What’s worse than seeing your team struggle out of the gate to a 3-18 record? Being forced to sit on the bench and watch the majority of those games because you injured your hand before the season even started.

This was the dilemna Kevin Love faced as he broke his left hand during a preseason game. However, in his first five games back he’s averaging 15.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. Throw in the fact he’s doing this while shooting a sizzling 57% from the field and only playing 26.7 minutes per game as he builds up his conditioning.

The best stat? The much improved 2-3 record Minnesota has since he’s returned to the court.

When Love was in town for a game against Toronto last night I was able to chat with him about how he’s staying positive during the franchise’s rebuilding stage, the benefits of playing on a team with a lot of young players, what it’s like battling against Al Jefferson every day in practice and how is wrist is feeling after his first four games of the season.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.