Thaddeus Young is glad to be back to work with the Timberwolves, but he is still mourning the loss of his mother.

Lula Hall succumbed to cancer Nov. 13 in Memphis. Her funeral was Friday, and Young returned to the Twin Cities on Sunday.

Monday, the 6-8 forward was back at practice. But not necessarily back to normal.

"It still weighs on your head a little bit," Young said. "But you have to get back to the routine and just try to get past it."

It hasn't been easy. Young, 26, thanked the Wolves organization, fans and his teammates for their support. He also talked about the need to get back into the swing of things, to keep playing, to make his mother proud.

Hall had battled cancer for some time. She had a downturn earlier this month. Young left the team after the game vs. Houston in Mexico City on Nov. 12.

Tom Wallace — Star Tribune file photo, Star Tribune
Wolves forward Thaddeus Young (33)

"The last 10, 15 minutes of her life I was there holding her hand," Young said. "I felt her last breaths as she passed away. I was just happy I was able to go home and see her before she passed."

Young said his mother, who raised him and his siblings as a single parent, was a huge influence on his life. She was a disciplinarian when necessary, his biggest fan always. She regularly traveled to his games with Philadelphia, before her health prevented her from doing so.

"My mom is one of the strongest women I knew," Young said. "She did everything. She sacrificed everything. For her to pass, it definitely hurts badly. She was my motivation. She was my concentration, my focus, everything. You just try to keep making her proud and keep going out there and doing the little things she taught me to do."

Coach Flip Saunders said he hoped Young's return to the court would be good for him, and that the tenor of practice changed noticeably with the addition of the veteran forward.

"Just the temperament of practice changed having another veteran around," Saunders said.

Young, meanwhile, will play going forward with his mother on his mind. "She was definitively one of the best moms in the world," he said. "I'll play each and every game with energy, fire and wearing her heart on my sleeve."