While the Timberwolves usually do not do anything right, they potentially have a solid future in front of them. A potential 2011-2012 lineup in Al Jefferson, Kevin Love, Wesley Johnson, Johnny Flynn, and Ricky Rubio is no joke. However, what does it all mean? What is the true direction of this team? It is almost as if they are drafting good players for the heck of it. This team needs direction, but it is unlikely to happen.
The Timberwolves went into the 2009-10 season hoping forwards Al Jefferson and Kevin Love and point guard Jonny Flynn would be the foundation of an NBA playoff contender in two or three years.
That was the modest timetable set forth by David Kahn when he took over as president of basketball operations in May.
Based on the Wolves’ 15-66 record heading into tonight’s season finale against Detroit at Target Center — and the varying degrees of disappointment experienced by Jefferson, Love and Flynn — it’s uncertain whether the franchise is on course to maintain long-range plans to build around the young trio.
Injuries, trade rumors and personal problems plagued Jefferson most of the season. Love never embraced coach Kurt Rambis’ decision to bring him off the bench, yet he arguably had the best overall season of any Wolves player and established himself as one of the NBA’s best rebounders.
The Minnesota Timberwolves finally put an end to their long losing spell, and they did it against a team that had owned them over the last three years.
Ryan Gomes scored 27 points, the most by a Timberwolves player this season, and Minnesota snapped a 15-game losing streak with a 106-100 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night.
“Man, you don’t know how much a weight is off our shoulders right now,” Gomes said. “It was tough for us, but we had to battle. We knew it was going to break one day.”
The shock was it came against the Nuggets, who had won their previous 10 meetings against Minnesota and had been dominating at home, where they’d won 17 regular season games in a row dating to last spring.
It appears the Timberwolves are making progress in Kurt Rambis’ classroom.
The first-year Wolves coach often has said his top priority this season is to educate players on his system and what it takes to become an NBA contender.
After two weeks of practice and two exhibition games, Rambis is ready to put his teaching to work. Rookie point guard Jonny Flynn and his backup, two-year veteran Ramon Sessions, will have more freedom to call the team’s plays — a sign of confidence that starts with tonight’s exhibition game against Chicago at Target Center.
The move has a significant impact on Flynn, who will get most of the minutes in running the Wolves’ offense this season.
“Jonny is getting a greater grasp of what I want out there on the floor,” Rambis said of Flynn.
Kevin Love and Al Jefferson are trying to help Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis make an early lineup decision.
Rambis isn’t sure how much he will play Love and Jefferson together this season, but both forwards would like to pair up more to give the Wolves a strong inside tandem.
“I’ve thought about it a lot,” Jefferson said. “Kevin has improved his game in a lot of ways. He can score, pass and rebound. He makes it a lot easier on me. From my understanding, me and Kevin are the future big men of this team.”
Love and Jefferson started only eight games together last season. Jefferson’s knee injury, which kept him out of the final 32 games, ended possible plans of former interim coach Kevin McHale giving the duo an opportunity to tune up for this season.
In a parting conversation Tuesday morning in Barcelona, Timberwolves vice president of basketball operations David Kahn gave Ricky Rubio no guarantees about his status with the NBA club in two years.
The 18-year-old Spanish phenom had an opportunity to start his NBA career this season but changed his mind 48 hours later, a decision that gives rookie Jonny Flynn a significant head start on becoming the Wolves’ long-term point guard.
Ricky Rubio plans to part ways with Spanish basketball club DKV Joventut even if the Minnesota Timberwolves cannot reach a deal to bring their first-round draft pick to the NBA.
Timberwolves president David Kahn was in Spain this week to try and help the fifth overall pick negotiate a buyout of his contract with Joventut. Rubio is at odds with his boyhood club over a buyout clause that could cost the 18-year-old point guard as much as $6.6 million. The NBA’s collective bargaining rules limit the Timberwolves’ contribution to $500,000. Regardless of whether Rubio makes the trip across the Atlantic next season, he won’t be playing at Joventut.
The Wolves traded for Quentin Richardson, reducing the glut of power forwards and point guards on the team in the process.
While he changed planes in New York on Monday bound for Spain, Timberwolves boss David Kahn completed a 3-for-1 player trade with the Los Angeles Clippers and trimmed his list of coaching candidates down to as few as three people.
Kahn dealt point guard Sebastian Telfair and power forwards Craig Smith and Mark Madsen for veteran swingman Quentin Richardson’s expiring $9.35 million contract in a move intended to balance the team’s roster previously loaded with power forwards and point guards and create roster spots that could allow Kahn to make additional moves yet this summer.
