It's pretty clear that both coaches involved in today's Timberwolves-Philadelphia game think very highly of each other.
Greetings. Kent Youngblood here. I'll be covering the game tonight, and Mr. Zgoda will pick the team up tomorrow.
Jerry had a nice story today about the job Doug Collins has done with the 76ers who, though they're struggled a bit of late, enter this game atop the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. Both Collins and Wolves coach Rick Adelman have been in the game for a while, and both were asked to talk about the other in pre-game meetings with the media. Here's what they had to say:
First, Collins on Adelman: "Coach Adelman's teams have always been able to score," he said. "They execute very, very well. He runs an offense that guys get very comfortable with. . His big men have always been a big part of what he's done. Like in Sacramento with Brad Miller, Vlade Divac and Chris Webber; high-post, passing, shooting, dribble hand-offs. And he's given Ricky Rubio the ball and the room to make plays, play in the open court, play to his strengths. Rick is a great coach, and David Kahn, to be able to add Rick, with this young team that is building? Rick's done a great job."
And here is Adelman on Collins: "He's got a good basketball mind," he said. "He's very sharp, and I think he's a hard worker. When you get a team like this that's very young, a lot of young guys, he's going to give them an opportunity to succeed. I think that's what he does."
In other pre-game news:
--Adelman talked about -- and I will write more about it in Monday's paper -- how he expects teams to start doubling Nikola Pekovic more with the success he's had. Actually, he expects both Pek and Kevin Love to get extra attention. As a result, both of the big guys will have to be aware of double teams and be ready to pass the ball out of the post to the open man.
--Thanks to Brad Miller, there was a little bit of rookie hazing going on Sunday. In the locker room, Miller put children's backpacks in the lockers of the three rookies -- Derrick Williams, Malcolm Lee and Ricky Rubio. They will be expected to bring 'em on the road at least up to the All Star break. Williams got a pink Princess backpack, Lee got a pink Hello Kitty backpack and Rubio got a purple one with Justin Bieber's picture on it.
