Wolves Won’t Trade Kevin Love Before Draft
The Timberwolves won’t trade All-Star forward Kevin Love before the draft on June 26th, owner Glen Taylor tells Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. Taylor went on to say that he hasn’t discussed trading Love recently with team president Flip Saunders and said Love has not asked for or told the team to trade him.
It was reported yesterday that Love hadn’t demanded a trade out of Minnesota but his unwillingness to sign an extension certainly makes that a possibility. While Taylor is apparently holding on to hope that he can keep Love for the long term, it’s hard to see the club not exploring trade possibilities.
Meanwhile, since dealing Love would obviously signal a rebuilding process in Minnesota, one would imagine that the T’Wolves would look for a top pick in this year’s talent rich draft in return. I would venture to say that Taylor’s statements are an attempt at a poker face in response to the rumors, but he is also probably holding out hope that he can make Love have a change of heart.
The Warriors, Lakers, Suns, Knicks, and Celtics have all been cited as possible landing spots for Love.
Wolves Notes: Love, Draft, Coach
Kevin Love has told the Timberwolves that he won’t sign an extension with them and teams are already circling the wagons. The Warriors, Lakers, and Suns are among the teams with interest and the Celtics are said to be an increasingly intriguing destination for the All-Star. Meanwhile, Knicks president Phil Jackson has been plotting to acquire Love via trade, so they can be added to the list of possibilities as well. Here’s the latest out of Minnesota..
- If the T’Wolves trade Love and rebuild, it could change their draft situation over the next couple of years, tweets Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. The Wolves owe the Suns a first-round draft pick, but it’s top 13 protected in 2014 and top 12 protected in 2015 and 2016. If that happens, the Suns wind up with the Wolves’ 2016 and 2017 second-round picks.
- The Wolves are believed to have met with a number of 2014 NBA Draft prospects at the NBA Draft Combine that are out of their range with their expected 13th pick, writes Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. This could be due diligence on the Wolves’ part, or this could be the beginning stages of accepting that it’s time to move Love while they can still return some value for him and somewhat control the process.
- There’s a right way and a wrong way to trade Love, writes Michael Rand of the Star Tribune. For starters, Minnesota shouldn’t move the forward before hiring their next coach.
Latest On Kevin Love
10:22pm: Knicks president Phil Jackson has been plotting to acquire Love via trade, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. The Knicks’ interest in Love for next summer has been known, but they could try and get him sooner if he’s made available.
4:58pm: The Celtics have emerged as an increasingly intriguing destination for Timberwolves All-Star forward Kevin Love, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. The Celtics’ draft position coming out of Tuesday night’s lottery could have a big impact on the feasibility of a deal with Minnesota.
If the C’s get their projected No. 5 slot, that could be a big asset in landing Love. If they move up and get a top three spot, that would make the decision harder for GM Danny Ainge. Love’s representatives with Excel Sports are pushing Timberwolves president Flip Saunders to find a trade acceptable to them before the beginning of summer free agency in July – preferably by the June 26 NBA draft, league sources say. As we learned earlier, Love has let the T’Wolves know that he won’t be signing an extension with them.
The Rockets are planning an aggressive pursuit for Love and the Warriors, Lakers, and Suns were mentioned as landing spots in Wojnarowski’s report from earlier. The Rockets are also in the mix since Kevin McHale has ties to Love.
Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Knicks, JVG, Love
The Nets don’t have a ton of wiggle room this offseason, so they’ll have to explore some unorthodox ideas if they want to make a major overhaul. Last week, it was reported that Brooklyn is open to the idea of moving star guard Deron Williams. Williams just finished a hugely disappointing season, his fourth with Brooklyn and the second on his five-year, $99MM contract, so they might not find the kind of return they’re hoping for. More out of the Atlantic..
- The Celtics are slated to come away with the No. 5 pick in Tuesday night’s lottery, but the ping pong balls haven’t always equaled success for them, writes Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. Seventeen years ago, Boston brass gathered in Secaucus, N.J., with the best chance of landing the consensus No. 1 overall pick, Tim Duncan. The Celtics instead finished with two of the top six picks and selected Colorado guard Chauncey Billups third and Kentucky swingman Ron Mercer sixth.
- Earlier today on ESPN Radio, Jeff Van Gundy reiterated that he would be happy to speak with Phil Jackson if he comes calling, writes Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. “If Phil Jackson ever wanted to talk basketball with me, which, listen, who knows if that’s true, but if he ever did, of course I would take the time, because I’m sure I could benefit from the conversation,” the former Knicks coach said.
