Yo, Yeo!: Wolves get practice visitor, Rubio return still uncertain

That was Wild coach Mike Yeo watching the Wolves' practice courtside at Target Center this afternoon.

Guess he's got some free time on his hands.

Yeo also chatted with Rick Adelman for about 20 minutes after practice, picking his brain on, among other topics, how to plan and prepare a team to play a condensed, lockout-shortened season.

Adelman has done it twice, most recently with last season's 66-game sked.

Yeo will get his chance, IF the NHL and its players pull their heads out and reach a new labor deal before it gets too late.

Yeo called Adelman's advice "helpful and insightful."

"The chance to speak to a person like that with experience and his success, it's great for a coach like me," Yeo said.

Yeo has won 35 NHL games.

He laughed when I mentioned the prospect of 1,000 career victories.

"That's what makes it so impressive and great for me to have the chance to speak to somebody like that," Yeo said. "One thing I certainly have a value for is experience and success. I have an awful long way to go to reach something like that."

Other tidbits from practice:

* Two weeks ago, the Wolves internally set Wednesday's game against Denver as a target date for Ricky Rubio's return.

He said it will depend on how Rubio's knee tests out for strength and endurance and the decisions management and the medical staff make about an upcoming schedule that has the Wolves playing four games in five nights -- including three on the road -- after Wednesday.

He said they still must decide if Rubio will be on a minutes limit and how best to approach that, if he'll play back-to-back games and if Adelman wants to start him or bring him off the bench.

"He could go out and play some right now, but is that the smart thing to do?" Adelman said. "I'd like to see him where he's ready to go andright now I don't think anybody can gauge that. He seems fine given the injury he had, but you don't want him to get other injuries by going out too soon and pulling a muscle, doing something like that."

* Brandon Roy shot for the second consecutive day back with the team, but isn't ready to practice yet.

Adelman said he hopes Roy will ramp up his activitiy next week if he comes through this week still feeling fine.

* Adelman said Nikola Pekovic practiced unaffected today by that hurting ankle that bothered him three games last week.

* Derrick Williams continues to say all the right things about remaining patient with his playing time, or rather outright lack of it.

He said he talks to his agent -- Kobe's guy, Rob Pelinka -- every day after life things, but said they haven't discussed requesting a trade.