Minnesota Timberwolves Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Wolves Offer Eric Bledsoe Max Deal

September 19th, 2014 at 4:53pm CST by Zachary Links

4:53pm: The Suns have no interest in a sign-and-trade deal with Minnesota, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. According to Wojnarowski’s sources the Suns are only interested in trading Bledsoe for an All-Star, or a potential All-Star player, and had only considered Kevin Love in a possible sign-and-trade scenario with the Wolves.

3:53pm: The Suns own the Wolves’ 2015 first-round pick but it’s top-12 protected. Removing or reducing the protection could be a part of the Bledsoe talks, tweets Windhorst.

3:25pm: The Wolves are offering Eric Bledsoe a four-year, $63MM maximum level contract, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. The offer turns up the heat on the Suns, who have offered the restricted free agent a four-year, $48MM deal. The Wolves don’t have the necessary cap room to sign the guard outright, so they’d have to swing a sign-and-trade deal with Phoenix.

Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN reported yesterday that the Wolves were still in talks with the Suns on a sign-and-trade deal even after the completion of the Kevin Love deal. The possibility of the Wolves making a play for the 24-year-old seemed somewhat remote after Love was shipped to the Cavs, but it’s now very much a reality.

While the Suns and the Rich Paul client have been in a stalemate this summer, Phoenix was reportedly willing to dial up their offer if necessary. An increase of roughly $15MM probably wasn’t what they had in mind, however. Bledsoe’s camp made it known to Phoenix and every other team that he was only interested in signing a max contract. Otherwise, he said he was prepared to sign a one-year, $3.7MM qualifying offer with the Suns that would enable him to become an unencumbered free agent next summer. Fellow restricted free agent Greg Monroe made the same threat to the Pistons and made good on his promise earlier this summer.

In a sign-and-trade deal, the Suns would want Andrew Wiggins, according to Wolfson (on Twitter). That’s less-than-preferable for the Wolves, however, and that wouldn’t be a match, according to Wolfson. This is purely speculative, but since the Wolves were entertaining a Love-for-Bledsoe swap and Wiggins was the primary haul of the Love deal with Cleveland, it’s seems possible that the Wolves would consider including the No. 1 overall pick.

The Suns obviously want to keep Bledsoe (at the right price) but they would still have a very strong backcourt without the Kentucky product. The Suns have a highly-talented guard in Goran Dragic and the addition of free agent guard Isaiah Thomas on a four-year, $27MM deal would also lessen the sting. Phoenix also has first-round guard Tyler Ennis in reserve.

Bledsoe averaged 17.7 points and 5.5 assists across 43 games for the Suns last season after being traded from the Clippers. Unfortunately, he suffered a knee injury which cost him a good chunk of his 2013/14 campaign.

Jude LaCava of FOX 10 in Phoenix (on Twitter) first reported that the Wolves were prepared to offer Bledsoe a max deal.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Western Notes: Kings, Mavs, Robinson III

September 18th, 2014 at 8:59pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Kings aren’t done tinkering with their roster, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee writes. Despite signing Darren Collison GM Pete D’Alessandro would still like to add another ballhandler into the mix. Jones also believes the franchise should be concerned about not having a second round pick in next year’s draft since those selections are growing increasingly valuable, as they allow teams to add young players at lower salaries to their rosters.

Here’s the latest from out west:

Alonzo Gee is still expected to be waived by the Kings prior to the start of training camp after he was acquired along with Scotty Hopson in the deal that sent Jason Terry to the Rockets. Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio thinks that there is a good chance that Gee ends up in training camp with the Lakers since Coach Byron Scott was a fan of the player during their time together in Cleveland.
The Wolves have guaranteed $250K of Glenn Robinson III‘s minimum salary deal, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link).
After the Cavaliers, the team that has done the most to improve themselves this summer is the Mavericks, the staff at Basketball Insiders write in their season preview. They were divided on how Dallas would fare this upcoming season, with the predictions ranging from the team finishing second to ending the season fourth in the Southwest Division.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/09/17/6716192/kings-offseason-moves-will-continue.html#storylink=cpy

Northwest Notes: Wolves, Bledsoe, Barea

September 18th, 2014 at 12:40pm CST by Zachary Links

Yesterday, University of Texas quarterback David Ash announced that he will give up football after dealing with concussion symptoms throughout his time in Austin. Thunder star Kevin Durant, who spent a season at UT, took to Twitter to send Ash a supportive message. “Thank you David Ash, you gave your all to the University of Texas. I respect your decision and good luck in the future my brother,” Durant wrote. Here’s today’s look at Durant’s rivals in the Northwest Division..

