Pekovic sumasailalim sa bagong programa ng Wolves

MANKATO, Minn. -- Sa ikatlong araw ng kanilang trai­ning camp ay naging pisikal ang bawat player ng Min­nesota Timberwolves habang pinapanood sila ni center Ni­kola Pekovic sa baseline at nakasuot ng jogging pants at T-shirt.

Ipinagpahinga ni coach Flip Saunders si Pekovic bilang bahagi ng isang programa na nagpapaliit ng tsansang magkaroon ng injury ang kanilang prized center at patuloy na magamit siya sa ikalawa sa kanyang five-year, $60 million contract.

Hindi nakita si Pekovic sa pinagsamang 48 laro sa nakaraang dalawang seasons dahil sa injury.

Ngayong season ay pinaplano ng Timberwolves na ilimita ang kanyang paglalaro sa training camp at maging sa regular games.

“I know the medical staff are doing everything to try to keep me healthy, but like I said many times, my way of playing and how many times I get bumped and I get hit, and of course, I hit people,” sabi ni Pekovic . “Of course, it’s normal to get hurt. I just hope something doesn’t happen like the small injuries I had last year.”

Nagtala si Pekovic, mula sa Montenegro, ng mga averages na career-high 17.5 points at 8.7 rebounds, ngunit hindi napanood sa 13 laro noong Pebrero dahil sa bursitis sa kanyang right ankle na muling nangyari noong Marso.

Dahil dito ay hindi siya nakalaro sa huling siyam na laban ng Timberwolves sa nakarang season.

Plano ni Saunders na gamitin siya ng hindi bababa sa 30 minuto bawat laro sa kanilang regular season.

“Ideally you’d like to start out in the mid-20s, but we’ll wait and see,” wika ni Saunders. “What I don’t want to do is I don’t want to get carried away like we did last year where he felt so good and then it hit him like a brick wall.”