Center Al Jefferson is off crutches and walking on a treadmill as he begins a five- to six-month rehabilitation program following Feb. 18 surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament and cartilage damage in his right knee.
“Al right now is probably right on schedule but doesn’t have the muscle conditioning because of the cartilage thing,” McHale said. “Not leg strength, but as far as flexibility and mobility inside of that he’s 100 percent ready to really start getting on that long, long program.”
Click here for the forum’s thread for tonight’s game against the Mavericks
Game previews:
From Jonah Ballow/Timberwolves site: Monday Practice Notes (includes audio from Kevin McHale)
From the Star Tribune:
The Wolves will promote a phone-bank campaign during tonight’s FSN telecast to raise money for Red River flood relief efforts. They will offer two $20 tickets to Sunday’s game against Denver for every $25 donation received. The nonprofit Hope for the City phone bank number is 612-673-1239. Lines open beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Wolves guard Randy Foye continued to be bothered by the injured hip and forward Craig Smith by an injured calf that caused both of them to miss Sunday’s victory over New Jersey, which ended a seven-game losing streak.
McHale said both players are questionable for tonight’s game. Foye’s hip has bothered him since he fell on teammate Kevin Love in practice a month ago and missed a game at the Los Angeles Lakers on March 5. Smith’s calf had been bothering him, McHale said, and then he hurt it again in the first half Friday at Cleveland and hasn’t been able to run on it since then.
“If you don’t tell those not to play, they’re going to try and play,” McHale said. “You can see Randy’s really laboring, trying to finish around the rim. Craig was just laboring running. You’ve just got to let them get healthy. This will Rodney [Carney] a chance to get a few more minutes. That’s O.K., too.”
Yet Timberwolves coach Kevin McHale believes it was a blown 29-point lead in a 107-100 loss at Dallas on Dec. 30 that fueled his team’s 10-4 January.
“I actually thought that helped us play a lot better,” McHale said Monday. “I thought that was the final straw of the guys getting close and getting that can-we-do-it mentality. They got so mad after that game, I thought that really helped us in that stretch when we played really well.”
Briefly: Forward Corey Brewer, who underwent surgery for a torn ACL in December, did some shooting and running after Monday’s practice.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they shut down Foye if his hip really has been bothering him ever since he fell on Kevin Love a month ago. Smith also apparently has been bothered by the calf for some time and reinjured Friday in Cleveland…
After thinking about it, I’d really be surprised if they take Thabeet unless they draft sixth or seventh and he clearly is the best guy left. Great shotblocker, yes, but I just don’t know what you do with his offensively with big Al already the centerpiece on the low block and the Wolves need sheer talent too much to take a chance a guy who right now is that one dimensional. Plus, you’ve committed yourself to Love and Jefferson and yes you could work all three in a rotation. But with the Wolves still expecting Pekovic to arrive in 2010, I think you really to add a guy who think can be an All Star with what should be a top five pick.
Is Rodney Carney the new barometer. taking over for Ryan Gomes as a harbinger of how the team will fare? Whenever Carney is hot from outside, the Wolves’ chances of victory go up appreciably. It does’t hurt when he doesn’t shirk his defense either. Vince Carter may have racked up 25 points in the second half, but both Carney and Gomes didn’t defend him that badly.
Was it coincidence that the ball movement was so fluid this afternoon with Randy Foye and Craig Smith–a couple of ball stoppers supreme–both sidelined with injuries?
Brian Cardinal was a game-best plus +15 in just 16:52 today, making him plus +25 in 726 minutes this season. In the 2851 minutes Cardinal has sat, the team is minus -382.
Sean Deveney/Sporting News lists Kevin Love at #3 on his list of candidates for rookie of the year:
Love gets overlooked because qualified guards like Russell Westbrook, Eric Gordon and O.J. Mayo put up splashier numbers, but he has gotten better and better as the year has gone on.
Sheldon Williams and Jason Collins along with team mascot Crunch hosted a Reading Time-Out Bash at Ramsey International Fine Arts Center Elementary School yesterday in Minneapolis
Kirk Snyder, 25, a former Minnesota Timberwolves player, was arrested early Monday after Warren County sheriff’s officials said he broke into a neighbor’s home in the 5300 block of Commonwealth Drive in Deerfield Township around 3:40 a.m. and attacked the man while he was sleeping.
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