[NbanflguyParticipant]

Just got a text from espn saying Love is out 6-8 weeks with a broken hand. Wolves can not catch a break.

 

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8516740/kevin-love-minnesota-timberwolves-star-6-8-weeks-broken-hand

[Raef LaFrentzParticipant]

This really hurts the Wolves’ chances of keeping things together until Rubio comes back in order to make the playoffs.. Damn, this is some tough news. Like you said, can’t catch a break.

[baggin13Participant]

Mn is getting no Love from the basketball gods.

[NbanflguyParticipant]

6 weeks = return on Nov.28
8 weeks = return on Dec. 12

11-2 Sacramento
11-4 @ Toronto
11-5 @ Brooklyn
11-7 Orlando
11-9 Indiana
11-10 @ Chicago
11-12 @ Dallas
11-14 Charlotte
11-16 Golden State
11-21 Denver
11-23 @ Portland
11-24 @ Golden State
11-27 @ Sacramento
11-28 @ L.A. Clippers
11-30 Milwaukee
12-4 @ Philadelphia
12-5 @ Boston
12-7 Cleveland
12-12 Denver

 

I think we might be able to hover close to .500 before Love & Rubio come back then we go on a run

[Raef LaFrentzParticipant]

Sounds about right to me. I can see us winning a good 9 games out of the ones you listed above, which would be right there around .500.

I’m hoping Love can get back a bit sooner than expected pending an official exam tomorrow. It just sucks extra bad that it’s on his shooting hand..

[Jlv2012]

make the playoffs this year.  Hopefully they’ll get healthy and be ready for the 2013-2014 season.

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

Isn’t this the second time Love has broken his hand?

Derrick Williams will have to step up.

[Raef LaFrentzParticipant]

Yep, except it was his left hand he broke in training camp a few years back.

[Eilly JamParticipant]

lol

[baggin13Participant]

I think it was two years ago, right around the same time. If we can snag at least nine of those games,the wolves will still be in good shape for the rest of the year. Its Pek time! And im looking forward to the Russian connection.

[Lebron’s HairlineParticipant]

 Uh oh if it’s his shooting hand loves touch is going to be off when he comes back

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

Yea, that’s a great point about it being his shooting hand. I can’t remember for 100%, but I think he came back a little early last time and played with the cast since it was his non-shooting hand.

I’m sure this time, considering it’s his shooting hand, he’ll take the full amount of time to recover. Huge blow to the Timberwolves. Hope squashed.

[Raef LaFrentzParticipant]

"Hope squashed."

And you almost sound happy.

Joking. Kind of.

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

No, not at all. I never like to see a player get injured. Especially one of the young stars. With Rubio already out until Jan, it was already going to be tough. Now, Kevin Love gets injured too? That’s definitely a hope squasher when your two best players get hurt. It sucks for the fans and this hurts their playoff hopes.

 

[TyroberParticipant]

I think everyone is being a little too optimisitic here. They are missing their two best players for a lot of time. I hope they can recover, but it’s not looking good.

[Meditated StatesParticipant]

Even when they come back it will take a month before they are up to speed. Rubio even longer.

[LipstickParticipant]

Putting a positive spin on this, I’m excited to see what Derrick Williams can do with a lot more minutes. Should he excel, that either gives the T-Wolves trade bait or a great sixth man. Also, people will finally notice how good Pek really is. 15-20 points and 10 rebounds sounds very likely as long as he can stay on the floor.

Looking at the schedule, they should be able to tread water.

 

[keowizaoParticipant]

good

[keowizaoParticipant]

good

[King CaluchaParticipant]

 I’m thinking Derrick Williams will get the starting spot, but he might lose it to Kirilenko, who’s been playing that position in Europe last season.

[LipstickParticipant]

Possibly. I expect Williams to get 30 minutes each game though (unless Williams just plays miserably) as Adelman will fiddle with the lineups.

I wouldn’t call it small ball by playing Kirilenko-Williams-Pek at the same time, but Williams is certainly a step up in athleticism and quickness from Love and can give them some interesting mismatches at the 4.