Even after the completion of the Kevin Love trade, the Wolves have talked with the Suns about a deal for Eric Bledsoe, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN (on Twitter). However, there’s no real match there between the two teams. Bledsoe has been offered a four-year, $48MM deal from the Suns and while there’s currently a stalemate, the Suns may be willing to sweeten that proposal if talks open up again.
More from Wolfson (link) who is asked by a reader if the Wolves are getting interest in J.J. Barea. No bites yet, he says, as other teams would want another piece in a trade. There’s nothing imminent on that front and the Wolves will wait to see if another team loses a guard to injury in preseason.
Wolves GM Milt Newton says that he’s hopeful that he can hammer out a new deal with Ricky Rubio, tweets Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press. “I feel optimistic. Knowing Ricky the person, he wants to be here. Now we just have to deal with his agent,” Milton said.
In their preview of the Trail Blazers, HoopsHype expresses concern over the state of Portland’s bench. With sixth man Mo Williams gone, few of the remaining reserves can be trusted to give the team much, in their view. They have the Blazers finishing second in the Northwest Division and fifth in the Western Conference.

Brady Heslip To Join Wolves For Camp

September 18th, 2014 at 11:24am CST by Chuck Myron

SEPTEMBER 18th: The Wolves confirmed Heslip’s deal via Twitter.

AUGUST 27th: Undrafted point guard Brady Heslip and the Wolves have agreed on a deal that will bring him to camp, reports Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). Wolfson noted last week that the 24-year-old from Baylor had impressed the club during his stint on the summer league Wolves. It’s not immediately clear whether the arrangement involves any sort of partial guarantee, as is common with such contracts at this point in the process, but it’s probably for the minimum salary.

The 6’2″ Heslip wasn’t a highly regarded draft prospect, as neither Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress nor Chad Ford of ESPN.com had him among their rankings. He nonetheless received plenty of exposure in college, where he played in the NCAA tournament during two of his three seasons at Baylor, and he made his mark as a premiere long-range shooter. He nailed 46.5% of his three-pointers on 6.7 such attempts per game last season, and he was a double-figure scorer, averaging 11.7 points in 27.4 minutes per game. Heslip nailed seven of the 10 three-pointers he took in summer league, though that’s a small sample size, of course.

It’d be difficult for Heslip to make it to opening night as the Wolves roster stands now, with 15 players on guaranteed deals. Still, the team reportedly continues to try to unload J.J. Barea, so perhaps coach/executive Flip Saunders can see Heslip taking Barea’s backcourt spot. The Wolves apparently had recent talks with power forward Dante Cunningham, too, so much is unsettled.

Wolves Sign Kyrylo Fesenko

September 18th, 2014 at 11:23am CST by Cray Allred

SEPTEMBER 18th, 11:23am: The Wolves announced (via Twitter) that Fesenko has signed with the club on a “training camp” contract.

SEPTEMBER 2nd: The Wolves have signed Kyrylo Fesenko, according to the RealGM transaction log. There is as of yet no report or team announcement on the details for the deal, but it is likely a non-guaranteed contract for the minimum that won’t ensure Fesenko a roster spot beyond training camp.

Fesenko’s improved physique and solid summer league play had reportedly fueled Minnesota’s interest in the center for training camp. The team already has the maximum of 15 guaranteed contracts on the books for 2014/15, so Fesenko would need more than strong play to earn a role extending into the season. The Wolves would either need to waive or trade away a guaranteed salary to create space for Fesenko or any other training camp invite.

Fesenko has played five seasons in the NBA as a big for the Jazz and Pacers, spending recent years overseas and in the D-League. He has career averages of 2.3 PPG and 2.0 RPG from his time in the league.

