Update: Union comes to town; Jefferson out
Posted on November 12th, 2009 – 3:59 PMBy Mark Wollemann
UPDATE (from Phil Miller):
The Timberwolves held an upbeat practice on Thursday, then locked themselves in a room and plotted the overthrow of their corporate masters.
OK, it wasn’t quite Norma Rae, but that doesn’t mean NBA players don’t have important union business to conduct. Their collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2010-11 season, and speculation is growing that NBA owners will insist upon major givebacks – perhaps an exception-free “hard” salary cap — in the next agreement.
So the Wolves’ 90-minute meeting Thursday with NBA Players Association executive director Billy Hunter was more than a simple hey-how-are-ya. The agenda was private, but it’s a good bet players were advised to prepare financially in case the 2011 season is disrupted.
“It’s important to stay informed, so it was a good meeting,” said rookie guard Jonny Flynn. “You never know, there could be a possible lockout. So (Hunter was) just keeping us up-to-date on what’s going on.”
The start of the 1998-99 season was delayed by three months when owners locked the players out, and the schedule was truncated to 50 games.
Earlier in the day, Phil Miller, subbing for Jerry Zgoda, reported that Al Jefferson will not play in games Friday night against Dallas at Target Center and Saturday in Memphis due to a family member’s illness in Florida. It’s expected he’ll return to the team early next week.
Jefferson, who missed the last 32 games of last season because of knee surgery, is still rounding back into shape. He was not present at Thursday’s practice.
The Wolves, in the midst of an eight-game losing streak, had not landed on a starting lineup, according to coach Kurt Rambis. The team did post a “probable starting lineup” on its media game notes that looked like this:
SF: Ryan Gomes
PF: Oleksiy Pecherov
C: Ryan Hollins
PG: Jonny Flynn
SG: Corey Brewer
85 Responses to "Update: Union comes to town; Jefferson out"
When is Love going to be back?
early January maybe?
[…] On the Wolves » Blog Archive » Al Jefferson out at least two games blogs2.startribune.com/blogs/wolves/2009/ – view page – cached Jerry Zgoda is off and Phil Miller, the newest guy on our Wolves coverage team, reports that Al Jefferson will not play in games Friday night against Dallas at Target Center and Saturday in Memphis… Read moreJerry Zgoda is off and Phil Miller, the newest guy on our Wolves coverage team, reports that Al Jefferson will not play in games Friday night against Dallas at Target Center and Saturday in Memphis due to a family member’s illness in Florida. It’s expected he’ll return to the team early next week. Read less […]
yuck!
I like our chances….. of getting blown out again, oh well, more losses means John Wall or Turner
I know this has been said, but wouldn’t it be poetic (tragic) that we get the #1 pick next year and Wall is the consensus pick?
Any interest in picking up Stephen Jackson? he has a $7 mil contract, but could probably get him for a pretty good deal since the Wariors look like they just want to unload him. thoughts?
no way; headcase, old, and wants to be on a contender otherwise he’ll just be a cancer more than a cure.
I wish Al was getting a break for a different reason but this could be good for him. I don’t know why the Wolves are trying to rush him back so fast. It’s pretty obvious that his isn’t close to 100%. They should be working him back to health a little more slowly than they have been. They should be capping his minutes at 25 minutes at most.
Jackson’s dollar amount per year isn’t the problem it’s the fact that he has 3 more years after this one left on his deal. No thank you, plus as already stated he is very Ricky Davis like.
I guess reducing Al’s playing time would only be more frustrating to him… and is not like we have any better options…
On the Stephen Jackson’s matter, I would not see any reason why he would come to the Wolves now…
they should start Cardinal until Al returns. he’s been at least decent this year so far. he might provide a steady hand for Hollins and the other youngsters (my new fave Jawai).
So? Do you really expect a different result with Al gone? Don’t get me wrong, Al will be missed, but this team is going no where.
Thank you Kahn for proving the Wolves talent base could actually get worse and worse.
And welcome to the NBA version of Siberia and Czar Kahn.
