er grades given are out of five, with five being the

The new-look Minnesota Timberwolves will get their season underway Wednesday on the road against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedEx Forum. Kevin Love will not be in a Minnesota uniform to kick off the season for the first time since he was drafted fifth overall in 2008. Love was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the offseason to team up with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. The Timberwolves never made it to the playoffs with Love as the cornerstone of the franchise and havent punched a postseason ticket since 2003-04. The Wolves landed the No. 1 picks in the last two drafts, Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett, for Love as well as veteran power forward Thaddeus Young from Philadelphia. Minnesota also drafted UCLA guard Zach LaVine to add to a core that includes Nikola Pekovic, Ricky Rubio, Kevin Martin and Corey Brewer. Martin was second on the team with 19.1 ppg behind Loves 26.1 ppg. Brewer still feels the Timberwolves are talented enough to move on without Love. I feel like we can still compete, Brewer said. I played on a Denver team that was the third seed and we didnt have a superstar at all. You dont have to have a superstar to be able to compete. There is plenty of upside and potential with this young nucleus of players, but it will take time to jell. Look for an estimated 20 to 25 wins for Minnesota in the return of head coach Flip Saunders. Saunders spent parts of 10 seasons from 1995-2005 as the Wolves coach and was let go at the start of the 2004-05 campaign. Saunders, though, returned to the Twin Cities in 2013 as president of basketball operations. He also took a minority ownership stake in the team and is replacing the retired Rick Adelman, who spent three seasons with the T- Wolves, who tried to make a run last season and ended with 40 wins. It was the fourth straight season the Wolves improved their previous years win total. We had enough veterans to jell the team, but there was just something that happened around February, Martin said. I couldnt put my hand on it but our team just went in a totally different direction. We dealt with a lot of off- the-court issues. The T-Wolves were third in the NBA in scoring last season with 106.9 points per game and allowed 104.3 ppg on defense. They were 3-20 when failing to score 100 points and it will probably get worse with Love gone. Minnesota, which ended the preseason with four straight wins, has won two straight and four of six season openers, but is 2-6 all-time when starting on the road. The Wolves will have a run of 13 straight season openers at home come to an end. The Grizzlies have struggled mightily on their first night, having lost 13 straight season openers dating back to 2000-01. The team resided in Vancouver at the time and moved to the Volunteer State the next season. Its surprising how poorly the Grizzlies have played in their lid-lifters, despite the amount of success theyve had in recent years. They made the postseason for a fourth straight time in 2013-14, when they went 50-32 and recorded at least that many wins for a second year in a row. Memphis lost to Oklahoma City in seven games in the first round and is hoping year No. 2 under David Joerger will bear more fruit. Joerger recorded the best record of any of the 10 first-year NBA head coaches last season and preaches defense as evidenced by the 94.6 ppg clip -- best in the West. Joerger put his teams chances for another playoff run in perspective. I dont think theres high expectations for this team. Were the team nobodys talking about nationally, he said. Theres really good teams in the West. Well, the Grizzlies are pretty good, too. They have a strong bunch of players in Zach Randolph, Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, and newcomer, veteran Vince Carter. Randolph and Gasol give Memphis a formidable frontcourt duo and the former posted 47 double-doubles in 2013-14. We have good depth and good experience, said Joerger. Randolph averaged 17.4 points and 10.1 rebounds -- both team highs -- and Conley posted a career-high 17.2 ppg. Gasol was third with 14.6 ppg and second with 7.2 rpg despite missing time because of a knee injury. Gasol had 18.0 points and 9.3 rebounds in April. Carter will most likely pass Robert Parish and Charles Barkley on the NBAs all-time scoring list (23,190). Parish had 23,334 and Barkley posted 23,757. The Grizzlies and T-Wolves split four meetings last season, but Memphis has won 16 of the previous 19 matchups. The two teams will meet again in January, March and April. Minnesota has lost 15 of the past 19 games on Beale Street. Joe Ledley Wales Jersey . They signed their first kicker. Ottawa inked Nick Setta, a 32-year-old native of Lockport, Illinois, to a contract. Gareth Bale Wales Jersey . She still remembers the massive roar of the home crowd when the Canadians walked out on the pitch before 47,784 fans at Commonwealth Stadium in 2002. Lang expects a similar reception for the Canadian team as the host nation at this years tournament, which begins Tuesday. http://www.soccerwalesstore.com/joe-allen-wales-UEFA-EURO-jersey/ . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins (5) – He had a brilliant game; it was a huge response for his average games before. Aaron Ramsey Jersey . It was a loss. But it was also a learning experience. Deron Williams and Joe Johnson had 24 points each to lift Brooklyn to a 94-87 win over the Raptors, making their first playoff appearance since 08. "I thought we played a little bit as expected as it is our first playoff game," Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. Custom Wales Soccer Jerseys . One out away from finishing off an impressive shutout, they let a must-win game slip away.STATELINE, Nev. -- Mark Rypien beat out Jeremy Roenick and Annika Sorenstam to win the weather-delayed American Century Celebrity Golf Championship on Sunday. Rypien took the title for the first time since winning the inaugural event in 1990. Lightning storms delayed play for more than three hours. Rypien ran away from Roenick and Sorenstam, putting up big Stableford points on his back nine, going 5 under for a record-breaking third-round total of 33 points and 76 throughout the three-day event at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course. After finishing in second place in the past two years, Rypien broke through with a win in the 25th anniversary of the tournament. "In 25 years from now Ill be 76. Do you think I could do that when Im 76?" Rypien said. "It was a little bit of an advantage just from that standpoint that Im accustomed to playing in inclement weather with golf and football and then that was kind of the way it was today. It was kind of uncomfortable for everybody, but I felt fine." Rypien won $125,000 from the $600,000 purse. Sorenstam and Roenick will each get $57,500 for tying for second in the event. Roenick and Sorenstam tied for second with three-round totals of 65. It was the retired LPGA stars first appearance in the event and although she has already been invited back, she is unsure if she will play the event again next year, despite her strong finish. "I was hoping for a few more points," Sorenstam said. "I dont know if 76 would have been reachable for me the way I played today, but maybe a few more and I would have felt very comfortable and pleased.dddddddddddd" Chad Pfeifer, who lost his left leg above the knee serving in Iraq, started the day in second place, earned only 17 points and tied for fifth with former baseball star John Smoltz, who had the second-highest total of the day along with Sorenstam (23). In honour of Pfeifers effort in the event, American Century donated $25,000 to the Troops First Foundation in his name. "I truly thought after (Saturday) that Chad was going to be the player to beat," Rypien said. "After he double-bogeyed two and then came back with birdies on three and four, I said to myself, This is who I have to beat." Actor Jack Wagner, also a former champion of the event, made a strong push Sunday with 22 points to finish fourth, his 19th top-10 finish in the event. Roenick and Rypien were tied for the lead with 64 Stableford points through 15 holes when play was suspended due to lighting. Its the second day in a row weather delayed play, a short delay Saturday was also due to lightning. But following the delay, Rypien distanced himself from the rest of the field. He earned 12 points on the final three holes, starting with an eagle on 16 and birdied 17 and 18, recovering from a shot into the trees on 18. Roenick struggled after the rain delay, bogeying 17 and doubling 18 after hitting his approach into the water. It was Roenicks sixth top-10 finish in the past six years and his best in the event. ' ' '