Howlin' T-Wolf

Here are today’s Wolf Tracks:

Timberwolf Tracks:

• Kevin Love continued his hot play during the World Championships yesterday. The U.S. team defeated Slovenia 99-77, but more importantly Love put up ten points and led the team in boards with 11
• The New York Times drools over Spanish phenom Ricky Rubio
• Who’s better: Kevin Love or O.J. Mayo?
• On Saturday Sam Amico tweeted that Carmelo Anthony could very well be traded to one of three teams: Kings, Nets or the Wolves. This scares me for reasons to complex to explain, but being that it’s only speculation, I wouldn’t worry about anything yet.

Yesterday team USA took on arguably its toughest opponent in the upcoming 2012 winter Olympics, Spain, in an exhibition match up.

Not that I care much about team USA aside from Kevin Love’s development, the face of team Spain is the Wolves one and only savior, Sir Ricky Rubio. And last night just proved that Rubio could very well hop the pond and improve this team tenfold in 2011.

Facing some of the NBA’s finest in Chauncey Billups, Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose, Rubio put up an impressive line of seven points on three of four shooting, five rebounds, five assists and four steals. Not bad considering he came off the bench and played only 18 minutes.

If Rubio continues his impressive outings through next season, it should give the Wolves the green light to pursue him in coming on over next season. The kid really just sparkles on Spain’s national team — off the bench! He’s a spark plug for an already electric offense. After just one more season in Barcelona, Rubio will have nothing left to prove in Europe and will have to step to the NBA if he desires to establish himself as one of the world’s best. Lucky us.

Check out some new pics of the Wolves’ rookies from the Timberwolves website.

These pictures should make you appreciate what the Wolves have done with the uni tweaks. It looks a lot better on actual players rather than player “ABCABC” like the pictures had it from the last new uni post.

Enjoy!

Props to Twolves Blog because I took all of the pictures from their site. Good work, CW.

Pretty slick changes, eh?

In the excerpt explaining the new uniform tweaks, it says that the Wolves presented these changes in hopes of bringing a more seriousness and maturity to Timberwolves basketball. As silly as it sounds, the Wolves needed this uni-update because they were seriously the laughing stock of the NBA — Not only did we play like amateurs, but we looked the part too. Nothing was serious about last year’s jersey at all. I will admit that they’re stil not great, but these are enticing enough for even me to buy a jersey now!

But ultimately this upgrade definitely speaks miles to me as a fan about how the culture of the Timberwolves is starting to change for the better.

Via NBA Rumors page:

Ricky Rubio, selected with the No. 5 pick in the 2009 draft, wants to play in the NBA at some point, but for now he’s concentrating on playing in Spain.

“I am still talking to Minnesota but at the moment it’s not foremost in my thoughts,” Rubio told Reuters. “Next year we’ll think about whether I go over there. I’ll talk with whom I need to talk to, with Barcelona, with Minnesota, with my agents, and we’ll decide.”

“It’s an exciting prospect playing in the NBA, one that every player wants. When you are little you dream about it. There are (Spanish) players who go there and things don’t go well and they prefer to come back, others who triumph,” he added.

Rubio has an NBA escape-clause in his contract after the 2010-11 season.

Seeing that we’re a long year away from any such arrival of one Sir. Ricky Rubio, I wouldn’t make much of this report – After all, it did come off of ESPN’s Rumor page. But if this kind of thing continues to pop up during the next twelve months, it should be a case to worry about. It’ll be hard convincing our savior to hop the pond to play for us if he had spent the entire year ducking and dodging any things having to do with us.

Here is the entire list of the Timberwolves’ schedule for the ‘10-’11 regular season.

The marquee match-ups worth grabbing tickets for or squatting down on the couch for the night are highlighted in bold.

Regular Season Schedule/Results

OCTOBER OPPONENT TIME (ET) TV LOCAL TV RESOURCES

Wed, Oct 27 Sacramento 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Fri, Oct 29 Milwaukee 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Sat, Oct 30 @ Memphis 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel

NOVEMBER OPPONENT TIME (ET) TV LOCAL TV RESOURCES

Tue, Nov 2 @ Miami 7:30 PM Tickets | Travel
Wed, Nov 3 @ Orlando 7:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Fri, Nov 5 Atlanta 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Sun, Nov 7 @ Houston 7:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Tue, Nov 9 @ LA Lakers 10:30 PM Tickets | Travel
Wed, Nov 10 @ Sacramento 10:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Fri, Nov 12 NY Knicks 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Sun, Nov 14 @ Atlanta 2:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Mon, Nov 15 @ Charlotte 7:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Wed, Nov 17 LA Clippers 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Fri, Nov 19 LA Lakers 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Mon, Nov 22 @ Oklahoma City 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Wed, Nov 24 San Antonio 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Sat, Nov 27 Golden State 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel

