NBA game and score a lot of points underneath the bucket. He’ll figure out how to get those shots in against bigger guys.
-What kind of rebounder is he going to be when he gets used to the league?! Does anyone get more rebounds per minute than Love does already?
I guess 12 guys get more rebounds per 48 minutes than Love.
Here’s the current list of Rebounds per 48 minutes:
1 Dwight Howard, ORL 18.4
2 Andris Biedrins, GSW 17.8
3 Marcus Camby, LAC 17.0
4 Reggie Evans, PHI 16.8
5 Andrew Bogut, MIL 16.7
6 Joel Przybilla, POR 16.4
7 Erick Dampier, DAL 16.4
8 Joakim Noah, CHI 16.1
9 Troy Murphy, IND 16.0
10 Aaron Gray, CHI 15.9
11 Zaza Pachulia, ATL 15.7
12 Samuel Dalembert, PHI 15.6
13 Kevin Love, MIN 15.5
Watching the end of the Grizzlies game…they’re saying Antoine Walker is meeting with their front office and a buyout could be coming real soon.
‘Toine said he’d take his time deciding if he’d play for another team.
OJ helping the Wolves today with 28 points in the victory over Miami.
…keep that Heat draft pick as high as possible…
Speaking of draft picks, can you imagine handing out 4 guaranteed contracts to rookies next year? Something has to give there. Let’s see if 1 or 2 of them can be more useful in trades.
Tod - yeah they pretty much have to trade one. I wish they’d trade that utah pick, it has annoying restrictions on it. Boston would be the next pick to send, as they are probably going to have the best record. Miami might net us something and of course unless something happens we’ll have a high lottery pick.
an aside
you have to admit, dumping Jaric on the Grizzlies when they are already stacked at PG was a great move by McHale. the guy barely plays at all for them and he’s making all that money.
about all he is good for is his girlfriend - how did he manage that anyway?
Tod, you have to either subtract out all the cheap offensive rebounds off his own misses because he can’t get above the rim or put an asterisk next to Love’s rebounds per minute number. OTOH, there’s no doubt he leads the league in percentage of own field goal attempts blocked…
That’s true! Once he starts scoring, his rebound rate is going down.
Not a horrible showing in LA so far…
I guess I missed the article…what’s the story with Mike Miller and the right nipple rub before shooting FTs?
