From Mike Max/WCCO:
One of the Minnesota Timberwolves big concerns with Al Jefferson’s rehab is his appetite. Last summer he put on too much weight, and they want him to monitor his eating habits.
While Mike Miller is mentioned as trade bait, and there are teams interested, people inside the organization will tell you he’s an ultimate pro in his approach. And that’s a consideration for keeping him and making him a leader next season.
McHale said the team and Jefferson still must decide where Jefferson’s surgery will be performed and who will do it in the next week to 10 days.
He will spend most of the next month after that rehabbing here and will spend most of the summer in Minneapolis as well, working to get ready for next season.
“The good news is he can rehab with Brew,” McHale said, referring to injured Corey Brewer. “They have the same injury. I don’t know if I’ve seen a team have two ACLs in the same year.”
McHale said guard Kevin Ollie (dislocated elbow) still cannot straighten his left arm and likely is two weeks away from returning.
Briefly: The Wolves are off five days for the all-star break and scheduled to reconvene next week in Washington for a game Tuesday against the Wizards.
A lot of people shrug and say, “Stuff happens.” The bumper sticker on the Wolves’ team bus reads, “Stuff happens — to us!”
Remember, it’s not paranoia if someone is really out to get you, and the Wolves seem to have made an enemy of the Great Luxury Suite Owner In the Sky.
“I don’t know, man,” McHale said when asked about a curse. “That’s in a spiritual realm above me. I try to stay in my spiritual realm, which is praying.”
McHale thought losing Brewer and Jefferson and said, “I have never seen a team have two ACLs in one year. Two guys in your top five, six, guys. You go, ‘Wow.'”
Joel Brigham/Hoopsworld lists Kevin Love at #5 in his weekly rookie rankings.
Believe it or not, this isn’t a pity pick because Love didn’t get voted onto the Rookie team. He actually deserves this over guys like Eric Gordon, Michael Beasley, and Greg Oden this week. ESPN.com’s David Thorpe says Love could be the game’s best rebounder someday, and while I’m not so sure about that it’s starting to become absolutely clear that he’ll be in the top five several times in his career.
From RandBall:
The Wolves have gone 13-18 since Kevin McHale took over as coach. Booth has played zero minutes. Collins has played zero minutes. Madsen has played 23 minutes. Combined, that’s less than one minute per game. Now, those three figure to see significant action (anywhere between 35 and 50 minutes combined per night, depending on matchups, is our guess). While they might offer reasonable defensive resistance and moxie, each of them might be closer to Al Roker than Al Jefferson on offense. If this injury doesn’t point out the glaring need to add quality big man depth next season, nothing will.
With Jefferson done until next fall, McHale wants his players to play at a faster pace. He hopes guards Sebastian Telfair and Randy Foye specifically will use their speed and more space created by Jefferson’s absence to create open shots for their teammates in drive-and-kick situations that Wolves were getting because Jefferson commanded double- and triple-teams.
The Wolves rosters contains several people to slide into Jefferson’s spot (the 7-footer Jason Collins and Calvin Booth at 6-11), but they have a long way to go to replace them. Then again, head coach Kevin McHale has been making lemonades out of lemons all season–the injuries didn’t begin until he stepped behind the bench.
Still, at least in some small way, it’s hard not to feel sorry today for Kevin McHale and Alex Rodriguez.
They’re two different guys, in two different sports, with two different sets of circumstances — but, over the last few days, one very similar look on their faces.
A look of sadness … a look of loss … a look that says something near and dear to them just died.
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