Minnesota Timberwolves Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Flip Saunders To Stay In Wolves Job Despite Cancer

August 11th, 2015 at 12:08pm CST by Chuck Myron

Doctors have diagnosed Flip Saunders with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, but he will continue with his duties as Timberwolves president of basketball operations and coach, the team announced. It’s a “very treatable and curable form of cancer,” the team said, and he’s currently undergoing chemotherapy. Still, he’s continued to work since the diagnosis took place eight weeks ago, according to the team.

“I am taking it step by step and day by day to understand how to best manage this process,” Saunders said. “I want to thank Dr. [Sheldon] Burns as well as my medical team at Mayo Clinic for their hard work in diagnosing my situation and creating a plan to help me achieve a cancer-free outcome. I am attacking this with the same passion I do everything in my life, knowing this is a serious issue. I also know that God has prepared me to fight this battle.”

Rumors about whether Saunders would hire someone else to coach and simply concentrate on the front office persisted until mid-June, when owner Glen Taylor declared that Saunders would remain coach. That statement would have come at about the same time as Saunders’ diagnosis. The Nuggets hired Michael Malone, who’d spent time with the Timberwolves last season in an informal role, two days prior to Taylor’s remark.

Saunders, 60, is poised to enter his 18th season as an NBA head coach. Sam Mitchell, who won Coach of the Year honors in 2007, is an assistant and an apparent favorite of Taylor’s who interviewed for the head coaching job last year before Saunders filled it with himself. GM Milt Newton is Saunders’ chief deputy in the front office.

Northwest Notes: Brooks, Jones, Burke, Exum

August 9th, 2015 at 3:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

Billy Donovan was a smart coaching hire for the Thunder, but Scott Brooks never should have been let go, former NBA coach Jeff Van Gundy tells Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. Van Gundy, who served as a graduate assistant at Providence during Donovan’s senior season, said Brooks did an “awesome” job, taking Oklahoma City to three Western Conference Finals appearances and one trip to the NBA Finals during his eight seasons. He was fired after OKC missed the playoffs last year in a season marked by injuries to Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka. “I just can’t say enough great things about Scott,” Van Gundy said. “I thought with his body of work, I was shocked that he wasn’t given a contract extension.”

There’s more news out of the Northwest Division:

The Wolves seem to be growing impatient with Ricky Rubio as their point guard and may be grooming rookie Tyus Jones to take his place, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Jones, who was acquired in a draft-night trade with the Cavaliers, would fit into Minnesota’s young core that includes Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns, Zach LaVine, Gorgui Dieng, and Shabazz Muhammad. “We’ve got a lot of young guys who are talented,” Jones said. “We’ve got a good group of veterans who are going to help us learn. The good thing about us is the young guys are willing to learn and ready to learn and don’t think they know it all, so it’s a good mixture.”
The Jazz are reluctant to give their starting point guard job to Trey Burke after the ACL injury suffered by Dante Exum, Washburn relates in the same story. The belief in Utah is that Burke shoots too much and often doesn’t run coach Quin Snyder’s offense, according to Washburn, but the team may have no choice but to turn to Burke if it can’t trade for a replacement. The Jazz acquired Burke in a 2013 draft-day trade with the Blazers.
Exum is still getting other opinions on his torn ACL before scheduling surgery, tweets Jody Genessy of The Deseret News. The Jazz aren’t expected to release any sort of timeline on his return until after the surgery takes place.

Northwest Notes: Christon, Brown, Wolves

August 3rd, 2015 at 9:22pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Semaj Christon, the 55th pick in the 2014 draft, has signed with Italy’s Vuelle Pesaro, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Christon leaves the Thunder’s system after having spent this past season playing for Oklahoma City’s D-League team, but the Thunder retain his NBA rights as a draft-and-stash prospect. Check out our freshly updated list of draft rights held players here, compiled by Mark Porcaro.

