Wolves lose 118-112 to Suns, what will Monday bring?
Posted on November 2nd, 2009 – 2:40 AMBy Jerry Zgoda
The Wolves now are 1-2 after tonight’s loss to a Suns team that is 3-0.
A couple of significant points about tonight and then a mention about tomorrow:
* Al Jefferson shows more than a glimpses of the player he was before that torn ACL last February. He started 5-for-8 for 11 points in the first quarter and then faced in efficiency but not activity. He finished with totals — 21 points on 9 for 23 shooting, 8 rebounds — closer to the guy who averaged 23 and 11 before he was hurt last season than the fella you saw in the team’s first two games.
* Kurt Rambis said he was encouraged because that triangle offense operated more efficiently tonight, and it do so after he flip-flopped playing time with point guards Jonny Flynn and Ramon Sessions. Sessions played 31 minutes off the bench, Flynn fewer than 19 after he had played nearly 2/3rds of the minutes in the first two games.
Afterward Rambis said Sessions was “exceptional” at organizing the offense, which means he delivered the ball from the right spots at the right time as the Wolves flowed into that triangle offense.
* Rambis juggled the starting lineup and moved Ryan Gomes back to his natural small forward spot, and Gomes responded by playing the part of Kevin Love and getting 15 rebounds (and 23 points), although he did play a good bit at power forward as well.
* Monday is the day David Kahn must decide whether to extend the contracts of Kevin Love, Corey Brewer and Oleksiy Pecherov for the 2010-11 season.
Love, of course, is a given. Kahn said during training camp that he “couldn’t fathom” not extending Brewer’s contract.
You’d think Pecherov certainly is a no, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Brewer’s wasn’t picked up, either. If you include Love’s extension, the Wolves are committed to six players and about only $27 million in 2010-11. That would leave, provided you can woo free agents without having to grossly overpay them, gobs of money to pay potentially multiple free agents, including one perhaps at a maximum deal.
Kahn thinks big and likes to do things boldly. Renewing only Love would maximum his options — and be a gamble, although he’d still be in the game to re-sign Brewer and Pecherov (who’d both be unrestricted free agents) next summer, quite possible at a cheaper price than if they guarantee them that 2010-11 season by Monday.
For some reason, my hunch is he only picks up Love’s contract.
That’s it for tonight from Phoenix. Onto L.A. for a game Monday night against the Clippers, the league’s only 0-4 team. Of course, Blake Griffin won’t play at Staples Center, but former Wolves Craig Smith and Sebastian Telfair will.