Cardinal has been decent playing 5 minutes a game in garbage time… it’s a great opportunity fo start Hollins and Pech, who might have a future with this team…
I’m guessing Love is back the first or second week of December.
I am not a big Stephan Jackson guy, but he isnt old. And he probably couldnt care less if he was on a winner if he could jack up 25 shots per game. And God knows we could use someone to jack up some shots and make a few.
Jerry
that soon? I was sort of meaning in playing shape. I figured it woudl take him awhile to get back up to speed considering all he’s doen (I am guessing) is ride the bike?
I don’t see any logic in adding a malcontent like Jackson to a rebuilding team. Just to add a couple more wins to this losing season? What good does that do?
I’d rather see Jawai get the start/extra minutes. He is playing a little better IMO than Hollins/Pecherov.
Curry would sure look good on the floor next to Flynn right now. Then Corey to the small forward spot. I hope whatever we get for Rubio is worth it when we trade him.
Does anybody know much about that Favors kid from Georgia Tech? It sounds like he is going to be a one and done. Would the Wolves be interested in him with a top 5 pick?
I bet the Wolves break their losing streak with Al gone. He’s not scoring, rebounding, passing, or playing good defense.
Well, we got to beat Memphis anyways… if we don’t, we will just have to wait for the Nets once again…
He’ll be back playing by early to mid December. What kind of shape he’ll be, in terms of conditioning and knowing what they’re doing, who knows…I bet he plays his first game after practicing only two or three times.
I want to see Jawai versus Randolph. It’d be like a sumo match on hardwood.
most likely will happen; the team has no size save Jawai.
More likely he’s just sick of playing meaningless games, despite his large salary.
Medschoolmatt- why would it be tragic for us to get Wall?
because we would then invest 4 straight first round picks on point guards…?
especially with a coach who refuses to play more than 1 at a time…
He is 6′4 and is 15 lbs. heavier than Flynn right now and will bulk up even more this year and leading up to the draft. I think a Flynn/Wall backcourt would be amazing. Trade Rubio for a decent C, then sign Joe Johnson or Gay:
Flynn
Wall
Johnson/Gay
Love
Al/whoever we get for Rubio
Wall could be a D Wade type player that will be a scorer
And we only have Flynn as a PG here out of the 2 picks, Lawson wasn’t our pick, we picked him for Denver. And Rubio would be traded. It doesn’t matter who we took or what position, only matters what players we kept and their position.
I’m all for picking the “best available player”, but I think we should have a better look at our current PGs before getting a new one…
Wall doesn’t have to be a pg, think of a Wade/Tyreke Evans player
As well as a look at how Wall could possibly function off the ball (or Flynn, for that matter).
Wall is the hype favorite right now to be the first pick, but by the end of the year, if we were to pick first, I don’t think anyone would second guess us if we were to trade Love and/or Jefferson and take Derrick Favors first. I think he really is going to be that good.
Yeah similar to a Eric Gordon/Baron Davis backcourt but younger and Wall is better than Gordon and Flynn will be better than Davis if he isn’t already.
Would not be surprised if Wolves look better w/o Jefferson and Hollins steps up big for them
Did you see the Hornets told their GM to step up and coach by firing Byron Scott. How long do you think before we see David Kahn on the bench?
I love the trio we have on the bench, but I am not sure why Rambis is trying to force the triangle offense on a group of players that clearly does not fit it (anyone read Souhan?). I was asking the same thing after week #1 and still do not have a good idea why. Anyone care to enlighten?
Running such a complex offense requires the post players to read then react. Its not working the points don’t have that down. The wolves should change their base sets to look more like what the pistons run. Jackson is a more complete player than the wolves have.
Jerry, we’ve already outed our flunkie GM by sitting him on the bench, then kicking him out the door. It’s kind of hard to use your brand new coach as a scapegoat for unmet expectations when the team has no expectations to begin with.
Scott is a victim of the same thing Saunders was. Being blamed by his boss for all the problems his boss created. The Hornets don’t have a coaching deficiency…they have a talent deficiency.
