It’s been another injury-plagued year in Minnesota. The team’s starting offensive backcourt of Ricky Rubio and Kevin Martin are out for an extended period. Up front they are without center Nikola Pekovic for at least a couple more weeks and his backup Ronny Turiaf will be out longer.
In the wake of that the league granted the Timberwolves a player exception to add a 16th man and they have used it to sign Jeff Adrien, the team announced Saturday.
Adrien did not make a roster this season and split last season between Charlotte and Milwaukee. With the Bucks he started 12 games and averaged 10.9 points and 7.8 rebounds a game.
Adrien has the build and athleticism of an NBA player — he passes the eye test — and he works hard on the glass. However he has no offensive range and doesn’t take many shots. Last season with Charlotte, for example, when he got in a game he averaged just 1.6 shots a contest but 82 percent of them were within the restricted area (dunks and layups). He’s a guy other teams are not afraid to help off.
That said, the Timberwolves need bodies up front and they could do worse than Adrien.
