April 19, 2012; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Rick Adelman reacts in the fourth quarter against the Detroit Pistons at The Palace. Minnesota won 91-80. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

Kicking off their 7-game NBA Pre-Season, the revamped Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the young slash slightly new-look Indiana Pacers in Fargo, North Dakota.

Leading the way for the Minnesota Timberwolves last night was none other than now-recognized big man Nikola Pekovic who scored 14 points and pulled down 5 rebounds to lead the Timberwolves to their first NBA Pre-Season victory this year. Pekovic in the first quarter quickly showed some new moves as he converted on a slam dunk and also a nifty hook/push shot in the paint. However, in the first quarter a lot of NBA fans, specifically Timberwolves fans like myself, were focused on how Brandon Roy would play in his first NBA play. I know it’s not a regular season game, but it’s still an NBA game regardless just with lower intensity.

Mar 20, 2012; Portland, OR, USA; Former Potland Trailblazers guard Brandon Roy sits court side as the Blazers play the Milwaukee Bucks at the Rose Garden. This was the first time Roy had been back in the Rose Garden since abruptly retiring at the beginning of the season. Mandatory Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-US PRESSWIRE

Roy missed his first two attempts as he missed on a three-pointer and then got rejected by Pacers big man All-Star, Roy Hibbert. Roy would however manage to make a lay-up midway through the first quarter which would come to be his first NBA basket in more than a year. As the first quarter ended the Timberwolves were only up 22-19 but in the second quarter it became the Derrick Williams show.

Williams kicked off the second quarter for the Timberwolves with a three point shot followed by an alleyoop dunk from new point guard, who won bronze medal alongside fellow new Wolves forward Andrei Kirilenko in the 2012 London Olympics two months ago, Alexey Shved. Williams would end up scoring all of his 9 points in the second quarter and would help the Timberwolves garner a 13 point lead heading into halftime.

At the start of the second half, Brandon Roy scored the Wolves’ first 6 points which included 2 free throws, a layup, and a jumpshot. Starting to look good I must say. Roy ended up with 13 points and 4 assists at the end of the game.

Apr 14, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA: Minnesota Timberwolves forward Derrick Williams (7) goes up for a shot in the second half against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Target Center. The Thunder won 115-110. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-US PRESSWIRE

For most of the third quarter it was dominated by Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic the two starting big men for the Minnesota Timberwolves heading into the 2012-2013 NBA season. To be honest, it’s looking good so far to me. They’re going to be underdogs as big men together. Love and Pekovic would end up dominating the paint in the third quarter as the Pacers’ big men couldn’t respond to anything they threw at them. Love ended up with 13 points and 8 rebounds, two more then he would’ve had a classic Kevin Love double-double. Who am I kidding? 13 and 10 is not even classic Kevin Love…

The Wolves would close out the third quarter in high gear heading into the fourth quarter with an 18 point advantage over the Pacers, who were relying on forward Paul George, who finished with 16 points (game-high), to carry them to a comeback victory. Unfortunately for the Pacers, the Wolves’ defense was just too much to handle last night as they ended up with just 70 points to finish the game.

The fourth quarter was pretty formal as the Timberwolves just tried to finish the game without blowing the lead. And so they did and defeated the Pacers 84-70.

So far so good for the Timberwolves and it’s fans mainly because we saw Brandon Roy play well last night. Expect more this regular season I must add.

Chase Budinger, alongside Pekovic, finished with 14 points. Budinger hit 2 three pointers which included one four-point play.

The Minnesota Timberwolves’ Pre-Season games continue Friday (October 12 6:00 PM) as they take on the Indiana Pacers once again, this time at  Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. 

Apr 6, 2012; Dallas, TX, USA; Portland Trail Blazers power forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) drives the ball past Dallas Mavericks center Brendan Haywood (33) during the overtime period at the American Airlines Center. The Trailblazers defeated the Mavericks 99-97 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE

Last week ESPN fully released their Top 500 NBA players currently playing basketball today. I haven’t had much free time to be able to give my personal opinion on this list but today I will give you everything I have to say on the list. However, we’ll not try to go overboard, right now it’s the Top 20 (11-20)

I won’t be digging deep beyond the Top 20 as it will pretty much force me to make a novel out of this post.

