Rose got 111 of 120 first-place votes cast by writers and broadcasters and won in a landslide. O.J. Mayo was second, Brook Lopez third, Russell Westbrook fourth, Eric Gordon fifth and your very own Kevin Love was sixth, ahead of Michael Beasley and Marc Gasol.
The Timberwolves’ first-year forward finished sixth in the balloting with 16 points to 574 for runaway winner Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls.
Other players who finished ahead of Love were: Memphis Grizzlies guard O.J. Mayo (246); New Jersey Nets center Brook Lopez (127); Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (73); and Los Angeles Clippers guard Eric Gordon (22).
Love received no first-place votes in media balloting, getting two seconds and 10 thirds.
City Pages names Al Jefferson the “Best Timberwolves Player” in its annual “Best of…” issue. Jefferson was also the reader’s choice for the award.
What’s a dude gotta do to make the All-Star Game? Chalk it up to his toiling away in small-market obscurity (the Wolves have yet to play a nationally televised game this season) or—more likely—the Wolves’ on-court mediocrity. Whatever the case, the All-Star snub reinforced the sense that Jefferson is the league’s best-kept secret. KG he ain’t, but if he stays healthy—and if the young Wolves continue to improve—Al Jefferson will be a household name for seasons to come.
The veteran point guard provided leadership to an extremely young Wolves squad this season. Kevin Ollie is a consummate professional and displayed strong defensive skill in mainly a role off the bench. With Randy Foye shifting to the shooting guard position, the Wolves relied on Ollie’s stability at the point guard spot. This season, Ollie managed the offense with occasional attempts at reaching the lane. Fans will remember the grit on the defensive side of the floor and non-stop effort on a nightly basis. Ollie suffered from an elbow injury in January and February, which cost him 20 games during a crucial part of the season. Inside the locker room, Ollie preached wisdom to his teammates as a conduit of information from the head coach. The future is unknown for the unrestricted free agent with a possible opportunity to join a team looking for a veteran presence next season.
While Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who doubles as president of basketball operations, finds it flattering that other NBA teams make nearly annual raids aimed at stealing talented members of the Spurs’ front office, he also is frustrated when the Spurs lose key members of the basketball operations staff.
The latest raiders: The Minnesota Timberwolves, who have Spurs assistant GM Dennis Lindsey on a short list of candidates to run their basketball operations.
“I guess we have a lot of guys doing a lot of things in the league,” said Popovich, who already has seen two Spurs assistant GMs (Cleveland’s Danny Ferry and Oklahoma City’s Sam Presti) depart for GM jobs of their own. We’ve just done some good picking, I guess. But once trained, it is hard sometimes to watch them go away and have to start over again with somebody else.”