A third wheel? Stationary bike becomes Love's new training partner

Jeffrey Thompson, Star Tribune

Kevin Love

By LA VELLE E. NEAL III, Star Tribune

Last update: October 25, 2009 - 10:46 PM

Wolves forward Kevin Love spent most of Sunday riding a bike in the corner of the team's practice facility at Target Center. His broken left hand was covered up. His teammates practiced without him.

That will be the scene for the next few weeks while Love, who broke the hand while going for a rebound Oct. 16, waits for the break to heal.

"I'm already going nuts,'' he said. "I wanted to get out there."

Love had three screws inserted into his left hand Tuesday during surgery to help repair a broken fourth metacarpal bone, and then had a follow-up exam on Friday. The screws will remain in his hand permanently.

He was told by doctors that he will miss four to six weeks but, of course, he hopes to return closer to four. A lot will depend on how he feels as he gets clearance to do more things with the hand.

"After 3 1/2, four weeks, I'll send back an X-ray,'' he said. "The process is that you can start doing a little more each week. But we'll send the X-ray back and see how it looks and see how I feel and if the doctor is OK with it, I'll be good to go.''

If Love hits the four-week target, he will miss 10 games before the Wolves head to Portland for a Nov. 21 game. If he needs all of six weeks, he'll miss 15 games before the Wolves play host to Memphis on Dec. 2. And he might need more time to get back into game shape.

For now, he will work on building a relationship with the bikes at the Target Center.

"It will be tough for me,'' he said of the time off, "but it gives me a good chance to get in good shape and keep that up.''

Pedal partner

Matching Love pedal for pedal during practice was center Al Jefferson, who is over the flu but still is battling a sore Achilles' tendon that threatens to keep him out of Wednesday's opener against New Jersey.

Wolves coach Kurt Rambis had no idea Sunday if Jefferson would be ready for Wednesday's opener, but he sounded as if Jefferson might need more time to get healthy when asked if Jefferson did anything other than ride the bike on Sunday.

"No, he went through semi-practice,'' Rambis said, "Pretty much how we approach it at the beginning of training camp. Going to slowly bring him back into everything then reevaluate the following day.''

Jefferson, who wasn't available for comment Sunday, has not practiced in at least a week and missed the Wolves' final three preseason games.

With Love already out and Jefferson possibly out, the Wolves' starting lineup Wednesday could look vastly different than anticipated.

Etc.

• Swingman Corey Brewer sat out the final few minutes of practice Sunday after colliding with 7-foot center Ryan Hollins while trying to catch a pass. Brewer was down on the floor for a couple of moments but eventually shook it off and was joking about it later.

• Australian forward Nathan Jawai spent a lot of time after practice talking and working on post moves with assistant coach Bill Laimbeer. The Wolves acquired Jawai and cash from Dallas last week for a conditional draft pick.

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