Wolves notes: Rebuilding teams on display

By Jerry Zgoda, Star Tribune

Last update: December 16, 2007 - 11:24 PM

If both teams do things right -- a big if, given the history -- Friday night's Timberwolves-Seattle game at Target Center could be the start of a long association with each other, given their shared history.

"Two teams, at the same time, made the same decision to start over," Wolves coach Randy Wittman said before the Sonics' 99-88 victory.

Each franchise traded its star last summer -- the Sonics dealt Ray Allen, the Wolves Kevin Garnett -- and to the same team, no less.

Allen and Garnett have the Celtics 19-2 and looking like NBA title contenders while the Sonics and Wolves are collecting losses and lottery pingpong balls.

Seattle is building around Kevin Durant, last summer's No. 2 overall pick in the draft, and Jeff Green, the fifth overall pick, acquired from Boston for Allen. The Wolves have hitched their hopes to fourth-year forward Al Jefferson and a collection of recent first-round picks.

"These franchises have a long way to go to get back to where they've been," Sonics coach P.J. Carlesimo said. "But if you talk to people in the league, there's some good young players on both teams that a lot of people would like to have. Both teams have to put some other pieces -- both young and old -- in place. Projecting is very difficult in this league. You can get faked out by young players."

But young players also grow older and get better, and veteran players eventually retire.

"Attrition will help, particularly in the West," Carlesimo said. "It's not around the corner, but it's going to come. Kevin, Jeff, Al, I'm sure they'll all be very happy to congratulate some of these older guys when they retire."

I spy

The New England Patriots and New York Jets play a football game Sunday in which the greatest intrigue might be which team is secretly trying to capture the other's signals.

On Wednesday in Philadelphia, Wolves assistant coach Bob Ociepka and a team security official confronted at halftime a Seattle advance scout whom they had seen peering with binoculars into their team's bench from the scout's baseline seat only yards away.

The NBA has no rule against such a thing.

"That's the least of our worries," said Kevin McHale, Wolves vice president of basketball operations. "It's all about our execution, not the other team knowing what we're running."

Welcome back

Friday's game marked the return of former Wolves swingman Wally Szczerbiak, who called Target Center home for 6½ seasons before he was dealt to Boston in January 2006 in a trade that brought Ricky Davis to Minnesota.

Szczerbiak, who chatted with former coaches Wittman and Jerry Sichting before the game, was part of the trade last summer that sent Allen to the Celtics. He came in averaging 11.2 points and 21 minutes a game after ankle surgery ended his season last year. He scored seven points in 19 minutes Friday night, shooting only 1-for-9 from the floor.

Another familiar face Friday: Scott Brooks, the spunky point guard on the Wolves' formative teams who now is a Sonics assistant coach.

Also seen: Brazilian supermodel Adriana Lima, there to see beau Marko Jaric.

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