Not much going on these days, as you all probably know. But we just came across this nugget (haha get it?) on Twitter, thanks to forum member "DaddyFatSax"
Early word around NBA is Nuggets will try to trade Carmelo to 1 of 3 teams: Wolves, Kings, Nets. In other words, careful what you wish for.
Would Melo stick with the Wolves if the Nuggets did a 3 year sign and trade to give him that $65 million he wants? He's the alpha leader that we still desperately need.
We give the Nuggets whatever. Brewer + Webster? + Telfair (to match salary) + Lots and lots of future draft picks? Not sure what else they would really want. I assume we wouldn't move Love/Rubio. I also assume there are a lot of guys on our team they wouldn't even want. Not sure if I'd move Wesley Johnson, but maybe if we knew Carmelo was going to stay with us for the long haul, and wasn't a one year rental.
Maybe he'd actually want to stay with us, since we (presumably) wouldn't be trading away the few good players we actually have? Unfortunately, the Kings and Nyets can both offer more attractive talent packages, but we can give better/more draft picks.
Kevin Love didn't play, because he was apparently feeling some lingering affects from hitting his head on the floor the night before. Doesn't sound like it's anything serious though.
Ricky Rubio, on the other hand, played pretty well. In 21 minutes, he had 7 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals. He had some spectacular passes and played very good defense. Most importantly from this post, check out these quotes from an AP writer via Yahoo:
“He’s an amazing defender, that’s one thing that stood out to me is how well he pressured the ball and disrupted our offense,” said Durant, who led the game with 25 points. “He’s flashy, he’s crafty as well and the passes he did tonight were kind of amazing.”
***
Rubio has said he will likely move to the NBA after playing one more season at Barcelona, with the Minnesota Timberwolves having taken him with their 2009 first-round pick.
When I first saw this headline, I thought some up and coming fast food chain had decided to use Wes Johnson as a spokesperson. Apparently, though, Panini is some sort of parent company for sports-card-maker Donruss. (Sorry, I haven't been into cards since I was twelve.)
As part of the relationship, Panini will hold exclusive rights to include Johnson’s autograph in 2010-11 Panini Basketball products. In addition, Panini may include Johnson’s image on Panini packaging and will utilize Johnson in promotional appearances.
Johnson, a Forward at Syracuse decided to forgo his final year of college eligibility after being named Big East Player of the Year in 2010 as well as a First Team AP All American. Johnson’s first NBA cards will be included in Panini’s 2010 NBA Prestige product, set to arrive in stores at the end of September. The collection will include cards from other top rookie draft picks, including Washington Wizards’ number one draft pick, John Wall; Philadelphia 76ers, Evan Turner; New Jersey Nets, Derrick Favors; and Sacramento Kings, DeMarcus Cousins.
“We are excited to add Wesley Johnson as an exclusive Panini athlete, Wesley excited Syracuse fans in college, we expect him to do the same for the Timberwolves fans and we look forward to introducing Wesley to NBA trading card collectors,” said Scott Prusha, Director of Marketing for Panini America.
In something semi-related, but perhaps not at all, does it also seem to you as if Wes Johnson's eye are pointed in two different directions in the photo above? In this picture it's almost as if each eye is looking to the side, except opposite sides. That's not something I've noticed about him in the past, but maybe I was just too distracted by his incredible smile.
Nope. Here's an extremely rare, non-smiley Wes Johnson photo and I don't see any signs of strabismus, amblyopia, or any other ocular dysfunction. That's fairly reassuring, because I would think something like mis-aligned eyes would totally throw off your jumper. Then again, it worked for T-Mac.
And anyway, even if Wes Johnson did have slightly googley eyes, he's still a pretty good-looking guy from my completely hetero point of view. I mean, things could certainly be worse...
Not too much happening on a daily basis in the world of the Minnesota Timberwolves these days. We got the new uniforms yesterday. Not earth-shattering, but clearly better than they were before. The terrible green trees and the whacked out neckline had to go. Now it would be cool if we could get some alternate black ones, or something.
But here's our pre-season schedule, as its about the only news to update this morning. 8 games, only 2 of which are at Target Center. We play in London and Paris. Not sure why Stern would want to subject foreigners to our team, as foreigners in Minnesota don't even want to watch the Wolves play.
Oct. 4: vs. L.A. Lakers, 02 Arena, London, 2 p.m.
Oct. 6: vs. N.Y. Knicks, Palais Omnisports, Paris, 1 p.m.
Oct. 12: vs. Denver (at Target Center), 7 p.m.
Oct. 13: at Indiana, 7 p.m.
Oct. 15: vs. Detroit, Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y., 6:30 p.m.
Oct. 17: vs. Milwaukee, Sioux Falls, S.D., 6 p.m.
Oct. 19: vs. Indiana (at Target Center), 7 p.m.
Oct. 22: at Milwaukee, 6:30 p.m.
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Lastly, yesterday 93 ESPN panelists voted the Wolves as the 2010-2011 NBA "Team Turmoil"... the squad that will have the most problems in the 2010-11 season.
