And now we have an All-Star. Commish David Stern named his pick for Yao’s injury replacement at this year’s All-Star game in L.A. and it was none other than our very own Kevin Love.
I new I would’ve been premature to go off on the flaws of the voting system and things like that because I had a feeling it would play out like this. But congrats anyways to Love. He’s truly deserved the honor after one of the best first half’s of basketball Minny has seen since the KG era.
Congratulations, Kevin!
Talk about your ultimate nightmare, Love was snubbed in his bid at the All-Star game this season.
The lucky reserves ahead of Love: Dirk Nowitzki (No-brainer), Blake Griffin (Pretty easy), and Tim Duncan.
Say WHAT?!
Duncan’s having one of his worst seasons statistically but has helped lead the San Antonio Spurs to a league best record at 40-8.
I don’t want to go into a long commentary listing off the endless All-Star-like merits Love has accomplished this year quite yet. I’ll save that until Yao Ming’s injury replacement is named. It should be Love…
I’m going to start making a better effort of publishing your Wolf Tracks, giving you a more up-to-date analysis on the state of our team. So, without further adieu, here are today’s Wolf Tracks:
Timberwolves Tracks:
- Despite last night’s monstrosity, Jonny Flynn was awarded his first start and actually played very well for his standards. Here’s what Ray Richardson had to say about Flynn’s emphasis on rehab as of late as opposed to trying to get his starting spot back:
“[Jonny] Flynn, laboring for nearly four months as he battles back from hip surgery in July, is putting a higher priority on his rehab progress than trying to become the Wolves’ starting point guard again. He’s leaving that decision up to coach Kurt Rambis. ‘I think I made a great step tonight in getting back to where I was with the amount of minutes I played,’ said Flynn, who was on the floor for a season-high 26 minutes. ‘I definitely felt good out there and could feel my rhythm coming back. I just wish I could have organized us much better and got more touches for (Wolves forward Kevin Love). I take responsibility for that. We have to have him scoring for us to win.’ Flynn, who has backed up Ridnour the past 22 games since being activated on Dec. 14, did not know he was going to start until he arrived at Target Center. Though he made 81 starts as a rookie last season, he has not had much time this season with the first unit. The lack of quality minutes with the starters might have been an issue for Flynn in getting the ball more to Love.”
“A while back,” Cardinal said, “I took a picture of the standings and texted it to Love, just to bust his chops,” Cardinal said. “He sent me a picture back of a snowdrift.”
There aren’t many but there are two important Wolf Tracks from today.
The first, not nearly as important as the other, but Wes Johnson was chosen to play in the Rookie-Sophomore game during All-Star weekend. So although it’s not assured that Kevin Love will be playing during All-Star weekend, but at least we’ll have one representative in L.A.
The other news is a little more of importance and interest to all you Wolves fans. Today, the Wolves announced their plans for a $155 million renovation plan that will extend the Target Center’s life for at least 20 years.
This is big news. The only problem that stands in our Puppies’ way of getting a newly rejuvenated arena: The Minnesota Vikings. Clearly the Vikings are in line for a new stadium, and funding that puppy could stifle millions from taxpayers’ pockets. So if that clears, it could be difficult to get funding for both the Vikings’ stadium and the Target Center’s revamping.
Either way this swings, it’s nice knowing the Wolves’ organization are taking into consideration the age of their building and how much a newer building could help in free agency as well as ticket sales.
This has been an exceptionally long break. Nothing has really gone on and all seems quiet on the forefront with the front office as far as trade rumors go.
But on ESPN Weekend Dime, a few NBA scouts had some nice things to say about Kevin Love and his fantastic season.
Western Conference scout on Kevin Love’s crazy numbers:
“I’ve wondered how he does it myself. The obvious thing is that he’s just got a knack for the ball rebounding-wise, but when he plays he’s impossible not to watch. Because he’s not like Rodman.
“The stuff they run for him [offensively] … he sets a screen and pops out like a guard and he doesn’t need much time to get that 3 off. He’s such a threat with the 3-ball and that’s not a usual thing for other big guys to cover. And what he’s starting to do better is pump fake and drive from the outside.
