NBA Teams of Interest: February 13, 2009

Each week, we're going to take a look at a few teams around The Association that we think deserve extra consideration.

We will not be giving picks; however, we believe this information can help the prudent bettor looking for that extra bit of information to help them make a more informed decision on upcoming games.

We welcome your feedback—contact us!. Also, you can comment and subscribe to our blog here. For previous articles, please visit our archive.

Minnesota

I would be remiss if I didn't analyze the Timberwolves after Al Jefferson's season-ending ACL injury. Until the injury, the young big man was making Kevin McHale look pretty good, and that is not an easy feat.

So what happens when you take a bad team and remove it's best player? I'd like to defer to one of my favorite sports cliches: "If we can lose with you, we can certainly lose without you." 

First, let me say that I am aware that the Timberwolves had won 10 of 14 January games, but they have lost five of six February games, and only one of those losses was without Jefferson.

Additionally, their 10 wins in January were not exactly what I would consider "quality wins". In fact, they only beat two teams with a winning record: New Orleans (without David West or Tyson Chandler) and the Phoenix Suns (by two points). Their true colors have started shining through against a tougher February schedule, and it's safe to say that their January record was more mirage than trend.

That's my objective view. We know that the general public, however, is not usually objective. Lucky for us, much has been made on "Sportscenter" of Minnesota's unbelievable "turnaround" and the highly unfortunate timing of "Baby Al"'s injury.

This may lead the casual sports bettor to overestimate the drop in quality the Timberwolves will experience as a result of the loss of Jefferson.  He was (and is) an outstanding player, but he was never doing all that much to help the T-Wolves win, and Minnesota is actually quite lucky to have depth at the forward position, greatly diminishing the impact of his injury.

Kevin Love has proven to be a capable rebounder, if nothing else, and will slide into the starting lineup in Jefferson's place. Ryan Gomes, another part of the Kevin Garnett deal, has shown to be a competent scorer and should make up for most of the scoring load that Jefferson was bearing.

Add to the mix that Randy Foye, a highly-touted (and mostly underperforming) young player, will now have every opportunity to assert himself more as a team leader, and I think the actual impact of Jefferson's injury is marginal.

Keep an eye on our live odds page, and if you see Minnesota coming out as an even bigger dog than it was before the Jefferson injury, it may not be a bad idea to take the points and the over.

Indiana

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?