The Wolves dropped their Summer League opener, falling 79-65 to the Houston Rockets at the COX Pavilion on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas. The Wolves struggled from the field throughout the game, but used a number of timely treys to keep pace with Houston through much of the first half. Jonny Flynn and Oleksiy Pecherov both hit a pair of threes in the opening frame as the Wolves went 4-of-7 from behind the arc but just 7-for-20 (.350) overall en route to an 18-17 lead after one. The Wolves connected on another three triples in the second, but 15 Wolves turnovers in the half helped stake Houston to a 36-32 lead at the intermission. The Rockets pulled away from there, stretching the lead to 12 after three and the Wolves weren’t able to mount a serious threat down the stretch. Corey Brewer led the Wolves with 14 points in his return to competitive play after suffering a torn ACL last November, and Flynn finished with a game-high seven assists.

UPDATE: ADAM PARADA REPLACED STEVEN HILL ON THE SUMMER LEAGUE ROSTER

– Corey Brewer saw his first game action since he tore his ACL in a game against Denver last November and played 18 minutes. He was much better in the second half than his brief six first-half minutes, shooting the ball with some range and flair after halftime. He finished 4-for-11 (6 for 6 from the line) and had 14 points, five rebounds, an assist and a turnover in 18 minutes.

– Jonny Flynn looked quick, strong, alternately decisive and out of control and careless in his pro debut, with an 11-point (3-for-11 from the field), seven assist, seven turnover,  29 minute game. Played both on and off the ball. Let’s give him another summer-league game before we write off his career…

–  Wayne Ellington, probably the only pure shooter on the team now that Mike Miller and Randy Foye both are gone, went 2 for 12.

ESPN analyst David Thorpe provided commentary of the game on Twitter, and praised Flynn’s shooting mechanics, driving ability, and demeanor.

“Flynn has a very strong presence on the court without being ostentatious about it,” Thorpe wrote. “I love that.”

…

Thorpe, a graduate of Brewer’s former school, the University of Florida, called Brewer “a horrible disappointment right now.”

From Stop-n-Pop/Canis Hoopus: Jonny Ball (recap of yesterday’s game)

* Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor was on hand to watch his summer league team lose to the Rockets 79-65. Some execs in the stands were disappointed with first-round pick Jonny Flinn’s performance. “Played small,” said one.

In the 79-65 victory over Minnesota — which featured the pro debut of T-Wolves point guard of the future Jonny Flynn — Budinger scored 11 points, keeping his average at 15.7 points per game so far during the summer league.

As for Flynn, he looked in command at times, and at others he looked just as lost as several rookies have this week in their respective debuts.

The Syracuse sparkplug finished with 11 points on 3-of-10 shooting, 7 assists and 7 turnovers.

Flynn appears cursed by the number 7 so far in Vegas, as he was spotted for a short while last night at the craps tables at the Hard Rock.

On Sunday in Las Vegas, Brewer returned to competitive action for the first time since the injury happened on December 1st of last year.  While Brewer was understandably rusty, he was still able to put up 14 points and grab five boards.

“It felt good,” said Brewer.  “I haven’t played basketball since I got here.  It was my first time playing five-on-five besides the little three or four practices we had.”

For Brewer, his mission really isn’t to try and come out and dominate the Vegas Summer League.  Instead, he’s just trying to get his feet back underneath him after months of being forced to work on the certain aspects of his game the rehabilitation process allowed.

“Right now I’m just worried about my conditioning and getting back to playing basketball because I haven’t played any basketball,” Brewer explained.  “I’ve been working on shooting my jumpers and working on my ball-handling skills since I’ve been hurt.”

Corey Brewer started the 4th with 6 points in the first 2 minutes to make it a 9 point game, he finished with 14 points, most of which came in garbage time. Minnesota’s shooting unfortunately didn’t improve, finishing up at a woeful 33% and the T-Wolves couldn’t close the gap the final quarter. Oleksiy Pecherov showed his outside touch swishing 2 long balls for 6 points, but little else.

The Timberwolves draft picks showed some signs in the squad’s first run in SL. Ellington shot miserably (4 pts, 2-12), however he did hit the glass, adding a couple of steals and 8 boards. Johnny Flynn showed his outside shot, but struggled shooting (3-10). He’s got the ability to penetrate, and find teammates, however will need to reduce his turnovers (7 ast with 7 to).

Syracuse.com on Paul Harris:
Harris came off the bench and scored 5 points in 8 minutes. He shot 2 for 5, made one 3-pointer, had one rebound and had two steals.
Kurz played 23:13 at forward and scored eight points on 3-of-3 shooting from the field, including 2 of 2 from the three-point line.

He did miss two free throws, though, and had only one rebound. He picked up four fouls and had four turnovers on a team also featuring familiar faces in former Syracuse guard Jonny Flynn and former Orange forward Paul Harris.