The Minnesota Timberwolves are expected to be bad this season. Now their first month of the season will be even worse. Kevin Love, the second year power forward out of UCLA, will miss approximately six weeks after breaking his left hand during a preseason game.
Love broke the fourth metacarpal bone after colliding with a teammate. As a rookie he averaged 11.1 points, 9.1 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 0.6 blocks in 25.3 minutes per contest.
“Fortunately,” remarked Love, “it’s my non-shooting hand.”
It’ll be interesting to see how the Timberwolves alter their lineup with Love not available. Al Jefferson will be one of …read more

Anybody with a pulse has probably been keeping up with what’s been going on at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
The United States basketball team destroyed Spain today 119-82 to advance to the medal round. This should come as no surprise. The U.S. has been abusing the competition since they got off the plane in Beijing and will no doubt bring home the gold and make up for the sins of the 2004 team that had to settle for the bronze.
Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Carmello Anthony and other members of the “Redeemed Team” are showing the rest …read more

Can we please stop referring to certain college basketball players and college athletes in general as “Student Athletes”?
How much of a student do you really think Michael Beasley, Kevin Love, O.J. Mayo, Derrick Rose and the other one-and-dones and two-and-dones were really students? How much time do you think they spent in the class compared to the basketball court and with potential agents?
Let’s call them what they really are – Minor League Players. The only difference is that real minor league players are paid legally.

On Thursday night Minnesota had a lot of people respecting them, believing they had made the correct selection at #3. But when folks woke up Friday, many were probably not too surprised the team who gave up Kevin Garnett traded away O.J. Mayo too. This time the T-Wolves didn’t get a Al Jefferson type of talent in return, instead they got a low ceiling player in Kevin Love.
Memphis looks much more legit now with a Mayo-Gay combo.
Minnesota? Jefferson-McCants, Jefferson-Gomes.
Ouch.
Speaking of Memphis, Chris Douglas-Roberts did get chosen by a team on …read more

THE 08 NBA Draft is fast approaching and I for one love to predict when certain players will get drafted and whether they will become the next Eddy Curry disaster or the next Monta Ellis find.
O.J. Mayo USC
O.J. has been talked about ad nauseam on this site as you probably already know (sorry Kevin).
Where will he go in the draft?
Talent wise, he’s right up there with Rose and Beasley, but NBA teams don’t always go for the most talented, sometimes they just go for need instead.
The T-Wolves need difference makers and Mayo would certainly …read more

Ryan Anderson is going to be making quite a big decision by 5pm today. All signs point to Ryan signing an agent and entering the NBA draft, thus foregoing the rest of his college career at California.
He’s currently on that 1st round fence.
I routinely get the feeling that a lot of the non west coasters don’t know much about Ryan. They recognize his name, but don’t really know his game.
He’s been called a tweener and unathletic, but many players have escaped that tag and gone on to be great, so there’s no point in putting any effort into …read more

Game 1 of the NBA Finals saw the Celtics outlast, completely out shoot and utterly out hustle the Lakers in the 2nd half. This was surely not the start the media favored Lakers had in mind, nor was it what Stephen Kersey had in mind over at Hoops Fantasy.
Unless, of course, Kersey believes the Celtics can be beat four straight times?
During the game I was making my way through both rosters and began to think– who is going to have a similar impact in the league as a Paul Pierce? Luke Walton? Derek Fisher? Glen Davis?
Are …read more

Following in the footsteps of Michael Beasley, Kansas Jayhawks Brandon Rush, Darrell Arthur and UCLA phenom Kevin Love all declared for the NBA draft today.
Rush and Love were expected to declare, but to me, Arthur is a surprise. He averaged 12.8 points and 6.2 rebounds, which are average stats. Arthur did not sign with an agent, so he could always back out and return to school. This is the second time that Rush has declared himself eligible for the draft, so his NCAA eligibility is gone.
Love is one of the top big-men in the draft and could easily be a …read more

The clock is ticking…
March Madness is fast approaching.
Every conference game matters. One big win could secure your team a birth in the NCAA tournament. One huge loss could dash your team’s hopes to play in the post-season.
Here are some of the biggest games to watch this week:

Tonight: #15 Michigan State at #9 Wisconsin – the Badgers are tied for first place in the Big Ten with Indiana and Purdue, while the Spartans are trying to play catch-up. Wisconsin needs to win this game to put the pressure on the Boilermakers and Hoosiers.
Saturday March 1st – Kansas State at #7 Kansas …read more

There are some incredible college basketball games on tap for this week. Here are the best ones to watch:
Wednesday February 6th: #2 Duke at #3 North Carolina – Tar Heels versus Blue Devils. Dean Dome. Nothing more needs to be said.
Thursday February 7th: #4 UCLA at #17 Washington State – terrific Pac 10 contest. Can Kevin Love and the Bruins overcome Derrick Low and the Cougars?
Saturday February 9th:#6 Georgetown at Louisville – Roy Hibbert and the Hoyas face a tough road challenge against the Cardinals at Freedom Hall.