Kevin Love Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Odds & Ends: T-Wolves, Yi, Arroyo, Rockets

September 25th, 2012 at 5:50pm CST by Luke Adams

Let's round up a few of today's odds and ends from around the Association….

The Timberwolves ultimately signed Louis Amundson to a minimum-salary deal to bolster their frontcourt, but were also seriously considering Sean Williams and were close to signing Yi Jianlian, tweets Darren Wolfson of ESPN 1500. Yi ended up signing in China, where he presumably received a larger guarantee.
Two and a half months after urging management to make roster upgrades, Kevin Love says he's happy about the changes and is optimistic about the Timberwolves' playoff chances, according to an AP report (via NBA.com).
According to a Primera Hora report (Spanish link), longtime NBA point guard Carlos Arroyo is still debating whether to join an NBA team's training camp or play in Turkey.
The Rockets announced a series of coaching and basketball operations hirings and promotions today, including a pair of assistant coaches.
There has been so much turnover in New Orleans in recent years that Jason Smith, who joined the team almost exactly two years ago, is now the longest-tenured Hornet. Smith spoke to Jim Eichenhofer of Hornets.com about the club's offseason acquisitions and his expectations for the coming year.

Olympics Notes: Kevin Love, Coach K, FIBA

August 11th, 2012 at 8:22pm CST by Daniel Seco

Team USA will attempt to make it two gold medals in a row on Sunday when it takes on Spain in the Olympic men's basketball final. The team has looked strong throughout the Olympics but will face a challenge from Spain, who features arguably the strongest frontcourt thanks to Pau Gasol and Marc Gasol. Before Team USA and Spain do battle, let's catch up with the latest news and headlines from around the Olympics.

Chris Palmer of ESPN The Magazine has the story of how Kevin Love met Tyson Chandler when he was a pudgy middle schooler and Chandler was months away from being taken second overall in the 2001 NBA Draft. "I’m gonna be in the NBA one day," Love told Chandler. "You’ll want my autograph someday. You’ll see."
Mike Krzyzewski has had quite the run as the head coach of the USA Basketball team as he's set to call it an Olympic career after Sunday's game, writes Marc Stein of ESPN.com. With a victory over Spain, Coach K will run his record to 62-1.
FIBA chief Patrick Baumann says that the three-point line for international play will be moved to the NBA distance at some point in the future, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. "We think probably we should have gone sooner to the NBA distance from Day One," said Baumann.

Souhan On Wolves, Olympics

July 29th, 2012 at 10:13pm CST by Sean Highkin

Jim Souhan of the Star Tribune has written a new column tracking several members of the Timberwolves' performances in the London Summer Olympics:

New signees Andrei Kirilenko and Alexey Shved, teammates on the Russian national team, both turned in strong performances in an opening victory over Great Britain and have already developed chemistry.
Kevin Love, playing with Team USA, was impressed with the team's two new Russian players, and has already spoken to Kirilenko about the upcoming season.
Kirilenko and Shved were likewise impressed with Love, both today and during the 2011/12 season, and are excited about playing in Minnesota.

Northwest Notes: Timberwolves, Leuer, Nuggets

July 19th, 2012 at 8:07pm CST by Zachary Links

Here's a look at the latest out of the Northwest division..

It appears that the Timberwolves may have missed out on shooting guard Courtney Lee and are now in pursuit of Jon Leuer, writes Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press. The Minnesota native was waived yesterday by the Rockets.
Timberwolves forward Kevin Love says he is glad that he negotiated the option to leave in three years rather than securing a five-year max deal, writes Brian Murphy of the Pioneer Press. Love wants to see the club become a contender before he commits to Minnesota long term.
Nuggets coach George Karl says that he is happy with all of the club's latest roster moves, writes Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post. The club is now left with a logjam in the frontcourt with JaVale McGee, Kenneth Faried, Al Harrington, Kosta Koufos, Timofey Mozgov, and Anthony Randolph in the mix, but Karl notes that it is preferable to being thin at the four and five.