- The good news for Knicks fans is that Kevin Love wants out of Minnesota. The bad news is that the Knicks are going to have a whole lot of competing suitors for him, Begley writes. On top of that, Love is sick of losing and wants to contend immediately. The Knicks, as currently constructed, wouldn’t fit the bill.
Wolves Mull Love Trade, Eye Mitchell For Coach
3:05pm: The Rockets are also planning an aggressive pursuit of Love, according to Wojnarowski (on Twitter). Kevin McHale has a strong bond with the UCLA product.
10:35am: Love has made it clear to the Wolves that he intends to become an unrestricted free agent after next season and has no interest in a contract extension this summer to stay in Minnesota, write Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com. The article also notes that Love has stated his willingness to accept a deal to the Bulls and Warriors. Sources have told ESPN.com that the Warriors have emerged as a top contender for Love should Minnesota relent and decide to trade him. Golden State doesn’t have a stash of draft picks to offer the Wolves like Phoenix or Boston could offer, but the Warriors could assemble a trade package featuring forwards Harrison Barnes and David Lee, according to the article.
8:56am: It appears that the Timberwolves will seriously consider trading Kevin Love, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. “For the first time, [Wolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders] sounds like looking at deals for [Love] is an option,” a rival executive told Wojnarowski. Love has an early termination option in his contract that he can exercise next summer. This is putting pressure on the Wolves front office to improve the team enough to convince Love to stay, or trade him for assets instead of risking losing him for nothing. This also comes on the heels of the reports that Minnesota was looking at power forwards in the upcoming draft.
The article also notes that the Celtics, Warriors, Lakers, and Suns are all strong candidates to partner with in a trade for Love if the Wolves decide to move him. Boston and Los Angeles plan to make high-lottery picks in the 2014 NBA Draft available in offers for Love, sources told Wojnarowski.
No team is likely to trade for Love without an assurance that he’ll commit to a five-year, $100 million maximum contract extension, notes Wojnarowski. Despite a belief that Love prefers Los Angeles or New York as potential destinations, he’s open to deals in other markets where he can be part of an immediate contender, the article says.
Wojnarowski is also reporting that Sam Mitchell has emerged as a serious candidate for the franchise’s head coaching job. Mitchell reportedly left a good impression with Saunders in a recent meeting. Mitchell has a strong history with Minnesota, where he had two stops as a player, and Mitchell played for Saunders during his second stint.
The Wolves have also contacted several top college coaches, including Florida’s Billy Donovan, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, and Iowa State’s Fred Hoiberg, Wojnarowski notes, but those coaches weren’t inclined to seriously consider the position. The general belief that the Wolves will have to trade Love has made coaches leery of the franchise’s future, according to the article.
Western Notes: Suns, Lawson, Jazz
Despite the presence of Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic, the Suns might consider drafting a point guard this year, writes Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. Coro cites the uncertainty regarding the team re-signing Bledsoe, as well as Dragic being able to opt out of his contract next summer as the reasons the team could consider selecting another point guard. The team is seriously looking at Dante Exum and Marcus Smart, notes Coro.
More from out west:
- In a season filled with injuries, Ty Lawson was the Nuggets best player. Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post takes a look back at Lawson’s season, as well as where the player goes from here.
- The Timberwolves coaching search won’t really begin until after Tuesday night’s NBA Draft lottery, writes Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune. Once the team knows where it is selecting, it will have a better idea of what kind of roster the team will have as well as a better idea if they intend to keep Kevin Love or if the Wolves will attempt to trade him this summer, opines Zgoda.
- Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey is open to trading the team’s first-round draft pick, reports Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link). Lindsey said, “I don’t think with where we’re at anything is sacred. You have to listen to everything.“
- Dale Kasler, Ryan Lillis, and Tony Bizjak of The Sacramento Bee examine the risks and rewards of the Kings arena deal which is set to be voted on by the city this Tuesday.
And-Ones: Coaches, Wolves, Cavs
A league executive tells Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer that Dante Exum, who considers himself a point guard, will be taken high as a potential point guard despite his uncommon size and skill set for the position. The executive believes Exum will wind up a shooting guard, but says that Michael Carter-Williams‘ standout rookie performance as a 6’6″ point guard makes Exum more enticing for teams at the top of the draft. Here’s more from around the league:
- Flip Saunders has conducted the Wolves coaching search with stealth, and Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune reveals that Saunders interviewed rumored candidate Lionel Hollins three weeks ago.
- Zgoda describes Hollins as “in the running” for the Cavs job. Hollins was named in earlier reports as a potential candidate.
- Zgoda reports that Saunders also had informal discussions with Tom Izzo, Fred Hoiberg, and Stan Van Gundy, but the talks stalled in each case.
