Kevin Love is less than one month into his NBA career and his pedestrian averages of 8.3 points and 5.5 rebounds have resulted in some fans spraining their ankles while jumping off his bandwagon.

People need to take a deep breath and realize the growing pains Love is going through are nothing different than what any rookie endures when they arrive in the NBA.

“Kevin Love is a rookie that’s gone through ups and downs like any rookie does,” Timberwolves head coach Randy Wittman told Hoops Addict. “He’s trying to adjust to the speed of the game compared to the college game.

“People can’t comprehend the next step. I don’t care how well prepared you are or how good of a player you are. You’re seeing some of that. He’s learning and he’s played well. He’s had his bumps as well. He’s an intelligent player who can read the game, rebound the ball, pass and shoot. He’s just got to understand that every night (you need to step up because) there’s no Santa Clara’s. Everybody in the NBA has guys that are quick, can jump and run. I think that’s really the thing that has caught him off guard a little.”

It’s not just his coach that acknowledges that it will take time to transition from college ball to the NBA; Minnesota’s talented rookie anticipated some bumps along the way during his rookie season and he’s preparing for them as best as he could by leaning on his new teammates.

“It’s been an adjustment period and there’s a lot to learn,” Love recently admitted to Hoops Addict. “Heading into training camp I didn’t really know what to expect. But I’ve been leaning a lot on my teammates and learning from the coaching staff. I’m hoping by the time the season rolls around everything will be second nature and I will have picked up most of the basic stuff.”

With the perceived slow start of Love combined with Jefferson suffering from flu symptoms, some fans and members of the media have started to question is whether the duo will mesh on the court together since neither are seven-footers.

That idea is complete nonsense according to their coach.

“How are Jermaine O’Neal and Chris Bosh going to play together?” Wittman vented to Hoops Addict. “I mean, this is kind of the way the league is right now. You also have Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis. Very few teams have Shaquille O’Neal or Yao Ming or the big quote unquote seven-foot centre. So we can play a lot of different combination of guys at the five because of how the game has changed a little bit.”

It’s because Jefferson and Love have such different skill sets that Wittman believes they’ll have success. In fact, you could consider the duo the NBA’s version of Beauty and the Beast; Love is the cover boy while Jefferson is known for doing do the dirty work in the post and on the glass.

“Love’s a very high IQ player and he’s going to know where his strengths are going to be,” Wittman explained to Hoops Addict. “Playing with Al, he’s going to be a passer, he’s got great instincts and he can hit the face-up jump shot. So when you’re looking at who to play next to Al you need someone like that who can spread the floor, make shots and also be a good passer.”

Even though he’s a highly touted rookie with a bright future Love acknowledges he has a lot to learn. Heck, his modest stats so far in the preseason back that up. Something that will help with his learning curve is the fact he’s playing on a team with experienced big men like Calvin Booth, Mark Madsen and Brian Cardinal. Even though that trio of players may not strike fear into the hearts of opponents this season, there’s a wealth of knowledge in the Timberwolves locker room for the rookie to learn from because between them they have one NBA Championship and 27 years of NBA experience.

You can be rest assured that Love is chatting up the vets and soaking up their knowledge like a sponge.

“They’ve been helping a lot, especially the bigs,” Love admitted to Hoops Addict. “They’ve been showing me where to be and they’ve been helping me out what I’ve messed up in a couple of practices whether it’s on the defensive or offensive end.”

Love is barely a month into his twenties and he’s competing for the most part against grown men who have been playing in the NBA for a couple seasons; it’s logical to expect a transition period and some mistakes. The fact that he’s learning from his mistakes is the important thing, not that he’s showing some growing pains getting acclimated to playing in the NBA.

Be patient Timberwolves fans, even though the preseason has seen it’s share of highs and lows for Love you can be confident he’s a big part of the franchises future.

Photo Credit: ICON Sports Media