When I first saw that Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who is the obvious face of the franchise for the Blazers, named as the #20 NBA player today I was just astonished at how underrated Aldridge really is to the NBA universe. In my personal opinion, Aldridge is simply the second best power forward in the NBA today behind Kevin Love. He may not have as much rings as Pau Gasol or as many highlight reel dunks as Blake Griffin who both are ranked above Aldridge, but Aldridge has the talent and is simply the better forward today. In the words of ESPN analyst Steven A. Smith, it is blasphemous to see Griffin named as the #14 NBA player in the NBA today. With that rank Griffin is placed ahead of New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony, to whom I’ll talk about further later, and Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh who proved his value to the 2012 NBA champions.

May 6, 2012; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks small forward Carmelo Anthony (7) shoots a free throw against the Miami Heat during the second half of game four in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals of the 2012 NBA Playoffs at Madison Square Garden. Knicks won 89-87. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE

Now, talking about #17 Carmelo Anthony. Yes Carmelo is somewhat of a ball hog that doesn’t play defense as well, but with all honestly with his talent and basketball IQ on the offensive end just makes him a legitimate Top 10 player in the NBA. The guy has the jump shot, the clutch gene, the determination to win, but all he lacks is just the mindset to win games on a consistent basis and be a true leader on the floor for a team that just doesn’t have that click yet. Trust me, this season you might want to reevaluate Carmelo’s rank.

The veteran point guards in Tony Parker and Steve Nash in my opinion are on their correct rank with Parker rank #16 and Nash ranked #19. Most people would wonder why Nash, despite being about a thousand years old, is still in the Top 20. Why? Well, the reason is simply because the way he is playing at his age today is almost the same way he played during his two MVP seasons with the Phoenix Suns. Unfortunately for Nash, players have caught up to him and simply overtook him which is why he no longer seems to be one of the best. But when you watch him, you can still accept that he’s a Top 20 NBA player. As for Parker, the San Antonio Spurs is no longer Tim Duncan’s team, it’s his and he has been running with it well enough to make him the #16 NBA player today.

Jan 20, 2012; Orlando, FL, USA; Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum (17) and Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard (12) shake hands after the game at Amway Center. Orlando defeated Los Angeles 92-80. Mandatory Credit: Douglas Jones-US PRESSWIRE

For those of you guys that don’t know I’m one of the “rare” people than say that Andrew Bynum is better than Dwight Howard. Personally, Dwight is ranked too high and Bynum is ranked a little bit too low. Now, I know that most people could easily argue that Dwight has the better footwork, the better jump, the better agility, but that doesn’t match up to how Bynum works hard for every basket much like the previous best center in the NBA in Shaquille O’neal. In previous years, the best big man in the NBA either is a dominant big man in the paint or a big man that can hit the back to the basket jumpshot like Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing back in the 90′s. I understand that last season was just maybe the first time we saw Bynum really flourish, excluding those three point attempts he had, and his fragile knee is what’s keeping Howard a better player. Today, I can give a nudge to Dwight for being the better player as he has consistently been an All-Star for his team. However, once Bynum gets rolling and powering in Philly, I better see him move into the Top 10.

Nov 19, 2010; Boston, MA, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) drives against Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo (9) during the first half at TD Garden. The Oklahoma City Thunder won 89-84. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

As a fan of the Boston Celtics aside from just the Minnesota Timberwolves, seeing Russell Westbrook in the Top 10 and not seeing Rajon Rondo is something I’m not happy to see. Rondo’s stats from last season and accomplishments should easily make him a Top 10 NBA player. We can all agree that Westbrook is still the same player that makes costly mistakes on either end of the floor for the Oklahoma City Thunder who lost in 5 games to the Miami Heat in the 2012 NBA Finals. Just like Westbrook, Rondo had a marvelous performance in the playoffs against the Heat but still lost. However, Rondo didn’t make any senseless play that cost the team a possible victory. Other than that Rondo led the league in triple doubles last season, and if I remember correctly he outdid 2012 NBA league MVP LeBron James in that count. Rondo is the captain, the main guy, and the leader of the Boston Celtics and he has proven to be just that successfully with the Celtics as his team gave the NBA champs their best challenge.

In the summer of 2011, Dirk Nowitzki stole the hearts of many NBA fans around the world with his jaw-dropping performance in the 2011 NBA playoffs. Last season however Dirk really wasn’t able to showcase his talents once again as his Dallas Mavericks were swept in the first round by the better Oklahoma City Thunder. Being ranked #11 to me seems just right for Dirk if your basing on last season. I know I stated earlier that LaMarcus Aldridge is the second best power forward in the NBA the other player that still is making me think if I should delete that is Dirk. It’s a really close call for me now between the two but I give the slight edge to Aldridge who hasn’t gotten any solid recognition for what he can do on the court.

I’ll be posting the second part of this article soon so keep an eye out for that!