Al Jefferson placed the onus on himself and teammates, “Defense, loading to the ball, learning how to help each other, if I go help Jonny I need to trust that somebody is going to go and help with my guy. We just need to scramble, playing defense is not easy, just got to do it, just got to want to do it.”
And the assistant coaches choices for the Rookie Challenge are not the only evidence in support of this proposition.
Ramon Sessions: No, no, no, no, no, I’m not going out there. I’m going to go back to my college (Nevada), they’re retiring my jersey. So I’m going to go to Vegas/Reno! Get that a little bit!
“Why would a team take us serious when they’re up 20 points and we’re not playing hard?” he said. “When we play hard, teams will have to take us serious.”
There were indications in the Wolves’ 109-95 loss at Cleveland on Wednesday night that the Cavaliers might not have been too concerned with Jefferson and his teammates.
In response, the Cavs’ hapless foils on Thursday vowed that someday, somehow, with heaven as their witness, they will extract their blood revenge by …
Oh, never mind.
“If we were in that situation, we’d do the same thing,” Wolves forward Al Jefferson said. “It’s fun when you win. You’re smiling, joking — I don’t think they meant any disrespect.”
“I hate to lose too. Every night, you know, when we lose … you go home and think about it all the time,” said Brewer. “I just can’t accept it.”
So you’re saying you’re not impressed that I drafted three point guards in the first round this year and the worst one is the only one on the roster? It’s not that easy to do.
I know they’re trying to rebuild and take the long view in Minny, but the draft-day shenanigans don’t look any less head-scratching today than they seemed at the time and the pieces they have are fitting terribly.
Congrats to Timberwolves rookie guard Jonny Flynn and forward Kevin Love for their selection to the Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam on NBA All star weekend in Dallas. Joining Flynn on the Rookie team will be Chicago’s Taj Gibson, Detroit’s Jonas Jerebko, Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Milwaukee’s Brandon Jennings, Oklahoma City’s James Harden, Sacramento’s Tyreke Evans and Omri Casspi and San Antonio’s DeJuan Blair. Meantime, Love will run with Chicago’s Derrick Rose, the L.A. Clippers’ Eric Gordon, Memphis’s Marc Gasol and O.J. Mayo, Miami’s Michael Beasley, New Jersey’s Brook Lopez, New York’s Danilo Gallinari and Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook on the Sophomore team. Check out Flynn’s January 24th appearance on Sports Final on our website, www.sportsfinaltv.com .