Greetings from Target Center, where the Wolves recently finished up their morning shoot-around.
It was hoped that we'd be able to chat with forward Adreian Payne. But we'll have to wait until later this afternoon to do that. The team wanted to wait until after Gary Neal had passes his physical.
Payne was on the court with the team and was talking with assistant coaches after the shoot-around ended. Neal was outside the Wolves locker room, greeting his new teammates.
So here are a couple nuggets to come out of shoot-around:
--With yet another move designed to get the team younger and build for the future, it's natural to ask a veteran like Thad Young whether he feels his days in Minnesota are numbered. Of course, he wasn't about to bite on that one. "I just continue to play basketball," he said when asked if he wonders about being traded. "If it happens it happens. But, at the end of the day, it's all about doing the job you're supposed to do.''
The acquisition of Payne has given the Wolves a number of players at the power forward position, including Young and Andrew Bennett. "We have a lot of big guys now, so hopefully I can help mentor some of these young guys," Young said. "We lost two good players and we gained two good players. It is what it is. We just have to continue to go out and try to win basketball games."
--Shabazz Muhammad was talking with reporters, and he was quick to predict a Zach LaVine victory in the upcoming Slam Dunk Contest over All Star Weekend after watching LaVine practice his dunks. "It was some crazy stuff, stuff I haven't seen," he said. "And I've been watching the dunk contest a long time.''
That's about it for now. I'll get back to you before the game.
