Hooped Up

It’s been a bad weekend for NBA ballers and a good one for the law. This morning Al Jefferson of the Minnesota Timberwolves was arrested and charged with fourth degree driving while impaired.

Jefferson was arrested at 1:08 AM by the State Patrol and booked into Hennepin County Jail shortly around an hour later. He was released at 3:19 AM, according to jail records.

“We are disappointed that Al used poor judgment last night. Thankfully, nobody was injured,” David Kahn, the team’s president for basketball operations, said in a statement. “We believe it is appropriate for Al to be suspended for the next two games without pay.”

Jefferson was initially pulled over for speeding and field sobriety and blood tests were taken.

H/N Star Tribune

Minnesota Timberwolves center Al Jefferson will miss the next two games because of an illness in his family.

The Timberwolves say Jefferson left the team to be with an ill family member in Florida. He will miss the game Friday night against Dallas and on Saturday at Memphis. Jefferson is expected to rejoin the team early next week. It’s a big blow to the Timberwolves, who have lost eight straight games since a season-opening win over New Jersey.

Jefferson is averaging 15.1 points and 6.1 rebounds this season. He is still not 100 percent from February surgery on his right knee, but the Wolves will sorely miss his presence in the middle.

Press Release

A new season is fast approaching and you need you know, nay — you demand to know! Who’s the best at each position in the league on a nightly basis in the ‘09-10 NBA season. So with your mind and excel sheet ablaze trying to figure out that riddle to no end. I’ve decided to take one for the team, by putting together a  list of the Top 5 players in the league by position heading into the ‘09-10 NBA season.

I’ll begin with the center spot, if you’re expecting to see Paul Davis in this group, please visit my Bizzarro world site.

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After Al Jefferson went down with a knee injury last season.  President of basketball operations David Kahn told Jefferson in May to drop some weight during his rehabilitation so the Wolves could run an up tempo style in 09-10. Hobbled by a leg injury, losing weight can be tough, so “Big Al” decided to improvise by eating Ham and Turkey on wheat bread, footlongs daily, from Subway.

The result — Jefferson reported to training camp 31 pounds lighter at 262 pounds, the lightest he’s been in four years.

“We want to run this year. They made that clear,” Jefferson said. “When David Kahn came, he said that’s what he wants to do. When Kurt came, he said that’s what he wants to do. ”So I was like, ‘I better get with it or I might be benched.’ I know they’re not going to wait for me to get down there to post up. So I better get this weight off so they don’t leave me down there.”

Note to Jared Fogle, grab all the Ham and Turkey you can before HR comes to your desk with security dude. It’s only a matter of time before “Svelte Al” takes over your desk.

Via Pioneer Press

Al Jefferson said he is on track in his comeback from knee-ligament surgery and definitely will be ready for training camp.

“I feel like I could play contact right now,” he said. “The only thing, I know I’m not in shape. If I could play a halfcourt game right now, I would kill you.”

Jefferson went down with a torn ACL in his right knee after 50 games in the 08-09 season.

Via Pioneer Press

An NBA source said today that Minnesota forward-center Al Jefferson is not being traded to the Suns with the sixth overall pick for Suns All-Star forward Amare Stoudemire. An NBA executive told The Globe on Wednesday that the teams discussed the trade. But another source acknowledged the discussion, but also said the Suns were quickly turned down. The source added that the Wolves new general manager David Kahn has even called Jefferson, an ex-Celtic, to tell him the trade would not happen. As for Stoudemire, the cost-cutting Suns definitely seem interesting in moving him and his hefty salary.

Boston Globe

An NBA executive told the Boston Globe today that the Minnesota Timberwolves are working a deal with the Phoenix Suns that would send former Celtics forward Al Jefferson and their sixth pick in next week’s NBA Draft for All-Star Amare Stoudemire.

The Suns, which have dangled Stoudemire for some time, fiound a suitor in Minnesota that is in transition. The team announced today that coach Kevin McHale has ended his 15-year association with the team. New basketball of operations David Kahn is looking to take the franchise into another direction.

Boston Globe

Al Jefferson twisted his right knee in Sunday’s loss to New Orleans 101 – 97 in the 4th quarter with less than 28 seconds left in the game. According to the Star Tribune, Jefferson said he heard a “pop” in the knee and said it didn’t feel as bad after the game as when he suffered a mildly sprained MCL before training camp started last fall.

“You think the worst all the time,” Jefferson said when asked his first thought after he landed on that knee. “Let’s hope it’s not as bad as it seemed. I couldn’t put any pressure on it last time. This feels a lot better. It’s nothing like it was last time. I’m going to try to not worry about it until I get my X-ray tomorrow.”

The Minnesota Timberwolves are currently 17 -33, and have a snowballs chance in hell of making the playoffs.

UPDATE:  Minnesota Timberwolves star center Al Jefferson is out indefinitely with a torn ACL in his right knee. The team made the announcement Monday after a somber practice. Coach Kevin McHale said Jefferson will likely have surgery to repair the injury in the next week to 10 days.

Via ESPN

Death, Taxes and All-Star snubs. All these things can’t be avoided in life but that dosen’t mean we can’t point out were the league messed up.

Here are the Top 5: NBA All-Star Snubs of 08-09.
 

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