Al goes home, Wolves cut Reiner
Posted on October 21st, 2009 – 5:25 PMBy Jerry Zgoda
The Wolves sent Al Jefferson home from Detroit today so he can rest and recover from that flu/cold that forced him to wear a medical mask to contain his germs on the team’s flight from Denver Tuesday night.
He will not play either Thursday against the Pistons or Friday at Sioux Falls against Toronto and instead will recuperate with Wednesday’s regular-season opener against New Jersey his aim.
These days off also will give his inflamed Achilles tendon time to heal as well.
Also on Wednesday, the Wolves cut Jared Reiner on the same day new big man Nathan Jawai joined the team at practice at the Palace of Auburn Hills. He watched from the baseline, but did not participate and it’s questionable whether Kurt Rambis will be able to work him into the lineup in either of these two final preseason games.
Tomorrow night’s game — the Wolves have lost five straight after starting the preseason schedule with a victory over Milwaukee — marks the first time assistant coach Bill Laimbeer will walk into the Palace with the visiting team after all those years with the Pistons and WNBA Shock.
12 Responses to "Al goes home, Wolves cut Reiner"
Would like to see what Jawai’s got….the sooner the better!!!
It’d cost the team a little more, but I’d gladly buy out Pecherov and sign Rob Kurz or Garrett Siler.
If you can’t make it here, you can’t make it anywhere, it’s up to you Wolvies…
I still say Rambis and Laimbeer should suit up and play a little as player-coaches
Jerry, you wrote that the Wolves roster now stands at 14. But with Jawai and Hart, and minus Reiner, it is 15, isn’t it? (That also includes Daniels and Blount.)
If Daniels and Blount are bought out that brings it to 13; if Hart is cut that makes 12 under contract, right? Which leaves space for an additional signing or two if desirable players become available in the next week.
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From a couple of threads ago, regarding picking up Corey Brewer’s option… there’s a VERY big difference between Brewer and both Artest and Ariza.
The difference? Both Artest and Ariza get 5-YEAR deals? Nobody is suggesting The Wolves give Brewer a 5-year deal.
Picking up his $3.7M option is a lot different than dropping a 5-year, $34M contract. We’re talking about giving Brewer 10-PERCENT of what Ariza and Artest got.
I agree that Artest and Ariza are better than Brewer at this point. But if Brewer can average 10-12 points this year (seems reasonable based on the minutes he looks like he’s gonna get), a championship contender will snap him up on a multi-year deal for his defense alone.
I mean Ariza got the full mid-level after averaging 8.9 ppg and playing good defense.
BTW, jama, if The Wolves decline a player option on Brewer he becomes an unrestricted FA. You can’t deny an option on a player and still retain matching rights… that’s why this decision matters so much. The Wolves gotta make up their minds now.
And after playing only one full season (plus 15 games last year), I think it would be careless to just let your No. 7 overall pick walk without seeing him play more than that.
Foo… I’d be concerned that the Lakers or Celtics might be interested in acquiring Brewer to help carry their water buckets…it be a huge mistake for the wolves to offer him a contract now for next year, especially considering he’s coming off injury, hasn’t done anything, and the economic status of the league.
Criminy, the Wolves have routinely paid guys with no discernable NBA skill or position well above what they’d pay Brewer to extend him.
He’s a legit NBA defender at two positions and he has physical talent. Those are two things in short supply on this roster. The things he can’t do (shoot and dribble) are things he can improve, but he still has value even if he doesn’t improve those things.
Minimal investment for the potential upside.
Foo
I may be wrong but I read that if they decline Brewer’s option he would be a Restricted Free Agent a la Ramon Sessions with the Bucks last year.
What does it matter? Kahn has pretty much stated that he couldn’t see how he wouldn’t pick up Brewer’s option. Isn’t this much ado about nothing?