Well….they have a coaching deficiency now. Ought to be fun watching Hoiberg’s buddy Tim Floyd try to bumble his way through a second stint with the Hornets after washing out the first time and then picking up a criminal record at USC.
If David Kahn knew anything about BB, he would have asked Rambis in one of his many interviews what type of offense he planned to run. When Rambis said he liked the triangle, any GM worth anything would have run in the other direction, knowing it wouldn’t work with this current group. This is a difficult offense to run without the right players and without a Jordan or Bryant. The problem is that we have a guy who knows nothing about BB running the team as though he’s a genius.
Rambis appears very “Whitman-like” where he doesn’t understand that all players can’t do what he’s expecting. He should look back and remember his own bench-warming career. He didn’t exactly light up the court. (or the bench for that matter.)
Bryan, my question was the silliest joke I could think of…
Jerry, I guarantee that with Kahn’s ego, he thinks he could coach.
Jerry, is Jason Hart the third point guard? Or is the team still looking? I didn’t see anything about Hart being signed, so what qualifies him to be on the roster right now?
Jason Hart was signed to a make-good contract before training camp and kept. I assume he’s here and inactive on a nightly basis until further notice
Is the team still actively looking or is it a wait-and-see process?
Love is gonna make a ton of difference…we’ll win 2 out of every 10 games when he gets back !
1 out of 5 actually
Now that jefferson is out who is going to take most of the shots. Hopefully Rambis gives Flynn some freedom while Jefferson is out so we can see what he can really do.
Wow the Lakers look really good, even without Gasol, they have a great lineup without him, Artest is the 4th option tonight, after Kobe, Bynum and Odom.
Jefferson needs to get back to increase his trade value
While you guys are already talking about the draft and trading Jefferson I have moved onto the original Minnesota team out here in So Cal..the Lakers crushed the Suns with Gasol still recovering and Kobe sitting most of the second half.
Just thought I would brighten your day. Go ahead and take your shots, it will help you get out some of the frustrations of following the Wolves.
Go Lakers!
I predicted 20 wins in July. Fools listed all the teams we could beat in an attempt to discredit my prediction. So, what you say now you bums?
Further, I now predict with Pech and Hollins in the front line, they will collectively get 9 rebounds (by accident) and Hollins will high jump over Jonny Flynn for no particular reason.
John Wall = Isaiah JR Rider. As Marty McFly said to his Uncle Joey, “better get used to these bars, kid”.
The kool-aids not flowing so well these days…..the wolves will get another spanking tonight by Dirk and da boyz…
I’ll be at the game tonight. It probably wont be pretty…but it will be interesting to see how the offense flows without Big Al. Al frequently stops what little flow we have and his shots have not been falling. That being said…he still needs the minutes to get back into shape.
I still think “long term” its going to come down to picking either Al or Love to play PF and finding another center. My guess is 1 year from now we’re looking at getting a different peice for Al.
And if anyone couldnt “get” the joke in Jerrys writing..you dont belong reading blogs. Cmon..
Pech gonna drop 30 tonight on Dirk !
Woooooooooooooooooooves !
So what happens if the team plays clearly better w/o Al? And when he returns, they sputter again? Not wanting to trade Al but, they do appear to spasm when the ball goes to him. It would be a dream come true if Hollins or Jawai blossoms during this time, and Flynn plays more in control and confidently.
deathgrip… I like where you are going with that. Hollins, Jawai, and Pech. In the final preseason game
without Al we walked over the Pistons.
I agree with C-Note that Al needs to get his trade value up soon or we will not get a thing for him.
We will end our losing streak without Al… part of it will be due to the fact that other teams won’t know how to defend us so easily.
No Jackson. He’s clearly stated the teams he wants to go to. Minnie isn’t one of them, and no matter what production improvement he might bring, I’ve only ever read that he’s a problem in team chemistry.
It will be interesting to see how the offense looks without Jefferson. Will Pecherov/Hollins/Jawai show some passing skill out of the post that will make the offense look better? Will anyone be able to hit their jumpers consistently when they find themselves open? The triangle is tough enough without trying to teach it to a group of players with relatively little NBA experience and even less experience playing together.
