Minnesota Timberwolves Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Wolves Ink Greg Smith To Second 10-Day Pact

March 13th, 2016 at 12:54pm CST by Eddie Scarito

SUNDAY, 12:54pm: The signing is official, the team announced. It’ll cover four games, against the Suns, Grizzlies, Rockets and Warriors.

SATURDAY, 10:35am: The Timberwolves intend to sign Greg Smith to a second 10-day contract, reports Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press (Twitter link). Teams can only sign players to two such deals per season and if Minnesota wishes to retain Smith when this second agreement ends, it will have to sign him for the remainder of the campaign. The power forward’s initial 10-day pact expired on Friday.

It’s not a surprise that the Wolves would elect to retain Smith for another 10 days, as the team is still thin in its frontcourt. Kevin Garnett is dealing with knee issues and Nikola Pekovic isn’t slated to return until at least April as he struggles to recover from his torn Achilles tendon. Minnesota still has an open roster spot after reaching buyout arrangements with Andre Miller and Kevin Martin, so the flexibility remains to add another player in addition to Smith.

Smith has seen appeared in six contests and averaged 2.8 points and 2.2 rebounds in 10.7 minutes per game during his time in Minnesota so far. The 25-year-old is shooting an outstanding 87.5% from the field, connecting on seven of the eight shots he has taken since joining the squad.

Western Notes: Collison, Martin, Davis, Beasley

March 5th, 2016 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

His partnership with Rajon Rondo may be temporary, but Kings point guard Darren Collison is trying to make it work, writes Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento brought in Rondo on a one-year contract and anointed him the starting point guard. Collison has adapted his game and is getting increased minutes in the shooting guard role. “If I couldn’t start for teams, it probably wouldn’t matter as much,” he said. “Winning is still the No. 1 goal, if I had a list, and I’ll go from there. The way I’ve been playing the last couple of years, obviously starting is very fun to me.” While the Kings aren’t sure if Rondo will be back next season, they don’t have to worry about Collison. He is signed for 2016/17 at $5,229,454.

There’s more from the Western Conference:

Kevin Martin was one of the last remaining links to the competitive Wolves teams of two seasons ago, writes Michael Rand of The Star Tribune. Martin, who was waived this week in a buyout agreement and is waiting to sign with the Spurs, was a key component on the 2013/14 squad that still had Kevin Love and a mix of veterans such as Ronny Turiaf, Chase Budinger, Corey Brewer, J.J. Barea and Dante Cunningham.
After watching the Pelicans suffer through a disastrous, injury-filled season, Anthony Davis is determined to prevent it from carrying over into next year, tweets Brett Dawson of The New Orleans Advocate. “You try to establish a culture that you want to have around the locker room, around this organization,” Davis said. “You set it now, to finish out the rest of the games.”
The Rockets believe Michael Beasley matured while playing in China and is better able to handle the NBA lifestyle, tweets Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. “Our intel – and our intel in China we feel is as good or better as any team’s – is he is someone focused on his career,” said Rockets GM Daryl Morey. “I can’t speak to the past. I can say that based on our intel he is someone just focused on career and family at this point.” (Twitter link). Beasley received a two-year deal at the minimum, but next season is non-guaranteed, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. Houston will be $200K under the hard cap after signing Andrew Goudelock, tweets Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com.
The Rockets recalled Sam Dekker, Montrezl Harrell and K.J. McDaniels from their D-League affiliate in Rio Grande Valley, the team announced today.

Central Notes: Pistons, Lawson, Budinger, Butler

March 5th, 2016 at 1:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

Terrence Jones and Meyers Leonard would be attractive free agent options for the Pistons in their search for a backup power forward, according to David Mayo of MLive. Both will enter restricted free agency this summer, which means the Rockets and Blazers can match any offers they get. Mayo notes the teams may want compensation for letting Jones or Leonard go, which could tempt the Pistons to give up a first-round draft pick, something they were willing to do to get Donatas Motiejunas from Houston last month before that deal was voided. Mayo suggests keeping Anthony Tolliver might be the best strategy now that Tobias Harris is on board as the starting power forward. Tolliver is making $3MM in the final season of his contract and is averaging 5.4 points and 3.4 rebounds in nearly 20 minutes per night.

