If you walked into Tuesday’s practice, you probably didn’t like what you saw on the sidelines – especially with the recent injuries to hit NBA teams lately. Wolves second-year forward Shabazz Muhammad was sitting with a right boot on while watching practice.
Muhammad didn’t play on Friday against the Philadelphia 76ers and has been limited in practice this week.
While he didn’t practice, head coach Flip Saunders said that the boot was more of a precaution than anything, and that the team is trying to be conservative regarding Muhammad’s right Achilles.
“We’ve got him in a boot for a day or two. He had a little bit of a tendinitis in his Achilles,” Saunders said after Tuesday’s practice. “More of a precaution than anything else… They (the doctors) just wanted to be more precautionary knowing we only have two weeks basically to go (before the season starts).”
Muhammad didn’t practice basketball today, but he did practice being a good person. He took part in putting schools supplies together in backpacks for the Kids In Need Foundation. The backpacks will be delivered to Prodeo Academy on Tuesday afternoon. It’s the second consecutive year Muhammad has taken part in this project.
Back to another injury, or perhaps to the healing of another player for the Wolves. Guard Kevin Martin (strained left adductor) took part in contact drills today. And although he didn’t take part in the final 35 minutes of practice (a scrimmage), there’s a chance Martin could be back for a full practice later this week.
The NBA announced that it will experiment in a 44-minute game on Oct. 19 in a preseason game with the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets. The NBA normally has 12-minute quarters, but for this game, there will be 11-minute quarters.
“We’ve talked about it in coaches meetings… There’s a couple things. There’s, with a long season, maybe take the wear and tear off of players. That’s number one,” Saunders said. “Number two is, especially with our instant replay, the games have become longer and this way, we’ve always been wanting to keep the games at the 2:15 mark. And so this might be a way to shorten the games.”
While this could be an article of its own, there are some positive and negatives here. A shorter game might attract more fans to watch and attend games. There is also the risk of jeopardizing future records with shorter minutes – for the basketball stat junkies out there.
Center Ronny Turiaf didn’t hear about the news until he was asked about it after practice. He doesn’t have an exact opinion on it just yet.
“There’s got to be a reason to it,” Turiaf said. “… I would have to do my due diligence to give you a well-formulated response.”
You’re on the clock, Ronny.
Quick Hits
- Wolves guard Ricky Rubio spent time with the folks at STACK Media after practice today for a cover photo shoot and an interview.
STACK on location: Photo shoot with @MNTimberwolves and @rickyrubio9 pic.twitter.com/82WJcR50h9
— STACK (@STACKMedia) October 14, 2014
We aren’t sure when the Rubio story will be released, but we’ll be sure to update you.
- In the final minutes of practice, guard Mo Williams was on point. The veteran had at least seven points when I was watching, including two stop-and-pop shots. The Wolves wanted scoring and shooting off the bench. So far, they’ve gotten it from Williams… At least in practice.
- Center Kyrylo Fesenko was not at practice today. We’ve confirmed that Fesenko was indeed feeling a bit ill.
- The Wolves will practice tomorrow and Thursday before heading down to Cedar Rapids to take on the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday. If you’re in need of tickets, no worries. Click here for more info.