[phila9012Participant]

 yea, ridnour-roy-AK-derrick williams-pek is an average starting 5.It should give williams confidence that he will have consistant playing time and hopefully he actually shoots a decent percentage from the field and then when rubio and love get back the bench will look great. this could either destroy the season or make it greater

[FACEFANDEParticipant]

Derrick Williams will have to step up.

[TallmanNYCParticipant]

When I heard about this I was bummed. Guys like me who have been saying the Wolves are now a 50 win team now might not be right. So folks are going to say we were crazy for thinking the Wolves we that improved. But we were right. But Love was the star. Easily a top ten player in the league and maybe scratching at the door of top five this season (Rose is out for the season and Wade is already banged up and obviously unable to play a whole season anymore so that opens two spots in the top five in my book). 

No Rubio and no Love starts to stretch this team. Williams is about as much of a replacement for Love as Battier is for Lebron. Well, okay, not that bad. But seriously Love is a beast. Would have been second or third in the league in rebouding while having the ability to score effeciently close to the basket and from three point (like Dirk Nowitzki shooting combined with D Howard’s rebounding).  That said, if they hold on to the 8th seed and everyone is healthy come playoff time, no one will want to play them. 

[LipstickParticipant]

What’s the situation with the T-Wolves draft picks? I thought we shipped them to acquire Kirilenko, but are they lottery protected? It’s possible they could only muster 30 wins thanks to these injuries.

[LipstickParticipant]

Now I’m thinking it would be humorous if Love and Rubio sat out the whole season, acquire Shabazz, and become a perennial contender in 2014. That just might rid the NBA of the lottery and tanking in general

[HaleParticipant]

As funny/ridiculous as that would be, the Wolves are cursed in the draft lottery as well. They’ve never moved up from where they were supposed to pick and haven’t even stayed the same when they should’ve had the 1st pick.

[TallmanNYCParticipant]

 Roy is looking like he can play as a legit starting SG. So actually the Wolves projected wins aren’t going to drop that much. 30 wins is not a possibility. 40 is probably the floor even with this Love injury. A lot of folks were punting on Roy being even able to stay in the league this year. But now it looks like he is going to be a solid SG. But if AK goes down during these 6 to 8 weeks (and that is real risk with AK) then there will be a huge problem.  

[TWINTAParticipant]

Perhaps the most encouraging sign of Beal’s four preseason appearances has been the way Washington has pushed the tempo. The Wizards ranked seventh in the NBA in possessions per game last season, and could actually improve upon that this year once Wall gets healthy.

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

@TallmanNYC

After reading your two posts in this thread, I have to ask… Are you high?

Rubio is out until Jan and will need the following two months to shake off rust and Love is out for 6-8, and you think this team’s "floor" is 40 wins? And you’re basing this on Roy, who still lacks a meniscus in both knees? He’s played solid in a few games, but the battle will be lasting an entire season and how his knees hold up against the grind.

This is clearly a pro T-Wolves thread, but I just couldn’t not comment on your posts… Smh. You’re taking being a homer or fan boy to a new level.

 

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

Delusion is fun. The fanboys try to have it every way.

Minnesota isn’t getting the Brandon Roy with no meniscus and no cartilage in his knees. They are getting the 2009 Brandon Roy. Forget that all the hope for a dynamic return has been said of Tracy McGrady, Jonathan Bender, Allan Houston, Greg Oden, and so many others. It doesn’t matter. They are getting the 2009 Brandon Roy, just like the Knicks were getting the 2003 T-Mac when he had a huge debut.

The Timberwolves are also getting a perfectly healthy Ricky Rubio on December 1st, and not the Rubio who couldn’t shoot. The one who secretly is Deron Williams.

Kevin Love tries harder defensively than any other player in the NBA. It doesn’t matter what you see or the results. They know it to be so.

Andrei Kirilenko hasn’t played 70 games since 2008, but this year he will be fully healthy.

Greg Stiemsma is better than Darko Milicic because they have never actually seen Greg Stiemsma play.