Wolves Sign Glenn Robinson III

September 17th, 2014 at 1:03pm CST by Chuck Myron

1:03pm: The deal is official, the team announced.

WEDNESDAY, 8:28am: The contract will cover just the coming season, Wolfson tweets, adding that no move involving Barea is imminent.

TUESDAY, 11:02pm: Robinson’s deal is partially guaranteed according to Wolfson, who also hears that the Michigan product is no lock to make the roster out of training camp (Twitter link).

2:58pm: The Wolves have agreed to a guaranteed deal with Glenn Robinson III, the 40th overall pick in this year’s draft, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The deal will be the 16th fully guaranteed pact for Minnesota, but the team has reportedly sought to trade J.J. Barea, and the Wolves are also open to allowing the veteran guard to buy his way out of his fully guaranteed contract, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities hears (Twitter link).

The terms of Robinson’s deal aren’t immediately clear, and the Wolves have $1.555MM left on their mid-level exception to make it worth more than the minimum salary and extend the length of the deal beyond two years. Minnesota had held out hope of creating a roster spot for Robinson as the Kevin Love trade loomed, but that swap left the team with just as many players as it had before. Robinson turned down a partially guaranteed offer a couple of weeks ago, Wolfson tweets.

Robinson averaged 13.1 points and 4.4 rebounds in 32.3 minutes per game as a sophomore for Michigan this past season. The small forward is listed at the same 6’7″ height as his father, former No. 1 overall pick and NBA All-Star Glenn Robinson.

The 20-year-old Robinson will join Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine as 2014 draftees on the Wolves roster, which also features training camp deals with Kyrylo Fesenko and Brady Heslip. Whatever Robinson receives on his deal, that amount plus LaVine’s approximately $2MM salary wouldn’t add up to the more than $4.5MM that Barea is set to make in the final season of his deal this year.

Myck Kabongo To Join Wolves For Camp?

September 16th, 2014 at 1:22pm CST by Chuck Myron

SEPTEMBER 16TH: Kabongo failed to impress in his tryout with Södertälje, and the Swedish team has released him, reports Jacob Sjölen of LT.se (hat tip to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia and translation via SwedishBasketball.com. That presumably clears the path for Kabongo to join the Wolves, though an underwhelming performance at that level of professional basketball doesn’t bode well for Kabongo’s chances in the NBA.

SEPTEMBER 5TH: Point guard Myck Kabongo had been in line to join the Timberwolves for training camp, a source told Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun (Twitter link), but he has a tryout slated with the Sweden’s Södertälje Kings, according to Peter Hegethorn of Hegethorns Basketblogg, as Wolstat translates. It’s not uncommon for players to continue to pursue overseas opportunities even after they secure camp deals with NBA teams as insurance in case they don’t make it to opening night, so perhaps Kabongo is indeed headed to Minnesota, though that remains unclear.

Kabongo, a native of Toronto, was once a highly touted prospect, coming in 10th in the Recruiting Services Consensus Index ratings as he entered college in 2011. An NCAA suspension cost him the second half of his sophomore season at the University of Texas, and he went undrafted after turning pro in 2013. The Spurs signed the Rich Paul client for training camp last year, but he spent the season with their D-League affiliate after San Antonio waived him midway through preseason. The 6’3″ Kabongo averaged 9.2 points, 4.7 assists and 3.9 rebounds in 30.1 minutes per game for the D-League Austin Toros.

The Wolves have agreements with 17 players, 15 of whom have guaranteed deals, as our roster counts show. The team is reportedly shopping J.J. Barea, whose contract is guaranteed, but if Minnesota can’t find a way to unload him without taking back guaranteed salary in return, it would be difficult for camp invitees Brady Heslip and Kyrylo Fesenko to make the opening-night roster. The same would be true for Kabongo if he were to indeed sign with the team for camp, which lends further credence to the idea that he’d turn to the international market for a backup plan.