There’s more out of the Central Division:

The Pacers expect to finalize a deal with free agent point guard Ty Lawson on Sunday or Monday, tweets Candace Buckner of The Indianapolis Star. Lawson is still working out in Houston after the Rockets waived him Tuesday in a buyout agreement.
Chase Budinger‘s brief stay in Indiana was a “dud,” Buckner tweeted after the Pacers waived the seventh-year small forward today. She also laments last summer’s trade that sent Damjan Rudez to the Wolves in exchange for Budinger, saying the Pacers gave up a badly needed 3-point shooter (Twitter link). She credits Budinger for being “a pro” during his time in Indiana, though he never fully understood what the organization expected from him (Twitter link).
Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg says shooting guard Jimmy Butler, who has been out of action since February 5th with a sprained knee, is “ready to go” for tonight’s game, tweets Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com. Combo forward Nikola Mirotic, who had acute appendicitis and underwent surgery January 27th, is “close,” Hoiberg adds (Twitter link). Injured center Joakim Noah won’t play anytime soon, but he’ll rejoin the team for “leadership,” tweets K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune.
The Pistons have shooting guard Jodie Meeks, who hasn’t played since suffering a right foot injury October 29th, listed as questionable for tonight’s game, tweets Keith Langlois of Pistons.com.

Central Notes: Middleton, Lue, Carter-Williams

March 4th, 2016 at 8:11pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Bucks turned down a proposed trade deadline swap with the Timberwolves that would have sent Khris Middleton to Minnesota and brought point guard Ricky Rubio to Milwaukee, a deal the team was wise to nix, Zach Lowe of ESPN.com opines. The scribe cites Middleton’s versatility, solid production and reasonable contract as reason why the Bucks were smart to hold onto the swingman. The Wolves even offered to sweeten the deal with the inclusion of a protected 2016 first-round pick, but the Bucks, who never seriously entertained trading Middleton, declined that offer as well, Lowe notes. The Bucks did submit a counterproposal to the Wolves, offering Michael Carter-Williams in exchange for Rubio, a swap that Minnesota quickly shot down, Lowe adds.

Here’s more from the Central Division:

The Cavaliers have gone 12-6 thus far under Tyronn Lue and despite a few bumps along the way, LeBron James is pleased with the job the new coach has done since replacing the fired David Blatt, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes. “I think he’s done a great job,” James said of Lue. “He’s even-keel as well. He just wants us to get better every single day and not waste an opportunity. Continue to focus on what needs to be done, the job at hand, and if we do that we’re going to give ourselves a great chance to win. He gets on us when we’re not doing our job and when we’re not doing it to the capabilities that we’re capable of doing it at, so that’s when he’s on us. And he stays on us.”
Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy openly expressed his appreciation of the Spurs and how that franchise is able to maintain a championship-caliber roster while not running afoul of the salary cap, David Mayo of MLive.com relays. “There’s no question when you don’t have to pay guys market value it’s pretty easy to build depth,” Van Gundy said. “The salary cap is hard on most of us trying to build depth. But with them, when they’ve got Tim Duncan playing below market value, Tony Parker playing below market value, Manu Ginobili playing below market value, David West playing below market value, when those guys all give up money, well, then it’s easy to add other people and allow you to go out and do what you need to do to build depth. They’ve done a great job of that.“

Financial Impact Of Deadline, Buyouts: Northwest

March 4th, 2016 at 2:48pm CST by Chuck Myron

The effects of the trade deadline and buyout season are still being felt around the NBA as teams negotiate with new free agents and fill open roster spots. Hoops Rumors will be taking a team-by-team look at the financial ramifications of all the movement. We began earlier with looks at the Southwest, Pacific and Central divisions, and we’ll continue with the Central Division:

Jazz

Utah’s parade of 10-day contracts appears to be over thanks to the deadline trade that filled the team’s open roster spot and netted the Jazz’s starting point guard for the past five games. The team used its cap space to add Shelvin Mack as part of a three-team swap that only cost the Jazz a second-round pick. The deal also brought the team above the $63MM salary floor, thanks to Mack’s $2,433,333 pay. The Jazz overshot the minimum team salary, adding $1,817,873 more than they had to, but the move entailed no long-term sacrifice, as Mack’s contract is non-guaranteed for next season, and it appears, given Mack’s prominent role in Utah, that the trade has been worth the extra expenditure so far.

