Minnesota Timberwolves Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Flip Saunders Dies At Age 60

October 25th, 2015 at 1:06pm CST by Will Joseph

Wolves coach/executive Flip Saunders has died, the team announced via Twitter. Saunders was 60.

Saunders has been battling the effects of cancer treatment and his health situation became dire earlier this month. Changes to way that Saunders‘ body had responded to chemotherapy for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma placed him in a life-threatening situation.

The team called the ailment a “very treatable and curable form of cancer” in August, when it announced his diagnosis along with the news that Saunders would continue his duties as head coach and president of basketball operations. A shift occurred last month, when Saunders took a leave of absence. Sam Mitchell has been coaching the team and GM Milt Newton running the team’s basketball operations since Saunders went on leave. The team said at that point that he’d experienced complications related to the treatments he was receiving and that he was undergoing tests and further treatment at a hospital.

As Saunders’ condition worsened recently, owner Glen Taylor said that Saunders would not return to the team this season because of the complications.

Saunders coached the Wizards, Pistons and Wolves in a career that spanned 17 seasons and included 654 victories. Saunders’ death was shocking and saddening to many around the league. Saunders was both well-liked and well-respected for a variety of reasons.

Wolves Waive Three Players

October 24th, 2015 at 11:33am CST by Eddie Scarito

The Timberwolves have waived shooting guard Lorenzo Brown, center Kleon Penn, and swingman Nick Wiggins, the team announced via a press release. Both Penn and Wiggins were signed to non-guaranteed deals, so Minnesota won’t be responsible for any salary as a result of those moves, but Brown’s deal includes a $75K partial guarantee, which the team would be responsible for unless he is claimed off waivers. The Wolves’ roster count is now at the regular season maximum of 15 players.

Penn, 29, went undrafted out of McNeese State back in 2009, and he has played outside the U.S. ever since. He spent the 2014/15 season playing for the Puerto Rican team Vaqueros de Bayamon. In 44 contests last season, Penn averaged 4.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks in 19.3 minutes of action per night. His career NCAA numbers were 5.5 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 2.9 BPG to go along with a shooting line of .601/.000/.565.

Wiggins, 24, is the older brother of Andrew Wiggins. The elder Wiggins went undrafted in 2014 out of Wichita State after averaging 5.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 0.6 assists as a Senior. He spent the 2014 summer league playing for the Kings’ squad before signing a deal to play with Tigers Tübingen of the Basketball Bundesliga, though his tenure with the team ended after just 11 contests. Wiggins played for both the Jazz and Wolves in the summer league this offseason.

Brown, 25, has made a total of 55 appearances in two NBA seasons, averaging 3.4 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 2.4 assists to go along with a slash line of .375/.155/.656.

Northwest Notes: Chandler, Jazz, Saunders

October 24th, 2015 at 10:00am CST by Eddie Scarito

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said that coach/executive Flip Saunders would not return to the team this season because of complications resulting from his treatment for cancer, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune relays. When asked if he expected Saunders to return this season, Taylor said, “Not this year. I just think his illness, I mean, it’s serious. At this point, if he came back I still think he’d have a hard time to recover all his energy and all that because he has been in the hospital for a long time.”

Taylor also noted that GM Milt Newton and interim coach Sam Mitchell have the authority going forward to make trades and player personnel decisions in Saunders’ absence, Zgoda adds. “We haven’t put anything on hold,” Taylor said. “Milt’s handling it just the way I’d expect him to. He tells me what he thinks, and we talk about things, just the same as I did with Flip. Milt’s just stepped in. Sam has to be his own coach. He won’t do things exactly as Flip does, and I wouldn’t expect him to.”

Here’s more from the Northwest Division:

Taylor was re-elected as the chairman of the NBA Board of Governors, commissioner Adam Silver announced at a press conference on Friday (h/t Tim Bontemps of The New York Post via Twitter).
The Nuggets have in the past asked for either two first-round picks or a first-rounder and a young player in exchange for Wilson Chandler, league sources told Grantland’s Zach Lowe, and while Lowe thinks it’s conceivable that price comes down, he still doesn’t believe a Chandler trade is likely. Meanwhile, the chatter surrounding the idea of a Kenneth Faried trade that’s been going on for the past two years hasn’t stopped, Lowe adds.
The Jazz intend to utilize their wing players as playmakers this season, which will influence a number of the team’s roster decisions, Aaron Falk of The salt Lake Tribune writes. “I think we’ve got good ball handlers on the wings, and you get to a point where you have to make tough decisions,” coach Quin Snyder said. “… We have Joe Ingles. We have Alec Burks. We have Rodney Hood and Gordon Hayward. Those guys can all handle the ball and make plays.”
Mitchell and Newton indicated that the Wolves still intend to continue with the youth movement put in place by Saunders, who is on a leave of absence while he battles Hodgkins’ Lymphoma, writes Michael Rand of The Star Tribune. “Most definitely the vision is still to develop our young players. We’d love to make the playoffs, but we’re not going to circumvent the process that it’s going to take to be a perennial playoff team,” Newton said. “You have to win to learn how to win, but overall the vision is to develop that young core we have to become that perennial playoff team.”