And-Ones: Rubio, Ayon, Garnett, Karasev

September 14th, 2014 at 10:07pm CST by Zachary Links

Wolves guard Ricky Rubio told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports that he never tried to talk Kevin Love out of asking for a trade. “If he wanted to leave, there’s no reason to talk to him about it,” Rubio said. “I really liked playing with him, but I’ll play with the players who want to be there. Kevin wants to win. That’s normal. He’s been there six years without the playoffs. I understand. If I was in the same situation – being one of the best players in the league – and not being able to be in the playoffs, I’d have a lot of frustration, too.” When asked about his own future, Rubio said that he is “loyal” and wants to give back to the organization. The guard can be a restricted free agent next summer if he doesn’t sign an extension. Here’s tonight’s look around the Association..

The Spurs continue to eye center Gustavo Ayon, tweets Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops.net. Ayon is reportedly on his way to play for Spain’s Real Madrid, but no deal with the team can become official until he comes up with the equivalent of about $376K to pay off Spanish rival FC Barcelona, which holds his European rights, according to Javier Maestro of Encestando (translation via HoopsHype).
There has been some retirement speculation surrounding Kevin Garnett but the veteran has been one of “about ten” players who have already been working out at the Nets‘ East Rutherford, New Jersey practice facility, team insiders tell Robert Windrem of Nets Daily.
Anthony Puccio of Nets Daily ran down the best pickups made by the Nets this offseason. Trade acquisitions Sergey Karasev and Jarrett Jack make the list as well as 2011 first-round pick Bojan Bogdanovic. Bogdanovic, 25, may be an NBA rookie but he comes with seven seasons of international experience and should be ready to hit the ground running.
According to his Pistons preview, Adi Joseph of USA TODAY has the franchise improving their win total slightly, but still missing the playoffs.

And-Ones: Witte, Young, Dragic

August 31st, 2014 at 5:29pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Sixers director of player personnel, Courtney Witte, is leaving to take a scouting position with the Clippers, Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com reports. According to Lynam’s source, Witte had been told by the Sixers that his contract wasn’t going to be renewed, and that the search for Witte’s replacement has been “ongoing for some time.”

Here’s more from around the league:

The league has trended towards smaller lineups the last few seasons, but John Zitzler of Basketball Insiders takes a look at five centers that are on the rise. Zitzler believes bigger things are in store for DeMarcus Cousins, Andre Drummond, Jonas Valanciunas, DeAndre Jordan, and Nikola Vucevic.
In an interview with Michael Rand of the Star Tribune, Thaddeus Young was asked how the rebuilding process differs between the Wolves and the Sixers. Young said, “I think the situation in Philly is much different. It’s the same process, but this team is much more competitive and it’s a better roster. Philly, they were getting rid of everybody and getting worse. But I think [Philadelphia GM Sam Hinkie] is doing a great job and has made some big moves.”
Zoran Dragic has re-negotiated his contract with Unicaja Malaga, reports La Opinion de Malaga (Translation by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). Dragic’s contract has a buyout clause that he can exercise next June if he decides to leave for the NBA, Carchia notes. The Pacers are reportedly among the teams eyeing Dragic.

And-Ones: Wiggins, Dragic, Ingles

August 30th, 2014 at 10:33pm CST by Cray Allred

While a dark cloud hung over the Wolves franchise from the moment Kevin Love made it known he was prepared to move on, Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press reports that the team’s fan base has been energized by the package Minnesota received in the Love trade. The Wolves just set a team record for most season-ticket packages sold in a week, after netting Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, and Thaddeus Young in the franchise-altering move. Here’s more from Minnesota and the rest of the league:

Wiggins tells Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune that he is happy to have been traded to the Wolves, where he will be thrust into a much bigger role than he would have carved out with the superstar-heavy Cavs.“I wanted to go to a place where I’m pushed to do a lot and become a special piece for the team. It’ll help me reach my potential,” said Wiggins. “I said I wanted to play for a team that wanted me, and now I’m here and I feel nothing but love.”
The Pacers are one of the teams interested in Zoran Dragic, reports Orazio Cauchi of Sportando. The younger brother of Goran Dragic is under contract in Spain. It is unclear if the guard is poised to exercise any sort of escape clause that would allow him to come stateside, although he’s reportedly eager to someday play in the Association.
Joe Ingles is generating interest from multiple NBA teams, tweets David Pick of Eurobasket.com. Pick says the Australian wing, who spent last season with Maccabi Tel Aviv, will need to perform well at the FIBA World Cup to get a shot.