“I’m headed over there in February and will spend a lot of time over there in the spring,” Kahn said. “And I think as we move into the new year, I look forward to working with the Barcelona club and Ricky’s agents to determine how we work collaboratively this summer.
“My plan would be that after things settle down a little bit and are into 2010, that we start to figure out what can we do this summer, realistically, in coordination with Barcelona, to help his game. And then, of course, the following summer, he would be (in Minnesota).”
Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis noticed Love’s occasional issues on the court and had a chat with him after practice last week.
“Like a lot of young players, he wants it to happen yesterday,” Rambis said. “That’s not how it works. It takes time. Kevin wants everything to be perfect all the time. That’s what drives him as a player, but it will also make him a very good professional.”
As Jefferson improves exponentially, the teams around him crumble and then are put together again, hoping for different results. This time it was president of basketball operations David Kahn, who took over for Kevin McHale, overhauling the roster, shipping out veterans such as Mike Miller, former Boston College standout Craig Smith, and ex-Celtic Sebastian Telfair and bringing in young guards Ramon Session and Jonny Flynn, among others.
The Timberwolves play hard – really hard – for new coach Kurt Rambis, but the youthful errors constantly cost them victories. Jefferson is counting the days until the franchise moves on from this stage and he can match team success with personal success.
As such, he received recently from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences a collection of films to screen and vote on for Oscar consideration.
“What? Does he really?” Wolves forward Kevin Love asked. “I didn’t know that. I thought they were kidding about that. I really did.”
That’s how the Wolves ended up watching the critically acclaimed independent film “The Hurt Locker” on an off day in Salt Lake City last week.
The Kings passed on Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio in the June draft, only to see Minnesota take him fifth overall. Kurt Rambis passed on his chance to win the Kings’ coaching job, only to be named the Timberwolves’ head man two months later while Paul Westphal was given the job in Sacramento. Former Kings coach Reggie Theus joined Rambis as an assistant, also joining a man in fellow assistant/Detroit Pistons legend Bill Laimbeer whose name would occasionally come up in Kings coaching searches as a potential candidate.
But while it seemed over the summer that their on-floor fates would be as similar as their off-floor moves, that couldn’t be further from the truth as they face off today in the first of three road games for the Kings.
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