Minnesota Timberwolves Off-Season Thread... Training Camp, to Mankato they go.

More shooters for Rubio, Love and Pek.

If we pulled this off I guess JJ or Luke will be moved next

Rubio/JJ/Luke
Kmart/Shved/Shabazz/Henderson?
Chase/Brewer
Love/Dwill
Pek/D.C./Dieng/Turiaf?

Would love to have Turiaf on the team. I would make it a personal goal to get a pic and have it as my Avy until I'm feet under :lol:
 
Turiaf is ours. 2 years, 3.2 million... Can't be upset at that deal.

Man, Flip is really turning a leaf with some fresh names. Feels like he heard the defensive criticisms and went out and signed some players accordingly (Brewer, Turiaf, linked to Henderson now).
 
Turiaf is a surprisingly good passer too. He could work well in Adelman's offense if he's called upon.
 
For me I just found Turiaf likeable when he got drafted by the Lakers then hearing about his heart problems and just been a fan of that dude ever since.
 
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Whats up dudes? Shout out to JPZ

Keep in mind that Doogie gets his scoops straight from agents ... take them with a big grain of salt.
 
How are you and Cheese fairin these days?


I'm more askin about Cheese than you :lol:

:lol: :lol: Doogie. Smokescreens.
 
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Cheese is at 12.3 pounds right now. Down from 19... I'm a proud dad.

Munneke confirmed that Cheese's head will be displayed in the 121 fan section next year... as a "mandatory" inclusion
 
So what do we think on Pek's camp asking for 15 mil a season?

I'm saying let him walk but Sekou Smith on NBA Hangtime blog brought up a good point since Pek and Love share the same agent this could have some impact if Love stays or goes, I think he leaves regardless. But at 15 mil plus him being injured quite a bit not really a shot blocker I'm a bit confused on what Flip should do. Maybe sign him for the one year qualify extension offer and see if you could get something in a sign and trade next off season maybe?

He's already 27 he's not going to make that big of a jump season to season from here on out.
 
Still optimistic we'll get him in here... at least it sounds like that from what the Pioneer Press and others are saying.

15 million/year is a pretty ridiculous asking price when no one else has even made an offer. :lol:
 
Sounds like current offer + incentives is as far as the Wolves would go for Pek.

Here we sit:

Fact 1: Pek did not end up receiving any massive offer from another NBA team, as the Pek camp hoped he would.
Fact 2: Pek has been offered 4 years at over $12 million per year on a Wolves team that would then be right up at the cap.
Fact 3: As reported today, his agent first started at 4 years, $60 million demand but is now zeroing in on about $55 million for 4 years (so close to $14 mil a year)

Let's look at next season's top earning centers as a guide.

$20.5 - Howard (7 All Star games, 61 Playoff games)
$19.1 - Bosh (8 All Star games, 69 Playoff games)
$14.8 - M Gasol (1 All Star game, 35 Playoff games)
$14.6 - B Lopez (1 All Star game, 7 Playoff games)
$14.6 - Okafor (0 All Star games, 6 Playoff games)
$14.2 - Hibbert (1 All Star game, 35 Playoff games)
$14.1 - Chandler (1 All Star game, 70 Playoff games)
$14.0 - Bogut (0 All Star games, 17 Playoff games)

Pek is a fine player. He plays a premium position. He however is not really an "all star" (yet) and has not played in a single playoff game yet....and has missed numerous games with injuries. At this point if his camp is not budging just for the sake of saving face, then I would cut my losses and give him the $6 million qualifying offer for next year and then let him walk. There is a chance he gets hurt again anyway and you could end up re-signing him for less.

I am a huge Pek guy, and I am a huge Love guy. But the Wolves are really playing with fire here cornering these players as their franchise players that lock down their caps with massive contracts. I am not saying they shouldn't do it....but I'm saying it's a gamble. Kevin Love for all his strengths in 5 years has still not willed this team anywhere. Pekovic for all his strengths in 3 years has not willed this team anywhere. Everyone knows the Wolves other pieces are not close being a great team. But you are starting to talk about franchise players here where when they are hurt the team loses a lot.....and when they are healthy the team loses a lot. They have not proven a thing yet the way you are supposed to in this league of greats and I am not 100% sure yet they will in that regard.
 
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Of course...

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Minnesota Timberwolves rookie guard Shabazz Muhammad was sent home from the NBA's Rookie Transition Program for violating of a rule and bringing a female guest into his hotel room Tuesday evening, a person familiar with situation told USA TODAY Sports.

Muhammad, who also will be fined, was in Florham Park, N.J. for the four-day program which helps rookies transition into the league through a series of seminars, instructions and guest speakers.

Nearly 50 rookies or players are participating in the program which ends Friday.

Just hours before Muhammad was sent home, players were given the rules for the program, which included no guests unless approved by program administrators.

Muhammad, the No. 14 pick in the draft, will have to return next summer and complete the program with the 2014 draft class and others who have not yet attended.
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Yeah...Sounds like a real winner, huh? :rolleyes

He's not doing a good job of proving those of us wrong that felt he'd be a bust.
 
He won't make it past the deadline to me. Trade him to one of the teams that are tanking for Wiggins could use that spot on somebody else imo
 
I didn't like the Shabazz pick then and I still don't but who knows really.

As I said from the get-go, At our draft spot (no man's land) you would have been better off just taking Burke and keeping him rather than take a gamble on this guy.

But hey this is the T-Wolves. And Flip Saunders.
 