Nuggets

Denver has been opening its checkbook in an apparent effort to address injury concerns, though the team’s trade deadline swap also reaped a pair of second-round picks. That move involved the absorption of Steve Novak‘s $3,750,001 salary and D.J. Augustin‘s $3MM pay in exchange only for the $3.135MM that Randy Foye makes. The buyout with Novak saved $396,242, and the Thunder gave the Nuggets $1.16MM in cash, according to Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports, but the trade still cost Denver $2,058,759, a relatively heavy price considering the team’s faint playoff hopes. Augustin went into the role of backup point guard amid concern that Jameer Nelson would miss the rest of the season, and Nelson still hasn’t played, so the deal has come in handy in that regard.

The Nuggets used their disabled player exception for Wilson Chandler‘s season-ending injury to accommodate the uneven exchange of salaries, applying it to Novak and his larger salary so that they could create a $135K trade exception for the difference between the salaries for Foye and Augustin, though the trade exception is so tiny that it’s virtually useless. Similarly, Axel Toupane‘s $30,888 10-day contract is but a pin prick of an expenditure in the wake of another injury, one that threatens to end the season for Danilo Gallinari. The Nuggets spent more when they gave JaKarr Sampson a prorated minimum-salary contract worth $258,489 for the rest of the season. That deal also includes a non-guaranteed minimum salary for next season. Denver neither gave up nor acquired any salary that’s guaranteed beyond the end of this season, so none of Denver’s deadline or buyout season moves necessarily have bearing on the team’s ledger for next year.

Thunder

Oklahoma City took advantage of a rare opportunity to save money and exchange two players who were out of the rotation for one who’s in it. The same $3,218,759 that represents Denver’s cost of its trade with the Thunder is the amount of Oklahoma City’s savings in raw salary, though it’s actually a windfall of significantly more for taxpaying OKC. The Thunder’s tax bill dropped a projected $7,148,705 because of the trade, and they also scored a trade exception for Novak’s $3,750,001 salary. The swap also created an open roster spot, and GM Sam Presti hinted at a willingness to use it on a signing, but so far, that hasn’t happened.

Timberwolves

It seemed for months as though the Wolves and Kevin Martin were headed for a parting of ways, though they stuck together just about as long as they possibly could. Minnesota didn’t trade Martin at last month’s deadline and the sides didn’t reach a buyout deal until the night of March 1st, the final hours before the point at which Martin would lose eligibility to appear in the postseason with another team. The financial sacrifice involved for Martin explains why. He resisted making any promise to turn down his $7,377,500 player option for next season before the deadline, reportedly dissuading would-be trade partners, but he agreed to sacrifice exactly half of the option and $352,750 of this season’s salary as part of his buyout, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. Thus, Martin gave up a total of $4,041,500, more than anyone else in the period since the trade deadline. The Wolves are left with $3,688,750 for Martin next season, and they have a few days’ grace to decide whether to use the stretch provision to spread that evenly over the next three years or pay it all at once in 2016/17. Early indications are that Minnesota won’t stretch the salary, tweets Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press. The Wolves also took $256,333 off their obligation to Andre Miller in his buyout, dropping their payroll to less than $1MM over the salary cap. They rolled some of that savings into a 10-day contract for Greg Smith that costs $55,722.

Trail Blazers

The Blazers predictably used their ample cap space as a depository for salary that other teams wanted to move off, taking on Anderson Varejao and Brian Roberts in a pair of trades. Look for the moves to continue, since the team is still $513,142 shy of the salary floor. The addition of Varejao in a deal that otherwise involved only draft picks added $10,256,800 to this season’s ledger, though the Cavs will pay a majority of that, including the exercised trade kicker included in that figure. Portland made use of the stretch provision to spread his salary for next season, which was almost entirely guaranteed, over the next five years at equal payments of $1,984,005, though the Cavs paid a portion of those amounts, too, because of the trade kicker. The acquisition of Roberts is much simpler since he’s on an expiring contract, but again, the Blazers don’t have to shell out for the majority of his $2,854,940 salary because he already received most of his paychecks from the Heat. Portland gave up $75K in cash to Miami as part of the Roberts deal, but the team would have had to pay that money anyway to reach the salary floor.

