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Sports
Jul. 15, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

T-Wolves fans could learn to like Love

Rookie from UCLA plays over poor start in Minnesota debut

By STEVE CARP
REVIEW-JOURNAL
More Info
Slideshow

NBA SUMMER LEAGUE

MONDAY'S SCORES

At Cox Pavilion
• New York 97, Cleveland 94
• Denver 90, Toronto 79
• Portland 78, Washington 73
• Dallas 88, Minnesota 74

At Thomas & Mack Center
• Houston 100, Phoenix 97
• San Antonio 78, Memphis 76

TODAY'S GAMES

At Cox Pavilion
• Detroit vs. Milwaukee, 3 p.m.
• Philadelphia vs. L.A. Lakers, 5 p.m.
• Sacramento vs. Portland, 7 p.m.

At Thomas & Mack Center
• San Antonio vs. New Orleans, 5:30 p.m.
• Charlotte vs. Golden State, 7:30 p.m.


Minnesota Timberwolves rookie forward Kevin Love attempts a free throw in his NBA Summer League debut Monday. The 19-year-old from UCLA had 18 points and 13 rebounds in an 88-74 loss to Dallas.
Photo by Jason Bean/Review-Journal

It was easy to envision Internet message boards devoted to the Minnesota Timberwolves exploding with anger as Kevin Love missed shot after shot and committed foul after foul early in his NBA Summer League debut Monday.

Yes, the 19-year-old rookie forward from UCLA struggled mightily in his first 15 minutes as a professional player.

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    • Minnesota general manager Kevin McHale must have been getting roasted online. It was he who engineered a draft-day trade with Memphis to swap O.J. Mayo, the No. 3 overall pick and apparent fan favorite, for Love, the No. 5 pick, as part of an eight-player deal.

    But the 6-foot-10-inch Love appears to be a quick study. He found his groove in the second half and finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds in the Timberwolves' 88-74 loss to the Dallas Mavericks at Cox Pavilion.

    The Twin Cities can exhale. Their savior isn't a stiff.

    "I'm not used to losing," Love said. "I had first-game jitters. I was kind of shaking out there. It hasn't necessarily set in that I'm an NBA player.

    "I had like four fouls in the first two minutes. But I adjusted, started moving my feet on defense, getting out to the pick-and-roll earlier and sealing the baseline, and started being more aggressive and looking for my shot. It's a learning curve and I just have to adjust."

    Love has been with the team for four days. Jerry Sichting, coach of Minnesota's summer entry, said this is a big week in the rookie's development.

    "He's going to learn a lot of stuff this week," he said. "He'll learn the refs and adjust to the pace of the game. But he's got a lot of talent and he's going to be better with better players around him."

    Love said he could quickly tell he wasn't in college anymore as he tried to keep pace with the playground pace of the summer league.

    "It's a lot faster, a lot more up-and-down," he said. "I've got to get in better shape."

    While Love adjusted and played better as the game went on, his six personal fouls and five turnovers can't be ignored. But it was understandable, given that he had practiced with his new teammates only a couple of times.

    Come October, Love will get to work with Mike Miller, Al Jefferson and Randy Foye. He's looking forward to that.

    "When I was traded (to Minnesota) and I saw I would be playing with Al and Mike Miller, I got excited," Love said. "I'm going to learn a lot from playing with those guys. I'm still only 19 years old. I'm still learning a lot. I'm just trying to get this thing going a little bit here in the summer league."

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    sports fan wrote on July 21, 2008 03:04 PM: Sure abc like Las Vegas doesn't have any thugs. I also hope that they stay away and what the heck does that have to do with this article? Go find something that has to do with your pet peeve to post on. You didn't even post one comment concerning the article in question.
    I think Love will be a good addition to the team and will be starting before to many games are played. I had my some questions about his agility and quickness at this level. However it looks like he may be able to adjust. If he gets to start some this year as a rookie it will be a pretty big accomplishment if he gets to start and is effective I will be really impressed with him as a rookie I wish him luck.


    Wolves Fan wrote on July 16, 2008 11:05 AM: Solid article. It will be interesting to see how the Love / Big Al combo does this season. Obviously their offseason moves do not make them an immediate playoff contender, but the Wolves should top the 22 wins they had last year.


    abc wrote on July 15, 2008 06:41 PM: Why is an exhibition NBA game given prominent coverage (including this online version) by the RJ, but they don't provide an online link, and only offer a small print version, of the much-more-significant story about the NBA referee who made 134 phone calls either to a fellow referee or to gamblers (to provide game information) during the period when he was betting on NBA games? Commisioner Stern says this ref was simply an isolated case, but it sure doesn't seem that way. Let's make sure that the NBA stays out of Las Vegas and that those who want to bring an NBA team here are sent packing to another city, where they can deal with the thugs that accompany these NBA teams.


    W+ Will wrote on July 15, 2008 02:24 PM: I think Love started 2-3 from the field, so offensively I don't think he was missing a lot of shots like the article suggest. When he left due to foul trouble, he had 8 pts and 5 rebounds.