Karl-Anthony Towns looked relieved Tuesday while taking questions about the Timberwolves’ season opener.
Still shaken by the death of coach Flip Saunders on Sunday, Towns and the Wolves were eager to turn their attention toward the start of the regular season.
Towns, a forward/center, is anticipating a matchup of sorts with fellow rookie of the year candidate D’Angelo Russell, a Los Angeles Lakers guard. Wednesday’s tipoff will mark the first time in the common draft era (since 1966) that the top two picks will make their NBA debuts in the same game.
Russell offered condolences when he and Towns talked on the phone Monday. They have struck up a friendship since going through the draft process together this summer.
“We can’t wait to obviously see each other,” Towns said. “But we really just can’t wait to compete against each other, also.”
Even before the news of Saunders’ death shocked the sports world, Wednesday’s game was to be a featured, nationally televised game. That’s not just because of Towns and Russell but also Lakers star Kobe Bryant returning from a rotator cuff injury that limited him to 35 games last season.
“It’s always good playing one of the greats,” said Wolves swingman Andrew Wiggins, last season’s NBA rookie of the year.
All eyes might be on Towns, Russell and Bryant, but the Wolves have a chance to showcase an interesting mix of young and veteran talent in a prime-time matchup at Staples Center.
Kevin Garnett, Tayshaun Prince, Andre Miller and Kevin Martin give Minnesota a combined 60 years of NBA experience. So it was no surprise to see Towns receiving spirited advice from Garnett during Tuesday’s practice.
“He was explaining to me something about playing tomorrow that will really help me a lot,” Towns said. “So we were just working on that. It’s just funny sometimes to see how much energy he has.”
Several Wolves players preached playoffs as the goal this season, which would be a surprise coming off an NBA-worst 16-66 record last season. Interim coach Sam Mitchell has avoided placing any expectations on the team. He just hopes they play freely on offense and make strides defensively after being the NBA’s worst defensive team last season.
What did Mitchell learn in seven preseason games?
“We’re an unselfish team, and we play hard on both ends,” Mitchell said. “We’re young.”
A lot more was revealed about the Wolves, though, especially at the end of the preseason. In last week’s win over the Milwaukee Bucks, point guard Ricky Rubio looked healthy after being limited with a quadriceps strain for most of training camp.
There seems to be no doubt now that Rubio will start Wednesday’s opener.
“Ricky has played his way into shape,” Mitchell said. “Trying to get his timing back. I thought his last game at home he did a lot of good things.”
The rotation is likely still being formed, but it appears Mitchell likes having Zach LaVine, Martin, Shabazz Muhammad, Nemanja Bjelica and Gorgui Dieng coming off the bench.
Even before the devastating personal loss of Saunders, Muhammad said training camp had been a grind for the entire team. They players are eager to see how that will translate on the court Wednesday.
“I think we’re a really tough team,” Muhammad said. “Our training camp was really hard on us. To me, this was one of the hardest training camps I’ve been through.”
BRIEFLY
Center Nikola Pekovic, who did not play in the preseason, is out for the opener with a right Achilles’ tendon injury.
Follow Marcus R. Fuller at twitter.com/GophersNow.
