Kevin Love's Broken Hand Could Break Hearts

Kevin Love's injury leaves the Timberwolves in need of production. (Getty Images)

This was supposed to be the season "it" finally happened for the Minnesota Timberwolves. After 16 seasons, the team was projected to reach the playoffs again and, depending on seeding, maybe even play in multiple rounds.

That scenario — although not ruled out completely — is now in jeopardy with the news that All-Star forward and Olympic gold medalist Kevin Love is expected to miss 6-8 weeks after breaking two bones in his right hand during a pre-practice workout at his condo Wednesday morning.

There is a lot of work to reconcile the absence of one player. Love is top-five in the NBA in scoring; free throws attempted and made; every rebounding category; and player efficiency rating. He's also fourth in win shares, just behind the likes of Finals duelers LeBron James and Kevin Durant. CBSSports.com's Royce Young further notes how integral Love is to all aspects of T-Wolves basketball:

"Love has emerged as a premier player, averaging 26.0 points and 13.3 rebounds per game last season. He's expanded his game to become a deadly 3-point shooter while maintaining his impressive work on the glass. The Wolves are essentially losing 26.5 percent of the points per game and more than 30 percent of their rebounding production."

Essentially, Love is a really good basketball player. The injury to his shooting hand comes at an unfortunate time for the T-Wolves not only because there is never a good instance for a small market team's undisputed superstar to miss games, but because there is no definite timetable for Ricky Rubio's return after tearing the ACL in his left knee during a game in March.

Technically, last season was supposed to be the Timberwolves' first chance to break back into the postseason, and that very realistic possibility was sliced apart along with Rubio's crucial joint. This year, the healthy remainders of the team will have to open the season and compete for one or two months before either player rejoins them on the court.

The long side of 6-8 weeks is nearly 20 games, and as Young points out, is nearly 25 percent of the NBA season. Before Love can conceivably come back, the T-Wolves play away games against the Brooklyn Nets, Indiana Pacers and Dallas Mavericks during a four-game road trip.

If the two bones — those in his hand below the middle and ring fingers, or third and fourth metacarpals, to be exact — take a full eight weeks to heal, Love could also miss road dates against the Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics and the retooled New Orleans Hornets, plus two contests against the always-improving Denver Nuggets, and the playoff-hopeful Golden State Warriors and Milwaukee Bucks.

What good news is to be had resides in Minnesota's new-look roster, a rebuild that Love's offseason criticism surely helped along. Former All-Star Brandon Roy and experienced Russian combo guard Alexey Shved, in his first NBA season, add backcourt depth. Andrei Kirilenko, a teammate of Shved's on the bronze-winning Russian national squad, can add firepower and strong defense at the wing. Greg Steimsma and all-around hard worker Lou Amundson are new additions to a frontcourt that already includes second-year pro Derrick Williams, who has the opportunity to grow his game and become a high caliber player as Love sits in street clothes.

Whether or not these guys — plus the incumbent players and minus Michael Beasley using over one-quarter of all possessions during his playing time — can collectively make up for Love's absence is debatable, but not likely.

Minnesota's playoff push does not die with this injury, but I wish godspeed to the Timberwolves who have to find a way to win without two leaders for a significant period — and to Love and Rubio's repaired body parts if the losses outweigh the wins when either is ready to play.


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Kirilenko's Worth It, But Complicates Deep Frontcourt

The Timberwolves are planning for more celebrating after a busy offseason. (Getty Images)

When I heard the Minnesota Timberwolves were signing Andrei Kirilenko to a contract worth $10 million per year, I couldn’t help but laugh. Kirilenko hasn’t played in the NBA for a year and wasn’t doing all that well before he left. Also, it’s my gut reaction to laugh at anything David Kahn does because at this point, I just assume it’s something silly. But it seems like now, just as I did when Ricky Rubio started playing, I might be going back on my words.

Let’s start with his work in Europe. He signed with CSKA Moscow during the lockout. Something about going to his home country must have rejuvenated him because he ended the season with both the Euroleague MVP and Defensive Player of the Year awards.

After Euroleague was over, he continued his multinational dominance by leading the Russian national team to a bronze medal in the Olympics.

He tallied 20 points and 8 rebounds in the bronze medal match against Argentina; he scored 19 points against Brazil; and got 19 points and 13 rebounds against Lithuania. The best part about Kirilenko's game was the way he looked. He was creating his own shot and not just settling on spot-up jumpers. He was playing the energetic and stifling defense that he originally became famous for, and best of all, he just looked confident.

Kirilenko is 31 now and while he may not be getting better physically, it looks like he’s back mentally. He should be a good fit next to Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio (when he returns). He will also be playing next to his Russian teammate Alexey Shved. The only downside to this move is the possible logjam it creates at the forward position. I’m not sure if Kahn knows that you need more than just forwards and point guards to win games. The team still has Kevin Love and Derrick Williams, they traded for Chase Budinger and drafted Robbie Hummel, a small forward out of Purdue. In addition to them, they also have Dante Cunningham and Anthony Tolliver on their roster.


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Report: T-Wolves to Offer Brandon Roy Two-Year Contract

For all of his questionable roster decisions, Minnesota Timberwolves GM David Kahn tentatively redeemed himself by bringing in Ricky Rubio to form a one-two punch with Kevin Love. 

In addition to acquiring Chase Budinger in a trade with the Houston Rockets on Tuesday morning, Kahn is now poised to take the first step in adding another veritable competitor, as ESPN Radio 1500 Minneapolis reported Monday night that the T-Wolves plan to offer Brandon Roy a two-year contract. 

Brandon Roy to Minnesota? (Getty Images/Jonathan Ferrey)

This comes less than two weeks after Roy took to his former college teammate’sTwitter account and announced his intention to return to the pro game. Roy retired prior to the 2011-2012 season due to degenerative knees.

Bringing Roy into the fold would give the Wolves a reliable scoring guard to compliment Love’s bucket-filling forward role. But it’s been well documented that the cartilage missing in Roy’s knees is not something that can be grown back or replaced.

Given starter’s minutes, Roy averaged 22.6 and 21.5 points per game as a Portland Trailblazer in ’08-’09 and ’09-’10, respectively. When it became obvious that Roy’s knees could not support 37 minutes each contest, he took a diminished role, posting an average of 12.2 points during his nightly 28 minutes on the floor in ’10-‘11. Productive, yes, but at a price – Roy played in only 47 games that season, sometimes on an every-other-night basis.

Another issue that could make the Wolves’ offer a dream rather than a reality is that Roy has also been tentatively linked to the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers, according to the New York Post's Peter Vecsey. Of the three, only one team can contend for a championship immediately, and no one could blame Roy if he committed himself to chasing a ring now, given his circumstances.

Due to the amnesty clause the Blazers used on him, Roy is not constrained by the rules applicable to other free agents. He can talk to teams at his leisure, and take his time in signing anywhere.

Minnesota does hold a couple links to Roy, though. Swingman Martell Webster shared a Portland jersey with him as recently as 2010, and Wolves assistant coach Bill Bayno is apparently the driving force behind convincing head coach Rick Adelman and Khan that Roy is worth the risk.

A year off means Roy's joints have had time to rest, even with the training he's been doing in his hometown of Seattle to get back into NBA shape. The story of an All-Star career being derailed by injury is already set in stone, but it hasn't written out the possibility of a postscript to retirement.


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