Wolves' Carney is trying to prove himself

The Wolves' front office hopes the former first-round draft pick is able to harness his "crazy" athleticism.

By JERRY ZGODA, Star Tribune

Last update: July 15, 2008 - 3:30 PM

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LAS VEGAS - Posterity will record the trade that brought Rodney Carney to the Timberwolves as a morsel of NBA bookkeeping, a shuffling of digits on the financial ledger that summoned shock and change to a player who spent his first two seasons in Philadelphia.

Carney considers differently the deal that sent him, Calvin Booth and a future first-round draft pick for valuable salary-cap space that let the 76ers sign free-agent Elton Brand to an $82 million contract.

"The way I look at it is, they traded me and Booth to get Elton Brand," Carney said. "So I say I got traded for Elton Brand. You put it that way, it sounds pretty good."

The 76ers get a low-post scorer who theoretically completes their remodeling project after the team traded away superstar Allen Iverson 19 months ago. The Wolves add a third first-round pick to go with ones they already own from Boston and Miami, and they take a flier on a 6-6 wing player and former first-round pick, one whose athleticism more than one Wolves decisionmaker describes with one word:

Crazy.

"Crazy?" Carney asked. "Yeah, it is. That's how my game is. I jump, dunk, block shots, rebound. I just have to have my skills catch up to my athleticism."

Wolves brass hoped to see that transformation continue at the Las Vegas summer league, where Carney agreed to play following the trade. But he watched Monday night's opener against Dallas from the bench, sidelined on a team already lacking scoring punch by a sore hamstring that flared Sunday in practice.

"I hope we get a look at him," said Wolves coach Randy Wittman, uncertain if Carney will play in any of five games. "His athleticism, it's a good thing. But it's one thing to be athletic. It's another to understand where their athleticism comes in and where it doesn't. In drills, those athletic guys can really stand out. When it's 5-on-5, sometimes it's a different story.

"Thinking the game, playing the game the right way, becoming a student of the game, some people who have that athleticism never learn to utilize it the right way. That's what we're going to try to help him with."

Carney worked out with Randy Foye when both came to Target Center on the same day two years ago for their predraft auditions. Foye practiced with Carney three times over the weekend in Las Vegas and said Carney's gifts remind him of Gerald Green, the former Wolves guard and NBA slam-dunk champion who's now with his fourth team in four years after signing with Dallas.

Carney played four seasons at the University of Memphis, was drafted 16th overall in 2006 and averaged more points and minutes in his rookie season than he did his second year. The Wolves have until Oct. 31 to pick up Carney's fourth-year option for the 2009-10 season or he will become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

"I just want to get better," Carney said. "I don't have anything to prove other than prove to the coaches that I can play. Otherwise, they wouldn't have traded for me. When training camp comes, I want to show them everything I've got."

Dallas 90, Wolves 74

Welcome to the NBA, Kevin Love. Welcome back, Corey Brewer.

The centerpiece of the Wolves' draft-night trade collected as many personal fouls as points (four) in the first quarter and his team was outscored 29-4 in the next 10 minutes in his Las Vegas summer-league debut.

Love finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds, five turnovers and six personal fouls in a summertime format that allows each player 10.

Brewer did everything in his summer-league debut a year ago except shoot well, foreshadowing his season-long shooting woes as a rookie. Monday, he made his first two jump shots, then missed 13 of his next 16 field-goal attempts and scored 11 points.

Dallas, playing its third game, led by as many as 24 points until a fourth-quarter rally pulled the Wolves within 12.