Pistol Pete vs. Rubio: Discuss

NEW ORLEANS - Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman played 28 games with the New Orleans Jazz and a guy named Pistol Pete Maravich during the 1974-75 season, his last of seven NBA seasons as a journeyman point guard.

He now coaches Ricky Rubio, who was nicknamed "La Pistola" when he played mainly in Spain.

"I don't think there are a lot of comparisons," Adelman said about two players who have been compared mostly because of the flair each played or plays the game. "Pete was a great scorer. Ricky is more of a point guard, and he sees the floor; he's been playing it his whole life. Pete was an entertainer. I've never seen anybody as talented as Pete was handling the ball.

"I don't think people realized how good he really was and the things he could do just to show off. Ricky doesn't really do that. Pete always had that flair."

Rubio suggests he has been linked with a long-dead legend with floppy socks and moppy hair who still is the NCAA's all-time scoring leader with a 44.2 point average for a more superficial reason.

"I'm glad they talk like that, but maybe it's because of the hair, nothing else," Rubio said. "He was so good. He was a great scorer. I'm not close to him. I have to improve a lot. I hope one day to be like him or close to him because he had a great career here in the NBA."

Adelman, when asked if Rubio and Maravich aren't compared simply because of their hair: "There might be a little bit of that. But not the socks. The socks are different."

FinallyAdelman turned the proverbial table during his pregame media availability on Friday, asking a question of reporters before they could lob one his way.

"Who am I starting, right?" he asked.

After 10 games, Adelman modified his lineup, inserting Rubio alongside veteran Luke Ridnour even though injured J.J. Barea wasn't available as third point guard. Ridnour played nearly 40 minutes, Rubio nearly 44. "I was trying to get a win tonight and not worry what's going to happen tomorrow," said Adelman, whose team plays at Atlanta on Saturday.

The comeback road Martell Webster is headed home to Portland this weekend and will visit his doctor there Monday looking for clearance to participate in contact practices for the first time since he underwent microdiscectomy surgery in September.

It's the second time he had that surgery in 11 months.

A lovely idea Kevin Love will buy your ticket to Wednesday's game against the Detroit Pistons if you buy one of equal value for Monday's Kings game. Love approached the team with the idea to help boost midweek attendance.

Is he already spending some of that money should he get a big contract extension by a Jan. 25 deadline? He said some of his teammates thought his personal absence at practice Thursday might be related to those negotiations.