After three days of training camp, the Minnesota Timberwolves was decided to leave Nikola Pekovic out of the camp in order to keep him healthy during the opening season.

Many thought that Pekovic was on his jogging pants and shirt due to an injury but the Wolves later on divulged that the big man is healthy and is preparing himself for the big game.

It was Coach Flip Saunders who gave Pekovic the day off in order to minimize his part in the camp to reduce the wear and tear of their athlete so that he can perform better in the future.

According to Pekovic "I know the medical staff are doing everything to try to keep me healthy, but like I said many times, my way of playing and how many times I get bumped and I get hit, and of course, I hit people. Of course, it's normal to get hurt. I just hope something doesn't happen like the small injuries I had last year."

Pekovic has already missed 48 games during his last two seasons due o his injury. The Wolves are using a new strategy to make him play less in the camp and maximize his skills in the more important games.

Saunders said "Ideally you'd like to start out in the mid-20s, but we'll wait and see. What I don't want to do is I don't want to get carried away like we did last year where he felt so good and then it hit him like a brick wall."

Pekovic averaged a career-high 17.5 points and 8.7 rebounds, but missed 13 games in February with bursitis in his right ankle.

His coach said "'He went from being third in the league in double-doubles and an All-Star (candidate) and playing off the chart, to all of a sudden he couldn't play at all."

But there was still a positive side to Pekovic injury as the team was able to look in to an aspiring rookie player for the team, Gorgui Dieng.

Pekovic said "The better he does, it's less pressure on me. Also, if I do bad or he does, we just need to work like one. If one goes bad, the other needs to push more to make the other guy better."