Wolves Update

The Wolves are on fire.  Or something like that.

The Wolves have won three out of the last five games, and have been competitive in all five.  Really should have won in Charlotte – seriously that was embarrassing.  But I was glad to see the Wolves win a close game with a clutch shot from Michael Beasley, who is averaging over 32 points his last five games and shooting over 56% at the same time.

Kevin Love having a 30-30 game and averaging 16 ppg and 21 rpg helps a good deal.  But we have also seen the steady emergence of Wesley Johnson and Darko has finally pulled his head from his ass.  By his standards, Darko had an amazing game in the lose to the Bobcats with 13 points, 12 boards, 5 assists, and 4 blocks .

And while the Wolves are winning some games, it is not due to defense, on any level.  The Wolves are allowing a league high 109.8 ppg.  That is 1.7 ppg more than the Suns.

The other stat which has been driving me nuts is assist per game.  The Wolves rank 27th with 18.3 assists per game.  Everything is based off of one-on-one plays and I fail to see much of the triangle other than kick it back out for a shot once the ball is in the post.  But, maybe I am expecting too much….anyway.

Wolves have 4 wins and could easily won three more.  Oh well, I will take what I can get.

Love Is Everywhere

Since the 30-30 game, Kevin Love has been high demand.  There have been interviews, videos, and of course his season-long blog with GQ Magazine.  Here are a couple locations to find the “Love” you were missing, unless you weren’t missing it, than just watch anyways!

• GQ Blog – Here is Love’s blog. Some nice insight to him and the league.
• Bill Simmons Podcast on the right hand side of the page.  If you miss it, you suck at life.
• Love on the T.Ocho Show – That is Terrell Owens and Chad OchoCinco.  Seriously.  It’s real – not made-up at all.
• Interview on the Dan Patrick Show.
• The Scott Van Pelt Show.
• Love on ESPN’s “First Take”;

Love must be tired with all this talking, it’s a good thing Kurt Rambis is keeping his minutes around 31 per game.  It’s a marathon folks.

I have been saying it since this off-season, and with his involvement with Team USA, and now this – Love will be an All-Star and I know I am not the only one thing this.   Here is what ESPN’s John Hollinger wrote about Love;

"Love leads the league in rebounding despite playing only 30.8 minutes per game, a baffling lack of burn that seems unlikely to continue given his breakout performance against New York. To put his rebounding performance into perspective, consider that he averages nearly a board every two minutes — 18.6 per 40, to be exact. He’s also sporting a healthy 21.76 player efficiency rating and, despite his team’s poor record, has to be considered a serious candidate to nab an All-Star berth."

That’s right!  I hope Beasley can keep up his play and we may have two Wolves on an All-Star team.  I am not holding my breath on two – but I will for one!

If you know Hollingers “Player Effecenicy Ratings” and the formulas that make up his numbers, it is something impressive.  Also impressive, Love ranks 15 in the entire NBA with a PER of 22.91.  Which puts him ahead of Derrick Rose, Carmelo Anthony, Dirk, Monta Ellis and Deron Williams.

PER Side-Note: Former Wolf Ryan Hollins ranks 29th.  I wanted to keep him when I wrote;

"I would prefer to keep Hollins than send him as part of this deal.  He is big and athletic.  The Wolves need to use Hollins like the Hornets used Tyson Chandler.  Just ask him to defend and dunk all-oops.  That’s it!"

I am not saying he would be great, but I am not sure the Wolves have anything better.  Plus Hollins likes to throw down hard.

Injury Report

Ray Richardson from the Pioneer Press reported on Jonny Flynn’s injury status and his thoughts on getting back to the court.

"“I’m not sure right now,” Flynn said at Wednesday morning’s shootaround, responding to questions on when he expects to play. “Every day I come in, I feel different every single day. The progress is going well. I’m just trying to get my legs back under me.”Flynn was cleared two weeks ago for full-contact practices with the team. He also has been doing individual workouts, conditioning and weightlifting sessions with assistant coach Darrick Martin. Flynn admitted he has been sore after some of the workouts, but he said the soreness was unrelated to his hip."

I have also heard the Wolves may send Flynn to play in a couple D-League games to get his legs back under him.  Not a bad idea – as long as Luke Ridnour stays healthy.

Riachardon also reported on Martell Webster’s status saying;

"Wolves swingman Martell Webster, recovering from back surgery on Oct. 25 to remove a herniated disc, was cleared this week to do light jogging and drills after being limited to exercising in a swimming pool."

Not going to lie, I am pretty pumped for Webster to get back.  I have to think about what his return would do to the line-up and what that means for Corey Brewer, Johnson and Ellington who has gone from starter to a few DNP’s.  I don’t understand.

Awkward Handshake

I have to say the Wolves have done a great job on upgrading their website and including material like this video which goes deeper into the issues behind the “Awkward Handshake”.

Handshake Side-Note:  I believe the YouTube video has close to 1.3 million hits. Awesome!