Minnesota Timberwolves Media Day: Updates on Nemanja Bjelica and Justin Patton
By Kyle Mareck
On Media Day, the Minnesota Timberwolves gave injury updates on bench pieces Nemanja Bjelica and Justin Patton. Find out when they will return.
The Minnesota Timberwolves held their media day on Friday, and one of the topics of interest was the health of their roster. Specifically, the health of two potentially key bench pieces in Nemanja Bjelica and Justin Patton. Each have been battling foot injuries, and the Wolves shed some light on their respective recoveries.
Bjelica, who figures to be a key fixture of the Wolves depth at the 3 and 4 positions, suffered his injury during a March game in Boston. After undergoing surgery about a week later, he began his recovery which seems to be going relatively well. When asked about his rehab today, he stated that he is doing everything other than contact drills. This seems to be a positive sign, as there isn’t much reason not to be conservative with contact before the season starts. Things are tending towards Bjelica being ready for the beginning of the season, which would be a big lift to a Wolves team that is lacking in the perimeter shooting that Bjelica hopes to provide.
Justin Patton’s recovery is not as far along. He broke his left foot during a summer workout, and when asked about his rehab today said that there was not a timetable for his return. While this is not necessarily the news that Wolves’ fans wanted to hear, it is understandable. Lower body injuries for NBA big men are not something to be taken lightly. Stories of Greg Oden, Sam Bowie, and Bill Walton still haunt NBA GM’s. Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid has struggled with a foot injury for his entire NBA career. The added stress on the lower body for a big man is something to be handled carefully to maximize the possibility of a long NBA career. Especially for a 20-year-old rookie like Patton, who the Wolves have a significant investment in.
Generally speaking, the Wolves have had relatively good luck with injuries lately (knock on wood). Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns have missed a total of one game in their respective NBA careers, and Gorgui Dieng has played two consecutive full seasons. While Ricky Rubio had his share of injury problems, his replacement Jeff Teague has only played less than 70 games once in his eight-year career.
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We can only hope that this durability will continue into this season and that Bjelica will be able to contribute right away when the Wolves take on the Spurs in the season opener. While Patton’s recovery is a bit more open-ended, the addition of Taj Gibson hopefully will provide enough frontcourt depth in the meantime.