Kevin Love shows up at last

Kevin Love (6'10 270 PF), much heralded rookie from UCLA, finally has a solid game for the Timberwolves. I must admit, I have expected more from him this preseason, but so far, his stats have been pretty weak.

In 21 minutes of action tonight, Kevin scored 14 on only 6 shots, including a team-high 5-5 FTs, and collected a team-high 10 rebounds, as well as 2 steals.

Very nice night for Kevin, let's hope he can build on the momentum and live up to his billing.

Blake Ahearn waived

Wow, as cynical as I am, this one kinda surprised me. Despite how well he has played in the preseason, Minny cuts Blake Ahearn, and keeps a washed up journeyman (Kevin Ollie) in his place.

Really makes you wonder what it takes for an unheralded white American to get a shot in the league. Very depressing.

Here is a video news report showing Blake's game winning shot the other night, plus an interview with him.

www.kxmb.com/video.asp?ArticleId=287795&VideoId=23072

Ahearn continues strong play

Blake Ahearn leads all Minny guards in scoring tonight in their victory over Toronto, scoring 15 on only 9 shots, playing just 21 minutes. He also picked up a steal, zero TOs, and zero fouls! Which shows how smart he is, avoiding getting busted for DWW (Defending While White).

His highly touted (1st round draft pick) but younger, smaller, and worse-shooting rival at PG (Sebastian Telfair), played more minutes (over 24), but had only 4 points and 1 steal, while producing 2 TOs and 3 fouls.

Weird how that works, isn't it? You can be younger, smaller, more careless, more foul-prone, more crime-prone, and worse shooting, but if you are a "playground legend" with dark skin, you get a fat first round contract and average over 30 mpg. Yup, that's the NBA.

Araujo out

With David Harrison on board to provide depth at center, the Wolves released Rafael Araujo.

Araujo, a former first-round pick of the Toronto Raptors, scored one point and grabbed two rebounds in five minutes in two exhibition games with the Wolves.

He is expected to sign a guaranteed contract to play in Europe.

Ahearn making his case

Blake Ahearn is making a strong case in Minny. Will his skill and shooting prevail over a "playground legend" (Telfair)? Ahearn is quite possibly the most accurate shooter in the league, so he should be getting major minutes if not starting. But given that he is an undrafted, pale skinned, d-league call-up, that is probably expecting too much.

At at rate, last night Blake made his case, scoring 17 points on 10 shots, including an impressive team-leading 8 shots from the line, in 23 minutes of play. Given that there were no technical fouls in this game, it must mean Ahearn was playing very aggressively, which is especially good for him. Given the color of their skin, if whites don't play uber-aggressive, they are labeled as soft.

Rafael Araujo with Timberwolves

A native of Brazil, basketball brought Rafael Araujo to the United States and put him on the map as a tough center. In the time since coming here in 2000, however, he has been all over the map.

After attending junior college in Arizona, Araujo starred at Brigham Young, where he was Co-Mountain West Conference Player of the Year in 2003-04 and was selected eighth overall by Toronto in the 2004 NBA draft. He was traded to the Jazz after the 2005-06 season, and after one year there decided to play last season for Spartak St. Petersburg of the Russian Super League. He's back in the States now, with the Wolves for training camp, fighting for a spot on this year's roster.

Before you go putting 2 and 2 together, Wolves Assistant General Manager Rob Babcock -- who as general manager of the Raptors selected Araujo in the 2004 draft -- said not to read too much into Araujo's landing in Minnesota. "That's not the reason he's here," Babcock said, referring to the Toronto connection between the two. "He's here because we're looking at big guys. And he's a good body to have in our camp to take a look at. He does some good things on the court, and he's still young enough that he has his future ahead of him. He's a legitimate prospect to take a look at."

Wolves coach Randy Wittman said the chance of Araujo seeing playing time is a real possibility. That, however, is mostly because of the Timberwolves' injuries at the center position.

Calvin Booth has done little more than ride an exercise bike thus far in training camp, because of back spasms, and Jason Collins, recovering from elbow surgery last month, is going to be "out practically the whole month," Wittman said.

Araujo, 28, sees his chance to step in growing every day. "I just want to play basketball, that's my job," he said. "I dream of coming back to the league, and Minnesota is a great opportunity for me to show up."

Blake Ahearn joins the Timberwolves

Blake Ahearn (6'2 190 PG) 1 year pro, is trying out for the Wolves 3rd PG spot. In the 2007-2008 season, Ahearn plated with the NBA Development League's Dakota Wizards. He worked his way to the starting lineup, averaging 19 points, with a 96% free-throw percentage, shooting 49% from the field and 44% from 3-point range in 41 games.

Ahearn was signed to a 10-day contract by the NBA's Miami Heat whose roster had been depleted by injuries, did well, and played a total of 12 games.

Ahearn was named the Rookie of the Year of the D-League and All-NBA Development League Second Team.

He holds the career record for career 3-pointers at Missouri State with 276, and was selected the Missouri Valley Conference MVC Freshman of the Year (2004), also being a 2-time all-Missouri Valley Conference first teamer (2006 and 2007).