Minnesota Timberwolves Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Wolves Waive Jermaine Taylor

October 20th, 2012 at 11:14am CST by Zachary Links

The Timberwolves waived guard Jermaine Taylor following last night’s preseason game against the Bulls, according to Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune (via Twitter). Minnesota now has 17 players remaining on the roster with Taylor out of the picture.

The Wolves have 14 players with guaranteed deals for 2012/13, essentially leaving Mike Harris, Chris Johnson, and Will Conroy to battle over one remaining spot. Harris and Johnson are on make-good contracts while Conroy’s comes with a modest partial guarantee of $100K.

Taylor, 25, last appeared in the NBA in 2010/11 when he spent 34 games with the Rockets and Kings, averaging 6.6 PPG in 14.2 minutes per contest. The former UCF star also had a cup of coffee with the D-League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers last season, averaging 14.2 PPG in 14 games.

Poll: Will Love Or Dirk Injury Have Bigger Impact?

October 19th, 2012 at 6:42pm CST by Sean Highkin

Earlier today, the Dallas Mavericks announced that Dirk Nowitzki had undergone arthroscopic knee surgery and was expected to miss up to six weeks of the season. This comes just days after the Minnesota Timberwolves were also hit with the loss of their All-Star power forward. Kevin Love suffered a broken hand earlier this week and is likewise expected to be sidelined for around six weeks.

The Mavs and Wolves were both expected to be in the race for a playoff spot in the loaded Western Conference. However, losing their respective best players for the start of the season would seem to put a damper on those plans. Whose injury do you believe will have a larger impact on their team?

T-Wolves Rumors: Webster, Rubio, Ownership

October 19th, 2012 at 9:38am CST by Luke Adams

Few NBA owners are as accessible and candid as Glen Taylor, and the Timberwolves owner was more than willing to discuss a few topics related to his team with Darren Wolfson of ESPN 1500 this week. Here are the highlights from Taylor, via Wolfson's weekly Scoops piece:

Taylor expects to get closure on the Martell Webster compensation case sometime in December. The T-Wolves are hoping for financial or draft pick reimbursement, as they believe the Trail Blazers traded Webster to Minnesota as damaged goods in June 2010. Earlier this year, the NBA awarded the Celtics a second-round pick from the Thunder for a similar situation involving Jeff Green.
The T-Wolves aren't active on the trade market on the moment, but that could change by February's deadline.
Taylor isn't opposed to making Ricky Rubio the Timberwolves' designated player with a five-year extension when he's eligible, though GM David Kahn recently said Rubio is likely to receive the same four-year offer that Kevin Love did.
A month ago, we heard that Taylor was considering prospective owners for the Wolves, but there are no new developments on that front. Taylor stressed that he expects to continue as the club's majority owner for at least a couple more years.
Taylor is willing to take on salary or add payroll if Kahn and coach Rick Adelman "sell him" on a free agent.

Northwest Rumors: Aldridge, Lillard, Wolves

October 18th, 2012 at 10:09pm CST by Chuck Myron

LaMarcus Aldridge didn't hold back in his comments on 1080 AM The Fan in Portland, declaring himself the best power forward in the game, as Ben Golliver documents on Blazer's Edge. He's indicated a willingness to be patient through the Blazers' rebuilding process before, but he doesn't think he'll have much of a wait, a belief he apparently shares with the front office. "I have really good talks with the management, with [GM] Neil [Olshey]," Aldridge said today. "We don't feel like this process is going to be that long. We feel like one year for guys to get better, for myself to also get better. We feel like we should have enough next year to be one of those top teams again. We can always add some good guys through free agency next year." While we wait to see if the Blazers can bounce back so quickly, here's more from Portland and elsewhere in the Northwest.

Blazers rookie point guard Damian Lillard is trying to find the right balance between passing and looking for his own shot, as The Oregonian's Joe Freeman documents.
Though Kevin Love could be back in five weeks, sooner than originally expected, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports, his broken hand will shine a spotlight on coach Rick Adelman's influence on building the Wolves roster, writes Sean Deveney of The Sporting News.
Adelman said the specter of injuries helped shape the team's offseason plans, as Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune notes. "That's one reason we made a lot of changes," Adelman said. "Because we didn't do that last year, that last month [of the season], we got hammered."

Kevin Love Breaks Hand, Out Up To Eight Weeks

October 17th, 2012 at 2:55pm CST by Luke Adams

Kevin Love has suffered a broken right hand and will miss the next four to six weeks, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). The team confirmed the injury (Twitter link), indicating the timetable for Love's recovery could be six to eight weeks.

The Timberwolves have 14 players on fully guaranteed contracts, meaning there's still a chance for camp invitees to earn that 15th spot. One of those players, Chris Johnson, is a big, though it's unclear if Love's injury would improve his chances of making the team or whether the T-Wolves are happy with their current frontcourt players besides Love.

Love is entering the first year of the four-year extension he signed earlier in 2012 with Minnesota, and is set to earn $13.67MM this season. With Ricky Rubio still recovering from an ACL injury, the T-Wolves' two most recognizable stars will be out of action when the season gets underway.

