NBA Insider: Wolves' Hummel is prepared, for words and deeds

Those postseason awards won't be determined for months yet, but already Timberwolves coaches have come up with an accompanying acronym — if not an actual trophy — for relatively little-used second-year forward Robbie Hummel.

M.R.P.

"Most Ready Player," Wolves coach Flip Saunders explained.

Hummel proved himself so two ways last week, when he stepped forth as a third power forward when Anthony Bennett was limited by a sore knee Wednesday against Houston in Mexico City and Thad Young missed Friday's game at New Orleans after the death of his mother.

But that's not all.

When injured Ricky Rubio flew home Monday from Miami to Minneapolis to heal his sprained ankle, Hummel became the team's de facto spokesman for the Mexican media before Wednesday's game.

Hummel took some Spanish when he was in high school and then played a season in Spain two years ago.

So with Rubio missing, Hummel drew a steady stream of interviewers during Tuesday's media day.

"By no means am I fluent," he said. "I can understand what they're saying, as long as they speak relatively slowly. All my sentences are in the present tense. I can do past tense, too, but future tense or any of that stuff, it's not happening."

As long as it sounded vaguely like Spanish, it didn't matter.

Hummel played one season in Santiago, Spain, near the country's northwest coast, a year that allowed him to brush up on what he had learned in high school.

"My Spanish got a lot better," he said. "We had five guys who were American or Canadian, our coach spoke all Spanish, and the city I was in, there wasn't a lot of English-speaking people."

The NBA also sought them out as well because of their roster's international makeup, which at the time of both games' scheduling included Spanish-speaking Rubio and J.J. Barea.

Rubio's presence likely will send the Wolves to Spain someday, but probably not until October 2016 at the earliest. Such a trip likely will include a game against the Regal Barcelona team and probably another against an NBA opponent.

The presence of Canadians Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett makes a preseason game in their home country probable next fall.

Until then, Hummel remains the player Wolves coach Flip Saunders can call upon no matter the last time Hummel might have played. He scored eight points in eight minutes Wednesday.

"That's the most impressive thing about him," Saunders said. "Whether he has played and hasn't played at all, when you send him out there, he's going to be ready."

"I think I said 'Mexico City is pretty' about 100 times," Hummel said. "That was my go-to response."
NBA Short Takes

KG and the Wolves

Just days after Wolves coach Flip Saunders said Kevin Garnett will stay in basketball after retirement but never as a coach, Garnett himself said he one day wants to own the team for which he once played.

"I want to buy the Timberwolves," Garnett told Yahoo Sports last week. "Put a group together and perhaps someday try to buy the team. That's what I want. … That is the one that has my interest. I have ties there. Flip's there."

Garnett also still owns a home in Minneapolis' western suburbs. He has made more than $300 million in salary during his career and millions more in endorsements, but by the time he retires and is ready to buy, the Wolves conceivably could fetch a sale price north of $750 million.
How'd they do that?

"We had adversity, we broke down, we broke plays," center DeMarcus Cousins told the Sacramento Bee after the Kings lost 111-110 to Memphis. "The only thing tonight showed was the difference between a good team and a bad team."

Stuck in traffic

By all accounts, both the Wolves and Houston enjoyed their visits to sprawling Mexico City last week, but Rockets coach Kevin McHale had a suggestion after the team bus he rode arrived at the arena less than 60 minutes before opening tip on Wednesday.

"I'd recommend they build a hotel really close to the arena," McHale said. "I think all 22 million people here decided to drive at the same time."
Wolves' Week Ahead

Wednesday: 7 p.m. vs. N.Y. (FSN)

Saturday: 7 p.m. vs. Sacramento (FSN)
Player to watch:

Carmelo Anthony, Knicks

Will Phil Jackson's famed triangle offense — now coached by newbie Derek Fisher — do for one of the league's most lethal scorers what it did for Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant? The first precincts reporting aren't promising for a Knicks team that started the season 2-7, but it's early.

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