- Izzo was first offered the five-year, $35MM offer to run the Pistons that Van Gundy eventually accepted, opting to stay in the college ranks, writes Zgoda.
- Saunders isn’t interested in George Karl, who would prefer to coach the Cavs or, if Randy Wittman were fired, the Wizards over the Wolves, according to Zgoda.
- Zgoda mentions Nate McMillan, Scott Skiles, and Sam Mitchell as intriguing possibilities for the Wolves head coaching vacancy in a separate piece. There hasn’t been any reported interest from the team toward McMillan or Skiles, and Minnesota is reportedly not interested in Mitchell.
- During the combine, the Wolves met with enough power forwards and prospects projected in the top tier of the draft to make Zgoda wonder if a Kevin Love trade is a possibility (via Twitter). The Wolves have very little chance of moving above 13th in the first round, and obviously have no pressing need at power forward so long as Love is on the team.
- LaQuinton Ross is scheduled to work out for the Cavs on Monday, reports Bob Finnan of The Morning Journal.
- Tomas Satoranksy will join the Wizards summer league team for the second consecutive year, reports J. Michael of CSNWashington.com (H/T Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). The shooting guard was selected as a “draft and stash” player in the second round of the 2012 draft, and could find his way onto the team next season if Washington loses perimeter talent to free agency, Michael writes.
Coaching Notes: Ollie, Kerr
Within the next couple days, Kevin Ollie plans to reject the advances of the only NBA team that has reached out to him this offseason, a league source familiar with Ollie’s thinking tells Mark Medina of Los Angeles Daily News. The team’s identity is unknown, but the source tells Medina is isn’t the Lakers or Knicks. The source says Ollie, who is also renegotiating his contract with UConn, never “got to first base” with an NBA team. Here are more coaching notes on a night without any playoff action:
- A league source told Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer the Cavs were not the team that had contacted Ollie, which would leave the Wolves and Jazz as the only other teams with head coaching vacancies that might have reached out.
- A source close to Ollie tells Boyer that the coach is indeed “strongly leaning” toward remaining at UConn.
- Steve Kerr’s agent told Diamond Leung of Bay Area News Group that two teams other than the Knicks and Warriors pursued Kerr as a head coach, but he didn’t engage in talks with either. The Jazz were one such interested team, but any other interested teams have not been revealed.
And-Ones: Watson, Love, Seattle, Isiah, Draft
Earl Watson would like to coach the Jazz next season, and he’s picked up the endorsement of restricted free agent Gordon Hayward, as both Watson and Hayward tell Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com. Watson, who played with the Blazers this year, hasn’t ruled out playing again next season, but if he becomes Jazz coach, he’ll target Hubie Brown as an assistant, he says. Here’s more from around the league with an altered title picture now that Serge Ibaka is expected to miss the rest of the playoffs.
- Kevin Love will have some say in who coaches him next season on the Wolves, owner Glen Taylor confirmed to Charley Walters of the Star Tribune. President of basketball operations Flip Saunders has spoken with eight candidates, but he hasn’t endorsed any of them to Taylor, Walters adds.
- Taylor also said the Wolves lost “a couple million” dollars this year, Walters notes in the same piece.
- Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who partnered with Chris Hansen on an ill-fated bid to buy the Kings and move them to Seattle, is open to purchasing any NBA team, but wouldn’t necessarily bring them to the Emerald City, as he tells Shira Ovide of The Wall Street Journal. He says he wouldn’t move the Clippers out of Los Angeles if he bought them.
- Isiah Thomas and the Pistons are in preliminary talks about a deal for him to purchase a minority share of the team, reports Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News.
- Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey and Cavs GM David Griffin have said they’re open to trading their respective first-round picks for players who can help immediately, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio.
- Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson has political aspirations that would make him reticent to accept the post of executive director of the players union, but the job increasingly appears to be his if he wants it, tweets Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times.
- Hawks and Cavs officials will meet with draft prospect Alessandro Gentile of the Italian league, Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia reports. The swingman is No. 66 in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings and 100th with Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
Draft Combine Updates: Thursday
The Chicago draft combine is underway, and teams can meet with up to 18 players. With 30 teams, that means there could be as many as 540 interviews this week. We’ll try to keep track of as many as possible here, and we’ll update this post throughout the day as news filters in. Here’s the latest:
- Ennis will meet with the Bobcats and at least four other teams in addition to the organizations listed below, Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer reports.
- Vonleh interviewed with the Wolves, Bucks, Lakers, and Blazers, tweets Robbins, who adds that the big man is scheduled to meet with the Sixers.
