- The Wolves held a workout on Friday for Matt Costello (Michigan State), Ryan Spangler (Oklahoma) and Mike Tobey (Virginia), Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN relays (via Twitter).
Last month, we heard that former Providence point guard Kris Dunn may refuse to release his medical records to the Celtics and Suns, since he prefers not to land with a team with a young point guard or two already in place. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM is hearing similar rumblings, tweeting that Dunn isn’t interested in working out for Phoenix or sharing his medical records with the Suns — Gambardo hears that the point guard would like to land with the Timberwolves.
Let’s check out a few more draft-related updates…
- While the Celtics may not be Dunn’s preferred destination, ESPN’s Chad Ford (Insider link) has the Providence product going to Boston at No. 3 in his latest mock draft, writing that he thinks the C’s will choose one of Dunn, Jamal Murray, or Marquese Chriss. Dragan Bender, who has also been viewed as a candidate for that No. 3 pick, goes sixth overall in Ford’s latest mock, with the ESPN.com scribe writing that the Pelicans are believed to be “pretty big fans” of the 18-year-old big man.
- Also within his mock draft, Ford writes that Kings GM Vlade Divac and owner Vivek Ranadive love Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, and suggests that the Raptors have been “secretly hoping” Chriss falls to them at No. 9, which appears increasingly unlikely.
- Former Seton Hall point guard Isaiah Whitehead has workouts with the Nuggets and Pistons lined up for June 10th and 15th, respectively, and will work out for the Bulls and Nets after that, according to Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
- After working out for Philadelphia on Thursday, Daniel Hamilton (UConn) will work out for the Rockets, Warriors, and Bucks, while Alex Caruso (Texas A&M) will work out for the Knicks, Wizards, and Celtics, per Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly.com (Twitter links).
- The Timberwolves could have drafted Stephen Curry, and later nearly traded for Klay Thompson, but even as they watch both those players in the NBA Finals, the Wolves and their fans should be optimistic about their future and the way things turned out, says Jim Souhan of The Star Tribune.
- League sources tell Deveney that, while the 76ers and Lakers are expected to hang onto the top two picks in the draft, six other lottery teams may be looking to deal. The Timberwolves (No. 5), Raptors (No. 9), Bucks (No. 10), Magic (No. 11), Jazz (No. 12), and Suns (No. 13) are all believed to be open to trades involving their picks, per Deveney. Phoenix also holds the No. 4 overall selection, but likely wouldn’t want to move that one.
- Texas A&M prospect Danuel House has a busy workout schedule, according to Deveney. House has worked out for the 76ers and Celtics, and will work out for the Knicks, Hawks, Lakers, Mavericks, and Timberwolves within the next couple weeks. The Suns and Pistons are also expected to be added to his list of visits, per Deveney, who says House looked good against Cal freshman Jaylen Brown at his workout with Boston.
[SOURCE LINK]
- The Timberwolves worked out former Oklahoma power forward Ryan Spangler today, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops relays (via Twitter). The 24-year-old is a longshot to be selected this June, with Spangler not appearing among the top 100 prospects according to Jonathan Givony of Draft Express.
The Timberwolves are in an enviable position. With the rookie contracts for Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns not set to expire until 2018 and 2019 respectively, the team has at least a couple more years to complement its young stars with higher-priced veterans, before Wiggins and Towns get expensive themselves. If Minnesota keeps its No. 5 overall pick and adds another talented rookie to its core, the Wolves would have committed about $65MM to 12 players for 2016/17. That leaves the club plenty of room to go out and make a splash – or two – in free agency, but also creates no pressure to do so.
Depending on how close the Wolves feel they are to contention and how many chips they want to shove into the pot in the short term, there are a handful of ways Minnesota could approach the offseason, and as long as Wiggins and Towns stay healthy and continue to develop, the franchise should have some margin for error.
See how Minnesota’s cap situation looks for 2016/17 as Hoops Rumors continues its offseason salary cap digest series.
Guaranteed Salary
- Ricky Rubio ($13,400,000)
- Nikola Pekovic ($12,100,000)
- Kevin Garnett ($8,000,000)
- Andrew Wiggins ($6,006,600)
- Karl-Anthony Towns ($5,960,160)
- Nemanja Bjelica ($3,800,000)
- Shabazz Muhammad ($3,046,299)
- Gorgui Dieng ($2,348,783)
- Zach LaVine ($2,240,880)
- Adreian Payne ($2,022,240)
- (Kevin Martin $1,380,305) — Salary remaining from release via stretch provision
- Tyus Jones ($1,339,680)
- Total: $61,644,947
Player Options
- None
Team Options
- Damjan Rudez ($1,199,000)
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Greg Smith ($1,139,123)
Restricted Free Agents (Qualifying Offers/Cap Holds)
- None
Unrestricted Free Agents (Cap Holds)
- Tayshaun Prince ($980,431)
Other Cap Holds
- No. 5 pick ($3,227,100)
- Justin Hamilton ($980,431)
- Robbie Hummel ($980,431)
- Othyus Jeffers ($980,431)
- Arinze Onuaku ($980,431)
- Total: $7,148,824
Projected Salary Cap: $92,000,000
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
The Bucks will hire Justin Zanik as GM-in-waiting and are working on a contract extension for coach Jason Kidd, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. Currently an assistant GM in Utah, Zanik will have a similar title with the Bucks. A provision of the move is that Zanik will eventually take over for Milwaukee GM John Hammond, although it’s uncertain when that will happen. Hammond has been GM of the Bucks since 2008 and has one year left on his contract.
