The Wolves unveiled their new unis today and, yes, they are not exactly like the one that was leaked from Kevin Love’s rookie photo shoot for early release to the league’s video-game producer and trading-card companies. In the works for the last year and a half in a joint effort with adidas and the NBA, the new uniforms have been updated for the team’s 20th anniversary and, of course, are ready to be pre-ordered for only $44.95 per replica jersey on www.shopwolves.com.

The pine trees have been de-emphasized on the neckline and removed from the waistband and moved to new side panels. In a nod to the team’s original uniforms, “Wolves” has replaced “Timberwolves” on the home jersey and the road jerseys will tell everybody in the arena where the visitors are from.

Chief marketing guy Ted Johnson, in a bit of hyperbole, called it “obviously a big day in the history of the Minnesota Timberwolves” and said the new look is intended to “reinvigorate” the team’s brand and “who and what we are.”

OK, all you Mr. Blackwells out there, chime in…

The Wolves will unveil their new unis — their first new duds since 1996 — Monday over the lunch hour at the IDS Crystal Court. The program starts at noon, with Crunch scheduled to work the fashion runway. If you’re smitten with the new gear (and who wasn’t by that shot of Kevin Love modeling a prototype?), you can rush right out and be the first in your neighborhood to own the new look. The Wolves also on Monday are launching an online store to peddle the stuff, at www.ShopWolves.com

The preseason schedule is out. Here it is:

Oct. 6 at Milwaukee

Oct. 8 vs. Oklahoma City at Billings, MT

Oct. 10 at Denver

Oct. 14 at Chicago

Oct. 16 at Toronto

Oct. 19 vs. Denver at Bismarck, N.D.

Oct. 22 vs. Chicago at Target Center

Oct. 23 vs. Milwaukee at Target Center

Interesting to note: The only real “home” games are on consecutive nights at the end of the pre-season schedule. The Wolves then have six days off before opening the season at home against Sacramento on Oct. 29. Camp opens Sept. 30 in Mankato.

The draft is long past. Gone by, too, are the summer league and the Wolves’ major free-agent signings. Even the regular season schedule is out. So…I’m going to be laying low for the next several weeks. I’ll post the preseason sked when it comes out later this week and will update with any roster moves, etc., but otherwise, except for maybe throwing up a fresh thread now and then just to keep things moving, I’ll be burning up vacation and earned time off until training camp approaches. So if things seem a little slow on the blog, that’s why.

With that, I’ll leave you for now with today’s piece on Glen Taylor that is part of a four-day series on the local team owners.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wolves/26817999.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUqPk4DyCc75DiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiU

His health willing this time, Kevin Garnett (and Wolves fans) won’t have to wait long for that delayed first Target Center appearance to arrive this season. Garnett and his world champion Celtics are due in town on Friday, Nov. 21, the highlight in an opening month full of them.

The Wolves open their regular season at home for the eighth consecutive year when Sacramento arrives on Oct. 29. The ensuing month will include visits from Dirk and the Mavs, Timmy Duncan and the Spurs, awaited rookie Greg Oden and Portland, Elton Brand and his new team the Sixers, KG, Steve Nash and the Suns and Carmelo, A.I. and the Nuggets before November is out.

Other stuff to note:

*Right now, the Wolves are not scheduled for any ESPN, TNT or ABC telecasts, although games could be added to the schedule at a later date. You’d think that 11 a.m. game at Boston on Feb. 1 would be prime for a national broadcast, but ABC currently has Cleveland at Detroit pegged for that slot.

* LeBron James’ lone visit is Dec. 17.

* Kobe and the Lakers come to Target Center Jan. 30 and Feb. 22

*O.J. Mayo, your very own Timberwolf for about five hours, and Memphis arrive Dec. 29 and March 11.

*MVP candidate Chris Paul and New Orleans visit just once, on Jan. 23. This year, the L.A. Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Hornets and Phoenix Suns are the four Western Conference opponents the Wolves play just three times.

* The Wolves open and close the season at home against Sacramento, finishing on April 15, tax day.

*Rookie Kevin Love returns home to Portland early, on Nov. 8.

*The longest road trip is just three games (five times) and have two four-game homestands (Feb. 25-March 3, March 9-14).