In other news around the Northwest Division:

Lorenzo Brown‘s minimum salary is partially guaranteed for $75K, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Brown was in line to receive $200K if he had remained on the Timberwolves roster through Saturday, as Hoops Rumors reported, before he and the Wolves changed the guarantee structure as part of a deal that would keep him on the roster for training camp, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities heard.
The Timberwolves will keep shooting coach Mike Penberthy around, president of basketball operations Flip Saunders told of Dan Barreiro KFAN Radio (hat tip to Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press and Andrew Renschen), a move that will likely please Ricky Rubio, Krawczynski observes (Twitter links). Rubio, the team’s most highly paid player, had developed a bond with Penberthy, who hadn’t been certain to return, the AP scribe notes.
The first two years of Tibor Pleiss‘ contract with the Jazz are fully guaranteed, with a $500,000 guarantee for the third season, Pincus reports in a separate tweet. Pleiss signed a three-year, $9MM contract on July 14th.

Wolves Sign Andre Miller

August 3rd, 2015 at 1:50pm CST by Zachary Links

AUGUST 3RD, 1:50pm: The deal is official, the team announced (Twitter link).

6:09pm: Miller will receive a one-year deal for the veteran’s minimum, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). He adds that Miller goes back with T’Wolves assistant Ryan Saunders from their time together with the Wizards.

JULY 29TH, 5:55pm: The Wolves have signed guard Andre Miller, according to Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter). The terms of the deal have yet to be reported.

Miller, 39, began the season with the Wizards as a backup for John Wall but a February trade sent him out west to the Kings. Coach George Karl was known to be fond of Miller and pushed the front office to make the deal. Shortly after going from the nation’s capital to California’s capital, Miller indicated that he would be interested in re-signing. Team exec Vlade Divac said recently that the Kings were in touch with Miller, but for one reason or another, that reunion did not take place.

In 81 games last season, Miller averaged 4.4 PPG and 3.5 APG in 15.5 minutes per contest. The well-traveled Miller is now set to join his eighth team as he enters his 17th season in the league.

And-Ones: D-League, Kaminsky, Towns

August 2nd, 2015 at 5:01pm CST by Zachary Links

Here’s a look around the Association..

Adam Johnson of D-League Digest looked at the D-League’s salary structure. As Johnson learned from multiple league sources and agents, the league has a three-tiered salary system for the simplicity of making deals with players. The “A” salary is $25K, “B” salaries are $19K, and “C” salaries are $13K. Interestingly enough, players are sometimes asked to downgrade to accommodate a signing. “If a player is designated an “A” contract but the team wants to bring on an additional “B” player, they might ask the “A” player to reduce their salary to a “B” level to compensate for the difference,” according to a league source. “It’s a balancing act. You can have four “A” contracts at one point in the season, but that team will need to correct that amount of salary at some point with more “C” contracts so they don’t go over the salary cap.”
The numbers say that rookies Frank Kaminsky and Delon Wright are poised to make a noticeable impact in 2015/16, Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com (Insider sub. req’d) writes. Unsurprisingly, it’s Wolves rookie Karl-Anthony Towns who is projected to have the best year of any first-year player. Lakers rookie D’Angelo Russell and Knicks rook Kristaps Porzingis round out the top five.
Steve Ilardi and Jeremias Engelmann of ESPN.com ran down the winners and losers in free agency this summer. Of course, the Spurs are among the offseason’s biggest winners after landing ex-Blazers star LaMarcus Aldridge and former Pacers forward David West. The ESPN duo also gave a tip of the cap to the Celtics for their savvy under-the-radar moves.