I’ve been trying to compare the Wolves current roster to the Bulls and Lakers triangle offense championship teams, and not only are the Wolves very short on talent and depth, but they don’t have all the roles filled. I just don’t see how Rambis or Kahn expects this to work without better outside shooting and better passing from the post.
And somebody tell the Strib that Daylight Savings Time ended almost two weeks ago. Trivial I know, but why shouldn’t the time stamp on the blogs be correct?
I realize everyone is down on Big Al, but Hollins, Pecherov, and Jawai aren’t going to make us wish he was gone. Jawai is the only one of the three who has any sort of low post game.
It’s going to be up to the guys at the 1/2/3 to make shots at the offensive end. What I hope to see out of Hollins, Pecherov and Jawai is improved defense. If nothing else, they need to be active and make folks work for their points — which they haven’t had to do lately.
Was hoping for a more exciting T-Wolves team this year (like most everybody here).
Just for speculation sake, what would Big Al’s value be at this years trade deadline?
I tried to find some “decent” trades that would net us a center (although I’m not a big salary cap guy…so try not to flame me). I figure we are not going to fleece anybody so no pie on the sky Lebron or D-Wade scenarios. What do you think?
Big Al to Chicago for J. Hoah and James Johnson (plus filler)
Big Al plus the rights to R. Rubio to Atl for Joe Johnson (signed to an extension) and Al Horford
Big Al to Charlotte for T. Chandler and G. Henderson
Big Al to Philadelphia for Dalembert and T. Young
Big Al to LA Clippers for C. Kaman
Big Al to NO for E. Okafor and J. Wright
Defensive awareness in the post seems low for the Wolves. Very little help rotation from the big men in any of the games I’ve seen this year. I know I’m not the first to say it.
Let’s see what we have:
1. A PG who is young and going through the crap you’d expect.
2. A 2 who can’t shoot real well, can’t create real well…poorly, actually.
3. A 3 who is nice to have as a reserve but isn’t part of the team’s plan.
4. A 4 who is out.
5. A 5 who is a 4 who isn’t yet back from an injury and is getting double and triple-teamed, can’t pass real well, and doesn’t have options even if he did.
6. A decent back-up PG.
7. A back-up five who doesn’t really have a clue out there.
The team is crap. No other player will be here next year, unless Jawai takes over Hollins spot after Hollins is included in a deal. The team will get better with Love and time, but it is still quite a ways away.
It has the Rubio chip, the #1-#4 draft chip, and the cap space chip. Is that enough? It is if you get legitimate NBA starters with each. That includes a legit Center, legit 2, and a legit 3. I’d want an Oden, an Evan Turner, and a John Wall. Then Brewer/Sessions/Love come off the bench and we add a couple more backups through contract-influenced deals.
with our current setup, Turner should’nt be a tough get unless we fall with the lottery. Wall would need #1 maybe, or at least #2. but odds are it’d be tough to get both, unless we could trade something like Rubio, Al, and a combo of the other draft picks to move up to get Turner as he’s projected to go even higher than what the Charlotte pick could give us.
speaking of Charlotte and the Jazz, they are both 3-5. wonder how they will end up? I am guessing the Jazz at .500 and the Bobcats at .400 or so.
Cole Aldrich and Jerome James were listed in the “not so good” section of Chad Ford’s assessment of prospects’ draft stock over the summer that was published today. Apparently Larry Sanders “gave Aldrich fits” at the LeBron camp and Cole couldn’t keep up when the game was moving quickly up and down the court.
On the other hand, Even Turner and Willie Warren helped themselves according to Ford and Fraschilla.
Enough of the #1 or #2 pick talk for next year. This is the Wolves. Simply take the number of elite players and add one. That’s the pick they’ll have. So, as of right now, it looks like they’ll have the third pick next year.
All you fools suffering from premature ejaculation over Turner, he won’t even be the best SG in the Big Ten this season.
Preseason projections are just that. It isn’t how players start but how they finish the season that determines worth.
Cole Aldrich will be MVP of the Final Four and will be a Wolves draftee next summer.
