Forward Al Jefferson, who is recovering from a sprained knee, worked out more Wednesday, joining some team drills near the end of practice and doing individual work afterward. He also did some light running. “He looks like he’s running on egg shells a little bit,” coach Randy Wittman said. “He’s not having any pain, that’s a positive. I don’t think it will be much longer.” Wittman said that Jefferson may join the full practice before the teams leaves Mankato on Saturday. … The Wolves will have just one, three-hour practice today.
From Jerry Zgoda/Star Tribune:
Jefferson said he can run forward normally, but he still isn’t quite comfortable cutting on the knee.
“Getting better, getting closer,” he said. “But I also don’t want to rush anything.”
The highlight of the night practice was a five-on-five segment that featured plenty of fast breaks and end-to-end action.
“I liked our energy,” Wittman said. “Offensively, we were going 100 miles an hour. That’s really the first time that we’ve gone live offensively. It’s been all defense up to that point.”
Guard Rashad McCants was the offensive star, hitting a couple of driving layups and a three-pointer and making a nice entry pass to forward Craig Smith for a slam dunk…
Center Calvin Booth, who has been sidelined by back spasms, visited a chiropractor Wednesday.
Tough to get a read on players this early because Wittman is running through so many of the basics so far and media weasles only get to see the closing minutes of practice, but one guy who has caught my eye is Sebastian Telfair. He just looks so much more assertive and decisive than he was last season, particularly early in the year. And when I’ve watched, he’s been making some jumpers.
Wittman says it ain’t so and Kevin Love said maybe just a little, but it looks to me like the rookie has put back on some of those 15 pounds he lost preparing for the draft. His backside (not that I’m obsessed with it) just looks bigger than it did in June. He said it’s nothing that a training camp and preseason play can’t shed and says he is in the process of hiring a chef to prepare healthy meals for him this season.
The Wolves say Miller’s work ethic is infectious, and veteran forward Mark Madsen noted that Miller was the first one in the gym before both practices on the first day of training camp.
“I’ve seen two other guys that work on their game in a similar way as Mike Miller,” Madsen said. “That’s Derek Fisher and Kobe Bryant. Derek Fisher was always in the gym with his brother working on his jump shot, and Kobe was the same way. It’s not just by chance that Mike Miller shoots the three-point shot the way he does. That’s hard work; that’s repetition; that’s years of polishing his skills.”
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