From the Star Tribune:
Controversy has struck the Wolves’ campaign to win Kevin Love the Rookie of the Year award. A blog called TimberwolvesPress.com claims the team plagiarized a parody it did a couple of months ago when the Wolves’ public relations staff sent media members a “Mr. Love Miracle Glass-Cleaning” kit…
Wolves PR director Mike Cristaldi said he was unaware of the site and parody until Schimke called foul. “It’s not like it’s an original idea,” he said. “Rebounders have been called ‘glass cleaners’ for a long time.” He said he considers the campaign unique because Love and teammate Brian Cardinal participated in a video spoof of an infomercial touting the fictional product (votemrlove.com).
Owner Glen Taylor said he has interviewed the last of six outside candidates to head up the team’s basketball operations and still expects to fill the position a couple of weeks after the season.
An announcement on whether McHale will return as coach could come at roughly the same time.
Taylor wouldn’t disclose the identities of any of the front-office candidates, but he said all are experienced. General manager Jim Stack and assistant GM Fred Hoiberg are the two internal candidates.
Kevin Love’s rebound 3:42 into the second quarter was his 709th this season, a new Timberwolves rookie record, surpassing Christian Laettner’s 708 in 1992-93.
Love finished with six rebounds and just five points, meaning he’ll have to try again Monday in Dallas for his team-record 29th rookie double-double.
The Timberwolves plan to give Kevin McHale a week after the season to decide if he wants to return as coach.
Timberwolves rookie Kevin Love, 20, said he hopes McHale returns as coach next season. “A lot of our guys respect him because he lets us play, but also for selfish reasons, because he’s very hands-on and teaches me a lot of moves, as well as defense,” Love said.
Don’t think the Lynx didn’t thoroughly check out new draft pick Rashanda McCants to ensure she didn’t have any similarities in attitude of her brother, ex-Wolf Rashad McCants.
What started nearly six months and 80 games ago ends exactly how it began, against the Kings at Target Center. Back then, the Wolves won 98-96. This time, Rashad McCants plays for the visitors and Bobby Brown and Shelden Williams for the home team.
THE QUOTE
“So much for that glass cleaner. I need a you-know-what cleaner.” — Rookie of the Year candidate Kevin Love after the flu left him too ill on both ends to play last Sunday’s game against Denver.
Dave McMenamin/NBA.com ranks Kevin Love at #8 in his weekly rookie rankings.
Love followed up a ho-hum two-point, six-rebound game against the Jazz with a that’s-more-like-it 13 and 15 against the Clippers. Like Oklahoma City’s Jeff Green had to learn last season after effortlessly stroking threes in college, Love has to put in the work this summer to harness his perimeter game because it’s a lot harder to do in the league. Green, another hybrid 3-4 like Love, has upped his percentage from 27.6 to 39.5 this season. Love is starting at even a lower basement of 11.1 percent from downtown.
“Nothing changed. That team has given up a lot of points lately, and we just weren’t ready to play. That’s the bottom line. We didn’t compete, and when you don’t compete you don’t get anything. That’s rule number one for a professional athlete is to compete. We didn’t do that. We didn’t compete. I was very much surprised by it,” McHale said.
Minnesota will head to Dallas for a road game on Monday before concluding the season at home against Sacramento on Wednesday night.
He also reiterated that McHale — demoted from his front-office job in December when Taylor fired Randy Wittman — will decide whether he returns as coach. Taylor said he still expects McHale to coach next season.
“That’s not based on anything Kevin has told me, that’s just my intuition,” Taylor said. “He has not told me anything one way or the other. If I’m a guessing man, I’d still say (he returns) because he appears to be enjoying it. All these decisions will wait until the end of the year.”
Arizona Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald and his father, Larry Sr., attended the Suns-Minnesota Timberwolves game Saturday night in his hometown to accept a $2,500 check from the Timberwolves.
The check was for the Carol Fitzgerald Memorial Fund, which benefits urban education efforts and organizations the receiver’s mother founded – the African American AIDS Task Force and the Circle of Love, an HIV support group.
From The Economist:
Sports organisations are trying to ensure that the damage form the downturn is limited. Some leading English football clubs have frozen or dropped prices for season tickets, as have American basketball teams such as the New Jersey Nets. The Minnesota Timberwolves have even pledged to return cash to season ticket holders who subsequently lose their jobs.
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