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WIGGINS IS THE ONLY OPTION!
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The Cleveland Cavaliers officially signed No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins to a contract on Thursday, meaning he cannot be traded until at least Aug. 23.
A three-team deal among the Cavaliers, the Timberwolves and the 76ers that would send Andrew Wiggins to Minnesota and Kevin Love to Cleveland is not only "done," but could also involve Cleveland's Anthony Bennett and Philadelphia's Thaddeus Young, reported ESPN's Brian Windhorst on Monday.
Windhorst told ESPN Radio New York:
Anthony Bennett, who's on the Cavs right now, could get re-routed to Philadelphia in part of a deal for Thaddeus Young. There will be draft picks involved, but essentially what you need to know if you're an NBA fan: Kevin Love will end up in Cleveland barring anything unforeseen, and Andrew Wiggins will end up in Minnesota.
Windhorst also said that the three teams' draft picks could likely be involved, and that Young and Bennett's involvement in the trade could potentially come as part of a separate deal that swapped the two players for one another.
The Cavaliers are not allowed to officially trade Wiggins until August 23 due to a rule stipulating NBA draft picks cannot be traded until 30 days after they sign with their drafting team.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported Thursday morning the Wolves will send Love to Cleveland for Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and a protected 2015 first-round draft pick.
The Cavaliers have a "firm agreement" that Love will opt out of his contract in 2015 and then re-sign a five-year, $120 million-plus contract extension with Cleveland.
Wojnarowski reported there is no third team involved in this trade.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have reached an agreement in principle to send All-Star forward Kevin Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and a protected 2015 first-round draft pick, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Cleveland is making the deal with Minnesota with a firm agreement Love will opt out of his contract in 2015 and re-sign with the Cavaliers on a five-year, $120 million-plus contract extension, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
The deal cannot be finalized until Aug. 23, because Wiggins, the No. 1 overall pick, cannot be traded until one month following the signing of his rookie contract. The two teams have agreed to the deal, but neither would have recourse if the other decided to pull out of the arrangement before it can be formally completed this month. No third team is involved in the Cavaliers-Timberwolves trade agreement.
The precise deal terms have been agreed upon for weeks, but the teams and Love plan to stay silent about the particulars until the trade is announced in 16 days, sources told Yahoo Sports.
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Part of the Cavaliers’ motivation in making the deal for Love was a belief Love would have ended up with the rival Chicago Bulls in a trade and created a significant obstacle in the Eastern Conference, sources said. Cleveland wouldn’t have had the salary-cap space to sign Love next summer and could have only obtained him through the trade with Minnesota in a deal now.
Wiggins, the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NBA draft, is the centerpiece of the package for Minnesota. The Timberwolves see superstar potential in the forward out of Kansas. Bennett, the No. 1 pick in the 2013 draft, has shown signs of progress after a difficult start to his rookie season.
If it were rick still coaching I wouldn't think so.. But flip wants these young athletic boys running I think these youngins will get some quality minutes.Twolves will be a league pass favorite if they give the keys to lavine and wiggins.
I'll wait if Kevin Martin is still there
Is this a good return for the Wolves for Love?
I am questioning saying yes on that. I mean, I thought Kevin Love would bring more. I think Minnesota decided that they wanted to rebuild and not regroup. I think this puts them into a team that has a lot of good young players that have some upside potential. But the production of the coming season could be really up and down. I like the rebuilding in the Eastern conference. But I don't like rebuilding in the Western Conference.
How difficult as an executive does it make having your star player want out?
It's not fun. It's kind of a lose situation and you try to make the best of it. I think Flip and the management have put a lot of hope in Wiggins is going to be the second coming of Michael Jordan, or someone like that. And I don't know much about Bennett, but I know he had a bad year last year so they're just going to have to go from there and figure it all out.
When you were in Denver and had Carmelo what was the organization's goal when trading him?
I argued highly that in the Western Conference you don't want to go through a rebuild, you want to regroup. So we went after players that we knew could be NBA players. (With the players we got back) we regrouped our team. Our personality might not have been as talented as the Melo group but I think in the same sense we had guys ready to go and ready to take responsibility. So instead of rebuilding and going down to winning 25 games a year or 30 games a year, we stayed in the hunt and stayed in the playoffs and had a lot of fun.
Thoughts on a potential Kevin Love trade that would have been more regroup and not rebuild?
I thought the Golden State trade was a great trade. You would have gotten a starting all-star type of player in David Lee. You would get a wing player in Klay Thompson that would be a starter on your team. And you probably could have gotten a throw-in, a bench player that might have been a 25 minute player for Minnesota, and maybe get a couple draft picks.
Do you agree on trade being done now as opposed to during the next trade deadline?
As soon as you got a good plan you feel good about you've got to execute it and try to get the momentum back and get the passion for Wiggins. As soon as you felt good about the trade you should pull the trigger. I actually thought in Denver, we took our (Melo) trade into the season almost up until the trade deadline, and it was just really difficult. On a daily basis everybody had to go through the media, had to go through all the gossip and rumor stuff. That can be draining. That will be a positive with this trade. It's done now and they've got until October 1st to kind of promote and PR the newness of this and hopefully it will work out for both teams. But right now I think Cleveland got the better part of the deal. They got the best player. They got production on the table. And basically Minnesota has got potential on the table.
One last question, your evaluation thus far on Ricky Rubio?
I think he's a PG with tremendous talent. Great vision. Has a flair for the game. I think he's wanting to figure out how his offense fits into the NBA even though I think that's been the nightmare of his career. How to finish, how to make shots. How to get the production where the defense has to honor him on every possession a little more seriously. So I would still think he's in that stage in his career that he's still worth giving an opportunity to see where he goes. I think this team will be better suited for his skills probably, rather than going through Kevin Love. Rubio's hands and his decision making is going to be pushed to a bigger and better responsibility.
The Philadelphia Daily News is reporting that the Wolves will send a package that includes Anthony Bennett to the 76ers for veteran Thaddeus Young.
Young is coming off a solid year in which he averaged career-bests with 17.9 points and 2.3 assists a game. He has spent his 7-year NBA career with the Sixers after being drafted out of Georgia Tech with the 12th pick in 2007.
Has Rubio said anything since all this has been going down? I wonder how he feels about it. Don't want this dude unhappy now too.
no way he's getting near the max
The Minnesota Timberwolves will acquire Philadelphia 76ers forward Thaddeus Young for a 2015 first-round draft pick and two role players, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
The Timberwolves will send Philadelphia the Miami Heat's 2015 first-round pick Minnesota will acquire as part of the Kevin Love deal with Cleveland, sources said. The T-Wolves will send forward Luc Mbah a Moute and guard Alexey Shved to the Sixers.
The deal will be finalized on Saturday, concurrently with the closure of the deal that will send Cleveland's Andrew Wiggins, the No. 1 overall pick in the '14 draft, and Anthony Bennett to Minnesota for All-Star forward Kevin Love.