Pecherov taking advantage of playing time

When Kevin Love fractured his left hand in the preseason, it gave Oleksiy Pecherov the chance for something that he hasn't had since he's been in the NBA: consistent playing time. Love will probably return in another month or so -- the injury was to his non-shooting hand -- but Pecherov is fighting hard to show the Timberwolves that he can play.

Through five games, Pecherov's minutes have increased each game, from five minutes on the court in the season opener against the Nets to a whopping 34 minutes against the Celtics on Wednesday. Oddly enough, against the Celtics, one of the best defensive teams in basketball, Pecherov scored a career-high 24 points on 9-14 shooting. He knocked down a three-pointer, made all five of his free throws, snatched eight rebounds, and even had an assist, which is noteworthy because coming into this season, Pecherov had nine career assists -- and 27 turnovers.

Not surprisingly, he's happy to finally have the opportunity to show what he can do:

"Before this (season), I didn't have a chance to play a lot. . . . When you get in the game and play a lot, your confidence comes back. You're not rushing your shots. The game just comes to you. It's easy to play like this. When you play just five minutes or three minutes, you rush. You need time to take in the game."

While in Washington, Pecherov was never able to receive consistent playing time under head coach Eddie Jordan or interim coach Ed Tapscott. Even during a disappointing 2008-2009 season when the Wizards played horribly (finishing 19-63) and battled injury issues throughout the season, Pecherov still averaged under nine minutes per game. Even if the coaches didn't feel Pecherov deserved more minutes, it was odd to see Pecherov routinely sitting on the bench during such a down year. Then again, maybe Ernie Grunfeld had seen all he wanted to and knew Pecherov wouldn't be returning. Again, who knows for sure.

I'm not going to not make too big of a deal out of this. The season is young, and Pecherov is fortunate enough to be in a situation where he can play -- at least for now. But if he keeps shooting the ball well -- he's currently hitting 58.5 percent of his shots -- he should see many more minutes than he did with the Wizards.

A change of scenary can be beneficial, and so far that seems to be the case for Pecherov.

Butler to Pech: 'I'm just a phone call or a text away'

I'm sure you're aware that Oleksiy Pecherov was part of the Wiz-T'Wolves trade that allowed the Wizards to acquire Mike Miller and Randy Foye.

What you might not have known is that Caron Butler is pretty close to "Stewie" and considers him to be a friend:

"Obviously he's one of my young boys," Butler said. "Having him come over here at a young age, having to teach him to be a pro, teaching him about this league on and off the court, coaching him and learning him and then losing him, it's tough. That's the nature of the business. But that doesn't stop our friendship. You see us out here together. If he ever needs anything, I'm just a phone call or a text away."

Well that sure was a nice thing for Butler to say; there's nothing "Tuff Juice" about that.

As for Pecherov's take, when he was asked about the trade, he seemed excited to take on his new challenge: "Hopefully I'm gonna stay healthy and I'm gonna get opportunity and chance to prove everyone I can really play in this league."

Good luck, Stewie. Get those buckets, son!

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Wizards deal pick for Miller and Foye

According to ESPN's Ric Bucher, the Wizards have all but traded the No. 5 pick in the upcoming draft. The deal has the Wizards sending the pick, Darius Songaila, Etan Thomas, and Oleksiy Pecherov to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Mike Miller and Randy Foye.

I'm surprised that Ernie Grunfeld is close to making a move already, but I'll elaborate more as details become available.