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Year-Round News & Updates on the Minnesota Timberwolves
The Minnesota Timberwolves are in discussions with the Golden State Warriors to send another All-Star Kevin out of the Twin Cities.
The Wolves have received 'offers' from a number of different teams: Boston (two first-rounders this year and a choice between Jared Sullinger or Kelly Olynyk), Chicago (Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson and the rights to Nikola Mirotic) and Denver (Wilson Chandler, Kenneth Faried, 11th overall pick). The trade proposal that seems to be getting the most attention comes from the Bay Area. The Warriors are reportedly offering David Lee & Klay Thompson to the Wolves in exchange for Kevin Love and Kevin Martin. Other versions of the deal also have the Wolves including J.J. Barea and the 13th overall pick. I love the idea of dumping Martin & Barea--two players who have shown they can be incredibly efficient contributors on good teams. However, too often last season they look as they they were "going through the motions". The Wolves are being asked to give up a lottery pick in addition to two starter-quality players as well as a sixth man in Barea who has shown during his tenure in Dallas and sporadically in Minnesota that he can be an integral part of a team. I like the deal A LOT more without adding that lottery selection. The Wolves would be getting back two proven players who could immediately step into the starting lineup. According to multiple reports, Flip is looking for proven talent over draft picks. Considering the Wolves haven't made the playoffs in a decade--as well as their drafting history the past few years...it's all understandable. Granted, the botched drafts of the past five years (Jonny Flynn, Wesley Johnson, Derrick Williams) have been thanks to David Kahn. Saunders' first draft since taking over the Basketball Ops was Shabazz Muhammad & Gorgui Dieng--those two could very well be contributors in their second season in Minnesota--especially since the man who drafted them a year ago will be their head coach this season. I'm not crazy about David Lee or the fact that we'd have to pay him $15million a year for the next two years. Klay Thompson is the prized player in this proposal and even that scares me! Klay will be a free agent in 2015-16 and he's likely to command a 10-figure a year salary. Add to that, that he wouldn't be happy at all, leaving California to play in Minnesota and it sounds like a recipe for another disaster Timberwolves trade. The biggest draw for Thompson will be the fact that he gets to share a backcourt with one of the League's premier passers. With Kevin Love gone in this trade the Wolves would have a starting lineup of Rubio, Thompson, Corey Brewer, Lee and Nikola Pekvoic. The hope is that Saunders will utilize Rubio much better than Adelman did and play to his strengths--transition opportunities, pick-and-roll and running simple set plays in which he has the ball in his hands and is asked to create open looks for his teammates. When Kevin Love was out of the lineup, the Wolves actually played some very good basketball. When he was in the lineup he was their primary (and at times only) scorer. Without him, other teams weren't sure what the Wolves would run or who would score. The proposed starting lineup would create a much better balanced offensive attack. Any one of those players could give you 15 points a night. Pek & Lee could give you 20 and Thompson could probably give you 25+. I'm a fan of any team that rids the Wolves of Martin & Barea. J.J. Barea has been the complete opposite of a fan favorite in his time here and in addition to his subpar play, he has a bad attitude and doesn't make a good teammate. Martin never even attempted to try on defense and on the nights where he'd pour in 20-30...so would the guy he was 'guarding'. At this point, I don't want Kevin Love on this team. My opinion is: if you don't want to be here, we don't want you here! He believes he's bigger than the team and the city and no one player is. He'll leave Minnesota at some point in the near future and likely make the playoffs, however wherever he goes he won't be "the man". He's still just the second or third option on a championship team. If he goes to Chicago he's second to Derrick Rose, if he goes to Golden State he plays second to Stephen Curry, if he goes to Cleveland he's on Kyrie's team, if he ends up in Boston/Denver he's in the same situation he was in Minnesota. I've never been a fan of "The Decision", "Melo-Drama Parts One (Denver) and now Part Two (New York) or "Dwight-Mare Parts One (Orlando) & Two (Lakers). I'm hoping that this is over sooner rather than later. With the NBA draft just
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Cody AndersonA TWolves fan, bringing you the daily updates. News Archives
August 2017
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