HOOPSWORLD | Basketball News & NBA Rumors

The Value Of Health: Still in the early stages of a massive rebuilding period, the Minnesota Timberwolves came into the 2010-2011 season knowing that it was going to be a tough year. In an offseason where most teams opted to spend wildly without much concern for the long-term picture the Wolves operated wisely and efficiently. Rather than overspending like everyone else they signed players with low price tags and high value while putting themselves in an ideal position salary cap wise.

Although the immediate benefits weren’t overwhelming, the Timberwolves did what they had to do in order to take some major steps forward in the next few seasons.

As expected, the Wolves have gotten off to a rough start. At 8-24 only the Sacramento Kings have a worse record in the Western Conference. However, over the last two games they’ve started to perform like everyone in the organization was hoping they would and it’s no coincidence that it comes at a time where head coach Kurt Rambis finally has his full rotation at his disposal.

The Timberwolves have been fortunate that their top two players, Kevin Love and Michael Beasley, have managed to stay relatively healthy. Love has played in every game while Beasley has missed just two, but the role players have had a much harder time avoiding the injury bug.

Luke Ridnour, Martell Webster, Darko Milicic, Jonny Flynn, Nikola Pekovic and Anthony Tolliver – all projected to be a part of Rambis’ rotation going into the season – have combined to miss 85 games. All the constant shuffling of the lineup has prevented them from forming the right kind of chemistry needed for a young team like themselves to win games.

Their biggest struggles have come on the defensive end, where their lack of cohesion hurts them the most. During a recently snapped seven-game losing streak the Wolves gave up an average of 103 points a night. Yet, they have shown flashes of being a good defensive team this year; when they hold teams under 100 they boast a record of 5-2. Unfortunately, they just haven’t been together enough up to this point to be as good as they need to defensively on a nightly basis.

With the rotation finally starting to get healthy the Timberwolves are showing everyone that they aren’t anywhere near as bad as they’re made out to be by some. They aren’t going to make any type of serious playoff push this year, but to deny that some good work has been done there would be erroneous.

Like all teams at this time of year the Timberwolves are going to do their due diligence when it comes to personnel moves. Love and Beasley are the only ones who could be labeled virtually untouchable; everyone else could be had in the right deal, although rookie Wesley Johnson would also be very tough to pry away.

Recent reports suggesting that the Timberwolves are interested in Memphis Grizzlies guard O.J. Mayo are inaccurate. Further research proved those claims to be false, but the Timberwolves do like New York Knicks forward Anthony Randolph as the report also suggested. They view Randolph as a nice project who would be worth acquiring if they didn’t have to give up much.

The player that the Timberwolves truly covet is Portland Trail Blazers forward Nicolas Batum. They really like his game and potential in their system, but are less than optimistic about their chances to acquire him due to how much he’s valued by the Blazers and their reluctance to let go of Love or Beasley. They also happen to be just one of several teams who would love to deal for Batum, so there would be a lot of competition if the Blazers were to put him on the market.

Timberwolves general manager David Kahn has preached patience from day one and it’s starting to become clear his plan is working. The Wolves are in position to make a big splash if the right deal comes along and until then they’re still going to be quite pesky. The rest of the league is going to start to realize that when healthy this Wolves team cannot be looked past.

Blair’s Big Night: If Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant is going to take the blame for his team’s 97-82 loss to the San Antonio Spurs then San Antonio Spurs’ second-year forward DeJuan Blair should be taking a lot of credit for the victory along with Tony Parker.

The 6’7 Blair went toe-to-toe against the best group of big men in the league and came out on top with a huge double-double of 17 points and 15 rebounds.

"DeJuan was fantastic tonight on both ends of the court," said Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. "I thought he showed a lot of poise and got some offensive boards and kicked it back out, as he should in certain situations. I think he’s looking more mature all the time."

"He was huge," added Spurs guard Manu Ginobili. "Sometimes we think against teams like them, where they have seven-footers and a lot of size, he may struggle. But somehow, he finds a way, he gets those boards and finds a way to finish at the rim. He’s got that kind of ability that’s not easy to find. For a 6’6, 6’7 guy, it was amazing. He was a big factor today."

{AUTHOR_BOX}Blair, a truly humble and hardworking individual, credited his mentors Tim Duncan and Antonio McDyess for his noteworthy performance against the two-time defending champs.

"(I was) going up and just going against them and saying I’m going to get this rebound or I’m going to shoot this ball and not thinking," said Blair. "Tim and McDyess have been in my head and said to not think and just play basketball. That’s what I did tonight and I had an excellent game.

"I hope we (made a statement), but we still have to play them a lot more times. We just have to keep playing and getting better every day. Every day counts from here on out. It’s still the beginning of the season. 27-4 is an excellent record but there’s a lot more we can improve in and once we get that down pact on defense and once our offense starts flowing like we really want it to, the sky’s the limit."

If Blair can continue to hold his own against the league’s premier big men like he did last night then sky definitely is the limit for the Spurs.

Carter Debuts Tonight: Shooting guard Vince Carter, who the Phoenix Suns recently acquired from the Orlando Magic, will make his debut with the team tonight after missing the first four games due to knee issues.

Carter considered getting arthroscopic surgery on his ailing knee, but an MRI revealed the procedure would not be necessary so he will suit up tonight against the Philadelphia 76ers.

While the Magic have thrived since dealing with the Suns, Phoenix has struggled. They’ve gone 1-3 since the deal, needing Carter’s explosive offensive capabilities. He’ll be welcomed with open arms by point guard Steve Nash and head coach Alvin Gentry as the team looks to get back in the top eight in the Western Conference.

Currently the Suns are in 11th place after falling under .500. They are just two and a half games back, though, so they have plenty of time to make up the ground they lost.

Boykins Suspended: Earl Boykins of the Milwaukee Bucks has been suspended one game without pay for making intentional contact with a game official, it was announced late yesterday by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.

The incident occurred with 5.3 seconds remaining in the 3rd period of the Bucks’ 95-80 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee on Monday, Dec. 27.

Boykins will serve his suspension tonight when the Bucks face the Chicago Bulls at the United Center in Chicago.