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Year-Round News & Updates on the Minnesota Timberwolves
While Chase Budinger and Kevin Love continue to make significant steps toward returning to the court, Andrei Kirilenko & Nikola Pekovic have been sidelined and kept out of the lineup for the past couple games. Both AK & Pek don't have timelines for a return and will be re-evaluated next week.
With six players on the injury report, the Wolves have just nine healthy bodies. Guards Ricky Rubio, Luke Ridnour, J.J. Barea & Alexey Shved; Forwards Mickael Gelabale, Derrick Williams & Dante Cunningham; and Centers Greg Stiemsma & Chris Johnson. Because of this, there are rumors that the Wolves are looking at potentially signing another big man to a 10-day contract by way of the 'hardship exception'. If you remember, the Wolves originally applied to the League office for said exception when they signed Mickael Gelabale & Chris Johnson to 10-days (one of them got the hardship exception) and again when they renewed those 10-day contracts for the second & final time. Now, with still a 15-man roster, the Wolves would have to apply for yet another hardship exception. With all the injuries, there's a very good chance the League office would grant them that. The names currently being floated out for potential signings are: Jeremy Tyler & Eddy Curry. Tyler was traded from Golden State to the Hawks on the Trade Deadline. The Hawks recently waived Tyler so they could sign Shelvin Mack to a 10-day contract. According to Darren Wolfson, Tyler's agent has contacted Kahn, but DK isn't a big Tyler fan--or at least doesn't think he can contribute much. Curry is another name being 'floated' (according to Wolfson). I'm not sure I understand why the Wolves would want to sign another player. There's a very small chance that they player would actually get any playing time under Adelman (who clearly prefers playing the guys that have been around all season). Chris Johnson was very impressive while Terry Porter was the acting head coach and gave CJ plenty of opportunities, unfortunately since Rick has returned Johnson has struggled to get off the bench. With the abdomen strain to Pek, he's had no choice, but to play him recently, but he still hasn't seen more than 10-15 minutes, despite the Wolves having just nine total healthy players. I could understand the Wolves signing another swingman, however. Right now, Minnesota has Mickael Gelabale as the only small forward on the roster. Adelman has used some three-guard lineup combinations with Rubio, Luke, J.J. & Shved, but that leaves them at a big disadvantage defensively, especially if they're not playing in a zone. Signing a D-League swingman like D.J. Kennedy, DaJuan Summers, Kris Joseph, Lazar Hayward or Chris Wright (all of whom, show up on the Top 10 D-League prospects 'board'). If Kirilenko and/or Pekovic are ruled out for a longer period after their re-evaluations next week, expect to hear talk of signing another player 'pick up steam'. We'll keep on eye out on the rumor mill and keep you updated! Thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES!
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Cody AndersonA TWolves fan, bringing you the daily updates. News Archives
August 2017
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