DECEMBER OPPONENT TIME (ET) TV LOCAL TV RESOURCES

Wed, Dec 1 @ Dallas 8:30 PM Tickets | Travel
Fri, Dec 3 @ San Antonio 8:30 PM Tickets | Travel
Sat, Dec 4 Cleveland 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Mon, Dec 6 @ NY Knicks 7:30 PM Tickets | Travel
Wed, Dec 8 Oklahoma City 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Fri, Dec 10 Detroit 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Sat, Dec 11 @ Chicago 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Tue, Dec 14 @ Golden State 10:30 PM Tickets | Travel
Wed, Dec 15 @ Phoenix 9:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Fri, Dec 17 @ Portland 10:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Sat, Dec 18 @ Denver 9:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Mon, Dec 20 @ LA Clippers 10:30 PM Tickets | Travel
Wed, Dec 22 Utah 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Sun, Dec 26 @ Cleveland 6:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Mon, Dec 27 New Orleans 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Wed, Dec 29 Denver 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel

JANUARY OPPONENT TIME (ET) TV LOCAL TV RESOURCES

Sat, Jan 1 New Jersey 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Mon, Jan 3 @ Boston 7:30 PM Tickets | Travel
Wed, Jan 5 Charlotte 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Fri, Jan 7 Portland 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Sun, Jan 9 @ San Antonio 7:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Tue, Jan 11 San Antonio 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Thu, Jan 13 Washington 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Sat, Jan 15 Orlando 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Mon, Jan 17 @ Portland 10:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Wed, Jan 19 @ LA Clippers 10:30 PM Tickets | Travel
Mon, Jan 24 Houston 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Wed, Jan 26 Oklahoma City 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Fri, Jan 28 @ Utah 9:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Sat, Jan 29 Toronto 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel

FEBRUARY OPPONENT TIME (ET) TV LOCAL TV RESOURCES

Wed, Feb 2 Memphis 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Fri, Feb 4 @ Toronto 7:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Sat, Feb 5 Denver 8:30 PM Tickets | Travel
Mon, Feb 7 @ New Orleans 8:00 PM NBA TV Tickets | Travel
Tue, Feb 8 @ Houston 8:30 PM Tickets | Travel
Fri, Feb 11 @ Indiana 7:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Sat, Feb 12 Philadelphia 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Mon, Feb 14 Portland 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Wed, Feb 16 LA Clippers 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Tue, Feb 22 @ Milwaukee 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Wed, Feb 23 Memphis 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Fri, Feb 25 New Orleans 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Sun, Feb 27 Golden State 5:00 PM Tickets | Travel

MARCH OPPONENT TIME (ET) TV LOCAL TV RESOURCES

Tue, Mar 1 LA Lakers 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Wed, Mar 2 @ Detroit 7:30 PM Tickets | Travel
Fri, Mar 4 @ Philadelphia 7:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Sat, Mar 5 @ Washington 7:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Mon, Mar 7 Dallas 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Wed, Mar 9 Indiana 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Fri, Mar 11 Utah 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Sun, Mar 13 @ Golden State 9:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Wed, Mar 16 @ Utah 9:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Fri, Mar 18 @ LA Lakers 10:30 PM Tickets | Travel
Sun, Mar 20 Sacramento 3:30 PM Tickets | Travel
Thu, Mar 24 @ Dallas 8:30 PM Tickets | Travel
Fri, Mar 25 @ Oklahoma City 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Sun, Mar 27 Boston 7:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Wed, Mar 30 Chicago 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel

APRIL OPPONENT TIME (ET) TV LOCAL TV RESOURCES

Fri, Apr 1 Miami 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Sat, Apr 2 @ Memphis 8:00 PM
Tue, Apr 5 @ New Jersey 7:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Wed, Apr 6 Phoenix 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Sat, Apr 9 @ Denver 9:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Mon, Apr 11 @ Phoenix 10:00 PM Tickets | Travel
Wed, Apr 13 Houston 8:00 PM Tickets | Travel

News broke yesterday that Anthony Tolliver will forgo returning to the Golden State Warriors and move on to bigger and better things in Minnesota.

I’ll soon write up a profile on Tolliver to give you a good sense of what he could bring to this team and organization. Things have been slow amidst the dog days of summer, but keep checking back later for new pieces; they are on their way!

Via Kevin Durant’s Twitter feed:

Great workout today with @DerMarrJ @Waxamillion10@CoreyBrewer22 and mike Beasley…we all got better today

This summer has been filled with ridicule and embarrassment with the finger pointing directly at David Kahn and the Wolves. And it all started with the signing of Darko Milicic.

I can see why national media would get overly eager to poke fun at the Wolves for making that move, but one guy isn’t so sure it was as stupid as others make it out to be. Henry Abbott of Truehoop actually thinks that Milicic will mean more to the Wolves than Shaquille O’Neal is to his new team, the Celtics. Now that’s saying something.

Hopefully he’s right. I think he’s gonna be correct. Besides, we didn’t pay Milicic for nothing.

As I promised earlier in the offseason, the Wolves will be tweaking their current uniforms. The changes are to be announced on Aug. 16th.

RT @WolvesCMO: Tweaked uni announcement set for 8/16. Uniforms w/ some improvements will be unveiled on social media platforms 1st. #twolves

That comes from Jonah Ballow’s Twitter account.