Cavaliers Rumors: Varejao, Dellavedova, Jones

August 2nd, 2015 at 12:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

In two years, the Cavaliers’ Anderson Varejao could be a trading chip similar to Brendan Haywood, according to Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer. The frequently injured Varejao received a contract extension last summer partially for that purpose, Pluto reports. His salaries of $9.6MM for next season and $9.3MM for 2016/17 are fully guaranteed, but the $10MM he is scheduled to receive in 2017/18 is not guaranteed, making him an attractive pickup for a team looking to shed salary. Haywood, who had a non-guaranteed salary of $10,522,500 next season was dealt to the Blazers along with Mike Miller for trade exceptions worth $10.5MM and $2.85MM and was subsequently waived by Portland.

There’s more news out of Cleveland:

With the trade exceptions in hand, Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report identifies five players who could be useful pickups between now and February’s trading deadline. They are the Pistons’ Danny Granger, the Nets’ newly signed Andrea Bargnani, the Wolves’ Kevin Martin, the Magic’s Channing Frye and the Lakers’ Nick Young.
The one-year deal between the Cavs and Matthew Dellavedova is equivalent in value to his qualifying offer, but it also includes a 15% trade kicker that he’d receive if he waived his de facto no-trade clause, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders shows (Twitter link).
James Jones is indeed making the minimum on his one-year deal with the Cavs, according to Pincus.

Timberwolves To Keep Lorenzo Brown For Camp

July 31st, 2015 at 12:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Timberwolves plan to keep Lorenzo Brown on the roster for training camp in the wake of an agreement to change the guarantee structure on his contract, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. Brown’s two-year veteran’s minimum salary of $947,276 had become partially guaranteed for $25K on July 1st, and the contract called for the partial guarantee to go up to $200K if he remained on the roster through Saturday, with a further rise to $375K on October 1st, a source tells Hoops Rumors. Those dates have shifted, according to Wolfson. It’s unclear exactly what the new terms look like, but it nonetheless appears as though Brown is still in Minnesota’s plans even after the team’s reported agreement to sign Andre Miller.

Brown joined the Wolves this past season on a pair of 10-day contracts that led to his existing multiseason arrangement. The point guard was a part of the rotation for rebuilding Minnesota across 29 appearances, seven of them starts. He averaged just 4.2 points in 18.9 minutes per game, but his 3.1 assists against 1.0 turnovers per contest demonstrated strong ball-distribution skills. The Timberwolves drafted him 52nd overall in 2013, but they cut him at the end of training camp, forfeiting his draft rights, and watched him play his rookie year with the Sixers and sign a camp deal with the Pistons last fall before reacquiring him.

Minnesota is carrying 14 fully guaranteed contracts, not counting Miller, so Brown will face a tough path to the opening night roster. Still, a trade could change the math, and if not, it looks like Brown will at least have the opportunity to beat out another Wolves player for a regular season spot.

Do you think Brown deserves a spot on an NBA roster? Leave a comment to tell us.

Wolves’ Flip Saunders On Love, Garnett, Bennett

July 30th, 2015 at 1:19pm CST by Zachary Links

Before the D-League, there was the Continental Basketball Association. Like the D-League, the CBA gave a platform to some of the less-heralded players out there to show their stuff and earn NBA deals. In the case of Flip Saunders, the CBA was a springboard to a successful NBA coaching career. This week, the head coach/president of basketball operations/part owner of the Timberwolves spoke with Zach Lowe of Grantland about Kevin Love, Kevin Garnett, his journey, and much more. Here’s a look at some of the highlights..

On Kevin Love:

I didn’t have a problem keeping Kevin into the final year of his deal and coaching him. Guys just don’t turn down the extra year and $30MM. Even though he maybe wanted to leave, I thought we still had an opportunity to re-sign him. When you are patient, you can say, ‘This is what we need to get something done, and if we don’t get it, we’re keeping him.’

Then things kind of fell into place, with LeBron going to Cleveland and [Andrew] Wiggins becoming available…People thought it was [bluster when I said I wanted to keep him]. Thoughts might have changed when I announced I would coach. Because what coach wouldn’t want to coach a guy who was All-NBA? Coaches want to win that night. I’m in a unique situation, because as the coach, I live in the present, but as the GM, I look into the future. I try to steer both courses. But people believed I would coach the guy.