They will have you believe that up until this point every player who has played with Minnesota previously was a complete bum, and their ineptitude held this team back. It doesn’t matter that Wes Johnson is averaging 14 points on 46 percent shooting and 35 percent from three now that he is out of Minnesota. Corey Brewer isn’t averaging 18 points on 60 percent shooting in Denver after have a season and a half of productive play in Dallas and Denver. Al Jefferson did not carry Utah to the playoffs with a pitiful supporting cast that was meant to be rebuilding. It was all Gordon Hayward, just look at the playoffs. Martell Webster cannot possibly be winning the starting job in Washington when he is averaging 13 points per on 45 percent shooting. It is not as if he was good with Portland before Minnesota signed him or anything. Darko hasn’t completely stepped into Greg Stiemsma’s spot in Boston while Danny Ainge laughs about the cash savings. Michael Beasley has not actually learned to pass the ball. Honestly, how does a guy have 45 assists in 1000 minutes last year and then have 11 in 66 this preseason? The next thing you know someone might actually tell him that it is okay to try to play defense too.

[NbanflguyParticipant]

Are you seriously using 3 or 4 games of preseason stats? They mean nothing. We know you are a wolves hater, but at least wait until the regular season begins to start talking.

 

 

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

Actually the cases of Al Jefferson, Corey Brewer, and Martell Webster go beyond that, and just point out there have been players who have helped winners before going to Minnesota and after leaving them. The final point was mostly made just to bring up that Beasley has actually passed the ball, which honestly I did not think was possible, and partially because you blamed everything over the past couple years except Ricky Rubio’s acl tear on Wes Johnson.  

[Raef LaFrentzParticipant]

Hey BTPH, I think you forgot to write, "I hate anything anyone posts on this site. All of it. I’m a cynical douche for no reason."

Don’t worry though, we all knew that anyway.

[LipstickParticipant]

Who thought Ricky Rubio was Deron Williams? lol

[Raef LaFrentzParticipant]

Looks like Love "could be back in 5 weeks" after meeting with a hand specialist. This is a good sign I guess. Still sucks that it is his shooting hand.

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

@Raef LaFrentz

Seriously? Your response to him making several great points was that he’s a hater, douche, blah, blah and call him names?

Regardless if you don’t like what he said, he made great points. You didn’t respond to one… You just hit the negative and called him names. At least Nbanflguy had a legit response.

 

[Raef LaFrentzParticipant]

I didn’t call him a hater douche. I simply told him that he forgot to write that.

And how did he make great points when Nbanflguy proved his "points" moot? Why would I need to make any further points about it?

You know just as well as the rest of us here on the forum that all BTPH does is shoot down other poster’s optimistic posts about their favorite teams. Why? For what reason? NONE! I don’t see how you can back that up even if you may agree with what he says. It’s ridiculous and people are sick of it. Redundant hating for no reason IS a douchey thing to do! There’s no way around that. So I saw fit that there was no need to point out exactly what Nbanflguy did, but rather to simply show my disapproval of his cyincal posts (all of them, seemingly, are like this).

[Raef LaFrentzParticipant]

His best point he made was Wes Johnson in preseason? Give me a break, man. You ate that sh1t up all in an attempt to call me out for telling him how everyone sees him/his posts? It’s cool, be my guest.

[joecheck88Participant]

I’m pretty sure he isn’t hating. It is called keeping it real. I didn’t like the preseason stats either but I think he was right in most of his views. There was no rebuttle Brandon Roy and Andrei Kirilenko. They are both shadows of what they were and now Minny fans think they will carry them while their 2 best players are out for a significant amount of time. He’s keeping it real. Roy can play 20 minutes on a good night and not every game. Kirilenko will most likely miss 20 games like he usually does. Then Minny fans blame all their failures on Al Jefferson who carried a team with "maybe" a bit more talent to the playoffs after he leaves. Hmmm. Then they were so happy to get Darko out the door and now they signed a guy who is a downgrade. He blocks shots ok. Then a guy like Corey Brewer gets called a bust but when he leaves Minny, he becomes a contributor on very good teams.

so I think the point is, why are these guys having success in other places? How come these guys can help out playoff teams but were miserable in Minny? Is the outlook for Minny brighter than it has been? Yes, but I think BTPH is just trying to temper the fans expectations a bit.

then you call the guy a douche for having an opinion. You’re the douche for responding like a child and bringing nothing to the conversation. It’s a basketball forum where you talked zero basketball. Try arguing your point. Tell him why you think he is mistaken. Contribute to the site. We have enough trolls as it is. 

