The Minnesota Timberwolves Thread: Timberwolves, Anthony Bennett part ways

[651akathepaul]

Bump!

Fool me as many times as it takes, I suppose, but the news of Wiggins being dangled now has me believing. Perfect for both sides.

Pleeaaassseee!!!

 

[jpzx]

Love Willing to Exercise Option if Traded to Warriors


According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the Golden State Warriors are increasing their efforts to land Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star forward Kevin Love.

Love has recently been linked to trade talks with the Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron James has even reached out and voiced his desire to play with him according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Cavaliers are willing to let go of the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft Andrew Wiggins, but the Warriors are now willing to let go of Klay Thompson as well.

The Warriors have been trying to acquire Love without letting go of Thompson, but have come off of that stance because Love is willing to exercise his option for the 2015-16 season and put off becoming a free agent next summer according to a source.

David Lee and Harrison Barnes are expected to be a part of the deal as well. No trade is imminent, but the Warriors are willing to do whatever it takes to land Love now – even if that means letting go of a franchise favorite in Thompson.

Read more at http://www.basketballinsiders.com/l...on-if-traded-to-warriors/#DrEoM08YqBmrVu2Q.99

 

[kidkain]

As long as they throw in Dion waiter along with Bennett and Wiggins we good!

It's a win win for both teams tho especially since I'm a LeBron fan

 

[651akathepaul]

Too greedy. That'd be cool, but I'm happy with just Wiggins + one of Waiters, Bennett or a draft pick.

That said...If they get Waiters then they need to package in Martin.

 

[kidkain]

^^^ true..

I'm from mn so I'm a timberwolves fan, I'm a LeBron fan so I mess with the Cavs so either way both teams come out okay...

But it's funny how LeBron mention in the SI article that he knew it would be a process and they would not win right away then start pressing the Cavs to trade there young 1 draft picks to get Love

 

[kidkain]

Your Prolly right on the waiters part ...I think LeBron like him....

He did mention him in the article

 

[651akathepaul]

Well...If they got Wiggins then I don't really care who they throw in, to be honest. With Lavine in town, I'd lean more towards Bennett to see if he gets motivated and materializes, but if they got Waiters then I'd be fine as well, just cause he's a good talent. Bottom line is Wiggins. Give Minnesota some excitement again!

 

[kidkain]

We can agree on that .....

But love brought excitement too and we failed to make the playoffs the whole time we had him

 

[651akathepaul]

Certainly. It's just the fact that Minnesota's front office continually drops the ball and point blank sucks. It could've worked with Love if they didn't miss so many times in so many areas...Which is why I say this team just needs that potential top 3 NBA player. It's never happened from the outset. They got lucky with KG, but even he wasn't really considered that transcendent type.

If they don't know how to build a team, then they may as well see what they can do with a top tier talent and surround him with whatevers. Rubio is my dude though.

 

[kidkain]

It would be the Cavs with LeBron before he went to Miami all over again....

If Wiggins turned into that LeBron transcendent type if like you said they fail to put a team around him it will be a lot of playoff excitement with no rings..

But I do like Rubio but he need to improve his shooting to better make use of his passing ability ...

Hopefully if we do land Wiggins and he turns out to be that guy , the front office builds around him properly.....

Or we keep love and make a deep playoff push that make him stay

 

[RyGuy45]

I know 99% of these reports typically end up being B.S. but it's interesting to continue to follow this Love story.

Today's latest from BSPN:

Bulls making push for Kevin Love

The Cleveland Cavaliers are increasingly confident that they will eventually complete the acquisition of Kevin Love, but the Chicago Bulls are making a late push to try to get into the trade mix for the All-Star power forward, according to sources close to the process.

Sources told ESPN.com that the Cavs firmly believe they are progressing toward a trade framework that the Minnesota Timberwolves will accept in exchange for Love and enable Cleveland to pair the versatile big man with Team USA teammate LeBron James. Cleveland's offer, sources said, would be headlined by No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins, 2013's No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett and a future first-round pick, with one source close to the process insisting Tuesday that the Cavs are destined to acquire Love. At least one more player might have to added to the package to satisfy NBA trade rules.

Sources say that the Bulls, though, have re-entered the race and would appear to be the biggest threat to the Cavs thanks largely to the Golden State Warriors' resolute unwillingness to add longtime Wolves target Klay Thompson in any deal. Although the full extent of the Bulls' offer wasn't immediately known, it is believed Minnesota would seek a package from Chicago featuring forward Taj Gibson and defensive ace Jimmy Butler in addition to other assets.

Seeing this, I will repeat what I have thought before: It's going to be real interesting to see who takes over, Flip the coach or Flip the GM. Does he look at what's best long-term for this franchise (GM) or does he get turned on by pieces that can help smooth his first year as coach and win sooner (coach) ? And here lies the utter conflict with the decision to have this guy as the owner, GM, and coach.

Flip the coach is an ego-maniac and we know he wants no part of walking into a situation where the team in Year 1 is looking like a 20-30 win team. How does he balance that with future prospects we desperately need but are raw now?

