Ryan Gomes and his Hoops For Heart Health organization donated a defibrillator and led a youth basketball clinic yesterday at the Farview Community Center
Willing to trade an All-Star selection for more victories, Jefferson said he hasn’t given next month’s game much thought.
“I’m not going to get my hopes up,” he said. “If I make the All-Star
Game, that would be a dream come true. If it happens, cool. If it
doesn’t happen, cool. It’s not one of those things I’m worried about.
If I don’t get it, it also will motivate me even more.”
Game, that would be a dream come true. If it happens, cool. If it
doesn’t happen, cool. It’s not one of those things I’m worried about.
If I don’t get it, it also will motivate me even more.”
Teammate Marko Jaric considers that a frightening concept.
“The guy is so young and has so much instinct and so much talent, if he
had more desire he’d be scary, I think,” Jaric said. “The guy could get
20 and 20 [points and rebounds] every night. Sometimes you think Al
didn’t have a good night and you look and see he had 14 rebounds and
you think what would happen if he really stepped it up? I didn’t know
he was that talented. It’s amazing how talented he is.”
had more desire he’d be scary, I think,” Jaric said. “The guy could get
20 and 20 [points and rebounds] every night. Sometimes you think Al
didn’t have a good night and you look and see he had 14 rebounds and
you think what would happen if he really stepped it up? I didn’t know
he was that talented. It’s amazing how talented he is.”
Chad Hartman/KFAN talked to Coach Wittman yesterday afternoon. You can listen to the interview here.
Kevin Garnett is a great example
of doing everything he could to “Control what he could control.” In
most NBA weight rooms there is a huge dry erase board with every
players’ name on the left hand column followed by a long series of
columns for every day of the month. On a recent trip to Portland, I was
in their weight room and looked with interest at the players who had
the most “lifts” during the month (Greg Oden won that honor as he is
hurt right now and probably has a lot of spare time with which to
lift). When Kevin Garnett played here in Minnesota, I would guess that
there was never a player who out-worked him in the weight room. Kevin
seemed to lift weights even on games days to stay in shape and keep his
body tight to avoid injury. This is one example of controlling what you
can control in terms of conditioning.
of doing everything he could to “Control what he could control.” In
most NBA weight rooms there is a huge dry erase board with every
players’ name on the left hand column followed by a long series of
columns for every day of the month. On a recent trip to Portland, I was
in their weight room and looked with interest at the players who had
the most “lifts” during the month (Greg Oden won that honor as he is
hurt right now and probably has a lot of spare time with which to
lift). When Kevin Garnett played here in Minnesota, I would guess that
there was never a player who out-worked him in the weight room. Kevin
seemed to lift weights even on games days to stay in shape and keep his
body tight to avoid injury. This is one example of controlling what you
can control in terms of conditioning.
One by one during the end of Wednesday’s practice, too many Timberwolves
players took turns throwing bad passes.
players took turns throwing bad passes.
After almost every turnover, coach Randy Wittman stopped practice and
emphasized to his players that those are the types of turnovers that are so
costly during games. There’s no time for the defense to get set after a bad
pass, which can lead to an easy lay-in at the other end.
From Sid Hartman:
You would think Randy Witt- man is suffering while coaching a Timberwolves team that has won only five games. But Wittman says otherwise, because he sees hope in the young players on the team.
"I played with [Celtics coach] Doc Rivers in Atlanta when we were teammates together, and we’re still very close friends," Wittman said. "They came in here last year with an [17]-game losing streak, and we beat them when Ricky Davis hits a shot at the buzzer to make it [18] straight losses for his team. So I went and talked with him after the game and he was as upbeat and jovial as ever.
"I said to myself, ‘How can you be like this after [18] straight?’ And we were struggling at that time, if you remember last year, going through what we went through with our team that we had here.
"And he said, ‘I would much rather be coaching this team with these
young guys and the way they work and things, than coach your team.’"
young guys and the way they work and things, than coach your team.’"