Glen Taylor Finds Buyer For Timberwolves
Sid Hartman of the Star Tribune reports that Glen Taylor has found a buyer for the Minnesota Timberwolves. The buyer's identity has not been revealed, but Taylor says he expects to close a deal soon.
Initially, the mystery buyer will own around 25 percent of the Timberwolves and the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, while Taylor will continue to own a majority stake in the teams. This will allow the new owner to slowly transition into the majority owner as Taylor's influence decreases.
Although the unknown buyer is from out of state, Taylor stressed to the Star Tribune that that, as part of the purchase agreement, he has agreed to ensure that both the Timberwolves and Lynx remain in Minnesota.
Souhan On Wolves, Olympics
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.
Mayberry On Howard, Thunder, Lakers
As the Dwight Howard saga drags on, Lakers, Rockets, and Mavericks have emerged as the teams with the best chances of landing the superstar center from the Magic. The Oklahoman's Darnell Mayberry has posted two new columns on Howard's future:
- In the first column, Mayberry writes that landing Howard would be contradictory to the Thunder's long-term plans.
- In the second column, Mayberry argues that Howard ending up in Los Angeles will be bad for Oklahoma City's title chances in the next several years.
Josh Howard Close To Decision
Yahoo!'s Marc J. Spears tweets that unrestricted free-agent forward Josh Howard is close to making a decision on where to sign for the 2012/13 season. Spears reports that Howard's current team, the Utah Jazz, are in the mix to land him, along with the Indiana Pacers, Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets, and New York Knicks.
Terms of Howard's upcoming deal are not known. Howard, 31, made approximately $2.1MM last season, averaging 8.7 PPG and 3.7 RPG for the Jazz.
Woelfel On Bucks, Przybilla, Meeks
Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times has a notebook about the Bucks' plans for the remainder of the offseason, including several players they have interest in:
- Woelfel writes that the Bucks remain interested in Joel Przybilla, as was reported earlier this week. They view him as a fit to back up Samuel Dalembert.
- The Bucks have explored the possibility of signing free-agent guard Jodie Meeks, Woelfel writes.
- Woelfel notes that the Denver Nuggets attempted to move ahead of the Bucks in June's NBA Draft to select John Henson, Milwaukee's eventual selection.
Odds & Ends: Varejao, Olympics, Hornets, Spurs
Cavaliers forward Anderson Varejao has seen his name pop up in trade rumors this month, mostly in connection with a possible three-team Dwight Howard trade. However, the Brazilian says that the speculation doesn’t bother him, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. “There’s nothing that I can do. If they trade me, they trade me,” Varejao said. Here’s more from around the Association..
- Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tells told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter) that “…the Olympics are a huge for-profit endeavor. It makes no sense that NBA owners subsidize it.” An NBA GM agreed with Cuban’s assessment, suggesting that players shouldn’t have their salaries guaranteed in the event of injuries in the Olympic games (Twitter link).
- Hornets owner Tom Benson is hoping to raise the club’s profile to the level of his New Orleans Saints, writes Peter Finney of The Times-Picayune. The Hornets sold 10,000 season tickets last season and Benson has an ambitious goal of selling 17,000 for the upcoming year.
- Mark Nugent of HoopsWorld runs down the best remaining free agents by position. The best player left on the open market, he writes, is arguably forward Carl Landry.
- Raul Barrigon of HoopsHype caught up with Hall Of Famer David Robinson to discuss Tim Duncan‘s new contract, the Spurs‘ knack for finding international talent, and the Dream Team.
Week In Review: 7/23/12 – 7/29/12
If you missed out on anything this week, we've got you covered with our Week In Review..
- The Magic are set to introduce Jacque Vaughn as their next head coach tomorrow afternoon. The 37-year-old spent the last two years as an assistant coach under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio.
- Meanwhile, the agent for Dwight Howard admitted that he and fellow reps spoke to the media about this week's meeting between Howard and the Magic. In those meetings, the star center reiterated his trade demands.
- The Hornets acquired Robin Lopez and Hakim Warrick in a three-team deal with the T'Wolves and Suns. Full details of the trade have yet to be disclosed but it appears that Phoenix will acquire Wesley Johnson in the deal.
- The Timberwolves agreed to a two-year, $20MM contract with Andrei Kirilenko after clearing space in the three-way trade.
- The Bulls signed Nazr Mohammed after the center was said to be close to a deal with the Nets.
