The Timberwolves are finalizing a deal with veteran assistant coach Jerry Sichting, who is poised to join Ryan Saunders‘ coaching staff, according to Jon Krawczynski and Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). This will be Sichting’s third stint with the Wolves — his first came from 1995-2005, when he was part of Flip Saunders‘ coaching staff in Minnesota for a decade.
As Krawczynski notes (via Twitter), there’s a lot of familiarity between Sichting and Ryan Saunders, making it a logical hire for the Timberwolves. Sichting will fill the hole on the staff created by Andy Greer’s departure, Krawczynski adds. Greer was dismissed earlier this month along with Tom Thibodeau, given his close association with Thibs.
Here are a few more notes from out of Minnesota:
- Timberwolves forward Robert Covington, who is on the shelf with a bone bruise, said today that there’s no timetable for his return to the court, tweets Krawczynski. “I haven’t pressed the issue just yet,” said Covington, who hasn’t done any substantial on-court activities.
- Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report explores whether the Timberwolves might be able to find a realistic – and favorable – trade involving Andrew Wiggins, whose maximum-salary contract runs through 2022/23.
- With Jimmy Butler poised to face the Timberwolves for the first time since the club traded him to Philadelphia, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer previews the showdown and relays some comments Butler made to Kevin Garnett during a recent appearance on TNT’s KG Area 21. Butler’s response when asked if his issues in Minnesota were more with management or his fellow players: “Maybe a little bit of both.”
It was an interesting read from Eric Pincus, but none of those proposed deals seem remotely likely.
I loved Wiggins out of High School and even after a down year of college, but you’re going to have to send out additional assets to get out from under that contract.
That said, I guess all you need is one GM to make a mistake… but it’s not going to give the Timberwolves much of anything in return.
Beal for Wiggins. Done.
This would be a crazy suggestion if not for the fact that Ernie Grunfeld is entirely incompetent.
Wizards should keep Beal. Especially with how well he plays without Wall. Best SG in the East.
Minn can’t be obsessing over the kid’s contract at this point. It’s done. There will be plenty worse in a few years.
Covington is a guy I would think could fetch them something real in a trade; there’s a shortage of two way 3’s in the league, and he might not fit longer term with KAT-Wiggins core in terms of position or age.
MIN should trade RoCo for a 2G so Wiggins can play his natural position. That’s the only way MIN can get their money’s worth.
Agree, Covington needs to go–
For a guard. WIGGINS IS A 3, a SF. He can’t play to his salary out of position; and nobody will trade good assets for him with that salary. Covington is movable & in the way.
3s are tall 2s who might need to daydream occasionally, hopefully without hurting the team doing it. Put Wiggins there and quit messing. In the past he was actually as comfortable operating inside as people want him to be on the outside.
Pincus is funny, like he just now realized Wiggins is overpaid. A bit late for that.
Wiggins isn’t going anywhere unless MIN attaches some picks AND takes back some almost as ugly contracts.
At this stage, Wiggins’ contract is already underwater, and looking horrible. He does one thing – score – and even then, hes barely keeping his shooting at 40%. Other than that, he’s a poor rebounder, poor passer, and a scratch defender at best.
I think there could be GMs that think that Wiggins could be better in a less volatile environment, but that contract really makes it hard to believe anyone would give up anything of value.
Maybe one of these made-up trades from the article would be believable if Bryan Colangelo or Ryan McDonough or Billy King were still GMs.