*The preseason schedule will be released late next week and the TV sked is yet to come as well.

October
29 Sacramento 7 p.m.
November
1 Dallas 7 p.m.
2 At Oklahoma City 6 p.m.
5 San Antonio 7 p.m.
7 At Sacramento 9 p.m.
8 At Portland 9 p.m.
11 At Golden State 9:30 p.m.
15 Portland 7 p.m.
16 At Denver 7 p.m.
19 Philadelphia 7 p.m.
21 Boston 7 p.m.
23 At Detroit 5 p.m.
26 Phoenix 7 p.m.
28 At Oklahoma City 7 p.m.
29 Denver 7 p.m.
December
1 At Charlotte 6 p.m.
3 At Orlando 6 p.m.
5 At New Jersey 6:30 p.m.
6 L.A. Clippers 7 p.m.
9 Utah 7 p.m.
10 At Denver 8 p.m.
12 San Antonio 7 p.m.
14 At L.A. Lakers 8:30 p.m.
15 At Sacramento 9 p.m.
17 Cleveland 7 p.m.
20 Houston 7 p.m.
23 At San Antonio 7:30 p.m.
26 At New York 6:30 p.m.
27 Orlando 7 p.m.
29 Memphis 7 p.m.
30 At Dallas 7:30 p.m.
January
2 Golden State 7 p.m.
3 At Chicago 7:30 p.m.
6 At Memphis 7 p.m.
7 Oklahoma City 7 p.m.
10 Milwaukee 7 p.m.
13 Miami 7 p.m.
16 At Phoenix 8 p.m.
19 At L.A. Clippers 2:30 p.m.
20 At Utah 8 p.m.
23 New Orleans 7 p.m.
25 Chicago 6 p.m.
26 At Milwaukee 7 p.m.
28 Detroit 7 p.m.
30 L.A. Lakers 7 p.m.
February
1 At Boston 11 a.m.
3 At Indiana 6 p.m.
4 Atlanta 7 p.m.
7 At Houston 7:30 p.m.
8 At New Orleans 6 p.m.
10 Toronto 7 p.m.
17 At Washington 6 p.m.
18 At Miami 6:30 p.m.
20 Indiana 7 p.m.
22 L.A. Lakers 6 p.m.
24 At Toronto 6 p.m.
25 Utah 7 p.m.
27 Portland 7 p.m.
March
1 Houston 6 p.m.
3 Golden State 7 p.m.
6 At L.A. Lakers 9:30 p.m.
7 At Portland 9 p.m.
9 Washington 7 p.m.
11 Memphis 7 p.m.
13 New York 7 p.m.
14 Charlotte 7 p.m.
17 At San Antonio 7:30 p.m.
18 At New Orleans 7 p.m.
20 At Houston 7:30 p.m.
22 Oklahoma City 2:30 p.m.
23 At Atlanta 6 p.m.
25 At Philadelphia 6 p.m.
27 At Cleveland 6:30 p.m.
29 New Jersey 2:30 p.m.
31 Dallas 7 p.m.
April
3 At Utah 8 p.m.
5 Denver 6 p.m.
7 At L.A. Clippers 9:30 p.m.
8 At Golden State 9:30 p.m.
11 Phoenix 7 p.m.
13 At Dallas 7:30 p.m.
15 Sacramento 7 p.m.

Craig Smith underwent successful arthroscopic surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his right knee today in Los Angeles and will be re-evaluated in six to eight weeks.

That will take him right up to near the start of training camp. The team opens camp in Mankato on Sept. 30.

Smith, a third-year forward, signed a new two-year, $4.8 million contract last month.

Update: Smith injured his knee during the one game he played for the summer-league team in Vegas, hours after he signed his new deal.

Wolves summer-league combo guard Blake Ahearn’s hometown newspaper has a story today about how he’s waiting in Springfield, Mo., for the Timberwolves or another team to offer him a second NBA chance.

Ahearn played 12 NBA games at the end of last season when Miami turned into itself in a D-League team and could become that third Wolves point guard, if the team decides to do so. Ahearn said he is headed to San Antonio in two weeks for a tryout with the Spurs.

