Wolves Practice Round-Up

Monday morning's practice at Target Center was anything but short. After all, head coach Randy Wittman and his staff have a lot to teach to a pack of Wolves that has certainly not lacked effort, but can't seem to catch a break thus far in the 2007-08 campaign.

The team worked on everything from varying offensive sets to limiting the defensive reaching that has, in part, resulted in a huge discrepancy at the free-throw line (37.2 attempts per game for opponents to Minnesota's 18.4 per game). Tuesday's practice didn't run quite as long, but several Wolves stayed after to shoot and lift.

To ensure that you're up-to-date on your Wolves info, we've summarized several minutes of post-practice Wittman interviews:

Head Coach Randy Wittman:
Here are some observations and quotes from Wittman's dialogue to the assembled media on Monday and Tuesday:

-- Greg Buckner missed practice on both days because he is sick. His status for Wednesday night's game is uncertain.

-- Craig Smith is doubtful to play against the Kings with his ankle sprain. Meanwhile, Sacramento gets Ron Artest back from suspension.

-- Wittman is glad to have a four-game home stand in part because he feels the team can get more done at practice in familiar surroundings, with a familiar routine.

-- The team watched about an hour's worth of video from the Sacramento game before practicing on Monday, working through several of the mistakes the coaching staff noticed from the 100-93 loss on Saturday. At the same time, Wittman stressed that the Wolves did do several things well: the effort, the overall defensive intensity and getting to the foul line more than the team had in past games.

-- "As good as (Corey Brewer) was in Sacramento is as bad as he was in L.A.," said Wittman. "That's part of being a rookie, but the sooner he can become a level player, the more consistent your team is." Brewer matches up better with a team like Sacramento that is a bit longer and leaner (Kevin Martin, Francisco Garcia, John Salmons) than a Los Angeles team that goes bigger (Luke Walton, Lamar Odom, Kobe Bryant).

-- More on Brewer ... A reporter asked Wittman if Brewer was having any difficulty picking up sets: "I think he's fine," said Wittman. "He's a very bright kid, and I haven't seen anything where he's been confused. He might be thinking too much ... but that's part of the process, especially coming from college. There are a lot more sets in the NBA."

-- Wittman wants Al Jefferson to utilize more of a killer instinct in the paint when the opportunity presents itself. "He has opportunities where his man goes for the steal and he's going to the basket where he has to power it up and get fouled or get three points. We're just trying to create more opportunities for him."

-- The head coach acknowledged the complexity of figuring out lineups, particularly when you have a mix of young guys who need minutes (Smith, for example) and veterans (Antoine Walker) who are used to playing big minutes.

-- "We haven't lost that fight," said Wittman. "Even when bad things happened, we've put ourselves in position to win games." Wittman said he didn't think the Wolves were playing well offensively against Sacramento, but they still gave themselves a chance to win.

-- "We do a lot of good things," Witt continued. "Trust me. With the last trade, moving Ricky (Davis) and Mark (Blount), we knew there was a possibility that without that experience those two have, you might get off to a shaky beginning. When you look at who we have on the court at the end of games, two, three, four of them probably haven't been in at the end of games ... But we have to make it happen."