Kevin Love Urges Wolves To Upgrade Roster

July 8th, 2012 at 9:09pm CST by Chuck Myron

Kevin Love tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports that if the Timberwolves don't starting winning more often this season, he isn't sure how long he'll want to remain in Minnesota.

"My patience is not high," said Love, in Las Vegas this week to practice with the U.S. Olympic team. "Would yours be, especially when I'm a big proponent of greatness surrounding itself with greatness? All these [Team USA] guys seem to have great players around them. It's tough seeing all these guys that are young and older who have all played in the playoffs. When they start talking about that, I have nothing to talk about. If I don’t make the playoffs next year I don’t know what will happen."

Nine Assured Of Team USA Spot; Odom Withdraws

July 3rd, 2012 at 11:41am CST by Chuck Myron

TUESDAY, 11:41am: Blake Griffin is expected to take Chris Bosh's spot on the U.S. roster, tweets Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com. As Goodman adds in a second tweet, that would leave five players competing for the final two spots.

Anthony Davis To Be Added To Team USA Pool

May 2nd, 2012 at 12:43pm CST by Sean Highkin

12:43pm: Monroe won't be the second addition to the U.S. Olympic pool, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.

12:18pm: Anthony Davis will be one of the two finalists added to the Team USA pool, according to SI.com's Sam Amick. Along with Monroe, Al Jefferson is a candidate to be the second finalist, says Amick.

11:08am: Lamar Odom hasn't been ruled out for the 2012 Olympic roster yet, Colangelo tells Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Colangelo also said that Cousins won't be added to the player pool this year, according to Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee.

WEDNESDAY, 8:09am: DeMarcus Cousins, Greg Monroe, and Anthony Davis are among the big men being considered for the Team USA pool, reports ESPN.com's Marc Stein. Hibbert, unfortunately, is ineligible to play for the U.S. team because he played for Jamaica's senior national squad during the 2010 Centrobasket tournament. FIBA rules prevent players from representing two different countries at the senior level.

TUESDAY, 8:29pm: Jerry Colangelo told reporters (Associated Press link via ESPN.com) that he is leaning towards adding a couple of players to the pool from which the final Olympic team will be drawn. He gave no indication as to who those players might be, however.

7:30pm: With the U.S. Olympic team's projected roster increasingly depleted due to injuries, Jerry Colangelo is reportedly reconsidering his stance against adding new players. According to Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star, Pacers center Roy Hibbert has expressed interest in joining the team should they look to add new talent.

“It would be nice to be able to do something like that,” Hibbert said. “I always said I wanted to play in the Olympics for the US. I played with Team Jamaica last year. Hopefully I can get a quick release. It would mean the world to me to be able to participate for Team USA.”

With Dwight Howard and LaMarcus Aldridge out for the summer, the frontcourt rotation for Team USA is looking thin outside of Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, and Tyson Chandler. If Colangelo does decide to bring on new players, Hibbert, who made his first All-Star appearance in 2011/12, would appear to be a logical candidate.

Wolves Notes: Love, Darko, Beasley, Randolph

April 28th, 2012 at 8:53am CST by Zachary Links

Timberwolves President David Kahn and coach Rick Adelman spoke with the press on Friday morning and Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune has the goods..