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:lol: :smh:

ProBasketballTalk:

Shabazz Muhammad could be headed to D-League if he doesn’t shape up

New general manager Flip Saunders was pretty blunt when talking with KFAN’s Dan Barreiro regarding the Muhammad situation:

“In our league, you have to be disciplined and being ‘disciplined’ is being able to adhere to whatever rules are given and you gotta abide by the rules,” Saunders said on the local radio host’s show. “So that’s been disappointing. But when I talk to him, he’s either gonna learn the rules and learn to abide by things with the big boys or he’s gonna really quick learn a geography class: where Des Moines is in the NBDL down in Iowa.”
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Shabazz in the D-League. :lol: Ah man. Things are already getting testy. He looks so likely to be one of those guys that can't stay out of the headlines for his own good. :smh: Lets just hope that he settles in and starts playing well. Then people won't be searching for stories, they'll have one to write about right in front of them.

Not upset at the contract, however it's only 4 million per year less than a max player. Is he only 4 million dollars per year worse than a max player? I guess you must factor in all those awful max contracts that have been handed out over the years (Rudy Gay, Joe Johnson, etc.). Still think we could have retained him for a BIT less though. I mean, there was no one left out there that had enough cap to sign him to a big offer sheet. However, I'm sure he and his agent (which is Love's agent too :nerd: :nerd:) were bluffing/threatening free agency in 2014 and they came to a compromise.

Ricky Rubio can still receive a 5-year contract if we choose to offer him one, according to AP Sports Guy.


Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo! Sports just posted this article.


The NBA, A-through-Z: Minnesota Timberwolves.

By Kelly Dwyer, Yahoo! Sports.

View media item 539017
The free agents have just about all been signed up. The NBA is down to a series of Instagram photos from moving yachts and crossed fingers from worried teams hoping their players stay safe in the summer off. There’s nothing going on, save for that clock on the wall that is ticking down to the 2013-14 season.

And it’s moving SO SLOWLY.

This is why we’ve decided to pick 26 things we’re looking forward to in 2013-14. Or, at the very least, 26 things that intrigue us as we wait out an offseason that feels like it has thousands of miles left to cross before we can get to Halloween and opening week. Because there are 26 letters in the alphabet – you guessed, NBA A-through-Z.

We continue with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Nikola Pekovic, the restricted free agent and last available player that could possibly secure an eight-figure deal in this market, has just signed a five-year, $60 million deal (with $8 million in incentives) with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The offseason, effectively, is just about over. Nobody’s really left, outside of the fringe cases that teams are hesitant to risk even a minor deal on.

This means the Timberwolves are back. Back to where they were this time last year when the team was set to become one of the NBA’s more entertaining teams, possibly taking advantage of available spots in the West’s low-end playoff bracket, and becoming a League Pass go-to fixture once Ricky Rubio returned from his ACL reconstruction. Even with the specter of David Kahn’s miserable moves hanging over the franchise, coach Rick Adelman seemed like the perfect fit for a fluid, offensive-minded team that surely suited his style.

This was before Kevin Love did whatever he did to his hands, sitting out for all but 18 games and missing nearly 65 percent of his shots. Rubio, while entertaining, wasn’t much better from the field, hitting for 36 percent from the floor in another worrying turn, a poor shooting pattern that was established years before he came to the NBA. Andrei Kirilenko and Pekovic sat out a combined 38 games, Alexey Shved tailed off after an impressive start, and Chase Budinger was forced to sit out four months with a torn meniscus in his left knee.

By the time spring rolled around, Rick Adelman was contemplating leaving the team to aid in his wife’s recovery from a series of frightening seizures. And though Kahn was eventually sent out to pasture, finally, new president of basketball operations Flip Saunders has us a little worried as to how forward-thinking his front office acumen may be, especially in an NBA that is becoming more and more analytics-driven on an executive level.

Peel this back, though. Forget the potential of Love’s impermanence, Rubio’s shooting woes, and the fact that the team just handed a potential $68 million to a player few outside of heavy NBA circles knew about two years ago.

This is still a team coached by Rick Adelman, to start, which immediately warrants it must-watch status. Then there is the angry return of Love, happy to show Kahn that he was worth that extra year, sick of never making the playoffs. This is countered by the steely Pekovic (who is just entering his prime; if he continues improving at this rate this will be a great contract), and the cheery Rubio. All intertwining in a motion-based offense that welcomes back the athletic Budinger, the (honestly) improving Derrick Williams and a player in Kevin Martin that Adelman did some wonderful, wonderful things with at two different stops.

This isn’t a surefire, eventual 50-game winner. The addition of Martin and re-introduction of Budinger could limit Pekovic’s looks from the interior, and nobody should convince you that Ricky Rubio is going to come out of nowhere to start providing percentages from the field that won’t leave you holding your nose. In August, that’s not the point.

The point is that entertaining basketball could spring out of Minnesota again, and the team could cut and curl its way into the postseason for the first time since Sam Cassell’s untimely injury cost the Timberwolves a place (not a shot, a place) in the 2004 NBA Finals. It’s true that the Wolves will be approaching the luxury tax level in 2014-15 even with Williams and Rubio’s contracts still on the board, and that Love could decide to take his game elsewhere during the 2015 offseason.

For now, though, it’s fun. No Kahn, healthy Love, all of the Rubio, and Pekovic is back. The unholy amalgamation of Kevin McHale (who drafted Love), David Kahn and Flip Saunders’ work probably won’t ever win a championship, but for a city starved for its first meaningful game in April, 2013-14 should be a treat even if the Timberwolves eventually fall short again.

And until we get there, before things thaw? This team should once again top your list of NBA League Pass must-watches. With actual wins, this time.
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