It’ll be interesting to see if, or how much, the Wolves’ style of play changes once Love gets back and gets in the groove.
Thus far, neither Rambis nor Kahn has ranted or raved, each trying hard to strike a balance between accepting the inevitable learning curve and not accepting outright poor play.
“People just see the losses,” Rambis said. “I know a lot of the things that happened in this organization in the past, good and bad, but this is kind of our Ground Zero from where we’ll move forward. The team is going to look to me to see how I handle things, and I told them at the start of the season that this is going to be about education.”
“Our record was to be expected — but it will not be accepted,” he wrote. “Big difference, I think.”
He wrote that Jonny Flynn and Wayne Ellington “need to take advantage of the rare opportunity to play significant minutes as rookies.” He called for a “physical and mental toughness, even when we lose” that was not displayed in that 41-point loss at Golden State last week. He said the team will start “running and attacking more on offense,” especially when Kevin Love and Al Jefferson return to the team.
Rambis said there is a simple explanation, or more accurately, several. Matchups have kept Pecherov on the bench at times, he said. And then there is the fact that he is essentially a 7-foot small forward.
That’s the way he’s playing, anyway.
Jonah Ballow/Timberwolves site on Saturday’s loss in Dallas:
“I actually thought he did a really good job in the ball game,” Rambis said. “You know, he’s still learning how to play — what he can do with his body and his size. His teammates really like him; they enjoy watching him go to work and be aggressive.”
Nathan Jawai, forward: There aren’t many candidates when you haven’t won since last month, so let’s go with the big Australian who has intrigued with soft hands, bulk and quick leaping ability. Scored a career-high 16 at Portland, played career-high 25:46 against Dallas.
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