The Wolves were first with 14 votes, the Cavs and Hornets tied for second with 13 apeice, the Nuggets were fourth with 10 votes, and the Knicks fifth with 7 votes. And that's all the space I'll devote to that report, because it's ignorant and lazy. I get that the Wolves suck, but for what reason(s) will we have "turmoil." This is just stupid. I will say to read Ben Polk's analysis, as it is great and amusingly completely contradicts the entire point of the ranking.
As Pants said in the TWB Forum: "It is so typical for the media to pick a team that every expects to be bad as one fraught with turmoil. The real teams that melt down are the ones that expect to be good but suck." Couldn't have said it better myself.
I hope we win 30+ games this season just to shut all the haters up (National media mostly.) Who cares if it hurts our draft position. We never win the lottery anyways...
Wednesday October 27th vs Sacramento - Evans to Cousins FTW. vs Milwaukee Bucks - We might have a chance? at Memphis - They can lose any game. Inconsistent. at Miami - Gigantic 40 point loss. Bonk has a huge bet on this. If the T-Wolves somehow win this game by 10 points or more, he's out $1,000. Luckily for him it's on November second instead of May second, so there's no chance we win. at Orlando - LOSE vs Atlanta - Let's not kid ourselves. Lose. at Houston at LALakers at Sacramento - Three road losses there. vs NYKnicks - Might have a chance! at Atlanta at Charlotte - Two more road losses vs LAClippers - They will be very improved. And Blake Griffin! Watch out. vs LALakers - Hmmmm. at Oklahoma City - They will be a top contender in the West this season. vs San Antonio - They are never too old to beat us. Splitter vs Pekovic and Darko = fun times. Saturday November 27th vs Golden State - Yay, an entirely winnable game.
Well... 8 home games and 9 away. Not terrible, although 8 of our first 12 are road games. I predict we start off 4-13, at best. The Wolves will be hurt by a lack of continuity and familiarity with each other going into the season. And unfortunately for us, the Wolves need to start this season off right and win games in the beginning, instead of against bad teams tanking at the end of the year. Those kind of wins do nothing for me, nor do they inspire me for the future.
Brendan from the excellent Cavs blog Stepien Rules, emailed me the other day asking what Cavs fans could expect from Ramon Sessions this upcoming season. I figured I could help him out here (especially since he didn't ask what could be expected from Ryan Hollins.) I like Ramon, so no harm no foul.
Re-reading what I had sent him, it really does appear that I'm "defending" Sessions' last season with the Wolves. I'm ok with that since I like him, liked the signing initially, and the Wolves blogosphere irrationally seems to hate him.
To read the entire post about Sessions, as well as thoughts from Brew Hoop on this matter, check it out over at Stepien Rules by clicking HERE.
Here's what I said about Sessions over at Stepien Rules...
"Ramon Sessions' career has been interesting. He certainly has the talent and ability, but hasn't really been given the chance to take over a PG role full-time in either Milwaukee or Minnesota. He had been playing very well for the Bucks (which partly convinced KAHN to sign him), although the Bucks choose to let him go rather than match the relatively paltry salary of $4 million per year offered by the Wolves. A Jennings-Sessions combo would have been nice though, I think.
He is a good floor leader, nice passer, solid at getting to the rim, and a serviceable defender. Unfortunately, he can't shoot from 3-point range if his life depended on it. He's so bad (and he knows it), that he simply doesn't even attempt 3's. Which if you think about it, probably means he's pretty smart for not jacking up terrible shots. And for the record, he's only made 10 out of 56 career threes (17.9%!) in 4,354 minutes played. Egads.
The downside to this is that his defender can sag off him, close off driving lanes, and clog up the lane/help with other defenders. So although I like Sessions and liked the signing, he really wasn't a very good fit in the TWolves hybrid Uptempo-Fail Triangle offense. Because even in a sucktastic hybrid Triangle offense, you still need your PG to be able to shoot the ball, even moreso when he's left open. And really, this problem falls on Kahn. I get that he signed him because he was a cheap asset that (presumably at the time), could have been flipped for something better later down the road, but he didn't fit on our team, and he eventually moved him for nothing other than a salary dump to help cancel out yet another bad signing (Ryan "Cement Hands" Hollins.)
With all that said, he actually still managed to play decently well for the TWolves last year. At least, he passed the eye test. I'm not even going to pretend to go spouting off synergy sports numbers or other such blah blah blah; because who cares when the team won 15 games and has 80% new players the next off-season. His stats weren't great, but he never played enough minutes, nor was he consistently given a chance to succeed. And Flynn certainly was NOT head and shoulders above him, regardless of what sexy stats show. Sessions just never got enough of a chance. That's the bottom line to this story.
And let's not even talk about the players he was mostly stuck playing alongside. Guys like Sasha Pavlobrick, Ryan Hollins, Wayne Ellington, Damien Wilkins, etc. How is he going to put up any stats playing the majority of his minutes with the likes of that?!?
As a Wolves fan that watches 90%+ of our games, I honestly and truly believe Ramon Sessions is a better player than any statistic from last season will negatively point out.