- The Cavs and T'Wolves are the favorites for Anthony Tolliver.
- The Warriors signed Kent Bazemore to a two-year, partially-guaranteed contract.
- E'Twaun Moore has cleared waivers and is free to sign with any team besides the Celtics.
- The Raptors officially signed John Lucas III.
- The Bucks, Mavs, and Blazers are among the teams interested in Joel Przybilla.
- Suns president Brad Casper has resigned.
- The Mavericks re-signed Delonte West after the veteran received some interest from the Lakers.
- The Grizzlies sent Jeremy Pargo, a 2014 second-round pick and cash to the Cavs for D.J. Kennedy on Wednesday.
- Former Trail Blazers executive Tom Penn is a frontrunning candidate for the Sixers' general manager position.
- The Knicks signed Ronnie Brewer.
- The Wizards signed A.J. Price to back up John Wall.
- The Clippers officially signed Ronnie Turiaf.
- The Grizzlies re-signed Hamed Haddadi.
- Jon Diebler signed to play in the Turkish league next season.
Hoops Rumors Originals: 7/23/12 – 7/29/12
Our look back at the original analysis produced by our writing team this week..
- Luke Adams ran down the largest salaries for the upcoming 2012/13 season.
- Ryan Raroque examined Taj Gibson as an extension candidate.
- At first glance it seems improbable that a team like the Thunder can keep their entire core together, Luke writes, but it's not impossible.
- I rounded up the best of the blogosphere in this week's edition of Hoops Links.
- Chuck Myron asked which team had the best offseason and the Lakers won with 36% of the vote.
- Luke Adams conducted our weekly chat with topics ranging from the 76ers GM search to Omer Asik.
- The majority of Hoops Rumors readers believe that Anthony Davis will improve most from the Olympics in Daniel Seco's poll.
- Luke looked at the Bulls and the salary cap.
- Despite the Bucks' lack of progress in recent years, there are plenty of reasons for them to look to keep Brandon Jennings, Chuck writes.
- Chuck looked at the effects of playing for Team USA.
- Luke compiled a list of the teams that lost traded player exceptions this month.
- Chuck ran down signed offer sheets dating back to 2008.
- Ty Lawson is the next Nuggets player in line for an extension, Luke writes.
- Check out a full list of our features.
Poll: Which Star Will Improve Most From Olympics?
The 2012 Summer Olympics in London are underway and USA Basketball is off to a strong start thanks to a 98-71 victory over France. Strong play from Kevin Durant and a host of other players led the way for the convincing victory as Team USA begins its quest for another gold medal. International play has had a history of improving the skills of young players as they return from overseas to return to their NBA teams.
With young players such as Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis being afforded the opportunity to play in the Olympics for the first time, the question becomes how will the experience impact them during the 2012/13 season and beyond.
Which Player Will Improve The Most From The Olympics?
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Anthony Davis 57% (611)
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Kevin Durant 15% (165)
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Other 10% (111)
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James Harden 9% (91)
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Russell Westbrook 9% (91)
Total votes: 1,069
Cavs Notes: Kevin Jones, Alonzo Gee, C.J. Miles
With the start of the 2012/13 season mere months away, the Cavs have been relatively quiet this offseason in terms of free agent signings and trades. From signing Luke Harangody to a qualifying offer to acquiring Jeremy Pargo in a trade with Memphis, Cleveland has yet to make a true splash this summer. Let's check in with Bob Finnan of The News-Herald to catch up on the latest news and headlines surrounding the Cavs…
- The Cavs remain interested in fully committing to power forward Kevin Jones even though the team already has five players on the roster who play his position. The undrafted rookie from West Virginia suffered a bone bruise in his ankle but is expected to be ready for training camp if Cleveland ends up signing him. Jones, 22, averaged 19.9 PPG and 10.9 RPG during his senior year with the Mountaineers.
- Cleveland has yet to decide on what to do with small forward Alonzo Gee, a restricted free agent. Gee is hoping that the Cavs offer him a long-term deal instead of just a qualifying offer. If Gee isn't offered the type of deal that he desires, he can simply sign the qualifying offer and become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
- If the Cavs aren't able to come to terms on a deal with Gee, they will turn their attention to signing unrestricted free agent C.J. Miles. The former Jazz guard averaged 9.1 PPG and 2.1 RPG during the 2011/12 season. Finnan suggests that there is a small chance the Cavs sign both Gee and Miles.