Larry Brown Sports

The Minnesota Timberwolves are currently 23-43 and out of playoff contention. What started as a year filled with postseason aspirations has turned into another disappointing season, but losing basketball games has not been the most important issue in head coach Rick Adelman’s life.

Adelman’s wife, Mary Kay, continues to have health problems. She was hospitalized in January, where doctors tried to determine the cause of her seizures. Adelman missed 11 games during the month of January as a result. According to NBA.com’s Hang Time Blog, he contemplating quitting twice during the season and may resign over the summer if Mary Kay continues to struggle with her health.

“She’s just on a lot of medicine,” Adelman explained. “We’ll just have to wait and see. We go back to the doctor in April and see what they have to say. I think it’s something I’m just going to have to sit down with my wife and family and just talk about and see where we’re going with this. The most important thing is where we’re going with her health. Whatever happens will happen naturally.”

The Timberwolves still have games to play, so Adelman would not specifically say that he is considering resigning after the season ends. However, it would be tough to imagine his players not understanding that family comes first.

“It’s unfair for me to talk about that when I’m asking these guys to finish the season off and compete,” Adelman said. “And that’s all I’m trying to do now. I think there will be a right time to look at everything. I don’t want to really talk about those types of things until it’s done.”

There are more important things in life than basketball games. Adelman is one of the best coaches in the NBA, but I’m sure being away from his wife during this difficult time has been a challenge. Here’s hoping her health improves and he can return to coaching next season.

The viral sensation that is the Harlem Shake appears to still be going strong, despite the fact that many people like us have grown tired of it. Apparently the Minnesota Timberwolves have also had enough.

On Tuesday, the T-Wolves posted their own version of the Harlem Shake on their official YouTube account. As you can see, it featured a person in a LeBron James jersey wearing a motorcycle helmet. Instead of hitting its climax around the 15-second mark like all of the other Harlem Shake videos, this one ended with the T-Wolves mascot coming out and pummeling the man in the LeBron jersey.

“Some things get old fast,” a message read at the end of the video.

The Heat released their own Harlem Shake video last week, and it looks like the Timberwolves feel that they put the final nail in the coffin. We have seen at least one funny version of the trend, but ultimately we’re with the Wolves. It’s time for the Harlem Shake to end.

H/T Black Sports Online

The Minnesota Timberwolves (17-22) have not played all that well this season. You could make the argument that they have been even worse when Ricky Rubio is on the floor. The second-year point guard has battled injuries that have limited him to just 14 appearances this season. Of those 14 games, the Timberwolves have won just four.

Minnesota picked up its seventh loss in its past eight games against the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night. Head coach Terry Porter decided to bench Rubio in favor of JJ Barea for the entire fourth quarter, and Ricky was not shy about expressing his displeasure after the game.

“I want to know what happened,” Rubio said according to The Pioneer Press. “We’re going to talk. ‘TP’ preferred to play the other players who were playing. I don’t know what to say. I don’t like it.”

To make matters more frustrating, Rubio reported to the scorer’s table twice in the final quarter but was called back both times. The first time, it appeared that Rubio would replace Barea after Barea committed his fifth foul of the quarter. Luke Ridnour replaced Mickael Gelabale instead, and Barea stayed in the game. Later in the quarter, Barea fell hard to the floor and appeared to suffer an injury. Porter was about to put Rubio in, but Barea waved him off before hitting a timely three-pointer.

“J.J. hit a shot,” Porter explained. “He hit a three. I was taking him out because I thought he was hurt but he said he was fine and made a shot. At that point, I just rolled with him. He was hot and made a shot. That was the only difference.”

That may have been the only difference on Wednesday, but there’s no denying Rubio has struggled all throughout his sophomore season. He is averaging just 4.2 points and 5.0 assists per game, as opposed to 10.6 points and 8.2 assists last year. He’s a crucial part of the team’s future, but Rubio simply isn’t performing. The way he has played is enough to earn most players a spot on the bench in certain situations.

Chest bump to Pro Basketball Talk

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.”

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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.

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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

The Minnesota Timberwolves put together their best record in six seasons last year, and that’s pretty impressive considering they had “bad blood” in the locker room.

In an interview with the St. Paul Pioneer-Press, T-Wolves star Kevin Love said he was happy the team got rid of some players who were problems last season.

“If we get everybody back healthy, with Ricky back healthy, if Roy comes in healthy, and if we can get off to a good start, we’re going to be good. But we really have to add as many as pieces as we possibly can, veteran guys,” he told the Pioneer Press. “There was some bad blood in that locker room we were able to get out of there and smooth things out. That should help us out going forward.”

Asked to elaborate, Love responded: “Just what I said. We had bad blood in the locker room. We got that out.”

The players from last season who are no longer on the roster include Darko Milicic, Michael Beasley, Martell Webster, and Anthony Randolph. We can speculate about who was the source of the bad blood — and Beasley’s reputation doesn’t bode well for him in this sense — but it’s hard to pinpoint the problem. We just know that the T-Wolves need to start winning otherwise they’ll risk losing their best player. Cleaning out the “bad blood” is a start to having more success. Ricky Rubio and Brandon Roy’s knees are another key factor.

Chest bump to Pro Basketball Talk