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Wolves Exercise Options On Five Players

October 21st, 2015 at 4:00pm CST by Will Joseph

4:00pm: The Wolves have officially announced that they have picked up the options on the five players (Twitter link).

WEDNESDAY, 3:20pm: The Wolves have indeed picked up the options, as Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports hears (Twitter link), though the team has yet to make an official announcement.

SUNDAY, 1:26pm: The Wolves plan to exercise options on Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine, Shabazz Muhammad, Gorgui Dieng and Adreian Payne early this week, Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press reports (on Twitter).

The moves are largely expected and do not come as a surprise, as Krawczynski tweets. All the options are for the 2016/17 season and the deadline is November 2nd.

All five players are young and each have high ceilings. They each are also affordable. Wiggins’ option is for $6,006,600, LaVine’s is $$2,240,880, Muhammad’s is $3,046,299, Dieng’s is $2,348,783 and Payne’s is $2,022,240.

The options for Wiggins, LaVine and Payne are for the third years of their respective rookie scale contracts and the options for Muhammad and Dieng are for the fourth. We regarded Wiggins’ option as a slam dunk, Dieng’s option as highly likely and the other three as generally expected.

Northwest Notes: Stotts, Monroe, Waiters, Mitchell

October 16th, 2015 at 1:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

The future of Terry Stotts is unresolved beyond this season, as the Trail Blazers have yet to pick up the team option on his deal for 2016/17, but Blazers players, including Damian Lillard, are fully supportive of the coach, as The Oregonian’s Jason Quick details.

“As long as I am here,” Lillard said, “I would like him to be here.”

Lillard signed a five-year extension this summer that will run through 2020/21, and the Blazers are making him the centerpiece of their retool, but time will tell if Portland retains Stotts as one of its building blocks. See more on the Blazers amid the latest from around the Northwest Division:

Greg Monroe narrowed his choices to the Bucks and Trail Blazers before selecting Milwaukee in free agency this summer, according to Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports, who recounts Monroe’s decision making that led up to his three-year max deal with the Bucks. That means he first eliminated the Knicks and Lakers, who, as Lee notes, also met with him.
The Thunder aren’t worried about making too many commitments to middling talents that would be tough to build around if Kevin Durant bolts next summer, and instead they’re focused on building a stable supporting cast around Durant for the long term, writes Royce Young of ESPN.com. That, plus Oklahoma City’s penchant for rewarding players who want to stick around, helps explain the team’s reported willingness to explore an extension for Dion Waiters, as Young examines.
Sam Mitchell didn’t feel a burning desire to coach again when Flip Saunders called to offer him a job with the Timberwolves last year, Mitchell tells Sportsnet’s Michael Grange. Saunders nonetheless made a convincing case, and Mitchell joined as an assistant, which led to his promotion to interim head coach when cancer treatment forced Saunders to take a leave of absence. “He thought I did a good job in the media — I thought I did an excellent job — but he said to me ‘you’re always going to be a basketball coach,’” Mitchell said of his conversation with Saunders.

Northwest Notes: Mitchell, Mensah-Bonsu, Neto

October 14th, 2015 at 8:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Raptors coach Dwane Casey believes that Timberwolves interim head man Sam Mitchell will be an improved leader now that he is getting another head coaching opportunity, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune writes. “Huge,” Casey said of the difference between the first and second times around as a coach. “You learn so much from your mistakes, more from your mistakes than the success you have. So I’m sure Sam has learned. I don’t know a coach who has been fired who felt like he should have been fired. I didn’t feel like I should have been fired in Minnesota. We were in the playoff hunt. You never feel that way. I made mistakes in Minnesota. Everybody does. But you learn from them, you grow from them. I’m sure Sam has. He’ll tell you that.”