There’s more from around the basketball world:
- California forward Jaylen Brown worked out for the Bucks, Raptors and Sixers today, tweets Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. A source told Spears that Brown was in “great shape” and “super explosive.” He is expected to be a top 10 pick and could be in the running for the No. 3 choice. New Timberwolves GM Scott Layden also traveled to California to see Brown and came away impressed, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.
- Oklahoma point guard Isaiah Cousins worked out for the Suns on Friday, and has upcoming sessions with the Raptors on Tuesday and the Hawks on Thursday, tweets Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
- Anthony Bennett and Quinn Cook were the most recognizable players invited to a Nets mini-camp this week, according to NetsDaily. Bennett, the No. 1 pick in the 2013 draft, played 19 games with the Raptors last season. Cook, the point guard on Duke’s 2015 NCAA title team, was cut by the Cavaliers in training camp. Also receiving invitations were Alex Stepheson, Scotty Hopson, Alex Kirk, Jerrelle Benimon, Fuquan Edwin, D.J. Newbill, Will Cummings, Jarrid Famous, Victor Rudd, Josh Magette and Joel Wright. International journalist David Pick says the Nets are planning another session.
The NBA’s relationship with the D-League continues to grow, and this season a total of 19 NBA teams had one-to-one affiliations with D-League clubs. Those NBA organizations without their own affiliates were required to assign players to D-League clubs associated with other NBA franchises. D-League teams could volunteer to take on the assigned players, and if no volunteers emerged, the players were assigned at random.
This significant change from the 2014/15 season came about after the Pacers purchased the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and turned them into their one-to-one partner for the 2015/16 campaign. Other NBA teams have interest in following suit in the years ahead, and the NBA’s ultimate goal for the D-League is for all 30 NBA franchises to have their own D-League squads. You can view the complete list of D-League affiliates here.
We at Hoops Rumors are recapping the D-League-related activity for the 2015/16 campaign for each team and we’ll continue with the Minnesota Timberwolves, one of the 11 NBA franchises without their own D-League affiliate:
The Wolves made 2 assignments for the 2015/16 season, sending two players to the D-League for a total of 23 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Minnesota for the 2015/16 campaign:
- December 5th: Assigned Tyus Jones (1st) [Idaho Stampede] — Recalled December 22nd
- January 25th: Assigned Adreian Payne (1st) [Erie BayHawks] — Recalled February 1st
Here’s how Minnesota’s players performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:
- Tyus Jones: In six appearances the point guard averaged 24.7 points, 3.8 rebounds and 5.0 assists in 35.2 minutes per outing. Jones’ shooting line was .487/.426/.923.
- Adreian Payne: In three appearance Payne averaged 26.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists in 35.1 minutes per contest. His shooting line was .444/.286/.808.
The 2016 NBA Draft lottery was held on Tuesday night and the Sixers finally landed the elusive No. 1 overall pick after missing out the past two seasons. Now that the exact draft order is locked in, teams can begin targeting specific players who are likely to still be on the board when it is their time to choose. Drafting players is far from an exact science, and many a GM has been second-guessed for his draft night decisions. I’m willing to bet that every team executive has at least one pick that he would like a mulligan for. We at Hoops Rumors thought it would be fun to give our readers the chance to predict the results of this June’s draft, which is what we intend to do with a series of polls.
With the first few picks out of the way, things have begun to get interesting. We’ll continue with the Timberwolves, who are looking to add pieces to their young core. Readers, you are now on the clock! Cast your vote for Minnesota’s pick and check back Wednesday for the results, as well as to cast your vote for who the Pelicans will select with the No. 6 overall pick. But don’t limit yourself to a simple button click. Take to the comments section below and share your thoughts on the No. 5 overall pick and why you voted the way that you did.
Previous Selections
- Sixers — Ben Simmons (LSU)
- Lakers — Brandon Ingram (Duke)
- Celtics — Dragan Bender (Maccabi Tel Aviv)
- Suns — Jaylen Brown (California)