Subject :The new-look Minnesota Timberwolves will get their season underway Wednesday on the road against the
The new-look Minnesota Timberwolves will get their season underway Wednesday on the road against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedEx Forum. Edson Buddle Galaxy Jersey . Kevin Love will not be in a Minnesota uniform to kick off the season for the first time since he was drafted fifth overall in 2008. Love was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the offseason to team up with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. The Timberwolves never made it to the playoffs with Love as the cornerstone of the franchise and havent punched a postseason ticket since 2003-04. The Wolves landed the No. 1 picks in the last two drafts, Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett, for Love as well as veteran power forward Thaddeus Young from Philadelphia. Minnesota also drafted UCLA guard Zach LaVine to add to a core that includes Nikola Pekovic, Ricky Rubio, Kevin Martin and Corey Brewer. Martin was second on the team with 19.1 ppg behind Loves 26.1 ppg. Brewer still feels the Timberwolves are talented enough to move on without Love. I feel like we can still compete, Brewer said. I played on a Denver team that was the third seed and we didnt have a superstar at all. You dont have to have a superstar to be able to compete. There is plenty of upside and potential with this young nucleus of players, but it will take time to jell. Look for an estimated 20 to 25 wins for Minnesota in the return of head coach Flip Saunders. Saunders spent parts of 10 seasons from 1995-2005 as the Wolves coach and was let go at the start of the 2004-05 campaign. Saunders, though, returned to the Twin Cities in 2013 as president of basketball operations. He also took a minority ownership stake in the team and is replacing the retired Rick Adelman, who spent three seasons with the T- Wolves, who tried to make a run last season and ended with 40 wins. It was the fourth straight season the Wolves improved their previous years win total. We had enough veterans to jell the team, but there was just something that happened around February, Martin said. I couldnt put my hand on it but our team just went in a totally different direction. We dealt with a lot of off- the-court issues. The T-Wolves were third in the NBA in scoring last season with 106.9 points per game and allowed 104.3 ppg on defense. They were 3-20 when failing to score 100 points and it will probably get worse with Love gone. Minnesota, which ended the preseason with four straight wins, has won two straight and four of six season openers, but is 2-6 all-time when starting on the road. The Wolves will have a run of 13 straight season openers at home come to an end. The Grizzlies have struggled mightily on their first night, having lost 13 straight season openers dating back to 2000-01. The team resided in Vancouver at the time and moved to the Volunteer State the next season. Its surprising how poorly the Grizzlies have played in their lid-lifters, despite the amount of success theyve had in recent years. They made the postseason for a fourth straight time in 2013-14, when they went 50-32 and recorded at least that many wins for a second year in a row. Memphis lost to Oklahoma City in seven games in the first round and is hoping year No. 2 under David Joerger will bear more fruit. Joerger recorded the best record of any of the 10 first-year NBA head coaches last season and preaches defense as evidenced by the 94.6 ppg clip -- best in the West. Joerger put his teams chances for another playoff run in perspective. I dont think theres high expectations for this team. Were the team nobodys talking about nationally, he said. Theres really good teams in the West. Well, the Grizzlies are pretty good, too. They have a strong bunch of players in Zach Randolph, Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, and newcomer, veteran Vince Carter. Randolph and Gasol give Memphis a formidable frontcourt duo and the former posted 47 double-doubles in 2013-14. We have good depth and good experience, said Joerger. Randolph averaged 17.4 points and 10.1 rebounds -- both team highs -- and Conley posted a career-high 17.2 ppg. Gasol was third with 14.6 ppg and second with 7.2 rpg despite missing time because of a knee injury. Gasol had 18.0 points and 9.3 rebounds in April. Carter will most likely pass Robert Parish and Charles Barkley on the NBAs all-time scoring list (23,190). Parish had 23,334 and Barkley posted 23,757. The Grizzlies and T-Wolves split four meetings last season, but Memphis has won 16 of the previous 19 matchups. The two teams will meet again in January, March and April. Minnesota has lost 15 of the past 19 games on Beale Street. Jeff Larentowicz Jersey . - The Clippers have signed guard Dahntay Jones to a second 10-day contract. Edson Buddle Jersey . Burkes Flames are one of several teams involved in heavy trade speculation going into next Wednesdays 3pm et deadline, with the most prominent name in play being forward Michael Cammalleri.Hallandale Beach, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Pants On Fire has not finished out of the money this year and will try to keep that streak alive Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the $100,000 Harlans Holiday Stakes at 1 1/16 miles. Owned by George and Lori Hall, Pants On Fire will take on eight rivals in the late season stakes and start from post 4 with his regular rider Paco Lopez in the saddle. The 6-year-old, trained by Kelly Breen, is coming off a solid third-place finish in this years Breeders Cup Dirt Mile at 9-1 behind repeat winner Goldencents. The veteran racehorse, winner of the 2011 Louisiana Derby, began 2014 with a third in the Monmouth Cup following a lengthy rest after racing in last Decembers Japan Cup Dirt Staakes. Dan Gargan Jersey. Pants On Fire got second in Monmouths Iselin Handicap in August with another runner-up finish in Belmont Parks Left Bank Stakes. He hit the wire first on Sept. 20 at Charles Town Races in the Wild and Wonderful Stakes. The 6-year-old has won nine of 29 lifetime starts with five seconds and six thirds for $1,427,635. Here is the field for Harlans Holiday from the rail out: Sr. Quisqueyano, Arny Fontanez; Csaba, Luis Saez; Rose To Gold, Jesus Rios; Pants On Fire, Paco Lopez; Hampstead Heath, Luis Contreras; Schivarelli, Javier Castellano; Valid, Orlando Bocachica; Liams Map, John Velazquez and Hy Kodiak Warrior, Manuel Melean. The Harlans Holiday has an approximate post time of 4:27 p.m. ET. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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