Kahn called Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio the team's "cornerstones" and hopes to see the two players retire as lifelong T'Wolves. Outside of that, Kahn promised to be aggressive this year and implied that major changes are on the horizon.
The Wolves will consider trading the 18th overall pick (from Utah) for a proven veteran but will also evaluate the players that could be available to them. What they won't do, however, is trade down repeatedly to acquire cash and future selections as they did with the 20th pick last year. "That would be a terrible thing to do, and I can assure you that never would we consider that," Kahn said.
Kahn declined to discuss the futures of Darko Milicic, Michael Beasley, Anthony Randolph, and Martell Webster. Beasley and Randolph will become unrestricted free agents if the team doesn't pick up their qualifying offers. Meanwhile, it's hard to imagine that they'll exercise Webster's $5.7MM option for next season and Milicic, owed $5MM next year, figures to be an amnesty clause candidate.
Kahn is in talks to bring some of the team's drafted European prospects to Minnesota in June so that Adelman and his staff can evaluate them. That would include forwards Nemanja Bjelica and Henk Norel and center Paulao Prestes. Without specifiying who, Kahn said one of those players might be ready for the NBA. Zgoda says it's likely Bjelica, though he is still probably too soft for the Association.

Odds & Ends: Vujacic, Lee, Love, Wall

April 25th, 2012 at 9:37pm CST by Michael Pina

In a tweet, ESPN.com's Marc Stein says that the Raptors have no interest in former Net and Laker, Sasha Vujacic. Here are the rest of the evening's updates:

The Warriors shut forward David Lee down with what they called a groin injury earlier this month. At the time, the team was well out of the playoff picture, and the Warriors' main goal down the stretch was to lose as many games as possible in order to try and get their first round draft pick back from the Jazz. Lee's injury was treated as a convenient way to tank games, and the announcement was viewed with a skeptic eye by many. Now it appears Lee will have surger on Thursday to repair a torn abdominal muscle, according to the team.
MercuryNews.com's Marcus Thompson II breaks down what the Warriors need to do if they want to keep their first round draft pick.
Stephen Curry underwent successful surgery on his ankles today. He's expected to be ready for action in 3-4 months, NBA.com's David Aldridge reports in a tweet.
The Plain Dealer's Bill Livingston points out the significance of what a third MVP for LeBron James would mean.
Even before Dwight Howard and LaMarcus Aldridge suffered injuries that will prevent them from participating in this summer's Olympic games, there was a strong chance Kevin Love would make the 12-man roster. The Timberwolves forward feels more confident than ever before that he'll make the team, according to TwinCities.com's Ray Richardson.
Kobe Bryant fully expects the Lakers to win the title, writes ESPNLosAngeles.com's Dave McMenamin.
John Wall spoke to his friend Kevin Durant about what it took to turn one of the league's worst teams into one of the best, writes FoxSportsFlorida.com's Chris Tomasson.
The Timberwolves will receive the Jazz's first round draft pick now that Utah is heading to the playoffs, according to the StarTribune's Kent Youngblood.

Kevin Love Will Lobby For Offseason Moves

April 25th, 2012 at 12:26pm CST by Luke Adams

Kevin Love will be in line for a big raise next season when his new contract extension kicks in, but the Timberwolves should still have some flexibility to make roster moves. If the T-Wolves choose not to retain free agents like Michael Beasley and Anthony Randolph or partially-guaranteed players like Martell Webster, the team could have nearly $10MM in cap room, and Love would like to see them take advantage of it.

"I think we just need to make some moves," Love told Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, adding that he will encourage management to be aggressive in acquiring veterans.

Minnesota's own first-round pick will head to New Orleans, but the team will have Utah's first-rounder, which figures to take up some cap room. Between the draft pick and cap holds, the team won't have a ton of space to pursue high-end free agents, and Zgoda believes that a trade may be more likely than a free agent signing for the Wolves, perhaps for a player like the Rockets' Kevin Martin. Still, coach Rick Adelman thinks Minnesota's young core could attract free agents.

"When you look at Kevin and you look at Ricky [Rubio] and the style that we're going to play, it's going to be good," Adelman said. "I think people will look at it. We have some pieces people would like to play with. I mean, this team was pretty good not long ago and let's face it, guys like to get paid. So if you can pay 'em and you have some people around? There are some positives here."

The Timberwolves recently exercised their 2012/13 option on GM David Kahn, so he'll be responsible for attempting to improve a roster that looked like a playoff contender this season, prior to Rubio's season-ending ACL injury.