Ailing Jefferson done until season starts

Douglas C. Pizac, Associated Press

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Al Jefferson

By JERRY ZGODA, Star Tribune

Last update: October 22, 2009 - 3:33 PM

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WOLVES NOTES Up next: 6:30 p.m. today at Detroit • Radio: 1130-AM

AUBURN HILLS, MICH. - The Timberwolves have sent Al Jefferson home to Minnesota, where he will recuperate for Wednesday's regular-season opener while his team plays its final two preseason games without him.

Jefferson flew home from Detroit the morning after he wore a medical mask on the chartered flight from Denver after Tuesday's 129-100 loss there so he wouldn't further risk infecting his teammates.

Jefferson stayed back at the team's hotel Tuesday night when the Wolves played the Nuggets without him or Kevin Love, who is in New York City awaiting an important checkup Friday following Tuesday's surgery to repair his fractured left hand.

Jefferson came to the arena later in the evening and spread himself motionless on a trainer's table after the game before the team's flight to Detroit for tonight's game against the Pistons.

He won't play tonight or Friday night against Toronto in Sioux Falls, S.D., while he rests at home and visits the doctor in the Twin Cities.

"He's just not feeling well enough," Wolves coach Kurt Rambis said. "We need to get him checked out and get him healthy."

Reiner out, Jawai in

The Wolves cut forward/center Jared Reiner on Wednesday not long before new big man Nathan Jawai joined the team at the Palace of Auburn Hills that afternoon.

The Wolves on Tuesday sent a very conditional 2012 second-round pick to Dallas for cash and Jawai, a 6-10, second-year Australian forward whom the Mavericks gave away to save themselves salary-cap luxury tax money. He did not practice with his new teammates Wednesday, but is expected to do so at this morning's shootaround.

Asked if he expects to play Jawai in these final two preseason games, Rambis said, "Maybe, but I kind of doubt it. He has a lot to assess in a very short period of time. We'll see."

Bad Boy back

Wolves assistant coach Bill Laimbeer stepped into the Palace on Wednesday with a visiting team for the first time after he spent 28 years in Detroit, including all those seasons playing for the Pistons and coaching the WNBA Shock.

He said he expects tonight's game to feel a "little strange" but doesn't think it will elicit any other emotions from him.

"There will be people in the stands, people at the scoring table, ushers behind the bench that I know," he said. "It'll probably be jovial more than anything because it is a preseason game."

Feliz Cumpleaños, Ricky!

Wolves draft pick Ricky Rubio had nine points and nine assists on his 19th birthday on Wednesday in a 23-point victory for his Regal FC Barcelona team in a Euroleague game in Istanbul, Turkey.

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