From Britt Robson/On The Ball:
We’ve all heard of the rookie wall–what about the rookie launching pad? Kevin Love has been a revelation the past 3 weeks or so. His monster ingestion of all things rebound continued, with 10 in a mere 25:49 tonight (and two or three others where he was in perfect position but the long bounce off the missed trey just cleared his outstretched fingers), please an offensive game that has become surprisingly formidable. Love posted up Jason Maxiell and dumped in a baby shot over the bruiser’s leaping block attempt. Then he came down a possession or two later and swished a textbook-pretty jump hook. For style points, the winner was his behind-the-back dribble down the left lane, leading to a layup that barely rolled out. Love had 11 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists in the second period alone, and finished with 17-10-4. Asked by a reporter about not being chosen for the Rookie All Stars, he issued a two-word response: “That’s bullshit.”
Yes, yes it is.
For starters, the decision to select Eric Gordon ahead of Kevin Love for the rookies was completely inexcusable.
Don’t get me wrong; Gordon is going to have a fine career, it seems, and in almost any other year he’d be a shoo-in for the team. But he made this squad mainly because the forlorn Clippers have no choice but to play him extensive minutes.
As good as he’s looked, Gordon is the only rookie team member with a Player Efficiency Rating below the league average, while Love has a better PER than every player on the rookie team except Greg Oden. Love leads the league in offensive rebound rate, as I mentioned the other day, but his prodigious work on the boards has gone largely unnoticed because he plays only 23.2 minutes a game, far less than Gordon’s 32.2.
It’s convenient for me to point out — because you know I wouldn’t even mention the guy if he came through with two points, three boards and five fouls in 12 minutes — but Kevin Love showed why he deserves to be mentioned among Derrick Rose and O.J. Mayo as Rookie of the Year candidates, much less be included on the Rookie squad in next month’s Rookie/Sophomore Game.
And just as promised on Draft night, Kevin Love is finding opportunities to exploit poor transition defenses with his excellent outlet passing. His confidence is expanding against the leagues second teams and at this rate if he isn’t a starter soon, he certainly will be one of the leagues best sixth men.
From Jonah Ballow/Timberwolves site: Thursday practice notes (with audio from Kevin McHale, Telfair, Jefferson, and Love).
The Wolves now are 10-3 in 2009. And now it just continues to get tougher: The Lakers at home on Friday, at Boston on Sunday in a back-to-backer featuring last season’s two finalists.
Center: Al Jefferson.
One of those owners is Glen Taylor, the self-made billionaire from Mankato, Minn., who bought the Timberwolves in 1995. Taylor was named chairman of the league’s Board of Governors in October, and he said this week that one of his duties in that post — at Stern’s urging — is to formulate a succession plan. Not for today, not for tomorrow maybe, but for the inevitable handoff that will take place.
