The Double Whammy
Posted on October 19th, 2009 – 1:28 PMBy Jerry Zgoda
Whammy No. 1: Kevin Love is scheduled to have surgery tomorrow to repair that fourth metacarpal bone he fractured in his left hand on Friday night in Chicago.
Whammy No. 2: My colleague Brian Stensaas is covering practice for me today and he reports Al Jefferson did not practice today and was walking carefully on that foot with the Achilles tendinitis that shut him down for most of the second half in Milwaukee on Saturday.
If those two guys are out for tomorrow’s game in Denver (and of course Love is a given, they’re still saying 6 to 8 weeks on him), who in the world is your starting lineup?
And at this point — it is preseason — is there any reason not to play guys like Ryan Hollins and Oleksiy Pecherov until they drop just to see what they can, or can’t, do?
It also sounds like the Wolves are preparing to make some roster cuts before they get on the plane for Denver today. Stay tuned. It’s not going to surprise anybody: Devin Green, Mustafa Shakur, possibly Jason Hart if the Wolves are certain they will have better options to add a third point guard before opening night.
You’d think Jered Reiner stays for now just because of the Love and Jefferson situations.
UPDATE: Sorry, thought this got add to the posting earlier…
The Wolves cut Devin Green and Mustafa Shakur today to get their roster to 14 players. Jason Hart and Jered Reiner remain from the group of free-agent players signed before training camp.
Jason Hart’s lack of playing time during preseason games suggests the Wolves will fill that third point guard elsewhere by opening night just nine days away. Reiner very well could earn a roster spot, particularly given Love’s broken hand and Jefferson’s recent Achilles problem.
Love’s surgery Tuesday will be done at New York City’s Hospital for Special Surgery.



