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Turnovers by McCants get the coach's attention
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Timberwolves guard Rashad McCants and coach Randy Wittman sat together on an otherwise empty Target Center bench, deep in conversation after the team's morning shootaround before Saturday night's game against New Orleans.
The topic no doubt was turnovers, which McCants has committed in bunches the past week: eight in Friday's fourth-quarter home collapse to Washington, six in a loss at Sacramento a week ago.
McCants considered his eight turnovers on Friday and placed the blame -- "That loss is my fault, definitely my fault," he said -- squarely on himself.
So he and his coach talked about McCants learning to recognize quicker when an opposing defense collapses upon him.
"He's going to draw a crowd because he's one of our few guys who can penetrate," Wittman said. "If he draws somebody, that's going to create. An open shot for someone else is just him scoring, that's what I tell these guys. That's what happens when you become a scorer and people are trying to game-plan against you. They're going to attack you when you put it down, and the easiest way to combat that is make them pay for it the first couple times they do it."
McCants called his turnover-filled games examples of "trying to do too much." His eight on Friday came despite missing a chunk of the fourth quarter because of foul trouble.
"It's not so much selfish," Wittman said. "He wants to be that guy who stops the other team's runs no matter what the defense does. You can't play the game like that. You have to react to what the defense does."
Another look
Second-year guard Randy Foye, out almost all of the season so far because of a kneecap stress reaction, will be re-evaluated on Monday, Wittman said.
"We'll know more then," Wittman said. "He has to get on the floor again. He hasn't been on the floor since England. He hasn't even been on the floor in America yet."
Not just like Mike
Corey Brewer -- 6-9, skinny and seemingly all arms and legs -- could see the future when he watched Washington veteran Caron Butler -- 6-7, muscular and strong -- score 29 points and beat the Wolves with his deft shooting in the Wizards' comeback victory Friday.
"Every time we play against somebody, I look at guys' games because I want to get there at one point in my career," Brewer said. "Caron Butler is a great comparison because his body is great, he's strong, has a great jump shot. To become like one of those guys would be great. I feel like I can, once I'm done growing and maturing. If I keep working hard in the weight room and keep eating, my body will get to where it needs to be."
But what about those legs, perhaps the thinnest in the league.
"I don't know about the legs," he said, laughing. "The legs might never get any bigger."
Jerry Zgoda • jzgoda@startribune.com
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