Kevin Love’s rebounding prowess wasn’t enough to earn the Wolves’ forward a spot in the rookie challenge at the Feb. 15 all-star game in Phoenix.
“I just heard (that). What a travesty that is,” coach Kevin McHale said before tonight’s game against Detroit. “That’s utterly ridiculous. Who picks that team?”
Informed that assistant coaches do, McHale said: “No way. Really?”
Asked by a writer if he was about to pin it on the media, he admitted, “I was.”
“I thought it was all political,” Love said of the decision by the league’s assistant coaches to choose players like Marc Gasol and Greg Oden over him, adding a little profanity for emphasis. “Just have to keep playing the way I’ve been playing, keep winning. We’re 10-2 in the month of January, so I just have to keep trying to play the way I have in the second half of the season.”
Numbers like that had Love thinking he was a shoo-in for the NBA rookie challenge in Phoenix, which pits the league’s top rookies against a team of the best sophomores in the league.
Instead, the league’s assistant coaches chose Gasol, Oden and Brook Lopez as the big men.
“I felt like I should’ve (been picked), but it’s just motivation,” Love said. There’s always next year and the sophomore season.”
Mike Miller called Love’s omission “absolutely embarrassing.”
“I can’t think of two or three rookies better than him right now, the way he has been playing and the things he has been doing for us,” Miller said…
Love was upset by the decision, but said he will use the time over the All Star break to go back to L.A. and rest.