The Minnesota Timberwolves have had a rough 3 games, losing the Chicago Bulls twice and to the Milwaukee Bucks once over the weekend, but Timberwolves rookie/WNY native Jonny Flynn has played well despite the final scores.

Friday took Flynn and the Timberwolves to Chicago to take on the Bulls for a second time, unfortunately the results were about the same. The Bulls won by four (94-90) despite Flynn coming out on top of the Timberwolves heap for the second game in a row. Flynn is continuing to prove that despite his young age and relative inexperience, even being down by several points in the fourth quarter can’t rattle him. Flynn started and played a total of 23 minutes, scoring 10 points. In the same game, second year Timberwolves guard Kevin Love injured his hand, forcing Flynn to step up and cover the hole on the roster left by Love.

On Wednesday October 14th the Timberwolves took on the Chicago Bulls at the Target Center in Minneapolis, but even the home town crowd couldn’t help them. Flynn saw over 23 minutes of playing time and scored 13 points. In the fourth quarter with a tight lead, Flynn sunk two crucial free throws that would have insured a Timberwolves victory, if the Bulls offense wouldn’t have answered back with several key baskets down the stretch to ensure a Chicago win.

Flynn shines as Wolve’s struggle in preseason – continue reading…

 
Here at Buffalo Sports Daily, we love Jonny Flynn. We really do. So much in fact we set up an entire page on our website dedicated to following his NBA career. Flynn is the pride of Western New York; the kid from Niagara Falls who’s made it to the big time. The once high school local phenom was the sixth overall pick of the Minnesota Timberwolves this summer.

Let us underscore that… The Minnesota Timberwolves.

Perhaps Flynn had a moment of forgetfulness regarding what uniform he is now sporting. The hot shot rookie is trying to revitalize a franchise that’s failed to win more than 33 games in four straight seasons. Fans in Minneapolis, at least from what we hear, are desperate to see the team turn around. Make the Wolves a contender again and Flynn becomes the biggest thing there since Prince.. Or Bret Favre.

Jonny Flynn is now an NBA player. Well, technically he’s been since early summer when he was drafted sixth overall by Minnesota, but now he has his first media day as well as a few NBA practices under his belt. His first week was a busy one, but thus far he’s handled himself commendably.

On media day, usually the attention is on the new rookies to come in and discuss how they’ve meshed with the guys on the team, and how they think they’ll fit into the team’s future. Flynn was interviewed by Jonah Ballow, from timberwolves.com, and had quite a few things to say about his fit with this team.

Flynn Gets First Week of NBA Camp In – continue reading…

Since the 2009 NBA draft, one thing has remained constant for Niagara Falls native Jonny Flynn. Uncertainty. Uncertainty about if the Minnesota Timberwolves were keeping him on draft night, uncertainty of how he would fit next to Ricky Rubio had he not elected to stay overseas, and now uncertainty about minutes and his role on the team with the newly signed Ramon Sessions.

The signing of Sessions made plenty of sense to the Timberwolves brass, but at first it was bewildering for Flynn and his supporters. If you were in control of an NBA franchise that just took two point guards in the draft, even if one isn’t coming to the NBA for 2-3 years, why would you go out and sign another young (23-years old) point guard? Doesn’t this obscure things with your other two guards? The major issues I’m hearing is since Sessions is already an established point guard in the NBA, aren’t you hindering the development of your sixth overall pick in Flynn?

The answer to all is simple. You’re not hampering Flynn in any way. Sessions may be a point, but he is 6’3 190 lbs. He can hold his own against shooting guards and has proven so while playing alongside Luke Ridnour last season in Milwaukee. David Kahn (Wolves’ GM) has made it clear to anyone asking that Flynn and Sessions will be playing alongside each other this season and won’t be waging a head-to-head battle for minutes. Both should be logging around 30 minutes a game; a significant amount of playing time, especially for a rookie. Keep in mind Flynn is going from a 35-40 game college schedule at Syracuse to the NBA grind of 82 games.

The most likely scenario entails Sessions in the starting lineup alongside Flynn, since the Wolves are severely lacking at shooting guard this season. This is a great situation for Flynn since Sessions is a pass-first guard. Flynn will get many more shooting looks alongside Sessions than he would a scoring guard like previous years on the Wolves’ Roster (Randy Foye/Rashad McCants). This could greatly enhance his chances at becoming the 2009-10 Rookie of the Year, which he’s been projected to finish second in a few writer’s selections (mainly ESPN). Flynn will also have a capable guard to get the ball to in the offense since Sessions has a solid reputation of getting to the basket. He’s a major upgrade to what Flynn had alongside of him a few days ago (Wayne Ellington/Antonio Daniels).

Altogether, the signing of Sessions does not subdue Flynn’s chances to showcase his skills right out of the blocks. In fact, he’s expected to have inflated numbers because of Sessions’ skill-set and ability to set others up.

Flynn will get as many minutes as he can handle, and because Jonny will be a focal point of this Timberwolves team, it should be fun for fans to follow the Western New York product all season long.

(Matt Holmquist is based in Minnesota, and he’s our resident Jonny Flynn writer/stalker. He’ll be tracking the former Niagara Falls standout throughout his entire NBA rookie season. Matt is also the author of an excellent Timberwolves blog titled Dunking With Wolves. Be sure to check it out)