From ESPN:
Chad Ford: The Wolves continue to rebuff teams looking into the availability of Al Jefferson.
A source close to the process told ESPN.com that the Wolves recently said no to a potential Luol Deng and Tyrus Thomas for Jefferson deal, telling the Bulls that they aren’t going to move Jefferson by the trade deadline, which is consistent with what Wolves GM David Kahn has been saying for weeks. However, a Deng-and-Thomas deal was the most realistic trade scenario we’ve heard for Jefferson.
A source close to the process told ESPN.com that the Wolves recently said no to a potential Luol Deng and Tyrus Thomas for Jefferson deal, telling the Bulls that they aren’t going to move Jefferson by the trade deadline, which is consistent with what Wolves GM David Kahn has been saying for weeks. However, a Deng-and-Thomas deal was the most realistic trade scenario we’ve heard for Jefferson.
From Bill Simmons: The trade value list: No. 40 to No. 1
If you have the No. 5 and No. 6 picks in what turned out to be a quality draft, and you turn No. 5 into an asset that can’t be realized for THREE YEARS because your No. 6 pick wasn’t nearly as good as the No. 7 pick and also managed to drive your No. 5 pick to a foreign country, how is that anything other than an abject disaster? Bumbling GM David Kahn told Minnesota fans last week, “I don’t expect to be a playoff team for at least two years.” Great, just in time for the lockout and a new-wave NBA world with lower salaries and shorter contracts that’s going to make Ricky say, “You know what? I think I’ll just stay here for a couple more years and make three times as much money unless you trade me to a big-market team.”
In fact, I thought about making Kahn the following bet: If Ricky Rubio plays even one minute for the Timberwolves, I will drive from Los Angeles to Minnesota for his first game while wearing a T-wolves jersey that says “KAHN” on the front and “No. 1” on the back. (It’s an 1,835-mile trip. I looked it up.) But I don’t want to root for the T-Wolves fans to lose Rubio; they’ve suffered enough. I hope I am wrong. I don’t think I am.
From RandBall: TFD: Bill Simmons continues to savage David Kahn
From Mike Max/WCCO:
And who was the biggest star Johnny Flynn met during NBA all-star weekend?
“Bill Walton. I did an autograph signing with Bill Walton and just the stuff he says is so funny,” said Jonny Flynn, a Timberwolves Guard. “One of the things he said is … ‘enough knowledge is never a bad thing.”