76ers-Timberwolves Preview

By BRETT HUSTON

(AP) -- Thaddeus Young, still just 26 years old, is one of the veteran faces on a Minnesota Timberwolves team that's going through its share of struggles as it rebuilds behind a load of lottery picks.

That painstaking process is nothing compared to the one that's happening with his former team.

The Philadelphia 76ers take the court in Minneapolis on Wednesday night looking to avoid matching the worst start in NBA history.

Young led the 76ers with 17.9 points per game last season, Philadelphia's first in a rebuild unlike anything the league has ever seen. With the 76ers knowing they'd be perhaps the NBA's worst team in 2014-15, they shipped Young and his $9 million salary to Minnesota (4-12) as part of the three-team blockbuster trade that landed Kevin Love in Cleveland and Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett with the Timberwolves.

While Minnesota is in the Northwest Division basement at least in part due to an injury-plagued opening month, Philadelphia is on the cusp of some ignominious NBA history. Already the fourth team to open a season 0-17, the 76ers can match the 2009-10 Nets for the league's worst start with a loss at the Target Center.

Do that and Philadelphia will be just 48 minutes away from being all by itself at the bottom with a loss Friday at home to Oklahoma City, which has Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook back.

Leading scorer Tony Wroten is out with a knee injury, No. 3 overall pick Joel Embiid is months away from playing and fellow lottery pick Dario Saric is at least a year away from coming over from Europe.

"I didn't know it was going to be like this in Year 2," coach Brett Brown said after Monday's 109-103 loss to San Antonio. "Nobody really planned on, your draft picks aren't going to play in Year 2."

They're certainly playing in Minnesota, which is dealing with injuries to Nikola Pekovic (wrist), Ricky Rubio (ankle), Kevin Martin (wrist) and Ronny Turiaf (hip). That's left plenty of minutes for Wiggins and Bennett - the past two No. 1 overall picks - and Zach LaVine and Shabazz Muhammad, each of whom spent only one season at UCLA.

LaVine scored 28 off the bench as the Timberwolves opened a three-game road trip with a 120-119 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday, and Muhammad had 28 as a reserve Sunday in a 107-93 loss to Portland.

The return to Staples Center on Monday didn't go nearly as well. Wiggins had eight first-quarter points as Minnesota grabbed a 34-31 lead, but the Timberwolves shot 10 of 39 over the next two periods en route to a 127-101 loss.

The hits to their depth seem to be taking a toll.

"Our bench was one of our strengths earlier in the year, and that's changed," coach Flip Saunders said. "When your bench guys are now your starters, and the guys that were your inactive guys are now playing off the bench, you can't just come out and think you are going to play the way good teams in this league play. So what has to happen is that we've got to slow the game down."

Six of Minnesota's next seven will be played at the Target Center, which wasn't very friendly prior to the road trip. The Timberwolves lost their last three home games by an average of 19.3 points, posting a minus-12.4 rebounding differential and allowing opponents to shoot 50.4 percent.

Simply allowing the 76ers into the building should help Minnesota be far better defensively. Philadelphia is shooting 36.9 percent on the road - no other team is below 41 - and averaging 82.1 points, also easily the worst in the league.

Wroten will be re-evaluated Friday and Alexey Shved is questionable for Wednesday's game with a hip flexor. But the bigger concern is the hip of Nerlens Noel, who missed Monday's game and likely won't face the Timberwolves.

Young averaged 18.0 points in two games against Minnesota last season, both Timberwolves wins.

He's only averaged 9.0 points and shot 33.3 percent in his new home despite averaging 15.9 and hitting at a 49.5-percent clip on the road.