The Minnesota Timberwolves play a preseson game against the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight in Billings, Montana.
Moving past the positivity flowing from Monday’s win, and turning the attention to the U.S. Bank Classic versus Oklahoma City in Billings, Mt., tonight’s contest is the first of two U.S. Bank Classic games, the other occurring Nov. 19 at the Bismarck Civic Center in Bismarck, N.D. versus the Denver Nuggets.
Tonight’s game will be the first ever for OKC and will serve as an opportunity for head coach P.J. Carlesimo to take a look at a roster full of changes.
Tonight’s game will not be broadcast on radio or television, but Friday’s game in Denver will be broadcast on the new flagship station of the Wolves, KFAN-AM 1130. It will be the fans’ first chance to check out new radio analyst Kevin Lynch as he teams with Alan Horton to bring all of the action.
Craig Smith did not participate in this morning’s shootaround because his knee that underwent surgery in August swelled up on the flight from Minneapolis Tuesday night. He is getting treatment this afternoon and is a game-time decision…
Randy Wittman plans to play Rodney Carney tonight more than he did in Monday’s runaway victory in Milwaukee and he hopes to continue to look at different combinations of players. He wants to see Randy Foye and Sebastian Telfair together, but said that might not come until Friday’s game at Denver.
Thunder vs. Timberwolves – This game will be must-see TV for at least the first quarter. After all, we’ll get a chance to see the Oklahoma City Thunder in their new uniforms for the first time. As mentioned, the Wolves won their first preseason game in a blow-out, and it will be interesting to see if they can pull that off again. The Thunder have an impressive young group of future All-Stars, but they don’t have the veteran leadership to make them winners immediately. Joe Smith should help, but he’s not enough. It will be fun to see Russell Westbrook take the court for the first time.
From KBLG:
THE VICE PRESIDENT OF BASKETBALL OPERATIONS FOR THE TIMBERWOLVES, KEVIN MCHALE, TELLS KBLG, DON’T LET THE PRESEASON LABEL FOOL YOU IN TERMS OF WHAT TO EXPECT. HE SAYS THE SUBSTITUTION PATTERNS WILL BE VERY SIMILAR TO WHAT YOU SEE IN THE REGULAR SEASON AND MARQUEE PLAYERS WILL GET A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF PLAYING TIME. BOTH TEAMS ARE VERY YOUNG BUT DON’T LACK IN TALENT.
The Wolves aren’t the only team logging a lot of road time during the early exhibition season.
The Oklahoma City Thunder will follow tonight’s opening game against the Wolves in Billings, Mont., with trips to Sacramento and Golden State before a Monday night date against Houston in Tulsa, in what is technically a home game for the Rockets.
Presti and McHale have taken a similar approach, using trades to acquire both young players for the future and veterans who can help win now. Both execs are also relying on high draft picks to speed their turnarounds. Presti selected guard Russell Westbrook with the fourth overall pick in June. McHale chose his UCLA teammate, forward Kevin Love, with the fifth selection.