Mitchell agrees with Casey’s assessment, and said that he is a better coach now because of his past failures, Zgoda notes. “You just try to get better,” Mitchell said. “You try to have more patience. You understand Rome wasn’t built in a day and you’re not going to win a championship in a day. You understand the process, the ups and downs a little bit better. You understand how difficult the league is. Everybody wants to win right now, but it just doesn’t work. You put in your time and you keep your players focused, understanding it’s a process.”

Here’s the latest from the Northwest Division:

Former NBA player Pops Mensah-Bonsu has officially retired from the game, Mark Woods of MVP247.com relays. The 32-year-old was in training camp with the Nuggets last year, but left the team due to personal reasons. Mensah-Bonsu appeared in 61 combined games over the course of his career and owns averages of 3.0 points and 3.0 rebounds to accompany a shooting line of .410/.000/.589.
Rookie Jazz point guard Raul Neto, who will be counted on in Utah’s rotation with Dante Exum expected to miss the season, is becoming more comfortable with the team’s system as well as life in the U.S., Mike Sorensen of The Deseret News writes. “Each game I’m getting more comfortable with the team and with the plays, with everything, so I’m feeling great,’’ Neto told Sorensen. “You always have somebody close to you, helping you. I really like it here.’’
With the departure of LaMarcus Aldridge via free agency this summer, Damian Lillard is poised to have big season, according to teammate C.J. McCollum, Jesse Blancarte of Basketball Insiders relays. “I just expect him to continue to do a lot of the things he has done in the past: being a good leader, orchestrating the offense, being aggressive like he has been and just being a killer,” McCollum said of Lillard. “I always joke with him and tell him this is just like when he was at Weber State only he’s got more help. He’s going to take on the bulk load of attention from an in-game standpoint and a media standpoint so a lot of pressure is going to be on him, but I think he’s ready for it. Offensively, he has all the tools to be an All-Star again….”

And-Ones: Malone, Draft, D-League, Amerileague

October 13th, 2015 at 3:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

Michael Malone was an assistant coach on teams that featured LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Chris Paul, so he’s using that experience to draw the attention of rookie Emmanuel Mudiay, as Malone explains to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle. The new Nuggets head coach is getting a second chance to lead a team after the Kings fired him this past December, and Malone reiterated his feeling that the turmoil Sacramento endured after his dismissal served to validate the work that he and his staff had done.

“By the end of it, I looked like John Wooden,” Malone said to Simmons.

Malone will seek to right a franchise that had its share of upheaval last season. See more from around NBA circles:

UNLV is the latest school to organize a preseason showcase for NBA scouts, joining Kentucky and LSU, reports Jeff Borzello of ESPN.com (ESPN Now link). A handful of UNLV players are drawing looks from NBA personnel, Borzello says, but only Stephen Zimmerman, a 7’0″ freshman center, appears in the top 100 prospects for 2016 that Jonathan Givony compiles for DraftExpress or on Chad Ford’s ESPN.com Big Board.
The Timberwolves will speak with organizers in Omaha who say they’ve secured a commitment for a D-League franchise there at some point, but the Wolves would prefer their eventual one-to-one D-League affiliate be closer to Minneapolis, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. The Wolves are less likely to end up with a D-League affiliate in the near future than any team except the Bulls, opines Adam Johnson of D-League Digest. Johnson identifies the Hornets as the team most likely to have its own D-League team soon, probably by the 2016/17 season.
The Amerileague, a startup domestic minor league with six teams, is handing out contracts worth as much as $50K per month, notes international journalist David Pick (Twitter link). That’s about twice as much as D-Leaguers in the top salary tier make for an entire season.

Northwest Notes: Gallinari, Kaman, Timberwolves

October 12th, 2015 at 9:35pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Danilo Gallinari will often move from small forward to power forward this season to take advantage of offensive skills, Pat Graham of the Associated Press reports. Gallinari played a lot of power forward for Italy at the EuroBasket tournament, where he averaged nearly 18 points a game, and new Nuggets coach Michael Malone plans to use the same tactic, Graham continues. “He’s 6’10”. He can handle the ball. He can play pick-and-roll. He can stretch the floor and shoot the 3,” Malone said in the story. “There’s not a lot he can’t do offensively.” Gallinari is eager to step into the role as a go-to guy, Graham adds. “I’ve always been trying to do that, since I came to Denver,” Gallinari told Graham. “That’s what I like to do. I feel good filling those shoes.”