Reading all these different reports, you cannot honestly tell me the Wolves are going to pass on Wiggins, Bennett, and a future #1 for the Bulls offer of Gibson, Butler, and spare parts. I also would even take the Cavs offer without blinking before I took Golden State's because you have a team-friendly Wiggins contract for several years as opposed to having to pay Klay (who I like don't get me wrong) a max contract. But again, what appeals to Flip the coach....a ready-made near-All Star in Thompson.....or a potential in Wiggins that may take two seasons to blossom.

What do I know.... but this franchise has to for once make a correct decision.

 

[651akathepaul]

Shoot...I would've done Wiggins for Love straight up. The fact that Bennett and a #1 is rumored to be on the table in additions to Wiggins makes me wonder why this deal wasn't done a week ago.

 

[RyGuy45]

More from Wojnarowski:

The Cleveland Cavaliers are working to obtain non-guaranteed contracts through trades that could be a part of a package with Minnesota to acquire All-Star forward Kevin Love, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Cleveland's discussions with Minnesota have escalated with the Cavaliers' willingness to include No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins in the deal, sources said. Without Wiggins, there's no other combination of Cleveland players and picks that would interest Minnesota. Once Wiggins signs his rookie contract, a trade involving him can't be formally completed for 30 days.

The Cavaliers are working to obtain non-guaranteed contracts through trades that could be part of a package for Love, allowing the Cavaliers to deliver players that could be released immediately upon completion of a deal, sources said. This would give Minnesota salary-cap relief as part of a trade.

Yes please.

 

[651akathepaul]

Now THAT would be outstanding.

 

[jpzx]

"Flip Saunders has no leverage"

 

[RyGuy45]

Here we go

The Utah Jazz have traded guard John Lucas III and forward Malcolm Thomas and Erik Murphy to the Cleveland Cavaliers for guard-forward Carrick Felix, a future second-round pick and cash, multiple people familiar with the trade told USA TODAY Sports.

Lucas III, Thomas and Murphy all have unguaranteed deals for next season which is attractive to a team looking to make a trade but cut salary.

 

[651akathepaul]

Damn...It's happening.

 

[atcatc23]

If Love to CLE goes down, guess that'll cement CLE as contenders.

It'll be a better version of the Big 3 in CLE. Lebron will have a field day.

 

[finallyfamous]

What's up guys?

 

[RyGuy45]

^ What's up man?


The contract stuff is always interesting:

The Cavs' delay in signing Wiggins is not related to their pursuit of Love, sources say, but they ultimately would have to have Wiggins under contract to facilitate such a trade.

A trade involving Wiggins then can't be done until 30 days after he signs his contract, which means the Cavs would have to wait a month to officially complete a deal with Minnesota even if the sides come to terms on a swap.

Signing Wiggins would make a trade easier to complete. League rules require teams that are at or over the salary cap to exchange packages of similar dollar values when they make trades. Before Wiggins signs a deal, he has a contract of $0, so his inclusion does not help the Cavaliers get closer to the $15.7 million value they would receive with Love's contract.

But when he does sign, Wiggins will have a value of around $5.5 million, which would get the Cavaliers a big step closer to the 80 percent of Love's contract that they need to reach to make any deal conform to league rules.

Having to wait that long to finalize a deal does complicate the negotiating process, with both teams leery of the other backing out during that monthlong moratorium.

Also:

Adrian Wojnarowski @WojYahooNBA - Minnesota's been determined to unload Kevin Martin and JJ Barea in a Love deal -- no easy task for Cavs to make work without a third team.

The Wolves likely will have to find a third team because the Cavaliers will be stretched to their cap limit with James, Irving and Love all signed to maximum-salary contracts. They’ll likely have to find a third team that has salary-cap room and maybe even a veteran player with a contract that team wants to trade — Philadelphia and Thaddeus Young possibly? — to do so.

Tuesday, Wolves President of Basketball Operations Flip Saunders pulled owner Glen Taylor out of the third quarter of the WNBA’s Lynx game at Target Center, presumably to attend to an urgent Wolves’ matter in the team’s upstairs arena offices.

He returned to watch the end of the Lynx’s double-overtime victory and then quickly returned to the Wolves’ offices.

Even I have to give Flip Saunders credit if he really ends up in all this with Wiggins, Bennett, a #1, and unloads J.J. and KMartin's contracts.

 

[champcruthik]

Butler, Gibson, and more wouldn't be too shabby of a package if you care about team defense, and if Wiggins and Bennett weren't looming in your face.

 

[jpzx]

But they are!

 

[finallyfamous]

I'm hearing some rumblings about some Minnesota area writers and radio stations saying it's a done deal!!?!?

 

[kidkain]

Zach lavine and Wiggins

 

[RyGuy45]

I'm hearing some rumblings about some Minnesota area writers and radio stations saying it's a done deal!!?!?

nerd.gif

No deal yet and no real news the last day+. The local media in Minnesota are just like most everywhere else: Know nothing and are hungry to be Twitter champions.

I also am at the national writers who are stating "Wolves are believed to like (insert Bulls or Cavs or Warriors name here) offer better than the rest." They (media) do not know. Because only three people in the world know: Saunders, Taylor, and quasi-GM Milt Newton. That group is not saying a word to anyone about their real thoughts or their dealings.