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

And-Ones: Timberwolves, Gasol, Kings

March 4th, 2016 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Talks between Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor and Grizzlies part-owner Steve Kaplan about a would-be deal for 30% of the Minnesota franchise have “hit a wall,” sources told Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press. The proposed arrangement, which would reportedly involve Taylor eventually ceding control of the Wolves to Kaplan, isn’t dead, Krawczynski hears, but a source who spoke with Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune suggested no deal may ever come to pass. Kaplan has encountered trouble in his effort to sell his Grizzlies stake, a requirement before he buys into the Wolves, Krawczynski’s sources say. Regardless of what happens on that front, Taylor and Kaplan still must sort through issues about how much say Kaplan would have in hiring for the team’s GM and coaching positions and whether Taylor would indeed eventually give up control, Zgoda writes. For now, Taylor is preparing to make decisions about interim GM Milt Newton and interim coach Sam Mitchell on his own and is actively investigating his options, according to Zgoda. See more on the Wolves amid a look around the NBA:

The Timberwolves are seeking an athletic wing player for their open roster spot, with Mitchell saying he wants someone with NBA experience who’d have a legitimate chance of making the opening night roster next season, Zgoda reports in the same piece. “We have to improve our athleticism,” Mitchell said. “I don’t think we’re a bad athletic team, but we’re not as athletic as we need to be. We need to look at guys who can defend, a guy who can shoot, and see how this team can look if we can spread the floor a little bit more.”
The Bulls will have to continue to try to build a contender if they want to re-sign Pau Gasol, as he indicated to Marca.com (translation via HoopsHype), reiterating that he’ll opt out and that, all things being equal, he’d prefer to stay with Chicago. Money won’t be his first priority, Gasol also said, adding that the offer from the Bulls should nonetheless reflect that they value his performance.
The Kings interviewed former Nets assistant GM Bobby Marks on Thursday for a job within their front office, as USA Today’s Sam Amick hears (Twitter link). Marks currently works as a writer for The Vertical on Yahoo Sports.

And-Ones: Marks, Thibodeau, D-League

March 2nd, 2016 at 10:20pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Nets received a glowing endorsement regarding new GM Sean Marks from New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman, Brian Lewis of The New York Post writes. “It’s an easy call to make when it’s about Sean Marks,’’ Cashman told Lewis. “We developed a good relationship. … Sean Marks was clearly a graduate of Pop [Spurs coach Gregg Popovich] University, a disciple. What an asset, an asset the Nets were smart enough to acquire.’’

“I recently spent two days in San Antonio, me and our mental coach Chad Bohling,” Cashman continued. “We were with Pop, [GM] R.C. Buford, Sean Marks, their performance-science analytics team. We had a chance to watch shootaround, watch the game, and Sean was someone I spent a lot of time with, developed a relationship. He’s an extremely impressive individual. I walked out of there thinking this individual will be a success. I’d want him on my team. He’s an extremely intelligent, compassionate leader. You could tell there was something special there, and shortly thereafter there were the Nets knocking on his door. There were probably going to be more knocks.”

Here’s more from around the league:

The Timberwolves still have one open roster spot after inking Greg Smith to a 10-day pact earlier today and interim coach Sam Mitchell said the team will look to bring in a player with NBA experience who would attend training camp this fall, Andy Greder of The Pioneer Press tweets.
At the request of coach George Karl, the Kings have brought in former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau as a defensive consultant, James Ham of CSNBayArea.com relays (via Twitter). Thibodeau is expected to work with the players over the next few days, Ham adds. Sacramento is ranked dead last in points allowed, surrendering an average of 109.6 per contest.
The Raptors have recalled Bruno Caboclo and Norman Powell from their D-League affiliate, the team announced.
The Hawks have assigned center Edy Tavares to the D-League, the team announced via press release. Tavares will report to the Bakersfield Jam, the Suns’ affiliate, pursuant to the NBA’s flexible assignment rule, since Atlanta does not have its own D-League affiliate.

Timberwolves Sign Greg Smith To 10-Day Deal

March 2nd, 2016 at 3:46pm CST by Chuck Myron

WEDNESDAY, 3:46pm: The signing is official, the team announced.

TUESDAY, 2:06pm: The Timberwolves plan to sign big man Greg Smith to a 10-day contract, a league source tells Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor (Twitter link). The four-year veteran has been with the D-League affiliate of the Raptors since January, a couple of months after failing a physical that nixed his preseason contract with the Pelicans. Minnesota has an open roster spot in the wake of its buyout with Andre Miller, while talks have reportedly taken place about a buyout for Kevin Martin that would create a second roster vacancy.

