Rambis moving beyond experimental phase

Carlos Gonzalez, Star Tribune

Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Kurt Rambis.

By JERRY ZGODA, Star Tribune

Last update: October 19, 2009 - 5:06 PM

New Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis has scripted his player substitutions and experimented with lineups during the first five preseason games, which have been a two-week laboratory that has produced a 1-4 record and more than a few moments of discombobulation that Rambis says haven't surprised him a bit.

"It's probably about where I expect it to be," Rambis said after Saturday's 101-87 loss at Milwaukee, the team's fourth consecutive defeat. "We're a young team. We've got young guys on the team still trying to figure out who this team is, where they're going to get their shots from, how they're going to play together.

"They're going to be inconsistent. They're probably going to be inconsistent all year long. They're all going to try to grow and expand their games individually, but their growth as individuals will happen faster if they learn to play together."

Rambis didn't expect to play the final week of the preseason and likely at least the opening month of the season without starting power forward Kevin Love. But then he didn't expect Love to break his left hand while reaching for a rebound Friday night in Chicago.

Rambis said he plans to use the final three preseason games -- starting Tuesday at Denver -- to settle on lineups and rotations with which he will start the regular season.

Home again

Rambis gave his players Sunday off. The team will practice today before flying to Denver. Rambis, his coaches and basketball boss David Kahn have been discussing roster cuts -- the Wolves currently have 16 players and 12 present with guaranteed contracts -- and will decide this morning if they will make those cuts today before the Wolves leave for games at Denver, Detroit and Sioux Falls (vs. Toronto) this week.

Injury updates

Al Jefferson received treatment Sunday on a sore Achilles' tendon that limited him to 22 minutes Saturday in Milwaukee -- he played fewer than six minutes in the second half and not at all in the fourth quarter -- and will be reassessed today.

Saturday's game was the first time he played the second part of back-to-back games in his return from February knee surgery.

Love is scheduled to see the team's hand specialist today to learn if the fractured metacarpal bone in his left hand will need surgery.

Moving on

Veteran Brian Cardinal started at Love's power-forward position Saturday with young forward/centers Ryan Hollins and Oleksiy Pecherov each coming off the bench.

Their play -- Pecherov's nine rebounds in 19 minutes were more than double any other teammate, Hollins again was foul prone in 15 minutes -- suggested they might not be ready to counter Love's absence.

"They had some decent moments out there," Rambis said. "They made some contributions, but there were a lot of times they weren't executing the offense. They were looking a little bit lost out there. They have to understand what we need out of them, too. It's not just doing what they want to do. There are sacrifices that have to be made to help us."

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