3 In The Key

1. The most dangerous man

The Minnesota Timberwolves have celebrated very little since entering the league in 1989. Since moving on from the Kevin Garnett era, the team has spent its time stockpiling assets and undergoing a necessary rebuild.

One of the impediments to their resurgence has been general manager David Kahn, the man who drafted two point guards, Johnny Flynn and Ricky Rubio, when he was armed with two lottery picks, than went and signed another point guard in Ramon Sessions through free agency.

There has been no semblance to Kahn’s roster construction over the past few years, but seemingly out of randomness or just out of sheer quantity of moves made, he has pulled together one of the most promising young rosters in the league.

The remarkable transition by Ricky Rubio to the league has lifted a lot of pressure off Kahn. Also, Head coach Rick Adelman is the perfect man to mold this team into something more than just a collection of misfit talent. The Rubio, Kevin Love and Derrick Williams core should make the rest of the Western Conference landscape take notice very soon, as early as next season.

But the man that’s orchestrating all of this is the most dangerous man in the league. As the franchise turns the corner, Kahn threatens to be the one to blow it all up again.

Last week, much was made about the fact that Kevin Love settled for a four year extension with an opt-out option, the pros and cons were broken down in detail by Tom Ziller. While many of us believe that the Wolves have offended their superstar power forward through negotiation by not locking him up over five years, Kahn believes that he’s obtained long-term flexibility for the team, to possibly pursue a better player down the road should the contract not work out.

This is of course ignoring the fact that Kevin Love is in the argument for best power forward in the league.

It’s not the first time that the team has come under fire under Kahn for handling a delicate situation in the worst way possible.

When the season ended last year, David Kahn allowed the uncertainly of then head coach Kurt Rambis linger on for months before finally firing him in July. It raised eyebrows across the league as to how poorly the organization is run. Last week’s debacle with Love only cements that reputation.

So while the Wolves are building a young and exciting core, the organization should take a hard look at whether they have the right guy to make the necessary moves to turn this roster into the next Oklahoma City Thunder, or players like Love and Rubio will follow Garnett into another era of underachieving results and mis-management.

2. The newest rivalry

Rivalries are great for sports, especially in basketball. I grew up following the Knicks-Pacers rivalry, Knicks-Heat and anyone in the East versus the Bulls. Bad blood that develops over time is great for the game.

It looks like the Bulls and Pacers look to have nominated themselves as the most interesting rivalry at the moment.

The groundwork was laid last year in a first round match-up that was much closer than the final result, where Chicago won in five games.

Earlier this week, the Pacers handed the Bulls their first home loss of the season. And didn’t hide their satisfaction in doing so, which upset Bulls guard Derrick Rose: “I’ll never forget how they celebrated just from winning this game.I can’t wait to play them again.”

Looking at the rosters of both teams, this looks like a rivalry with staying power. The Pacers are on the rise in the Eastern Conference, with a young core group led by Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert and Paul George. For the Bulls, many don’t expect their real season to start until they play Miami in the Conference Finals.

The two teams look locked into a tight race in the Central Division, and as the bad blood continues to rise, it will definitely heighten the rivalry between the two teams to levels we haven’t seen since Reggie Miller and Rik Smits threatened to unseat Jordan, Pippen and Rodman from the throne.

So mark your calendars down for March 5th, when Indiana returns to Chicago for a rematch. And don’t be surprised to see these two teams match-up in the second round of the playoffs.

3. War of attrition takes shape

Everyone knew before the season that with the compressed schedule, players would take their time getting into game shape and injuries were bound to occur.

But they’ve been happening lately at an alarming rate.

Earlier in the year, the Atlanta Hawks lost Al Horford for likely the entire season. The Spurs are without Manu Ginobili for the forseeable future. Back-up point guard Eric Maynor of the Thunder was lost for the year. Andrew Bogut of Milwaukee is expected to be gone for up to three months. Andrea Bargnani is out indefinitely with a calf injury. Players like Dwayne Wade, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony have also missed games due to an assortment of injuries.

In any season, players getting hurt is just a normal part of the game. But in the compressed schedule, it does take on additional meaning and a different way for teams to manage them.

Players that are out for three months now aren’t missing just a portion of the season, they’re out for the whole thing. Also, nagging injuries don’t just mean a player misses a practice or two. When a team is playing four games in five nights, or six in eight, that means games missed.

And these games that the superstars are missing can quickly add up to losses that will push teams out of the playoff race.

Health will be a key factor in determining playoff seeding.

And maybe the most important takeaway is this: whatever Kobe Bryant is doing to play through his wrist injury is just incredible.