Wolves Updates 2/8

Skeets at Ball Don’t Lie posts video of Gerald Green prepping for the Slam Dunk contest.
 
 
 
The NBA’s trade deadline is Feb. 21. Taylor says the Wolves will consider possibilities but have nothing pending.
 
"It would have to be something that we see as an opportunity for us to stay young," Taylor said.
 
It wouldn’t be surprising, though, if the Wolves made a minor deal before the deadline.
 
 
 
Kevin McHale on the rumors that the team traded KG to Boston because of his friendship with Danny Ainge:
“First of all, I have an owner,” McHale said yesterday. “Then on my
staff I have like seven guys. So for that whole thing to happen, it
would have had to be, ‘OK, this is what we’re doing because we like
Danny, but you can’t tell the owner that.’
 
“Yeah, like that could ever happen. Are you kidding me? We sat down and
put every offer on the board, then hashed them and rehashed them. We
went over it 5,000 times, and the one constant that kept coming up was
that at 22, Al (Jefferson) was the best anchor piece that we could get.
That’s what it came down to.”
 
 
 
  
 
Jessica Camerato/Hoopsworld lists Al Jefferson as one of the top 5 power forwards for January:

His 39-point, 15-rebound performance against the Phoenix Suns was
impressive. But the fact that he followed it up with a 40 and 19 game
four nights later set him apart. Jefferson earned Eastern Conference
Player of the Week honors for the last week of January and finished the
month averaging 22.9 points and 12.6 rebounds. He’s helped the hapless
T’Wolves close out January by winning four times in six games, which
has established his reputation as a game changer. 
 
 
 
After Garnett made a steal in the waning moments to
help seal the Celtics’ come-from-behind victory, he paraded around the
floor holding up the front of his Celtics jersey in front of adoring
Boston fans and some not-too-impressed Wolves, though none of the
players said they considered it disrespectful.
 
"Last time, how it ended, I think a lot of the
people on the Minnesota side were disappointed at the way K.G.
reacted," Wolves point guard Randy Foye said. "But that’s just the way
he plays. He felt as though his blood, sweat and tears are for Boston,
and that’s why he held his jersey up like that. Most athletes
understand, because they would do the same thing. I just feel people
shouldn’t … be upset about it."
 
   
 

The Wolves’ recent winning ways have restored what he calls a "pulse" in the ticket buyers’ consciousness.
 

"The Timberwolves’ market was pretty awful even with Kevin Garnett the
last couple of years," Nowakowski said. "I think people thought that
Kevin Garnett was the reason you bought a ticket and went to Target
Center, and I don’t think that was the case. If they win games, people
will go. We’re not talking Michael Jordan here. We’re talking Kevin
Garnett."
 
 
 

I can’t put Ray Allen or Pau Gasol, as players, on the level of KG and
A.I., so I’m not sure that comparison is completely fair. Overall, I
don’t think Minnesota could’ve made a better deal than it did. My only
argument is that they should have done it a year or two earlier, when
KG’s trade value was considerably higher.
 
 
 

Although the Timberwolves have won the fewest games in the Western
Conference, they have been a good pick against the point spread in
recent weeks.
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