It was reported today that Minnesota Timberwolves center Al Jefferson suffered a torn ACL in the against the New Orleans Hornets last night. Tough news for Al and Minnesota. I feel badly for him. He was such a beast, averaging 23.1 ppg, 11 rpg, and 1.66 bpg. But he’s 6’10 265 lbs. so who knows what kind of shape he’ll come back in. It’s likely he’ll miss part of next season because of the injury and probably won’t be very effective in his return. So next season is looking pretty much like a wasted season for Al but maybe he’ll prove me wrong. He is only 24 years old after all. In any case, Kevin Love should get a chance to start now and showcase his skills but there’s no way he’ll be able to fill Jefferson’s shoes. I guess it’ll be another year in the (high) lottery for the TWolves but if they draft well, they could be the new Portland Trail Blazers and be a young, exciting team that could vie for the Western Conference crown in the coming years.
It was a lazy Sunday in the NBA with only two games on the schedule, none of which really was cause for any excitement.
I was able to catch some of the Knicks/Bucks game and the Bucks pretty much owned on defense. The Knicks shot a horrid 37% and 36 of their 81 field goal attempts were 3-pointers. Andrew Bogut and Charlie Villanueva were killing them on the inside, especially in the first half and Ramon Sessions did his best Jason Kidd impersonation, 2 assists and 3 rebounds shy of a triple double. Even Luc Ricard Mbah a Moute got in on the action with 11 points and 10 rebounds, numbers I thought he wouldn’t even have in the D-League.
David Lee, Jamal Crawford, and Chris Duhon combined for 10 points. And sixth-man Wilson Chandler was 3-13 from the field and had 7 points. Not really the kind of production you’re looking for from 4 of your top 6 guys.
I was actually shocked the Knicks were only down by 4 at the half. They were getting outplayed pretty badly.
Michael Redd sprained his ankle. Hopefully it’s not too serious.
I will go on record as saying Chris Duhon is definitely NOT the answer at point guard for the Knicks. I am still wondering why they signed him. The inactive Stephon Marbury is a billion times better than him, even with his head tattoo. His teammates must really not like him.
Good to see the Oklahoma City Thunder get their first win in thefranchise’s history tonight, especially at home.
PATHETIC STAT LINE OF THE NIGHT
Jamal Crawford gave him a run for his money, but Randy Foye wins tonight:
30 MINS 2 PTS 6 ASTS 3 REBS 0 STLS 0 BLKS 5 TOS 0-10 FG 0-3 3-PT 2-2 FT -1 +/-
IMPRESSIVE STATE LINE OF THE NIGHT
A couple guys had some nice nights including Al Jefferson (24 PTS/13 REBS), Quentin Richardson (28 PTS/9 REBS), and Andrew Bogut had a +20 +/- but it looks like the Thunder’s bench carried them to victory tonight. Rusell Westbrook was +7 and Chris Wilcox, Desmond Mason, and Joe Smith all had a +12 while the starters were all negative. So good job to the Thunder’s bench for winning the game for the team.
Note: The Bucks’ starting lineup all had insane +/-’s but you gotta hand it to the bench of Oklahoma City for picking up the slack for the starters.
Last season, Minnesota fielded a basketball team without Kevin Garnett for the first time in 12 years. And it wasn’t pretty. The team was in complete disarray for the first half of the season but seemed to come together in the second half. The T’Wolves have one of the most talented, young rosters in the entire league but it remains to be seen if head coach Randy Wittman can get his team to build upon the success they had in the latter part of the season.
Love’s full-court shots…
Face of the Franchise: Kevin Love. This may come as somewhat of a shock to some. How could Love be the face of the franchise when they made Al Jefferson the centerpiece in the KG trade? Well, it’s true Jefferson may be the best player on the team but I think Love will emerge as the team’s leader on and off the court. After watching him in college, it just looks to me he has the personality and qualities to be that go-to guy. His basketball potential seems somewhat limited on the surface but his skill-set is just so diverse and unique (his passing and arsenal of full-court shots is well-documented) for a 260 pounder that he can become a star. His basketball IQ is off the charts and he knows how to effectively use his body. And anyway, if it’s not Love, then I’m not sure who else it would be on this team.
Send Him Away: Mike Miller. I am sure they’d love to get rid of Brian Cardinal but I don’t know if there will be any takers so Mike Miller it is. The Timberwolves will be shopping him hard this season or at the least next season. He is a great player for them but I just don’t see him in their future plans. I am sure come the trading deadline, the T’Wolves will be able to trade him to a contender and snag a few draft picks or expiring contracts.
…and his passing.
Impact Newcomer: Kevin Love. As I said before, Love has the opportunity to be the leader of this team. He has a big body that can withstand the physicality in the paint but the question is for how long. If he can stay healthy for the whole year there is no question in my mind he can average a double-double in the NBA.
Gotta show some love to former Tar Heel Rashad McCants.
X-Factor: Team Play. Although the young T’Wolves were towards the bottom in PPG last year, offense shouldn’t be a problem for them. With Jefferson, Rashad McCants, Randy Foye and co., they have plenty of people that can put the ball in the hoop. However, there is not much ball movement in their offense as evidenced by their 19.9 apg, good for 26th in the NBA last year. They must have more fluidity in their offense and also get to the line more often in order to have a more effective offense. Another problem was their defense. They gave up 102.4 ppg last year and only scored 95.6 ppg for a difference of 6.8 ppg. The only teams with a worse differential were the Bucks, Clippers, Heat and Sonics. And newcomers, Mike Miller, Kevin Love and Rodney Carney aren’t exactly known for their defense. Randy Wittman can attribute many of his team’s offensive and defensive shortcomings to youth and inexperience so he must get his team to play together on both ends of the floor in order to win some games.
Forecast: Mid Lottery. Minnesota will surprise some people this year. I do expect them to build on the success they had in the second half and reach 30-35 wins this year. I compared the Grizzlies to the Hawks of a few years ago but perhaps this team is a better comparison. In the end, their youth will come to haunt them and they will miss the playoffs another year.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Posted by david im 