Western Notes: Lakers, T-Wolves, Spurs, Speights

October 17th, 2012 at 11:04am CST by Luke Adams

Only three of the 12 NBA teams in action last night were Western Conference clubs, with the only intra-conference matchup coming between the Jazz and Lakers. After a 34-point Jazz victory dropped L.A.'s preseason record to 0-4, it was no surprise that new point guard Steve Nash told Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register that the new-look Lakers are still a "work in progress." Here are a few more Wednesday updates from out west:

The Timberwolves aren't currently active "at all" on the trade market, tweets Darren Wolfson of ESPN 1500.
Manu Ginobili doesn't envy the Spurs' decision-makers when it comes to deciding which camp invitee will earn the team's 15th roster spot, as he tells Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News. In a separate piece, McDonald agrees that there's plenty of depth in camp for the Spurs, noting that the team probably wishes it could keep 17 players this year instead of 15.
Given Andrew Bynum's health issues so far this preseason, the Lakers may appear savvy for moving the big man when they did. But as GM Mitch Kupchak points out to Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com, the guy they acquired for Bynum had his own health questions. "Whatever concern we had (with Bynum's knees)," Kupchak said. "Was offset by Dwight [Howard] coming off offseason back surgery."
After earning a two-year deal from the Grizzlies in free agency this summer, Marreese Speights is aiming to repeat last year's breakout performance, writes Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
Ryan Anderson spoke to Jim Eichenhofer of Hornets.com about transforming from a trade throw-in to the core piece of a franchise in the last three years.

Western Notes: Jamison, Jazz, Gortat, Stiemsma

October 15th, 2012 at 10:34am CST by Luke Adams

In one of only two games on Sunday's preseason schedule, undrafted Spurs rookie Wesley Witherspoon was inserted into the starting lineup and scored a team-high 17 points in a win over Houston. Witherspoon, a camp invitee, is still a long shot to earn a roster spot, but if Sunday's game was his last with the Spurs, at least he went out in style, writes Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News.

Here are a few more notes out of the Western Conference:

Mike Brown, who coached Antawn Jamison in Cleveland in 2009/10, was one of the main reasons Jamison decided to sign with the Lakers, according to Elliott Teaford of the Los Angeles Daily News.
Jazz CEO Greg Miller spoke to Jody Genessy of the Desert News about the Jazz's roster changes and the team's expectations for the 2012/13 season.
Marcin Gortat heads into this season looking to prove that he can be productive without Steve Nash, as Michael Schwartz of Valley of the Suns writes.
After signing the first guaranteed contract of his NBA career this summer, Greg Stiemsma is feeling secure with the Timberwolves and isn't looking over his shoulder, says Joan Niesen of FOX Sports North.
Coach Rick Carlisle isn't expecting just one player to step up and replace Jason Terry as the Mavericks' No. 2 scorer now that Terry is playing in Boston, writes Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News.

Western Notes: Thunder, Brewer, Sacre

October 14th, 2012 at 10:15pm CST by Ryan Raroque

You'll find tonight's miscellaneous links from the Western Conference here:

Darnell Mayberry of NewsOK highlights notable stories from the Thunder's pre-season, including the play of Perry Jones III, Cole Aldrich, and Eric Maynor. In a separate article, Mayberry collaborates with John Rohde to profile seven of the team's new additions brought in from the offseason.
Aaron J. Lopez takes a look at Nuggets forward Corey Brewer, who four years removed from ACL surgery believes that he is faster and can jump higher today.
Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times highlights Robert Sacre as the biggest surprise of the Lakers' exhibition season.
John Reid of NOLA.com examines the battle between Greivis Vasquez and Brian Roberts for minutes at the Hornets point guard rotation.
Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune talks about the challenge the Timberwolves have faced in terms of trying to integrate all their new pieces amidst some nagging injuries.
Jeff McDonald of Spurs Nation writes that Patrick Mills could return to practice on Monday after sitting out two games with a sprained right ankle.
O.J. Mayo's hand is healing
properly after he suffered a laceration last week from a fall during the
Mavericks' visit to Barcelona, writes Dwain Price of the Star-Telegram. Price also tweeted that coach
Rick Carlisle believes Mayo will be fine after a few more days. As for Dirk Nowitzki, Carlisle said that he has been doing well (Price via Twitter).

Timberwolves Waive Phil Jones, Seth Tarver

October 14th, 2012 at 8:09am CST by Chuck Myron

The Timberwolves waived training camp invitees Phil Jones and Seth Tarver to bring the roster down to 18 players, the team announced via Twitter. Both were believed to have been on non-guaranteed minimum-salary deals, having been signed right before camp began. Neither made an appearance in any of the three preseason games the Wolves have played so far.

Jones, a 6'10" center, played in Romania in 2011/12 after he was ruled academically ineligible midway through his senior season at UNC Charlotte in 2010/11. Tarver is a 6'5" swingman who averaged 10.6 points and 4.6 rebounds in 28.2 minutes over the past two seasons for the Idaho Stampede of the D-League. He was in camp with the Blazers in 2010 and 2011.

The moves leave Jermaine Taylor, Mike Harris, Chris Johnson and Will Conroy to battle for the final roster spot, since all 14 other players on the roster have fully guaranteed contracts. Conroy would appear to have a slight edge, since his deal is partially guaranteed for $100K. The 6'11" Johnson, from LSU, is not to be confused with the 6'6" Dayton product of the same name in camp with the Magic.

Northwest Notes: Wolves, Love, Carter, Thunder

October 13th, 2012 at 6:27pm CST by Zachary Links

News and notes out of the Northwest Division..

Timberwolves forward Kevin Love talked to Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press why he wasn’t happy when he had to settle for a four-year extension rather than the five-year pact he was seeking. “That’s because I wanted to be here,” Love said. “I wanted them to say, ’When people think Minnesota Timberwolves, they think Kevin Love.’ And I felt with my contract we didn’t really do that.”
The Nuggets offered guard Anthony Carter a coaching spot three weeks ago but he told Yannis Koutroupis of HoopsWorld (via Twitter) that he will instead look to play the year out. The 37-year-old re-joined Denver this offseason on a non-guaranteed deal.
Though he’s been criticized for being too passive and has drawn the ire of coach Scott Brooks for taking too many three-pointers, Thunder rookie Perry Jones III is nonetheless making a significant impact so far, Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman writes.