A day after the Wolves claimed him off waivers, big man Justin Hamilton was at practice Friday afternoon.
Hamilton, a big man with unteachable size as well as the ability to knock down the midrange shot on a consistent basis, seemed comfortable after wrapping up practice with his new team. He also took some extra time after practice to shootaround with assistant coach Ryan Saunders.
“It’s great to be here,” Hamilton said. “I’m really excited to join this team and I’m hoping for great things going forward.”
Hamilton provides the team with some insurance in the low post. Minnesota’ frontcourt of Nikola Pekovic, Gorgui Dieng, Kevin Garnett, Anthony Bennett, and Adreian Payne has been riddled by injuries this season. Pekovic’s minutes will likely be limited for the rest of the season, Bennett is recovering from an ankle injury, and Garnett plays in a limited role. That leaves Dieng and Payne to eat up a lot of minutes.
“We just didn’t want to get caught in a situation where we only have a couple bigs on the roster,” Saunders said while adding that he’s had his eye on Hamilton for a while.
Hamilton was traded from the Miami Heat to the New Orleans Pelicans earlier this season and was recently waived by the Pelicans. He said with all the changes that have taken place over the last few weeks it was nice to focus on the game Friday afternoon.
“It was just nice to get in there and play basketball,” he said. “It was nice to get up and down and just play.”
Minnesota will play the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday night at Target Center. There’s a good chance Hamilton could play a fair amount of minutes in that contest.
“We hope so,” Saunders said. “It’s an opportunity for us to take a look at him.”
“I’ll do whatever the team needs me to do,” Hamilton added. “It doesn’t matter to me if it’s 10, 20, 30 minutes. It’s just a matter of getting on the floor and playing.
NEXT MAN UP FOR PORTLAND
It didn’t look good when Blazers guard Wes Matthews went down on Thursday night and Friday morning the team’s worst fears were confirmed. Matthews has a torn Achilles and will miss the rest of the season.
That throws a wrench into a season that’s looked more and more promising with each game.
Saunders said the Matthews injury hurts the Blazers threefold. Matthews was looked at as one of the best three-point shooters in the league, his post up game had really developed over time, and the injury forces Blazers to start Arron Afflalo. Portland acquired Afflalo at the trade deadline as a way to bolster its group of reserves.
“It’s tough,” Saunders said. “Now they’re kind of back to Square One where they don’t have that kind of productivity off the bench they might want.”
INJURY UPDATE
The Timberwolves really can’t catch a break when it comes to injuries. While Bennett (looked good out of his boot) and Robbie Hummel (smaller splint on his hand) look like they are close to returning, there’s another player who might be on the injury report soon.
Guard Gary Neal will have an X-Ray of his hand after Friday’s practice. Saunders didn’t reveal if it was his left or right hand.
Expect an update over the next 24 hours on his availability for Saturday night’s game against the Blazers.
Saunders also said he expects Nikola Pekovic to play tomorrow barring any setbacks with his ankle.