And then there were ... nine?

Greetings.

The list of battered and bruised Wolves players continues to grow.

Greetings. Kent Youngblood here. I was at practice today as Jerry was winging his way to Dallas. After practice Michael Beasley -- who said he was able to practice today -- joked about all those who could not. "Half the team was in the weight room today," he said.

He wasn't far off. Those not practicing today: Luke Ridnour, who has a sore knee; Darko Milicic (hip); Brad Miller (knee), Wes Johnson (sick) and Anthony Tolliver (wrist).

Coach Rick Adelman said player development coach Shawn Respert had to step into some drills so the Wolves would have 10 players. For Adelman, who knows his team needs to work on some things in order to improve, it can be frustrating. "There is no practice," he said about the compressed schedule. "You can't do it. The schedule prohibits you completely from it. You can do some, but a lot of it has to be mental."

After Houston beat the Wolves up with pick and rolls Monday night, Adelman focused much of Tuesday's workout on defending that scheme. Then they did some offensive stuff just so some of the players on the verge of returning -- such as Martell Webster -- could get up to speed.

"We have five guys out, which really limits you," Adelman said.

--Just about every media member there today wanted to talk with Kevin Love, as the deadline looms for him to sign a contract extension with the Wolves. Love, though, declined to talk with reporters today.

Is the contract situation becoming a distraction?

"I don't think so," Adelman said. "I'm sure it is for him. It's a big deal. Obviously something is going to have to happen by tomorrow. We'll see. (But) he has been consistent. He's been one of our most consistent players right along. I think this is different from what I'm used to, because of the lockout situation. Suddenly these new rules come in and you knew by the end of January something was going to have to happen one way or the other. ... But he's been consistent in his games and that's all you can ask for."

Beasley put it best: "Kevin is a great player," he said. "This organization needs him, just like every (other) organization wants him."

Beasley did volunteer to help get the deal done, but said he wanted 20 percent for his efforts. "I'm expensive," he joked.