Al Jefferson took another step forward this morning in his recovery from a sprained knee ligament.
The Wolves’ star center participated in 5-on-0 drills at the end as well as the beginning of practice and appears on target to get in some contact work before training camp ends Saturday.
John Hollinger/ESPN posts his Timberwolves team forecast and predicts they’ll finish with a 31-51 record.
Despite the organizational incompetence and the apparent impossibility of anyone upstairs getting fired, the T’wolves are going to be better. Jefferson gives them a strong building block and could make his first All-Star appearance this year, while getting a full season from Foye should massively upgrade the team’s weakest position for a year ago.
Throw in the additions of Miller and Love, and suddenly this team looks like a force offensively with its ability to space the floor and throw it in to the block to Jefferson. Even the bench doesn’t look as horrid as it used to, with reasonably solid players like Gomes, Smith and Carney joining an improving Telfair to form a decent nine-man rotation.
While it was only day one of rookie-life in the NBA, Love admitted that he’s quickly learning what comes with being a first-year player while soaking up everything he can from the veterans. “I’ve learned a lot about being a rookie so far. I had to go get the drinks for a lot of veterans today. But, you’re only a rookie once. The veterans, like Mark Madsen and Jason Collins will give me some more pointers and things to focus on. I’m trying to apply them to my game.”
The emphasis throughout day one was on the defensive end. Much of the first practice was spent working on transition, half-court and zone defensive systems, things that the rookie said he will have to adapt to on the fly. “I’m going to have to continue to make an adjustment defensively. I’m going to have to learn to play team-defense so that when Al and I are on the floor together, we can guard guys that may be quicker or bigger than us. That’s going to take a lot of adjusting from me. I’m going to have to play a lot smarter than I did in college.”
Steve Aschburner/SI.com on Kevin Love:
Love, for his part, has been in town for weeks, scrimmaging regularly while setting up his new place, getting a home theater installed and interviewing chefs. His goal for training camp is modest — “Not throw up in a garbage can from running all those lines” — but he didn’t get to this point by being all that modest.
“The first time I met Kevin,” Jefferson told me, “the first thing he said was, ‘You’re going to love playing with me.’ One more thing he said was, ‘We’re going to have to share some rebounds.’ ”
Your first thought: Hold up, rook. Your second: A guy’s got to start sometime, might as well be now.
So you’re telling me that Kevin McHale may have been tricked by someone’s agent? Or is that just how bad the L-Wolves are these days, that a guy who’s leg turned into E.T. would rather just lie about signing with another team than go to the L-Wolves?
“Hey Shaun, it’s your agent. Yeah, so the T-Wolves are really interested in signing you. No, no, no, the Minnesota Timberwolves. No, they’re in the NBA, they’re not a WNBA team. Oh. OK. Got it. OK, so I’ll just tell them you’re signing with, um, let’s just say the Heat, OK? There’s no way in the world McHale’s going to call Riley. And I don’t think Riles gets reception out on his boat, anyway.”
Tommy Beer/Hoopsworld lists Al Jefferson among the top six centers this season.
Minnesotans are still getting over the loss of Kevin Garnett, but having Al Jefferson locked-up long term has to soften the blow a great deal. T-Wolves fans were excited about Jefferson heading into last season, but even the most ardent optimist had to have been pleasantly surprised with just how well Big Al played. In fact, he was the only player in the entire league last season to average over 21 points and 11 rebounds per game. Moreover, he was also one of only three players in the Association to average over 21 PPG and shot at least 50% from the floor (Carlos Boozer and Amare were the other two.) Already one of the best bigs in the business, Jefferson, at just 23 years of age, has the potential to be a special, special player. If we recreate this list next summer, Big Al will likely rank much higher.