Larry Brown Sports

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.”

Read The Rest of the Story…

The more he speaks, the more Kevin Love sounds like a superstar who is on borrowed time with the Minnesota Timberwolves. It’s no secret that Love is upset with the direction of the Timberwolves, who have had seven straight losing seasons and have not made the playoffs since 2003. In addition, the All-Star forward was offended when some people within the organization expressed doubt over how he broke his hand.

“Even people in my own organization were asking if it was a legitimate injury, people calling my honesty and integrity into question,” Love told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. “And that’s what really hurt me.”

Love reportedly injured his hand during a round of knuckle pushups, causing him to miss the first nine games of the season. Apparently management felt as though he could be lying, which may have strained Love’s relationship with the group he already holds bitterness toward because of their decision to not offer him a max contract.

Read The Rest of the Story…

Kevin Love shaved his head in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month this week and had Larry Fitzgerald do the buzzing. As you can see from the video above that SI Hot Clicks passed along, Love and Fitzgerald teamed up to show their support for patients who have had to endure chemotherapy. It would have been nice to see Fitzy lose the dreads, but we’ll have to settle for a bald Love.

In addition to turning himself into a cue ball, Love and Fitzgerald will be donating 25 cents to breast cancer charities for every retweet or Facebook like the video gets. If you’d like to participate, you can retweet it using this link or share the video above on your Facebook page or Twitter.

The bald look doesn’t work too badly for Kevin, but if he brought back the killer mustache he had in the Spring he could really complete the image.

Kevin Love has had an injury-ridden preseason thus far, and the latest will result in him missing a good portion of the regular season. Earlier this week, Love had to sit out a preseason game against the Bulls because he was battling a sore elbow after sleeping the wrong way. Then he broke his hand. That injury also occurred off the court, and Love is expected to miss five to eight weeks because of it.

According to Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press, Love broke his hand while doing knuckle pushups. He was supposedly working out with a trainer at his condo complex before Timberwolves practice when the injury occurred.

Krawczynski also said that head coach Rick Adelman joked that knuckle pushups are now banned as a form of exercise. While Adelman was kidding, he has to be disappointed that his best player suffered an injury like that so close to the season and it didn’t even happen on the court. Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune said that fingertip pushups are a known part of Love’s workout routine, so the story makes sense.

As we know, things happen. Assuming love is telling the truth, you can’t be upset with him in the same way you would with someone who broke their hand by punching a door or suffered a gnarly gash like this one from slamming a fire extinguisher. Accidents happen — this one just happens to hurt Minnesota in a serious way.

H/T Pro Basketball Talk
Photo credit: Steve Dykes/US Presswire

Kevin Love sat out the Timberwolves preseason game against the Bulls on Saturday because of a sore right elbow. Injuries are common during the preseason when guys are getting back into the swing of things and may not be in the best shape of their lives, but they typically happen on the court or in the weight room. Love told the Star Tribune that his injury occurred in the middle of the night.

Love didn’t bang it or hyperextend it while playing only the first quarter Friday in Indianapolis. No, he instead slept with his right arm extended off his bed all night Friday and when he awoke Saturday morning, he said he could barely lift a basketball.

“I couldn’t shoot it 10 feet,” he said.

But wait, Kevin doesn’t play baseball? Usually most of the weird injuries in sports happen to the guys who swing bats for a living, whether it be missing games because of an injury suffered while napping on the plane of dozing off on the bus. As tennis star Andy Murray could tell you, sleeping is also a way to injure you’re rear end.

Fortunately for the ‘Wolves, the injury is not believed to be serious and we’re only talking about preseason basketball. When the regular season starts, I’m sure Kevin will focus on tucking his arm away in a safer manner.

H/T Pro Basketball Talk
Photo credit: Steve Dykes/US Presswire

Kevin Love has developed into one of the best players in the NBA, but the Timberwolves did not appear to view him that way when it came to their contract negotiations.

Love wanted a five-year contract extension from the team — the maximum they could have offered, but they offered him a four-year deal instead. They compromised on a four-year, $61 million contract agreed to in January that gives Love a player option for the fourth year.

Speaking to The Associated Press’ Jon Krawczynski, Love expressed his disappointment with the Timberwolves over their contract agreement.

“I wanted them to say, ‘When people think Minnesota Timberwolves, they think Kevin Love.’ And I felt with my contract we didn’t really do that.”

Minnesota wanted to maintain payroll flexibility, and that is why they did not give him a fifth year guaranteed.

“There’s a lot of stuff behind the scenes that people didn’t know about and they will never know about,” Love said. “A lot of people looked at me and said, ’Oh, he doesn’t want a four-year deal?’ No. I wanted to be the guy. I wanted to be THEIR guy. The fact that I worked as hard as I possibly could and made my mark in many different ways, even after last season, I felt I was a little bit slighted. At this point I’m past that now.”

While Love may be satisfied with some of the offseason moves the team made, it’s obvious some of these issue are still in his head. If he really were past being slighted by the contract situation, he wouldn’t be bringing it up now. He also vented in July that he had very little patience for losing in Minnesota.

You better believe that Love will leave the Timberwolves in three seasons if they don’t start winning. They will be an improved team, but can they really keep up with the Thunder or Lakers? That’s doubtful.

Chest bump to Matt Moore at Pro Basketball Talk
Photo credit: Steve Dykes/US Presswire

Kevin Love proved during a recent batting practice session at Target Field that his athletic talents are not limited to basketball.

The T-Wolves forward returned to Target Field on Friday a few days after throwing out the first pitch at a Twins game. Love had made a bet with a friend that he could hit a ball out of the park, and he proved he could do much more.

During his batting practice session before the Twins-Tigers, Love crushed a home run into the stadium’s upper deck.

As if being one of the NBA’s leading rebounders and scorers and an Olympic basketball player wasn’t enough, this guy can also drop 420-plus foot home runs. Oh yeah, he also could throw 90 mph when he was in ninth grade.

It’s OK to share some of the athletic talent genes, Kevin. You don’t have to hog them all.

Forearm bash to Sports Grid