On balancing roles and whether he watches college game film to scout draft prospects:

I do watch a lot, actually. You also have to trust people you hire. I’ve been in the league for 18 years. I have an understanding of players. I have a wide base of college coaches I talk to, so I know a lot about guys before they even come into the league. Look, there are positives and negatives to it. You need checks and balances. You can’t make snap decisions. What helps is, I came up in the CBA, where you did everything. I was president, GM, coach, everything, for seven years there. You get to understand the intermingling of the business and basketball sides, because they both have to be successful. You learn how to deal with agents. Building trust with agents is as important as anything in our league now.

On Kevin Garnett‘s role:

He’s gonna start. That’s who he is. KG is a starter. He’s the best power forward on our team, actually. No one rebounds better. He’s the best help defender. No one communicates better. He knows the offense, and he can pass it.

On whether he’ll exercise Anthony Bennett‘s fourth-year option:

We’re going to evaluate him over the summer. He played a good Pan American Games. There is no question about his talent. It’s about getting in shape. He’s in shape now. But it’s going to be competitive with all those guys, and also Nemanja Bjelica, who no one talks about.

Wolves Notes: LaVine, Miller, Garnett

July 29th, 2015 at 8:35pm CST by Zachary Links

The staff at ESPN.com ran down a number of topics for the upcoming NBA season, including a debate on who the top breakthrough player will be, and J.A. Adande chose Wolves youngster Zach LaVine. LaVine, he feels, will go from a guy known just for his dunks into someone who will be recognized as a legitimate player. The Wolves made LaVine a full-time starter for the final stretch of is rookie year and he averaged roughly 20 points, 6 assists, and 5 boards in that time. Here’s more on the Wolves..

Former Nets exec Bobby Marks (on Twitter) opined that if he were a young player, he would want to join up with the Wolves to play with Kevin Garnett and Andre Miller. The Wolves signed Miller on Wednesday, presumably in large part because of his basketball IQ and the wisdom he can impart on the team’s younger players. Before signing Miller, Marks notes (on Twitter) that the Wolves had the eighth-youngest team in the NBA at an average of about 25 years old. Nine of those Wolves players are under the age of 25.
Wolves coach/exec Flip Saunders may still add another veteran between now and the start of the season, Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press tweets.
Jerry Zgoda of the Star-Tribune (on Twitter) also believes that the Wolves could add another vet to their young roster. Another roster move involving Damjan Rudez or Anthony Bennett could make room for a free agent signing, Zgoda says.
Miller “was sold on the direction of the [Wolves] and the veteran leadership he could provide,” agent Andy Miller told Krawczynski (on Twitter).

Justin Hamilton Signs To Play In Spain

July 27th, 2015 at 9:12am CST by Chuck Myron

Two-year NBA veteran center Justin Hamilton has signed with Valencia Basket of Spain, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). The Suns were close to making Hamilton a partially guaranteed offer last week, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities heard, but by that point it seemed Valencia was already zeroing in, as Paco Garcia Caridad of the Spanish outlet Marca reported 10 days ago that the team was nearing a deal with the 25-year-old.

Hamilton ended this past season with the Timberwolves, who gave him his first opportunity for significant playing time in the NBA. He averaged 9.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 24.9 minutes per game across 17 appearances for Minnesota, nine of them starts. The Wolves had claimed him off waivers from the Pelicans, who released him a couple of weeks after acquiring him from the Heat in the three-team Goran Dragic trade.

Still, Minnesota elected not to make Hamilton, the 45th overall pick from 2012, a qualifying offer worth only slightly more than $1.147MM. He’ll head back overseas, where he spent the 2012/13 season playing for KK Cibona in Croatia and Latvia’s VEF Riga.

Will Hamilton return to the NBA at some point? Leave a comment to let us know what you think.