Pack of Wolves to be busy at All-Star weekend

Chosen first- and second-year players now split into two teams through a draft process determined by Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal.

Timberwolves to watch

• Ricky Rubio will play with bouncy Clippers star Blake Griffin and Knicks point guard and late addition Jeremy Lin for Team Shaq.

• Derrick Williams will play with Rookie of the Year favorite Kyrie Irving and Sacramento big man DeMarcus Cousins for Team Chuck.

Missing

Wolves center Nikola Pekovic was left out of the game even after Lin, Norris Cole and injury replacement Derrick Favors were added. "He should be there," Wolves coach Rick Adelman said.

Quotes to note

• "Kyrie Irving is going to hand it to him. And if Ricky Rubio wants some, he can get some, too." -- Team Chuck GM Charles Barkley on point guard matchup that pits No. 1 overall pick Irving against undrafted sensation Lin.

• "Nah, nah, I'm not going to wear those. I forgot about that." -- Williams when asked if he will borrow the banana yellow shoes Wolves rookie Wes Johnson wore in last year's game.

• "Yeah, we have a lot of point guards. I'm not sure if Shaq is a good GM." -- Rubio on a Team Shaq roster that also includes Lin, Cole, Kemba Walker and Brandon Knight.

You know the Timberwolves are on the rise when they send not one, not two, but three representatives to Orlando for All-Star weekend festivities. Here's a look at how the next three nights shape up (All events are televised by TNT).

The NBA's best of the best returns to Orlando 20 years after Magic Johnson's unforgettable All-Star MVP performance in a career curtain call after he had retired three months earlier because he had contracted the HIV virus. Coverage starts at 5 p.m., and the game begins at 6:30 p.m.

Love will play in his second consecutive All-Star game. Last season, he was an injury replacement. This time, he was voted one of seven reserves by Western Conference coaches.

Subplot

Magic center Dwight Howard will play before his own crowd, but how much longer will the perennial All-Star who seeks a trade call Amway Center home? With just three weeks left before the March 15 trade deadline, expect lots of chatter about DH12's future this weekend.

Quote to note

"I'm not going to be going out at night. I'm going to take this time to rest, just stay off my feet as much as possible. I'm looking at it as a weekend that's packed full of work. I'm looking at it as a business trip." -- Love, the NBA leader in minutes played, on the need to balance All-Star fun with using the five-day schedule break to re-energize himself for the season's remaining 32 games.

A made-for-television evening featuring the slam-dunk contest, three-point shooting contest, a skills challenge and "shooting stars" competition that features three-person teams (a current NBA star, former NBA star and current WNBA player) from four NBA cities.

Timberwolves to watch

• Williams joins Houston's Chase Budinger, Indiana's Paul George and Utah's Jeremy Evans in a field of all first-time participants. He has participated in slam-dunk contests since high school, and says he has only lost once, to a Los Angeles prep star last summer on the boardwalk in Venice Beach, Calif.

• Love is the big-man representative in a three-point contest field that include reigning champion LeBron James from Miami, Orlando's Ryan Anderson, New Jersey's Anthony Morrow, Miami's Mario Chalmers and a late injury-replacement addition, Oklahoma City superstar Kevin Durant.

New to know

Quotes to note

• "Just watch YouTube on my own, see what other people did and do my own thing. Use my own personality and my own creative stuff, that's what I've always done. This is the first time I've practiced dunks. Every time you see me do a dunk, I just do it off of instinct." -- Williams on his preparation for Saturday night's big stage.

• "If anything, I'll bring some sexy back to the three-point competition." -- Love on a contest that sizzled most when Larry Bird won the first three in the mid-1980s. Unlike Bird, Love says he doesn't plan to walk into the locker room before the event and ask his fellow competitors who plans on finishing second.