“It’s unusual for a guy that has that [rebounding] knack and works like [Love] does to be so skilled. I don’t think Minnesota has enough guys who are winners, guys who are unselfish and play for the team, but I think he’s going to be great for years.”
Here’s what an Eastern Conference scout had to say about the race to All-Star weekend between Love and Blake Griffin:
“I’ll be the first guy to say that I didn’t give Kevin Love enough respect. He’s a much better all-around player than I thought. But if I can only pick one for the All-Star Game, it’s got to be Blake. The game’s in L.A. He’s the rookie of the year. And he has the best kind of game for an All-Star Game to make TV viewers and fans in the crowd and Mr. Stern happy.
I ran across this on Celtics Hub. Hayes Davenport, for some reason, calculated every NBA player’s BMI (Body Mass Index).
He came up with this:
- The league’s skinniest player is Corey Brewer, which is obvious. His BMI is 20.14.
It really is obvious.
Interesting enough, Davenport’s own team, the Boston Celtics, sport two of the league’s fattest:
The Celtics shatter the scales with an average BMI of 25.99, lugged upwards by the league’s fattest player in Shaquille O’Neal (31.62) and its fourth fattest player in Glen Davis (30.97).
Michael Beasley, the team’s leading scorer, is listed as questionable for tonight’s home game against the San Antonio Spurs. He re-sprained his ankle Sunday night in San Antonio and sat out practice yesterday.
According to an ESPN Insider report, the Wolves were internally debating whether to make a deal for Mayo. And then prior to Mayo’s incident with Tony Allen, they pulled back their interest and declined to put forth an offer. Whether or not their interest will be sparked again in the third year shooting guard from Memphis remains to be unseen.
Also, the Wolves are reportedly shopping Jonny Flynn, and tried “dangling” him in front of Houston in hopes of prying Aaron Brooks away from the Rockets. This makes no sense seeing that Brooks, at this point in both of their careers, is much more valuable than Flynn. Brooks is going to be a free agent this summer and would surely not re-sign with the Wolves, especially if Ricky Rubio were to come to Minnesota.
Swing and a miss, Kahn. Better luck next time!
I haven’t done this in a while but here are some Wolves related questions thrown Chad’s way from our lovely faithful:
Jason (Minneapolis) Any rumblings of the TWolves making a deal?
Chad Ford
(1:22 PM)
They are very active. I’m not sure they have any untouchables these days … including Kevin Love. But unless it’s a clear upgrade, not sure that David Kahn is doing much more than continuously shuffling the deck.
Danny (Minneapolis) Will Rubio be in a T-wolves uniform next season, and if so will he be good
Chad Ford
(1:39 PM)
Wolves are very confident he will be. Other people I talk to in Spain and around the league are equally confident he won’t be– especially because of an early option he has on his contract and the looming lockout.
Miguel (Spain) I love my countryman Ricky, but to be honest he isnt even looking good against European competition at this point…
Chad Ford
(1:42 PM)
True. But virtually everyone I speak with think he’ll be better in a NBA system. But you’re right, I’ve watched him play a couple of times this year and it looks like he’s regressed. He may have peaked early …
It’s interesting getting Chad’s take on the Love rumblings. I’ve heard from unreliable sources online that Love is seeking a way out of Minny and that the Wolves may be shopping him. I personally don’t believe it one bit and think if it were to happen the Target Center would set fire to arson faster than any pile of kindling. “MVP” chants slowly circulated their way around Target Center last night when Love made trips to the charity stripe; Haven’t heard of that kinda crazy talk since the long-forgotten KG era.
The Rubio stuff is interesting too. I haven’t kept tabs on him too closely this year but did know that he was struggling. Like Chad, I believe Rubio better suits a NBA style of play, but it won’t even matter if he’s not going to hop the pond and play for the Wolves.
The Wolves had to make a move at some point, and in order to not pay him a full salary for the ‘10-’11 season, it was Gaines that had to go.
Gaines appeared in eight games this season and averaged 2.6 points a game in just 8.1 minutes.
Gaines shouldn’t stray from his phone quite yet, though. If the Wolves are to make a deal in the coming weeks — Rumors have speculated the Wolves may move one of there three point guards, — Gaines may just field another call to re-join the team.
