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The main topics surrounding Tuesday’s practice was the health of Al Jefferson, Jonny Flynn and Wayne Ellington. Let’s start with the good news.
Big Al participated in his second straight day of practice and is ready for the season opener on Wednesday night. The team will continue to monitor his minutes with a careful eye on the tendonitis that was giving Jefferson issues.
From LaVelle E. Neal III/Star Tribune:
Jonny Flynn’s NBA debut tonight is in some doubt after the point guard missed a second consecutive day of practice because of the flu.
Neither Flynn nor guard Wayne Ellington were at practice Tuesday because of the illness, although coach Kurt Rambis said both rookies felt better. Today’s midday shootaround will be their chance to prove they’re ready for tonight’s opener against New Jersey.
“If they are feeling much better and they come to shootaround, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to play,” Rambis said.
Rambis said he hopes to give a few minutes tonight to forward Nathan Jawai, acquired last week in a trade with Dallas. The 6-foot-10, 280-pound Jawai still is learning the offense and defense.
If it were up to Jefferson, Jawai would get significant playing time.
“The guy’s a beast,” Jefferson said after battling him in practice. “I’m sure glad he’s on my team.”
The Timberwolves’ rookie point guard is fearless in the face of full-court pressure and on drives to the basket. His undersized, 6-foot frame was knocked to the floor on layup attempts numerous times in the NBA preseason. Big deal. Flynn gets up, shoots his free throws and waits for the next opportunity to go right back into the lane among players who tower over him.
“He’s a giant inside that small body,” Timberwolves forward Al Jefferson said. “He won’t be denied. That’s the type of leader from the point guard position we need for our team.”
He’ll need more than that to transform a franchise that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2004. Kahn guaranteed Rambis at least $8 million for the next four years because he became convinced the sum of Rambis’ experiences will transform the Timberwolves.
“I think it would have been a terrible waste of his talent and his readiness to return as an assistant coach,” Kahn said. “I feel like he’s completely ready for this. It feels to me like he has been doing this for a long, long time. I knew he was ready, but I didn’t know he was this ready. I think he has seen a lot. There’s very little that will surprise this guy.
The Wolves are improved in at least one way — instead of catering to Kevin McHale’s whims and apologizing for asking him to coach games on the road as well as at home, they now are relying on people who will grind.
Not Taylor and his cultish franchise wreckers. The new guys.
We don’t know if Rambis can coach, but he comes highly recommended as a worker and a guy. David Kahn, believe it or not, has a deft sense of humor, if you type in the right password. (He calls me his Lex Luthor, which, of course, means he thinks he is Superman.) We don’t know if Kahn can evaluate talent, but he knows the salary cap and should set standards in an organization that has lacked them.