In other news around the Northwest Division:

Veteran center Chris Kaman is unlikely to get much playing time this season, but he still believes he can serve a valuable role with the Trail Blazers, according to Mike Richman of The Oregonian. Kaman is behind Meyers Leonard, Mason Plumlee, Ed Davis and Noah Vonleh at the power forward and center spots, and Al-Farouq Aminu is also likely to get minutes at power forward, Richman continues. But Kaman feels like he can contribute in other ways, as he told Richman. “I still feel like I can provide a lot on or off the court for this team,” he said. “If my role is to be the guy that’s helping guys off the bench and I get a little bit of minutes here and there, I’m going to play as hard as I can.”
Nuggets point guard Jameer Nelson wants to go into coaching but he has no plans to retire at the moment, Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post reports. He has already made an immediate impression on Malone with his mentoring skills. “I have the utmost confidence in Jameer Nelson as a leader,” Malone said to Dempsey. Nelson held a summertime team bonding session at his Philadelphia-area home and has been instructing rookie point guard Emmanuel Mudiay in camp, Dempsey adds.
Anthony Bennett decided to explore a buyout with the Timberwolves after he met with his agent, Jeff Schwartz, following his stint with Team Canada this summer, according to Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Schwartz recommended the change of scenery since the Timberwolves had a logjam at power forward, the story continues. Bennett had other options, including the Trail Blazers, after he cleared waivers before signing with the Raptors.

Cavs Lead With 16 Free Agent Signings

October 12th, 2015 at 5:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavaliers have drawn plenty of attention the past few months for a free agent they haven’t signed, but even though Tristan Thompson lingers in free agency, Cleveland has taken care of more free agent business than any other team in the league during the 2015 offseason. They signed 16 free agents, three more than the Spurs, the team that recorded the next most free agent signings. The Cavs just made their latest signing this weekend, replacing Michael Dunigan with Dionte Christmas on the camp roster.

It might be easy to presume a direct correlation between free agent activity and success, given the teams at the very top and bottom of the list below. The Cavs and Spurs are strong bets to win their respective conferences this season, while the Jazz, Timberwolves and Sixers are nowhere near the title picture. The presence of the Warriors and Thunder on the bottom half of the list and the Kings and Nets close to the top debunk that theory, however. It has more to do with the fact that the Cavs had only four players signed for 2015/16 when they ended last season, while the Jazz had 13. Cleveland simply had more jobs to hand out.

Still, other factors are at play, since free agent signings don’t encompass draft picks, draft-and-stash signings, trades or waiver claims. The Trail Blazers made significant changes to their roster, but they did much of their work via trade instead of free agency. The Rockets had 10 players under contract on July 1st, but they still wound up making 11 free agent signings.

Here’s a look at the number of free agent signings for each team. Click the team’s name to see the names of each of their signees via our 2015 Free Agent Tracker.

Western Notes: Kerr, Spurs, Lakers

October 11th, 2015 at 5:30pm CST by Will Joseph

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told reporters, including Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle, that he suffered a spinal fluid leak during his July 28th back surgery on a ruptured disk, which has led to his absence from the team during the preseason. There is no timetable for his return. Luke Walton, the team’s lead assistant, is serving as the interim head coach.

“The leak is fixed, but I’m still getting some symptoms. That’s why I’m out,” Kerr said. “I wanted to be clear to you guys and the fans. I want to be upfront about what’s happened. Because I’m still having symptoms, it makes it difficult for me to be on the floor. The prospects are good. I’m going to heal.”

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

LaMarcus Aldridge called his preseason debut with the Spurs “a little overwhelming,” Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio-Express News relays. “It doesn’t really hit you until you put on a jersey and go play,” Aldridge said. Aldridge is working on learning where to find his new teammates when he gets doubled, McDonald adds.
The Lakers have six players — Ryan Kelly, Metta World Peace, Jabari Brown, Robert Sacre, Tarik Black and Robert Upshaw — competing for the final four roster spots and Upshaw is the “wild card” because of his talent and checkered past, Bill Oram of The Orange County Register writes. Upshaw is a talented shot blocker, but he was also kicked off teams at Fresno State and the University of Washington, as Oram points out. Lakers head coach Byron Scott said it is conceivable that the team will keep four centers, including starter Roy Hibbert, but indicated that would only be in an extreme circumstance, Oram adds.
Wolves coach Sam Mitchell believes Zach LaVine‘s shooting woes are a product of LaVine thinking too much, Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune tweets.