[NbanflguyParticipant]

I agree with Raef. BTPH seems to always talk down to people and he is strongly against optimism and I am tired of it. I treat being a fan of a team as if I was actually on that team. Never in my athletic career did I enter a game expecting to lose or something bad to happen. Its the same with my fanhood. I never will pick against my team or watch a game expecting them to lose. I am an optimist BTPH, deal with it.

[bangbangwayne sr]

Loserbo

[Betty HowardParticipant]

Derrick Williams will have to step up.

[LipstickParticipant]

I still think their ceiling is the same around that 50-win range. But I’m not sure why ESPN labeled them as a 3-seed (or 2nd seed?). Maybe they wanted to be "bold", who knows.

To go from starting Wes Johnson, Martell Webster, and Darko Milicic to Brandon Roy, Andrei Kirilenko, and Nikola Pekovic is a monster improvement overall, though Johnson and Webster could have decent bounce-back seasons on different teams. Anyone replacing Darko is either neutral or an improvement.

But Love’s injury definitely brings their floor to around 25-30 wins. There’s too much unpredictability with their roster and how productive it will be with or without Love on the floor. I don’t think anyone expected Minnesota to get the 2009 Brandon Roy. If they do, then….well, the 2013-2014 season could be a very scary team when they’ll have a fresh start.

lol @ hating in this thread.

Al Jefferson was a mistake to trade because they got basically nothing back for him. He scores 20 a game, sure, but he’s going to allow the same on defense. His performances just prior to his ACL injury were outstanding and at least he’s still that back-to-basket, great rebounding post player that a lot of teams could use. Utah in the playoffs wasn’t a ridiculous prediction last season. It lost popularity after they got destroyed by the Lakers who were finishing a back-to-back-to-back, but making the playoffs really wasn’t shocking. Phoenix in the playoffs would’ve been far more impressive.

Pretty sure Brewer’s experience in Dallas was not that productive. Denver is definitely different, but if you want to use a few preseason games to support an argument, take the Bleacher Report road and go for it. Brewer, Johnson, and Beasley are fairly young into their careers so to see them be better on different teams shouldn’t be surprising at all. Eventually, you’d think players that keep getting traded would figure it out and start doing what their team asks them to do. With Beasley this season, that definitely might be the case. Those guys didn’t click with the T-Wolves, whatever. Not every player is going to fit perfectly into a rebuilding team, especially when you draft what could be a great roleplayer instead of the most skilled player in the draft (Wes Johnson over Cousins, for example, when they already had Brewer).

Anyway, a few people are excited about a team. So what? Tons of people on here are drooling over Andre Drummond and a few others before they’ve either played a single regular season game or have yet to prove themselves. People like to be happy, excited, and optimistic. I repeat: people like to be happy, excited, and optimistic.

Hate hate hate all you want, but I’m sure this kind of thread about excitement for the T-Wolves will keep re-appearing through NEXT season as well (as long the core of this roster stays together or further improves).

Get used to it. It’s not going to go away, much like the excitement for players like Andre Drummond and whoever else people on this site drool over.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[banggbanggwayne]

No matter how many points u gave yo weak self

[Betty HowardParticipant]

Yep, lol

[geothermalParticipant]

 Wesley Johnson is in the Suns now, 

Thats what he gets from immitating Garnets Fist push up,

 

[ZoMin1985Participant]

Kirilenko spent last year’s lockout-shortened season playing for CSKA Moscow in Russia — the same team he played for when the Jazz drafted him with the No. 24 pick back in 1999. He dominated Euroleague in his year away from the NBA, winning the Euroleague MVP award and proving he’s still got a whole lot of gas left in the tank. Now, he’s looking for a fresh start in Minnesota.

[Author]

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