Kevin Love stands by his comments about the Timberwolves

As you might expect, the Minnesota Timberwolves were not thrilled with most of the Kevin Love quotes that were published in Tuesday’s Yahoo! Sports feature story on him. Love has been critical of the organization in the past, and that continued with many of the things he told Adrian Wojnarowski.

On Wednesday, Love stood by the things he said in the interview but claimed there were a lot of positive things he said about the Timberwolves that were not printed. He also admitted he wishes he kept the thoughts to himself.

“I meant what I said, I told (Timberwolves owner David Kahn) there’s nothing to apologize about,” Love said according to the Star Tribune. “The only thing I was sorry about is that I did it in public and if there’s a learning expereince from that, it’s not to do that again.

“A lot of athletes these days say the right thing and aren’t outspoken. I happen to be in this article. I’m not going to go forward and say I have anything to apologize about. I said what I felt. I didn’t mean to alienate my team, my coaches, the organization or more importantly the fans…I said a lot of things about the team and where we’re at this point and I’ll continue to say it throughout the year because that’s how I feel.”

Many of the quotes in the Yahoo! Sports story made it sound as though Love is not happy with this year’s team and has no intention of remaining in Minnesota after his current contract expires. However, Love said that he “absolutely” wants to end his career as a Timberwolf and is confident in his current teammates.

“I do believe this is the closest knit team that we’ve had,” he said. “The coaching staff has been great and we have a chance to make something very special this year and for years to come. I’m definitely happy with…I’ve mentioned it this summer, it keeps coming up again. The acquisitions we made this off-season, I’m very happy with. As far as the state of the team, I think we’re fine.”

There’s nothing wrong with being honest, but the Timberwolves are 10-9 and should be getting Ricky Rubio back from injury shortly. Love was simply speaking his mind and most of what he said was justified, but doing it this early in the season when anything can happen seems pointless.

Photo credit: Steve Dykes/US Presswire