I think he will fit in nicely with Cleveland. It's still not the ideal role for him, as I presume Mo Williams will get the lion's share of minutes at PG. However, Sessions can play off the ball at SG as well. His stats last year playing SG were no worse than PG, and in some cases he played better at SG. So maybe he and Mo Will can mesh on the court and work out nicely together. If you give Sessions a consistent 25-30 minutes per game on your squad, I think it will turn out to be a big 'plus' trade for the Cavs. I mean, at least in comparison to what you gave up (basically nothing, although I loved Delonte's game 2 years ago.)"
Please click "Read More" for other T-Wolves Daily News and Info...
Having the "Monday" Wolves news assignment can be a tough gig. Very little happens between Friday and Sunday during the off-season and coming up with good material is difficult. On the flip side, very little happens between Friday and Sunday during the off-season and I can get away with being a slacker. Here's your "breaking" TWolves News...
The Minnesota Timberwolves officially went into re-building mode when the team traded Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics back in 2007. Unfortunately for T-Wolves fans, the team hasn't won as many as 25 games in a season since Garnett's departure and the 15 games Minnesota won last year tied the franchise record for fewest in a season.
President of Basketball Operations David Kahn has overseen a major roster transformation in his short tenure with the team, adding several young, talented players and creating significant salary cap flexibility moving forward.
As HOOPSWORLD's "How They Measure Up" segment continues, today we look at the Minnesota Timberwolves.
I'm not so sure that Luke has the starting lineup properly pegged with Corey Brewer at SG and Wes Johnson at SF. I think we're going to see some Webster and Be Easy in the starting lineup off the bat. At least he didn't turn this into a Minnesota bash-fest.
It turns out, that Tolliver's more than just a three-pointer-jacking big man; he's got a healthy, self-effacing sense of humor. And if his tenure with the Minnesota Timberwolves produces more moments of mirth like this, we're all winners.
The Wolves couldn't stop Tolliver -- he scored 34 points for Golden State in an April game at Target Center -- so they went out and signed him instead to complete a frontcourt rotation that features Kevin Love at power forward, Darko Milicic and Nikola Pekovic at center and Michael Beasley at both forward spots.
"I think so. ... Maybe they said, 'We need to take a look at this guy,' " Tolliver said by phone Friday when asked if that 34-point game might have swayed Wolves coach Kurt Rambis and personnel boss David Kahn.
"I think I'll fit perfectly," Tolliver said. "It's a passing offense, and I love to pass the ball. It's one of the favorite parts of my game. I think I can do that well ... I'll go wherever Coach tells me. I feel like I have the versatility to play all three [frontcourt] positions."
Tolliver said he ultimately chose the Wolves over a return to Golden State because of the opportunity being on such a young team presents and because the attention to detail Kahn and assistant GM Tony Ronzone displayed in recruiting him.
Other than the Beasley trade, thisTolliver signing may be the highlight of the off-season for me. I know he'll probably end up being a role player and may not make a huge difference, but it's nice to see some humor and positive vibes coming from somebody who willingly chose to come to Minnesota.
And that's your pretty limted and sorta outdated Timberwolves news for today. It's tough to find the scoops on Monday morning that haven't already been discussed over the weekend in our forum. If you haven't checked the forum out, do yourself a favor and visit it today!
I guess we do need another backup PF. I just hope he doesn't turn into a regrettable contract (aka Ryan Hollins v. 2.0) Clearly Tolliver is better than Ryan Hollins ever was, or ever will be. What I mean is, I just hope it's not a signing that Kahn soon regrets, and is forced to dump a year later.
Forward Anthony Tolliver, one of the top free agents left out of a very thin crop, has reached an agreement to sign with Minnesota.
Tolliver's agent, Larry Fox, told FanHouse on Friday his client will join the Timberwolves. While Fox wouldn't discuss terms, sources said he'll get a two-year deal that could be worth as much as $4.8 million over two years.
"He's really excited,'' Fox said. "He can play (power forward) for them and be a stretch (small forward).''
Tolliver, 25, averaged 11.7 points and 7.0 rebounds last season in 46 games with Portland and Golden State. Take away a scoreless two games with the Trail Blazers early in the season and he averaged 12.3 points and 7.3 rebounds in 44 games with the Warriors.
Golden State had strongly considered re-signing Tolliver. But in the end the Timberwolves, which had cleared a spot for Tolliver by trading Ryan Hollins last week, were thought to be the better option.
The Minnesota Timberwolves announced the team has waived guard Delonte West. West was acquired from the Cleveland Cavaliers along with Sebastian Telfair in exchange for Ryan Hollins and Ramon Sessions on July 26.
The Wolves only have to pay him $500,000 of his $4.6 million contract. I agree with Kahn here, as I wouldn't want us to keep Delonte under any circumstances. Delonte was solid for Cleveland two years ago, but now he's not worth the risk of keeping on our team with impressionable youngsters. As much as I have ripped Kahn for almost solely acquiring cap space, this move makes complete sense with Delonte's almost entirely unguaranteed contract.
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Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site.. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account! 