It’s no surprise to see Minnesota strike a deal after interim coach Sam Mitchell complained the team was “awfully thin” up front, and while Mitchell also indicated a signing wouldn’t take place until well after today, adding a 10-day contract allows the team to preserve flexibility to sign others who might enter the market. The team also reportedly had internal discussion about signing Chris Copeland, another frontcourt player.

Smith, 25, has averaged 12.6 points and 8.0 rebounds in 28.1 minutes per game with Toronto’s D-League team, proving his health in the wake of the torpedoed deal with New Orleans. He’s shown efficiency on the boards in 131 NBA games with the Rockets and Mavs, averaging 3.4 in 12.5 minutes per game for his NBA career. The 10-day contract will pay him $59,731 and cost the Wolves $55,722. The league foots the bill for the difference.

Texas Notes: Miller, Ginobili, Parsons, Lawson

March 2nd, 2016 at 12:39pm CST by Chuck Myron

Spurs coach/president Gregg Popovich had no shortage of praise for new addition Andre Miller, who signed Monday with San Antonio following his buyout from the Timberwolves, as Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News relays. Miller is just as glad to be with the Spurs as Popovich is to have him, McDonald notes.

“He’s one of those players you look at and say, ‘Boy, I could figure out how to fit him in,’” Popovich said. “He has been such a great player for several teams, and he does the same thing (everywhere). He’s just a pro, the consummate pro.”

See more on the Spurs amid news from the Texas triangle:

Manu Ginobili is progressing much more quickly in his recovery from a testicular injury than the Spurs thought he would, Popovich said Tuesday, as Express-News scribe Melissa Rohlin chronicles. The Spurs expected Ginobili would miss at least a month when they announced that he underwent surgery February 4th, but Tony Parker hinted Tuesday that Ginobili could return next week. It’s unclear what that means for the team’s reported pursuit of fellow wing player Kevin Martin.
Chandler Parsons thinks he’s playing the best basketball of his career, and it’s clear that he’s moved past the early-season struggles he went through as he recovered from a knee injury that prematurely ended his playoff run last spring, as Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News examines. Parsons is set to turn down his player option this summer and entertain an aggressive pitch from the Magic, as well as interest from the Rockets, Heat, Lakers, Nets, Knicks, Trail Blazers, Nuggets and possibly Thunder, but the Mavs remain the favorites for him, as Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com reported Tuesday.
Ty Lawson‘s failure to produce for the Rockets was a product of lost confidence, people around the team told Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Houston waived Lawson in a buyout deal Tuesday.

Western Notes: Garnett, Monroe, Clippers, Kings

March 2nd, 2016 at 9:17am CST by Chuck Myron

Timberwolves interim coach Sam Mitchell won’t rule out the possibility that Kevin Garnett will miss the rest of the season with continued soreness in his right knee, as Mitchell detailed on the “NBA Today” show on SiriusXM NBA Radio (audio link). “It’s kind of a day-to-day, week-to-week thing,” Mitchell said. It’ll be Garnett’s call about whether to return to action this season, notes Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). Garnett is under contract at $8MM next season, but it’s not set in stone that he’ll continue to play, so it’s conceivable that the 21st-year veteran has made his last NBA appearance. See more from the Western Conference:

The Trail Blazers made preliminary inquiries about trading for Greg Monroe before last month’s deadline, but such talks didn’t go anywhere, league sources told Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. The Blazers were one of four finalists who made maximum-salary offers to Monroe when he was a free agent this past summer.
Jeff Green sees an extra $250K if his team wins at least 54 games this season, a possibility that appeared remote when he was with the Grizzlies but is solidly in play following his trade to the Clippers, Lowe notes in the same piece. That bonus increases to $450K if the Clips hit 56 wins and $700K if they make 58, according to Lowe. L.A. is projected to pay an additional $2.50 in taxes for every extra dollar Green receives.
The lack of a ready-built arena hampered Virginia Beach’s pursuit of the Kings in 2013, as did a fragmented television market, as attorney Tom Frantz, who’s part of a push to consolidate marketing efforts among municipalties in eastern Virginia, explained to Paula C. Squires of VirginiaBusiness.com. “The [Kings] looked at Richmond to the oceanfront as one market. … They said it would have been critically important for them to come here to have one sports station covering the Richmond and Hampton Roads [Metropolitan Statistical Areas] to help promote the team,” Frantz said. Plans for a privately owned arena in the area have been approved, Squires notes.