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Porter: It will take time for us to improve

Minnesota's three key players spent a total of 13 minutes together on the court last season. So, head-coach Adelman is trying to keep the three of them on the court as often as possible during pre-season.

Minnesota Timberwolves started last two seasons with great ambitions but in the end, mostly because of many injuries, they failed to compete in the playoffs. It sound almost incredible that three of their key players (Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio and Nikola Pekovic) played only 26 games together in the last two years. And even more incredible is the fact that they have spent only 13 minutes together on the court during the last season.

- I knew that number wasn't high but I didn't know it was that low - coach Adelman said.

In the meantime they signed new 120 milions dollar worth contracts with Love and Pekovic, and Rubio should get his wage rise in the 2015. Considering the ridiculously small amount of time they spent on the court together, coach Rick Adelman promised to keep them in play as often as possible during pre-season. He also promised to give lots of chances to play to Kevin Martin and Corey Brewer, this summer's new signings.

- It makes sense because we've probably played... how many minutes did we play together last year? - Love asked - It makes sense for him to do that. We are three unselfish guys, and we are a pretty unselfish team. We'll figure it out. It's going to be sooner rather than later.

The Wolves should perform well in the offense, but there are a lot of questions to be asked about their defense. Especially as neither Petkovic or Love are very good rebounders or good defensive players in general:

- I believe most of the good teams, especially defensively, are the ones that set the tone. They are the ones who are talking. They see everything coming at you. Those guys have to be more vocal and have to be in the right spot early for us to get better. Big people have to do that. Dante [Cunningham] is very active, but those guys have to do the same thing - head-coach Adelman said.

His team will play 7 pre-season matches, and four of those are scheduled in the next 6 days. Chase Budinger is still recovering from a knee injury and he won't be able to play during pre-season. Dante Cuningham has been struck by a flu, and his appearance is also doubtful:

- It's going to take time. Last year and the year before, they are all different players now. There is a lot of difference in confidence for the three of them. I think they have a better grasp of our offense and now it's just a matter of getting those guys on the court and working through all the nuances of what this offense can do to help these guys be successful. It's something that will be an ongoing process. Whenever you talk about those three guys being the core of our offense, it's timing and it's rhythm and it takes time  - assistant coach Terry Porter said.

It is hard to make any predictions before the season starts, but the general impression is that not many teams in Europe will be able to cause CSKA any real trouble. Their roster is truly astounding. They are well covered on all positions and there are just a few (if any) teams that are capable for winning against the CSKA in the three matches series.  But, to win the Euroleague trophy you must win at Final Four, and CSKA didn't perform well in the Final Four in the past years.

Unlike many other european clubs, the finances are really not an issue at CSKA. Most of their key players from last season are still at the club, and they signed some new players such as Hines, Fridzon and an excellent playmaker Pargo. There is a very small chance that anyone but them could win the VTB league this year. They have an excellent team that can compete on two fronts without too much trouble.

They will play two matches against NBA teams to prepare themselves for the challenges in the european competitions. Minnesota and San Antonio will be their opponents. These matches will be a great test of their current ability and the main advantage over their NBA opponents will be the fact that the season is about to start in Europe whilst they still have couple of week of pre-season in the States.

Vorontsevich is still recovering and he won't be on the court for CSKA today. Weems is also slightly injured and they decided not to risk anything serious by putting him on the court.

- We have a great match ahead of us and this will be a great experience for my players. Minnesota are a very strong team, and their game is based on shooting 3-pointers frequently and of course, pick-and-roll. We are looking forward to seeing Sved who is really building a name for himself in the NBA. We worked hard in the last couple of days, we hope to perform good today and I can promise you we will try to win - Messina said. 
  

CSKA are a much better prepared team at this moment. A weak Bilbao almost defeated Philadelphia and CSKA are also able to do that today. They have several ex-NBA players or prospective NBA players and I believe they are underestimated here. This is the first game for Minnesota, their main players are not really in shape and I do not expect things to go smoothly. CSKA will probably try to impose their rhythm and will go for a very tight finish. I would not be surprised if they win, as Messina has great squad at his disposal this season.