Earlier updates:
- LaVine shot very well, and Seth Davis of SI.com hears that he may have helped his stock more than any other prospect today (Twitter link; H/T Wolstat).
- In Exum’s extended quotes transcribed by Sean Deveney of The Sporting News regarding the point guard’s willingness to pressure certain teams not to draft him, Exum said he doesn’t see any of his potential destinations as a bad fit, and is willing to play behind an established point guard.
- LaQuinton Ross will work out for the Cavs on Monday, tweets Jason Lloyd of Akron Beacon Journal.
- The Raptors plan to meet with K.J. McDaniels, McDermott, Payton, Anderson, McDaniels, and possibly Hood, reports Wolstat (via Twitter).
- Hood will meet with the Bulls on Friday, tweets K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune.
- Randle interviewed with the Cavs and will do so with the Bucks, too, as the Plain Dealer and Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel note (Twitter links).
- Patric Young spoke with the Pelicans and has a sit-down with the Grizzlies scheduled, according to Robbins (Twitter links).
- Blakely adds Hood and Noah Vonleh to the Celtics interview list, while Randle and T.J. Warren are talking to Boston, too, according to Holmes (All Twitter links).
- Vonleh says he also has an interview scheduled with the Magic, Robbins notes, adding that Orlando wanted to interview Stauskas, but his meeting schedule is too full (Twitter links). The Magic sat down with Randle on Wednesday, Robbins adds (on Twitter).
- Aaron Gordon met with the Sixers on Wednesday, Pompey tweets.
- Exum will also interview with the Kings, according to Howard-Cooper (on Twitter).
- Julius Randle is meeting with the Sixers today, reports Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter).
- Doug McDermott said he met Wednesday with the Bulls, Hawks and Timberwolves, Robbins observes, and McDermott added that he’s looking forward to a meeting with the Cavs, as Robbins and the Plain Dealer observe (Twitter links).
- Rodney Hood is set to interview with the Wolves tonight, Zgoda tweets. Hood interviewed with the Bobcats on Wednesday, as Bonnell details (Twitter links).
- Kyle Anderson met with the Celtics and he’ll also see the Wolves tonight, Washburn and Zgoda note (Twitter links).
- The Pistons met with Glenn Robinson III on Wednesday, as he tells Langlois (Twitter link).
- Add the Celtics and the Bucks to Exum’s interview agenda, as Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe and Matt Velazquez of the Journal Sentinel report (Twitter links). Exum thinks he’ll sit down with the Cavs, too, the Plain Dealer notes (on Twitter).
- The Wolves will interview Lavine on Friday after having spoken with James Young on Wednesday, Zgoda tweets.
- The Bobcats have expressed interest in P.J. Hairston, as he tells Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter link).
- Dante Exum‘s wingspan measured out at nearly 6’10”, and he’ll draw consideration for the No. 1 overall pick from some teams, ESPN’s Chad Ford said on the network’s combine coverage today, as Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv notes (Twitter link). He denied that he’s angling for the Lakers in the draft, but he wouldn’t rule out pressuring some teams not to take him, tweets Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com. Exum met with the Sixers, Pistons and Suns on Wednesday, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. The Celtics, Lakers, Magic and Jazz will also speak with him, report Baxter Holmes of the Boston Globe, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel and Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune (All four Twitter links).
- Marcus Smart has interviewed with the Rockets, Raptors, Lakers, Suns and Nuggets, tweets A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. The Cavs, Jazz and Bucks are also on his agenda, as the Plain Dealer, Falk and Gery Woelfel of the Journal Times report (All Twitter links). The Timberwolves won’t interview Smart in Chicago, but Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities hears the team is hoping to get him to come to Minnesota for a workout (Twitter link).
- Ontario native Tyler Ennis is excited about the idea of playing for the Raptors and has interviewed with them, tweets Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. He’s also met with the Bobcats, Kings, Suns, Thunder and Nuggets, according to Kennedy (on Twitter).
- Nik Stauskas has met with or will meet with the Kings, Pistons and Raptors, according to Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com and Doug Smith of the Toronto Star (All Twitter links).
- The Nuggets, Spurs, Warriors and Nets have met with Shabazz Napier, Kennedy tweets.
- The Hawks, Spurs, Thunder, Raptors, Magic, Cavs and Timberwolves met Elfrid Payton, Kennedy reports (Twitter link).
- Zach LaVine interviewed with the Celtics, among others, Wednesday, he tells Blakely (Twitter link).
- Russ Smith sat down with the Suns, Celtics and Blazers, according to Kennedy (via Twitter).