Love's tweet hiatus is temporary

By JERRY ZGODA, Star Tribune

Last update: September 30, 2009 - 11:49 PM

MANKATO - Kevin Love's tweeter is broken, but he promises a glorious comeback.

Love, a child of the computer age, embraced the Twitter social-network phenomenon as enthusiastically as any pro athlete, so much so he unintentionally broke the worldwide news that Kevin McHale wasn't coming back as Timberwolves coach and honestly offered up his comments on the team's confounding draft night.

He hasn't tweeted since Aug. 14. For now, rookie Jonny Flynn is leading the Wolves, both at point guard and with the Twitter.

"I got shut down a little while from the Boss Man," Love said. "But be on the lookout: I'll be back. I just got tired of (Jim) Stack or (Fred) Hoiberg calling me and telling me not to tweet about this, not to tweet about that. I just said, 'What happened to the First Amendment law?' "

David Kahn, the Wolves president of basketball operations, said he wants Love to feel free to tweet and will encourage him to do so.

Coach Kurt Rambis won't allow players to do so at practices or games. He said cell-phone access will be restricted on game nights from the time players arrive at the arena until they leave and told players not to tweet anything they wouldn't tell media members. The NBA banned tweeting during games Wednesday.

"The league likes the tweeting, they like the fans to be engaged with the players," Rambis said. "But nothing's going to go on at halftime, behind the bench or if players are injured. They're coming here to work and that's what they should be doing. They can tweet on their own time."

Running much better

Rambis called Wednesday's evening scrimmage "better than the first one" after he termed Tuesday's "fairly awful."

"We know this is going to take time," he said. "But I can see the light coming on. I can see the guys making better decisions."

Al Jefferson has practically glided through four practices -- including both scrimmages -- so far on his surgically repaired knee.

"Everything hurts but my knee," Jefferson said with a smile Wednesday night.

High-end collision

Center Ryan Hollins, the team's tallest player, nearly took out Wolves owner Glen Taylor when he ended up tumbling into Taylor's lap chasing a ball beyond the baseline Wednesday night.

"That's all right," Rambis said. "If he's hustling, I'm completely OK with that."

Taylor, incidentally, is tied for 147th on Forbes Magazine's new list of the 400 Richest Americans. His estimated net worth is $2.2 billion after he ranked 123rd with a $3.3 billion net worth on the 2008 list.

He said it

Jefferson sees the coaching staff's influence in the nightly scrimmages.

"They tell the referees not to call any fouls because that's the way they played in the '80s," he said, referring particularly to Rambis and assistant coaches Bill Laimbeer and Reggie Theus. "Now, that's old school."

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