Timberwolves coach Randy Wittman said he has hired Dean Cooper, vice president of player personnel for the Houston Rockets, to replace Bob Ociepka, who has joined the Chicago Bulls staff. "He’s been with the Rockets over the last nine years and was on the bench with Rudy Tomjanovich when Rudy was their head coach there," Witt-man said. "These last couple of years before the draft, we did combine workouts with Houston to look at players. He can really get on the floor and teach, and that’s going to be important for us." 
 
 
 
Mike Trudell/Timberwolves site talks to assistant coach J.B. Bickerstaff about the team’s summer league performance (audio). 
 
 
 
Travis Heath/Hoopsworld ranks the Wolves 14th among the Western Conference teams.
The Timberwolves will be better than they were a season ago.  Of course, the truth is it would be hard to be much worse.  The team took a risk by giving up Mayo for Kevin Love, but Love looked very good in summer league.  That said, Love is not a go to guy and the Wolves will need to acquire complimentary pieces around him as the years go by.  Al Jefferson is a stud and will be a very good player in the NBA for a long, long time.  The guy who really needs to stay healthy and step up next season is Randy Foye. 
 
 
 
Rashad McCants Shoot for the Cure half-court shot contest was running behind schedule this afternoon.
 
McCants came out and spoke to the crowd around 3:50 p.m. and then an
announcement was made that the contest wouldn’t start for another 15-20
minutes. The contestants all let out a collective groan when the
announcement was made. No reason was given.
 
The event was to begin at 3:30. The winner will receive $10,000 in
prize money. The contest was started by McCants in order to raise money
for Feed the Children and Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Western North
Carolina.