Here’s the story…

http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080801/SPORTS040101/808010360/1002/SPORTS

Also, SI.com is reporting that the Greek team, Olympiakos, which just signed Atlanta’s Josh Childress to a three-year, $20 million deal, is considering tossing, say, $40 million a year LeBron James’ way when he becomes a free agent in 2010. The weak American dollar is making Europe very attractive for American players.

“We historically went to Europe and raided their top players,” Kevin McHale said after Childress signed with Olympiakos. “Now they’re starting to come in here and go after some of ours. That’ll be interesting.”

On the one-year anniversary of the blockbuster trade that sent Kevin Garnett to Boston and reshaped the Timberwolves’ future, the team today announced what has been coming for many days: Houston Rockets personnel guy Dean Cooper joins Randy Wittman’s coaching staff, replacing Bob Ociepka, who left to join new Chicago Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro’s staff.

A former high-school and college coach, Cooper last was on the bench in 2003 for the final of his two seasons as an assistant to Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich. Since then, he has been an NBA personnel scout, scouting director and vice president of player personnel for the Rockets.

He interviewed with Wittman at this month’s Las Vegas Summer League after Wittman and Kevin McHale inquired about his interest in the position and asked the Rockets for permission to speak to him. He is good friends with Texas Tech coach Pat Knight, son of Bob Knight, who coached Wittman in college at Indiana. Cooper credits that relationship and joint pre-draft workouts the Rockets and the Wolves held together in June for the connection that led to the job offer.

“Things in the NBA sometimes happen quickly and they come when you least expect it,” Cooper said from Houston on Thursday. “I wasn’t looking for a job. I coached my entire life (until he moved into the Rockets’ personnel department)…once a coach, always a coach.”

To prep for his interview, Cooper watched tapes of Wolves’ games from last season. One was a game very late in the season in Orlando, where the Magic was trying to win its 50th game of the season and the Wolves were aiming for victory No. 20.

The Wolves trailed by 14 points in the third quarter, by seven with three minutes left, by four with 87 seconds remaining, but won 102-101 and ended a six-game losing streak when Ryan Gomes made two free throws with 2.9 seconds left.

“That says a lot about the coaching staff, the environment, the players’ commitment to what’s going on,” Cooper said. “There are a lot of 20-win teams that would have mailed it in long prior to that. I look at that and said to myself, `These guys have a plan and their players are buying into it.’ It was impressive. It really stuck out to me. I wanted to be a part of something like that.”

Cooper join assistant coaches Jerry Sichting, J.B. Bickerstaff, Ed Pinckney and Brent Haskins on Wittman’s staff. He said he plans to be in town and ready to go to work the second week of August.

Ryan Gomes officially signed his contract today and then he and Kevin McHale announced the agreement in a news conference at Farview Community Center, where Gomes last winter donated a heart defibrillator with his Hoops for Heart Health Foundation.

Here’s the deal on the deal: Officially, it’s for five years, although the Wolves have options after the second and third years and Gomes has the option after the fourth year. So the first two years are guaranteed, at $3.5 million next season and $3.8 million in 2009-2010. His salary jumps above $4 million after that if the team exercises its option. If Gomes remains a Timberwolf for all five seasons, the contract will approach $22 million.

If the Wolves want to clear more cap room for the 2010 free agent class, they could decide not to pick up Gomes’ option that summer and he’d become an unrestricted free agent.

Three for three: Ryan Gomes became the third Wolves’ free agent in eight days to agree to a new contract when he and his agent did so on Friday to a multi-year contract.

I probably won’t track down the financial nitty gritty until after the weekend, but I’m pretty sure the contract is for at least three years and it conditionally might be another couple years longer than that.

Last week, the Wolves signed Craig Smith to a two-year $4.8 million contract. On Wednesday, Sebastian Telfair finalized a three-year, $7.5 million deal that includes a $2.7 million third year that is his option.

Gomes’ agent reportedly sought a full mid-level exception ($5.5 million) from another team, but didn’t get an offer. The Wolves had the right to match any offer sheet Gomes signed.

On Wednesday, Kevin McHale said he considers the return of restricted free agent forward Chris Richard — the last of the team’s remaining unsigned free agents — next season basically a foregone conclusion.