Newest Wolf Adrien might need to play some center

PORTLAND, ORE. – Home in Boston for Thanksgiving, Jeff Adrien fortunately already had a bag packed when the Timberwolves called on short notice, asking him to fly cross-country because they needed another active, breathing big body for Sunday's game at Portland and beyond.

With training-camp center Kyrylo Fesenko now playing in Europe and former Wolves forward Dante Cunningham not deemed the right fit, the Wolves received a roster exception from the NBA to add Adrien as a 16th man to their 15-man roster.

Even though he's 6-7 and an undersized power forward, Wolves coach and president of basketball operations Flip Saunders considered Adrien the right guy from all available options because he played 53 games for Milwaukee and Charlotte last season and can supply what his injury-depleted team needs most.

"Toughness, rebounding, energy, that's me," said Adrien, former captain at the University of Connecticut. "That's who I am. I'm back in this league for stuff like that."

He didn't play at all Sunday, but Adrien likely will be asked to play out of position some as a backup center because Nikola Pekovic and Ronny Turiaf remain out. Saunders noted he has played forwards Reggie Slater and Ben Wallace at center in seasons past.

"Sometimes strength in the paint is important as anything," Saunders said. "We've got a lot of guys who are light in the shorts. We wanted a veteran guy, someone who had been in the league who could help out our young guys and somebody with a physical presence. We looked a lot. There weren't a lot of guys. We didn't see any veteran-type big who had size and would have given us some physicality around the basket."

Adrien was waived by Houston during training camp and remained there working out with former NBA player John Lucas until he went home to Boston and got the call from the Wolves.

Saunders acknowledged Sunday that Adrien's signing means Pekovic won't be back playing in games for at least 10 days to two weeks. He missed his sixth consecutive game Sunday because of a sprained wrist and that perpetually problematic ankle and will be evaluated again this coming week.

"As much as he has been out, he'll need time to get healthy," Saunders said. "It won't be all of a sudden that he's ready to play in games. He's going to have to go through a week or so of conditioning."

Rookie Andrew Wiggins received fluids intravenously Sunday afternoon after he fell ill. He started Sunday's game but played less than four minutes after halftime. Saunders thought it better to rest him for Monday's game against the Clippers in Los Angeles.

"I went to the bathroom at halftime and he was in there throwing up for about two minutes straight," Saunders said. "He said he wanted to give it a go. He went out there and I saw him defensively, he just didn't have the energy. I didn't think it was worth it having him play and getting all dehydrated."

Wolves veteran point guard Mo Williams on Sunday returned to Moda Center, where he played last season beside All-Star guard Damian Lillard.

• Saunders on why he didn't consider signing former Wolves forward Cunningham, who has been looking for a job during the season's first month after he was arrested last season but had felony domestic-assault charges dropped in August: "More than anything, that's for Dante's situation. He'd be too much under a microscope. At least I felt that, in our situation."

• Former Wolves coach Rick Adelman attended Sunday's game with his grandchildren in tow and watched from a suite. He retired back home to Portland after last season.