By Jerry Zgoda, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) –
MINNEAPOLIS — For a team that hasn’t had any lately, the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday got some good news about their injured:
Not only did starting center Nikola Pekovic return to practice fully in preparation to play Wednesday against Denver, but young stars Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio took the practice floor together for the first time.
Love and Rubio participated only in 5-on-0 offensive walk-throughs during practice’s teaching parts, and their presence doesn’t necessarily mean either injured player’s timetable to return — Love somewhere around Dec. 1 with that broken hand, Rubio sometime later that month following March knee surgery — has changed.
But Wolves coach Rick Adelman was encouraged to see both working with their teammates nonetheless.
“Just having them for 5-on-0 gives them a sense that when we get them back, we’ll be pretty good,” Adelman said. “We can’t wait for that; we have to go out and play. But it just gives them a sense. Ricky’s so smart. He knew every play we had and he knew where every player should be. That’s just who he is.
“The more we get him on the court, even if it’s 5-on-0 and do shooting, it’s good for the team.”
Rubio has been running and jumping for some time. He’s also moving laterally now and likely will return to his Vail, Colo., surgeon for a final checkup before he’s cleared for full practices.
“We have to be careful about the expectations,” Adelman said. “He had a serious injury. You want him on the court. But you have to judge how quickly. He’s going to have his ups and downs. He’s just the type of young man, he’s going to get through it. He just has to have some patience himself. Once he gets on the floor in practice where he can actually have some contact, we’ll probably have a pretty good judge about where he’s at.”
Right now, Adelman coaches a team with only three healthy guards — starting point guard Luke Ridnour and shooting guards Malcolm Lee and Alexey Shved — until point guard J.J. Barea returns after a two-week absence and Rubio is cleared to play, probably sometime in mid-December. The Wolves also signed swingman Josh Howard on Thursday.
Until then, Rubio sits on the Wolves’ bench nightly and fills an unofficial role as an extra assistant coach of sorts.
“He really has been,” Adelman said. “He really has been talking to Lexey a lot, and I think that really helps. He’s a very intelligent player. He sees everything. He’s willing to talk to guys to help them. I think with Lexey especially, it helps.”
Love last week said he plans to have his broken hand X-rayed on Tuesday. The results will be sent to his New York City specialist, and he then hopes to get approval to begin strengthening the hand and begin shooting and ballhandling with it.
Barea and starting shooting guard Brandon Roy (knee) did not practice Sunday and Adelman said “I have no idea” when asked whether either will be play Wednesday against the Nuggets.
Pekovic, though, said Sunday that he intends to play Wednesday. He had hoped to play in Friday’s 106-98 home loss to Golden State in which his team got clobbered on the backboards and in points in the paint without him.
“They just want to make sure I don’t hurt it (more),” Pekovic said Sunday of the decision to sit out Friday. “Today I practice, tomorrow I practice. It’s good, it’s good. Still I got a little pain, but it’s nothing special.”
Pekovic’s return will allow Greg Stiemsma to return to his backup role. It will lessen the injury fatigue the Wolves experienced playing only eight or nine healthy players in home losses to Charlotte and Golden State. And it’ll give the Wolves the inside presence they so obviously lacked against the Warriors.
“It’s a big factor. They don’t handle us on the boards like they did,” Adelman said. “He’s a handful around the basket that they have to guard. He’s a big part of what we’re going to do. You add the other pieces we’re missing and we’re just trying to make do for right now. But I think getting back to the way we were playing in Dallas and Brooklyn, that’s what we have to do.”
