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Game previews:
Injured Wolves forward Corey Brewer accompanied the team for the first time since his December knee surgery on this three-game trip to San Antonio, New Orleans and Houston.
“I’m getting back to normal,” said Brewer, who ran some and shot at the team’s Tuesday morning practice. “This is a good opportunity for me to be with the guys. I haven’t been with them all year. It’s time to get back in the swing of things.”
Jonah Ballow/Timberwolves site talks to assistant coach Dean Cooper.
Jonah: I’ve heard you’re famous for the numbers game; you’re the numbers guy on the team. I guess the best way to look at it for next season is, what kind of numbers are you looking at this year that will translate into wins next season.
Dean: There are a couple things. We have six win factors that we look at every game, every 10 games, and then cumulative. When we went through January, we were really good, and mostly that has to do with shot distribution, knowing where the best shots on the floor are to get and where the worst to give up conversely. There’s a couple areas that we sort of hone in on this year coming in. When I got hired in August, analyzing it and two of the six factors we’ve been superb. Two of the six we’ve probably stayed about even, and two of the six we haven’t had much improvement. I’m not going to get into what exactly those are, but I think two of the areas we’ve really have made good improvements, and two areas we haven’t got much better, and we keep trying to figure out ways to do it. That’s our job. Some of that has to do with not having Al and not having Brew, really not having Brew in one of the areas in particular makes it difficult. It’s like trying to play any game, any card game: you’ve got to play probabilities. We have certain things we want to give up. People have this perception that you can take away everything, you can’t. NBA players are too good, so you have to take away something and try to only give up other things, and if they beat you on those nights, then you just tip your hat and say hey, they did what they had to do to win. We’ll try to clean those areas up.
Bryan Armen Graham/SI.com lists Kevin Love at #6 in his weekly rookie rankings.
The top rebounder of the rookie class has impressed Timberwolves coach Kevin McHale with his effort around the basket. “I tell you what, he’s a worker,” McHale told HoopsWorld.com. “He’s working constantly out there. The ball goes up and now it’s getting to the point where if he doesn’t get it you’re thinking, What’s wrong with him? He’s just a relentless worker with great, great, great instincts.”
Owners voicing displeasure are nothing new, though the decibel level might be increasing. Whether the impromptu diatribes help or hurt a team’s performance is debatable…
Most owners prefer to remain in the background, complaining in private. McHale said he has never seen Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor lose his temper in the locker room and, as a player, he rarely heard from or saw the owner of the Boston Celtics.
“I’d be shocked if Glen did that. It’s different guys in different situations,” McHale said. “My first owner, I didn’t even know who he was.”
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