Anyone who thinks Al Jefferson is going to be trade must be breathing flatulent gas.
Al Jefferson is far from fully recovered, his trade value (relative to contract) is zero Even Kahn is not that stupid.
Get rid of your Woodrow Wilson for Aldrich Marty, he is getting trashed constantly by others whereas Turner has be getting loads of praise. And is the perfect player (as of now) for the Wolves.
Great Scott Marty!!! It’ll take 1.2 gigawatts of electricity to get any trade value out of Al Jefferson! Unless we can steal some plutonium or harness the power of a lightning strike I’m afraid Wolves basketball is gonna be stuck in 1955 forever!
Perhaps if we take all the flatulant gas that you mentioned has been inhaled by strib bloggers (like me) and harnass it into nuclear reaction, maybe, just maybe we can find a way to get back to (having) a future here with the Wolves!
LeBron James Skills Academy Player Profiles
by: Jonathan Givony - President
July 13, 2009
NCAA Player Evaluations
-Cole Aldrich- Similarly to the way he played at the Adidas Nations Camp in Dallas last August, Aldrich again did very little to justify his status as a potential top-5 draft pick. It’s likely that he’s just not the type of player that stands out in these settings, as he seems to look very uncomfortable for the most part outside of Kansas’ system. Aldrich’s skill-level offensively looked very limited in the drills and five on five action, as he has average footwork and touch around the rim and appears pretty mechanical when trying to create his own shot. Defensively his terrific frame and freakish length allows him to be quite a factor when he puts his mind to it, but he often looked tentative and lethargic trying to make his presence felt.
Oh and I just read this Aldrich is originally from Minny. So definitely pass on this guy. I’m sick of taking hometown guys that people have their blinders on for. Yuck.
Marty may have stumbled onto something! Here are the last three MOPs (their MVP) of the Final Four:
2009: Ellington (Wolves drafted)
2008: Chalmers (drafted w/ Wolves’ pick)
2007: Brewer (Wolves drafted)
So using my powers of extrapolation, I predict that we will draft the MOP of this year’s Final Four.
Lets hope for a grand USC run then.
Flynn, Ellington, Brewer, Sessions, Turner…boom. Our backcourt is finished for 5-7 years.
Not that its a lock for us to get the #1 pick and get Wall cuz we are never lucky in the lottery, but I do like the posters who are talking about Flynn playing the 1 and Wall at the 2. Could anyone explain how it could work with those two in there. I haven’t seen much on Wall and would love to see if anyone could tell me about him.
I know nothing of Wall.
But its not a given it would be Wall & Flynn…it could be Wall & Sessions.
If were to have the #1 and Wall was the consensus pick then you have to do the same due dilligence to see who could fetch a better deal between Flynn & Sessions.
If Wall is as good as people think he’ll be, we pick him if we can and trade anyone that gets in the way of his playing time. But we’re still a ways away from knowing how good he really is.
Mad Dan, you’re right, but have you seen the guy? He’s an “oh my god” type. Rubio was projected as the 2nd best player in the draft last year, and he’s not an “oh my god” type, nor was anyone drafted after #1 (who is only arguably one). Wall is Garnett-type freakish, though I doubt he’s as successful. I mean, that’s a harsh comp to live up to.
No, haven’t seen him. But I expect that he’ll be good enough that we’d all be happy to trade Flynn, Rubio, and Sessions in a heartbeat if we got him. And forget about starting Wall + anyone on the roster. Let’s get a real SG to go with him.
I guarantee that Kahn would trade Al tomorrow if he could. You watch, once he’s traded, Al will become the All Star that he is supposed to be. When Al reads the comments and blogs and sees the apathy toward him, I can’t imagine it gives him incentive to work very hard. Add that to the fact he was dissed this summer by Kahn and Al will want out of here fast.
I think Wall is a scoring guard like Wade, (he didn’t play tonight in a blow out because fo NCAA suspension) but Wall is as explosive and the same size as Wade minus a few pounds. A Flynn/Wall backcourt would be amazing. Wall is a scorer, you’ll see.
